The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan is a stunning book. It’s not one you’d read through very quickly but one you would want to pick up over time. It’s filled with delightful stories about birds, nature and personal observations.

Naturally I needed to use my favorite bird mug for sipping while reading.  (That mug made it through many years with me at work and brought me happiness in a Dilbert world)

I like the forward of the book written by David Sibley where he’s talking about early birding memories and starting a life list of birds he has seen.

When I was reading the forward I noticed she mentioned not driving and I wondered why.  Turns out she has Lyme Disease and I read about that on her website HERE.  It's a very interesting article.

Besides the commentary about the birds and observations, she also sketches the birds and does the artwork.  This labor of love is a result of our author needing escape from the state of our country and racism she encountered.  What a lovely way to channel distress into something positive.

In the back of the book, there is a selected reading list, sharing many authors and resources during the writing of this book.

If you have a bird lover in your family this would make a wonderful gift.

This book is shared with Shelleyrae at Book'd Out for the 2025 Nonfiction Reader Challenge. Category: Garden

If it's raining I'll be in the kitchen with a book

This week I have gotten quite a bit of reading time in.  We had storms for several days with unrelenting rain causing mini ponds to form in our field. I can hear the frogs in the evening now, enjoying themselves with so much standing water. 

Besides more reading time, the rain kept me inside making hot lunches and cookies. 

Here is a carmelized onion and chedder quiche loaded with chives from Mary McCartney's cookbook Food. Easy enough and fun to look through this cookbook.

In book news....

Currently reading / Backyard Bird Chronicles, Brideshead Revisited and The Snow Goose.

The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico is an older book the library was taking out of circulation.  I like old books, the feel of them and the bent pages where previous readers marked a passage.  On the sale trolley for $1 so how could I resist, especially as it's on my Classics Club list.

Brideshead Revisited is also on my Classics Club list and happens to be the one picked by their game The Spin. 

Armchair travel this week is California, Oxford and Essex England.   That's about it.  Not a crazy exciting week here but I am getting some good reading in.  I hope your week is a good one.

Sharing with:

Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon

Joy for British Isles Friday.

A rainy Sunday

It's Sunday and the rain has been coming down since last night.  We have a mini pond out front where the water is collecting.  I expect to see ducks before too long!

I am still adhering to the No Buy 2025 and making purchases only as needed.  I don't buy books now either - I use the library and if they don't have my book/DVD, I utilize their inter library loan program to borrow a book from a participating source. 

“When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One,” Trump said at a press conference in August 2024, targeting voters who have been dissatisfied with the price of goods.

How's that going? 👆

This week....

Watching / We are still enjoying MASH and are on to season two now.

Just in from the library is season three of London Kills.  We had watched the first two seasons a few years ago and never got back to it.  Will see if it still appeals.

Reading / I just finished James Rebanks second book Pastoral Song.

For Mailbox Monday the library came through for me with three books.

A nonfiction by Terry Gross titled All I Did Was Ask

Rosamunde Pilcher's Voices in Summer

Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisted

I'll most likely start Brideshead Revisited as it's the book selected for The Classics Spin.

Hope your week is going well and you have lots of good books and joy in your life.

 Sharing with:

Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon

Vicki for Mailbox Monday

Pastoral Song by James Rebanks

 Pastoral Song is the second book I've read by James Rebanks and I enjoyed it.

What initally drew me to the author is his location in Cumbria as well as the stories about farming and family heritage.  My GG grandparents lived in the same area but they were not farmers; they worked at the cotton mills.  Many of the names he mentions such as Ullswater, Windermere, Solway Firth and others are familiar to me from my ancestors obits and writings so that was indeed an attraction for me to read about the land as he sees it.

Rebanks grew up learning from his grandfather about the ancient ways of farming, methods which worked then and had done for many generations.  Then came the global revolution of a new way of farming using chemicals and "modern" ways of rotating field crops.  His methods blend the two and this is what he talks about in this book.  Well, anong other things and sharing personal anecdotes.

