Itemize Books Concering Birds of America

Original Title:	Birds of America: Stories
ISBN:	0312241224 (ISBN13: 9780312241223)
Edition Language:	English
Literary Awards:	Salon Book Award (1998), O. Henry Award for 'People Like That Are the Only People Here' (1998), Village Voice Book of the Year (1998), Irish Times International Fiction Prize (1999), National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for Fiction (1998)

Birds of America Paperback | Pages: 291 pages

Describe Containing Books Birds of America

Title	:	Birds of America
Author	:	Lorrie Moore
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	First Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 291 pages
Published	:	September 23rd 1999 by Picador USA (first published 1998)
Categories	:	Short Stories. Fiction. Literary Fiction. Contemporary. Literature. American. Womens

Interpretation To Books Birds of America

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, Haagen 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.

Rating Containing Books Birds of America

Ratings: 4.11 From 13549 Users | 1114 Reviews

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I finally gave up reading this book yesterday after getting about 2/3 of the way through it. It is always so hard for me to give up a book -- my ego gets entangled in the idea that I MUST finish reading it... but I realized that I was wasting time with this book that was depressing me instead of filling my life with books that engage and inspire me. Moore's writing is sometimes right on in her descriptions of people. For example, in one story, the sentence "She freezes hams" perfectly

I really liked Lorrie Moore's "How To Be an Other Woman" (from the love stories collection I read) but I was not wowed by this book. The stories all seemed very similar - isolated, lonely people (mostly women) dealing with husbands and families and communities. I just looked at the overwhelmingly glowing reviews here on goodreads, and hmm, I just don't get it.5 stars - "Four Calling Birds, Three French Hens"4 stars - the joke in "Beautiful Grade" about the professor writing Flannery O'Connor

The trouble I have with most short story books is that I tend to forget what the first story was about by the time I get to the last one. In lieu of this trend wherein I do not think I inhabit my oubliette alone, most short story writers attempt to create vignettes (heavy on the French today) that are tiredly unique to each other. Moore, I think, attempts solidarity by thematically and tonally creating stories that are strikingly similar. Dare I say that each narrator has the same Mooreish wit

4.5 rounded downIt took a little while for me to warm to the style but in all honesty theres not a weak story in this collection. Moore can write dialogue and convey human emotions and her characters thoughts in a way nobody else can.

Steve wrote: "Haha, I'm guessing there are several who have failed by the "burning raccoon" metric."Hey, Steve! Nice to see you again. And it's not a

Maybe the most perfect short story collection I've read (that wasn't a "collected works" or "best of"). I understand the criticisms of "same-y" characters and too-witty dialogue, but frankly I don't care. Lorrie Moore can wrap me around her little finger any time. Kakutani's back blurb calls the book: "sad, funny, lyrical, and prickly" and that's probably the best way to describe her. She is awash in those kinds of contradictions, but it's what makes her stories a joy to read. You always end up

"The thing to remember about love affairs," says Simone, "is that they are all like having raccoons in your chimney.""Oh, not the raccoon story," groans Cal."Yes! The raccoons!" cries Eugene.I'm sawing at my duck."We have raccoons sometimes in our chimney," explainsSimone."Hmmm," I say, not surprised."And once we tried to smoke them out. We lit a fire, know-ing they were there, but we hoped that the smoke would causethem to scurry out the top and never come back. Instead, theycaught on fire and