The Bedside Book of Birds: Graeme Gibson

Image Credit: Randomhouse

Imagine taking a walk through dense woods, filled with birds, some exotic, some unheard of and some extinct. Sounds magical doesn’t it? Well, that is exactly how I felt while reading Grame Gibson’s “The Bedside Book of Birds.” I love birds and when I saw this beautiful hardbound copy at a sale I couldn’t resist it. And I am glad I bought it. Gibson’s book is a medley of poems, short stories, mythologies, excerpts from novels and some really gorgeous illustrations by various artists, but all pertaining to birds.

“In this stunning assemblage of words and images, novelist and avid birdwatcher Graem Gibson has crafted an extraordinary tribute to the venerable relationship between humans and birds,” says the book’s jacket. This relationship is explored from various angles, dividing the book into various chapters like Folk Tales and Parables, Birds we use, eat, wear and sell, Sinister auspices etc.

I wouldn’t say this book is exactly bedtime reading. Some of the stories are darkly humorous, displaying a twisted imagination with a Poe-like edge to them. A prime example is a Cuban folktale named “Death Comes as a Rooster,” in which a woman prays to God to save her sick husband. Her father tells her that Death always comes in the form of a plucked rooster. As the woman continues begging to God to take her instead of her husband, the father decides to put an end to her misery. He plucks a rooster and sets it loose into the sickroom. As soon as the woman sees it, she jumps behind the bed and points the way for the rooster, “Over that way,” she said. “The sick man is in the bed.”

Other stories talk of man using birds for sustenance, protection and as part of superstitious beliefs. All in all, I would say it’s quite an entertaining read but it’s the illustrations that took my breath away. From known artists like Audubon to not so known ones from all over the world, Gibson has packed his bird menagerie with colorful, vivid, sometimes double-page painting.

The Guardian said that the book, “is aimed mainly at littérateurs with a curiosity for birds, rather than birdwatchers with an interest in literature.” However, I don’t know how much a non-bird lover can take 345 pages of birds, birds and more birds. Apart from that, this Avian Miscellany is a good collectible and a good perch that offers a grand purvey of our winged friends.


Verdict: Charming and magical

Rating: 3.7/5