We Loved It All

Finished February 23

We Loved It All: A Memory of Life by Lydia Millet

This is the first nonfiction book by the author and is very hard to classify as it includes so many different things. While Millet has written several works of fiction, she has also had a long career at the Center for Biological Diversity, advocating for wildlife and climate change preparedness. 

This book mixes her personal memories with scientific facts, vignettes of animal and plant interactions with humans, and thoughts about life in general. 

The book is split into three sections, and she works to show our connections to others' experiences, and to life beyond the human. You can feel her emotions around many of these elements. Paragraphs within sections jump from the personal to the other elements, and sometimes feel like an expression of a stream of consciousness, with one thought leading to another. 

There are many things here that reminded me of my own memories of interactions with nature, and that revived knowledge I forgot that I had. There are also times where she taught me something new. This is a book that is hard to rush through, that one needs to sit with, and take time to examine one's reactions and thoughts. 

Music for Tigers

Finished July 2
Music for Tigers by Michelle Kadarusman

This fantastic middle school book brings together the beauty of music and the environment along with human diversity. Louisa is the narrator here and she has been sent from her home in Canada to stay for the summer with her veterinarian uncle in Tasmania. Louisa's mom is Australian and engaged in a research study that would leave Louisa home alone for longer than her parents like. Louisa has brought her violin with her, intending to keep up her practicing for an upcoming audition for the Toronto Children's Symphony Orchestra. The rest of her family is into science and she doesn't feel they understand her interests.
When her uncle Ruff meets her at the bus and leads her into the rainforest, she is made suddenly aware of the new environment that she will be living in for the next few weeks. The family camp is in poor repair, and lacks many of the things that Louisa would expect. She is staying in a cabin last used by her older sister several years ago, and not cleaned in preparation for her visit. The only electricity in in the main cabin where the kitchen and her uncle's sleeping quarters are.
Luckily the environmental camp near by, run by a childhood friend of Louisa's mom, offers an Internet connection and other amenities. The son of the camp director, Colin, is close to Louisa in age and comes to stay at her uncle's camp for a variety of reasons. Colin is a great character, and his attitude helps Louisa to come out of her shell, as does the family history that Ruff shares with her.
As Louisa learns about the history of this part of Australia, about the animals that live here and that have become endangered, she finds herself more interested in the science than she has before. And some of the animals might be interested in her music as well.
Colin is on the autism spectrum and has special interests in the environment and in cooking, which is a great help to Ruff and Louisa. And as Louisa and Colin begin their friendship, they find they both have things to offer each other and more in common than they might have thought.
I really enjoyed learning about this part of the world, a part of Australia that I have not visited, and about the wildlife that is native to it. I also enjoyed seeing Louisa grow over the course of the book and become more engaged with people and the world around her, while still valuing her music.

Vanishing Wildlife

Finished May 23
Vanishing Wildlife: a sound guide to Britain's endangered species from the British Library Sound Archives

This recording collects sounds from 31 different wildlife species, letting the listener experience the noises they may never be able to listen to in the wild.
Sounds included her are: Captercaillie, Scottish Crossbill; Red Squirrel; Scottish Wildcat; Pine Marten; Black Grouse; Hen Harrier; Woodlark; Nightjar; Stone Curlew; Red-backed Shrike; Adder; Natterjack Toad; Wryneck; New Forest Cicada; Bittern; Marsh Warbler; Black tailed Godwit; Otter; Pool Frog; Mole Cricket; Noctule Bat; Pipistrelle Bat; White-tailed Sea Eagle; Roseate Tern; Greater Horseshoe Bat; Corncrake; Quail; Cirl Bunting; Wart-biter; and Field Cricket.
I really liked the bats, trying to think how to describe the sounds they make the best I could come up with was a kind of damp squeaking.
The nightjar noise would give me a headache if it went on much longer than it did here, but most of the other birds were very pleasant to listen to, inducing a feeling of pleasure and stress release.
Some noises were surprising, others what you would expect.
This is a lovely and unique collection for any animal lover.