A Million Years with You: A Memoir of Life Observed

This memoir by naturalist Thomas (The Hidden Life of Dogs) is at once lofty and personal, mundane and impressive. What ultimately holds the book together are her powers of observation and particular experiences: extensive travels; encounters with the animal world; the love and loss of family; struggles with alcohol; and her writing life. Though Thomas allows her memories to wander nonchronologically, the end result feels thoughtful. The heart of the book centers on Thomas’s multiple trips to Africa, including her first, formative trip to the Kalahari Desert with her family when she was in college. She later returned to Africa on assignment for the New Yorker and found herself in Uganda during the horrific rise of Idi Ami, an experience so terrifying that it halted her writing and escalated her alcohol consumption. A chapter paying tribute to Thomas’s parents is the high point of the book. The book describes the author’s loss of her beloved parents, nearly fatal accidents involving both her children, and her experience of the terrible bloodshed in Africa, but Thomas follows her own advice to “live in the moment,” realizing, “if nothing bad is actually in progress, most moments are quite pleasant.” (June)