Books for a Slower Weekend
A collection of quiet reflections and reads that draw us back to nature and to ourselves.
It’s the Anzac long weekend here in Oz and after a hectic week, I’m enjoying the chance to slow down. I’ve been sitting out on the verandah with a good novel, looking out over the valley while gentle showers come and go—soft, steady, and so welcome after such a long stretch of dry weather. The rain soaks into the earth like a balm and settles something in me too. Reading in this setting feels properly restorative.
So I thought I’d share a few books from my library that tap into that same feeling. Each one explores our connection with the natural world in its own way, through poetry, science, storytelling, or quiet reflection.
These aren’t full reviews, just glimpses—lines and ideas that speak to me or things that feel especially alive right now.
If you’re also craving a moment of reconnection this weekend—something slower, deeper, more rooted—maybe one of these will spark something in you too.
On This Ground: Best Australian Nature Writing
Edited by Dave Witty | Monash University Publishing, 2024
The striking feather of a Red-tailed Black Cockatoo on the cover is what drew me to this book when I came across it in the Lorne Bookshop over Christmas. I couldn’t resist picking it up and my beautiful daughter ended up gifting it to me for my birthday.
This anthology brings together some of Australia’s most celebrated and thoughtful writers to explore our deep and complex relationship with the natural world. The essays offer fresh perspectives on the places, creatures, and ecosystems that shape our lives and what it means to care for them, especially now.
It’s not all warnings and worry (though those are there too); it’s also about wonder, joy, and the kind of attention that helps us see the world more clearly. Contributors include Tim Winton, Bruce Pascoe, Inga Simpson, and many other much-loved Australian writers, each bringing their own voice and way of seeing to the landscapes and questions that shape this place.
Excerpt from The Inspiration of Radical Nostalgia, David Ritter
That the ecology of the world can be changed drastically by humanity has been amply demonstrated, but this means that transformation in the opposite direction, towards restabilising the climate, remediating pollution and regenerating magnificent diversity of life on Earth, is also possible to a partial but nonetheless wonderful extent. We cannot reanimate the extinct from the abyss of forever or altogether make whole what has been smashed, but nature given the chance, will always resurge. History not only enables lamentation and reckoning, but the bright light of what is realisable based on an apprehension of the world we once knew.
Planet Earth: Inspirations and Thoughts from a Planet Warrior
Bob Brown | Hardie Grant Books, 2022
I came across this book when Bob Brown gave a talk at the Mountain Festival in Macedon late last year. The warmth, intelligence, and humility he radiates in person is reflected beautifully in these pages. It’s a small book of quotes and reflections but it carries the quiet force of a life lived with fierce love for the planet.
I had the chance to chat with him afterwards and he kindly signed my copy. The inscription reads: “For Fiona, with kind wishes for you and planet Earth.” A simple gesture that makes this book feel even more special.
Planet Earth is not a manifesto or a memoir but more like a pocket-sized companion for those who care deeply about the world and want to be reminded why that care matters. It’s uplifting, grounded, and powerful.
With the Australian Federal Election approaching, and regardless of political persuasion, I think this epigraph is a sentiment worth holding onto. Brown writes: