Recommended Books

[CockatielPony]

A mole that sounds interesting reminds me of mole and mossy from animals of farthing wood.

I started reading beatrix potter stories.

[Acacia Heartstrings]

Right now I'm just reading Japanese magazines (Mangas) like One punch man and Made in the Abbys.  

[Chibiscuit]

I just finished The Travelling Cat Chronicles  by Hiro Arikawa. (original title is Nana) My brother and his girlfriend got it for me for Christmas because they thought I'd like it and they were wrong. I LOVE it! In fact, it is now one of my favourite books of all time. There was not a single chapter that I wasn't crying -- and yes that is a good sign because it mean the book touched me.

The book is told partially from the POV of Nana, a cat, who goes on a journey with his owner, Satoru, but it also has POVs from Satoru's friends and family whom they visit. It's a beautiful tale that I would recommend especially to cat owners but also to any pet owner really. I believe it will speak most to them.

If I were to compare it to something I'd say it was like the cat version of a tale like Hachiko or A Dog of Flanders. As its prime focus is the love and loyalty between a pet and their owner. Yet, there are other, different, themes in there as well about human relations and happiness.

I really can't recommend it enough.

---
Acacia, is that picture from Made in the Abyss? Because it looks really cute!

[Vesper]

@Chibiscuit- By your description and experience reading The Traveling Cat Chronicles, I really now want to read it. *Hugs with loving Nuzzles*

Currently, I'm reading Rise of Warrior Cops by Radley Balko. It's actually a pretty good read so far as it talks about America's Police Force has changed to the point Militarization.

I highly recommend it for those interested in this subject and would like to say that it is not an Anti Police book, As the author has stated in the beginning it's more of an AntiPolicy Book for as he states, Bad Politician creates Bad Policies and Bad Policies create Bad Policing, and examines the reason why this is looking back history and what can be done to address these issues. I'll keep an open mind while reading this book for I'm really curious what I'll find out in this book.

[Chibiscuit]

Another animal fiction rec (how surprising!): Bravelands. The newest Erin Hunter series that many seem to ignore or pass on which is a real pity because it is GREAT. I have read the first two books (in Dutch) and having to wait for the third is killing me because that cliffhanger!

The series surprised me, in a very very good way. It has multiple villains at once and one of them is shaping up to be one of fav villains ever? He's just, so smart and chilling (especially in the second book). The plot is great, the characters are great, it has nice twists that even when I saw them coming it wasn't in a 'oh that was so obvious how could they all fall for that' way but more in a 'I knew it!' way (if that makes sense). It makes sense in-universe. I like that.

Also, the Dutch translator did an amazing job with the names and such. I vastly prefer them over their English counterparts. I also like how they pick and choose which names to literally translate (Thorn becomes Doorn), which to leave as is (Sky is still Sky) and with which to take liberties (my fav probs being Ruthless being named Brutus in the translation but Fier instead of Fearless as well)

One last thing, I've seen people dismiss it as a bland Lion King rip-off because one of the protags is a lion who gets raised by a different species.
Bravelands is most definitely NOT a rip-off of the Lion King. I love the Lion King (and the Lion Guard) but Bravelands' plot and worldbuilding is, whilst of course far from perfect, vastly superior. As well as the depth of their characters and especially the way the protags are linked to each other and the villains.

...I apologize if any of this post sounded salty but I am a bit peeved that this series get overlooked and dismissed without even being a given a chance by so many people...

[Kili]

I've been meaning to reply to this one, because there are a number of books that I've come across that I think that folks on the forum might be interested in. Most folks have mentioned Animals of Farthing Wood, but there were seven other books in the series, a prequel and six sequels. Colin Dann also wrote quite a number of other animal books too - Just Nuffin, Nobody's Dog, The Ram of Sweet River, King of the Vagabonds and a few others. Just Nuffin and Nobody's Dog remind me of my own dogs (Just Nuffin because of the energetic antics of a young dog that get him into trouble and Nobody's Dog because my last two dogs including my current one are rescues dogs.

Garry Kilworth has written quite a lot of books from the point of view of 'realistic' animals - House of Tribes, Frost Dancers, Midnight Sun and Hunters Moon. He's also written the Welkin Weasels books, which fans of Redwall and the Wind in the Willows might like, only from the point of view of the weasels rather than the traditionally 'good' creatures.

