From my Bookshelf

Tired of winter?  I have a remedy for you.  Transport yourself to a different time and place... by reading a book.

Spring! Yes!

This is a great time of year for reading (although, what time of year isn't?) So, I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite books in the nature category.

Right at the top of my list of favorites are these two books:

'The Bluebird Effect' and 'Letters from Eden - A Year At Home, in the Woods' by Julie Zickefoose

These two books are filled with Julie's lovely watercolors (such as the Robin in my top photo), her pencil drawings, and her wonderful stories.  I love her writing and artwork so much, I drove 4 hours one way to hear her do a speaking and slideshow presentation awhile back!  It was worth it!  And, though I'm not into collecting autographs, it was nice to have her sign my copies of her books:

Here are a couple more examples from pages of Julie's books.  If you love nature, you will love her books, I have no doubt.  

'Letters from Eden' was her first book, and in it Julie takes her readers thru the seasons, with stories of her everyday encounters in the natural world.

Besides being an artist and writer, Julie is a songbird rehabilitator, which is the focus of her second book, 'The Bluebird Effect'.  Each chapter focuses on a different bird that she had a close encounter with, from hummingbirds to ospreys.  

They are very 'readable' if you are like me -- and love nature, but aren't looking for a heavy, scientific tome!  That is a quality of each of the following books as well.

The next two have been on my bookshelf for years!  They are the kind of books that I love to pull down every few years and re-read.  I guess that makes them classics, doesn't it?  Which is kind of funny because on the back of 'The Pine Barrens' by John McPhee, it says "It will be a long time before another book appears to equal the literary quality and human compassion of this one.  Among books of its type, it could be a classic" (N.Y. Times Book Review).

'A Naturalist buys an Old Farm" says on its back cover, "A heart-warming book to treasure and read again and again".  I agree, and I have done that myself (it was printed in 1974).

Next, I picked two books by another favorite author, Farley Mowat:

You may have seen the movie they made from "Never Cry Wolf" quite a few years ago... while I thought the movie was okay, read the book, it's better!  And "The Dog Who Wouldn't Be" will have you laughing.

The next two books will show you that I'm still partly a kid at heart...

'Owls in the Family' (another book by Farley Mowat) is for children or the young-at-heart.  I just read it for the ?th time and enjoyed it as much as ever.  It does have a bit of a sad ending, and might be offensive to you in parts if you don't like things like shooting crows, just as a warning.  

I have previously mentioned the other childrens book in the photo in this post.  I still occasionally like to read thru Marguerite Henry's 'Birds at Home'.  She wrote it because she wanted to learn about birds and it's full of interesting things she learned by watching the birds near her home.

Oh, and by the way, 'Owls in the Family' is a true story!

Another book that was made into a movie a few years ago was 'The Big Year' by Mark Obmascik.  It was an okay movie, I thought, but once again, the book is better.  A similar book, 'Kingbird Highway' by Kenn Kaufman, was even better in my opinion. 

A book I picked up for a dollar on a library book sale table turned out to be a good read and I've kept it on my shelf to read again sometime.  It's 'Going Wild - Adventures with birds in the Suburban Wilderness' by Robert Winkler.  Similarly bought was one I've only started reading that's been good so far: 'Club George - The Diary of a Central Park Bird Watcher' by Bob Levy.  So, it's interesting to be 'transported' to the suburbs and New York City while reading these books!

A  summer-time transport via book reading in the winter is nice.... such as 'Appalachian Summer' by Pennsylvania author Marcia Bonta.  It's interesting to read her journal-like writings from an area so similar to my own with its familiar birds, animals, and plants.

 

The last book is one I'm thinking about saving to read next summer when we're back to heat and humidity.  Maybe that would be a good time for 'Wintering' by Diana Kappel-Smith.

These are some of the great nature books on my bookshelf.  Now, it's your turn to share... I'm always looking for a good book!