Watership Down

[Theodred21]

Anybody read Watership Down, I thought that was a great book, one of my favorites! :)

[bmilder]

Welcome to the board :) .

I had to read it for school last summer. I thought the beginning was a bit slow, but by the end I couldn't put it down. Of course, endless worksheets, essays, and homework assignments kind of kill the fun of a book :/ .

[anduin]

Oh yes, I have. Loved it. :)

[Theodred21]

I thought it was interesting the whole way through, it's one of my favorite books! :)

[Finmandos12]

I liked it. I also liked the Redwall series.

[Theodred21]

Cool, I love the Redwall series!

[Darth Tater]

I love Watership Down, and find Redwall books slow, drag, and boring (yes I know I just said the same thing three times). Go figure

[chikakat]

I adored Watership Down...has anyone read the sequel, "Tales from Watership Down"? I liked it, but it seemed much more of a little kid book than the original.

As for the Redwall series, I used to read those books constantly, but then they got a little old...kind of the same story again and again...

[Theodred]

Yes, I have read Tales from Watership Down, we were discussing it earlier in the thread!
I guess I haven't grown out of the Redwall Series because I'm still a kid!:cool:

[Bregalad]

I love Watership Down! I think Adams is just brilliant! It's very difficult to write about what an animal might think or say without making them too human and Adams does it just right. Yes they talk, but they still think like what I imagine rabbits would think like! I love the part where the one rabbit that's really capable of abstract though (Blackberry, I think) is trying to explain to Hazel about how the plank floats on the water when they are trying to escape the dog loose in the wood. Hazel never does understand it, he just trusts Blackberry to know what he's talking about. Even when Fiver and Pipkin are in the middle of the stream floating on the plank, most of the rabbits still can't quite grasp what's going on, it's like magic to them. And Magic time again when they use the trick to escape Gen. Woundwort on the skiff. How I would have loved to see the expression on his face! He couldn't have been more suprised if they had sprouted wings and flown away! What a wonderful book! i've read it over and over!

[Renille]

I've heard of Watership Down, but I've never read it. I love the Redwall series, though. The plots get repetitive, but there are always subplots and/or characters that get me involved so much I couldn't put it down.

[Tessar]

Hey cool!

I love bothe Redwall AND Watership down.

I also liked Tailes from watership down.

[fireworks19]

I haven't read Watership Down, but I have read most of the Redwall series. Yummy.

[Aragorn]

I love Redwall. I have heard of Watership Down, but not that much. I only know about it because in some of the Redwall books on the cover it says "In Tradition Of Watership Down".

[Alethes]

Watership Down is one of my favorite books.

I have read Tales From Watership Down, but didn't like it as much as Watership Down.

I've read all but one of the Redwall books, and like them a lot. However, I like them less now than when I first read them.

[Lumina]

I adore Watership Down!! I read it three times in a row when I was ten and developed and obsession with wild rabbits. Since then I've read it at least three more times (although not for several years) and watched and rewatched the 1978 animated film version. (Voices by John Hurt, Richard Briers, Michael Graham Cox - Boromir in the BBC radio LotR -, Ralph Richardson, Denholm Elliot and Nigel Hawthorne - with the bonus of nicely animanted, non-cutsey bunnies. A wonderful adaptation, and often genuinely frightening).

I love the first line in the book - "the primroses were over" - and the last line - "the primroses were beginning to bloom".

Amazing that Adams was able to write such an exciting, dramatic and moving epic novel about a bunch of rabbits. I've always liked the fact that parts of WD are quite dark - it's one of the most atmospheric of books.

[Bregalad]

Lumina,
I loved the annimated version too! It was very faithfull to the book and the annimation is beautiful. The openning scene, with the butterfly on the stalk of wheat is simply gorgeous!

[FrodoFriend]

Yes!! I love this forum!!

Watership Down has been one of my favorites for years . . . my copy is all read to pieces (much like my former copy of LotR!). I've never wanted to read Redwall, though. The idea of rodents acting like humans (wearing clothes? wielding swords?) just totally turns me off. It's so demeaning (to the rodents) and just generally annoying.

[markedel]

I loved redwall and watership. Jaques is a great writer.

[Starr Polish]

Watership Down was amazing, though I've only read it once. I found out about it from the back of my Redwall books.

I used to be VERY into Redwall, but I've moved on in my authors.

[markedel]

I haven't read them in years, but they were great 10 years ago.

[gdl96]

I really liked this book. But same thing that ben said about killing it with worksheets and whatnot, as we had the same teacher.

[Laurelyn]

Watership Down is an AWESOME book! I loved it!
I read it first when I was seven, on a plane. Took me three hours and I wouldn't put it down for anything.

[Khadrane]

I REALLY liked Watership Down. It made it into my ever growing favorite book list.

[Durin]

Watership Down is an excellent book. I've read it five times, and it's really getting worn out. Everyone should read it!:D

[Wayfarer]

Yes, excellent.

[Carafin]

I really enjoyed this book, it was so good my copy (like many others)is all worn through

I have read only one book from the redwall series, it didn't impress me as much as Watership Down did though

another book in the tradition of WD is The Fire Bringer I believe it's by someone Clemens, Samuel maybe (but Icould just be imagining the name) It is sort of a ripoff but still I enjoyed it
it's about deer

[azalea]

You do know that Samuel Clemens is Mark Twain, right?

I loved Watership Down. Did anyone see the movie? It was animated. A friend and I went to see it when it came out (we were kids) and it's a little more than a kid's story of course, and my friend started bawling at every part where a rabbit died or got injured.

[Earniel]

Don't know Redwall, but I do know Watership Down. I didn't particulary like it but then I was too young to appreciate it when I read it (or looked at the drawings since I couldn't read english back then, why my parents bought us an english copy still puzzles me)

The animated movie scared me. I saw it once and never again. The image of the general-rabbit with one eye and a bloody mouth is still firmly rooted in my memory. After I saw it I sat shivering in the seat in front of the TV, staring at the snow too afraid to move so the big mean bunny wouldn't see me. :rolleyes:

[Draken]

I used to live quite close to Watership Down - in Overton, which is on the map printed in the book. Nice part of the world.

[Elbereth]

I love WATERSHIP DOWN, tried Redwall and found it boring. Are TALES FROM WATERSHIP DOWN still in print? I can't find it anywhere.
I enjoyed reading your post, Lumina, about the symetry of the first line and the last line of WATERSHIP DOWN. I never thought of that before.
One question, FrodoFriend, why is it demeaning to have rodents in human clothes? I just didn't understand that part.

[Draken]

Originally posted by Elbereth
One question, FrodoFriend, why is it demeaning to have rodents in human clothes? I just didn't understand that part.

I think a lot of people feel that by regarding animals as furry little people we miss out on thinking about what really makes them tick. That doesn't necessarily make for bad stories I suppose, just stories that aren't really about animals.

And I hope we aren't calling rabbits "rodents" here - they're lagomorphs, and that's different!

[Elbereth]

yes, i suppose you're right. sort of like it is deamening to picture humans as rodents. but then again, in this self-centered age, we tend to think that anything that is not human is not intelligent. so maybe why the author made the rodents have human quailities is to stress their intelligence...just a thought.

[Wayfarer]

(Sometimes I even bother to cook them.)

[Elbereth]

FIRE BRINGER is by David Clemies-Davies, I think.