Ready to go. So many I want to get to on this list. Trying for a record number this month. #BookSpinBingo
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 6mo
Bird Cottage | 
Ready to go. So many I want to get to on this list. Trying for a record number this month. #BookSpinBingo
pickThis novel was inspired by the life and writings of British naturalist and musician, Gwendolen (Len) Howard. A portrait of an extraordinary woman who chose to live an unconventional life dedicated to the study of birds in their natural habitat. Lovely and poignant.
#NaturaLitsyBingo2023 Fiction
“I shouldn‘t ask myself whether what I‘m doing is useful, or whether it‘s enough. The birds show me that time is not the straight line that humans make of it. Things don‘t come to an end, they just change form. A feeling becomes a thought, a thought an action, an action a thought, a thought a feeling…This is how times intermingle; this is how we exist in different moments all at once.”
Photo of Len Howard at Bird Cottage
pickAnother one I bought in the winter with an eye toward a joyful spring read. Inspired by the life of Gwendolen Howard and interspersed with her own writings, this book tells the story of 'Len' who quits her life as a concert violinist in London to live alone in a Sussex cottage studying birds. Her relationships with her birds are deeper than any she shares with fellow humans, lending the story a slight melancholy- but it's also completely charming.
pickI loved this quirky little book. It‘s based on a real person, Len Howard, who devotes her life to learning about birds, and believes they should be observed in their natural habitat, not in a lab. She ends up with birds free to come and go from her cottage, but noisy annoying people are less than welcome!
There are novelised aspects, interspersed with extracts from her diaries; utterly charming!
Found an indie bookstore on vacation (Spring Lake, NJ) AND it‘s named after my favorite song! Of course I had to make a purchase or two. Got one that‘s one my list and one I‘ve never heard of. #indiebookstore #vacationbookshopping #ThunderRoadBooks
pickIt‘s funny when you stumble across a book that is just right for your frame of mind. This book, in all its pastoral ramble-y ways, was that quiet I did not know I needed, in a world that is strangely quiet in ways (less traffic) but crazily loud in so many other ways (ALL THE NEWS). It‘s strangely charming and yet profoundly sad, this woman‘s life among her birds, especially in contrast to her younger self as a musician in London.
