We Should All Be Birds

“We Should All Be Birds is about more than living with wild creatures. It’s also about grief, loss, pain,loneliness and the healing power of love. It’s sad but not depressing, loving but not maudlin, philosophical but not pompous. It’s a powerful testament to how caring for another living creature —even a wild bird — can give life meaning. It joins a flock of recent books by writers who have bonded with birds (Frieda Hughes’s George, Lili Taylor’s Turning to Birds) and other animals (Chloe Dalton’s Raising Hare), but Buckbee’s humor, intimate tone and precarious physical condition sets this book apart.” —Washington Post

“Vibrant, lyrical, and pulsing with life and the wonder of nature…. Beautifully written and deeply moving….both elegy and paean, a celebration of life and the discovery of hope within pain.“—Shelf Awareness

“[Reminds] the reader that opening one’s hearts to others and finding something else to care for can offer a needed distraction from loneliness that can be as debilitating as any physical symptom.” —The Epoch Times

“Nearly every page manages to prompt an emotion—laughter, tears, wonder… An extraordinary story full of humanity and life lessons.“—Kirkus, Starred Review

“A profound meditation on loneliness…. filled with compassion, courage, and curiosity. Haunted by memory and love, it radiates beauty. Lyrical passages about nature and traveling evoke the wonder of creation…. Readers will love this fascinating and wise work.“—Library Journal, Starred Review

“Sweet.“—Spirituality & Practice

“Reflective…. communion with nature is a means of coping with chronic illness and losses.“—Foreword Reviews

“A raw and moving dive into chronic illness and how the love for a bird cantake one away from emotional and physical pain, this one will resonate with everyone who has determined to stay fully alive.“—Booklist

“An intimate account of disability and connection.“—Bookbrowse

“Poignant…. readers will likely sympathize with Buckbee’s struggle against illness and emotional turmoil, the book’s exploration of caregiving resonates.“—Publishers Weekly

“I loved every page of this book: Funny, sad, romantic, and full of pigeons—glorious but under-appreciated, mysterious yet near-at-hand, each an individual, their dramas unseen right under our noses. Yet for Buckbee, suffering from a broken heart and broken body, birds like the injured Two-Step fling open doors of enchantment, healing, and communion. He’s right: We really should all be birds–but since we can’t, the best remedy I can think of is this book.“—Sy Montgomery, author of How To Be A Good Creature

“We Should All be Birds is a beautifully intimate memoir about relentless love despite unrelenting pain. It’s compulsively readable and unexpectedly reassuring in times that seem to have lost their footing. And yes, the birds are the real medicine. Especially one particular, peculiar little one.” —Carl Safina, author of Alfie and Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe

“Brian Buckbee has discovered a slower, more openhearted, humble stance toward living and creating, where small joy is in no way insubstantial, and where attention given freely—to the birds he cares for who ultimately care for him, and to the needs of body and spirit—creates unexpected forms of love and devotion.“—Lia Purpura, author of All the Fierce Tethers

“Brian Buckbee has sent us a series of gentle, funny, poignant, honest, and loving messages-in-a-bottle from the country of longterm illness and cross-species friendship. Reading We Should All Be Birds feels like stumbling into the serendipity of a conversation with a stranger that leaves you changed. With sweet lyricism, it accompanies you from darkness into connection. This story of a man’s friendship with a pigeon serves as a reminder that living beyond yourself, entwined with the lives of other creatures, can save you when the human world fails to. It is a gift to spend time with Buckbee and his companion Two-Step.“—Eiren Caffall, author of The Mourner’s Bestiary

“We Should All Be Birds is an immersive tale of chronic life, in which a bird allows a man to love him, which allows the author to finally love himself. Even in pain.” —Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods

Brian Buckbee lives in Missoula, Montana. He is co-founder of The 406 Writers’ Workshop. His stories have appeared in The Sun, The Georgia Review, The Mid-American Review, Shenandoah, The Southern Review, and elsewhere.

Carol Ann Fitzgerald is a former editor at The Sun and The Oxford American. Her fiction and nonfiction have been published in Ploughshares, The Oxford American, The Sun, The OA Book of Great Music Writing, and elsewhere. She lives in Chapel Hill.

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