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Title details for Nine Ways to Cross a River by Akiko Busch - Available

Nine Ways to Cross a River

Midstream Reflections on Swimming and Getting There from Here

by Akiko Busch
ebook
2 of 2 copies available
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2 of 2 copies available

From Thoreau to Edward Abbey to Annie Dillard, American writers have looked at nature and described the sublime and transcendent. Now comes Akiko Busch, who finds multitudes of meaning in the practice of swimming across rivers. The notion that rivers divide us is old and venerated, but they also limn our identities and mark the passage of time; they anchor communities and connect one to another. And, in the hands of writer and swimmer Akiko Busch, they are living archives of human behavior and natural changes. After a transformative swim across the Hudson just before September 11, Busch undertook to explore eight of America's great waterways: the Hudson (twice), the Delaware, the Connecticut, the Susquehanna, the Monongahela, the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Current. She observes each river's goings-on and reflects on its history (human and natural) and possible futures. Some of the rivers have rebounded from past industrial misuse; others still struggle with pollution and waste. The swims are also opportunities to muse on the ordinary passages faced by most of us-the death of a parent, raising children, becoming older-and the ways in which the rhythms and patterns of the natural world can offer reassurance, ballast and inspiration. A deeply moving exploration of the themes of renewal and reclamation at midlife, Nine Ways to Cross a River is a book to be treasured and given to friends. PRAISE: "In late August 2001 Akiko Busch swam across the Hudson River with some friends. Within weeks, of course, the World Trade Center would be destroyed, and her group's happy moment of "possibilities realized" merged with her knowledge of what came next. From that memory, a ritual - to mark each summer with a river crossing - was born. In this memoir of her swimming life, Ms. Busch essays nine rivers, from the modest Monongahela (144 paces wide where she swims it, according to a trek across a bridge) to the 2,320-mile-long Missi A beautiful, meditative account of nine swims across eight of America's great rivers that celebrates a river's power to calm, restore, and connect.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 24, 2010

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781596917347

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781596917347
      • File size: 2173 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from April 9, 2007
      Heraclitus famously noted that you can't step into the same river twice, and Hudson Valley author Busch (Geography of Home
      ) reaches this literal truth by swimming across nine different rivers—many once polluted beyond recognition—in order to "reclaim" them for personal and communal renewal. An avid swimmer, Busch resolved to swim across these rivers (with friends, in summer and during benevolent weather conditions) over the course of four years, despite repeated local admonitions not to go in the water: from the upper Hudson, where she resides, to the Delaware, Connecticut, Susquehanna, Monongahela, Cheat, Mississippi, Ohio and Current Rivers. Along the way she shares delightful lore about these important waterways, insinuating aspects of each river's particular history and beauty, such as that the Hudson was called "the river that flows two ways" by the local Algonquin; the Susquehanna is listed as the most polluted river; the Mississippi is the longest and most changing; while the Current in Missouri is the clearest. Busch enlists reflections from environmentalists and nature writers such as Edward Abbey and Thoreau, and taps into local organizations (e.g., Pete Seeger's) that claim that swimming in a river leads to a sense of stewardship. Busch's journey across these rivers becomes an elegant metaphor for life.

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from June 1, 2007
      Busch ("Geography of Home") swam across her first river just two weeks before 9/11 and ever since has felt compelled to make this an annual summer ritual. This chronicle of her experiences on rivers from the Delaware to the Mississippi between 2001 and 2005 is neither adventure tale nor technical manual but a series of reflections and metaphorical musings that at times seem contrived but at other moments flow naturally like a swimmer's lithe body. During her travels, she runs into folksinger Pete Seeger, who solicits her support for an equality swim across the Hudson; she also learns of careless human activity that threatens the viability of rivers along with the ensuing reclamation projects that are beginning to reconnect people to their waterways. In a graceful endinga meditative float down a quiet river in a gentle rainshe provides continuity by pulling together all the disjointed themes from previous chapters, proving that there is indeed a river running through it. This reviewer, who is also a swimmer, warmly recommends this work for public libraries.Maureen J. Delaney-Lehman, Lake Superior State Univ., Sault Ste. Marie, MI

      Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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