Gods of the Morning

Not long finished "Gods of the Morning  - A  Bird's Eye View of a Highland Year" by John Lister-Kay - a lovely book with lots of beautiful observations of Highland wildlife plus comments on serious matters like climate change in relation to his own surroundings.

  • I’m in the middle of reading it at the moment, Maggy, and I agree, it’s a wonderful book. We got our copy at the Scottish Bird Fair last year where Mrs A got it signed by Mr Kaye himself.

    A story about Mrs A and book signing.

    We were in Oban several years ago, (waiting to get the ferry out to South Uist). Oban is around 115 miles away from home for us. We had a bit of time to spare so we went in for a browse around the Waterstones book shop there. When we got in we realised that there was an author in there doing book signings and obviously promoting and selling his latest book. Me, being me, I was mumbling to Mrs A, “don’t catch his eye, he’ll only try to sell us a book”. Mrs A, being Mrs A, walked straight up to him and started chatting to him.!! She then beckoned me over where it was discovered that the author was a gentleman called Paul Henke. He writes thrillers (which we both do enjoy) but I still didn’t want to be cajoled into buying a book; maybe just the Scot in me  :-)  Anyway, the conversation led onto him asking where we lived, so we told him the general area to which he then told us that he had lived in the same area for some amount of years. The area was whittled down and eventually he told us that he had lived in the very same small town where I work.!! By this time I was thinking to myself “this guy is good, he’s a natural storyteller and is attempting to dupe us into buying one of his books”. I decided to put him on the spot and asked him exactly where about in the town he had lived. In all honesty I was expecting a general answer such as ‘Main Street, High Street’ or the likes but he actually surprised me by telling us a street name which there is absolutely 100% no way he could have plucked out of the air.!! It turned out that I was actually good friends with a gentleman who had lived on the very same street (the very same gentleman who went on to buy a local farmhouse and yard where myself and my friends rehearsed for a number of years when we played in a Rock Band). I told Mr Henke of my friendship with the gentleman and he went on to name the gentleman’s wife and kids and asked me to pass on his good wishes when next I seen my friend. This I did several months later, and as I started to tell my friend of meeting an author in a bookshop he immediately said “Paul Henke” “a very nice man”.  I have to say that Mrs A’s (bought and paid for) …… :-( …… signed copy of Mr Henke’s latest book was actually a very good read.!!

    It’s a small world indeed. :-)

  • Liked your account of meeting Paul Henke - I agree really small world!  

    I also got my (signed!) copy of Gods of the Morning at the Scottish Bird Fair - I had previously read and enjoyed one of his other books - "At the Water's Edge" - another lovely read.

  • Sounds like another two books for me to look out for, thanks Maggy.

    Paul I think we are all wary of being talked into buying something we don't really need etc.   I never carry a card or much money around with me as I know how susceptible I am to a good talker and would end up spending far too much.   Scary to think what you would have missed if Mrs A hadn't got into conversation though, funny old world.    

  • A lovely story Paul, and how good it turned out for you both. Must have a look out for these.

  • Sounds like my sort of book,another one for the book shop wish list.

  • another excellent book by John Lister-Kaye is "At the Water's Edge:  A Walk in the Wild"  - a lovely read

  • I have Gods of the Morning on my bookshelf, the local library found a copy very quickly, and I am looking forward to a good read sometime soon.   Will have to bookmark this page to remember the other titles you recommend Maggy.