Jill Hunting's Blog

Joan Didion wrote an essay called “Why I Write.” Instead of explaining why I write (not today, anyway), I’d like to start with where I write. Most days, I'm in the living room, either at my desk or on a couch that faces three large bookcases.

A friend of mine's house burned down. After that, she adopted a one-in, one-out policy to keep from growing too attached to her books. For every new one she buys, she gives away an old one. I live in a house that’s too small for a lot of books, so I mostly follow my friend's practice. This ends up with my feeling strongly attached to the books I do keep, such as George Eliot’s Middlemarch, E.B. White's essays, and Conundrum by Jan Morris.

I’m ready to donate most of the books about the Vietnam War I used when I wrote Finding Pete: Rediscovering the Brother I Lost in Vietnam, because I moved on from that subject.

My new book—For Want of Wings: A Bird with Teeth and a Dinosaur in the Family—comes out in February 2022. It’s about my great-grandfather’s discovery of the missing link between reptiles and birds. It’s also about my trips to the fossil bed in Kansas where he found it and my travels from California to Connecticut to explore prehistory, American history, and my family’s history.

It’s the most personal thing I’ve ever written. I used to write about food and wine, and because many people are passionate about these subjects, they seem personal. But for me, dinosaurs, an abolitionist, and the American West of the late 1800s turned out to be even more personal. I hope you'll buy the book, read it, and tell me if something resonated with you. Thank you! Jill