Birds of America: Stories

Amazon.com

Lorrie Moore made her debut in 1985 with Self-Help, which proved that she could write about sadness, sex, and the single girl with as much tenderness--and with considerably more wit--than almost any of her contemporaries. She followed this story collection with another, Like Life, as well as two fine novels, Anagrams and Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? Yet Moore's rapid-fire alternation of mirth and deep melancholy is so perfectly suited to the short form that readers will greet Birds of America with an audible sigh of relief--and delight. In "Willing," for example, a second-rate Hollywood starlet retreats into a first-rate depression, taking shelter in a Chicago-area Days Inn. The author's eye for the small comic detail is intact: her juice-bar-loving heroine initially drowns her sorrows in "places called I Love Juicy or Orange-U-Sweet." Yet Moore seldom satisfies herself with mere pop-cultural mockery. She's too interested in the small and large devastations of life, which her actress is experiencing in spades. "Walter leaned her against his parked car," Moore relates. "His mouth was slightly lopsided, paisley-shaped, his lips anneloid and full, and he kissed her hard. There was something numb and on hold in her. There were small dark pits of annihilation she discovered in her heart, in the loosening fist of it, and she threw herself into them, falling." Elsewhere, the author serves up a similar mixture of one-liners and contemporary grief, lamenting the death of a housecat in "Four Calling Birds, Three French Hens" and the death of a marriage in "Which Is More Than I Can Say About That." And her hilarious account of a nuclear family undergoing a meltdown in "Charades" will make you want to avoid parlor games for the rest of your natural life. --James Marcus

Book Description

A long-awaited collection of stories--twelve in all--by one of the most exciting writers at work today, the acclaimed author of Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? and Self-Help. Stories remarkable in their range, emotional force, and dark laughter, and in the sheer beauty and power of their language.
        From the opening story, "Willing"--about a second-rate movie actress in her thirties who has moved back to Chicago, where she makes a seedy motel room her home and becomes involved with a mechanic who has not the least idea of who she is as a human being--Birds of America unfolds a startlingly brilliant series of portraits of the unhinged, the lost, the unsettled of our America.
        In the story "Which Is More Than I Can Say About Some People" ("There is nothing as complex in the world--no flower or stone--as a single hello from a human being"), a woman newly separated from her husband is on a long-planned trip through Ireland with her mother. When they set out on an expedition to kiss the Blarney Stone, the image of wisdom and success that her mother has always put forth slips away to reveal the panicky woman she really is.
        In "Charades," a family game at Christmas is transformed into a hilarious and insightful (and fundamentally upsetting) revelation of crumbling family ties.
        In "Community Life,"a shy, almost reclusive, librarian, Transylvania-born and Vermont-bred, moves in with her boyfriend, the local anarchist in a small university town, and all hell breaks loose. And in "Four Calling Birds, Three French Hens," a woman who goes through the stages of grief as she mourns the death of her cat (Anger, Denial, Bargaining, Häagen Dazs, Rage) is seen by her friends as really mourning other issues: the impending death of her parents, the son she never had, Bosnia.
        In what may be her most stunning book yet, Lorrie Moore explores the personal and the universal, the idiosyncratic and the mundane, with all the wit, brio, and verve that have made her one of the best storytellers of our time.

Customer Reviews:

For anyone with a child interned at the hospital..........2007-03-22

Recently I spent a third long stay at a hospital with my daughter. Living at the hospital, particularly accompanying your child, is a surreal (at best) existence. I found myself thinking constantly of Moore's incredible rending yet somehow darkly humorous story, "People Like That Are the Only People Here: Canonical Babbling in Peed Onk," wondering if anyone could possibly understand the dazed flurourescent-lit world of a pediatric hospital/cafeteria/series of Lego-like halls without having been forced to live it. The story brought me strange comfort, knowing that someone had glimpsed that life, the one where you're woken up constantly in the night and wonder whether it's night or day or if you'll ever get out of sweatpants, and as I waited to hear news regarding red blood cells, a part of me was falling apart for the mothers and children I saw there whose stay would not be nine or ten days, as ours, but months. If you know anyone who is stuck at the hospital for ridiculous amounts of time, this is the gift to bring them. The other stories are excellent too.

