@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon it's always been very difficult for me to "see myself" in media, for whatever reason--I just don't identify with protagonists very easily, most of the time--and Watership Down's non-human focus showed me that it was possible to write something beautiful, that could be taken seriously by the general population, that didn't center a "normal" human perspective.

over the years, I've come to appreciate it like an exquisitely well-made piece of furniture. I know the grand arcs and the fine details like the smooth sweep of polished woodgrain under my fingertips. I've examined its construction, seen how the parts are fitted together, the craftsmanship that connects each piece to the others. I don't know if I will ever be able to make something so beautiful or enduring in my life, but it's the high mark I will always aspire to.

@ShaulaEvans @bookstodon Watership Down, which I tried to read for the first time in around 4th grade (on my own, not assigned for school or anything). about halfway through I made the conscious decision that I was missing a lot, that I would probably understand it more fully when I was older, and put it aside. read it again all the way through... not sure exactly when but definitely before or in high school, because that was when I started compiling a Lapine (rabbit language) dictionary. over the years I read multiple copies often enough that the paperback would fall apart, and I'd get another copy and do it again. I have no idea how many times I've re-read it, but I have large chunks of it basically memorized.

it was possibly the first book that showed me what a written masterpiece was, and the fact that it was about rabbits, *from the perspective of rabbits*, made it deeply precious to me. (cont)