Audiobook7 hours
Claiming Ground
Written by Laura Bell
Narrated by Laurie Birmingham
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
A transcendent memoir from an author of rare talent, Laura Bell's Claiming Ground recounts Bell's time living mostly alone in the hills of Wyoming, where she herded sheep and cattle and battled isolation. A journey to the heart of self, Bell's work sparkles with shimmering prose and remarkable insight. "Bell's extraordinary ability to impart a true sense of place on each page reveals a stark and stunning landscape populated with a playbill of peculiar personalities."-Publishers Weekly, starred review
Related to Claiming Ground
Related audiobooks
A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Down from the Mountain: The Life and Death of a Grizzly Bear Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wilderness; A Journal Of Quiet Adventure In Alaska Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Longest Road: Overland in Search of America, from Key West to the Arctic Ocean Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On the Edge of Nowhere Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Crossing Open Ground Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Rain: Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Arctic Homestead: The True Story of One Family's Survival and Courage in the Alaskan Wilds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Temple of Wolves: A Winter's Immersion in Wild Yellowstone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chesapeake Requiem: A Year with the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lasso the Wind: Away to the New West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave It As It Is: A Journey Through Theodore Roosevelt's American Wilderness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Passage to Juneau: A Sea and Its Meanings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Kayak: A Journey Into The Heart Of Alaska Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDesert Soliloquy: A Perfectly Sane Misanthrope Hides in the Desert Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Virga & Bone: Essays from Dry Places Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5End of the Wild: Shipwrecked in the Pacific Northwest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Home Waters: A Chronicle of Family and a River Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Myself and Strangers: A Memoir of Apprenticeship Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of the National Parks Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBadluck Way: A Year on the Ragged Edge of the West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wildcat: The Untold Story of Pearl Hart, the Wild West's Most Notorious Woman Bandit Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lassoing the Sun: A Year in America's National Parks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Amazon Woman: Facing Fears, Chasing Dreams, and My Quest to Kayak the Largest River from Source to Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Down the Great Unknown: John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Happened Like This: A Life in Alaska Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Open Road: A Midlife Memoir of Travel Through the National Parks Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Personal Memoirs For You
The Woman in Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Counting the Cost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finding Me: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pageboy: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Making It So: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Glass Castle: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: My Year of Psychedelics: Lessons on Better Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bad Mormon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sociopath: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wishful Drinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Night: New translation by Marion Wiesel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Writing into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love, Lucy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5See You on the Way Down: Catch You on the Way Back Up! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Many Lives of Mama Love (Oprah's Book Club): A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Stolen Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Claiming Ground
Rating: 4.249999891666667 out of 5 stars
4/5
24 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I set the book down as I finished it thinking it was a gift to have read it. This kind of memoir leaves one in the one down position of having made a great new friend who doesn't know you. Bell showed me a side of Wyoming I don't see. I see the belligerent rancher and outfitter and have a hard time imaging much in the literary way. Bell avoids talking much about conservation even though she ends up working for the Nature Conservancy. There may be an interesting nonfiction piece in that to explore.I am nuts about the cover. We may have to gain some inspiration on this one.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I really enjoyed this memoir. Laura Bell is a somewhere between a lost soul and a free spirit when she goes to live in the mountains of Wyoming as a sheep herder. The telling of her life story takes the reader down unexpected, non-traditional paths. The reader is allowed to be witness to the joys and sorrows, loves and losses of this one woman's life. It is an incredible journey with the magnificent backdrop of the Wyoming landscape, rugged and unforgiving....like much of life!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This memoir packed punch after punch. Bell as a 24 yr old sheepherder in the Big Horns of Wyoming was fascinating. Then life throws her a curve when she finds herself married to an alcoholic. In the third part of the book, the reader suffers along with Bell through her poignant memories. Exquisite language...very lean, very poetic. A captivating read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Laura Bell's Claiming Ground is a memoir of a wild, lonely, beautiful life lived in the mountains of Wyoming. When she took a job as a shepherd working for the Lewis Ranch Laura found the place she belonged. Among tough, hardworking people, many of them running from various demons she learns about love and loss the hard way. The language in this book is what strikes you first. Laura uses gorgeous prose to describe the landscape that she clearly loves. You really feel like you could be there in these truly wild and free places. She vividly conveys the feeling of being alone in the places with nothing but her dogs, horse, and sheep for company for long stretches of time. The story ends up being a slow, sad one, with only the Wyoming mountains offering redemption and solace. I wish it could have had a different ending, but I appreciate her honesty and refusal to sugar coat the hard facts of life. If you read western literature you will enjoy this memoir.