Here are 64 books that The Beast in the Garden fans have personally recommended if you like
The Beast in the Garden.
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I love telling stories that inspire readers to protect our precious world and all our fellow citizens. There isn’t much that’s more important. But I also want to share my wonder and awe about our wildly diverse kin. I’ve written four books of animal science for young adults—Daisy to the Rescue, Last of the Giants, Glowing Bunnies!?, and the latest, Love in Their Hearts. I particularly treasure that book, since it’s a collaboration with ethologist and advocate Marc Bekoff, who first opened my eyes to the fascinating inner lives of animals. Truth is, once we look, we realize we’re surrounded by worlds we can barely imagine.
I’m a sucker for animals. So is, pun intended, Sy Montgomery.
One thing I feel, above all, is awe and gratitude for the wondrously diverse beings who share this beautiful planet with us, and this gorgeous book submerged me in these emotions from first page to last.
One day, Sy decided to make friends with Olivia, a giant Pacific octopus, and despite all the barriers to connection one could imagine between two species, damn if they don’t succeed. Why? Because Sy isn’t the only one desiring companionship, friendship, and love, Olivia does, too. Just writing about it makes me tear up.
'Sy Montgomery's The Soul of an Octopus does for the creature what Helen Macdonald's H Is for Hawk did for raptors' New Statesman 'Charming and moving...with extraordinary scientific research' Guardian 'An engaging work of natural science... There is clearly something about the octopus's weird beauty that fires the imaginations of explorers, scientists, writers' Daily Mail
In 2011 Sy Montgomery wrote a feature for Orion magazine entitled 'Deep Intellect' about her friendship with a sensitive, sweet-natured octopus named Athena and the grief she felt at her death. It went viral, indicating the widespread fascination with these mysterious, almost alien-like creatures. Since…
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
My passion is writing about ordinary people doing extraordinary things, rather than famous people or people with some unusual skill, like being a math genius or something. This passion led me to Anna Merz’s story and my growing appreciation of the power of the animal/human connection and how much communication can take place without language.
Okay, I confess this is the same story as the recommendation above, The Elephants Come Home, but this is written by the actual guy, Lawrence Anthony, who undertook this effort.
Also, instead of a picture book, it is a 380-page tale told by the person who lived it. If you love The Elephants Come Home, you’ll want to read Elephant Whisperer as well.
I found myself exclaiming again and again over the stories that Anthony tells of life on the sanctuary.
When South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony was asked to accept a herd of "rogue" wild elephants on his Thula Thula game reserve in Zululand, his common sense told him to refuse. But he was the herd's last chance of survival: they would be killed if he wouldn't take them. In order to save their lives, Anthony took them in. In the years that followed he became a part of their family. And as he battled to create a bond with the elephants, he came to realize that they had a great deal to teach him about life, loyalty, and freedom.…
As a child, let loose to wander the woods around my home, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t fascinated by animals, not only the dogs and cats we kept at home, but the wild critters I encountered. As I grew, so did my admiration and respect for the creatures that live in the wild. When I volunteered at Oregon’s Washington Park Zoo, and met Senior Elephant Keeper Roger Henneous, a new level of interest opened up as I observed the relationships between the animals and those who care for them. It bothered me that I often read nasty things about keepers, when I knew that most are devoted to those in their care.
This bestselling book was published right at the time I began working on my book, and it helped to forge my life-long bond with Roger Henneous because stories of J.H. “Elephant Bill” Williams gave him his first insight into elephant psychology and physiology. Like Roger, Williams came to elephants with no prior experience, but captured by an unexplainable desire to be in their presence. Both men learned by doing—mourning failure and celebrating success—and opened themselves to whatever the elephants could teach them.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
The remarkable story of James Howard “Billy” Williams, whose uncanny rapport with the world’s largest land animals transformed him from a carefree young man into the charismatic war hero known as Elephant Bill
In 1920, Billy Williams came to colonial Burma as a “forest man” for a British teak company. Mesmerized by the intelligence and character of the great animals who hauled logs through the jungle, he became a gifted “elephant wallah.” In Elephant Company, Vicki Constantine Croke chronicles Williams’s growing love for elephants as the animals provide him…
Coyote weather is the feral, hungry season, drought-stricken, and ready to catch fire. It’s 1967, and the American culture is violently remaking itself while the country is forcibly sending its young men to fight in a deeply unpopular war.
Jerry has stubbornly made no plans for the future because he…
As a child, let loose to wander the woods around my home, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t fascinated by animals, not only the dogs and cats we kept at home, but the wild critters I encountered. As I grew, so did my admiration and respect for the creatures that live in the wild. When I volunteered at Oregon’s Washington Park Zoo, and met Senior Elephant Keeper Roger Henneous, a new level of interest opened up as I observed the relationships between the animals and those who care for them. It bothered me that I often read nasty things about keepers, when I knew that most are devoted to those in their care.
Part of my reason for writing my book was to understand what it means to be a conscientious zookeeper, and this book provides an intimate portrait of a woman deeply committed to the animals she loves. The first two questions the late award-winning animal management consultant Else Poulsen asked any creature she met were “Who are you?” and “What can I do for you?” She learned the answers by close observation and empathy. She nurtured bears in crisis, raised and comforted them, taught them, and learned from them.
A zookeeper's story of her extraordinary relationship with the bears she has rescued and her insights into their emotional lives. "An inspiring trip into the mind and reality of bears." --Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, author of When Elephants Weep Few people know bears as intimately as Else Poulsen. She has raised bears, comforted bears, taught bears, learned from bears, had bears communicate their needs to her, and nursed bears back to health. This remarkable book reveals the many insights about bears and their lives that she has gained through her work with them. In the eighties, Poulsen became a zookeeper in…
The American Southwest never gets old. Exploring any of the Ancestral Pueblo sites is like walking back in time. Anasazi Medium takes the reader there. I love the land and the culture that has brought us to the present. My character, Santa Fe reporter Rachel Blackstone, reflects this. She is sarcastic at times, can be funny, and has her poignant moments as she copes with a “talent” she never wanted. In Anasazi Medium, I concocted a mixture of mystery, Hopi traditions and a journalist’s eye to entertain and inform. What resulted is a climate mystery in the most water-challenged state in the U.S. and a high adventure read.
Nevada Barr’s mysteries are so colorful I feel like I’m there with Anna Pigeon, solving the mystery and hiking the Anasazi ruins. Barr’s love of the land, wherever her stories take me, creates a real sense of place. In Barr’s Ill Wind, Anna has transferred to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. Barr brings authenticity to this series because she had a career as a park ranger. In a new park, Anna is missing her cat and lamenting the party life of her younger co-workers when a colleague is killed. One of the things I like about Anna is that she is so well written. Because of this, I feel I know her.
Lately, visitors to Mesa Verde have been bringing home more than photos--they're also carrying a strange, deadly disease. And once it strikes, park ranger Anna Pigeon must find the very human source of the evil wind.
I suppose it began at age 10 as a transplant to Southern California from Minnesota. That awkward transition begged for an escape, and I found it in the supernatural. I watched the original Twilight Zones, tore through The Chronicles of Narnia one summer, discovered Ray Bradbury and Stephen King, and then picked up a pen and wrote. Creating new worlds became a calling. Then life and adulting got in the way, as they do, but over time, I’ve written three novels dealing with the supernatural. They’re the books I would have loved as a kid. They’re a leap into my head—care to try? It’ll be fun, he says.
History and the supernatural are my literary biscuits and gravy—it doesn’t come around often, but I readily devour it when offered. (Well, now I’m hungry, dang it.) I haven’t often encountered a tale like this featuring an abandoned mining town (thus the book’s title) that isn’t exactly abandoned. I could tell things weren’t going to go well in this novel, but like a gawker at a car accident, I went ahead and looked anyway. I’m really glad I did.
I loved the premise of a crew investigating an abandoned mining town. Folks, I can’t think of many uglier places to have lived in history than a mining town, and that’s bound to leave some residue. Needless to say, the setting was amazing, and the action was intense. A setting like that is begging for the supernatural to come out, and yes, it does.
On Christmas Day in 1893, every man, woman and child in a remote gold mining town disappeared, belongings forsaken, meals left to freeze in vacant cabins; and not a single bone was ever found. One hundred and thirteen years later, two backcountry guides are hired by a history professor and his journalist daughter to lead them into the abandoned mining town so that they can learn what happened. With them is a psychic, and a paranormal photographer - as the town is rumoured to be haunted. A party that tried to explore the town years ago was never heard from…
Homeless following the death of his adoptive parents in a car crash and the subsequent loss of their farm tenancy, Seb decides to enrol as a residential student at the Asklepios Foundation, a College of Natural Medicine, boasting a sanctuary modelled on an ancient Greek healing temple. Spending a night…
As a child, I fell in love with horses. As a teen, I fell in love with a cowboy. That’s how I became the wife and mother of professional rodeo bullfighters and wrote for rodeo magazines. Today I write historical cowboy romances. The Western way of life is down-to-earth, honest, and God-fearing—even in our contemporary world, and I’ve written several of those stories as well. But my favorite challenge takes me back to the 1800s when life was simpler. Not easier, just simpler even though people faced the same emotional challenges we face today. I love writing about their journeys and encouraging readers that there is hope.
I love happy endings and that’s why I read romance—Western romance from simpler, not easier, times. There is always a struggle, an honest hero who is not afraid to fight for what is right and protect the helpless, and a woman who doesn’t want the rugged cowboy/lawman/rancher telling her what she can or cannot do. They are a perfect match but it takes at least one of them a while to figure it out.
