August 2017 Reads

My August 2017 Reads

I walked into the store last night and saw this book and knew it was placed on the shelf just for me to purchase. 

Yes. Here is a book cover I absolutely love.

That is correct. I have said it. 


I love the book cover SNAPPER. 


And why wouldn't I? Many of my favorite memories involve birdwatching and hiking in Indiana. 

The opening paragraph of chapter 1 is intriguing. 
" I got my job by accident. A sycamore tree landed on my predecessor's 4 x 4 during a thunderstorm. He spent six months in a neck brace."


It is good to change things up every once in awhile. For me, July was a pretty intense month with many excellent war reads. And, quite frankly, I need a laugh. I thought this would be a great escape to all the WWII references and then I open the book to page 26  and it mentions WWII. Oh well. I won't totally escape the war references but at least I will have a more humorous read this month. 

And here is my review of SNAPPER.

Goodreads Description for 
SNAPPPER
Brian Kimberling

Published April 23rd 2013 by Pantheon (first published January 1st 2013)

Hardcover, 224 page

A great, hilarious new voice in fiction: the poignant, all-too-human recollections of an affable bird researcher in the Indiana backwater as he goes through a disastrous yet heartening love affair with the place and its people.

Nathan Lochmueller studies birds, earning just enough money to live on. He drives a glitter-festooned truck, the Gypsy Moth, and he is in love with Lola, a woman so free-spirited and mysterious she can break a man’s heart with a sigh or a shrug. Around them swirls a remarkable cast of characters: the proprietor of Fast Eddie’s Burgers & Beer, the genius behind “Thong Thursdays”; Uncle Dart, a Texan who brings his swagger to Indiana with profound and nearly devastating results; a snapping turtle with a taste for thumbs; a German shepherd who howls backup vocals; and the very charismatic state of Indiana itself. And at the center of it all is Nathan, creeping through the forest to observe the birds he loves and coming to terms with the accidental turns his life has taken.

I am also reading in August 

The Animals Among Us

 How pets Make Us Human

 by John Bradshaw

MANGA ART

 Here is the review.


INSPIRATION and TECHNIQUES from an EXPERT ILLUSTRATOR


   by Mark Crilley