Play Book Tag discussion

This is the Buddy Read for West With Giraffes. It is both a Book that fell on the "Trim" number, and it also well qualifies for the Friendship Tag. Anyone and everyone is welcome to join.

I plan to do the Buddy Read. I have at least one book to finish.

When is everyone planning on starting?

It’s on its way to my library. I just started tomorrow times three. Which could take me a while. I think I might do my next subdue book after that, and west with giraffes after that. Somewhere between 10 days and two weeks?

Amy wrote: "It’s on its way to my library. I just started tomorrow times three. Which could take me a while. I think I might do my next subdue book after that, and west with giraffes after that. Somewhere betw..."

Sounds good.

I have lots to read this month but except for the one I'm currently reading, none that need to be read at any particular time. I'll plan on starting this around the 10th or so.

I've started reading and am about 30% done.

I love both coming of age, books about journeys/quests and animals of any kind. West with Giraffes combines all three, so I'm bound to like it.

It is reminiscent of both Water for Elephants and Lincoln Highway, because of the time period among other things.

I am at 10%! I also thought about the Lincoln Highway too.....

Amy wrote: "I am at 10%! I also thought about the Lincoln Highway too....."

Of course they are going in the opposite direction, but there are certainly some similarities between the main protagonists.

I'm 90% finished and will most likely complete it today.

It has managed to get me interested in giraffes and when I did a quick search there was a dearth of books about giraffes unless you were reading children's books and there are an abundance of picture books.

One interesting book I did find was Pursuing Giraffe: A 1950s Adventure by Anne Innis Dagg. Anne Innis Dagg was a young Canadian zoologist who in the 1950s went to Africa to do field studies on giraffes. This is her memoir about it.

She is still alive today and has a foundation:

https://anneinnisdaggfoundation.org/h...

Giraffes, a keystone animal are currently undergoing what is called a silent extinction, which you can read about here:

https://taronga.org.au/news/2019-06-2...

While adults are interested in polar bear, lions, elephants and rhinoceros, most sites seem to present giraffes for a younger audience. Here are a few:

https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.or...

https://www.ifaw.org/animals/giraffes
https://www.oregonzoo.org/discover/an...

Still only at 20% am super super tired. Slower reading month for me.

I've finished!

One of the things which I had trouble with was picturing the truck. I was imagining it as a semi of sorts. However this was not the case.

It is not much of a spoiler to see what it actually looked like:

https://coronadotimes.com/news/2022/0...

https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Reco...

I started it this morning and am so entranced with the whole story of how the giraffes survived and how they make their way across America. I love the story and immediately thought of The Lincoln Highway too.

I remember taking my grandkids to the zoo several years ago to see giraffes and they had a chance to feed them. I remember they had very sandpapery tongues. You can't look at a giraffe and not smile!

I am at 30% and there’s already a lot of love for the feeling in the book.

Finished and reviewed:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I also rated it 4 stars ...
LINK to my review

I finished this a couple of days ago, and it's always hard to return to the book later, when you are already 60% through another. I liked it a lot. It had a certain feeling to it. You know when a book has a feeling? It starts in the opening, envelops you, and doesn't let you go until long past the last pages have closed. West With Giraffe's was like that. I really loved it in so many ways and I liked that it reminded me of other books.

I have a patient who is an animal communicator. I really like it when books highlight the incredibly special relationships with and between animals that develop. That part felt true and like truth revealed to me. I did feel editing wise, that it was fine to tell it from the point of view of an 105 year old man. But the scenes around his furious writing and nursing home behavior did not add to the story and in fact was a distraction. It could have been just as beautiful without those slips inserted. But I like when a book is different - and spiritual. This one was both.

I'm so glad I read this. It was a delight. The way people came out to see them reminded me of the Seabiscuit story. It also occurred in 1938.