At Swim-Two-Birds (John F. Byrne Irish Literature Series)

Amazon.com Reviews

In a 1938 letter to a literary agent, Flann O'Brien described his first novel as "a very queer affair, unbearably queer perhaps." The book in question was At Swim-Two-Birds--and if we take queer to mean diabolically eccentric, then truer words were never spoken. The author, whose real name was Brian O'Nolan, had successfully stirred Gaelic legend, pulp fiction, and grimy Dublin realism into a hilarious cocktail. His mastery of modernist collage would have been an ample accomplishment itself. But O'Brien was also blessed with the writer's equivalent of perfect pitch, and in At Swim-Two-Birds he squeezes the maximum beauty and banality out of the English language. All he lacks is a tragic register, but he makes up for this deficit with a sense of comedy so acute that even James Joyce couldn't resist blurbing his fellow Dubliner's creation: "A really funny book."

O'Brien labored mightily to make At Swim-Two-Birds summary-proof. But here, anyway, are the bare bones: the narrator, a university student, is writing a novel, which keeps morphing from mock-heroics to middlebrow naturalism. Meanwhile, one of his characters, Dermot Trellis, is himself writing a Western--an Irish Western--whose cowpunching protagonists will eventually throw off their fictional shackles and attempt to murder their creator. (Talk about the death of the author!) There's enough structural shenanigans here to keep an entire industry of critics afloat. Still, what matters most is the pungency of O'Brien's prose. His dialogue is agreeably grungy, his parodies delicious, and the narrator speaks in the sort of Jesuitical dialect that we associate with Samuel Beckett:

That same afternoon I was sitting on a stool in an intoxicated condition in Grogan's licensed premises. Adjacent stools bore the forms of Brinsley and Kelly, my two true friends. The three of us were occupied in putting glasses of stout into the interior of our bodies and expressing by fine disputation the resulting sense of physical and mental well-being. In my thigh pocket I had eleven and eightpence in a weighty pendulum of mixed coins.

Snippets, alas, do little justice to At Swim-Two-Birds, which relies heavily on cumulative chaos for its effect. Graham Greene, an early fan, compared its comic charge to "the kind of glee one experiences when people smash china on the stage." A half century after its initial appearance, O'Brien's masterpiece remains a gleeful read--a marvelous, inventive, and (last but not least) really funny book. --James Marcus

Book Description

Along with one or two books by James Joyce, Flann O'Brien's At Swim-Two-Birds is the most famous (and infamous) of Irish novels published in the twentieth century. Or to put it as Dylan Thomas did: "It establishes Mr. O'Brien in the forefront of contemporary writing. . . . This is just the book to give your sister if she's a loud, dirty, boozy girl!"

The story of an Irish college student whohalf to amuse himself and half to avoid workwrites an irreverent novel about the figures of Irish myth and legend in which characters come to life and riot against their author, At Swim is a wildly comic send-up of Irish literature and culture which had a major influence on writers coming after O'Brien, including Anthony Burgess, Gilbert Sorrentino, and William H. Gass (who has written an introduction for this edition).

O'Brien opened up a whole new world of possibilities for fiction as subsequent novelists have played with his zany ideas, chief among them being the idea that characters in fiction have earned the right to be "recycled"after all, they've proven their reliability as characters!not put out to pasture once their stories are finished.

Customer Reviews:

A good cure for insomnia.......2007-09-13

My friends thought it would be a great idea to start a book club. Our first assignment: At Swim-Two-Birds. Not knowing what to expect, we all found it quite odd that the book was so hard to come by. It was not readily available in any library or book store. After having ordered this book of the 100 All-Time Best Novels, we each set out to read the book with some difficulty.

I enjoy reading as a hobby, however, unless forced or tricked as the case may be, I would never have read this book after the first 20 or so pages. There is something to a manner of textbooks and technical manuals that causes me to suddenly fall into a deep slumber when attempting to read them with intent. This book falls into this category. I cannot read more than a few pages without suddenly feeling drugged to the point where my brain ceases all function and I collapse in a drooling heap.

I would not be so pretentious as to wax on about the literary genious of this book, as it seems so many others have done. While there have been some interesting points and even some chuckles to be had, for the most part this text is loathsome to read. I also have to point out that being Irish by birth, this review saddens me to write, but it is all true. I feel that I must warn others who may be deceived by the great reviews regarding this book.

