First published in 1908.  I got my copy 60 years later and I still have it.   Badger, Toad, Ratty, and Mole discuss re-taking Toad Hall. Ratty and Toad. Mole yearning for his old home. Ratty rejoices after finding a boot scraper while him and Mole are lost in the Wild Wood. On a beautiful spring day, Mole meets Ratty and they go for a picnic.  Mole has never been so happy. Delight and wonder. Ratty and Mole seek refuge with Mr. Badger in the Wild Wood.   "Now the very next time this happens, I shall be exceedingly angry"! The stoats and weasels have taken Toad Hall and turn away Badger and Mole. Toad's best friends in the world prevent him from buying and driving his latest motor car. Toad, having deceived Mole, strolls into the Red Lion where he will soon meet his fate.    The profligate Mr. Toad of Toad Hall. Toad is nuts for automobiles and has bought and wrecked many of them. Dressed as a washerwoman, Toad hijacks an auto that kindly g...

    During these last decades the interest in professional fasting has markedly diminished. It used to pay very well to stage such great performances under one’s own management, but today that is quite impossible. We live in a different world now. At one time the whole town took a lively interest in the hunger artist; from day to day of his fast the excitement mounted; everybody wanted to see him at least once a day; there were people who bought season tickets for the last few days and sat from morning till night in front of his small barred cage; even in the nighttime there were visiting hours, when the whole effect was heightened by torch flares; on fine days the cage was set out in the open air, and then it was the children’s special treat to see the hunger artist; for their elders he was often just a joke that happened to be in fashion, but the children stood openmouthed, holding each other’s hands for greater security, marveling at him as he sat there pallid ...

  The Mri, one of the three species that make up the incredible Faded Sun trilogy.  Michael Whelan, artist  C. J. Cherryh, author. https://www.michaelwhelan.com/

   With BillyLand© due to open in less than a month, cost overruns, union problems, accidents and deliberate sabotage by jealous competitors are seriously threatening the entire project.  BillyLand© will be the magnet pleasure center on the Texas Gulf Coast, offering rides, games, gambling, fishing, alcohol, and all other family activities.designed for good clean fun and patriotic reinforcement.  Here the visionary founder of BillyCo Inc. meditates upon his next move while thinking of what he is going to tell the bank tomorrow.  Ha ha, the jokes on them, if Mr. Bunny goes broke so does the bank.  Fortunately, Billy is insured for a great deal of money, as the bankers pointed out to him at their last meeting. Billy Bunny is wondering if creosote treated wood in salt water will burn hot enough to reduce it and all evi...all dangerous wreckage to ashes.  One cannot be too careful when it comes to safe working conditions!

  I was fifteen when I first came across this.  I was scandalized and intrigued.  It blew my mind to see anthropomorphic animals acting like real humans, in this case a dog on the outs with society.  The depiction of God is a riot.  Anthro cute bunnies were only supposed to decorate Easter cards, not watch over the sex fantasies of a shabby, lonely, probably unemployed dog.  I had never read something more brutally honest.  And then there is this: The Cute L'il Bearzy Wearzies In this story, the two bears, one divorced, buy shoes, get drunk, high, rebuked by a cop, use bad language and engage in sexual activity.  I thought they lived in a world that was wonderful, partly because of how adorable they were even as they misbehaved.  The influence of this on my life cannot be easily dismissed.  One of the reason these stories caught so much of my attention is because I grew up on a diet of talking animal...