melannen: Commander Valentine of Alpha Squad Seven, a red-haired female Nick Fury in space, smoking contemplatively (Default)
melannen ([personal profile] melannen) wrote2017-09-27 11:17 am
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FMK #24: Talking Animals

So I am back from the trip! I did not post FMK yesterday because instead I hid in my room and re-read "All Systems Red," because sometimes after spending a week in very close company with your nearest and dearest (and in hundred-degree temperatures) you need to just hide in your room for a night and re-read "All Systems Red". Perhaps I will post more about the trip later (spoilers: I got to touch Chicago's Stadtkrone! SUCH a good place for an epic magical battle to happen omg. Especially with Trump Tower glowing evilly green next door, and the Tribune Building right past that.)

I didn't finish The Lies of Locke Lamora, which was the LONG BOOK F winner. I got about 1/3 of the way in. So far it's not gripping me, but I've found this year that the long tomes usually don't until I'm over halfway, even if I end up liking them a lot, so I guess we'll see. So far I'm mainly sticking with it so that I can continue imagining a pre-Angelic Visitation Moist von Lipwig coming to Camorr and effortlessly robbing them blind. (He's probably less technically skilled as a grifter than they are, but he's way, way better at actually doing it as a job.)

K was a tie between Quicksilver and Maia, also the two longest on the list! and the thought of never having to read EITHER of them just felt like a massive relief, so I think they will both go. Plus it's like a 3x bonus on freed-up shelf space for each one!

I did read Truckers right before I left, which it turned out I had read before, just twenty-five years ago. So review of that coming up.

Also, the book-on-cd that Mom and I agreed on to listen to while driving was The Tale of Castle Cottage, which was the last of a series of cozy/historical mysteries about TOTALLY NOT RPF FIC OR A FANTASY NOVEL Beatrix Potter and a bunch of helpful woodland creatures. It was okay, and certainly fine to doze off to in the car. But then Beatrix kept having to pause the detecting so that she could go draw yet more bunny illustrations for her editor, and I realized that in the general outline of their lives, she and Ursula Vernon had a lot in common (started in self/small press publishing, got a contract for endless illustrated kids' books about small animals, had a romantic disappointment in their 20s that they subordinated into hardcore gardening, followed by a ridic happy marriage w/ no kids in her 30s, investing all the book money in land conservation.)

So then I started imagining a hundred years from now when some nice lady authoress writes a series of cozy novels about Ursula solving gentle mysteries with the help of friendly woodland creatures (all named Bob, obviously), using KUEC as her main biographical source, the first one to be titled The Tale of Dogskull Patch. And then I felt good about the future for once. :P

So on that note, this week's theme is TALKING ANIMALS!

How FMK works, short version: I am trying to clear out my unreads. So there is a poll, in which you get to pick F, M, or K. F means I should spend a night of wild passion with the book ASAP, and then decide whether to keep it or not. M means I should continue to commit to a long-term relationship of sharing my bedroom with it. K means it should go away immediately. Anyone can vote, you don't have to actually know anything about the books.

I pick a winner on Friday night (although won't actually close the poll, people can still vote,) and report results/ post the new poll on the following Tuesday, and write a response to the F winner sometime in the next week.

Link to long version of explanation (on first poll)


Poll #18872 FMK #24: Talking Animals
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 34


Shardik by Richard Adams, 564 pages (1974)

View Answers

F
3 (21.4%)

M
3 (21.4%)

K
8 (57.1%)

Rancher Ferrets on the Range by Richard Bach (2003)

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F
6 (54.5%)

M
1 (9.1%)

K
4 (36.4%)

Freddy And The Baseball Team From Mars by Walter Brooks, (1955)

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F
8 (61.5%)

M
2 (15.4%)

K
3 (23.1%)

Mother West Wind's Children by Thornton Burgess (1911)

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F
5 (45.5%)

M
3 (27.3%)

K
3 (27.3%)

Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1912)

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F
13 (68.4%)

M
3 (15.8%)

K
3 (15.8%)

Summer's Perfume by Joseph Cahill (1993)

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F
3 (37.5%)

M
2 (25.0%)

K
3 (37.5%)

The Badgers of Summercombe by Ewan Clarkson (1977)

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F
6 (66.7%)

M
1 (11.1%)

K
2 (22.2%)

Jennifer Murdley's Toad by Bruce Coville (1993)

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F
10 (71.4%)

M
4 (28.6%)

K
0 (0.0%)

The Right to Arm Bears by Gordon R. Dickson (2000)

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F
8 (61.5%)

M
3 (23.1%)

K
2 (15.4%)

Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara by James Gurney (2007)

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F
8 (66.7%)

M
1 (8.3%)

K
3 (25.0%)

