My Urban Wilderness in the Hollywood Hills

Rating:
Summary: My Urban Paradise
Review: For thirty years, I had the pleasure of living in the house and hills described by Richard Lillard, a dear colleague and friend. His adaptation of Thoreau's technique in Walden is brilliant, a distillation of his many years living on Quito Lane (including some of mine) in a calendar of the seasons. The descriptions are precise, usually opening up into metaphors as adroit and revealing as those the master Thoreau managed in most of his "nature" writings. And like Thoreau, Richard had a wry sense of humor, often displayed by understatement or sly puns. The humanity of the man shimmers through the prose on every page, evoking the unique urban wilderness (five minutes from UCLA, where I taught) that defies so many stereotypes of Los Angeles and "Hollywood."

Rating:
Summary: My Urban Paradise
Review: For thirty years, I had the pleasure of living in the house and hills described by Richard Lillard, a dear colleague and friend. His adaptation of Thoreau's technique in Walden is brilliant, a distillation of his many years living on Quito Lane (including some of mine) in a calendar of the seasons. The descriptions are precise, usually opening up into metaphors as adroit and revealing as those the master Thoreau managed in most of his "nature" writings. And like Thoreau, Richard had a wry sense of humor, often displayed by understatement or sly puns. The humanity of the man shimmers through the prose on every page, evoking the unique urban wilderness (five minutes from UCLA, where I taught) that defies so many stereotypes of Los Angeles and "Hollywood."