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Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'
Birds Art Life Death: A Field Guide to the Small and Significant by Kyo Maclear
2 reviews
stephaniereads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
I came to Kyo Maclear's work through her children's books - notably, The Big Bath House, a warm hug of a story about a young girl visiting her Japanese grandmother and how a trip to the bath house eased her into her maternal family after a time apart. Loving that book lead me to looking up her other work and discovering that not only does she write picture books, but also graphic novels and novels for adults and her nonfiction memoir, pictured here. I love to see someone's creativity splashed across so many formats!
Birds Art Life is about a time in Maclear's life when she was a little lost, caught up in mothering young children and caring for her aging father. She hears of a musician who was brought back to his own creativity through urban birding - she reaches out, and she spends a year following him around and learning about birds. She calls this book a "sketchbook" of sorts and I think that's accurate: it's divided up into themes for each month of the year (like smallness, or faltering, or roaming), and within those themes she talks about ecology, stories from her life, observations. It's lovely and insightful throughout, and every so often there are these breathtaking moments.
Recommending this one if you loved Wintering by Katherine May or the work of Mary Oliver. There's that same sense of quieting the self and paying attention to the dance between the outer and inner lives. Especially appealing to me were the chapters on smallness and waiting - this book is a real comfort if you feel a little lost, too. Like Maclear says, no one person is our guide in everything, but we can still let what speaks to us be a light when things seem dim.
Birds Art Life is about a time in Maclear's life when she was a little lost, caught up in mothering young children and caring for her aging father. She hears of a musician who was brought back to his own creativity through urban birding - she reaches out, and she spends a year following him around and learning about birds. She calls this book a "sketchbook" of sorts and I think that's accurate: it's divided up into themes for each month of the year (like smallness, or faltering, or roaming), and within those themes she talks about ecology, stories from her life, observations. It's lovely and insightful throughout, and every so often there are these breathtaking moments.
Recommending this one if you loved Wintering by Katherine May or the work of Mary Oliver. There's that same sense of quieting the self and paying attention to the dance between the outer and inner lives. Especially appealing to me were the chapters on smallness and waiting - this book is a real comfort if you feel a little lost, too. Like Maclear says, no one person is our guide in everything, but we can still let what speaks to us be a light when things seem dim.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness and Kidnapping
goosegrimm's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
4.75
"If I had a nickle for every book I'd read with bird watching as a central conceit, I'd have two nickles. Which isn't a lot but it is weird that it happened twice." - Me in 2020.
All jokes aside, I received this book as a part of my Life's Library subscription and truly savored it. Typically, I'm the type of reader to blow through a 500+ novel in a weekend, but this little book was so engaging, I chose to draw it out over several days, just to better appreciate Maclear's prose. She has a very engaging writing "voice" so to speak and I enjoyed the time I spent with her, discovering bird watching and all of the ways it intersects with our lives. I do actually recommend reading Birds, Art, Life and How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell together. They work very well in concert, and while Maclear focuses on the small and specific, Odell spins out the greater philosophical concepts behind the little things we all need to thrive.
If you are looking for a book to keep you company through another terrifying year of COVID, I suggest Birds, Art, Life as a companion. It reminds its readers that while life is terrifying, we can all find the little things that keep us going.
All jokes aside, I received this book as a part of my Life's Library subscription and truly savored it. Typically, I'm the type of reader to blow through a 500+ novel in a weekend, but this little book was so engaging, I chose to draw it out over several days, just to better appreciate Maclear's prose. She has a very engaging writing "voice" so to speak and I enjoyed the time I spent with her, discovering bird watching and all of the ways it intersects with our lives. I do actually recommend reading Birds, Art, Life and How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell together. They work very well in concert, and while Maclear focuses on the small and specific, Odell spins out the greater philosophical concepts behind the little things we all need to thrive.
If you are looking for a book to keep you company through another terrifying year of COVID, I suggest Birds, Art, Life as a companion. It reminds its readers that while life is terrifying, we can all find the little things that keep us going.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Dementia, and Injury/Injury detail
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