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ladylizardxvii's review against another edition
5.0
This is a book I will have to revisit! I listened to it on audiobook this time through and loved the way Maclear writes in such an easy, conversational way. This book inspired me to get creative, both in writing and art again, and I will always hold it in high esteem for that!
apar's review against another edition
5.0
I worry that there might be a cost to living a defended life and moving through the world as an unstoppable self. The cost of joy.
Birds, Art, Life, Death is a slow, careful, beautiful meditation on…well, birds, art, life and death. The entire book reads like a long, slow breath, a quiet absorption in life.
Kyo Maclear has a quiet, steady voice, a *strong* voice, to air out her thoughts, fears and vulnerabilities. She does an excellent job of describing her relationship with birds and birding, with creating and fearing, with childhood and adulthood. She captures smallness—in birds, life, and moments, and gives it a sense of infinitude through connections.
“[w]orry is a constriction. A mind narrows when it has too much to bear. Art is not borne of unwanted constriction. Art wants formless and spacious quiet, anti-social daydreaming, time away from the consumptive volume ng of everyday life.
Like so many works of nature writing and memoir, the narrative occasionally dips and rises and dashes off in unexpected directions. And like the best of nature writing and memoir, she maintains control of her material, taking you in a direction; not necessarily toward answers, but toward a re-contextualising questions.
When I ran away as a teenager I was running from ideas about my character and my future and my purpose in life. I was running away from a story about dutiful daughters. I returned because I did not know where I would go or who I would be without these ideas.
Birds, Art, Life, Death is a wonderful piece of writing and storytelling that is going to stay with me for a while.
The birds tell me not to worry, that the worries that sometimes overwhelm me are little in the grand scheme of things. They tell me it’s alright to be belittled by the bigness of the world. There are some belittlements and diminishments that make you stronger, kinder.
samanthamenzo's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
dcliz's review against another edition
3.0
A gem of a book that I read because my workplace book club selected it (I work for the Audubon Society). I enjoyed it, but did not find it engrossing, hence the three stars. It generated a good discussion. If you read it, come armed with post-it notes or another way to record some of the written treasures. There were many times I missed being able to "highlight" a profound sentence because I was not reading it on my eBook reader. I read much of it in an afternoon at a city pool. It's the type of book that is pleasant to read on a lounge chair outside.
toniclark's review against another edition
4.0
A lovely memoir about birds and birding, with lessons for art and life. Quiet and contemplative, Maclear makes you want to slow down, look more closely, reconnect with your inner life, and find beauty and meaning in the life around you. It would be hard to read this book without slowing down and breathing more deeply. A good book to reread and give to friends.
jellybird25's review against another edition
inspiring
reflective
4.25
Set in Toronto! Well written and thought provoking. Interesting to try to process life along with the author
dcherry_pie's review against another edition
2.0
While objectively a good book, it just wasn’t for me! I almost didn’t finish but was close enough to see it through to the end. I really don’t care about birds so some of the descriptions and “lessons” were hard to get into. There were many quotes from/references to people I didn’t know which I found a little distracting. Some of the anecdotal morals were wonderful - others I was not convinced about.
saracat's review against another edition
3.0
Due to lots of things going on in my life, there was a lot of stopping and then coming back to this book after time had passed, so especially once over halfway, there were things referenced that I couldn’t remember. And I can’t remember the beginning of the book anymore so I am not left with any sense if there was a goal/point/direction that the book went in.
There were interesting passages and some lines that were quite poignant. But, it doesn’t inspire much in me, though that could potentially be because of when I read it in my life journey.
There were interesting passages and some lines that were quite poignant. But, it doesn’t inspire much in me, though that could potentially be because of when I read it in my life journey.