“Nice” is how I’d describe Angela E. Douglas’s collection of nature essays, Near the Forest, By the Lake: Discovering Nature Close to the Home. I’d also add conversation, domestic, and small. None of them as negatives, just observations. That said, I have to confess that the individual essays, and the book as a whole, left me wanting a bit more.

Douglas lives in Ithaca, NY, and as the above subtitle makes clear, she is focused here on the local flora and fauna. This is not going to be a world-trotting exploration of animals or plant life, or a global “big picture” look at the insect apocalypse, climate change, animals near extinction, and the like. Instead we get a series of essays that focus on Douglas’s backyard (I mean that not in the sense of the “greater Ithaca area” or “Central New York” but literally in her own backyard) and on some walks to several of the parks/nature preserves not far from her home.

The essays are laid out along the seasonal arc of a single year, beginning on New Year’s Day and advancing month by month to the end of December. Each month is preceded by a brief preface noting the topics to come and the general “feel” of that particular month in Ithaca, such as what the weather is like, the departure or arrival of students for the several universities in the town, etc. While the structure is linear and chronological, there’s no need to read the book that way. One could start in July and end in June or skip around randomly depending on one’s mood, and the reading would not suffer for it.

The essays themselves tend to be brief — three or four pages — with a few going a little longer. Some illustrative topics: the syrinx organ that lets birds sing, migratory salamanders, turtles in winter, wild ginger, porcupines, Ospreys, the making of a squirrel drey, witch hazel, and why the lakes in Green Lake Park are, well green.

The tone and language is, as noted, conversational and intimate. One feels like you’re taking a walk with a good friend is curious, knowledgeable, and observant and takes joy in sharing all that with you. While you get the occasional scientific phrasing (see “syrinx” above or the genus-species names of some plants and animals), vocabulary is of no difficulty at all, in keeping with the conversational style. Douglas clearly knows her way around the natural world, able to identify plants and animals, and she is highly attuned to appearance and behavior. You have to respect the knowledge; even better though, you have to love a person who makes a special trip during prime times to look for salamanders, toads, or “colonies of wooly aphids “on the “speckled alder Alnus incana … in mosquito-infested swamps.”

While the focus is on the local life, that isn’t to say Douglas never strays farther afield. She does in fact do so relatively often, as she explains for instance how some of the plants or insects arrived on our shore, the differences in New World and Old World species of similar creatures/plants, etymologies, migration routes, and the like.

I enjoyed my time reading the book and each individual essay, but as mentioned, I did often find myself wanting more. I didn’t highlight much, which is always a clue as to how much new I learned, and I can’t say I learned a lot of new information. That said, if you don’t read/study much about the natural world, your mileage may greatly vary on that observation. I also didn’t highlight anything for the language itself. It’s clear and effective and with the occasional nicely crafted sentence, but I was never startled or uplifted by the language, either by its lyricism or its originality. And finally, the essays nearly always seemed to end abruptly or weakly to me; I wanted them to reach for more than they did.

All of that is why I said at the opening that the collection is “nice.” It’s enjoyable, its informational, there’s a sense of a person behind it all and one that I’d love to take a hike with or have as a friend. It just didn’t ever move out of that “nice” frame into something that swept me away, enraptured me, enthralled me. Recommended with that expectation in mind.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

What a lovely read this was! Really a must for all nature lovers.

The book is arranged according to months, and each section features four essays concerning nature that can be observed within the particular month. While the author states that it's not necessary to read the essays chronologically, it does seem to be the most intuitive order.

The essays feature birds, plants, insects (butterflies! so many butterflies), frogs, mammals (hello, squirrels), and much more. Together with the author, we look at nature in her local area. But "in the tangled bank of this planet, everywhere is local and demanding of respect", as Douglas writes in the conclusion to her book. Her nature observations, walks and experiences are a wonderful and valuable glimpse into the natural life around Ithaca, New York, but they are also an inspiration for everyone to look around the place where they live and observe the variety and wildness of nature there.

Much recommended.

One of Angela Douglas's goals with her new collection of essays is to get readers curious about the natural world around them. As this is a goal (to be more curious) in my life, I knew I had to read this book. And I'm so glad I did.

If you follow this site, you know that I take a week in the summer and spend it at Naturalist Camp in the Great Smoky Mountains. Reading this book has me yearning for that week of being submerged in all things nature.

Douglas's essays reflect the natural world around her home in Ithaca, New York. As I'm in the south, some of what she sees and experiences is different from mine, but there were also similarities. I found myself "comparing notes," so to speak, with several of the essays. All the different places she visits that are close by her made me start thinking of the different pubic areas around me - there are quite a few places. But even if you live in a concrete jungle, perhaps you find some wild wonders in a city park.

