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David Sedaris
publisher: Querido, Amsterdam, 2010
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'A modest bestiary.' Though the characters may not be human, the situations in these stories bear an uncanny resemblance to the insanity of everyday life.
Me Talk Pretty One Day
2000
27 short (and very funny) essays, inspired by the author's move several years ago from New York to Paris.
1997
2008
2004
1999
Six cheerful Christmas tales.
1995
The Book of Animal Ignorance
John Lloyd & John Mitchinson, 2008
'Someone gave this to me a few years back and I found it to be full of useful information. Who knew, for example, that squirrels can live to the age of twenty, or that moles will die if they go a day without eating? I'm not sure that I employed any of these facts in the book, but still they somehow helped.'
- DS
Deadly Kingdom: The Book of Dangerous Animals
Gordon Grice, 2010
'I expected the chapters on sharks and hyenas - they're what come to mind when you think: dangerous animals. My favorite parts of this book, however, dealt with monkeys, worms, and centipedes. I'm also a fan of Mr. Grice's first book, The Red Hourglass: Lives of the Predators. In terms of my own book, he helped remind me that animals can be real assholes.'
- DS
Doctor Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation
Olivia Judson, 2002
'This is a fascinating and very accessible bit of evolutionary biology. There's not a lot of mating going on in my book, but still I enjoyed reading about it. She's a very funny writer, so I was able to learn things without straining.'
- DS
Freedom
Jonathan Franzen, 2010
'The people in this book seem incredibly real, and you empathize with them and you feel for them and you’re embarrassed for them and... I love that book.'
-DS
The Wizard of Oz: an Appreciation
Salman Rushdie, 1992
'I remember my mother reading to us from The Wizard of Oz. I loved it so much, just being read out loud to.'
- DS
Revolutionary Road
Richard Yates, 1961
'This was his first novel and I read it once a year. Aside from its word-by-word construction, I love how his characters deceive themselves.'
-DS
Cathedral
Raymond Carver, 1984
'His sentences are very simple and straightforward, and he made writing seem deceptively easy - the kind of thing anyone could do if they put their mind to it.'
- DS
Wise Blood
Flannery O'Connor, 1949
'No one writes dialect better than Flannery O'Connor. No one should even try.'
- DS
In the Garden of the North American Martyrs
Tobias Wolff, 1981
'His stories are like parables, and after reading one I always vow to become a better person.'
- DS
2010
–› Excerpt
'A modest bestiary.' Though the characters may not be human, the situations in these stories bear an uncanny resemblance to the insanity of everyday life.
BEASTS IN BOOKS
Animal Farm
George Orwell, 1945
Having got rid of their human master, the animals in this political fable look forward to a life of freedom and plenty. But as a clever, ruthless elite takes control, the other animals find themselves hopelessly ensnared in the same old way.
Watership Down
Richard Adams, 1972
An allegorical tale of survival about a band of wild rabbits who leave their ancestral home to build a more humane society.
Reynard the Fox
Anonymous, 1275
A clever satire of feudal society. The tale uses animals to represent the members of various classes.
The Master and Margarita
Mikhail Bulgakov, 1967P
The Devil raises hell in Stalinist Moscow. Take note of the talking cat.
Timbuktu
Paul Auster, 1999
Auster filters the 'homeless experience' through the relentlessly unsentimental eye of a dog.
editor-in-chief: Stacey Knecht, info@the-ledge.com
Thanks to: De digitale pioniers and
Het Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds
Design: Maurits de Bruijn
Copyright: Pieter Steinz, Stacey Knecht
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author.