H is for Hawk - no spoilers please!

[TheEagle]

Anyone read this book?

I'm about 5% into it according to Kindle and it's leaving me cold! Please tell me it gets better

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.