Watership Down author Richard Adams dies aged 96

[LanternWaste]

Source: BBC

Juliet Johnson said her father had been "ailing for some time" but "died peacefully" on Christmas Eve.

Watership Down, a children's classic about a group of rabbits in search of a new home after their warren was destroyed, was first published in 1972.

Adams was 52 when he wrote it, after first telling the story to his two daughters on a long car journey.

It went on to become a best-seller, with tens of millions of copies bought around the world.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-38446309

---

I guess it was too much to hope that 2016 would leave without affecting me too deeply.

[RedWedge]

1. My heart has joined the thousand; my friend stoped running today.

[MrScorpio]

2. It doesn't stop, does it?

[LovingA2andMI]

5. Sadly No....

Comedian Ricky Harris, George Michael and now Carrie Fisher within the last 24-48 Hours....

&quot CNN)Actress Carrie Fisher, whose grit and wit made "Star Wars'" Princess Leia an iconic and beloved figure to millions of moviegoers, died Tuesday in Los Angeles. She was 60.

Her death was confirmed in a statement issued by the publicist for Billie Lourd, Fisher's daughter.
"It is with a very deep sadness that Billie Lourd confirms that her beloved mother Carrie Fisher passed away at 8:55 this morning," Simon Halls said.

Fisher's death came four days after she suffered a cardiac event on a flight from London to Los Angeles, according to a source familiar with the situation."

Read More: http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/27/entertainment/carrie-fisher-obit-star-wars/index.html

On Top of The "Election" of Trump. The end of 2016 going out Grim Riper style does not bore well for 2017. That's just all.

[tammywammy]

3. I hated that book

I had to read it in 9th grade. I think I read half of it. I kept thinking "just find a fucking home!" After we read it and did a group project we watched the cartoon version too. Hated the cartoon one too. Stupid rabbits.

My thoughts go out to his family.

[applegrove]

4. I loved that book. We read it in grade 7 or 8. I never saw the movie. I think

it would have been kind of scary on film.

[lostnfound]

13. I loved it and read it for fun, around that same age. Nt

[edhopper]

6. Shardik and The Plague Dogs

were also very good books.

[gvstn]

8. I liked Watership Down but hated Shardik

In fact Shardik was THE book that made rethink what reading was all about and if I hated a book I could just stop reading it. Up until then if I started a book, I felt I had to finish it.

After suffering through 400 pages of Shardik when Part 2 started with a whole different set of characters, I said, "No!, I'm not doing this." Now, I give any book 100 pages and if I don't find it interesting, I put it down.

I'm sorry for his family's loss.

[awoke_in_2003]

17. After Catch22, I read Closing Time

(yes, they were YEARS apart, but I only read 22 about 7 years ago). I fought like hell, and made it through, Closing Time, because I stubbornly could not believe that the genius that wrote Catch22 could follow it with such a dud. I kept waiting for the "moment" that never happened.

[gvstn]

25. Yep

Shardik had a huge snarling bear on the cover and 400 pages into--no bear. Huh?

[braddy]

7. I read it as an adult, loved it.

[duhneece]

15. Me, too nt

[Hekate]

9. Must dig out my old paperback copy... I was an adult when I read it on my sister's recommendation

I didn't fall in love with it quite the way she did, but thought it very good indeed. I hope the author's passing inspires a new flurry of sales and a new generation of readers.

RIP and thanks for all the bunnies, Richard Adams.

[Ron Obvious]

10. Didn't read the book, but saw the movie

And desperately tried to hide my leaking eyes at the end from the rest of the family in the living room for fear of being mocked. I think I got away with it...

"Bright eyes...."

[Hulk]

11. Read this wonderful story to my sixth grade class back in the mid-70's

A wonderful story, in a wonderful time....Jimmy Carter and the disco era. Damn....those were some good times.

[angrychair]

12. Loved this book

The movie was great too. I am looking forward to the BBC/Netflix series next year as well.
Plus, as a new author in his 40s, I find it inspiring and comforting that great authors still get published late in life.

This year has been harsh and I will not miss it but I will celebrate the lives of some amazing people.

[Paladin]

14. One of my favorite books, ever. RIP. (nt)

[awoke_in_2003]

16. I remember the 1978 film

(I was 10) that lead to me reading the book. Time to re-visit it.

[BigDemVoter]

18. I remember when that book came out in the 1970s.

[etherealtruth]

19. Oh no :-(

[kimmylavin]

20. My absolute favorite book EVER.

I read it for the first time in 6th grade; I was 11 years old.
I'm 41 now, and I still read it once a year.

I'm glad he was at least old, and had lived a good life, but this one hurts, too...

[Solly Mack]

21. :(

[WilsonsWarbler]

22. A great book.

Read it in the 7th grade.

[nitpicker]

23. Link to the Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/dec/27/watership-down-author-richard-adams-dies-aged-96

[LiberalLovinLug]

24. RIP Richard

One of my favorite authors from my youth. Not only Watership Down but The Plague Dogs. He had a gift for not necessarily seeing the world from an animals eyes, because that is impossible, but seeing it through a human's eyes, but one that is open to seeing a bigger and more inclusive picture of all life and its value, its uniqueness, its intelligence, its ability to experience pain and emotions, even if not in the same way.

[anneboleyn]

27. The Black Rabbit himself comes for Hazel -- that image still makes me cry. And I loved how the

film handled the Black Rabbit -- when he comes for Hazel it is no longer scary but an incredible honor.

This book, and the film, changed my life and my ideas about spirituality. He left behind a beautiful legacy.

[Thirties Child]

26. Loved the book. Not a children's classic. An everybody's classic.

I think of him every time I see land being clear-cut, developed, stripped of trees. I wonder where will the rabbits go? And the raccoons. And the possums. And the birds?

Thanks, Richard Adams, for showing us truth. RIP.

[BlueSpot]

28. Silflay hraka, u embleer 2016!

[Denverchick]

29. I named my daughter Maia after his book, which I thought was even better than Watership Down.

He has been my favorite author for over 30 years and I am just so fucking bummed. Last few days have been brutal. Carrie was my childhood heroine (the only princess I ever admired as a girl) and now my other childhood love is gone. Fuck this shit.

[SharonClark]

30. Didn't read the book, didn't know there was a movie, but

...the brilliant Doug Brown, the voice of The Book Club on WOI-Radio in Iowa, read the book to thousands of listeners. I was amazed by it and think of it every time I see a rabbit, which is daily!

Some background....Mr. Brown, who died in 2002 at the age of 66, is still heard every Christmas season when they replay his reading of "A Christmas Carol". He was best known for his voice and for reading more than 250 books (unabridged) over the air during his 35 year career at WOI-Radio.