Discovering Lorrie Moore.......2007-01-09

Lorrie Moore's collections of short stories are funny, moving and poignant. Her voice is clear and unfaltering. "People like that are the only people here; canonical babbling in peed onk" is certainly the most tender and agonizing depiction of dealing with the illness of a child.
All her stories are filled with clearly drawn characters in a variety of backgrounds across America and Europe. I look forward to every new addition to her fine work.

Drivel dressed in ill fitting wordplay..........2006-09-19

Ms Moore undoubtedly knows how to write a clever turn of phrase. But she seems far too consciously self conscious and wears her jaded view of life like a personal crown of thorns. Some of the stories were passably entertaining, but strangely forgettable. Most of them, however were numbingly cynical and self absorbed. I tried to read this book (based on wildly enthusiastic reviews at the time) back when it was published in 1998. I never finished it. This year I ran into it on my bookshelf again, and wondered if I'd read it; and if so, why didn't I remember it? There was a bookmark still in it...about three or four stories in. So...why couldn't I remember anything about it? I started reading it again...and nothing came to mind. I had absolutely no recollection of any of the stories I'd apparently read in 1998. I made it to the 10th story this time, and once again...I put the book back on the shelf. This time I enclosed a note to not bother with it again. I sincerely hope that most people do not view life as presented in this book, and I ardently hope most people aren't as flawed and unbalanced as Ms Moore seems to view them. While there are moments of humor, I fail to see goose genocide as amusing. That is just one example of what I saw as cynicism run amok. I attempted to re-read this book only two weeks ago. I just went and got it back down to write this review...and to my surprise...once AGAIN..I'd already forgotten most of every story. What a waste.

What wonderful stories!.......2006-01-06

I wasn't very enthusiastic with Self-Help, but decided to give Lorrie Moore another whirl. Birds of America is a wonderful short-story collection and I am glad I had decided not to put this author on my black list. The stories in this book center on female angst (and a couple of them center on men), nothing new there, but her stories are told with a mixture of poignancy, humor and insight that make them irresistible. Some of the stories also had a bit of surrealistic twist, which made them even more attractive. Some of them deal with mundane issues, like grieving a pet's death, and others deal with more serious matters, like a terminal illness, but they are all told in a way that give the characters a great deal of depth. My favorite stories are "Terrific Mother," "Charades," "Four Calling Birds, Three French Hens," "People Like That Are the Only People Here," and "Real Estate." These stories are amazing and I cannot recommend this collection enough. Perhaps I was too harsh with Ms. Moore when I read Self-Help. She has proven to be quite an amazing storyteller with this collection.

A Christmas Appreciation of Lorrie Moore.......2005-12-20

It's Christmastime and my own book of short stories, "The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea" debuted just last Friday, December 16th, on Amazon, and I was trying to describe to someone what my work is like. It's hard to describe your own work, but that's what brought me here, to find how Moore is described. I greatly admire Lorrie Moore, for her humor, for her style, and for her bravery to explore purely sad and horrible moments with such incredible insight and, often, light. Hence, before moving on, I thought I'd write a love letter to her work.

"Birds of America" is filled with a variety of women ("birds," as they say in England) who are unique. Included in the volume are a dancer, a real estate agent, an actress, an English teacher, and more, and they all become vivid and archetypical--never stereotypical. In Moore's stories, you laugh and you gasp. For instance, in "People Like That Are the Only People Here: Canonical Babbling in Peed Onk" a mother learns her baby has cancer, and in her plunging worry and despair in visits to the pediatrics oncology wing, the mother's insight often comes tinged with humor. "`I've never heard of a baby having chemo,' the Mother says. `Baby' and `chemo,' she thinks, should never even appear in the same sentence together, let alone the same life."

