THE DELIGHTFUL HORROR OF FAMILY BIRDING - Eli J. Knapp


 I was immediately attracted to this book because the title pretty much defines me. I was raised by an avid birder and my older brother might rival author Eli J. Knapp for obsessive birder behavior and my own children might think of me as too obsessive for their tastes (if they only knew...).

I am a little conflicted on this book. It is presented as a book-length work of non-fiction, and judging by the title, about family birding and the struggles (or "delightful horror") of birding as a family. The non-fiction part is correct.

The book reads as though it is a series of essays, all about various aspects of a personal experience birding, and then loosely connected to make one long narrative. At first I found this jarring ... wondering how we got from story A to story B, but once I decided to read this like a series of individual essays, I found the reading easier because I wasn't always trying to connect the different people in a story.

But as to the 'family' part ... I guess, if you roughly consider your family a wider audience - particularly, say, your students if you are a university-level teacher - then maybe yes, we can find some family birding here, but this title implies something that really isn't delivered.

And, again looking at the title, I'm not quite sure where the 'delightful horror' is. Is it because I am also a birder (though not nearly as obsessive) that I don't see the horror? Or is it because there really isn't anything horrific here and it's just hyperbole to sell the book? I am not sure.

To the stories themselves ... Knapp is a delightful storyteller and he clearly understands that his passion is on the obsessive side and pokes a little fun at it. Occasionally we get some good information about some specific birds that Knapp is chasing in one of his essays. For the very casual birder, I think these little scientific insights are good, but for the more faithful, these might be superfluous.

At times this is clever and entertaining and I know birders who will recognize themselves here at various stages and I was really hoping I might find a book that I could share with some birding friends, but as my reactions is a shrug of the shoulders and an "eh" this turns out not to be a book that I'd eagerly give to fellow birders.

Looking for a good book? The Delightful Horror of Family Birding by Eli J. Knapp has a misleading title, but the series of essays within may appeal to some and dedicated (i.e. "obsessive") birders will recognize themselves herein.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

3-1/4 stars

* * * * * *

The Delightful Horror of Family Birding

author: Eli J. Knapp

publisher: Torrey House Press

ISBN: 9781937226916

paperback, 200 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

VINYL RESTING PLACE - Olivia Blacke

Image
 Juni Jessup and her two sister, Tansy and Maggie, have gone into business together in their hometown of Cedar River, Texas, opening a combination record store and coffee shop. Vinyl LPs are making a comeback after all, despite critics thinking the medium was dead.  But speaking of 'dead' ... finding a dead body in the supply closet just as they are looking to have a grand opening is not part of the plan.  Juni's life gets more complicated when their uncle, Calvin, already a suspect in the murder, disappears. And the police officer leading the investigation is Juni's EX-boyfriend (who passive-aggressively keeps putting himself back into her life). Convinced that her uncle would never murder anyone, Juni sets out to prove his innocence - which isn't easy since he's making himself look guilty - because Calvin is family and family is EVERYthing to Juni. As readers of my blog know, I'm not a big fan of most cozy mysteries, but the setting caught my eye and my in...
Read more

THE WALLED CITY - Ryan Graudin

Image
  Jin and her sister, Mei Yee, were taken and sold and then sent to the lawless Walled City to serve as prostitutes or slaves to anyone willing to pay. Jin managed to escape her captivity, but not the Walled City and she now lurks about, disguised as a boy and is trying to track down the brothel where her sister is still captive. Jin will work odd delivery jobs to earn a small bit of money and hopefully have a legitimate means of coming in contact with her sister's captors.  This is how she meets up with Dai, a mysterious boy who has somehow managed to avoid running with any of the gangs in the city but he seems to have his own unusual connections, which Jon could desperately use if she has any hope of finding Mei Yee. But Dai has his own desperate needs.  The story is told from the different perspectives of each character and we do bounce around quite a bit as the chapters are generally short. This never bothered me, which is slightly unusual as often I find this techni...
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - ...
Read more