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Post by Curiosity on May 20, 2006 15:24:11 GMT -5
Since this place is based on various animal-POV books and several of the players are fans, I figured I'd start a list of books I know of that are animal-fiction - and if you have others to add, please list them! Several players, myself included, would doubtless be interested in reading others.
Tailchaser's Song Warriors series Redwall series Foxes of Firstdark The Sight The Firebringer Rats of Nimh Watership Down Plague Dogs (checked it out just today, looking forward to reading) Shardik (another Richard Adams novel; about a bear) Call of the Wild/White Fang Raptor Red Felidae
Amazon revealed: The Golden Cat/The Wild Road Child of the Wolves (husky adopted by wolf pack)
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Post by ninebirds on May 20, 2006 15:55:13 GMT -5
The "Ratha" series by Clare Bell, consisting of the books: Ratha's Creature Clan Ground Ratha and Thistle-Chaser Ratha's Challenge
Intelligent, prehistoric cats. <3 One of my favorite series ever. Clan Ground was checked out year-round my entire middle school (grades 6 - 8) career.. and it was only my best friend and I checking it out.
Very highly recommended... if you can find them. I've seen 'em on Amazon and eBay, but they tend to run anywhere from $25 (for a 'used' condition) all the way up over $100. But very good books nonetheless.
And I also highly recommed The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith. If you've only seen the Disney movie, you ain't seen nothin'. Very interesting.
Also, Bambi and Bambi's Children.. by Felix Salten. Again, if you've only ever seen the Disney movie, you ain't seen nothin'. VERY good books.. darker than the Disney-fied version.
And even though Mischief already listed them, the Warriors books are very good, IMO, and I highly suggest them. And while the Redwall series does tend to get repetitive, it's a series that makes me honestly care about the characters enough to cry when they die (even if it was obvious it was going to happen).. even on rereads.
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Post by temperance on May 20, 2006 21:47:19 GMT -5
There's also The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy which is about African elephants, but also features a cheetah and some other critters. It's pretty dark.
Another series worth checking out is The Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann. Might be sort of hard to find now tho', seeing as the books have been out of print for several years.
I'm not sure how easy this book can be found outside of Canada, but if you like birds, you might want to check out Raven's End by Ben Gadd. It's definitely... different.
There's also the original Fox and the Hound by Daniel Pratt Mannix which I'd definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys animal fiction. Beautiful, beatiful book - and nothing like the Disney movie. The characters have the same names, and that's about it.
The Wolves of Time series is also very good. Can't believe it slipped my mind till now.
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Post by Cael on May 21, 2006 6:51:00 GMT -5
There's a few more that I can think of:
Dunctan Wood is about a mole society, and it's really, really interesting.
Wild Road is about a young house cat that runs away from his humans, dulls, he calls them, and finds out what it's like to be part of the wild.
Dragon Winter is not what it's name implies, but it's about a group of creatures that worry that a Dragon Winter could be approaching this year, and an otter family that sticks around to find out just what a Dragon Winter is.
The Plague Dogs is another book by Richard Adams, the man that wrote Watership Down, and it's about two dogs that escape from a science lab and rumor is spread by the people that these two dogs carry the plague.
A few more books that I own that aren't wholly animal fiction (either some of them include a large human presence, some of them are based on fact, and some of them are biographies) include:
Born Free is the true story about a female biologist bonding with a captive born and wild released lioness.
Tigers in the Snow is about the plight of the Siberian tiger powerfully brought to life.
Sarang is about a blind boy who befriends a wild tiger cub, and the tiger grows up to be his seeing eye tiger.
A Story Like the Wind and A Far off Place are about a British (I believe) family living in the heart of Africa, and the young boy in the family secretly befriends one of the few remaining Bushmen.
I think that covers everything I own that hasn't already been posted ^^;;
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Post by asrohc on May 21, 2006 11:17:40 GMT -5
The Book of Night With Moon and its sequel, To Visit the Queen, somewhat qualify. Companion books to Diane Duane's Young Wizards series, but the main characters are cats. I particularly like the first book.
