Category Archives: Books

A bookish year in review

Posted on January 1, 2024 by Risa

As 2023 slinks out with a whimper, I find myself several books behind schedule in my blogging efforts, sitting in a heat-less home with a case of COVID to welcome in 2024. Hopefully this isn’t a harbinger of things to … Continue reading →

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A Warbler’s Journey

Posted on November 28, 2023 by Risa

Written by Scott Weidensaul, Paintings by Nancy Lane This is a children’s book that tells the tale of bird migration from South America to Northern Canada through the journey of a Yellow Warbler. I love this, because a Yellow Warbler … Continue reading →

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Why Birds Sing, by Nina Berkhout

Posted on November 27, 2023 by Risa

Why Birds Sing is a fun, somewhat light-hearted read by Canadian author Nina Berkhout. I say ‘light-hearted’ because while there are humourous, quirky, entertaining moments, there are also moments of family drama and soul searching. After Opera singer Dawn Woodward … Continue reading →

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Revisiting Better Living Through Birding, by Christian Cooper.

Posted on November 25, 2023 by Risa

I wrote briefly about this wonderful book in an earlier post, if you’re interested in taking a look. I’m revisiting it to a) cheat and get another blog post for my Toastmaster’s project and b) cheat and get some details … Continue reading →

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A Hard Lesson to be Learned

Posted on November 22, 2023 by Risa

Two Green Birds, by Geraldo Valerio Francisco lives in Brazil and visits his Grandmother every day, helping her in the garden and then eating baked treats and drinking coffee (yes! coffee!) with her in her kitchen. One day, his Grandmother … Continue reading →

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A Series of Fortunate Events

Posted on November 19, 2023 by Risa

Night Owl Night, by Susan Edwards Richmond, Illustrated by Maribel Lechuga I have set myself a challenge to write 8 blog posts this month. This amounts to 8 times more than my current running average*. I have a couple of … Continue reading →

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What It’s Like to be a Bird, By David Allen Sibley

Posted on November 19, 2023 by Risa

Back in June I made the excellent decision to retire – good god I’m old – from the best job I’ve had in my entire 30+ year career. I have many things to say about not working in shitty jobs … Continue reading →

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What an Owl Knows, by Jennifer Ackerman

Posted on November 14, 2023 by Risa

In my mind, this book was stacking up to be a dry treatise on the scientific orders* of owls (Tytonidae, the barn owls, and Strigidae, all the other owls). Case in point, it is subtitled “The New Science of the … Continue reading →

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Atlas of the Heart, by Brene Brown

Posted on November 8, 2023 by Risa

My friend CP gives thoughtful gifts. Not everyone fully appreciates the thought behind these gifts, and that’s ok. But if you are looking to build meaningful connection, and you’re not sure about the gift you’ve been given, you may want … Continue reading →

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September 2023 – Hits and Misses

Posted on October 16, 2023 by Risa

Better Living Through Plastic Explosives, by Zsuzsi Gartner Has anyone actually read this book? If so, what is it about???? What I know for … sure? It’s a collection of short stories. Although there is a cross-over scene involving a … Continue reading →

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