This is way too beautiful!
I want to hibernate and accidentally catch a possum in a trap and help foxes.

I love the photos and all the stories.

Lovely meditations on the natural world and life. The illustrations are as beautiful as the writing. This would make a wonderful gift.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

This is one of those books you come across that just feels good for the soul to read. Margaret Renkl is the type of person who you want to spend an afternoon walking in nature with so you can see what she can see. While this book follows the course of a year and is part nature writing, part memoir it is in no way self centred. Instead Renkl writes to show the reader all the amazing every day things that she comes across as well as some of the heartbreak and more fragile moments too, which more often than not take place in her backyard. Her enthusiasm is clear and her writing voice is unique perfectly landing somewhere between informative and conversational. I suspect she would be a kindred spirit of Mary Oliver’s. A brilliant book for the start of autumn and for anyone interested in nature. A very solid five stars.

The Comfort of Crows
By Margaret Renkl

This is a very different book. It is the story of nature and the changes that happen throughout the year. The author talks about birds and foxes and other creatures who have a symbiotic relationship with the snow and rain, the grasses and weeds, the flowers and their seeds – and how all these things sustain each other.

There is no suspense or thrill in this book, no romance or horror. Instead this is a quiet book. That's as it should be for book about listening to and watching all that goes on in the natural world around us.

The Comfort of Crows is a magical look at the every day wonders of nature, as documented over a year by one Margaret Renkl. She has a way of highlighting the absolute beauty of the things we take for granted right outside our front doors.

The book takes us through a year in the life, every chapter representing Renkl’s musings for the week. While some chapters are more vibrant than others, there’s this through line of wonder that makes it lovely to read. Interspersed with gorgeous art, this really is a nice book to read when you need to be reminded of the beauty in little things. I’ll be the first to admit that this has had me looking more closely at the world around me.

What particularly spoke to me is the human-ness of it all. Renkl acknowledges her fears about the environment and the world, her missteps in wildlife care, and the things that haunt her, as much as she talks about the beauty. She’s worked for her knowledge and her wonder, but she’s not perfect. Regardless, she learns and she grows, and sometimes she can’t help but be happy an animal has food, even if that food is an invasive plant (or a beloved visitor to her yard).

It’s a call to all who love the world to take care of her, and do your best to keep learning, growing, and wondering, too.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Comfort of Crows is a series of 52 essays representing a year divided into four seasons. I previously read and loved Late Migrations, savoring each chapter. Renkl’s beautiful writing continues to focus on the interconnection between us and the nature just outside our back doors. The tone of this book was more somber and reflective on climate change, of species in decline, and reflections on her own mortality as she grows older and her children have become grown. One of my favorite passages:

“But perhaps the reason I didn’t feel sad about the onset of fall when I was younger is only that I was younger, with my whole life still ahead. In those days my only worry was that my real life, the one I would choose for myself and live on my own terms, was taking too long to arrive. Now I understand that every day I’m given is as real as life will ever get. Now I understand that we are guaranteed nothing, that our days have always been running out.”

Renkl gave me a lot to think about and reflect on my own life, whether I welcome it or not!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I've read VERY few nonfiction books this year. Here's one! This was beautiful. I pre-ordered a copy to own before I even finished and plan to read it as in like read that season as we enter the season: it has 52 chapters that follow the natural world through the year. Free advanced copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review, book comes out Oct 24

"We were never cast out of Eden. We merely turned from it and shut our eyes. To return and be welcomed, cleansed and redeemed, we are only obliged to look." Lovely closing lines to the opening words in Margaret Renkl's offering, The Comfort of Crows.

This is a lovely book of ponderings, poems, praises for the natural world around us as we go through the weeks of the year. I would love a hard copy of this on my coffee table!

The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl
I am sorry to say that I did not enjoy this book and had to DNF. This is more my fault than the author’s because I have read other books of hers and enjoyed them. This book is well written but it felt so doom filled that I found it too depressing to finish.

A Comfort of Crows is a lovely meditation on the changing of the seasons in nature. It was especially enjoyable because these are things from her backyard, not some exotic location. They encompass things those of us with even a little wilderness around us can witness. It’s a reminder of the small joys that nature gives us almost daily, if we take the time to look.
The book is written as 52 chapters, one for each week of the year. It’s a book that can be savored over time, that can be repeatedly picked up. It’s a gentle reminder to appreciate the beauty around us.
I had to laugh at the “owl pellet” segment. Only a dog lover can appreciate what her find actually was.
There are pictures between each of the chapters. This might be a book better suited to a paper copy or an e-reader that does color, as the pictures are black and white on the kindle. I was able to use the kindle app on my iPad to view the beautiful pictures.
My thanks to Netgalley and Spiegal & Grau for an advance copy of this book.