A similar high-wire act occurs in "Terrific Mother," about a 35-year-old woman who sits on picnic bench holding her friend's baby, and the bench gives way and the baby is accidentally killed. Both friends' lives change inextricably. The story is about the woman who was holding the baby, not the mother, and one sentence betrays how the woman was stapled into despair: "She had spent the better part of seven months napping in a leotard, an electric fan blowing at her, her left ear catching the wind, capturing it there in her head, like the sad sea in a shell." Her friend Martin suggests they marry and she could then accompany him to an academic conference in Italy. She says, "You don't understand. Normal life is no longer possible for me. I've stepped off all the normal paths and am living in the bushes. I'm a bushwoman now. I don't feel like I can have normal things. Marriage is normal thing." As she continues talking, her eyes burn, and "she waved her hand dismissively, and it passed through her field of vision like something murderous and huge." The woman and Martin marry anyway, and the time in Italy is tough--yet unparalleled.

I've found myself highlighting lines in her stories just to feel the words more deeply. A few examples: "Her room was a corner room where a piano was allowed. It was L-shaped, like a life veering off suddenly to become something else" (from "Willing"); "In his mouth is a piece of gray chewing gum like a rat's brain" (from "Beautiful Grade"); "The pediatrician, nurse, and head resident are all drawing their mouths in, bluish and tight--morning glories sensing noon" (from "People Like That...).

Writing stories is difficult, especially when you consider how subjective both writing and reading can be. When I saw someone here rated Moore a one star and called her book dreary, I sighed. Yet I can see how someone might view some of the stories as difficult subject matter. Humor, too, is easy to miss, intangible at times as a unicorn's horn. Maybe people will miss the humor in my stories. (If you want to try a sample, go to www.chrismeeks.com and click on the cover.) I love the fact that in this Ipod, Tivo, CD-ROM world, people still love bound books and are willing to write reviews about what they love, hate, or find middling. I happen to get recharged by reading Lorrie Moore's stories. Merry Christmas, Lorrie!

Blackfoot Lodge Tales (Second Edition): The Story of a Prairie People

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Blackfoot Lodge Tales (Second Edition): The Story of a Prairie People
George Bird Grinnell
Manufacturer: Bison Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Folklore & Mythology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Mythology of the Blackfoot Indians (Sources of American Indian Oral Literature)
The Old North Trail: Life, Legends, and Religion of the Blackfeet Indians
Blackfeet Tales of Glacier Park
Blackfeet and Buffalo: Memories of Life Among the Indians
My Life as an Indian

ASIN: 0803271093

Book Description

This collection of powerful stories reveals the complex and wondrous world of the Blackfoot nation in the nineteenth century. The thirty tales transcribed by George Bird Grinnell provide an intimate look into Blackfoot culture and philosophy and remind us of tribal values to be upheld and taught. Classic tales of adventure speak of deeds accomplished, and cultural heroes roam across an arresting Native landscape of legend and history. Ancient stories, captured in oral tradition, cast the shadow of the Blackfoot people far into the past and provide foundation and meaning for their lives in the present. The final section of this book is an insightful overview of the history and culture of the Blackfoot Nation. First published in 1892, Blackfoot Lodge Tales is based on George Bird Grinnell’s personal interactions with the Blackfoot people.

A member of the Blackfeet Tribe and a historian, Thedis Berthelson Crowe provides an indigenous perspective of the Blackfoot Lodge Tales in her new introduction to this edition. Her great-great grandfather, William Russell, served as the Blackfoot interpreter for Grinnell.

