Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on My Family Farm Book

When I was a bookseller, I sold so many copies of this book and I never thought to read it until someone told me a few weeks back that since I grew-up in San Jose's last orchards in the 70's, that I might appreciate this book. After reading it, I appreciated it in a different way, not because it reminded me of my youth, but more because it reminded me of the balance of life that people try to attain in nature. Reading how Masumoto looks at his orchard and the market he competes in to sell his peaches, one finds that much of our lives are not in our control,but this is not say that we can't find peace in that world. My favorite parts of this book were when Masumoto is simply walking around, looking at nature, thinking of the market and trying to find a balance between the two. I really enjoyed his observations on being raised in a family that farmed and raising a family that farms. There were just so many points that kept him grounded and "walking around." Epitaph for a Peach is definitely going down as one of my favorite books. It reminded me of the type of people John Mcphee would write about in his journal's that depict human attempts at controlling nature, except this is a first person account, which made it much more soulful. Also, Masumoto must have had a great editor, because most of this seems to be culled from diary entries, but the way it's organized and developed strongly hint at a very good editor at work who is telling him where to expand and how to lead between segments. Very good organization.