Comments on: Discussion Question #1: Best Wendell Berry Book.

By: Carol Mattern

Carol Mattern — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 19:36:38 +0000

I have to agree that “The Hidden Wound” is my favorite book of Berry’s. We still have this wound in America, because of the lies that we were told. I like the way that he ties together the wound of racism and the connection to the land. As Europeans, came they saw profit… never having a connection to the land. Is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago.

By: Ric

Ric — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:46:19 +0000

This is like having to decide which is your favorite toe or finger. Anyway tonight I would say The Hidden Wound. It’s simply one of the best books that anyone in America has ever written about race.

By: brent

brent — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:12:05 +0000

Any book of essays is fantasic (I must also recommend the newest, IMAGINATION IN PLACE).

But I come back to the poetry more than anything else, and most particularly GIVEN.

By: Mike Schutt

Mike Schutt — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:29:57 +0000

Fidelity, his masterpiece collection of short stories. Every story is beautiful in a different way. I appreciate his essays, I like his poetry, and I love his novels, but these five stories are the best of all.

By: Daniel Rose

Daniel Rose — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:47:52 +0000

I really like all his short stories. So very, very, good. My favorite of Wendell’s essays are whichever collection I am currently reading (just finished Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community: it’s currently my favorite). Mad Farmer Revolution is my favorite poem.

He is “one righteous dude”. =)

By: Susan Adams

Susan Adams — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:10:39 +0000

Hannah Colter is my absolute favorite, although I love all the fiction. I love reading Nathan Colter, then reading Hannah Colter and then thinking about how events are experienced so uniquely by each of us even when we think we have experienced them together.
Folks used to say, “I cannot tell what Wendell Berry’s theological views are.” to which I reply, “READ HIS FICTION!”

My favorite essay book is Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community.

By: David Henson

David Henson — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 18:49:23 +0000

Mad Farmer Revolution. It’s on my coffee table and I read it at least twice a month.

Had a hard time with the fiction, too, but then again, i’m not a big fiction guy.

By: J Fowler

J Fowler — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 03:44:48 +0000

I’ll have to say: The Unsettling of America.

By: Tom Murphy

Tom Murphy — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:23:11 +0000

Despite the many wonders of all of his fiction, “A Place on Earth” still amazes me … and touches me deeply. In my one & only very brief conversation with Mr. Berry, he mentioned getting “a lot of hell” for his revision of it in ’83. Yes, much “essential” detail had to be sacrificed (for those of us who insist on treating the characters as real people), but I don’t get how anyone could fail to recognize the intense focus on loss that he achieved in the revision. Great stuff.

By: nick gill

nick gill — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:22:22 +0000

The Gift of Good Land is still my favorite.