Reviews"In the sure and steady hands of a writer at the peak of his power, this book is an achingly beautiful journey-a pure gift to the reader."-Washington Post * "A dark and beautiful memoir. Lane, ever the poet, exudes an elegance in his writing even when describing brutality."-Minneapolis Star Tribune * "Possibly the best-written book published in 2004. This is a masterpiece."-Brian Bethune, Macleans * "To read this book is to enter a state of enchantment."-Alice Munro * "There are scenes in this book that are so terrifyingly beautiful they take your breath away. Patrick Lane guides us across a grueling landscape with a steady hand. This is a tremendous contribution by an author at the peak of his power."-Alistair MacLeod * "Patrick Lane has written a memoir of heartbreaking struggle that manages to be beautiful and encouraging, finding anchorage in what was once called Creation, the natural world and its unstinting promise of renewal."-Thomas McGuane * "This is a record of recovery. Of a life, nearly lost, out of the dark into memory; of spiritual wholeness through a poet's attentiveness, season after season, to his garden-a real one. Only a writer of Patrick Lane's savage but forgiving vision could accomplish both in the same breath, and with such breathtaking beauty and power."-David Malouf * "This is the best book I have read in a decade. Lane's profound meditations on gardens and his own hard life are wise and deeply moving. Here is a classic memoir, wrought in prose as beautiful as the natural world that is his obsession and salvation."-Guy Vanderhaeghe, "Possibly the best-written book published in 2004. This is a masterpiece."-Brian Bethune,Macleans(Canada) "His lyric, seemingly effortless observations of living things drenched in light and water are mesmerizing. But like the hidden vodka bottles that surface in his garden like stones in a field, potent memories rupture the serene present."-Quill & Quire, starred review, "Possibly the best-written book published in 2004. This is a masterpiece."--Brian Bethune, Macleans (Canada) "His lyric, seemingly effortless observations of living things drenched in light and water are mesmerizing. But like the hidden vodka bottles that surface in his garden like stones in a field, potent memories rupture the serene present."-- Quill & Quire , starred review
Dewey Decimal811/.54 B
SynopsisPart memoir, part homage to the healing power of nature, this exquisitely written book evokes the poignancy of time lost and the ever-present possibility of renewal., In this exquisitely written memoir, poet Patrick Lane describes his raw and tender emergence at age sixty from a lifetime of alcohol and drug addiction. He spent the first year of his sobriety close to home, tending his garden, where he cast his mind back over his life, searching for the memories he'd tried to drown in vodka. Lane has gardened for as long as he can remember, and his garden's life has become inseparable from his own. A new bloom on a plant, a skirmish among the birds, the way a tree bends in the wind, and the slow, measured change of seasons invariably bring to his mind an episode from his eventful past. What the Stones Remember is the emerging chronicle of Lane's attempt to face those memories, as well as his new self--to rediscover his life. In this powerful and beautifully written book, Lane offers readers an unflinching and unsentimental account of coming to one's senses in the presence of nature.