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Care was taken to avoid over-sentimentality, in this assortment of loving reflections of dogs, celebrated here. These accounts are full of love, and are sometimes even funny - and we are thrust into the realization that perhaps that is the most wonderful kind of living memorials we can have for a beloved pet. Too often, we lose this perspective, while trying to keep from drowning in our own bereavement and sorrows.
Rather than being a collection of sad literary memorials Old Dogs Remembered is a joyful celebration of life with pets. This inspires healthy new points of view and adjustments to moving on into our new lives, without them.
Here we are treated to many different outlooks on how they permanently enriched the lives of their owners. Reading these heartwarming pages will broaden the understanding of each reader, concerning his/her own personal bereavement. Here, we are offered the collective wisdom of others, who reminisce on their honored pets. There is much to be shared and learned here, as well as enjoyed.
With so many different authors, one must appreciate that references and styles have changed drastically, through the ages. As an example of this, some might find the essay by the dramatist John Galsworthy to be interesting, but a bit troublesome to read. And, as with any anthology, there may be some accounts not everyone would appreciate. But all pet lovers will readily identify with the overall shared remembrances, here. This is a heartwarming collection, which can be enjoyed comfortably, in several installments.
There will be many an uplifting tear shed in its reading, and we suggest it for your reading pleasure.
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This sentiment and the chance discovery of Nathaniel Holmes Bishop's The Voyage of the Paper Canoe (1878), detailing a canoe trip down the East Coast which included a side trip on the Waccamaw River, were the twin impulses that lead Burroughs to return to his native Horry County, SC and make his own trip down the Waccamaw. Burroughs, a professor at Bowdoin, published a terrific collection of essays Billy Watson's Croker Sack in 1991 (it even made Mr. Doggett's Suggested Summer Reading List for Students) and this book is every bit as good.
Whether he's detailing the history of the county, the river and his own family or relating his encounters with the river's unique residents or describing the wildlife he encounters, Burroughs has a sharp eye, a sympathetic ear and a silver tongue. Here is his description of one bird he meets:
Yesterday a red-shouldered hawk had called the day to order, and got its business underway. Today it was a pileated woodpecker: a staccato drum-burst against a hollow tree, then the bird itself. It flew across in front of me, with its peculiar alternation of flap, swoop, and collapse, and its last swoop fetched it up against the trunk of a cypress. It clung there a moment, cocked and primed, a perfectly congruous mixture of Woody Woodpecker, frock-coated nineteenth-century deacon and pterodactyl. Then it gave the tree an abrupt, jackhammer strafing, rolled out its lordly call, and swooped away, leaving the day to its own devices.
If you've ever seen one, you know that a pileated woodpecker has never been described better and if you haven't you must almost feel that now you have.
This is a wonderful bucolic look at the history and nature of the Waccamaw, which will leave you wishing that you too had such a place coursing through your blood.
GRADE: A
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Burroughs' writing is simply fabulous, and even makes the characters seem all the more realistic, though many of them are not even human, but sentient creatures who can exist only in the minds of great writers like Burroughs, and in the land known as Pellucidar.
1st rate book!
The characters are all extremely likable. John Carter is the perfect southern gentleman. Honorable, loyal, incredibly brave, respectful to women, extremely handsome; a perfect hero who is never boorish or conceited. Then there's Sola, one of the few green Martians to show compassion and kindness, and Tars Tarkas(aren't these names so cool?)a ferocious green martian warrior with a tragic past who is also able to feel compassion and love. And I dare anybody to tell me that they wouldn't want a Woola of their very own! Dejah Thoris though is mainly for the guys. Carter's love and devotion for her was really sweet. I didn't even know that this was part of a book series until I read it on amazon and now I am really eager to read the other books of the series. And wasn't the end cool? I don't think I've ever read an ending quite like that before. What Carter found in the cave at the end was very creepy and intriguing. (I won't give out a spoiler)
Although this is pulp fiction and sort of like a comic book in a way,(I can see mothers in 1912 scolding their kids, "That Edgar Rice Burroughs is going to rot your mind if you keep reading it!") it's still light science fiction at it's best! (I'll warn you right off though, please don't expect something deep and complex like Dune or Darkover and post a review whining about it. Princess is purely for fun.) And am I the only one that thinks Princess would make a really awesome movie?
Is this intellectual literature?..of course not. Is it non-stop fun and enjoyment, the original page-turner novel?...You bet it is! Pick this book up, start reading, and I guarantee: you won't put it down until you're finished!..and then you'll run out the door and be hunting for the 2nd book in the series, The Gods of Mars, and then # 3, The Warlord of Mars, and on through the series. Be warned: make sure you have access to #'s 2 and 3 before you start The Princess...you'll be sorry if you don't!
I first read the Burroughs Martian novels(there were 10 known to me then) as a graduate student studying Physics, some 40 years ago. They provided the perfect escape from the rigors of courses like Quantum Mechanics and E & M. Now I reread them,and I continue to enjoy. You will too.