The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars | 592 ratings

Price: 18.42

Last update: 10-21-2024


About this item

REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK

THE PERFECT AUDIOBOOK FOR NATURE LOVERS, BIRDERS, AND GARDENERS * USA TODAY BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * AMAZON EDITOR’S PICK * INDIE NEXT PICK

From the beloved New York Times opinion writer and bestselling author of Late Migrations comes a “howling love letter to the world” (Ann Patchett): a luminous book that traces the passing of seasons, 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 little 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.”

The Comfort of Crows is a lovely and deeply moving book from a cherished observer of the natural world.


Top reviews from the United States

the reader
5.0 out of 5 stars CROWS ARE SO INTELLIGENT
Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2024
I ordered this book, I enjoy reading these essays, memories and love of life. For some time there were crows all around my neighborhood. I heard their caw, cawing. Now they are gone somewhere else, These crows are so intelligent, know much about their world. They are so big and noisy they frighten the smaller songbirds.

I can't say enough about Mrs. Renkl's book even though parts are sad, but true.

The book contains what goes on in one year in Margaret Renkl's backyard and in a rented cabin on the Cumberland Plateau. The book goes over the four seasons from Winter until Autumn. There are
many lovely pictures through the book by Mrs. Renkl's brother Billy Renkl, an artist. These pictures bring readers into the world of nature.

The book, beautifully written and worded, is sad, tells of time long passed, people long gone, children who are now grownups. What once was and what is now.

Mother Nature will do whatever she wants though so many do not agree. People keep fighting against her. Mrs. Renkl agrees with Nature. She loves all the natural world around her in Tennessee as she loved being a child in southern Alabama and being surrounded by nature where she could run free and get to know trees, flowers, everything else she could about what she loves. She hasn't changed. She loves the tiny creatures and does what she do to help them survive. She is their friend, as they are hers.

Mrs. Renkl's mother loved nature and taught her daughter to love and respect the natural world as she did. Margaret learned well.

As for dying leaves, they make good food for growing other trees.

Winter, cold and dark, still beautiful when the land goes to sleep, closes down.
Spring when the land wakes up and everything begins to grow, to come alive.
Summer, hot and sleepy.
Then comes the most beautiful season of the year, Autumn, when everything is so bright, leaves so colorful, fall, he air is cool and crisp.

I am glad I did read this book. It makes me so happy. Get out in nature and enjoy.

I still don't like what is being taken away from future generations. they need nature and wild country to enjoy and care about.
Lorraine Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars What a wonderful appreciation of the little wonders of our world.
Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2024
I belong to a book club in order to enjoy books I would never think of to read myself. This is one of those kinds of books for me. I'm so happy I was introduced to this book! I'm definitely not a gardener-type or an appreciator of bugs, birds other fauna and flora, but this book has made me a believer in finding the beauty in all things of Mother Earth in your own back yard. It is beautifully written and the illustrations are just stunning. I was one of the criers during our book club discussion as we talked about our reactions to this book. It just hits my heart. Beautiful!
KHR
5.0 out of 5 stars Margaret Renkl's observations of the natural world are lyrical, sensitive, and awe-inspiring
Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2024
Margaret Renkl’s lyrical, sensitive & minutely-detailed observations of both the active and seemingly inactive goings on in her backyard and in her favorite woods, combined with her personal/familial experiences and her fears/hopes of the future of the natural world are utterly emotional and astounding. In her very short 52 chapters that describe each week of the year (divided by the four seasons), she reminds us that the natural world is a phenomenal place to behold with love, respect, and awe.
Ed D.
4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book
Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2023
Love the read . The book is beautifully done it’s the reason to buy a book rather then an ebook. My yard is going to look very different after reading this book. If people could be as kind and gentle as the author it would be a very different world we live in.
Captain K
5.0 out of 5 stars A Perfect Book for an Imperfect Natural World
Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2024
This short book, containing one essay for each week of the year beginning with winter, few if any longer than three pages, can be read in a sitting, but should anyone breeze through it they will likely find themselves going back over it at least one more time. A few of the essays take time to sink in, and the book as a whole should be allotted that time.
I had read numerous reviews, all favorable, but none convinced me that the book wouldn't be too Venus-y for my Martian palate - until one appeared in, of all places, my local newspaper and suggested there would be much more to it than the typical "Today I saw a redbird, and it was beautiful." Upon acquiring the book I first noticed the gorgeous illustrations, all done by the author's brother, but other than that the text, if only at first, reminded me of a similar "diary of the natural year" written by a late friend - pleasant enough, even sharp-eyed in places, but not particularly compelling or thought-provoking.
Which is why this book is worth reading twice - as, it turned out, was my friend's. And the two readings should occur one right after the other, which I suspected I needed to do. Gradually the real messages of the 52 essays emerged, and they were not always pretty. Many lack happy endings, others are bittersweet at best. Among other things the author confronts not only her own aging but the concomitant loss of seasonal variation and reliability, the homogenization of wild species, the erasure of history and historical ways of living, and the infuriating complacency with which most Americans appear to accept - ignore - the damage we do to the environment even by mere inaction. This has consequences of global importance, but at the neighborhood level too.
Human behavior, ranging from the poisoning of lawns to overdevelopment, and even including the author's occasional carelessness (however well-intentioned) can have tragic results. Death, from relatives and friends to baby birds, is a constant presence among the beauty and (often) humor of her observations - and yet it's an essential component of nature, red in tooth and claw.
Judith Gale
5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful!
Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2024
If you enjoy nature, Margaret Renkl's books are a delight. Read through the whole book or enjoy page by page day by day. I always learn something new and am inspired to observe nature more closely!
Carla Terry
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting!
Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2024
I especially enjoyed the parts about the birds, but this book really helps you to appreciate all the critters! It is not a great work of literary fiction, but a realistic depiction of the author’s environment.

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