In his childhood he remembers a family friend called Anne telling his mother about how many grocery items she was able to purchase for less than it costs to grow them or purchase locally.  The first large supermarket opened in Kendal and sold many items at low cost.  She teased his mother about home baking as you could just buy a cake for less time and enegry spent.  That's the way it is now with people wanting to support local businesses and do things for themselves but the tempting big stores make it so easy to buy for less.  That said, she still had her vegetable garden, much to his father's irritation at digging it.

There are heartbreaking parts about animals killed by police snipers because of hoof and mouth disease.  Some farmers felt they didn't exist because their identity and existence were tied to the daily work, markets and talking to other farmers about their livestock.  They had no livestock to take care of and thus, no money coming in to support the farms. 

Rebanks mentions a few classic farming books titled A.G. Street's Farmer's Glory and Henry Williamson's The Story of a Norfolk Farm. I may look for those at a later date but will be taking a "farming" break right now in my reading lineup.

Sharing with Joy for British Isles Friday.

I need to add these to my sidebar

What a week......

I ended up behind this week in everything. Blogging, correspondence and the house is a  tip. 

Tuesday my husband had a dentist appointment and he was turned away because the blood pressure was something like 200/100 - stroke territory.  He's on BP meds so next day we went to the primary care. New meds. There are other reasons for this but suffice it to say he ought to be back to "normal" much later in the year.

Thursday I had my annual opththalmologist appointment - cataract followup and pressure checks.  Once I am dilated I am pretty much done for hours as to looking at a tablet or phone.  Can't even read. Ugh.  OK, old lady talk finished now. haha

Book chat

 So....this week I finished Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain.  My third book for the Classics Club - review HERE. It was a tough read for me and thankfully I had JoAnn laboring along with me to complete a buddy read.

I also finished The Shepherd's Life by James Rebanks. Very much enjoyed hearing about fell farming life and reading Rebank's memoir.

Library acquisitions

The series Blue Lights, set in Belfast Ireland.  It's been a while since we've watched a police drama and we are enjoying this one very much.  It has six episodes per season.  The tensions in northern Ireland are well represented.

Also plan to start Pastoral Song by James Rebanks, the secord book he has written about farming the fells in Cumbria.

Later today I hope to catch up on emails and do some visiting!

 Sharing with:

Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon

Vicki for Mailbox Monday

Joy for British Isles Friday

Testment of Youth by Vera Brittain#ClassicsClub #BriFri#NonfictionChallenge

 This book was challenging for me and I could only read about 25 pages per day.  I felt my educational level was lacking for that sort of reading/subject matter but it could also be the stilted language of the author.  I admire how she stood up for her beliefs and all she attained. I was in awe of her perserverance in just about anything she set her mind to accomplish.

Here is a passage:

 "There is still, I think, not enough recognition by teachers of the fact that the desire to think – which is fundamentally a moral problem - must be induced before the power is developed. Most people, whether men or women, wish above all else to be comfortable, and  thought is pre-eminently uncomfortable process; it brings to the individual far more suffering than happiness in a semi-civilized world which still goes to war, Still encourages the production of unwanted children by exhausted, mothers, and still compels married partners who hate one another to live together in the name of morality." 

The misogynistic treatment of women was par for the times, something I think our current U.S. government would love to see return. Alas. It took courage to continue fighting for women's rights, to continue a university education and attempts at publishing her writing in that era.

Equal rights:

"Thus, it was in St. Monica's garden, beside a little overgrown pool, where the plump goldfish slid idly in and out of the shadows, and the feathered grasses drooped their heavy heads to the water's edge, that I first visualized in rapt childish ecstasy a world in which women would no longer be the second-rate, unimportant creatures that they were now considered, but the equal and respected companions of men."

I'm not sure how to rate the book.  For me it's a  3.5 for the material as well as my reading pleasure.  I know there are rave reviews of this historical account but it was a labor to finish this book.  Had it not been for JoAnn and our buddy read I may well have abandoned this very early on. Thank you, friend!

The time period is WW I and settings in England, Malta, Italy and France.

Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday. and The Classics Club.

Also shared with  Shelleyrae at Book'd Out for the 2025 Nonfiction Reader Challenge.  Category: History