That’s exactly what I found in Tamera Alexander’sFrom a Distance. I was repeatedly startled, anxious, sympathetic, and angry. Alexander is masterful at interlacing passion, promise, and pain in a way that ties up even unexpected loose ends. And I must say, this book had the best ending of all!
Determined to become one of the country's premier newspaper photographers, Elizabeth Westbrook travels to the Colorado Territory to capture the grandeur of the mountains surrounding the remote town of Timber Ridge. She hopes, too, that the cool, dry air of Colorado, and its renowned hot springs, will cure the mysterious illness that threatens her career, and her life. Daniel Ranslett is a man shackled by his Confederate past, and he'll do anything to protect his land, and his solitude. When an outspoken Yankee photographer captures an image that appears key to solving a murder, putting herself in danger, Daniel is…
I’ve loved learning about the Old West for as long as I can remember. Is this because I was born a few miles from the spot where Jesse James robbed his first train? Or is it because my family watched so many classic western movies and TV shows when I was a kid? Either way, writing books set in the Old West is a natural fit for me. I love researching the real history of that era just as much as I love making up stories set there. In fact, I write a column about the real history of the Wild West for a Colorado-based newspaper, The Prairie Times.
I love learning about people who dedicate themselves to helping others, and the eagerness of these two young ladies to share knowledge is so inspiring! I really like the personal connections in this book too – the author is writing about her own grandmother.
Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood grew up in wealthy families, graduated from college, and wanted to be helpful and useful to people outside their own circles. So, they answered an advertisement for teachers at a new school in a rural Colorado community. Though neither of them had any teaching experience or training, off they went, armed only with their intelligence, determination, and willingness to do hard work.
In 1916, two restless society girls from Auburn, New York headed out to the Rockies in North-western Colorado to teach in a new schoolhouse. Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood went to grade school and Smith College together, spent eight months on a grand tour of Europe in 1910 and, bored with formal luncheons and chaperoned balls, not yet ready for marriage, they answered an ad for schoolteachers. They travelled by train to Denver, and then rode horses for three days up to the remote school where their students, the children of homesteaders, came to school in rags and bare feet.
I grew up on the high plains of eastern Montana. Like most rural folks, we lived close to the bone, even in the best of times. Then, when I was nine, my father died—and things got even harder. We finally had to put our acres up for lease, and I made a goal to leave that hard place. Though I worked hard for this new life I find myself leading—I studied, won scholarships, earned an MFA, and became a professor—ever since I left Montana, I’ve been trying to understand the distance between there and where I find myself now. I’ve been trying to understand rural America.
This book is a straightforward, heartfelt, astonishingly moving novel set on the Colorado plains. The viewpoint switches back and forth from character to character, and as it does, I found myself falling ever more deeply in love with each of these admirable, flawed, fully realized men and women, boys and girls.
I’ve read it many times over the years, and the characters seem like old friends to me now. They’ve taught me about growing up and growing old and doing right, even when it’s hard, by one another.
A heartstrong story of family and romance, tribulation and tenacity, set on the High Plains east of Denver.
In the small town of Holt, Colorado, a high school teacher is confronted with raising his two boys alone after their mother retreats first to the bedroom, then altogether. A teenage girl—her father long since disappeared, her mother unwilling to have her in the house—is pregnant, alone herself, with nowhere to go. And out in the country, two brothers, elderly bachelors, work the family homestead, the only world they've ever known. From these unsettled lives emerges a vision…
Marriage and Fatherhood in the Nazi SS
by
Amy Carney,
When I was writing this book, several of my friends jokingly called it the Nazi baby book, with one insisting it would make a great title. Nazi Babies – admittedly, that is a catchy title, but that’s not exactly what my book is about. SS babies would be slightly more…
I am a teacher of Native American skills in the mountains of north Georgia. Each day when I leave my house to enter the forest, I am keenly aware that I am stepping on land that once “belonged” to the Cherokee. Everything around me in the forest was intimately known and used by the original people, and these same items have become the critical tools in my own life. I know the Cherokee history, and I know the white man’s history. I believe the clash of these two cultures deserves to be told in full.
I consider this one of the best novels that demonstrates the clash of two cultures that fairly defines the history of our American West. Both sides are examined to reveal the opposing motives of whites and Indians.
The good and the bad emerge on each side of the equation. Almost everything in the book is based on actual events in order to give the reader a sense of history while he/she is entertained by a good story.
Written to commemorate the Bicentennial in 1976, James A. Michener’s magnificent saga of the Westis an enthralling celebration of the frontier. Brimming with the glory of America’s past, the story of Colorado—the Centennial State—is manifested through its people: Lame Beaver, the Arapaho chieftain and warrior, and his Comanche and Pawnee enemies; Levi Zendt, fleeing with his child bride from the Amish country; the cowboy, Jim Lloyd, who falls in love with a wealthy and cultured Englishwoman, Charlotte Seccombe. In Centennial, trappers, traders, homesteaders, gold seekers, ranchers, and hunters are brought together in the dramatic conflicts that shape the…
