
I treated myself & purchased H is for Hawk by Helen McDonald in Dublin airport at the beginning of my adventure to New Zealand. Browsing for books is one of my favourite pastimes. Wandering around Waterstones with an hour to kill is my idea of bliss – & if I can afford to buy a book, well, I feel like a demigoddess!
I am on the stubborn half of the fence that hasn’t been converted to Kindles yet & has no desire to be! I will carry a minimum of 2 books with me when I’m travelling & I willingly sacrifice clothes, shoes or a hairdryer for my book habit. I love the feel of a book, especially a new book! I love to flick through the pages, admire the shiny cover & the pristine pages. I like being able to physically view how much I’ve read, being able to pass it on to a friend, packing it in my bag as a new world waiting to be delved into. I’ve met people of this constitution who have been converted to e readers & now say they struggle to go back to books. I don’t want this to happen to me! Leave me with my traditional books & you sit with your e reader while I struggle to imagine which book you are not disclosing…..
I digress, H is for Hawk is the 2014 Costa Book of the year & it was recommended by A Model Recommends blog. I enjoy her beauty blogs & thought I would give the book a try.
This book is about the author, Helen, & how she strives to cope with her father’s death. She seeks solace in an unlikely companion – a goshawk. These are irrefutably difficult to master & seem like a life’s dedication. She takes us through the testing learning curve she must conquer, her triumphs & failures.
Some of the writing I found incredibly heartfelt & soulful however overall this book did not enlighten or inspire me. I am a very demanding reader! At parts I found it slow & not particularly flowing & easy to read. I posted it from Singapore to a friend back in Ireland experiencing loss & she seemed to appreciate it more than me.