Looking for suggestions: fiction from an animal POV

[ownedbycats]

Thanks everyone.

[haertig]

"West of Eden" by Harry Harrison

"Raptor Red" by Robert T. Bakker

In the paper version of West of Eden, there is an index that defines the language of the non-human characters. I don't know if this exists in the eBook version, although I would think it would be included. I did a lot of flipping back and forth checking definitions before my brain became accustomed to the language.

[BenG]

The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford. Three pets (two dogs and a cat) are separated from their owner and must travel hundreds of miles through the wilderness to find them.
Also The Fox and the Hound by Daniel P. Mannix. It has a sadder ending than the Disney movie.

[HappyCalibreUser]

I'm in a rush since the spouse and I are on the way out the door to grocery shop, I don't think I saw this one posted yet.

Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography by Marshall Saunders. From the dog's POV.

This can be downloaded at Project Gutenberg or easily read online there. My first reading of this story was as a teenager enjoying Whitman Publishing books.

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. FAR less anthropomorphized and more natural than the movie that was made from it. No animals in human clothes and most importantly, no magic. A very good read.

The rats looked like mice to me and reminded me of a move I haven't watched in a long time, Babe, where the pig wants to be a border collie/herding dog. I have the dvd so there's no excuse for not watching it. One of the best movies of all time.

[Bookpossum]

The Silent Miaow by Paul Gallico. It is a guide for cats and kittens on how to get humans to do what you want. For anyone who has ever been owned by a cat, it is hilarious.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by issybird

The Chet and Bernie Mysteries by Spencer Quinn feature a dog/human detective pair, written in the first person by the dog. I’ve only read the first and that a long time ago and the degree of anthropomorphication might be a little too high, but they’re fun.

I recently listened to the first Chet and Bernie mystery and enjoyed it. That reminds me that I need to seek out the next in the series.
I don't think Chet was anthropomorphized at all. He was a normal dog, in a realistic setting. His narration language was obviously human English, but it's not like we could read it in the original Dog or something.

At the risk of giving too much away, there is an amusing short story called "The Other Large Thing" in "Miniatures: The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi" that might fit the bill as well. It's available to read for free here:

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2011/08/...a-short-story/

If you're not looking for animal POV in an otherwise real world, but rather animals in a hypothetical animal society, then sorry, my experience begins and ends with Watership Down and Redwall (which I see as Lord of the Rings with rodents.)

ApK

[pdurrant]

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
The Sheep-Pig by Dick King-Smith

[ApK]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White

D'oh, Of course. Didn't even think about that one.


Also, what about Orwell's Animal Farm?
Yeah, they're allegorically standing in for people, but still.


ApK

[gmw]

The following is not exactly on target, but it's an interesting variation of the animal POV:

The Many Selves of Katherine North by Emma Geen. In this the young human protagonists work as "phenomenauts" - using a special neurological interface to project consciousness into the bodies of artificial animals. The perspectives are strange and sometimes a bit confusing but I enjoyed it.

[BookCat]

The Plague Dogs by Douglas Adams - keeps the dogs very much as dogs.

Wind In the Willows - Kenneth Grahame. The animals are very amorphous, with Toad driving a car and being locked in prison.

A Cat Called Alfie, very much from the cat's point of view. There is a series of these books, best read in order. Author: Rachel Wells.

The Nine Lives of Christmas - Sheila Roberts. This is very much from the cat's pov. The cat is a cat, not a substitute human.

Many years ago, my third year BA uni thesis was about the personification of animals in literature and its various forms. This was a very long time ago. The drunken elephant in Rosy is My Relative (Gerald Durrell) is very funny, but this is not from Rosy's pov. Still a fun read though.

[John K]

Timbuktu by Paul Auster

Mr. Bones, the canine hero of Paul Auster's astonishing new book, is the sidekick and confidant of Willy G. Christmas, a brilliant and troubled homeless man from Brooklyn. As Willy's body slowly expires, he sets off with Mr. Bones for Baltimore in search of his high school English teacher and a new home for his companion. Mr. Bones is our witness during their journey, and out of his thoughts, Paul Auster has spun one of the richest, most compelling tales in American fiction.

Tigger by Susanne Haywood

We are all familiar with human responses to change, but what about the animal's perspective? Globetrotting Tigger, the ginger tomcat with attitude, is born into the sunshine and easy lifestyle of Western Australia, but is forced to follow his family of restless humans to the USA for an adventurous two years in the forests and fields of Maryland. He returns to Australia and life on a small farm in the bush with all its associated excitements and perils before he is whisked off yet again to a damp, green country called England. What matters to Tigger when he leaves home? And how does he cope with the unfamiliar? Tigger's story is told through the sharply observant eyes of a cat in charge of his band of endearingly naïve humans, whose ideas he often finds puzzling, but accepts with good grace. In the background of the story, Tigger's humans face their own struggles as they learn to adjust to their new surroundings, but they really aren't that important.

A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

This is the story of one dog's search for his purpose over the course of several lives. More than just another charming dog story, A Dog's Purpose touches on the universal quest for an answer to life's most basic question: Why are we here?

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

Nana the cat is on a road trip. He is not sure where he's going or why, but it means that he gets to sit in the front seat of a silver van with his beloved owner, Satoru. Side by side, they cruise around Japan through the changing seasons, visiting Satoru's old friends. He meets Yoshimine, the brusque and unsentimental farmer for whom cats are just ratters; Sugi and Chikako, the warm-hearted couple who run a pet-friendly B&B; and Kosuke, the mournful husband whose cat-loving wife has just left him. There's even a very special dog who forces Nana to reassess his disdain for the canine species.

But what is the purpose of this road trip? And why is everyone so interested in Nana? Nana does not know and Satoru won't say. But when Nana finally works it out, his small heart will break.

A Dog's Life: The Autobiography of a Stray by Ann Martin

Squirrel and her brother Bone begin their lives in a toolshed behind someone's summer house. Their mother nurtures them and teaches them the many skills they will need to survive as stray dogs. But when their mother is taken from them suddenly and too soon, the puppies are forced to make their own way in the world, facing humans both gentle and brutal.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by BookCat

The Plague Dogs by Douglas Adams - keeps the dogs very much as dogs.

You sent me off searching, "Did Douglas Adams write a new book that I'm not familiar with?"

It appears the book you mention is actually by Richard Adams. And worth looking into further.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by issybird

The Chet and Bernie Mysteries by Spencer Quinn feature a dog/human detective pair, written in the first person by the dog. I’ve only read the first and that a long time ago and the degree of anthropomorphication might be a little too high, but they’re fun.

I haven't read those, but that reminds me that I read the first book in this series:

http://www.joegrey.com/
https://www.goodreads.com/series/52670-joe-grey

I realized cats that could talk weren't really my thing so I haven't read any more of the series.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by haertig

You sent me off searching, "Did Douglas Adams write a new book that I'm not familiar with?"

It appears the book you mention is actually by Richard Adams. And worth looking into further.

I've actually made that mistake myself

Thanks for all the suggestions.