Download Description

As they were following up the river, they saw at a distance three old bulls lying down close to a cut bank. Heavy Collar left his party, and went out to kill one of these bulls, and when he had come close to them, he shot one and killed it right there. He cut it up, and, as he was hungry, he went down into a ravine below him, to roast a piece of meat; for he had left his party a long way behind, and night was now coming on. As he was roasting the meat, he thought,--for he was very tired,--"It is a pity I did not bring one of my young men with me. He could go up on that hill and get some hair from that bull's head, and I could wipe out my gun."

The Hunt for the Whooping Cranes: A Natural History Detective Story

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A mystery story

The Hunt for the Whooping Cranes: A Natural History Detective Story
J. J. McCoy
Manufacturer: Paul S Eriksson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Conservation | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

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Customer Reviews:

A mystery story.......2000-01-05

This book has everything- a mystery, a valiant search, a happy ending. It is the story of the search for the nesting site of the whooping crane. It took 17 years to find the site, the discovery of which assures the world that this site will not be destroyed and insures that these birds may survive the impact of an ever growing human population. We owe so much to these brave men who worked so hard to find where these glorious birds nested. The book is well written and illustrated.

America's Greatest Game Bird: Archibald Rutledge's Turkey Hunting Tales

Average customer rating:

Rutledge's tales are both amuzing and enlightening.

America's Greatest Game Bird: Archibald Rutledge's Turkey Hunting Tales
Archibald Rutledge
Manufacturer: University of South Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0872499839

Customer Reviews:

Rutledge's tales are both amuzing and enlightening........1998-04-14

Archibald Rutledge's tales combined by Jim Casada is a must read for all nostalgic turkey hunters. His tales of the sheer numbers of turkeys in the early 1900's in South Carolina will make even the stongest turkey hunter's heart beat faster. What I would give to have been with him on some of the peaceful days on his plantation hunting the majestic wild turkey. Rutledge got personable with his turkeys, giving them names and hunting them like he was on a mission. He saw turkeys and turkey hunting from a remarkable viewpoint over many decades. No turkey hunter will regret reading this one, and many will file these stories in their memory forever.

Sacajawea: The Story of Bird Woman and the Lewis and Clark Expedition

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Sacajawea: The Story of Bird Woman and the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Joseph Bruchac
Manufacturer: Audio Bookshelf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 1883332885

My Life As an Indian: The Story of a Red Woman And a White Man in the Lodges of the Blackfeet

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My Life As an Indian: The Story of a Red Woman And a White Man in the Lodges of the Blackfeet
James Willard Schultz
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
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Blackfeet and Buffalo: Memories of Life Among the Indians

ASIN: 1417955279

The Remembering Stone (Americas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature. Commended (Awards))

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Try to remember and if you remember then follow.
Young Immigrants Featured Review

The Remembering Stone (Americas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature. Commended (Awards))
Barbara Timberlake Russell
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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My Diary from Here to There/Mi diario de aqui hasta alla (Pura Belpre Honor Book Narrative (Awards))
Amelia's Road

ASIN: 0374362424

Book Description

A surprising journey of self-discovery

In early fall, the blackbirds creak like rusty wheels behind our apartment . . . "One day I will return like you," my mother tells the birds. "But for now, you go. Que les vaya bien. Safe journey."

Ana doesn't understand the pull of this faraway place until one night she puts her favorite thing -- a stone spit from the volcanoes of Costa Rica - underneath her pillow. She imagines herself a blackbird flying to this country her mother longs to see again, with "mountains [that] stretch over steamy cedar and ebony forests, noisy with bright birds . . . [her] grandfather and uncles gathering cacao pods from the trees." And as Ana imagines what she would see, she develops her own emotional link to this place and people, who, while far away, are part of her.

This evocative picture book with its striking, bold art celebrates the importance of hope, dreams, and cultural roots -- and will have special resonance for all thos who find themselves at the crossroads of two cultures.

