Train Dreams follows the life of Robert Grainier, a logger and railroad worker who lives in the forests of the Pacific Northwest during the early 20th century.

I’m particularly thinking of it today because I’ve just seen “Train Dreams,” a movie that follows the generally mundane life of a man, in which nothing much happens and which I found deeply affecting.

For the past several years, it’s been increasingly hard to shake the growing sense that every word of every piece I’ve ever ...