CURRENTLY READING
Last Person Rural by Noel Perrin
Monday, April 7 through Friday, April 18, 2025
Read by Jim Fleming
Perrin’s second “final” collection of bucolic essays was written eight years after his supposedly ultimate compilation (Third Person Rural, heard earlier this year on CAD)—and it’s another appreciation of rural life and being a good steward of the land told with humor, warmth and a little bit of philosophy as well.
THEME: “Pastorale” by Claude Champagne – CBC Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
(David R Godine Pub; ISBN10: 087923914x)
Readings are archived for one week following the broadcast day of the last chapter due to publisher copyright restrictions.
Latest Episodes
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Last Person Rural 5 of 10 – The Factory In The Woods
Perrin’s small village of Thetford is peppered with abandoned factories that once thrived along the river’s edge. The history of rural manufacturing is rich throughout New England, but not all […]
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Last Person Rural 4 of 10 – Joyful Stones / Dawn Walking / Silver Morning / The One-Eyed Witch Of Thetford
Building walls is not a laborious task for Perrin, but rather a joyful, artistic expression. When teenage angst gets the better of one of his daughters, Perrin invites her for […]
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Last Person Rural 3 of 10 – Mulcho Man / Gardener’s Glut / A Crop From The Coppice
When musty hay arrives, mulching becomes a new obsession. Too many zucchini in the harvest, lead Perrin to thoughts of chickens and pigs. Then, Perrin explains why creating a coppice […]
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Last Person Rural 2 of 10 – Hands Across The Pasture / A Truck With Pull
Wanting to avoid all pesticides, Perrin turns to traditional and non-traditional methods of pasture weed control. Then, Perrin extols the virtues of an often overlooked piece of equipment — the […]
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Last Person Rural 1 of 10 – In Praise Of Old Farm Equipment / A Pond Of One’s Own
Perrin offers practical and poetic advice for the part-time farmer on the purchasing of farm equipment and the building (and the loving) of ponds.
Chapter A Day Booklist
View information about every book we’ve read in the past 30 years!
Coming Next
Heritage by Miguel Bonnefoy
monday, April 21 through friday, may 9, 2025
Read by norman gilliland
The house in Santiago de Chile, with its lush lemon trees, has sheltered three generations of the Lonsonier family. Having arrived from France’s Jura region with a single grape vine in his pocket, the patriarch put down roots there in the late nineteenth century. His son, Lazare, back from World War I’s hellish trenches, would build in their garden the most beautiful aviary in the Andes. The granddaughter Margot, a pioneering aviator, would first dream of flying, and where she would raise her son, the revolutionary Ilario Da. Like Lazare before them, they will bravely face the conflicts of their day, fighting against dictatorship on both sides of the Atlantic. A dazzling family saga, brimming with poetry and passion, that skillfully weaves together the private lives of individuals and major historical events in South America and Europe.
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