Friday, January 31, 2014

The Year in Books - February 2014

You'll notice a new button over in the margin. The Year in Books. Travel over there for an interesting set of blogs in which a whole bunch of people tell which books they'll be reading in the coming month. It isn't a book sell, or a come hither and buy. Each blogger has a bunch of books they've been meaning to read and will briefly outline what they expect to find in the book. Maybe they'll go back and give readers a rating but that's optional on the bloggers part. I thought it would be fun to see what strangers are reading. I often find that the books that have been put on display or left on the tables at the library are ones I check out and then take home. So far, I've read 10 other blogs and have found two books that might interest me.

I have a stack of non-fiction books on the stairs. Some have been there for three years. I am determined to read this pile this year and then find new non-fiction to ignore for a few years.

As for my own February Gonna Read It Selection, it will be
A few months back I read "Crow Planet; Essential Wisdom from Urban Wilderness" by L.L. Haupt. "Rare Encounters" was the book that had been recommended, but it wasn't available from the library at the time and Crow Planet was on the shelf. I like Crow Planet well enough, crows are an extraordinary species, they have so many idiosyncratic behaviours. But it had been given a lesser ranking by the person who recommended Rare Encounters.

Rare Encounters is creative non-fiction. Naturalist Haupt looks at the behaviour and perceptions people have about common back yard birds. I like birds, I have a bird feeder that attracts finches, chickadees, pigeons, rats and squirrels. Neighbours have juncos, morning doves and cardinals, but for some reason, they don't cross the fence to visit me. Certain species visit the feeder at certain times of the day and there appears to be a pecking order to who uses the bird bath when. I am curious.

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