{"product_id":"we-should-all-be-birds-isbn-9781963108293","title":"We Should All Be Birds","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eLonglisted for the 2026 Reading the West Awards\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA charming and moving debut memoir about how a man with a mystery illness saves a pigeon, and how the pigeon saves the man.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I loved every page of this book: funny, sad, romantic, and full of pigeons.”—Sy Montgomery \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn a spring evening in Montana, Brian Buckbee encounters an injured baby pigeon. Heartbroken after the loss of the love of his life and increasingly isolated by a mysterious illness that overtook him while trekking through Asia, Brian is unaware that this bird—who he names Two-Step—will change his life. Brian takes in Two-Step, and more injured birds, eventually transforming his home into a madcap bird rehabilitation and rescue center. As Brian and Two-Step grow closer, an unexpected kinship forms. But their paths won’t converge forever: as Two-Step heals and finds love, Brian’s condition worsens, and with his friend’s release back into the world looming closer, Brian must decide where this story leaves him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eWe Should All Be Birds\u003c\/i\u003e follows Brian, unable to read or write due to a never-ending headache, as he dictates the end of his old life—as an adventurer, an iconoclastic university instructor, and endurance athlete—through his relationship with a pigeon that comes to define his present. Limited to dictation, Brian teams up with Carol Ann Fitzgerald, an editor who channels the details of his personal history to the pages. Raw and perceptive, delirious and devastating, \u003ci\u003eWe Should All Be Birds\u003c\/i\u003e is an unflinching exploration of chronic illness, grief, connection, and the spectacular beauty of the natural world—and the humble pigeon. The surprising, heartwarming relationship between man and bird provides insight into what it means to love, to suffer, and to “never forget, even for a second, how big it all is.”\u003ci\u003e\"We Should All Be Birds i\u003c\/i\u003es 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 \u003ci\u003eGeorge\u003c\/i\u003e, Lili Taylor’s \u003ci\u003eTurning to Birds\u003c\/i\u003e) and other animals (Chloe Dalton’s \u003ci\u003eRaising Hare\u003c\/i\u003e), but Buckbee’s humor, intimate tone and precarious physical condition sets this book apart.\" —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"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.\"—\u003cb\u003eShelf Awareness\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“[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.” —\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Epoch Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Nearly every page manages to prompt an emotion—laughter, tears, wonder… An extraordinary story full of humanity and life lessons.\"—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e, Starred Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"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.\"—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, Starred Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Sweet.\"—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eSpirituality \u0026amp; Practice\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Reflective…. communion with nature is a means of coping with chronic illness and losses.\"—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eForeword Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"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.\"—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An intimate account of disability and connection.\"—\u003cb\u003eBookbrowse\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Poignant…. readers will likely sympathize with Buckbee’s struggle against illness and emotional turmoil, the book’s exploration of caregiving resonates.\"—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"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.\"—\u003cb\u003eSy Montgomery, author of \u003ci\u003eHow To Be A Good Creature\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"We Should All be Birds\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\" —\u003cb\u003eCarl Safina, author of \u003ci\u003eAlfie and Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"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.\"—\u003cb\u003eLia Purpura, author o\u003ci\u003ef All the Fierce Tethers\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"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.\"—\u003cb\u003eEiren Caffall, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Mourner’s Bestiary\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"We Should All Be Birds\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\" —\u003cb\u003eRichard Louv, author of\u003ci\u003e Last Child in the Woods\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eBrian Buckbee\u003c\/b\u003e lives in Missoula, Montana. He is co-founder of The 406 Writers’ Workshop. His stories have appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe Sun\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Georgia Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Mid-American Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eShenandoah\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Southern Review\u003c\/i\u003e, and elsewhere.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCarol Ann Fitzgerald\u003c\/b\u003e is a former editor at \u003ci\u003eThe Sun\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Oxford American\u003c\/i\u003e. Her fiction and nonfiction have been published in \u003ci\u003ePloughshares\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Oxford American\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Sun\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe OA Book of Great Music Writing\u003c\/i\u003e, and elsewhere. She lives in Chapel Hill.","brand":"Tin House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233834348773,"sku":"NP9781963108293","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781963108293.jpg?v=1767743698","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/we-should-all-be-birds-isbn-9781963108293","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}