Reservoir Year: A Walker’s Book of Days

Nina Shengold

Jul 2020 · Syracuse University Press

About this ebook

On the eve of her sixtieth birthday, Nina Shengold embarks on a challenge: to walk the path surrounding the Catskills’ glorious Ashokan Reservoir every day for a year, at all times of day and in all kinds of weather, trying to find something new every time. Armed with lively curiosity, infectious enthusiasm, and renewed stubbornness, she hits the path every day with all five senses wide open, searching for details that glint. As Shengold explores the secrets of this spectacular place, she rediscovers the glories of solitude and an expanded community, both human and animal. Step by step, her reservoir walks rekindle connections with family, strangers, and friends, with a landscape she grows to revere, and with a new sense of self. Like the writings of John Burroughs, Annie Dillard, and Barry Lopez, Shengold’s reflections on her personal journey will resonate with outdoor enthusiasts and armchair hikers alike. Quietly transformative, Reservoir Year encourages readers to find their own ways to unplug and slow down, reconnecting with nature, reviving old passions and sparking some new ones along the path.

About the author

Nina Shengold is an award-winning author, playwright, and screenwriter. Her debut novel Clearcut was a Book Sense notable selection, won a Henry Miller Award from nerve.com, and appeared on Year's Best lists in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, San Francisco Bay Times, Out.com (#1 selection) and BookMarks. Shengold's River of Words: Portraits of Hudson Valley Writers was an IPPY Award Silver Medalist. Shengold has also won the Writers Guild Award and a GLAAD Award nomination for her Lifetime teleplay Labor of Love, starring Marcia Gay Harden.