I know we were talking about Lindskold's Wolf series in another thread... has anyone else read Quest for the Faradawn? Main character's an animal-raised human, but the animals figure quite prominently in the book.
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Post by cassidy on May 27, 2006 3:07:35 GMT -5
I'd like to add "Felidae" by Akif Pirincci, a very dark murder mystery all about cats. Domestic cats, this time. There are many, many sequels, but I've only read the first. The sequels are hard to find, too, since this is a German-based series. But, yes. I reccomend it. Also... Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (and the sequels, Racso and the Rats of Nimh, and R-T, Margaret and the Rats of Nimh... I think. Hahaaaa... haven't read those in forever, the titles may be wrong.) Poppy by Avi (I haven't read this since elementary school so it might not be as good as I remembered.) Dogsbody by Dianne Wynne Jones (I love love DWJ, and this is a wonderful book. It is about the star Sirius who is accused of murdering another star and is sentenced to live out his days as a dog on Earth unless he can locate the weapon he lost in his canine form. I really love this book.) Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander (Follows the exploits of Jason and his cat Garth as they use Garth's "nine lives" to travel back in time to nine different periods of history. Excellent book.) Animal Farm by George Orwell (I really liked this book. It's quite powerful.) All the Dinotopia books. *drools on them* Dinotopia: A Land Apart From Time, Dinotopia: The World Beneath, and Dinotopia: First Flight. Dinotopia Lost by Alan Dean Foster is a full length novel about Dinotopia that James Gurney illustrated a bit of. It is great read as well. Another of his is The Hand of Dinotopia. And then there's all the smaller novels. There's a lot of humans in all of them, but the dinosaurs are sentient beings and are major characters. (Check out the mini-series Hallmark made, too. You can get it on DVD ) I am a big-time Dinotopia fan XD The Katurran Odyssey by David Michael Wieger and Teryl Whitlatch (The story of Katook the ring-tailed lemur who is exiled from his home onto the continent of Katurra where he travels to find out the meaning of his exile and how to go back home again. He travels with the quagga Quigga as he searches for his herd. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book. It is so beautiful. LOVE.) The Tale of Despereaux : Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate Dicamillo (I've never read it, but my sister said I should add it to the last. She said it's "cute". It won the Newberry Medal so I guess it must be good XD ) Varjak Paw by S. F. Said (I read this a while ago, but I remember liking it a lot.) Julie of the Wolves, Julie's Wolf Pack, and Julie by Jean Craighead George (My favorite is Julie's Wolf Pack. Realistic wolf book. Very good read.) Vulpes the Red Fox by Jean Craighead George. (Follows the life of a red fox from his birth in a Maryland den through his growth to maturity to his eventual encounter with a determined hunter. - Stole that synopsis from Amazon, haha.)
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Post by tinsel on May 27, 2006 22:15:19 GMT -5
For kitty people there's also "Cat House" and "Catamount" by Michael Peak about tribes of outdoor housecats... and the second book introduces a puma to the setting of the first book. I liked them both. Never heard of them elsewhere, I picked them up at a used books store. I also liked 'Silverwing' by Kenneth Oppel, it's a young adults book about a bat. Will definitely give you more appreciation for these critters! And there's a cute series called "Tales from Dimwood Forest" by Avi, also for kids. It's about mice and foxes and porcupines and other such wildlife. Pretty fun read. Quick, too. And not quite as sappy as Redwall can sometimes be. (I love Redwall, but sometimes it's just too cheesy!)
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Post by easnadh on May 29, 2006 1:36:03 GMT -5
More cat lore! The Abandoned and The Silent Miaow are two books I've read by Paul Gallico; though, he's written many others. I absolutely adore the way he writes about cats. ^.^ Most of his books were written in the 60's, and I have trouble finding copies sometimes. The old ones are quite expensive, but if you can get your hands on a copy, it's sure to be an excellent read!
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Post by chibiabos on Jun 26, 2006 23:09:48 GMT -5
*gasp*
No one's yet mentioned Jack London's Call of the Wild and White Fang?
And here's another very good one: Yellow Eyes by Rutherford George Montgomery.
