#i love the redwall books

[larissa-the-scribe]

guys I had this realization the other day that Redwall works really well for reading aloud, and kinda half-remembered something about the author reading to kids? So I looked it up to see if I had made a connection.

And it turns out, yes, actually, because he read aloud to kids at a school for the blind. But all the books they gave him to read were depressing. So he wrote Redwall, a story about heroism and courage and making it through struggles, and filled it with so many sensory, visual details so he could give them something better and I just-- that's so wholesome-- help

#my theory is that all good childrens books are written with LOVE #and he clearly loved these kids #anyway I got kind of emotional at that #as someone who read Redwall as a kid and was inspired to be brave #also I left this in my drafts for a while oops #but yeah I have feelings #redwall #brian jacques #reading #scribe rambles

[andromeda3116]

...okay that post about redwall made something suddenly click inside my head bc like

yeah, they're incredibly sense-heavy, filled with incredibly strong imagery that invokes all the senses so powerfully that you can smell the feasts... and i devoured them when i was like. ten-twelve. and just starting to really get into writing.

like i'm very proud of my ability to write imagery now as an adult, i feel like it's my greatest strength, and i never really examined where that came from, but falling in love with a series that's so rich in it right at a formative time in my life, particularly with regards to my writing...

redwall taught me how to craft imagery

and not just that, but understanding how to do it has helped me over decades to articulate and describe my surroundings and their impact on me in ways that literally help me organize my thoughts

like

i know we use "x rewrote my brain chemistry" but like holy shit brian jacques rewrote my brain chemistry

#redwall #brian jacques #lightbulb exploding on top of my head rn #like i fucking *loved* these books i waited eagerly for every new release i adored them so much #i never put two and two together about how they were affecting my perception of the world #but i remember eating a bowl of soup and thinking about how it would be described in a redwall book #it *really* enriched my life (and made boring campbell's soup cans suddenly fun to eat) #i never realized how much i owe to brian jacques #rip good sir #if there's an afterlife i hope you're getting to eat the feasts you described

[brb-on-a-quest]

Ok so reading Redwall for the maybe first or second time?

Pretty sure I either read it or a diff book in the series and remember nothing at all except I liked it and I'd read it again. Found it at my local bookstore (my beloved) for 3 dollars and picked it up.

Enjoying it so far. But I wanted to ask how....ethics work here.

Because Redwall is an abbey that's run by mice who are very peaceful and loving and don't take lives and they're extremely "we take no lives and even predatores will leave monks of our abbey alone out of respect for us"

Except then, they kill a fish and eat it for the abbot's jubilee anniversary, where there's been a bunch of animals invited and stuff.

And Im just like... wait a minute.... do fish not count? How do small mammals vs other groups of animals work in this world? Am I over thinking a children's book? probably. Should I be doing homework? also probably.

#Im finding it amazing otherwise #i haven't had such fun with a book in awhile bc its mostly been rereads of stuff im very familiar with #this one if i've read i've forgotten everything already #redwall #brain jacques #i love the concept of monk-mice #and animal civiliations #its fantastic

[orcboxer]

Did I just spend 3 hours putting restaurants into orcs rpg? Yes. Was it worth it? More than you could even imagine.

#orcspeak #I'm sure that dungeon meshi and yakuza had a hand in inspiring it but the true inspiration was honestly Redwall #that and the fact that I make a lot of food-related orc posts. it was sort of inevitable #also I'm really pleased with how much more alive the world feels with every extraneous detail i add #i know a lot of folks write more story-focused interactive fiction but I'm in love with exploration #I've always always always wanted to wander around the rich worlds I see in fantasy books #and I think that's something I want to really make possible with orcs rpg. there's still very much a story #but you can explore the world also. if you want. there is so much beauty in the small things all around us

[picturebookshelf]

The Complete Brambly Hedge (1999)

Story and Art: Jill Barklem (Original Stories published between 1980 - 1994)

#brambly hedge #the complete brambly hedge #mice #animals #jill barklem #nostalgia #picture books #kid books #kidlit #children's literature #children's books #i love these stories so much this is exactly my brand #i love kid books with detailed water colour art - especially when it's about small animals #the foxwood series hits a similar mark - same for redwall though those novels obviously aren't illustrated #1990s #90s #1980s #80s

[kai-the-mad]

