[Robinson Crusoe in his cabin with animal friends]
Image ID: 1697942

Having arrived safely back to your everyday existence, I hope you enjoy the comfort of your own bed and convenient grocery store, but feel as if you have had a bit of retreat into nature and your own thoughts.

In the evening, after dealing with the sole char of the day, I finish [Robinson] Crusoe and begin Justine; or, The Misfortunes of Virtue. These two books should be read together. Not in order to imagine Justine arriving on a castaway’s island, but because Robinson tries to recreate civilization and reinvent morality, whereas the Marquis de Sade tries to dynamite the former and soil the latter. Two servants of culture at opposite ends of the spectrum. P.116-117

Here are a few other titles for consideration along with Tesson’s above recommendations:

• An Island to Oneself by Tom Neale
• Still Points North by Leigh Newman
• The Raven’s Gift by Jon Turk
• Wild: An Elemental Journey by Jay Griffiths
• Walden by Henry David Thoreau
• Travels in Siberia by Ian Frasier
• On the Run in Siberia by Rane Willerslev
• Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

Russian Costume [Scrapbook].
Image ID: 1634220

Thank you for the lovely visit and reflection on Lake Baikal in Russia with Sylvain Tesson and me in The Consolations of the Forest.

Next month please join us to read and discuss A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor.