Expeditions and encounters.
Having greatly enjoyed Annie Dillard's Pulitzer-Prize-winning Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, I thought I'd try reading some of her essays. On the whole, I enjoyed this book very much—and especially the title essay, which isn't nearly as silly as it sounds.
Dillard has a knack for choosing off-beat essay topics, which often lead to surprisingly profound observations. I wish more people wrote stuff like this.