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The title of my diary is best known for the Maurice Sendak book which my children loved. I have not seen the movie.
But it can also refer to lots of creatures in myth, legend, and non-fiction. My favorite story is Beauty and the Beast, not as Disney did it, but from the fairy tale by Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont.
http://www.pitt.edu/...
Or to take it not too seriously, we sometimes like to think of times and places where we or characters in stories are wild things running free and enjoying life without too many constraints. As a child I lived on twenty acres of woods and hills with a pond. I was pretty carefree in all kinds of weather and I have good memories of playing fox and geese on the frozen pond or swimming in it in the summer. We had a tiny row boat.
The connotation for wild can be different and not kind, also. Being wild sometimes has hard consequences. When I told a friend I was a wild child, she laughed at me because her connotation and mine were completely different. In fact, I was probably pretty boring. And yet when I was a teenager and I ran barefooted through the woods, around the hill, past the pond and home again after a rain had softened the ground, I felt like a wild thing set free for a few minutes from taking care of a baby sister. So each person has their own definition of wild things.
I consider dragons, even Temeraire, to be wild. Threaten Laurence and Temeraire is anything but tame. In the Harry Potter books there are lots of interesting wild things including plants and books. Sometimes in the later books the plot left me cold, but there were so many interesting things like Buckbeak and Thestrals and the owls as well as the ghosts. One might consider the Weasley twins to be wild, too. Fun, of course, but definitely not tamed and subdued.
I have nothing against tamed things, but sometimes they are too subdued and I like it when someone rises up against conformity and wins through.
I even like wilder gardens than the smooth perfection of some where not even a twig is on the ground.
In Dorothy Dunnett’s series, Lymond is what I consider to be a wild thing and I love him for it while I also feel sympathy that life made him give up his music and books to save others at a huge cost.
I guess that Jo March had to be tamed, but I was sorry about it when it happened. Being willful lost her a trip to Europe that Amy got instead and I really dislike Aunt March for that. It might have been hard traveling with Aunt March, though. Marme talked to Jo the day that Amy fell through the ice and that was necessary. One reason that Jo refused to marry Laurie was that she thought he needed a polished woman for a wife because he was rich. I disagreed, but it was not my book. When Beth died a lot of Jo’s internal life changed and softened. Then the Professor did the rest.
It is not good to be a wild thing if you have no other choice in life. To be neglected and untaught and unable to behave is not what I am thinking about. But the exuberant Max in Sendak’s book is such fun.
Can inanimate objects be wild things such as sailing ships, the steeds of the sea?
To round this topic off, I would like to review a new book coming out in January, by a DKos writer. Jinx’s Magic is a sequel to Jinx by Sage Blackwood. (A big thank you to the author and her publishers HarperCollins for sending me a review copy).
Publication date: 1/7/2014
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Jinx's Magic by Sage Blackwood
http://www.harpercollins.com/...
Overview
The second book in the highly acclaimed fantasy adventure series set in a mysterious forest starring Jinx, a daring new hero.
"Readers will thrill to journey with Jinx" (Jinx, SLJ, starred review), a wizard's apprentice, as he travels to an unfamiliar new land in search of the ancient magic that might help him unite the Urwald and defeat the threats that come from the kingdoms on all sides.
This humorous and smart tween fantasy adventure is perfect for fans of Septimus Heap, the Sisters Grimm, and Fablehaven.
The Urwald is a place where there are many wild and dangerous things such as witches, wizards, werewolves, trolls, elves and vampires that the trees call “The Restless”. Jinx is a Listener though he doesn’t know what that means though later he learns that it has to do with burning which worries him a lot since he doesn’t want to burn. The trees tell him of the terror he is traveling with and how trees to the south are being chopped down. Jinx can feel the pain.
Pgs. 62, 63
“You keep twitching,” said Elfwyn.
“Well, they’re chopping u- trees,” said Jinx. He’d almost said us, which was crazy, because he wasn’t a tree.
“Perhaps you could try not to think about it,” said Reven.
