The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl - As an amateur birdwatcher and an admirer of crows in particular, this book was very appealing to me. It is a collection of essays that combines aspects of nature journals, almanacs, and personal reflections and it's somewhat reminiscent of a devotional book as well. The beautiful colored illustrations on the cover and throughout are done by the author's brother, artist Billy Renkl.
The journey through the backyard year begins with Week One of Winter, and there's an essay for each week of the year, following the cycle of the four seasons. Interspersed are some shorter and more lyrical observations of creatures or plant life that the author titles 'praise songs'. The essays comment on the growing things, changing of seasons, environment, and the bird and animal life observed in the author's backyard and local surroundings. She draws interesting and often beautiful or thought-provoking comparisons to what is happening in her personal life and in her family, especially the aspects of getting older and facing the empty nest and retirement years. Her great respect and care for all the creatures that cross her path, whether she sees them or not, comes through in simple eloquence, and in reading my own desire to have a backyard space of own again was stirred. A backyard space that is wild enough to provide habitat for small animals and for birds, as well as a restful place for me to enjoy. And yes, I wold welcome crows. I feel even more justified that crows are among my favorite birds, in fact.
The 'praise songs' were quite lovely, but occasionally gave me pause as there was a hint that they strayed a little too close to worshiping created things rather than the Creator, but that is my personal impression. There was a sense of sadness throughout the book, as if there was not much reason to hope that anything of nature would survive for long, that human-caused 'climate change' will end it all. One hopes that tinge of despair and regret will move readers to pay more attention to the remarkable natural world and consider how we can be better and more appreciative stewards of it.
From the publisher:
From the beloved New York Times opinion writer: a luminous book that traces the passing seasons, both personal and natural.
In The Comfort of Crows, Margaret Renkl presents a literary devotional: fifty-two chapters that follow the creatures and plants in her backyard over the course of a year. As we move through the seasons―from a crow spied on New Year's Day, its resourcefulness and sense of community setting a theme for the year, to the lingering bluebirds of December, revisiting the nest box they used in spring―what develops is a portrait of joy and grief: joy in the ongoing pleasures of the natural world, and grief over winters that end too soon and songbirds that grow fewer and fewer.
Along the way, we also glimpse the changing rhythms of a human life. Grown children, unexpectedly home during the pandemic, prepare to depart once more. Birdsong and night-blooming flowers evoke generations past. The city and the country where Renkl raised her family transform a littler more with each passing day. And the natural world, now in visible flux, requires every ounce of hope and commitment from the author―and from us. For, as Renkl writes, "radiant things are bursting forth in the darkest places, in the smallest nooks and deepest cracks of the hidden world."
With fifty-two original color artworks by the author's brother, Billy Renkl, The Comfort of Crows is a lovely and deeply moving book from a cherished observer of the natural world.
This is a book with a character that can fly (#18) for The 52 Book Club's 2025 Reading Challenge.
#the52bookclub #the52bookclub2025
With so many birds and insects featured throughout the book, I decided these creatures all count as characters that can fly!
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