Josephine W. Johnson gives an intimate and in depth look at nature and wildlife over the course of a year at her 37 acre farm in Ohio in The Island Island. Written where one chapter covers a month, we see the seasonal and phenological changes of a year in Ohio. Johnson's writing makes everything seem beautiful, even when it is bleak. She has a talent for making the everyday and mundane leap off the page. I enjoyed her descriptions of the birds, toads, flowers and the weather. Johnson focuses on more than just the big picture. I loved when she got excited at new animal sightings. More than just descriptive of the world around her, Johnson incorporates her feelings into her observations and at the time she wrote The Inland Island, her feelings of the Vietnam War are heavily on her mind and mixed into her observations of the natural world. Reading The Inland Island felt like taking a walk through my backyard with a friend, enjoyable, eye-opening and peaceful.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

What a charming book! This is a reprint of a book published decades ago. The Inland Island takes the reader through a year on the property of Josephine Johnson. It is a property that they are letting "return to the wild" and the author essentially journals her observations and thoughts throughout the year. While a great deal of it is nature related observations, Johnson also comments occasionally on her human visitors, the then current war in Vietnam, and other current events. Her writing is clear and concise. She uses a nice wide variety of vocabulary- but it is obvious that theses are words in common use in her world and not something she plucked from a thesaurus to try to spice up her writing. As you travel through the year, you are treated to small, keen observations that allow you to feel as if you are living that year intimately with the author.
I enjoyed this book, but I did not 100% adore it. Mostly because I did not enjoy the stream of conciousness writing style- that is entirely appropriate as this seems to be a journal of sorts, It just kind of had an amorphous quality that went on without a real destination- which is entirely what a journal is. So For someone who enjoys this vicarious lived experience, this is an excellent read!

Everyone should read this book and important look at how individuals and nature interact in life. Johnson captures the natural world is searing prose and haunting beauty. I love books on nature reflections and this book did not disappoint. Thank you so much to Scribner for a chance to read this book.

Oh, what a treasure Josephine Johnson's THE INLAND ISLAND is! Like WALDEN, this is a rich and rewarding and fiercely insightful look at nature and the author's place in it: thread in a vein of feminism and this is the ideal read for this time. A haunting, intelligent look at our role in nature: highly recommended.

Many thanks to Scribner and to Netgalley for shining a light on this wonderful (and wondrous) read--