23 Comments
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Susan's avatar

Art, nature and books. What could be better?! I know I’m going to love this. Thanks for introducing me to a new (to me) author. I can’t wait to checkout both books.

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Rosalie Haizlett's avatar

Sounds like this is right up your alley!! Thanks for joining us :)

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Ria Kotze's avatar

This is such an amazing book. Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I love this club!!

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Rosalie Haizlett's avatar

It's a definite work of art. Thanks for being here!

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Lisa's avatar

I've put this on my Christmas Wish List! Looking forward to other book reviews!

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Rosalie Haizlett's avatar

Ooh, this is a great present idea! Hope Santa delivers ;)

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Linda Hoenigsberg's avatar

I am a huge Jessica Roux fan. I have her book Floriography and also have taken two of her courses on Domestika because I admire her work so much! This was a wonderful review and interview and I'm excited to be a subscriber Rosalie.

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Rosalie Haizlett's avatar

Oooh, so great that you were able to take Jessica's online classes! They seem super helpful for getting the hang of natural history illustration. Glad to have you in the book club! :)

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Stephanie Harold's avatar

Great choice of a first book. Thanks for introducing her to me! I love your simultaneous focus on content and process.

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Rachel Petty's avatar

What a beautiful book, and what a fun newsletter! I just ordered a copy for my birdwatching best friend from college. We were both English majors, so the symbolism aspect is perfect! I can't wait to give it to her for Christmas.

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Rachel Donnell's avatar

What a beautiful book! Thanks for creating this space for us to find new authors and artists.

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Janelle Hardacre's avatar

I was in a bookshop in Skipton and my Mum wanted to buy me a gift. I picked this book. So gorgeous. I love flicking through it and seeing which bird arrives.

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Michelle's avatar

I requested a special order of this book from my local libraries and it finally arrived. Unfortunately I was done with the new copy from the beginning, after reading the Albatross. What a terrible story. I guess I was expecting something very different from a “nature” book, more nature appreciation like Tiny Worlds. While the art is beautiful much of the writing and illustrative design seems to focus on human ideology, at times melancholy or gothic in nature, rather than the wonder and science of birds. For example, the Albatross feature reads to me as more grotesque than magical.

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Susan's avatar

Absolutely magical…thank you for this.

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Donna's avatar

Thanks for starting this book club. One of my favorite birds is the cardinal. I have watched them for years in the Gulf Coast area of the U.S. My Dad had dementia toward the end of his life, but he always enjoyed watching birds to the feeders in our backyard. Daddy, a quiet man for the most part, would exclaim like a child when cardinals came to enjoy the feeders. One of the last joyful memories before he died.

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Yvonne Post's avatar

Great idea. Thanks for bringing these two books to the forefront, I hadn’t seen them. I’ll be hoping to see an interview with Rod McIver, Herondance creator. And looking forward to learning of new author/artists.

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Sandra Fritz's avatar

This book has opened my eyes to the origins of nature and also different ways of expressing art and nature. I'm excited to check out Jessica's books.

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Allison Donohue's avatar

Oh, beautiful illustrations combined with folklore is my jam. What a fun book find.

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Rachel McGill's avatar

I JUST bought this book at a Renaissance Fair and I immediately shipped a copy to my friend on the other side of the country because of how much I love it! I love learning about what these birds have meant to different people throughout history—particularly for under appreciated birds! My favorite story (so far) is about the American Robin (often under appreciated since they are pretty common—at least where I am in Virginia) and how it got its red breast.

I would love to learn how the author researched the folklore for each bird. Digital archives? It has sparked curiosity for me and I don’t even know where to start to find that type of information.

Thanks so much for this book club and for highlighting this book!

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Kim Steutermann Rogers's avatar

I love that this is your first book discussion, because I pre-ordered the book, too, and now I have a good/reminder reason to bump it to the top of my to-read stack!

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