Modernist Fantasy Psychedelia Novel.......2007-04-15

Out of all the novels I read in my modernist college course, I found this one among the two most enjoyable. Though I'm of Irish decent myself, I'm far enough removed from the mother country that many of Joyce's themes, motiffs, and dialogues were completely lost on me. Plus, Joyce is extremely difficult to read in my opinion, and sometimes pages took hours. I barely survived the sermon and kicked and screamed the whole way through.
Not so with Flann O'Brien. Though the style shifting was somewhat hard to follow, I found "At Swim-Two-Birds" much more accessible than the other great modernists, even easier to digest than Faulkner (I believe I grasped Faulkner easily because being a southerner myself, I understand his accent). I also enjoyed the book because I entered a career in literature through a love of mythology and the fantasy books that I grew up with, and Finn McCool and the Pooka were welcome characters. Also, I was in college and the psychedelic dreams-to-reality theme sparked my interest as well. Plus, O'brien's sentences are riotously funny and his rebellious parody is a blast. I think this might be better as a first book in an English 301, rather than a last, because if I had read it first I might have been more able to digest Joyce, and wouldn't be so afraid of him now.

Well timed, perfectly ridiculous........2006-07-08

ASTB is a story in a story in a story, starring a host of unlikeables and woven together by a surly, drunken master narrator.

If comedy is timing, then perhaps the meter of Mr. Nolan's prose is the key to his particular genius. A native speaker of Irish, he constructs sentences in ways that have the poetry of that language, and asserts such abrupt,hilarious, and logical sub-clauses that you sometimes find yourself laughing wildly and unexpectedly.

O'Brien's chief narrator, a drunk, lazy student, is the easiest character to understand and keep track of (his "biographical references" are the book's highlights). He has a rigorous jesuit brain, and a lazy, teenage body. He also has a fondness for consuming a great many "Pints of Plain", and observing the effects of these in himself and his acquantices with scientific curiosity.

I may be missing something, but in the final analysis I suspect that this book is not the masterpiece it could have been. That it was slashed by 1/3 by the author and one of his friends before publication may have rendered some of it more confusing than necessary. It's a pity he didn't take time to craft it tighter instead of just chopping out swathes of story. Maybe then I'd get what was going on a little better. Then again, maybe I wouldn't.

Should you buy it? Yes. It is an extremely clever postmodern piece of literature, and it will make you laugh. But don't try and read the whole thing in one sitting, or you'll find yourself irately meandering through some of the more surreal and apparently pointless dialogue. This stuff is best read slowly, as the point is not the plot, it's the scene and the poetry. If not for that, read it slowly for the simple reason that a story in a story in a story is just as confusing as it sounds.

Just read it aloud.......2006-07-03

If you are lucky enough to ever go to Dublin and have time to linger over a few pints you'll hear the same cadences , superbly illogical statements, bizarre juxtapositions and general love of life that O'Brien listened to and included in ASTB. Buy it and read it out loud with as much of an Irish brogue as you can manage.This book will have you laughing out loud at the sparkling wit and playful inventiveness of one of Ireland's greatest writers.

t'a gr'a agam dhuit! Irish Storyteller.......2006-04-06

Mary Whipple has a knack for recommending experimental and unusual stories and At Swim-Two-Birds is of them.

Czech this one out. I implore you. Mary has a tribal mind and so do I ;-) Do you?

Pocket Guide To The Common Birds of Ireland

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Pocket Guide To The Common Birds of Ireland
Eric Dempsey
Manufacturer: Gill & Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Birds of Ireland: An Introduction to Familiar Species (Pocket Naturalist - Waterford Press)

ASIN: 0717122964

Birds of Ireland: An Introduction to Familiar Species (Pocket Naturalist - Waterford Press)

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Birds of Ireland

Birds of Ireland: An Introduction to Familiar Species (Pocket Naturalist - Waterford Press)
James Kavanagh
Manufacturer: Waterford Press
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Binding: Paperback

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Pocket Guide To The Common Birds of Ireland

ASIN: 158355338X

Book Description

Laminated for durability, these handy folding guides are a great source of portable information about the most commonly seen birds in Ireland.

Customer Reviews:

Birds of Ireland.......2007-05-07

Great pictures of the Birds of Ireland. Quick shipping. Thanks.