Customer Reviews:

Try to remember and if you remember then follow........2005-09-05

This is a particularly difficult book to review. This is not to say that "The Remembering Stone" is badly written or poorly illustrated. It isn't. This is also not to say that the book's plot is dull or that the characters aren't well-delineated. Quite frankly, this title is a beautiful addition to any library, personal or public, anywhere. That's just the problem. While there isn't anything wrong with the book there isn't anything overwhelmingly right about it either. It's beautiful to look at and has a sweet little story, that's for certain. It's just difficult to write a review of something that's so quietly nice.

Mama remembers Costa Rica. To her, it is still home. Though she and her daughter Ana live in a large city in the United States, Mama still dreams of someday returning to visit her family in South America. Ana understands this dream. Throughout the day she and her best friend Sophia have gone about their neighborhood learning about the hopes and wishes of their neighbors. That night, Ana takes a stone her Mama brought with her from Costa Rica and dreams that she is a red-winged blackbird making her way to that distant land. She visits with the family, sees how beautiful the land is, and then wakes up in the morning thinking, "I will wish for luck, work hard, and hold hope inside, till my dream comes true".

See? Quietly nice. The story here is a perfect companion to any child of immigrant parents living in America and hoping to see distant relatives once again. Russell offers a fairly mature vision of dreams and what happens to them when they are deferred. Ana's Mama's boss is a [...] old man who scoffs at dreams and dreaming. Ana is quick to see how this leaves him without hope or happiness, a fate she would like to avoid. Claire B. Cotts' illustrations compliment the quiet dignity of the book perfectly. Some picture, such as the shot of Ana lying on the bed with the stone in her hand, are gorgeous without ever becoming gaudy. Colors are muted, but are bright in splotches, especially when Ana visits Costa Rica in her mind.

The book brings to mind other mother/daughter urban picture book titles, like Vera B. Williams', "A Chair For My Mother". For some families this book will become a beloved title, carried close to the heart for generations. For others, it is a nice if not particularly memorable journey. To my mind, "The Remembering Stone" fills a need and does so in a soft imaginative way. Lovely and touching.

Young Immigrants Featured Review.......2004-12-06

What can an immigrant do to make the American dream come true? In this wistul yet hopeful vignette, Barbara Timberlake Russell articulates the newcomer's game plan -- "wish for luck, work hard, and hold hope inside." The muted colors in Claire Cotts' lovely paintings, full of wind and movement, echo the feelings of change, loneliness, and longing articulated in the text. Ana, a girl who dreams of traveling to visit her grandparents in Costa Rica, is nonetheless carving out a new community for herself in the neighborhood. The urban setting made up of immigrants from various countries demonstrates the commonality of newcomers in the "land of opportunity," and yet also reveals their isolated pursuit of hopes and dreams.

Average customer rating:

Great for those into the Duck Hunting
Beautiful Book, Excellent Read
The Duck Stamp Story Review

The Duck Stamp Story
Eric Jay Dolin , and Bob Dumaine
Manufacturer: Krause Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Duck Stamps: Identification & Value Guide

ASIN: 0873418158

Book Description

Now you can learn the history behind the duck stamp program and determine the value of the stamps and artwork that have made this one of the best conservation programs in history. With production figures and current values for every federal duck stamp yet produce, this book is the dream of every collector. It also takes a look at what went into creating a program that has grown into one of the richest art contests ever held. This full-color masterpiece is a must for anyone interested in wildlife conservation, stamp and art collecting or waterfowl hunting.

Customer Reviews:

Great for those into the Duck Hunting.......2001-12-25

I have never seen my husband so entralled by a book before. I can never get him to sit down for 5 seconds but on Christmas morning, he forgot the rest of his gifts and sat and read this book! I was amazed! It contains history with great pictures and facts and he was actually enjoying himself while reading it!
I highly recommend this book for any person interested in ducks, duck stamps or duck hunting.

