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bree

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    Animal characters

    in General Fiction

    Posted

    Have you read White Fang by Jack London? Fiction with animal characters tends to be really lighthearted but this is much more primitive...White Fang isn't personified like animals usually are in books but the story is told from his point of view, sort of subconsciously. It was a really good read.

     

    I agree. Just completed it and it was a wonderful read.

    (Have posted my thoughts here)

     

    I have White Fang waiting on my kobo to read in the next few weeks hopefully. I'm a big fan of wolves so I'm hoping in portrays them in a good light.. :wolf:

     

    Do let me know when you read it chaliepud :)

    Vodkafan's book list 2013

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    Wonderful review vodkafan!

    I pretty much share your views on Emma Woodhouse.

    I can't help but feel we all have our faults, but to able to see yourself with honesty, accept them and be willing to change is something to appreciate and learn-from...

     

    And what did you think of George Knightley?

    He is, I think, my favourite Austen male character (of the three books I've read)

    bree's log : 2013

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted · Edited by bree

    6.
    WhiteFang_JackLondon_zpsdd231090.jpg

    White Fang
    Jack London

    First published: 1905
    Setting: mostly "Northland Wild" - a region in the Arctic

    Synopsis (from behind the book):
    White Fang is part dog, part wolf - and the only one of five tiny cubs to survive. In his lonely world, he soon learns to follow the harsh law of the North - kill or be killed.
    But nothing in White Fang's life can prepare him for the cruel owner who buys him and turns him into a vicious killer- a pit dog forced to fight for money.
    Will White Fang ever know the kindness of a gentle master or will he die a fierce killer?

    Thoughts:
    My sister is the one in the family who has a deep connection with animals - and almost every few days she keeps rescuing strays off the street - and I just accept their presence as long as they don't annoy me (and do my bit by feeding them when she's not around.)
    So, me being the way I am, I wasn't too sure how much I could get into White Fang - and how much I would enjoy it.

    It started off a little vaguely and bit by bit it, slowly, but surely, it drew me in.
    I was mesmerised by the intensity of the writing. The book demanded my concentration and the deeply descriptive words painted startling images in my mind. I could actually get into the skin of White Fang, and his (3/4 wolf and 1/4 dog) mind. There were bits of the book which brought lumps in my throat, which made me clench with anger, and even smile with joy. It is splendidly written and the pages certainly gripped me.
    (I can only image how much more a person like my sister, or chaliepud, or any of you who feel so much more for animals than I do, will enjoy it)

    Apart from brilliantly letting us see Life through the acute senses of a wolf from the wild, White Fang raises some important questions-
    How much of who we are is instinct?
    How much of it is because of the "moulding" from our environment?
    Do we have it in us to give others the benefit of the doubt, to extend our kindness at the hope that that even someone seemingly-cruel can blossom?

    White Fang, to me, is a classic.

    Passages from the book:
    There are lots of bits in the book which left me filled with wonder, and sometimes, even breathless, at their sheer intensity.
    These are a few I could pick out (having not marked them while reading)-

    The aim of life was meat. Life itself was meat. Life lived on life. There were the eaters and the eaten. The law was: EAT OR BE EATEN. He did not formulate the law in clear, set terms and moralise about it. He did not even think the law; he merely lived the law without thinking about it at all.
    ....
    Had the cub thought in man-fashion, he might have epitomised life as a voracious appetite and the world as a place wherein ranged a multitude of appetites, pursuing and being pursued, hunting and being hunted, eating and being eaten, all in blindness and confusion, with violence and disorder, a chaos of gluttony and slaughter, ruled over by chance, merciless, planless, endless.


    This was a female of his kind, and it was a law of his kind that the males must not fight the females. He did not know anything about this law, for it was no generalisation of the mind, not a something acquired by experience of the world. He knew it as a secret prompting, as an urge of instinct - of the same instinct that made him howl at the moon and stars of nights, and that made him fear death and the unknown.

     

    Rating: ★★★ - I loved it

    bree's log : 2013

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    ^^ Thank you for your lovely comments frankie :)

     

    Completed White Fang - my first 3-star book of the year.

    (I hope to be back later and put down my thoughts on it)

     

    Thought I could squeeze in one more book before starting on The Woman in Black - for February's Reading Circle.

     

    Have picked up Sula by Toni Morrison. I've been curious about her for a while now - there are no less than five of her books appearing in the 1001 Book List!

    Your Book Activity Jan 2013

    in General Book Discussions

    Posted · Edited by bree

    Completed White Fang (by Jack London) last night - what a splendid read!

    For a book published in 1906 - it didn't feel "old" at all!

     

    chaliepud, if you're reading this - please let me know when you pick up White Fang - I'd particularly love to know your thoughts on it :)

     

    Kate (k.in.your.book), you were right - it was wonderful! :)

     

    Have now picked up Sula by Toni Morrison.

    I'm looking forward to enjoying this one!

    Your Book Activity Jan 2013

    in General Book Discussions

    Posted

    Does anyone know if I can put kindle files on another e-reader e.g. a Kobo? I don't think I want to get another kindle if I'm just going to have the same problems in another 13 months

     

    Lucy, do read through this thread (3 pages)-

    http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91392

     

    And this seems like something that would work too-

    http://www.epubor.com/

     

    *I haven't tried any of these - I don't have an e-reader - so please read carefully and try it out only if you're convinced* :)

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