The Native Land - John Baker, Donna Moore Added to our Rolls

I have been neglecting this blog a bit recently, which I really should not be doing.

A reader recently brought my attention to John Baker's Blog and to Donna's Bookshelf. John Baker is a writer of fiction and Donna Moore has quite a readable interview with him at her BooksBaker page.

You can read sample material from one of Baker's novels here, where I selected the following citation:

"Now, of course, I know that we are not born in our native land and as long as we hang on to that quaint concept we remain in the mists of childhood. The process of maturing is the slow realization that we are born in the world, that we belong as much to the stars in the heavens as we do to the herbs and grasses that populate the limited space we are taught to call home.

Where we belong is not a place that gives rise to emotions like affection. On the contrary our birthplace is a vast and complicated structure that defies definition. It is an infinitude of contradictions, visible and invisible, tactile and intangible, neither friend nor foe. Finally it’s a prison and our task is to loosen its hold on us so that we can enjoy a few brief moments of freedom."