Beautiful Book, Excellent Read.......2000-07-16

This book is beautiful, interesting, and a pleasure to read. I don't hunt, collect stamps or wildlife art, but this is a great book. I am truly enjoying it. I especially like the section on conservation, which details the history of water fowl degradation and protection in the United States.

The Duck Stamp Story Review.......2000-04-17

This is an incredible book for anyone who is interested in ducks, stamps, history, art, conservation, collectables, or Americana. There's the history of duck stamps as it relates to the entire conservation movement. There are interviews with famous people who are themselves duck stamp collectors and avid conservationists. There are beautiful photographs and artwork of past and present duck stamps, as well as other honorable mentions in the annual duck stamp contests. This book is just chock full of information and illustrations. The author has done a great job of wholistically researching the topic into every tangent of related interests. It is the ultimate coffee table book since there is something to interest just about anyone. You'll find that you meant to just browse through it, when before you know it you've read a whole chapter!

The Spirit Lives in the Mind: Omushkego Stories, Lives, and Dreams (Rupert's Land Record Society)

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The Spirit Lives in the Mind: Omushkego Stories, Lives, and Dreams (Rupert's Land Record Society)
Louis Bird
Manufacturer: McGill-Queen's University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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Dreams | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0773532102

Book Description

Louis Bird has spent the last three decades documenting Cree oral traditions and sharing his stories with audiences in Canada, the United States, and Europe. In The Spirit Lives in the Mind the renowned storyteller and historian of the Omushkego shares teachings and stories of the Swampy Cree people that have been passed down from generation to generation as part of a rich oral tradition. Cree spiritual beliefs revolve around the sacred places and rich landscape of the Hudson Bay lowlands. The beautiful narratives in The Spirit Lives in the Mind illuminate the meaning and value of spiritual maturity and power, the parallels between Omushkego morality and Roman Catholic teachings, and the importance of maintaining the traditional stories. Bird also offers explanations of shamanism and demonstrates how Catholicism affected Cree tradition. Bird collaborated with Susan Elaine Gray, who worked from many years of learning about and teaching Omushkegowak culture and traditions in compiling his narratives and personal testament for The Spirit Lives in the Mind. It is a remarkable evocation of aboriginal storytelling about the Cree peoples, their landscape, and their places in the sky

Night Bird: A Story of the Seminole Indians (Once Upon America)

Average customer rating:

Illustrates a sad episode of American history that all children should know

Night Bird: A Story of the Seminole Indians (Once Upon America)
Kathleen V. Kudlinski , and James Watling
Manufacturer: Viking Juvenile
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0670831573

Customer Reviews:

Illustrates a sad episode of American history that all children should know.......2006-07-02

In this story, Night Bird is a young Seminole Indian girl hiding from the white men in the Everglades swamp. After years of pressure, her tribes had been forced southward from Georgia into the murky wetness of the swamps. Seminoles from all over are gathering for the ceremony of the Green Corn. It is a harvest festival where thanks are given and forgiveness sought.
However, in the middle of the ceremony, a new group arrives and it is revealed that they escaped from bondage and a white man was killed in the escape. All know that this means that the soldiers will be coming and they all will be at risk. They have hiding places prepared for the children and canoes ready for the escape. A canoe arrives and it contains a white man with a proposal that the Seminoles leave Florida and relocate to Oklahoma.
After he leaves, the tribe engages in a furious debate as to whether they should move to Oklahoma. It splits families apart, as the decision seems to be one between two forms of slow death. The story ends with a heart-rending tale of Night Bird being separated from the part of her family that is going to Oklahoma.
While this is a work of fiction, it is an example of the best kind; it could have been true. The only things that would be different are the names. The forced destruction of the Seminole nation is one of the worst examples of genocide in the entire history of the white destruction of the Native American societies. This book, written for the late elementary school child illustrates in an honest and yet non-bloody manner, what actually happened. While not pleasant to read, it is a side of the history of the United States that children need to be exposed to.

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