This book reminded me of Earth Almanac by Ted Williams. And just like after reading that book, I now want to try my hand at writing a nature essay. But more so, I just want to sit on a bench, or a rock, in the middle of a hiking path, or park, and just notice what is around me.

Sometimes in a collection of essays, a few are my favorites and some rather bore me. But I have to say that I enjoyed each essay in this collection. Each one made me more curious and wonder if I could find a place near me to experience something similar. The desire to get outside was the only reason I wanted to put down the book.

I also learned things while reading this essay. There were a couple of squirrels that hung around my building at work that I saw every day. Unfortunately, I think they have met their demise on the service road that runs past my building. One squirrel I watch diligently attempt to rebuild a nest that a previous squirrel had built and then go on to build another one in the next tree over when the renovated one kept falling apart. In her essay about squirrels, I learned that these "nests" are called dreys, and some of the behaviors I witnessed were explained.

If you are curious about the natural world around you or you want to experience a different place from you, then this is the book to pick up.

My review will be published at Girl Who Reads on Wednesday - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2025/05/near-forest-by-lake-discovering-nature.html

I'm a fan of nature essays, and like this one, they're usually arranged by month, taking the reader through the seasons. This collection is unusual in that each month begins with a short explanation of the four essays to come, giving some insight into why they are grouped together. All of the essays are about nature as encountered by the author in her upstate New York area, a nice reminder that we can find wonder anywhere if we're willing to stop and look.

I really enjoyed the breezy writing style, it feels like you're walking with a good friend who knows a lot more than you about the surroundings, but never tries to show off, she just shares the most fascinating tidbits. For instance, we have white-throated sparrows in the azaleas by the front door; I love their songs and the cat watches them zealously from the living room window. But I never knew that there were white striped and tan striped versions, and they have very different personalities that guide their mating and nesting behavior. I'll be looking at them more closely from now on.

I appreciated that the focus here stayed firmly on nature, not the author, as some of these books can wander into memoir, which isn't what I want in nature nonfiction. I also enjoyed that these essays were triggered by plants and animals she encountered on regular walks in her area. Though I love the chance to get away to the mountains or other less peopled areas, there's a lot to see in a city park or local preserve, and this book focused on those things. In the author's words, "Each of us has a responsibility to honor the natural world close to home, an opportunity to revel in the splendor of the familiar.... in the tangled bank of this planet, everywhere is local and demanding of respect."

The descriptions of nature will make you feel like you're there with the author, watching the mist clearing from the hillsides or seeing the backyard ablaze with spring wild flowers. Because of that, the science has more meaning, as it's rooted in a real place and real plants or animals. Several times I had to share what I'd read with my friends, and some of them put in orders for this book based on what I shared. I don't think they will be disappointed, I certainly wasn't. This rates as one of the best nature essay books I've ever read. I only wish it had some illustrations! Still, this is a book I'll return to often and can highly recommend.

Thank you to Cornell University Press, the author and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book for review.

I have enjoyed reading this series of short essays. They are arranged to follow the months, so it's like a diary, though the incidents might have occurred over a few years.
Nature seems to be all around at times, yet many people find nature only when they make an effort to go outdoors. Looking at the rich and delicate tapestry noticed by the author, we can see that simple presence in nature and learning to observe are good for people. We become less self-focused, more understanding of natural processes and seasons, we are entertained and gain a sense of wonder. We also become more healthy through activity outdoors.
The downside for me is that the author is reciting bird names and some plant and tree names which I don't have here in Ireland, so they start to blur. Some sketches or photos would have been helpful. People in America should get more out of the book, so I have rated it accordingly.

I read an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review.

I really enjoyed this collection of nature essays. Each one was short and sweet but packed with a good balance of scientific information, natural history, and personal observations. Although they were based on the author's own experience in New York state, there was plenty to make them feel relevant to me which I appreciated. Also, the layout of this book was perfect. I read it all at once, but it would make a perfect coffee table book to pick up once or twice a month to read the corresponding essays. This book will appeal to nature enthusiasts, science lovers, or those looking for the inspiration to get outdoors.

An interesting book showing the myriad intricacies of the natural world. Each study spun delicately as a spider web. I enjoyed this book very much, nature writing remains a favorite genre. Yet I must say I do think that there were a few places where the book may have been more intricate. I think the writing of the book excels in the essays of diversity, what I mean is that it works best when the nature writing is interweaved with personal and cultural history. This shows how integral the natural world is to our living rather than something we have to go out to get to know and study, I found the science utterly compelling but I do wonder how other readers may cope with the often undiluted density. Yet it must be said the book is fundamentally compelling to read. I look forward to future work of Angela E Douglas


(p.s. the paperback would work wonderfully with a few apt photographs dotted about)

A detailed and chronological account of nature through the year in upstate New York. Well researched and full of interesting observations and natural history. Thank you to the author. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.