Books by Sam Pickering

He roams New England, Arkansas, the Caribbean, Nova Scotia and the familiar and odd plots of mind and thought. He explores shorelines and climbs "hillish" mountains. He sits on porches and talks to passersby and their dogs. He meets strange and delightful people, most of whom are real. "Reading Pickering," a reviewer wrote in The Smithsonian decades ago, "is like taking a walk with your oldest, wittiest friend." "Now," Pickering says, "I am old, and the friends who thought me witty have fallen off the perch. But that's okay. What I write makes me smile and mutter, 'What a guy.'" And what wonderful essays these are-pages that awaken the affections and make readers smile and embrace the beauty of this bruised world.

More than two dozen essays visit Pickering's greatest themes: family, nature, seizing the day, and the strange goings-on in Carthage, Tennessee.

This is Pickering's second book about Australia, following on 'Walkabout Year', published in 1995. 'Waltzing the Magpies' recounts the year that the author and his family spent in western parts of Australia.

In this, his tenth book of essays, renowned raconteur Sam Pickering wanders from Nova Scotia to Tennessee, from a middle school athletic field to an English department. He tells stories about people named Googoo and Loppie. He examines trees and flowers. He watches a daughter play soccer and a son row.