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The Complete Guide to Ireland's Birds
Eric Dempsey , and Michael O'Clery
Manufacturer: Gill & MacMillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Where to Watch Birds in Ireland (Where to Watch Birds)

ASIN: 0717134016

Where to Watch Birds in Ireland (Where to Watch Birds)

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Where to Watch Birds in Ireland (Where to Watch Birds)
Clive D. Hutchinson
Manufacturer: Christopher Helm Publishers Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Birds of Sorrow: Notes from a River Junction in Northern New Mexico

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Food for the Heart

Birds of Sorrow: Notes from a River Junction in Northern New Mexico
Tom Ireland
Manufacturer: Zephyr Press (AZ)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0939010194

Book Description

Details the author's experiences after leaving the East coast to live on a 10-acre farm called La Junta in northern New Mexico, where he built a house, fenced in land, lived, and wrote.

Customer Reviews:

Food for the Heart.......2000-09-22

There ought to be a name for this genre. The jacket blurb says "nature/Southwest literature". But Annie Dillard did this in the Northeast and Edward Abbey did it all over the Southwest and down rivers. Everett Ruess and Ann Zwinger did it in SE Utah with superb sketches and wood cuts. C.L. Rawlins and Gretel Ehrlich do it in Wyoming with sketches and photographs. Stanley Crawford did it with *Mayordomo* and *A Garlic Testament* a few miles SE of Tom Ireland in the Embudo Valley between Taos and Santa Fe (or halfway to Los Alamos - whichever way your crow flies).

"People who bond with 'place' and then write about it with philosophical comments and profound/funny/zen-like observations along the way" is a bit cumbersome. These people out-Thoreau Thoreau (and I'm from Thoreau, New Mexico [heh heh]; I ought to know). All these authors (and more) do this thing superbly well, in their own unique voices, but all the same, the genre deserves a better name than "nature/Southwest" or "nature/Northeast."

Ireland has added a new dimension with Angie Coleman's joyful paintings of exactly this same country round about. [I've debated about extracting and framing these paintings - still debating. Think I'll have to buy another copy of the book.]

This author reproduces his encounters with his Spanish and Indian neighbors (sometimes poignant, somtimes frustrating, always funny). These little essays/vignettes stand by themselves, but at the very end, the writer includes a story about La Pascualita - a real person who sweeps the roads with her broom and is housed and adopted by the entire community of La Madera. Ireland weaves her into a story that is reminiscent of Rudolfo Anaya, but very much his own.

And his piece about Magdalena, the magpie he adopted, is an original for sure.

"Walking around with a bird on your head is like watching life from a tenement window." "What's the collective noun for magpies? How about 'complaint'? There's a complaint of magpies in a cottonwood on the hillside across the river."

He watches the ravens of La Junta: "I was still standing there when the raven blew up over the cliff and almost into my face. It must have scared him almost as much as it scared me, to be riding the blast sixty feet off the ground and then all of a sudden to be facing a man. He shat, climbed up over the reach of harm, and held there at the closest safe distance to look again, reassembling his world into the kind of order he trusted it to have. (Ravens up. Men down.) Then he spoke. It was a sort of rattle, as much from the bowel as from the throat, and in it there was both fear and outrage: 'This cliff is taken. You are not wanted here.' He drifted north, riding the thermal, checking to see if there were any more of me around, then fell up and away into the bottomless sky."

About roosters: "...their voices make me think of the smell of joss sticks because *things mean things:" the rooster means incense, and the helicopter means searching the river for the body of a dead man, and I deceive myself that at eight o'clock this morning the real work will begin. Things mean things: the substance of faith, what we live for, those meanings, those coincidences of sky & rain & thought that jump at us."

He makes you feel like you're perching on his shoulder, looking through his eyes, seeing what he sees, hearing what he hears, and understanding through his mind and heart.

"Towards evening, the sun dropped into a corridor between the clouds and the little valley was filled with pink light. I put down my shovel and stood under a juniper to witness the change. It was like being in an aquarium: immersed, the bare cottonwoods, the hillside, the vacant house across the river, the fence posts, my own hands acquired a light of their own. The air filled with sugary spines of ice, and a rainbow appeared, its northern pole planted in the willows of a neighbor's cow pasture. I could see impossible distances in every direction; up the valley to La Zorra, down the crooked Valleciros, up the canada behind Vigil's store - as if I could see around corners."

All through these reflections are little personal musings:

"What is it about the presence of parents that makes us feel something less than alive, when they're the ones responsible for bringing us here in the first place?"

About dreams and water: "To wake in the dark and peel off the skin of your dream: to go out in the dark in the wet yard where drops of water hang from the asparagus berries and the night sounds are swamp sounds, sounds of water. And this our dry land smells like water and the creek runs brown."