I uhhh

I really like it

#kai shush #redwall #martin the warrior #ive rotated this book in my head for well over ten years #there's no explanation for it other than i love it so much also im (probably) neurodivergent #i tried going into a quinton reviews-style deep dive into it a few months ago but i had to force myself to stop

[lostmidnightwriter]

Stiffener Medick and Felch: *exists*

Me:

@lostmousemaid :

#redwall series #redwall #brian jacques #oh brian brian brian #and for those who say #this was probably accidental #or that I have a dirty kind #may i remind y'all #Brian Jacques was a sailor #and I'm sure he knew a fair share of fun word combinations #and the man was nothing but a comedic genius #once again i wish BJ would have written books for adults #anyway #love you lottie #and sorry 😘 #lord brocktree #the taggerung #my stuff

[fictionadventurer]

Books I Should Have Loved But Hated

Girl of the Limberlost

The Enchanted April

Books I Should Have Hated But Loved

Julius Caesar

Daisy Miller

#random thought of the day #books #i'm sure there's more this is just what first came to mind #there's a midcategory of 'wanted to love it but just found it sort of eh' #(or at least just not to my taste) #redwall's in that category because after trying to start a couple of the books a few times #i've come to the conclusion that i just can't get invested in books about animals #animated movies are fine #but for some reason put it in novel form and i can't get past my suspension of disbelief #you say the animals act like that but i *know* animals don't act like that so what's the point? #(this is also the reason i wasn't able to get more than a page into my attempt to give 'watership down' another chance)

[colossalsummer]

blorbo this blorbo that

in my day we drew otters with lost parents

#taggerung #redwall otters #redwall #redwall deyna #zann juskarath #furry art #putting a hat on this guy was harder than you would think #i loved all the redwall books about otters

[girlscience]

me for the past several years: I think something is wrong with me, I just don't like books the way I used to. I have maybe finished 3 books in 4 years and the last one I finished took me making an intentional effort to do nothing but read it one day to finish it :/

this book,

bursting into my life: NO IT IS THE BOOKS WHO ARE WRONG

#i started this and finished it in mmmm about 5 hours? #I will be buying the others as SOON as I get home #i thought maybe i had just grown out of the books i liked or something #but nah. it just took me reading this to realize i literally haven't been reading the sort of books i like in YEARS #rich fantasy worlds (specifically with dragons) have ALWAYS been the most important thing in the world to me #that's literally all i read growing up. and outside of rereading a handful of redwall books i haven't read any of those in FOREVER #all the most recent stuff I've tried to read has been sci-fi or weird psychological stories #or nonfiction/heavily political stuff #or one fantasy book with dragons but it was about a 12 year old and had a sort of dragon i don't super care for and didn't even as a kid #and then i wonder why i have so little interest in finishing them :/ #there isn't anything wrong with those books but they just aren't what i enjoy and i know that so why do i keep forcing myself to read them?? #perhaps i should stop that and thus get back a hobby that i used to be love in the extreme

[gatorsnot]

i'm getting redwall brainworms again

debating to go back and reread the first book or continue where I left off

#dawn speaks #redwall #i left off about nine chapters into mariel and then i got so busy that i kind hung off there #i'm leaning towards restarting that one but i haven't read the first book since 2019 and i loved it #idk my dudes but i wanna dive back into woodland warriorisms

[g0lis0p0d]

Just remembered that Brian Jacques is dead

Now I'm sad :(

#i fucking love the Redwall series #i think I've read all of the books except for The Sable Quean?

[persimmonlions]

me, someone who checked lotr out of my elementary school library when i was 10: um

#sorry i had to like. laugh #anyway books i liked in elementary school included: #the chrysalids #city under ground #wrinkle in time #LOVED my postapocalyptic scifi as a kid #also i rmr picking up the darkangel from the school library and reading it and not getting it #and it was like ??? #lmao #i think the NORMALEST things i liked at 10/11 were like. redwall and his dark materials #// #literature

[canisalbus]

I love Redwall too! I even got to meet him at a book event when I was a teen. Do you have a favorite character or book from the series?

Oh, that's neat! From what I've heard he seemed like a warm and likable guy.

It's been so long since the last time I read any of them, I can only recall some select scenes and a maybe a handful of characters. My favorite book was Mattimeo and I remember liking it's main villain, Slagar the Cruel. The Finnish publisher stopped translating the books after The Long Patrol and I never got around to reading the rest of the series, mostly because my English wasn't nowhere near good enough at the time.

