I don’t know what happened to me but one day I started watching birds. And listening to them. I used to hear them communicate in the strangest ways until I realized I was also listening to squirrels - ha!
Anyway- so imagine my joy when I discovered this new book about birding by Amy tan! And not just writing- artwork as well!

Of course all the stars for this book. I would prefer it in physical form though even though I read a lot of ebooks.

This would make a great gift for all bird lovers/watchers!

If you are a birder, or simply live where you have birds flying by, this book will draw you in and probably trick you in to putting out some seed and sitting back to watch. Amy Tan brings the same insight and contagious joy to bird watching as she does to her captivating fiction. Her books have stayed with me over the years, and now, as a more sedentary senior, I have enjoyed bird watching and appreciate the way Amy Tan has given the birds personalities and character traits that rival those in her fiction. In this book she tells of the beginnings of her birding hobby as it developed, including failures long with successes. Her drawings are exquisite, showing another skill of this multi talented women..
#Thebackyardbirdchronicles. #NetGalley

I have enjoyed the author's previous books very much, and I have to commend her for writing this one. What a departure from her other books! And what a talent she has. Wow.
I definitely can relate to Ms. Tan's love of watching birds. It's something I have enjoyed for almost 60 years. From the first birds my father pointed out to me as a boy in Wisconsin (blue jays, chickadees, and grosbeaks), to the first robin of spring, to beautiful Baltimore Orioles, and on and on. I remember the first Indigo Bunting I saw, in a creek bottom while trout fishing as a teen. It absolutely took my breath away. And then on to ducks and geese, and then owls out here in the PNW. I currently have SEVEN feeders in my yard, and spend many moments just watching the birds come in.
The author seems to have the same love for birds. The difference being her absolute incredible ability to describe them, as well as her beautiful drawings of them. What a great artist!
I fell in love with this book. I received it as an ARC from NetGalley, but I will absolutely be buying a hard copy when it is released in April. As well as a copy for my father, who is now 89 years old and still feeding the birds. I'm sure he will love it!
Thanks Ms. Tan for a great experience!

The chronicles is a passion project for author Amy Tan. As she shares, in 2016 she began to steadily document bird sightings. The drawings over the years become more refined and absolutely beautiful. It's a pleasure to read a great writer's musings and this is a gem of a book for any Amy Tan fan, birdwatching fan or just someone wanting to slow down and appreciate the nature around us #Thebackyardbirdchronicles #amytan #knopf

Amy Tan invites the artist in all of us to come with her as she shares the birds that visit her yard. And yes, I believe that everyone has an artist inside... her encouragement is contagious! I read this ARC on my Kindle App on my iPad, but I believe that the true delight of this book (Amy's artwork) might be best experienced in the book, which I absolutely plan on getting!

I love the idea of keeping track of my backyard visitors! If you love to watch birds, you will enjoy this book! If you are inspired to try your hand at drawing your backyard visitors... you will absolutely love this book!

I would like to thank Netgalley, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for this copy of The Backyard Bird Chronicles. This book will be published April 23, 2024.

This book was an absolute delight! Just lovely writing and a truly enjoyable read especially for the novice birder. The drawings are simply spectacular and the forward by David Sibley is splendid. Highly recommend for the birder/nature lover in your life. Really fun to see how human relationships developed as a result of a common interest in birds.

Such a sweet book. I loved the illustrations. There is so much to be found in our own backyards. Highly recommend this book.

This is such a lovely book! Love the story from the artist as she tells the reader of how she came to watch, track/document birds in her backyard. Beautifu essays and drawn illustrations . One of my favorite books of 2023. A very special Thank you to Knopf via NetGalley for the advanced ebook in exchange for my honest review.

I liked the drawings and some of the writing, though it felt a little off as a diary - I kept feeling like there wasn't a great cohesive whole, that there should have been more plot or something, so for me the journaling aspect didn't work all that well. But still some insightful moments and the illustrations are wonderful

Amy Tan writes about birds seen in her backyard in a journal format. She is a talented artist, and includes color sketches of many of the species. At the end of the book, she lists every species she has identified. This book may be of special interest to those who enjoy birdwatching as a hobby, but possibly less interesting to the general reader. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for providing an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Many of you likely know Amy Tan. She is a phenomenal writer who has been around a minute. This, however, is not her normal style of book.

Beginning before she knew anything about birds to being able to identify and sketch an impressive variety. However, this is not a dry, scientific nature journal. This book allows you to grow with the author as she learns what she can about birds, even finding facts about them herself through observation and impromptu experiments. You also get a sense of who the author is on a deeper level than perhaps her works of fiction.

Between 2017 and 2022, you can see the constant evolving improvement of her artwork, and through these, you get a taste of her sense of humor as she interprets actions into emotions and conversations.

Now, I rather enjoyed this book. The Big Year with Steve Martin and Jack Black is one of my favorite movies. I have watched it numerous times, and sometimes when I just need to destress, that is my go-to movie. I have been subscribed to ABC for years, and recently was turned on to eBird by an environmental science course at OSU. I am not a birder by any stretch of the word, but I do love to see them. So, this book immediately grabbed my interest and did not disappoint.

