Thread: Watership Down

Just finished this book a few weeks ago and now it is one of my favorites. Anyone else read this one?

I'm on silflay, I'll tell you when I'm done.

One of my favorites. Love the mythological sequences, too.

One of my favorites too. "Tales from Watership Down" is sitting on my shelf unread, though. Should probably get to that soon. I wonder if it's as good?

It's not.

But that doesn't make it bad.

Fair enough. Still worth a read, at any rate.
He's written a bunch of other books too, right?
Reviews for any of them?

Originally Posted by Amour

Fair enough. Still worth a read, at any rate.
He's written a bunch of other books too, right?
Reviews for any of them?

Plague Dogs is well worth the read.

Did you know that Watership Down was originally self-published? None of the publishing houses wanted to know so Richard Adam's published himself and hawked around all the major London book-shops. It was the demand that was created through his efforts that made the publishing houses take it seriously.

Originally Posted by Baron

...Did you know that Watership Down was originally self-published? None of the publishing houses wanted to know so Richard Adam's published himself and hawked around all the major London book-shops. It was the demand that was created through his efforts that made the publishing houses take it seriously.

Hm, I wonder why that isn't more widely publicized on sites like lulu.com then.

Originally Posted by jesterscourt

Hm, I wonder why that isn't more widely publicized on sites like lulu.com then.

At that time you could take self published books into high street shops and get a deal with the store manager. These days the big chains only buy, generally, from their own suppliers. There was no internet then either. there are a whole string of self published books that later became bestsellers. In the middle part of the twentieth century it was a good way of getting into the circle, as long as the book was good enough. Its never been easy to get a publisher or agent to take a first novel, possibly harder now than then.

Originally Posted by Baron

Plague Dogs is well worth the read.

Did you know that Watership Down was originally self-published? None of the publishing houses wanted to know so Richard Adam's published himself and hawked around all the major London book-shops. It was the demand that was created through his efforts that made the publishing houses take it seriously.

Didn't know that, no. That's pretty amazing.. Hard to imagine, really. Interesting tidbit, haha. Thanks Baron .

The Celestine Prophecy, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and John Grisham's first novel (The Firm?) were also self-published initially.

The first two are kind of obvious as to why.

The Celestine Prophecy, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and John Grisham's first novel (The Firm?) were also self-published initially.

The first two are kind of obvious as to why.

Grisham's self published first book was A Time to Kill.

Haven't read that book in years. Now I want to pick it up and read it again. I loved that book.

Yes, I read this book. It isn't one of my favorite classics, but it's not a bad read at all. David Clement-Davies's Firebringer and The Sight are often compared to this book. In my opinion, they are much better.

Watership Down rates as one of my top favorites. I've read it numerous times, and hope to read it again one day.

The TV animation actually followed the storyline of the book, as I recall.