The Owl and the Woodpecker (Paul Bannick)

Bird books seem to my biggest new indulgence this year. No fewer than seven of them have followed me home (so far) in the last 12 months. [I've reviewed several here; search my blog for "birds" to retrieve them.] As a group, these books have been a delight. Birders and the little flitting critters they [...]

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Tree: A Life Story (David Suzuki & Wayne Grady)

Evergreens help make much of the Pacific Northwest one of the most beautiful places on earth. Pines, cedars, and Douglas-fir line the horizon almost everywhere I go, and I’m lucky enough to see a few out any window of my house. But trees are more than ornaments. They are environments unto themselves. They provide shelter, [...]

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How the States Got Their Shapes (Mark Stein)

I devoured maps as a kid. The endless intersecting lines within an atlas could entertain me for an hour at a time, and I’d recreate the the curves and jagged edges with paper and pencil. The United States map is a natural puzzle, with pieces rubbing against each other along straight edges, curves, river-led curls, [...]

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The Book of Lies (Brad Meltzer)

This book had me skeptical at first. What on earth does Superman have to do with the Biblical story of Cain and Abel?  Those dual storylines are intertwined in Brad Meltzer’s latest novel, The Book of Lies [LibraryThing / WorldCat]. I enjoyed Meltzer’s The Book of Fate [LibraryThing / WorldCat] last year [see: my review], [...]

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Thunderstruck (Erik Larson)

In this age of cell phones and constant communication, it’s easy to think our generation is the first that can’t get away from everything. We’ve become connected 24/7. I’ve made calls from mountain ridges and remote bike trails. I still enjoy shutting off the phone from time to time, but it’s a temporary isolation. Real [...]

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Ready for Winter

Here in the Pacific Northwest, the leaves are falling by the wheelbarrow and a chill is in the air. Time to start collecting things to read like squirrels collecting nuts. I always have bookmarks in several books at once, and paperbacks stashed in at least three strategic places.  I’m nibbling on (or whetting my appetite [...]

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