H is for Hawk - no spoilers please!

Dh trains birds of prey as well as keeps his own, (it feels weird to call him a falconer), I bought it after seeing the author do an interview on TV, he read the whole book, but didn't enjoy it as much as he thought it would. I think he thought it would have more about falconry itself and felt that the author repeated other falconry book authors a lot. Dh is a member of a couple of falconry forums and it's mixed reactions on there.

I haven't read it myself yet, I know enough about falconry to have a decent conversation about it and have been out with the birds but it's not something I'd say I enjoy, but I do find it fascinating how it's helped people with problems. Saying that, if dh didn't enjoy the book I doubt I would too, if I'm quarter through a book and not enjoying I'll take a break, if I feel the same when I go back I give up.

I agree, hackmum. Why read a memoir if you don't like 'me me me'?

And I have to concur as well that this one is NOT all that 'me me me'. I think she writes very movingly about other people (her friend who offers her the kestrel, is it? Sparrowhawk? comes across very vividly.) And she is very moving and insightful about her hawk too.

I loved it from the first page. The bird bits were the best bits though.

Memoirs are inevitably "me me me", aren't they? I mean, what else are they going to be about?

This one had a lot about TH White so actually less "me me me" than most.

agree holmessweetholmes. I found it hard going because it seemed very me me me.

I finished it but didn't enjoy it. I felt so sorry for the bird and wished it could have gone free. She wasn't in a fit mental state to have one, or living in the right sort of place. I think it ought to be much more strictly regulated.

I agree with OnlyLovers
I loved it - listened to it on Audible and read by the author. The best book so far read by the author of few I tried and all previous one's were terrible narrators.

To me it is book about grief. Add loneliness and depression.
I also learned a lot about falconry from it - I like nature and am into bird watching.
I am hoping she is going to write more because she writhes in style and pace I enjoy a lot.

I was thinking of buying this earlier. Glad I didn't!

I just read it. Very disappointing. The reviews raved about it, but I just found it tedious and self - obsessed!

I didn't fancy this one either, so reassured I haven't missed much

I did soldier on with it but I can't really say I enjoyed it as much as I had hoped. It doesn't get any better.

LadyG - You can download a 'sample' of most books on Kindle for free. It's usually the first 20 pages or so.

Ah! The best reason, then...

PS - sorry to hear about the hospital appointments, Eagle. I agree Kindles are great for that kind of hanging around.

I loved it, but I loved it from the word go so can't tell you that it 'gets better'.

I loved the falconry itself and the discussions of its language and history, and find the way she finds succour in her hawk and its training hugely moving.

I think the discussion of The Goshawk is fascinating both as an insight into the book and its author, and in the way Macdonald links it to her own experience of both hawk-training and life.

The nature-writing aspect is beautiful.

Her unflinching writing about her own state of mind is breathtaking.

It's one of my favourite books for ages. I'd say carry on, but obviously I'm not impartial.

LadyGregory - I love my kindle because I travel quite a lot (for work, but am freelance so don't feel obliged to work on trains!) and used to hate finishing my book on the way into London, say, and having nothing to read on the way home (or only what a small WH Smith could offer me). However, to answer your question, I do read physical books as well, and love a good browse in a bookshop - and I think I am a lot less adventurous when choosing things on my kindle because I tend to stick to authors I know, or books I've seen reviewed - whereas when browsing I am a bit more eclectic, attracted by intriguing covers/blurb etc. I do think the trend for e-readers is probably narrowing the book market still further, and that's a shame.

Gotcha. I suppose I was wondering if the fact that you (I think?) thought you were buying a novel rather than a memoir was something more liable to happen to a Kindle book buyer, because less information was available.

I don't have a kindle and only ever read physical books bought from physical shops, so this interests me. How do you decide whether you like the look of an e-Book? What is the equivalent of browsing in a shop, looking at covers, familiar author names, reading blurbs, flicking through to get a sense of the prose? Can you read an extract before you buy?

I liked it and found her prose very arresting - knowing nothing about falconry apart from Kes and a couple of Antonia Forest novels. And the TH White stuff was interestingly disturbing.

Not sure what you mean by 'spoilers', OP, given that as a memoir, it's not likely to suddenly perform any strange plot twists! But my only real quibble was the final fifth, which I thought became slightly repetitive on grief and falconry, and could have used a tighter edit. I think if you're not liking it by now, the rest of the book is unlikely to alter your opinion.

I listened to the audiobook read by the author. I loved it including the references back to T H White's original. But then I am fascinated by falconry.

Can see it wouldn't appeal to everyone though.

I am about 60% of the way through now, and know nothing about falconry except what I remember from Kes!

I like her prose and quite like the literary criticism elements - plus how she interweaves her story with White's. But to be honest, I am plodding on with it more because I think it's good, than because I am loving it, if that distinction makes sense?