The Postman Always Brings Mice by Holm & Hamel (2004)

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F
5 (62.5%)

M
1 (12.5%)

K
2 (25.0%)

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling (1894)

View Answers

F
15 (53.6%)

M
11 (39.3%)

K
2 (7.1%)

Who Censored Roger Rabbit? by Gary Wolf (1984)

View Answers

F
9 (64.3%)

M
4 (28.6%)

K
1 (7.1%)


genarti: Leopard peering out through leaves, only eyes and forehead visible. ([misc] eyes in the underbrush)

[personal profile] genarti 2017-09-27 03:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Tarzan of the Apes has some pulpy fun -- at least, I remember enjoying it at many parts -- but nothing so outstanding that it stuck with me later. What I remember instead is 1) Animals Don't Work Like That, Edgar, 2) Language Learning Doesn't Work Like That Either, Edgar, and most jarringly of all 3) the massive and gratuitous racism. Black people really, really, really don't work like that, Edgar.

Unless you have a deep intellectual interest in reading the book that sparked a zillion adaptations and named a trope, I'd stick with Barsoom for Burroughs writing. Barsoom isn't perfect by a long shot, but it isn't Tarzan of the Apes.
genarti: woman curled up with book, under a tree on a wooded slope in early autumn ([misc] my perfect corner of the world)

[personal profile] genarti 2017-09-27 06:19 pm (UTC)(link)
That's solid reason to read it, then! I rescind my K vote in favor of an F.

And I do remember having fun with it in parts; it's a quick read and it's full of ACTION and ADVENTURE and NONSENSE. And you already know what to expect with Burroughs. I might have had milder reaction except that it was my first encounter with him, and I went in expecting something different than what I got based on various Tarzan adaptations I'd encountered.
cahn: (Default)

[personal profile] cahn 2017-09-27 06:59 pm (UTC)(link)
The language learning parts are totally hilarious -- even highschool!me (who originally read this book), who knew nothing about language learning, was vaguely side-eyeing that bit, and it's the one part I still remember.
oracne: turtle (Default)

[personal profile] oracne 2017-09-27 04:35 pm (UTC)(link)
The irony of Tarzan, which I discovered re-reading for a panel, is that despite the way the actual Africans in the story are treated as equivalent to animals but less noble, Tarzan's dad was apparently there to fight against the evil's of King Leopold's Congo atrocities.
lady_ganesh: text-only icon: Nanny Ogg looking under the bed just in case there was a man (maybe there's a man there (Discworld))

[personal profile] lady_ganesh 2017-10-07 06:25 pm (UTC)(link)
See also an enormous number of writers at that time...
lilysea: Books (Books)

[personal profile] lilysea 2017-09-27 05:00 pm (UTC)(link)
I hid in my room and re-read "All Systems Red," because sometimes after spending a week in very close company with your nearest and dearest (and in hundred-degree temperatures) you need to just hide in your room for a night and re-read "All Systems Red".

I really liked that book! ^_^

Seldom have I identified with a character so much. I am looking forwards to the sequel! ^_^
lilysea: Serious (Default)

[personal profile] lilysea 2017-09-27 05:21 pm (UTC)(link)
I once asked my partner if I was an extrovert because I enjoyed interacting with people by reading Dreamwidth, and he cracked up laughing...

...apparently reading Dreamwidth still counts as an introverted activity, even though it's social.
lilysea: Anxious (Anxious)

[personal profile] lilysea 2017-09-28 09:09 am (UTC)(link)
Murderbot really GETS me on a deep level!

I hope this is okay to ask - and please don't answer if you would rather not -

but would you say this is because you have or are

a) Introversion
b) Autistic/Asperger's
c) Anxiety
d) Social Anxiety
e) PTSD
f) Neuroatypical
g) Something else... ?

In my case, I think I relate Murderbot because Introversion + PTSD + Social Anxiety.
the_rck: (Default)

[personal profile] the_rck 2017-09-27 06:11 pm (UTC)(link)
The Old Mother West Wind books aren't terrible for what they are, but what they are is early reader chapter books with a bit more complexity/variation because of having a much larger cast of characters and focusing on different characters from book to book. I tried some at about age 12 because I had just moved to a new town with a much smaller library than I was used to. I thought that talking animals might be worth a shot and, well, no.

I've read one of the stories in the Dickson book for sure and possibly two. I remember finding them amusing but not spectacular. They're not the same as the Hoka books, but I recall them as having some similar themes. It's just been decades, so I can't be sure.

I remember loathing Shardik, but I remember very little about it. I think there was some sort of graphic grossness early in the book that I found too lovingly described, but that was thirty some years ago, and I can't remember enough to be sure that I'd find that bit similarly off putting now.

