Pieces of Light: A Year on Colorado's Front Range

by Ann W. Douden (Illustrator), Susan J. Tweit

SIGNED/INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR/FIRST EDITION(dated title page).V/G to LIKE NEW DJ, LIKE NEW BOOK. 1990 Roberts Rinehart hardcover, Susan J. Tweit (Walking Nature Home: A Life's Journey). Explore the world of urban nature in this award-winning, journal-style memoir of a year in Boulder, Colorado, a city known for its striking setting at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Much more than a starry-eyed paean to nature’s wonders, Pieces of Light is a “journey of the heart,” where Tweit's year is spent reaffirming her bonds, healing her spirit, and settling her young family into a powerfully alluring landscape - until they must move away for work in a distant state. - Amazon

248 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1990

Reviews

[Rachel Vardeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last year at the Denver public library sale, some lovely person donated hundreds of signed and first edition books for the library to sell. Just to support the library. In these stacks I found Pieces of Light and because I'm an absolute sucker for anything about Colorado and will pretty much read anything written by a woman scientist, I snagged the signed copy. The book is broken up by journal entries moving month to month for about a year and because I bought it about a month before the first section month, I decided to spend a year working through this book. My choice was well rewarded.

I've been in Colorado almost 9 years now and this state has my whole heart. I share Ms. Tweit's absolute nostalgia for the Rocky Mountains and for the dry, aird low desert that sits just east of them. I also share in her fear of the destruction I see every day in our home state, on this land that is not ours, and of our planet at large. However, I was deeply inspired by her knowledge of the area, the terrain, weather patterns, biology, and geology. A knowledge that gave me some hope and taught me so much about how to be an ally of our environment.

The writing was thoughtful, succinct, even a little reminiscent of Mary Oliver.