I picked up this trade paperback from the Friends of the Library used book store in Wheaton, Maryland for $2.00. I found the picture on the front of this national book award finalist's cover intriguing.

I started reading this book for the January 2016 TIOLI challenge on LibraryThing to read a book you already owned on 1 January 2015, but haven't yet read/finished.

This is the story of Fabian Vas, a teenage boy in a very small town in Newfoundland, Canada, over 100 years ago. Although he has been sleeping regularly with Margaret, a girl four years older than he, his mother has secretly been planning for her son to wed his own fourth cousin whom her son has never met. The boy sees that his mother has taken to shacking up with the lighthouse keeper, Bothos August, while his dad was away for two months on work trip. This leads the boy to murder the lighthouse keeper (which we know as the book opens. No spoilers here).

The pace of this book is halting, and the story hugely interesting. There is an undercurrent of subtle, dry humor very much covered over by the harsh realities of life. Fabian is a bird artist. His lovely pictures of birds are purchased by magazines, while in his own life, family and friends shoot and eat birds (and are not reticent to let Fabian know this).

Names of so many people abound in this story. They are also odd. Fabian's dad is Orkney Vas; his mom is Alaric Banville. The lighthouse keeper is Botho August. We hear lots of names in this book but are not intended to remember most of them. The book also talks about the Beothuk, who were an indigenous people to Newfoundland. Perhaps the names in this book are of Beothuk origin (as are the songs that some of the characters sing or hum).

This is a captivating story. It is also a look at one of the more unusual mother-son relationships that I've encountered in a novel. I'd say to give this book a read! It is quite different from the run-of-the mill stories of small town life that I've read in th past. It's really a great book!

This release is for GoryDetails' 2016 Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) release challenge (Feb. 1-29). For more details about the actual bird count, check out this bird-count site.

The book I'm now releasing has the word BIRD in the title.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Happy reading!

I selected this book from the Little Free Library of Twinbrook (#7720) to travel elsewhere...

I'm releasing this book for following BookCrossing challenge:

*** The May 2016 Ultimate Challenge hosted by jumpingin. The theme for the month is arts & crafts. This book has the word ARTIST in the title.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm releasing this book at the Gaithersburg Book Festival.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello and welcome to BookCrossing...where we make the whole world our library!

Please make a journal entry so we know this book was found. You may now join BookCrossing (free!) to follow this book's travels. It's so much fun. Your information will not be shared or sold. As you join, consider listing SqueakyChu as your referring person.

This book is now yours to keep or share with someone else. Take your time to read this book. Afterward, make a journal entry to record your thoughts about it. If you release it, kindly make a release note to let me know where it is traveling. Thank you so much.

Happy reading!