I think that The Jungle Book is worth reading simply because it's one of Kipling's most widely known works and a heck of a lot different than the Disney version. It also makes an interesting counterpoint to Tarzan, and I think that reading the two in sequence could be fascinating.
the_rck: (Default)

[personal profile] the_rck 2017-09-27 06:52 pm (UTC)(link)
The Dickson book is a mash-up of three novellas (novelettes? I'm not sure of the length) all set on the same alien world. If I recall correctly, the first one was published as half an Ace double, and I don't think the other two are shorter.
malnpudl: (Default)

[personal profile] malnpudl 2017-09-27 07:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Anecdotal: I revisisted a number of Kipling works a couple of years ago because it had been such a big, treasured part of my childhood (one of my mother's favorite authors to read aloud to us) and I wanted to see through more mature and informed eyes.

Or ears, as it turned out, because THE way to go for a Kipling reread at this age, at least for me, was audiobooks. The Ralph Cosham narrated Jungle Book recordings are just outstanding. And yes, I could see so many things I'd been blind to as a child -- colonialism! not romantic! racism! not a good thing! -- but at the same time I could and did appreciate them deeply. (Though, wow, so much focus on death. I'd forgotten. Death and killing, killing and death, packaged as kiddie lit.)

Anyway, there's a media rec for you in case you end up doing a spot of Kipling this round.
cahn: (Default)

[personal profile] cahn 2017-09-27 07:36 pm (UTC)(link)
...I am Totally going to do this, wow. I would LOVE to hear someone do the Law of the Jungle really well.
luzula: a Luzula pilosa, or hairy wood-rush (Default)

[personal profile] luzula 2017-09-27 09:47 pm (UTC)(link)
I, uh. Might have recited that to myself a fair number of times. Actually I have set various Kipling poems from the Jungle Book to music as well. What can I say, it was a formative book for me, and on rereading it can still make me cry (but of course I acknowledge the colonialism etc that is in there as well).
cahn: (Default)

[personal profile] cahn 2017-09-27 07:35 pm (UTC)(link)
I mean, Jungle Book is imperialist as heck, but the Mowgli stories were Formative Stories for me and I will love them forever. Kipling is a great writer even when he's being awful at SJ.
rushthatspeaks: (Default)

[personal profile] rushthatspeaks 2017-09-28 12:34 am (UTC)(link)
The Jungle Book is Kipling's least-racist work in which POC appear. I am aware that this is extremely faint praise, and it is intended to be. However, it is among the last Kipling that I can still read with enjoyment after having grown up with it and then going back and wincing a whole bunch. The language is spectacular, the animals feel like animals, and the stories contain classic after classic. Also, even if you wind up not liking it, it is worth reading simply for how incredibly influential it was on everything about childrens' literature.

A thing you may wish to check is whether you have the complete Jungle Books, as it was originally published in two volumes, each containing some Mowgli stories and some others. I honestly think they should be read as one compilation.
torachan: (Default)

[personal profile] torachan 2017-09-28 07:34 am (UTC)(link)
I had no idea Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was based on a book, so I'm curious about that one!
torachan: (Default)

[personal profile] torachan 2017-09-28 04:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I read the synopsis on Wikipedia and it sounds like it's totally different except using the same character names.

(Anonymous) 2017-09-28 01:50 pm (UTC)(link)
I was deeply fond of the Thornton Burgess books when I was 5-6 years old, which probably tells you most of what you need to know. Also I have since been told they've got some racism problems, but I have never reread, so I can't speak to that.
snickfic: Buffy looking over her shoulder (Default)

[personal profile] snickfic 2017-09-28 01:50 pm (UTC)(link)
That was me. IDK how that posted as anon. /o\
blueswan: (Default)

[personal profile] blueswan 2017-09-28 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
I haven't read most of these, but the ones I did were decades ago. You've reminded me of the summers when I would go spend a couple of weeks with my mom's oldest sister. She would let me pick books from her bookshelves. So I read some Burgess, Burroughs, Dickens, and Kipling. She had Terhune (so very very racist),London and a bunch of Grosset & Dunlap seies books. I think I'm off to google and see if I can find them.
katherine: A line of books on a shelf, in greens and browns (books)

[personal profile] katherine 2017-09-29 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
The Badgers of Summercombe is probably good, I apparently read it at some point (or have my copy in the wrong place if I haven't) but don't remember it specifically. Probably the animals don't literally talk but do have names and think, that's what I remember of the other two or three of that author's animal novels that I've read.
lady_ganesh: Kakashi does the sexy jutsu. Oh yes. (sexy no Kakashi (Naruto))

[personal profile] lady_ganesh 2017-10-07 06:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Locke Lamora clicked for me at some point but I don't remember exactly when, so I'm no help there.