Welcome to Litsy!

I only have one complaint about this book β€”- there‘s far too much about T. H. White in it. The transitions between the sections on White and her own experiences aren‘t always handled skillfully; sometimes I had to wait for her to say β€œhe” or β€œhim” to know that she was talking about White. Otherwise it‘s a great book about hawking and grief. She began training Mabel as a way to handle her grief after her father died. #audiowalk

I have about 2 hours left in this audiobook, so between walking and driving places, I should finish it tomorrow. There was a briskness in the air this evening. It‘s supposed to get down into the 40s beginning on Friday. #audiowalk

No, Helen, the fact that your hawk keeps overshooting your fist when she returns to you does not mean that deep down she recognizes that you are a terrible person at heart! πŸ™„. I‘m loving this book because it‘s about more than training hawks; it‘s also about grief. #audiowalk. Trees are often way too close to sidewalks down here, so you often see broken sidewalks like this.

I wasn‘t expecting to learn so much about T. H. White in this memoir. I‘m really enjoying this. MacDonald reads her own book, and she does a good job. #audiowalk

This book is beautiful. I can see why they chose extracts from it for this year‘s English exam. Helen writes almost like a poet. I love her humility and sincerity.

Meh. I was expecting more of this book to be about the author and her hawk. Not T. H.White.

Do these new (used) nonfiction books make my brain look bigger? 😜🧠

I was right beside the closest Half Price Books today and couldn‘t pass up the chance to browse.

Thanks for the tag @Yuki_Onna

- My initial thought was that surely I had... but I can't think of a book I've read more than twice (unless you count books my Mum read to me when I was little)... recent re-reads include One Day by David Nicholls & The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by G.W. Dahlquist

- Yes, I am a sucker for a gorgeous cover ❀

- Tagged. I haven't read it yet, but I'm going to for #pop21 (A book set mostly outdoors)

My library‘s staff picks for this month! Chosen by a colleague, the theme is #TailsAndTales to coincide with the #SummerReadingProgram. Have you read or watched any of these?!

#LitsyLovesLibraries

4⭐️ || Part memoir, part history, part nature-writing, this explores Macdonald‘s experience of raising a goshawk, dealing with the grief of her father‘s death, and also the author TH White (Once and Future King). Such an interesting weaving of subjects!

#WindsofMarch #birdoncover

β€œThere is something religious about the activity of looking up at a hawk in a high tree. It turns one‘s eyes up to the heavens”

I always assumed this book was a grief memoir, but it‘s MUCH MORE than that. Part nature journal, part academic literary analysis, Helen Macdonald seamlessly transitions from man to bird to depression to loneliness with stunning prose. I definitely believe hearing Helen read her book elevated the memoir.

This has been on my TBR audio shelf for a long time and for some reason, itβ€˜s NOW calling to me. Have you read/listened @Megabooks ???

I absolutely loved this book πŸ’―

I especially appreciated how Macdonald wove the story of T.S. White‘s attempt (and utter failure) to train a hawk in with her own hawk-training story. I found it utterly delightful and informative and now I really want to read β€œThe Once and Future King”.

β€œI think of what wild animals are in our imagination. And how they are disappearing-not just from the wild, but from people‘s everyday lives, replaced by images of themselves in print and on screen. The rarer they get, the fewer meanings animals can have. Eventually rarity is all they are made of. The condor is an icon of extinction...And in this lies the diminution of the world. How can you love something if all it means is loss?”

Relaxing audiobook.

I think I might be entering a β€œmemoir” phase. Started this book today. β€œLooking for goshawks is like looking for grace: it comes, but not often, and you don‘t get to say when or how”.

Loving the audiobook for this one.

Parts of this book were okay, but overall it was so boring to me. I wanted to DNF the book, but I honestly don‘t know an easy way to do that on my Kindle. So, my only reason for finishing was to not mess up my Kindle library; that‘s not exactly a ringing endorsement. I really wish the author would have just not focused so much on White. If I wanted to read about him/his book, I would have read his books.

#alphastack #letterH
So β€˜H‘is for hawk, which is awesome, and made me ugly cry....
Also β€˜H‘ is for a couple of well-used cookbooks from a goddess, a book I‘ve owned since I was 5 yrs old.... (Pooh of course), an all time fave (History of Love), and a couple of recent additions to my #tbr because of my a lovely book twin (The Housekeeper and The History of Rain) πŸ“šπŸ’• @BarbaraBB

It‘s official. I‘m DNF‘ing my #bookspin for August. I just can‘t get in to the writing and topic of grieving the loss of father is just too triggery for some of my own trauma. Just a case of it‘s not you, it‘s me. Adding to the donate bin.

I have this book on my shelf - one day Iβ€˜ll feel robust enough to read it. I have booked to hear her talk though at the Edinburgh Festival

https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/whats-on/helen-macdonald-the-natural-w...

I am confused why so much of this book was about TH White. If felt out of place in this book that is mostly about MacDonald and her hawking experience and journey, mixed with her depression and how she worked through the loss of her father. I feel the book would have been stronger without the added extra of White's story sprinkled through.

More book recommendations: https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/3/27/21197470/ask-a-book-critic-read-through-qu...

I have the tagged book. Sounds like this is the time to be reading it.

