Scan barcode
Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'
Birds Art Life Death: A Field Guide to the Small and Significant by Kyo Maclear
1 review
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
More...