And about work: "Ulceration of the spirit. It seems that when I have a job, my life becomes the job and not much else. There is no true rest and no true work until it's over."

"...we have made our joy depend on our work, and having come this far, we can't renounce it, can't be free from it, but only look for freedom in it."

"When I stand outside watching the clouds and the birds, I'm doing my work. These things need to be studied and praised, at least reported on."

And report he does. The title of the book comes from a quote by Malcolm Lowry, "You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building a nest in your hair."

This is a beautiful little gem of a book with lovely paintings, anecdotes and musings - the kind of book to keep by your bed and pick up and read at random. It's also a book to read all the way through from the beginning - more than once. In a word - delight. Five stars - easy.

Product Description

Swallows in December? Impossible! Not for a poet. Poetry is born of the unexpected. Kiely\'s swallows are the poems. December is any time you need a glint of beauty.

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There's more to her operatic voice than meets the ear.
Engaging first novel about the need to uncover one's roots
Once again, beware what you wish for
"You don't keep secrets. Secrets keep you."
Very touching and even suspenseful

Singing Bird: A Novel
Roisin McAuley
Manufacturer: William Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Sister Age

ASIN: 0060737883
Release Date: 2004-11-30

Customer Reviews:

There's more to her operatic voice than meets the ear........2007-08-12

Contented, we find the little Molloy clan, late of Ireland, now moving from one house to a new one in merry old England. Mother Nena's in the kitchen about to uncork the bubbly as she awaits arrival of her best friend Alma and others. Doting husband and father Jack, successful businessman Jack, romantic Jack, is at work doing successful businessman stuff. Daughter Mary travels with the opera, don't you know, boasting her own CD: Mary Molloy sings Mozart and Rossini. A singing bird on two continents---if not more---Mary's headed to San Francisco for another opera gig.

Idyllic the Molloy existence is--almost. There is only the matter of Mary's murky adoption out of Ireland's County Mayo to ponder. Mary and Jack tried for years to get pregnant, but it was not in the cards, and Nena herself was adopted, knowing nothing of her birth parents. Jack and Nena were approached at a cousin's wedding in Ireland by a nun, Sister Monica Devine, who with iron-fist ran Saint Joseph's Home for unmarried mothers. The Molloys jumped at adopting Mary, though left in the dark about her lineage. Today a nagging question remains more in Nena's mind than Mary's: Where did Mary's stunning voice come from?

Then the phone rings at the Molloy's. Sister Monica calls from the Emerald Isle. She's retiring and wants to check on the welfare of all her wee adopted ones, Mary included. How is Mary? What is her line of work? The questions also roll off Nena's tongue. What can you tell me about Mary's birth parents? Are they ill? Is there anything I should know about them? Sister Monica, in a word, remains noncommittal, further piquing Nena's growing obsession about her daughter's roots. Nena says people need to know who they are and where they came from, although Jack and Mary tell her she should leave well enough alone.

In a flash Nena and friend Alma, who swore off men following a jilting from her latest married flame, are on the plane to Dublin, where they rent a car and point it toward the west of Ireland. Using powerfully descriptive language to paint the beauty of the Irish countryside, McAuley unfolds a kind-of Thelma and Louise travelogue as the gal-pals head toward a showdown with Sister Monica. Fellow travelers with their own interesting tales appear to entertain readers while Nena blurts out her story to one and all over wine and good food, in bed-and-breakfasts dotting the Emerald Isle. A kindly widower, a barrister from Dublin named Donal, is lonely enough not to be put off by Nena's one-track banter and offers background information into the rights of adoptees and birth parents under Irish law. We sense a potential romance blossoming for Alma and Donal, but Alma's ice isn't easily thawed.

Sister Monica now runs Saint Joseph's as a senior citizen's home. The young pre-natal mothers are all gone and she is indeed ready to retire. Mysteriously, Sister seems about as glad to see Nena as she would Lucifer himself. Stonewalling Nena's questions, she's scolded as if she were a recalcitrant parochial school student. Adoptive parents have no rights under Irish law, Nena is reminded. What's more, Nena is told, be careful what you wish for. You just might get it. Sister will provide no information about Mary's birth parents to her. Thank you. Goodbye.

