Story Circle Network
Austin Chapter
Reader's Guide

March 1998
A Country Year

A Country Year: Living the Questions
by Sue Hubbell

These questions are not meant to limit your reading and consideration of this book, but to enlarge it and give it some focus. As you read, please jot down any other questions that come to your mind so you can share them with the Circle.
  1. Reading any book is like having a conversation with the author. As you read A Country Year, what do you learn about its writer? Who is Sue Hubbell? What was her life like before she wrote this book? How did she come to live in the country? How well do you feel you know this woman when you finished her book?

  2. Sue is writing about her life and work in the country. Where exactly does she live? What kind of place is it? What does she do for a living? What are her feelings about her work? Would you like to work as she does? What would be the best part of it? What would be the worst?

  3. The title of Sue's book is A Country Year, and it is organized into sections, according to the seasons. Do you think this is an appropriate way for her to organize what she wants to say? The subtitle of thie book is Living the Questions and she quotes a famous passage from Rilke as an epigraph. What's this all about?

  4. Sue is a self-taught naturalist and has written a number of books about insects. What insects does she write about here? What methods does she use to study them? Is this similar to or different from the way you were taught to study the natural world? How is all of this connected to her life and to her philosophy of living?

  5. Sue seems to be able to turn a hand to all kinds of physical work. We read about her fixing her truck, shingling a ridgepole on her barn, handling hives. How do you feel about what she does? Do you like to read about women working in this way?

  6. Would it surprise you to learn that Sue has remarried (her husband, Arne Sieverts, is a staff member of the Red Cross) and now spends half of the year in Washington, DC? Does this information change the way you feel about this book and the life she pictures in it?

  7. What did you like most about this book? What did you like least?