Vesper Flights | 
Vesper flights - a book that changed the way I look at nature , birds and animals ! A book that made me think and feel differently ! And of course lot of new words for me ! Loved it !
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Vesper flights - a book that changed the way I look at nature , birds and animals ! A book that made me think and feel differently ! And of course lot of new words for me ! Loved it !
“....messy stretches of species-rich vegetation with all their attendant invertebrate life are better, just better, than the eerie, impoverished silence of modern planting schemes and fields. I wonder how we might learn to align our aesthetic and moral landscapes to fit that intuition. I wonder.“
Confession: I was away from the bookish world SO much in 2020 that I was completely unaware that Helen Macdonald had a new book out.
Current book. H is for Hawk was a favorite so I‘ve looked forward to this one.
Yes, welcome to the newest branch of York County Libraries, my TBR shelf. I am collecting way too many books for someone who‘s having trouble reading right now 🤦♂️
Spring has, of late, become thin to me. It‘s starting to mean supermarket daffodil bunches & Easter promotions, rather than its richly textured changes: the scent of new herbage; algae greening on the trunks of oaks; the echoing drum of woodpeckers; rising skies & the return of that undefinable light to hollow out winter. All things I‘ve missed after years of mostly working inside.
[A quote especially for antipodean Littens]
pickA collection of thoughtful, lyrical essays about the natural world and a woman‘s interactions with nature. I recommend the #audiobook narrated by the author. It‘s a calming, grounding experience.
A hawk turned out to be a terrible model for living a human life.
In the winter of 1934, Norfolk farmers learned that skylarks in their fields were migrants from the continent. They shot them for raiding their spring wheat. NO PROTECTION FOR THE SKYLARK ran the headlines in the local press. ‘Skylarks that sing to Nazis will get no mercy here.‘
(Internet photo)
I've been savoring this new volume of essays by Helen Macdonald. The title of this one made me laugh the moment I turned the page. Needed it this morning and was a great start to my day!
She told me of a childhood memory: her father carefully opening prickly sweet chestnut cases for her to uncover the glossy marble nuts inside. She was entranced. Early moments like this planted the desire for discovery inside her, an urge to find the wonder of seeing hidden things brought to light.
(Internet photo)
So often we think of mindfulness, of existing purely in the present, as a spiritual goal. But winter woods teach me something else: the importance of thinking about history. They are able to show you the last five hours, the last five days, the last five centuries, all at once.
At times of difficulty, watching birds ushers you into a different world, where no words need be spoken.
It was wonder to hear Helen Macdonald with Charlotte Higgins at an online Edinburgh International Book Festival event today. It also gave me a chance to get more yarn prepped for dyeing. 😊
pickShort essays looking at the natural world, and, above all, our relationship with it. From field guides to swifts, from berries to watching naturalists themselves, I felt that Helen Macdonald had something new and interesting to say, that I wanted to hear.
I wasn‘t always enamoured with her writing style, but as I settled into it I began to appreciate the slowing down I needed to re-read sentences, and the stretching of my vocabulary.👇🏻
panUnpopular opinion but I just didn't like it. It could very well be the ecopy I have. She would be talking about one thing and then without a break, she would start on another topic. I was so confused reading it, I just finally had to give up and move on. Like I said I'm the only one who didn't care for it. Give it a try, you may enjoy it like a lot of people did.
Thanks Netgalley for the copy for my honest opinion.
The downside of trying to clear your NetGalley backlog is that you spend more time on NetGalley. And we all know what happens then.
👆Nature Writing. Essays. Out 27th August.
pickFans of H Is for Hawk will rejoice, as will any lover of first-rate nature writing. In her new essay collection Vesper Flights, Helen Macdonald plumbs the depths of the meanings man has spun around animal life, and does it all on sharp and soaring wings.
