Birdseed Cookies

About the Book

Thousands of National Public Radio listeners in the South have delighted in the quirky commentaries of Yankee transplant Janis Jaquith.

In these sixty-six essays, originally broadcast on NPR-station WVTF in Roanoke, Virginia, Jaquith shines her light on everything from heartbreak to head lice, birdseed cookies to empty nests.

"Jaquith writes like a dream. I spent a wonderful afternoon on my sickbed almost oblivious to my ills because of her sharp wit and poignant remembrances.

"This collection of her essays, Birdseed Cookies, is a jewel. All that listeners have come to appreciate in her soul-baring morning chats are gathered together for the first time.

"Each and every Jaquith essay appeals because of honesty and humor, puckishness and polish. She explores everyday topics with taste and finesse and remembers life´s little moments that most of us have forgotten: listening to a favorite radio program in the dark; putting an ear to the railroad tracks to hear trains coming; revisiting a childhood home that suddenly seems a whole lot smaller.

"Jaquith´s voice rings true; I applaud her and her ability to put pen to paper and comment so acutely on our times."

--The Roanoke Times, May 6, 2001

About the Author

"These were the kind of people who use 'summer' as a verb. As in, 'we summer in Bar Harbor.' I summered down the street in Leslie Dluzneiski's cellar or else I summered out back, in the swamp, catching tadpoles. I wintered in pretty much the same places." from "Why I Don't Ski" Whether she's going on about her neighbors ("They have more money and better taste than I do.") or recalling scenes from a New England childhood ("…the air is heavy with a bracing saltiness and carries that decaying smell of low tide that reminds you how temporary it all is.") Jaquith's vignettes are full of heart, humor, and unexpected insights.