This week’s reviews include enchanting descriptions and drawings in Amy Tan’s “The Backyard Bird Chronicles”; a trip to Positano for self discovery and healing in Rebecca Serle’s “One Italian Summer”
Books and Culture is edited by Vanessa Sekinger
THE BACKYARD BIRD CHRONICLES
by Amy Tan
Published by Knopf (April 23, 2024)
Softcover $31.50
Audiobook $14.99
Reviewed by Penny A Parrish
Sometimes it’s nice to find a book where you can read a few pages before bed, or while sitting in a beach chair before the picnic starts. Short, interesting snippets rather than a lengthy tome. This book not only fits that bill, it includes wonderful writing and amazing art.
From serious bird-watchers to those who merely enjoy feeding feathered friends in their backyard, the thoughts and images – and advice – will be welcome.
The author limited her observations to the birds that visit and inhabit her backyard in the San Francisco Bay area. Her journal captures their habits, their songs, and their food preferences. Tan observes her birds, does quick sketches of them, and later creates amazing portraits in color of some of her favorites.
Most people know Tan as a writer of novels. Her most famous book – until now – is The Joy Luck Club. She did not have formal instruction in drawing until she turned 64. Through classes, field trips, and seminars she learned to observe birds as an artist. Sometimes she just looked out her bathroom window while brushing her teeth and detected them drinking water. She watched them enjoy seed at some feeders and reject food at others. She sat at her picnic table observing hummingbirds. She even got one to land in the palm of her hand and drink from a tiny feeder. Her sketch of this, “A Bird in the Hand,” is delightful.
Tan also writes about turning her yard into an area conducive to various birds. In addition to trees and bushes, she planted herbs and flowers and berries which bloom at different times. She follows the seasons and the circle of life – one of the most moving portraits is that of a dying bird and what she learned in trying to save it.
Her chronicle ends with this:
If there is anything I have learned these past six years, it is this: Each bird is surprising and thrilling in its own way. But the most special is the bird that pauses when it is eating, looks and acknowledges I am there, then goes back to what it is doing.
An Amy Tan duet.
Anyone who loves birds will love this book. I was interested and fascinated with the writing, but I was overcome with awe by the drawings. To be able to write and create art as she does boggles my mind, my eyes, and my heart.
Penny A Parrish is a long-time book reviewer and artist. Learn more about her by visiting her page at Brush Strokes Gallery, which is in downtown Fredericksburg.
ONE ITALIAN SUMMER
by Rebecca Serle
Published by Atria (March 7, 2023)
Paperback $10.81
Audiobook $14.95
Reviewed by Tammy Byram
Have you ever wondered what your parents were really like “pre-you?” I’ve often wanted to be a fly on the wall and just observe my parents (and my grandparents, actually) before I came along.
Would I feel like I understand them a bit better? Yes. Would I be able to reconcile “present parent” with “past parent?” Possibly. Would I want to roll my eyes (again) at their shenanigans – or actually cover them? Ack. The idea is intriguing, though…
In One Italian Summer, author Rebecca Serle spreads a little magic and offers us that “what if” idea. Carol Silver has died and left her daughter, Katy, reeling. Her mom was her best friend, her “ride or die,” the one who always had all the answers. The only thing Katy has now is two tickets to Positano, Italy; the two women had planned the trip of a lifetime, a chance for Carol to show her daughter how she spent a beautiful summer when she was 30.
Katy is so despondent and lost, she tells her husband that she doesn’t even know if she can still be married, and takes the trip — alone.
As soon as she hits the sundrenched coast of Italy, she is mesmerized. After weeks of barely acknowledging life, her world explodes with color; she’s ravenous, curious, and interacting with others. And then she sees her. Carol … her mother, Carol. Right there in Positano. For the next two weeks, Katy has the opportunity to get to know Carol, not as her mother, but as a young woman without all the answers. For once, Katy is going to have to come up with a few of her own.
Whether it is the Amalfi Coast setting, the fact that it is summer time, or that I was intrigued enough to believe in the magic — or all three — I thoroughly enjoyed this book. At times, I had a hard time relating to Katy. While I understood the close bond she shared with her mother, I was baffled by her apparent need to have Carol’s attention, approval, and advice before making any decision at all, often at the expense of her husband and marriage.
I reminded myself that love and grief can look very different for each of us, and settled into the moment to just enjoy the story. There were a few twists, and it took me a little time to get invested in Katy, but eventually I was rooting for her to (re)discover her life.
One Italian Summer is a story about the joy and sadness that comes in having something and then losing it; it’s about grief, guilt, discovery, flaws, and forgiveness. But most of all, it’s about love, pure and simple. Grab some gelato or an aperol spritz (or both), and get lost for a bit in Positano.
Tammy Byram is an avid reader who enjoys a good story and time with her family.
Local Obituaries
To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit our website at the link that follows.
Support Award-winning, Locally Focused Journalism
The FXBG Advance cuts through the talking points to deliver both incisive and informative news about the issues, people, and organizations that daily affect your life. And we do it in a multi-partisan format that has no equal in this region. Over the past month, our reporting was:
$8 a month supports great journalism
- First to report Mary Washington Healthcare’s move to close Kid’s Station Daycare
- First to detail MWHC’s taking actions that undermine the viability of the Moss Free Clinic.
- First to detail and then expose the controversy surrounding the Riverbend High School swim team
- Providing the region’s best political coverage of the upcoming 7th District Congressional race.
For just $8 a month, you can help support top-flight journalism that puts people over policies.
Your contributions 100% support our journalists.
Help us as we continue to grow!
