Friday, February 06, 2009

Querencia?

Walter Hingley found an ad for Querencia- the- book that... well, you have to see it in its entirety:

"Bodio, Stephen: "Querencia" 1990 (1996) Clark City Press, 2nd Printing (1st Hardcover printing), Fine in Fine DJ, Signed by the Author. "Querencia" -- the Zen-like Spanish term means something like the tiny pocket of one's inner life where one is truly at home -- details a decade of life there. Throughout the early pages of his memoir, Stephen finds himself tested by the locals for his knowledge of raptor birds, of snakes, of dogs. When he begins to pass the tests, his transformation is complete, earning him a home, a place in the heart. Querencia offers a fine brief on rural living, alternately reveling in country matters and acknowledging the difficulties involved in such exercises as luring cows home from the mountain wilderness into which they've strayed while steering clear of venomous reptiles and combative bull elk."

I THINK they read the book, but I am sure I have never been tested by the locals, or ever lured a cow...

8 comments:

Rebecca K. O'Connor said...

I am certain you are a brilliant bovine pied piper. Do you lure them with carrots or apples?

Anonymous said...

I've read Querencia a couple times and don't remember the cows! I did try to find the ad, with no success, but it looks like the description comes straight from the amazon.com editorial review at:
http://www.amazon.com/Querencia-Stephen-Bodio/dp/0944439152

Anonymous said...

Was the review from English Russia?

Chas S. Clifton said...

I immediately flashed on the story of Betsy and the guy who brought the dead snake to the door.

Matt Mullenix said...

MooooooooooooOOOOO!

mscriver said...

@gWhen I was an animal control officer, I impounded a St. Bernard. The owner claimed I "enticed" it and that this constituted "entrapment." Actually, I used part of my lunch. I don't know whether that would work on a cow.

Prairie Mary

Reid Farmer said...

You old cow-caller, you!

Julie Zickefoose said...

Seems like you'd remember keeping cattle.

Speaking of random weirdness, once I was signing and selling my book and I signed a copy for a woman and she handed me a check for $26 made out to Verlyn Klinkenborg. Right number of syllables,pretty much the right genre, wrong sex, wrong name. Good laugh, though.