H is for Hawk

Read Harder 2018: a book about nature

I'm going to finish Read Harder this year if it kills me. I've only got two books left and almost two full months in which to do it, but I keep picking up things that are fluffy escapism, and therefore not conductive to reading harder. (Last two categories: a children's classic published before 1980, and genre fiction in translation, which I already tried and failed to complete once.)

I liked H is for Hawk. Falconry-type things are not something I've ever given much consideration to, and I enjoyed learning about Mabel and the various things you have to know and do for your hawk in order to be able to fly it. Also that goshawks play and are finicky about their diets and really like trespassing when pheasants appear. I also understood so much Macdonald's need to escape from herself a little after her father died, and dealing with grief in ways that don't totally feel rational.

I get why she talked so much about the other guy, White, whose goshawk was lost because he wasn't a very good hawk-owner, but I think I would have liked it more if there was a bit more autobiographical material, or at least material from more than just the one hawking book.

The audio was read by the author and was very good.