Not easily rebuffed after a long holiday journey, Nena has an epiphany. What do Catholics and others turn to when hope seems lost? God? Prayer? No---the Internet. She's soon peering at group pictures of unmarried mothers and babies from Saint Joseph's, taken during the timeframe that her daughter was born. Off in the rental car she goes, driving the back roads of Ireland in a madcap search of women who posed for the picture taken twenty-seven years ago. Nena feels even more pressure now that Mary's coming to Dublin in tow of a handsome male operatic lead---her lover---and a man who's unfortunately married. Tsk, tsk.

Our heroine Nena discovers two other morsels of information that evolve to cloud the picture. The lesser of them is that Sister Monica is not a well woman. More importantly, (drum roll) Sister Monica's brother, Father Frank Devine, is also known as Ireland's Singing Priest. He boasts a body of musical work, appearing on the telly and CD. Needless to say, if our Father fathered a child the possibility exists that......, well, you know.

As Nena flits about Ireland ingratiating herself to women in the group picture, she has only to identify Mary's birth mother, assuming that the lady will own up to an ancient affair. There `tis. Case closed, right? Nope. Surprise awaits sleuths who think they have McAuley's puzzle solved. The intrigue has just begun in this finely crafted plot set in a scenic Irish backdrop. Those whose forbears emigrated many years ago from the aulde sod appreciate the toil that goes into genealogical web unraveling. Many records from the Famine period were lost, destroyed or poorly kept. We who have the family history neatly catalogued into narratives and contained in binders probably had a pest like Nena to thank for placing it there. And most likely, much of it was accomplished pre-Internet. Singing Bird is worth a read.

Roisin McAuley grew up in County Tyrone and resides with her husband in Reading, Berkshire, in the U.K.

Engaging first novel about the need to uncover one's roots.......2005-06-07

When we first meet Lena Malloy, we see a woman who appears completely content with her life, including her marriage to a wonderful, faithful husband, Jack, and her relationship to her beautiful 27-year old adopted daughter, Mary, an up-and-coming opera singer. However, a single phone call changes all that--Sister Monica, the Irish nun who arranged Mary's adoption, contacts Lena, supposedly just to "catch up," but the call leaves Lena feeling anxious and unsettled. When Mary suddenly announces a change in schedule that will involve a performance in Ireland, Lena makes an impulsive decision to travel to Ireland on holiday, seek out Sister Monica, and find Mary's birth parents as a "gift" to her daughter.

The story which follows is interesting and engaging, although it involves quite a few coicidences. In fact, one character even points out that she herself has been searching for years to find her adopted daughter whereas it has taken Lena only a few days to track down the information she seeks. Furthermore, the author is a bit heavy-handed in her foreshadowing style: the book's conclusion offers several surprising twists, but I (along with virtually every character other than Lena) was able to accurately predict these with more than half the story to go. Still, this is a mostly entertaining novel that is likely to particularly appeal to Irish fiction enthusiasts and/or those with their own adoption experiences.

Once again, beware what you wish for.......2005-02-16

This is a tale of incompleteness, hope, triumph against the odds, a giant leap to a major conclusion and then lies, deceit and devastation. Over twenty years ago Lena Malloy adopted her daughter Mary, and without any warning, Sister Monica, the person who handled the adoption, calls Lena and asks how Mary is doing. When asked why she made the call, Monica says that she is about to retire and as a final act is checking up on the status of the babies she adopted out. The story is set in Ireland and Monica is the former headmistress of a hostel for unwed mothers.
Lena is puzzled and recollects how she and her husband Jack came to adopt Mary. For years they had tried to have a child but without success. While attending a wedding they were suddenly asked if they would like to adopt a girl. The adoption was expedited and in a few days they were parents. Mary has grown into a very talented opera singer and was headlining at major opera houses around the world.
Lena herself was adopted as an infant and even though she grew up in a very good environment, she has always wanted to learn about her biological parents. Therefore, unbeknownst to Mary, Lena begins a search for Mary's parents. At first the search starts slow, but it moves pretty fast and she learns the name of Mary's mother. However, to achieve this knowledge, she resorts to lies and trickery, impersonating her daughter so that people will be more forthcoming.
Since a priest who is also a talented singer had assisted Mary's mother, Lena reaches the conclusion that the priest is Mary's father. She goes so far as to confront the priest, and when he says that she had best just let the past lie undisturbed, she takes it as a subtle admission of guilt. It turns out that she is very wrong about her beliefs and when she learns the truth she finds it difficult to bear. Her drive to learn about her daughter was fueled by her feelings about being adopted and she had ignored the advice of almost everyone that what she was doing could lead to a place she would rather not go.
In the end, she is trying to come to grips with the reality she has found, but the book ends at the point when she takes the first major step. The story is a good one, filled with an Ahab-like quest that Lena cannot put aside. She will not rest until she finds the truth and does not concern herself with whether Mary really wants to know. To achieve those ends, she begins lying to everyone, and starts making subtle threats if she doesn't get what she wants. For what appears to be the first time in her life, right or wrong does not matter; there is only what she wants to know. I enjoyed the book even though it is in a genre that I ordinarily do not care for.