I love this book. I have already pre-ordered it for me and for a friend. I was moved by Renkl’s sense of joy and heartbreak held at the same time: “The greenness that rises out the ashes.” She knows that the world is burning, that we are responsible. And yet she’s able to stop and take pleasure in all the is still here. The tension between woman and nature is exquisite. Each essay is an examination of life: Renkl’s, the wildlife in her yard, her neighborhood, her state, the world. Her family’s. This is a book that I will read, slowly, each year, I think.

I LOVE Margaret Renkl! This book is beautiful. The artwork is stunning! I am challenged to spend more time looking at the things around me. I realized just how much in nature I have missed.

Loved this book so much that I have pre-ordered a copy from Parnassus Books in Nashville! I can't wait to read it again and see all Margaret's brother's illustrations in full color and texture. If you haven't read it, Margaret's other books, or her weekly NYT columns, I highly recommend them all!

Margaret Renkl's nature writing is absolutely beautiful. I will definitely be purchasing a physical copy to re-read next year, week by week.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-copy.

I adored this book. I cannot wait to get my hands on a hard copy to keep next to my bed. This is partly a memoir, part nature diary, part meditation. It is divided by seasons and further divided by weeks in the season. Bite size essays on varying things going on in the authors life, but also in nature during that time of the year. It can be read all the way through or you can skip to the current season and start there if you want to follow the seasons. Easy to dip on and out of and always a delight. An absolute 5 stars.

This one hovered between a 3 and 4 star book for me, and I settled on 4 because of the author, the writing and the fabulous illustrations. When it fell to a 3 in my reading, it was really due to me and my interest level in the topic rather than the book itself. Would recommend to people who like Robin Wall Kimmer.

When’s the last time you stopped & observed nature for a few minutes?

Margaret Renkl’s latest work is a thought-provoking look at all four seasons in her Tennessee backyard. Interspersed with anecdotes, literary quotes, life changes, & visits to various other wooded areas & parks, the book is broken down into a chapter for each week of the year & is delightfully illustrated by the author’s brother. It is both lovely & heartbreaking to follow along with the plants, wildlife, & insects throughout the year.

I loved reading about the great outdoors through the eyes of someone who is so obviously passionate about nature, though it was difficult reading about the climate change worries & disappearing green spaces. I enjoyed how the author endorses using the natural world as a way to balance oneself when the evening news doesn’t have anything good on it. Pick up this book & be amazed at the wonders of the environment around you.

Thank you to NetGalley & Spiegel & Grau for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"We were never cast out of Eden. We merely turned from it and shut our eyes. To return and be welcomed, cleansed and redeemed, we are only obliged to look."

Five-plus stars for Margaret Renkl's beautiful new book 'The Comfort of Crows."

This is a much needed balm for the soul in these troubled times. This peaceful plea reminds us of the healing power of nature and the cycle of life and death. Renkl helps us to learn to see the creatures and plants around us, reminds us that imperfection is better than perfection, and gently urges us not just to see the natural world but to do what we can to protect it.

Times are troubling, but the natural world is a great healer. This book reminded me over and over of one of my favorite quotes from Albert Einstein, 'Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.'

Renkl adds to her words with beautiful art from her brother, Billy.

I will find a special place on my shelves for this book, and know I will reach for it over and over.





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I loved this book. It felt like talking to a valued elder, as a mom in her 30’s, I am in my 2nd third of life, as she calls it. And I feel all kinds of ways about raising my kids during climate chaos.

I see her grief, her sadness, and her hope as she enters the last third of her life. And I feel like it is a glimpse into my future as someone with many of the same opinions and proclivities.

I connected with this piece in a way that felt poignant to me, and if you are someone who loves animals, and has experienced the pain and grief of waiting their habitat whittle away, I highly recommend this book.

I also love her husband, Hayward. I swear, my husband has looked at me as I made food for snails and said “yep” and kept moving. I know hers was for tadpoles, but same premise. Everyone needs a Hayward in their life.

Thank you for this memoir. I read it cover to cover, and I am so glad I did.

Thanks to NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau for the opportunity to read The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl.

What a truly thoughtful, lovely book. The perfect Christmas gift this year for people I love.