I love that it felt like Amy Tan invited the reader into her world, into her obsession/hobby. I could imagine perhaps standing on her porch, still as a statue, watching the birds on the suet cages, in the birdbaths, in the feeders, and on the windowsills, as she quietly pointed out the different species and varieties.

I appreciated the fact that she did not take the sides of certain birds over others when it came to natural predator/prey scenarios, and how vehemently she disagreed with certain societal norms in petkeeping. I could also empathize with her grief over birds that met ill fates. She rarely named the birds because the number and types and individuals varied from year to year, season to season, day to day, but she never fails to give them personalities.

One of the most endearing things about this book is her endless curiosity. She states she began birding at the age of 64, and that made my heart just absolutely soar because reading these journals and the little blurbs she puts next to the sketches truly shows her child-like wonder at these magnificent creatures. She never stops asking questions, and she doesn't let the "poobahs" on the Facebook birding groups who put her down for asking questions get her down.

I absolutely adored this book, and I am so glad she decided to allow us a glimpse into her world by publishing this.

A truly wholesome and beautiful book, The Backyard Bird Chronicles would be a lovely addition to your bird-book collection.

Amy Tan guides us through the her persinal stages of birding and drawing them.

Thank you #NetGalley for #TheBackyardBirdChronicles

I cannot express enough how wholesome and warm this book is. Reading this curled up on the couch, periodically looking out my window at the wildlife around me, I felt like I was so content.

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan depicts drawings and journal entries from her time learning about birding. And yes, it's THAT Amy Tan. Her drawings and sketches of birds and her hilarious accounts of all that comes with bird watching were so much fun to read. You can tell by reading it just how much she cares about birds, nature, and being one with her surroundings. I'm trying to get more into bird watching, and so this book was the perfect book for me to pick up. I had such a good time reading it and will absolutely be getting a physical copy for myself when it is released!

5/5 stars!!!!!

Well I already love Amy Tan and have ushered myself into my birding era, so I was thrilled to see The Backyard Bird Chronicles was on NetGalley. This was an absolutely wonderful book, and is something that I would definitely buy as a physical copy. The ebook doesn't do her wonderful art justice.

Thanks very much to Knopf for making this title available to review through NetGalley.

This book reminds of the kind of book your grandfather reads, loves, and recommends to you. You ignore ole gramps and then pick it up in a moment of guilt, realize that it's actually fascinating, and you let your grandfather know it was a great suggestion.

He asks if you'd like to go birding, you accept, you have fallen into the birding trap and now argue on internet forums about Yellow Bellied Tits. You and Gramps are closer than ever.

All in all, a fantastic read and I'm off to begin my birding journey!

Well written, of course. Very interesting if you're into birding. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

I want to firstly thank the publisher and NetGalley for a digital review copy/ARC of this title!

As a fellow lover of birds, I was immediately drawn into the premise of a journal chronicling the everyday behaviors of backyard birds, and this book was everything I thought it would be and more! Tan delivers a delightful read detailing the fascinating and quirky exploits of a variety of common backyard birds in her own Californian backyard, and I found myself learning so much throughout her entries.

I particularly enjoyed considering all of the questions Tan voiced as she observed the birds, even those to which she had no answers, as I often find myself doing the same when watching my own backyard birds. Yet, despite the fact that we will probably never know all the answers, Tan’s obvious love of and for birds showcases how much of a privilege it is to simply enjoy and bask in the beauty of our birds.

Despite the pangs of heartbreak in a handful of journal entries, it makes me all the more inspired to learn as much as I can about how I can help birds thrive in my own backyard. Her poignant, and often humorous, observations, coupled with her stunning sketches (I cannot wait to read this book in print to appreciate her sketches even more in color!) makes me want to start journaling my own backyard bird chronicles.

I would highly recommend this book to bird lovers everywhere, as well as to those who appreciate the beauty of nature and harbor a curiosity about the amazing creatures who call it home.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which narrates the last few years in the author's backyard as she meets a varied crew of feathered friends. Interspersed with the text are pages directly from her nature journal, which showcase not only her artistic ability but also her sense of humor. Some entries become somewhat repetitive, but seeing the connections drawn from year to year can be useful and interesting too.

Amy Tan is already extremely well-known in the writing world and has been as long as I can remember, so it's fun to see her exploring a skill new to her and embracing curiosity and the experience of being an amateur. As a nature journaler myself, I found this book to be inspiring. It would make the perfect gift for your birdwatching friends.

As a birder myself, I was excited to read this, and I was intrigued by the fact that Amy Tan was the author. I enjoyed this collection of journal entries featuring the birds from her backyard. There were lows (sick and injured birds) and highs (sightings of rare birds or of behavior not often observed). There were observations about the behavior of the different species, and there was humor too, especially in the captions accompanying the illustrations.

I recommend this to any nature lover but especially to fellow birders. Thank you NetGalley for the early read.

I love this so much! It is gorgeous! Amy Tan did something we could all do with little time and talent and maybe a lot more talent. She documented her backyard bird visitors and her excitement was infectious. I am a bird person but this is next level bird love. The sketches are wonderful too!