“I can’t not think about it! If someone was hacking at you with an ax, you think you could not think about it?”
While traveling in the Urwald, you must stay on the path because the truce in force says you are safe there, though that may be doubtful. Jinx is perplexed by meeting a werewolf who not only talks, but wears spectacles and writes things down. Unfortunately, the werewolf has a hard time not eating Jinx and it is touch and go at each meeting.
My favorite part, as in the last book, is that Jinx can see colors and understand what people are thinking:
Pg. 14
At the word ”elves” something stirred in Jinx’s memory. He wondered if he should say something to correct the colossal misconception that was being formed here. A glance at Simon told him he should not. Simon’s thoughts were a box of whisper-thin light green glass that might shatter at any second, which would lead to flames and toads and all sorts of horrible things.
I especially sympathized with Jinx while he and his friends were being led through a castle:
Pg. 79
The lady led them through wide green marble halls. Reven looked around with great interest, and Jinx had an impression Reven was thinking this wouldn’t be a bad place to live. Jinx thought it looked cold and uninviting. He thought houses should be mostly kitchen.
Despite being ordered to Samara with a stack of books to read and a test to pass, Jinx looks forward to seeing Simon’s wife, Sophie, because she has always been kind to him. In Samara he seems to be in trouble for asking about her. Big trouble. Despite advice, Jinx is determined to find her no matter what.
The questions in the story are many.
How can Jinx learn magic and how to control it after being sent to Samara where using magic means death?
When should he obey Simon and when should he not? Can Simon be trusted?
How does the Bonemaster plan to use Simon and Jinx and can they stop him?
Who is a safe person to confide in and get help from?
Who is watching him in Samara?
Why has Sophie, Simon's wife, who has always been kind to Jinx, disappeared?
How does a land become a country? Could the people of the Urwald unite and declare it a country and make rules to stop the land from being given away and keep more trees from being chopped down? Could they stop the Bonemaster from killing the people of the clearings if they banded together?
How do you ever feel good again after harming someone?
I truly enjoyed this story and I can’t wait for the next book in the series as I do worry about Jinx’s life being tied to the Bonemaster, and I worry about Elfwyn staying alive and free from his influence. Can she fool such a great magician? Are the elves going to do great harm? Is Simon innocent? Will war come into the Urwald?
I highly recommend this story and I couldn’t lay it down.
I just found this for the first story, Jinx.
JINX by Sage Blackwood -- Official Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/...
So, tonight, makes seven years for Bookflurries-Bookchat. I am so grateful for my faithful posters and those who give recs! You make this place so interesting each week!! Thank you!!!!
O/T I have an appt. with a surgeon on Nov. 11th to discuss replacing my knees. I might have to wait until spring to be sure of good roads for Physical Therapy...not sure.
Diaries of the Week:
Write On! Making clear goal statements.
by SensibleShoes
http://www.dailykos.com/...
SNLC, Vol. CCCXCVII / UDKCJ 25: Alice Munro Edition
by chingchongchinaman
http://www.dailykos.com/...
About Alice Munro:
Contemporary Fictions Views: The short and the long of it
by bookgirl
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Chock full of good things:
Monday Murder Mystery: MWA U or What I Did Last Weekend
by Susan from 29
http://www.dailykos.com/...
remember the sequester? another AIDS Walk Austin diary
by anotherdemocrat
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Robert Fuller says:
I have just posted Chapter 28 of The Rowan Tree:
http://www.rowantreenovel.com/...
I'm still looking for reviewers or for any general advice about presenting literary fiction on the Internet. Are there any interest groups for literary/contemporary fiction that might be interested in a book that's being posted for free online?
I also have a question for acquisition librarians. It seems like they choose books from those reviewed in Publisher's Weekly, etc. Those venues, in turn, review books at the "pre-publication" stage. However, independently published ebooks are generally published the moment they are ready to publish. How then does one get them vetted and curated in a way that might make them available to an acquisitions librarian?
NOTE:
plf515 has book talk on
Wednesday mornings early