The Birdhouse Chronicles: Surviving the Joys of Country Life [Paperback]

Cathleen Miller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2004

Part memoir, part travelogue, part nature writing-an intimate first-person narrative of returning to a realer, simpler life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Weary of urban life, essayist Cathleen Miller (Desert Flower) and her husband abandon San Francisco for an old house in rural Pennsylvania. In The Birdhouse Chronicles: Surviving the Joys of Country Life, Miller recounts the ensuing challenges, from keeping the wood-and-coal furnace stoked on frigid mornings, to burying the previous owner's shag carpeting, to staring down a wild mink. The move also dredges up memories of her childhood in small-town Missouri and her mother's suicide at 33, possibly triggered by the family's move from the country into town. Miller's musings are on the earnest side, but packed with vivid, textured details of country exile.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

When they decided to leave their advertising-agency jobs in San Francisco, Miller and her husband moved to a century-old Pennsylvania farmhouse in the middle of Amish country. The transition was more difficult than they had imagined. Memoirs written by big-city folk who gave up the metropolitan hubbub for the simple, rustic pleasures of country life are a dime a dozen these days. Fortunately, the author avoids the usual pitfalls by injecting her prose with a gentle, poke-fun-at-myself sense of humor and by keeping the poetic, return-to-nature imagery to a bare minimum. All the usual stuff is here--the tribulations of moving in, the unforeseen obstacles of home renovation, the trauma of meeting the neighbors--but in Miller's hands, it all seems remarkably fresh. In many similar books, the people the authors meet seem almost like stock characters, made-up country folk designed to fill various stereotypes; here, the neighbors and townfolk seem simply like people. If you move to the country and feel compelled to write about it, let Miller be your guide. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (October 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592284493
• ISBN-13: 978-1592284498
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,303,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Celebration of Appalachia, February 5, 2004

By 

Veronica James (State College, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Birdhouse Chronicles: Making a New Life in the Country (Hardcover)

In this book Cathleen Miller celebrates her new life in Appalachia, bringing a sense of wonder to the landscape, seasons and citizens of Central Pennsylvania. She is a skilled writer and one is soon lulled into the warm cocoon of this couple's world by Miller's engaging voice-alternately hilarious, poignant, inquisitive, and revealing.

Critics of her memoir seem to have missed a few key points in the narrative. Miller makes herself the butt of her jokes-not her neighbors. She talks about how she doesn't understand them, she finds their traditions unfamiliar, but her essayist's questioning always comes from a place of respectful curiosity, as if examining her own opinions in this new world as much as those of the residents of Centre County. In fact, one look at the opening pages of The Birdhouse Chronicles should say it all, as Miller chooses to honor her neighbors in the dedication: "For the good folks who live on Burd Lane with my gratitude and respect." The reader from Aaronsburg also seems not to have noticed that the author and her husband are donating their time to preserve historic landmarks in her beloved region, thereby providing-along with this great memoir of place-a lasting tribute to rural Pennsylvania.

Even though I live in State College, I first heard about this book from reading a review of it in The Wall Street Journal. The reviewer mentioned how the book slowed down time to emulate the experience of living in the country, and for me that was a welcome gift.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Nice Easy Read, August 22, 2005

By 

Kit Kat (California Bay Area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Birdhouse Chronicles: Surviving the Joys of Country Life (Paperback)

The first 20 pages dragged and sounded a bit snooty...but I really wanted to like this book and said I'd wait to page 50 to decide. As I read on I ended up getting drawn in and curious. At the end I was disapointed on the quick and simple ending. I would have liked more details about what happened to the home and the author. All in all it was a charming book on country life that most of us would love to live!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous, funny, poignant, October 24, 2006

By 

Kate Evans "www.beingandwriting.blogspot.com" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Birdhouse Chronicles: Surviving the Joys of Country Life (Paperback)

This book is gorgeously written, funny, self-effacing and poignantly insightful. Ostensibly it's about moving to the country and remodeling a house. But it's really about how we humans try to make lives amidst the swirling, changing facets of nature and humanity. How do we continue on in the face of concerns small and large--from trying to heat our homes in the midst of severe winters, to facing the loss of those we count on and love? Never mawkish or cloying, Miller is an astute, sensitive observer of the human condition.