# Watership Down



## Deagon777 (Jul 22, 2007)

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


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## ClancyBoy (Jul 26, 2007)

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


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## Hodge (Jul 26, 2007)

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


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## Amour (Jul 27, 2007)

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?


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## Hodge (Jul 27, 2007)

It's not.

But that doesn't make it bad.


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## Amour (Jul 27, 2007)

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


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## Baron (Jul 29, 2007)

Amour said:


> 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.


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## jesterscourt (Jul 29, 2007)

Baron said:


> ...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.


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## Baron (Jul 29, 2007)

jesterscourt said:


> 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.


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## Amour (Jul 30, 2007)

Baron said:


> 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 .


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## ClancyBoy (Jul 31, 2007)

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.


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## The Hack (Jul 31, 2007)

> 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_.


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## Lost in Some Story (Jul 31, 2007)

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


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## elizabeth_472 (Aug 1, 2007)

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.


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## g-paw (Sep 18, 2007)

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.


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## Athlynne (Sep 19, 2007)

Oh, God.  I saw the animated movie when I was way too young...just thinking about it makes me want to curl up into a ball.  My parents thought it was okay for kids, since it was a cartoon.


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## CroZ (Sep 21, 2007)

It's my favorite book. I read it first when I was eight, and four more times over long periods. I'm looking to read it again but I can't find it anywhere.

There was a TV series too, it was like a extended more cutting edge version of the movie - General Woundwort was a much more evil looking dark bunny, with a beard.​


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## VinrAlfakyn (Sep 22, 2008)

I read this book a few months ago and loved it. My friend read it before I did and recommended it to me. It was funny hearing her describe it though, because she would point at the cover and say, "Watership Down. It sounds like it'd be about a boat or something. But no. It's about bunnies."


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## spider8 (Feb 15, 2009)

This was my favourite book for many years, until overfamiliarity allowed other great novels to rub shoulders with it in my mind. Don't watch the film- it's in second place to your imagination, and after watching the film you will have images of the cartoon characters in your mind instead of what your own imagination will create.


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## KarenJoslin (Aug 24, 2009)

I disagree, although I saw the film when it originally came out and then read the book a number of years later.  I think they're both brilliant.  The film's animation is really quite different from your typical animated movie, and I think it did a good job of capturing the mood of the book.  And really, you could make the same criticism of any film adaptation of a novel - that you'll see the film characters in your head when reading the book.  I think that really depends on the reader.


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