I have almost all Finnish editions, still missing Mossflower and The Long Patrol, both of which seem nearly impossible to find, the printings must've been really limited or something.

#answered #skunkbomb #the next book would've been Marlfox and I was really interested in that one for years #maybe I should give it a try now that i have the means to do it

[kcrossvine-art]

Youre telling me a shimp fried this rice soup? No.  But with your help it can, for just pennies a day. Today on the the Redwall Cookbook we're making Shrimp'N'Hotroot Soup. 

(you may find the original recipe at the bottom if you’d like to follow along!)-

MY NAMES CROSS NOW LETS COOK LIKE ANIMALS

SO, “what goes in to a Shrimp'N'Hotroot Soup?” YOU MIGHT ASK

Unsalted butter

1 onion

2 leeks

Vegetable stock (or vegetable bouillon)

Milk

3 potatoes

Curry or chili powder

Salt and pepper

Pre-cooked shrimp or prawns

I also added parsley flakes and smoke paprika for serving. The recipe recommends crusty bread!

Crusty bread. Like garlic or a baguette.

Stale potato chips would prolly taste good if ur into that sorta thing.

AND, “what does Shrimp'N'Hotroot Soup taste like?” YOU MIGHT ASK

Of all the redwall dishes so far this one has the most distinct 'savory' flavor

Smooth, rich flavor

The veggies came out nicer than id thought and i think the simmering and then adding liquid let it seep in.

The seafood smells intense after an hour or so (serve immediately)

The powder and the milk kept separating and i wonder if stirring more or adding the milk earlier wouldve made it emulsify better?

You could strain and serve the contents without the soup part!

Would pair well with a smooth red wine and a 'naked' salad.

Shimp-shimp-shimp-shimp-a-doop

. Used almond milk where milk called for . Used curry powder . Used garlic bread

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Honestly feel free to just fuckin HEAP on the spices, in classic brit fashion, they have the tongues of arctic babies and you can barely taste the spice with the original portions given. The shrimp is understandably pre-cooked but as is they come out barely changed by the soup or spices, and if someone could tell me the reasoning behind not adding them earlier to soak up some of that good good stuff, id love to hear (genuine).

2 major points on this recipe; As its seafood, it does not keep well, you could maybe save it for later the same day. Beyond that youre playing with your life and it wont taste great. It is very fast to prepare (if you have prechopped veggies). Maybe 40 minutes from deciding to make it from having it in my belly, not counting veggie prep time as i did that the morning-of while reading.

So sorry for having this out late! I've been working on some projects like concept work for an upcoming indie TTRPG, commissions for folks DnD parties, and my own personal stuff. If it makes it up to yall, i did eat this on the 3rd of this month haha.

As much as I love seafood, unfortunately i dont make it much as its hard to store and can be finicky to prepare. This soup could be replaced with a few other centerpieces, or made vegetarian, but for how it is in the book- I give this recipe a solid 6/10 (with 1 being food that makes one physically sick and 10 being food that gives one a lust for life again. 5 being average)

🐁 ORIGINAL RESIPPY TEXT BELOW 🐁

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 large onion, chopped

2 medium leeks, washed well and chopped

1 1/2 cups vegetable stock (or 1 1/2 cups water and 1/2 cube vegetable bouillon)

3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 teaspoon curry powder or chili powder, or to taste

Salt and pepper, to taste

8 ounces peeled, cooked shrimp or prawns, sliced if large

1 cup milk

Method:

In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion and leeks and cook, stirring, until soft, about 5 minutes (do not let the vegetables brown).

Add the vegetable stock, potatoes, curry or chili powder, and salt and pepper. Cover and simmer until the potatoes are very soft, 15 to 20 minutes.

Add the shrimp and milk and gently heat. Serve with crusty bread.

#cross cooks redwall #digital art #fantasy

[redfagdiver]

There's so many series I couldn't include so I'm doing a few more polls! I love seeing all the love and nostalgia pouring out of the notes <3

~

Part 1

#Polls #children's literature #children's books #books #Artemis Fowl #Eragon #Wings of Fire #Maximum Ride #Geronimo Stilton #Guardians of Ga'hoole #Skullduggery Pleasant #Redwall