Every time I attend one of Bob Pyle’s book talks, I come away feeling enriched, enlightened, and awe-struck. The enriched and enlightened parts are to be expected, of course. I imagine that most people share that response, not only to his talks but to his books. I think I’ve read them all and have been hugely impressed by each.
For starters, Dr. Robert Michael Pyle writes with the ease and authority of the internationally recognized expert that he is. He is a renowned lepidopterist and award-winning author of thirteen books plus hundreds of papers, essays, stories and poems. Reading anything he writes is a pleasure. And, for those of us who are non-experts and have to think a bit each time we meet the word “lepidopterist,” reading his work challenges us to think a bit more deeply than is usual for books that are right up there under the ‘Enjoyable Reads’ category.
But when I attend one of Bob’s book talks, I find myself wearing at least three hats while I listen. First, of course is my reader’s hat. My very attendance is because I’m eager to learn first-hand about his newest book and to have an opportunity to get it ‘hot off the press.’ And, I listen as a writer, intrigued and reassured by the familiar frustrations and difficulties inherent, I suppose, in the craft, itself, – problems that Bob alludes to as he gracefully invites his audience behind the scenes and into his workaday world.
Finally, I find that I am wearing my author’s hat and (almost literally last Saturday) sitting ‘at the feet of the master.’ I have to restrain myself from taking notes on How To Do A Book Talk as I listen to Bob thanking his hosts and his audience, calling people by name and often mentioning their roles in his own life, and weaving the current local controversies into his remarks. All of it is done seemingly effortlessly – the verbal mirror to his written work.
The icing on the cake (or on all those hats I wear at his book talks) is that Bob is as impressive in ‘real life’ as he is on the book talk circuit. He is the real deal and I’m proud to count him as a friend. I’m also thoroughly enjoying The Tangled Bank. As expected!
Twenty-four years ago I took a short “personal computer usage” class, where I ended up sitting at the computer where what I typed was projected on the overhead screen (rather embarassing, to say the least). At one point the instructor wanted us to just type a paragraph or two in whatever word processing program we were using. Since what I typed was so public, I chose to type the opening paragraph of the book I was reading at the time: Bob Pyle’s “Wintergreen.” After a short time, I realized no one else was typing because they were so entranced by what was appearing on the overhead screen! Trust me, no credit to my typing–it was Bob’s writing. I’ve been a fan ever since. (I really, really wanted to go to that reading, Sydney–thanks for writing about it.)
Ever the teacher, you’re forcing me to look the word up. I’ve been working on my 4th novel all day, and my blog and doing some editing. My eyes are crossed. Last thing in the world I want to do is look up another word. But I did, in the Oxford pocket American Dictionary. Not there. Sorry Sydney, I’m closing the book on words for today. Like the book cover though.