WIN $150 GIFT VOUCHERS: ALADDIN'S GOLD

Close Notification

Your cart does not contain any items

Leaf, Cloud, Crow

A Backyard Journal

Margaret Renkl

$42.99

Hardback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

QTY:

English
Spiegel & Grau
08 January 2025

*THE STUNNING COMPANION TO REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK THE COMFORT OF CROWS
*

A beautifully illustrated journal to guide your observations of nature wherever you find it-in gardens and yards, city parks and vacant lots, or the sky-enhanced by inspiring prompts and the wisdom of beloved and bestselling author Margaret Renkl.

In The Comfort of Crows, Renkl's account of a year in her Nashville backyard, readers encountered birds and wildflowers, foxes and stately oaks, and all the surprises and joys to be found if only we pay attention to the world around us. This journal will help you engage-closely and thoughtfully-with nearby nature. Renkl illuminates the turning days, weeks, and seasons, and offers prompts to help you chronicle and care for the rich life surrounding you: What do the bare branches of winter allow you to see? How does summer's abundance provide for different wild animals-and can you find the abundance in your own life? What changes have you noticed in the natural habitats near you, not just from month to month, but from year to year?

The perfect contemplative companion and gift for any gardener, outdoors enthusiast, birder, or budding naturalist, Leaf, Cloud, Crow will help readers and writers alike grow more attuned to all the ""radiant things bursting forth in the darkest places, in the smallest nooks and deepest cracks of the hidden world.""
By:  
Imprint:   Spiegel & Grau
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 215mm,  Width: 152mm, 
ISBN:   9781954118522
ISBN 10:   195411852X
Pages:   192
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming

Margaret Renkl is the author of The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year, Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss, and Graceland, At Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache From the American South. She is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, where her essays appear weekly. The founding editor of Chapter 16, a daily literary publication of Humanities Tennessee, and a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Carolina, she lives in Nashville.

Reviews for Leaf, Cloud, Crow: A Backyard Journal

""A lovely companion for your outdoor adventures . . . Divided by season, the journal offers a space for nature enthusiasts to make notes and observations each week of the year. To help guide readers, the journal also includes passages from The Comfort of Crows, as well as writing prompts based on questions Renkl explored during the same week each year. . . . While engaging with the natural world, she notes, you will likely encounter events that may be painful to witness. . . . Though often heartbreaking, these elements offer moments for contemplation and reflection.""--Kirkus Praise for The Comfort of Crows: ""To savor something is to know you will lose it, and to cherish it all the more for that knowledge. That sense is the animating force behind Margaret Renkl's astonishing The Comfort of Crows. . . . Its greatest strength is its central invocation: to pay attention. She implores us to recognize the fragile beauty of the world, not to slip into cynicism or despair.""--New York Times Book Review ""Above all, The Comfort of Crows is a full-throated ode to the hopefulness of regeneration. . . . It is a paean not just to the natural world, but to paying attention and doing one's bit to nurture it.""--Wall Street Journal ""The Comfort of Crows is a howling love letter to the world, the story of what we've lost and what we can save and the abundance of wonder in our own backyard. Margaret Renkl is a singular, spectacular writer, and this book, like life itself, is a cause for celebration.""--Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House ""Reading Margaret Renkl always connects me more deeply to the natural world and to my own heart. The Comfort of Crows is an elegy, a provocation, and above all a love letter to the magnificence that still surrounds us, if only we are awake enough to look. I want to press it into the hands of everyone I know.""--Dani Shapiro, author of Inheritance ""One of Renkl's skills as a writer is to transfer her ability to perceive the nuances of the natural world, things most of us overlook, onto the page. In The Comfort of Crows . . . her powers of perception are on full display. . . . Paying attention to the living things in her backyard helps her cope with climate change, political strife and cultural upheaval--and she hopes it will help the reader, too.""--New York Times ""Whether describing bluebird nests or her own empty one, Renkl is part poetic prophet, part your down-home friend. In essays adorned by her brother's art, she meditates on family, loss and nature under siege. 'The world is full of song, ' she writes--wake up and listen!""--People Many a plant or creature inspires Renkl's appreciation, and as a result, our own. It is possible that after reading this deceptively simple, charming book, you will plant a chair in a . . . backyard and discover things you've never seen before. And what could be more buoying than that?""--Minneapolis Star-Tribune ""This triumph of a book gives us a charming and wise friend to guide us over the course of a year, but I am certain Margaret Renkl's enchanting voice will echo for lifetimes to come. The Comfort of Crows is an instant classic, not just for the planet, but--and most importantly--for our hearts too.""--Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of World of Wonders ""Infused with empathy, The Comfort of Crows reminds us to treasure the living beings who surround us with each breath we take. Renkl's insights root us within our world.""--BookPage (starred review) ""Luminous . . . Elegant, lucid essays follow the changing seasons, Renkl musing on the migratory and nesting patterns of birds, the encroaching effects of climate change, her own evolving family structure, and the incremental shifts of flora, fauna, and light. . . . The Comfort of Crows celebrates the beauty and durability of nature's age-old cycles and the habits of wild creatures, and it urges human beings to care for these same creatures--before some of them disappear altogether.""--Shelf Awareness ""Renkl invites readers along on a year of loving outdoor observations in this gently moving memoir. . . . This gorgeous reflection on humanity's symbiotic relationship with the outdoors will transform the way readers interact with their own backyards.""--Publishers Weekly


See Also