Just a quick reminder that we’re flying into our next book, American Birds: A Literary Companion, edited by Andrew Rubenfeld, and we will meet on Sunday, May 17, from 4-6 pm to discuss it! With Eastertide and its Rogation Days, it's a meaningful time to read some of the best writing on the creaturely gifts of the avian world. In fact, you can enjoy a whole weekend of celebrating our feathered friends with our Bird & Nature Walk on May 16 at 10 am, at the Fairfield Audubon Society.

Publisher’s summary for American Birds:

Featuring some of America's greatest writers and poets, this landmark anthology is a one-of-a-kind field guide to the American literary imagination.

Americans have always been fascinated by birds and from the beginning American writers have captured this keen interest in a variety of genres: poems, journals, memoirs, short stories, essays, and travel accounts. Here, literature professor and avid birder Andrew Rubenfeld, in collaboration with acclaimed writer Terry Tempest Williams, who provides a foreword, gathers evocative and surprising writings on birds and our fascination with them from an astonishing array of American poets and writers. The result is a literature of singular depth and beauty, with occasional flights of fancy in the mix.

Experience the exquisite beauty of Native American songs about birds. Accompany Lewis and Clark as they encounter new species, Audubon as he sketches near New Orleans, and Emerson and Thoreau birding together around Walden Pond. Delight in Sarah Orne Jewett’s poignant tale of a snowy egret in the Maine woods and Florence Merriam’s portrait of a winter wren in Central Park. Join Rachel Carson as she watches skimmers along the Atlantic coast and Roger Tory Peterson observing snail kites in the Everglades. And thrill to an impressive roster of modern and contemporary poets, including Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, Sterling A. Brown, Cornelius Eady, Mary Oliver, Linda Hogan, Louise Erdrich, and David Tomas Martinez, as they evoke the magic and haunting beauty of America’s birds.

Alongside American Birds, we will also spend time discussing the poems you are reading from A Century of Poetry: 100 Poems for Searching the Heart, edited by Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury. As always, everyone is welcome, whether you've been reading the current book or not. We always spend the first part of our time together chatting about the other books we've all been reading, and honestly, as fascinating as our book discussions are, talking about other books is one of my favorite parts of what we do together!

Details for our next reading discussion

What:
American Birds: A Literary Companion, edited by Andrew Rubenfeld
Selections from A Century of Poetry by Rowan Williams

When:
Sunday, May 17, 4–6 pm

Where:
Church lounge

Please RSVP and bring a snack to share:
📧 tamarahillmurphy@gmail.com

2026 reading list with discussion dates

Please know that while I've done my best, changes to dates or titles may be needed as we approach each one.