Amy Tan journeys from novelist to naturalist without leaving her backyard
Los Angeles Times -

Most birders have origin stories, the tales they tell of how birds, for whatever reason, moved from background to foreground in their lives. Novelist Amy Tan’s journey, catalogued in her delightful new nonfiction book “The Backyard Bird Chronicles,” began with a sketchbook and a pencil. At the age of 64, she enrolled in a drawing class with naturalist John Muir Laws. She soon moved on to a class in nature journaling, which prompted her to begin closely observing the birds in the backyard of her...

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