I’ve been remiss about a lot of things lately, but one of them is not writing about James Brush’s latest collection, Birds Nobody Loves: A Book of Vultures & Grackles.
I am a fan of James, his poetry and his photography, and we share a love of birds — in particular vultures. (Grackles are fine, too, but I see them only now as a tourist, when traveling to Arizona or Texas.) I’ve read many of the poems in this collection as first drafts at his blog, Coyote Mercury, and at his small-works site, a gnarled oak, and was lucky to see them in manuscript form, too. I’ve riffed on one of his short poems in a work of my own (a love poem to vultures, though it doesn’t do James’ lines credit, even if it was great fun to write).
So this isn’t a review, it’s a recommendation: Go get yourself a copy.
Which format to obtain is your only real option (if you have that luxury).
I was fortunate to get both a printed book and a digital copy. Boon to me! I recently bought my folks a Kindle and have been loading it up with books and figuring it out (easy) so I can teach my non-electronic-gadget parents how it operates. (Thankfully Pop is pretty good with his cell phone and can navigate a GPS quite easily, so he will take the lead. I hope Mom doesn’t give up on it too quick and say she wants her old paper copies back — it is she who clammered after one, seeing a nephew’s Kindle.) I set up the Amazon* account for three shared devices: My folks “Scott Kindle”, my first edition iPad re-synced to be my husband’s “Mark’s iPad” and my new one (a holiday bonus from work), “Deb’s iPad.” Depending on the book and the publisher, some books can be shared among many devices.
So I get to read James’ book in two electric formats (at least until I finally turn over the Kindle to my folks when I travel there next) and still enjoy a real life book.
It’s lovely. Full of marvelous poetry covering a range of styles and ideas and beautiful artwork. James has taken his photographs and made terrific black & white art to accompany the words.
Three Birds' Covers
What I like about the iPad (and this book on it) is the crispness of the imagery and pages, and that I can see two pages at a time, just like a real book. What I like about the Kindle version is that the e-ink is really kind on the eyes. It has an optical quality like paper that shouldn’t tire out old eyes. It has a much nicer feel to it than what the picture above shows. And it is less than half the size of the iPad, and weighs so little! I wouldn’t be afraid to fall asleep with it hanging over my head. It’s easier to carry, too. And it can be read in bright light, outside.
Reading poems is a little different, too. Not that the poems are different, silly, but that the white space context is different. And I am enough of a design nerd to say that white space matters.
On the Kindle I set the default type a little tiny bit larger for my folks. There are seven font sizes available, and one can change the type to be more condensed or sans serif and you can also change the word per line spacing — super noodling for making text as readable as possible, even if it is able to display only one page at a time.
On the iPad version I can adjust the background and go black or sepia, in addition to white. I can also pick six different text sizes, and (I just realized!) pick single page or double, as well as adjust contrast levels.
Of course, changing font sizes changes how lines break across a page, too. In the photo below, “While Sitting in Church” breaks similarly across all three formats, since I hadn’t gone too large with font size. I do like more white space around my poetry, so prefer the book or iPad.
What should be the key deciding factor for which format to get is how you would like to see the artwork. The Kindle version’s artwork is slightly smaller (depending on the art) and the e-ink renders the art slightly differently than in print. For the style of James’ art, I don’t think the Kindle does badly, in fact, it reads quite nicely. One image has some text shadowing, as if wet ink had been transposed on a page, an unexpected idea for an eReader! The only real disadvantage of the Kindle is reading one page at a time. If you want to see the image as placed with the poetry, I’d suggest the paper book or the iPad.
I love the graphics on my iPad. I can zoom in to see something closer, and think this platform naturally likes and displays art beautifully that was created digitally. I also get to see two pages at a time, like a real book.
But then again, I am lucky. I get to have my cake and eat it, too. And leave some for the birds.
All you have to do is pick the format you want. Easy peasy.
Birds Nobody Loves: A Book of Vultures & Grackles is available in paperback on Amazon. E-books can be downloaded from the Kindle store, and the iBookstore or Lulu in EPUB format.
Update: James has blogged about how & what he learned putting this work together in various formats. Here are his insights and resources, freely given, playing it forward. Avail yourself.
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* Yes, they are taking over retail and I don’t like buying from Goliath and not supporting local, especially local booksellers, but … it’s sooo nice to be able to manage three devices through the Kindle. Two friends bought Nooks recently and seem very happy, but I didn’t want to mess with my Mom’s head. She’s got enough problems. But that’s another overdue post.
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Beth Adams is taking Phoenicia Publishing digital, too. Smart move, Beth!
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Thanks, Deb. I’m very happy to hear that it looks good and works in the various formats. I’ve only seen it in my iPhone and a borrowed iPad.
Sometime this week I’ll have a post going up about my experience e-booking and I’ll link to this.
Thanks again.
You’re more than welcome.
I love the book, and it seemed kind of strange to write a usual review/response post (though perhaps I should have), but made sense to talk about format, since you made it available in a variety.
I didn’t really get into the formatting issue for poetry, but thought a broader discussion on how it looked across three formats could be useful.
This is a welcome and fascinating look at the different experiences of reading the same text. It coincides with my own, limited, findings. Much to my surprise, I prefer reading poetry on the iPad to the Kindle, for all the reasons you mention. And similarly prefer large amounts of prose on the Kindle to the iPad. I have no idea what the Fire (or whatever it’s called) is like – maybe it’s a non-reflective, colour, lightweight ideal hybrid of the two!
Thanks, rr, for chiming in.
I looked at the Fire for my folks — I think it is as you say: color, and perhaps an ideal hybrid (I didn’t look at the weight, though) with watching videos/true internet access being the biggest draw. I wanted the Kindle that acted like a phone for downloading “stuff” and figured my folks would have enough of a time with learning to use it. They don’t have a computer hook-up, so it seemed that setting up WiFi wasn’t a great option for them, technically or financially. The Fire needs WiFi to operate, so it narrowed my choice down — easier decision.
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yes my version of the book is on my ipad- I do like the way it looks- just as you said, crisp!
Thanks, Connie, for chiming in.