I actually have five books here:

A Handy Guide for Beggars, Monarch, Wild Animals I Have Known (also by Seton), Flatland by Edwin A Abbott, and Biography of a Grizzly (another Seton book).

I think the first chapter of Monarch was what it was because I’d recorded Biography of a Grizzly first. I thought it was going to be easy, and wasn’t really into the story myself till a few chapters later.

Evo has asked those of us who have multiple books here, to do an extra episode for each book, listing our other books. Guess I’d better get to work on that!

Griz

The first episode wasn’t bad, but (perhaps due to the writer setting up his tale) didn’t have any of the magic that filled the later chapters. But as it went on, I couldn’t put it down. I just had to hear what happened to the bear.

I ‘d never heard of Seton, or Monarch but it was like being a kid again reading, and being read, Jack London’s stories of wolves.
It was wonderful.

I honestly can’t remember a book having quite the same effect on me as the last chapter of this one…. thank you again. You did such a great job

This was the third book I’d recorded for my regular podcast, just after “Beggars,” and my second Seton book. I think I was a little too in love with the sound of my own voice in the first episode, but it get’s better. As Seton put it, “The great grizzly, Monarch, still pacing in his prison in Golden Gate Park, is the central fact of the tale.” I forgot I wasn’t the “central fact,” in spots.

First time I read the book was while I was recording it. It’s a great story, funny in some spots, sad in others. The great thing about recording older books is that it gives folks a chance to rediscover them, rather than leaving them collecting dust on library shelves.

I hope you enjoy the book — and can forgive my lousy accents.

Griz