There's the Ancient Solitary Reign and The Last Domain by Martin Hocke, a couple of books about owls - one from the point of view of Barn Owls, the other from the point of view of Tawny Owls.

David Clement-Davies wrote The Sight and Fell (about wolves) and Fire Bringer, a novel about deer.

Finally, there's William Horwood's books - The Wolves of Time, a series of two books, the Duncton Wood series and some sequels to the Wind in the Willows.

Sadly, most of them are out of print, but they are worth tracking down if you can get hold of them. Animal stories are a funny thing - there are quite a lot of them out there, but unless they are well known like WD, they aren't that easy to find since they were written 20 or more years ago and went out of print. I actually gave up on looking for books in the genre and started reading sci-fi and fantasy (as there's only so many times that you can read the same few books over and over again without getting bored with them) but still keep an eye out for ones I don't have or not read.

Edit: I forgot the Wild Road and the Golden Cat by Gabriel King.

Little Foxes by Micheal Michael Morpurgo.
Dot and the Kangaroo by Ethel C. Pedley.
The Hundred and One Dalmations by Dodie Smith.
Gobbolino the Witch's Cat by Ursula Moray.

[Chibiscuit]

and another good philosophical book like the lord of the flies and also a hella sci-fi is do androids dream of electric sheep? good stuff, i promise

Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? is one of my dad's favourite books! I should give it a read myself sometime.

@Kili Some of those titles I already have on my wishlist but, as you say, a lot are sadly out of print and I have had no luck so far in acquiring them. Some titles I'd not heard about before though so definitely checking those out as well.

About Bravelands again, I just read the third book and the series is still holding up amazingly well. It nicely wraps up some plotpoints whilst leaving room for series 2. It surprised me a few times with how it did a familiar thing just slightly different; I really liked it. Also it made me love a character that I never thought I'd love when reading book 1 
So yes, still reccing that^^

Another one is Podkin One-Ear. A trilogy about antromorphic bunnies. The summary actually compares it to both Watership Down and The Hobbit - but honestly those comparisons are often very misleading. But it is about rabbits and there is a quest involved, I guess. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the first two books (waiting on the third), and especially the way it was brought. You're being told the story by a bard who is telling the tale to some kittens on what appears to be rabbit Christmas Eve. It did a good job making you feel like you were one of the kittens listening (the second book continues this trend, though slightly different, and the framing story begins to hold more relevance).
Overall, nothing groundbreaking but a nice and fun series- oh and  the cover art of my versions is GORGEOUS.

[snowy fawn]

I don’t know if any of these have been mentioned yet, but I have a few books to recommend!

The first is the Bambi duology by Felix Salten. These are the books that Disney’s Bambi was based off of, and while I love that movie, I much prefer the books. They go into much greater detail about the lives of the deer and are significantly more realistic. At times, it can get a bit dark, but overall, the series is a poignant and atmospheric retelling of the lives of the forest deer. The second book, Bambi’s Children, also covers a whole new story that wasn’t adapted to the movie screen, so I recommend that one as well!

A lot of people know about the Warriors series by Erin Hunter, but I’ve found a lot less people have heard of one of her newer series, Survivors. This series tells the story of a dog named Lucky trying to survive after a huge earthquake changes his world forever. It’s a great story that really feels like it’s got scope. And by the end of the series, you feel like all the characters have changed and grown so much, and it’s really nice to see all the well done characters get some development. There is also a second series based off of it called Survivors: The Gathering Darkness that follows a different character, one you get to know in the first series, but I’ve onky read the first book of that so far. It was really well done, though, and I can’t wait to read the next!

[Kili]

I was going to mention the Podkin ones. I have been tempted by them, but at my age I feel kind of silly buying them as they are in the kids' section. (And I don't have any children so I can't use buying for them as an excuse, and my partner experienced some rudeness from a librarian when he got a children's book out of the library a while back.) It'll have to be a website order, I guess.

There are also Seekers series by Erin Hunter, but I stopped getting Erin Hunter books because there are so many of them and I don't have a lot of space on my bookshevles now for new books.

Joyce Stranger wrote a number of books years ago, about wildlife, but I never really liked them because I thought they pushed the fox-hunting and game-keeping agenda too much. It's hard to like human characters in a story or have sympathy for them when are a part of a culture you hate.