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Post by waka on Jun 27, 2006 0:36:25 GMT -5
Hmmmmph. How about Ursula le Guin's(sp?) "Catwings" books? Little things, in the kids' section at my library, but they've got gorgeous little illustrations. They're about a litter of cats... with wings!
I remember pretending my friend's kittens were catwings when I was little, and we made 'em a nest in the backyard. XD
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Post by cypress on Aug 27, 2006 19:30:07 GMT -5
I feel like brushing the dust off this thread. I think you guys have covered most of the animal fiction I've read--The Sight and Jack London's pair being my favorites, though I loved Catwings and would read them again if I could find them.
The only one that hasn't been mentioned that I've read was called The Great Escape, about two housecat tabby brothers names Marco and Polo who plan a big escape from their house and all the adventures they encounter once outside. I haven't read it since elementary school, but I remember liking it a lot--I can't recall the author.
I do have a question for all you animal fiction lovers: Have you read any books (or are any of the aforementioned books) geared more toward adult or young adult readers? I need a big book that will take me a while to read, something at the level of The Sight or Firebringer. Not that I wouldn't like to read all these books, but I'd rather spend a month on one book than six that are more for youth, y'know?
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Post by Cael on Aug 28, 2006 14:32:15 GMT -5
Wild Road is very, very good I remember basing a series of rooms on CATS muck forever ago off of Tintagale Court. Anyway, yes, very very very good book. There's also a sequal to it, though I can't recall it off hand, but I haven't read it so I can't comment on it :>
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Post by hawkweed on Sept 4, 2006 2:29:44 GMT -5
*GASP* I am truelly surprised that nobody has mentioned The Jungle Books and many other assorted stories by the incredible Rudyard Kipling! These are truelly classic, and beautifully written - I have a copy of The Jungle Books (1 & 2) along with assorted stories such as Riki-Tiki-Tavi, and The White Seal. A great collection for animal literature enthusiasts. I also highly recommend the first Black Beauty. And for my favorite animal related book - A Black Fox Running, by Brian Carter. It's a story of a male black-morph red fox in rural turn of the century England. It's extremely well written, a wonderful tale with happiness and great sorrow, and it covers a number of animal's POVs- Wulfgar the black fox, a human, and a crazed dog to name a few. Very awesome book - check it out if you can find it in your local library. :} All of the other suggestions have been fantastic so far - White Fang is one I read every year religiously, so is Watership Down. Animal Farm is awesome, as is Bambi. I am such a book nerd. I suppose I'm in good company though. ;} Also, if anyone likes a little oriental flare now and then in their reading - check out Fox Woman by Kij Johnson, set in Japan, which follows the life of a young fox, who eventually turns into a Kitsune and falls in love with a human man. I know, I know, it /sounds/ terribly cheesy - but it is extremely well written with a beautiful peek into an amazing culture, and is written in the form of a person keeping a diary. It really is amazingly beautiful and easy to immerse oneself into. HIGHLY reccomend that one. *grin*
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Post by Curiosity on Apr 16, 2007 9:07:00 GMT -5
Not books, but great fiction nonetheless. My boyfriend (Roki) has been trying to get me to read this forever, and I finally did. I'm sure many of you have already heard of it, but if you haven't, then it's definitely worth a look. It's a comic of non-anthropomorphic direwolves and sabretooth tigers, with amazing art and a great storyline to boot. Makes me wanna RP. ;D The Blackblood Alliance: kayfedewa.deviantart.com/Also, for those of you interested in what would happen if The Lion King and Watership Down combined, check out "Pride of Baghdad", a graphic novel based on a true story about some lions who escaped from a zoo during the Iraq War. Wikifur article: furry.wikia.com/wiki/Pride_of_Baghdad
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Post by Cael on Apr 16, 2007 11:27:14 GMT -5
Oh, I completely neglected to mention Sarang. It's a book about a blind boy in India who has a seeing eye tiger, and a visiting girl from Britain (I believe) befriends him and tries to save his tiger from the villagers who want it killed.
There's also Born Free and Living Free.
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