Thank you so much @Meaw_catlady for the wonderful early birthday presents! You are so thoughtful!! (I checked with her before I opened. 😁)

I have not read H and am excited to!! And there‘s a healing candle that smells great, a Princess Leia journal, and crystals for healing, one of which is on my chest now. Thank you for the presents and your endless positive energy/encouragement!! πŸ’žπŸ’žπŸ’žπŸ“šπŸŽ‚πŸ€©πŸ€©

1. Yes. When it comes to books not people.
2. Tagged! and it‘s already left my nest and is on its way to a new owner.
3. Word of mouth. I usually stay away from news because I am an empath and it affects me brutally.
4. I snooze at least 3 times. This morning I wanted to snooze all day but I forced myself out of bed.
5. @DaveGreen7777 @Branwen @catiewithac @Soubhiville @kspenmoll @litenthusiast thanks for the tag @Megabooks
#friyayintro

It was such a blah day. Raining outside and feeling under the weather. I started listening to this as I worked and it helped the day eek by a bit faster. I love learning about falconry. Birds fascinate me.

I‘ve let this book sit in my TBR pile long enough. Time to swoop in, all puns intended!

I feel bad because I know this is a Booktube darling, but I didn‘t connect with this book. It was beautifully written and is obviously a product of a lot of deep thinking. However, I don‘t have much interest in falconry and I never really understood why the author wanted to take on the challenge of training a goshawk while grieving. I would still say to check it out if you‘ve been wanting toβ€”a lot of people clearly adore it. Just not my thing.

An interesting collection of recommended memoirs. Glad to see the tagged book made the list.

https://lithub.com/the-10-best-memoirs-of-the-decade/

#memoirs #nonfiction #memoirlovers

#7covers7days day 4

I appreciated this more than any memoir I‘ve listened to for a while, but I think most of that is due to it being more. I could relate to the personal journey through grief, but the details of falconry and the literary aspects were much more interesting to me.

#audiobook #memoir #nonfiction #1001books
#Reading1001 #TBRTakedown September 2019

I‘m thoroughly enjoying listening to this book, especially on my evening walks. It‘s an interesting mix of genres, and I‘m continually intrigued by the information about falconry and T.H. White, as well as the other literary references.

#nonfiction #memoir #audiobook #audiowalk

I checked this #audiobook out to listen to just as I was finishing listening to The Once and Future King. It wasn‘t until I was reading other reviews of that book that I realized the author T.H. White is discussed in this book. It‘s a happy coincidence that I‘m following that audiobook with this one, and it‘s adding to my appreciation of both, although not enough to change my rating of the former.

#Reading1001 #TBRTakedown #1001books

Beautiful and raw and honest. This is a brillant memoir! I had to mark so many passages to go back to and mull over more in the days to come.

Compelling memoir about a women who loses herself to grief while raising a hawk, ultimately her hawk helps to heal her. #43 #2019

Starting this next on #overdrive #currentlylistening

1. The Grace of Kings (print) and Daisy Miller (audio)
2. Hmm... it was probably H is for Hawk
3. 6... 5 hardcopy and 1 digital, pretty much the reverse of my usual ratio
#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

This meditation on grief and wildness and memory is gorgeously written. I think there‘s something about grief that we imagine will be heartwrenching and cathartic to read about but is so deep and intimate that it remains slightly aloof all the while. H is for Hawk captures that and the strange and completely individualized ways we deal with the inescapable reality that those we love we will lose someday.

8/10 Nonfiction Biography. Some parts of this book struck a deep chord. When my father passed, it was unexpected and very hard for me. I was able to relate to Helens grief and feeling very odd. Helen found her salvation in Mabel. Goshawks are rather different birds, and I'm interested in learning more about them.

#JulyColdplay #Birds from the stash ,big book more of a browser, Hawk still on #mountainTBR

#thursdaysurvey @laurenslibrary

1) Hmmm, this was technically the end of last year but I LOVED H is for Hawk - it's beautiful
2) I haven't read enough books this year to have a least fave! (Damn you finals revision)
3) The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (loved The Night Circus)
4) I've set myself the goal of reading AS MUCH FOR FUN AS POSSIBLE for the rest of the year now I'm done w finals!!
5) everyone who follows me!! Tag me if you do it!πŸ™Œ

This book came highly recommended to me, and I think that I may have had my expectations raised a bit too high... still, it‘s a fascinating and genuinely interesting mashup of memoir, goshawk raising and a lot of T. H. White‘s biography. Read by the author, this made for some good distraction while cleaning for Memorial Day company (and some #AudioColoring too!)

#QuotsyMar19 Day 31: the baying of the #hound is true and painful, apparently. Read so many rave reviews of this memoir but not sure whether I can get through some of the more technical aspects of it, which from what I understand is deliberately wrought to signify that sense of solitude and craftsmanship.

I‘d always heard this was about a woman grieving the death of her father and her relationship with a goshawk. I had no idea that T.H. White‘s life would be such a large part of the story. That was particularly fascinating to me. Beautifully written and I loved listening to the author tell her story.

Helen Macdonald‘s memoir covers her grieving process after the death of her father, as well as her relationship with the goshawk she then decided to train. Intertwined with her own story, we learn about the life of T.H. White; his book Goshawk is one that deeply touched Macdonald, from her childhood to those moments of grief. I enjoyed reading H is for Hawk, but it might not be a book I would ever get back to once my class is done.