"You don't keep secrets. Secrets keep you.".......2004-12-19

Roisin McAuley's affecting and poignant first novel, "Singing Bird," is an engrossing story of a mother and daughter who were both adopted as babies. The mother, Lena Molloy, waited until adulthood to inquire about her birth parents, but she was unable to learn who they were. Mary, the daughter whom Lena adopted in Ireland, seems content with the idea that she may never know who gave her up for adoption. At twenty-seven, Mary is now a talented and beautiful singer who is a rising star in the opera world.

Lena and her husband Jack are about to move into a new home, and they are looking forward to retirement in a few years. They are financially successful and have a second home in France. Lena and Jack have had a good marriage and they are bursting with pride at their daughter's success in the music world.

Suddenly, Lena gets a phone call from the nun who gave Mary to her so many years ago. This phone call turns Lena's life upside down. She makes the fateful decision to take a vacation in Ireland with her friend, Alma. While in Ireland, Lena plans to spend some time searching for the names of Mary's birth parents. Lena has no idea that by doing so, she may be playing with fire.

"Singing Bird" is filled with vivid and intriguing characters. Lena is an adoring wife and mother who has a hole in her heart because she longs to know the names of her natural parents. Her curiosity about her own origins drives her to learn about her daughter's birth parents, as well. Other memorable characters are Sister Monica, the crusty nun who contacts Lena after twenty-seven years of silence, and Alma, Mary's intelligent and often sarcastic best friend, who is unhappily involved in a dead-end affair with a married man.

McAuley is a natural storyteller. Her writing flows effortlessly, and she uses foreshadowing very cleverly to give the reader small clues about what is to come. "Singing Bird" has romance, gentle humor, beautiful descriptive writing about Ireland, and heart-tugging suspense. As Lena gets closer to the truth, the book is impossible to put down.

The biggest weaknesses in "Singing Bird" are the author's use of coincidence and her slightly pat ending. However, these small flaws do not detract from the warmth and compassion of this compelling story that will touch many readers, whether they are adopted or not. "Singing Bird" is a wonderful achievement by a very gifted writer.

Very touching and even suspenseful.......2004-12-10

When Lena Malloy receives a mysterious phone call from the nun who arranged the adoption of her daughter some 27 years ago, Lena decides to find out just who were the parents of little Mary were. With her husband on an extended business trip, the timing seems perfect. However, what Lena slowly unfolds is a mystery far more troubling than she had ever expected. Indeed, she ends up learning to, "Be care what you ask, it might not turn out the way you intended." This is a touching story about gain and loss, about learning things you didn't want to know, and how you go on.

I would like to say something profound at this point, but I really can't think of anything to say. Ms. McAuley writes with a power and emotion that is a little hard to describe in pithy little comments. Suffice it to say that this is a very touching and even suspenseful story, as you strive to unravel the mystery with Lena. I loved this book, and highly recommend it to you.

The Raven: A Natural History in Britain and Ireland (Poyser)

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The Raven: A Natural History in Britain and Ireland (Poyser)
Derek Ratcliffe
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0856610909

Book Description

Well-known throughout the Northern Hemisphere, the Raven has a prominent place in myth, legend, and history. This book presents a thorough summary of the current state of knowledge regarding the Raven's natural history, describing its present distribution, habitat requirements, calls, feeding habits, social behavior, and population centers. The text focuses on the Raven's ecology in the United Kingdom, but is of interest worldwide to both amateurs and professionals. It contains useful comparisons of the Northern Hemisphere species. Brought to life through beautiful detailed illustrations, maps, and tables, this is a valuable study on one of the most spectacular and romantic of British birds.

Key Features:

Provides a rare glimpse into Raven ecology/biology in the U.K.
Features beautiful illustrations, along with useful maps and tables
Emphasizes the long association of the bird with humans
Contains current information on feeding habits, breeding, territorialism, intelligence, and distribution

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