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On Animals
On Animals | Susan Orlean
17 posts | 15 read | 16 to read
Susan Orleanthe beloved New Yorker staff writer hailed as a national treasure by The Washington Post and the author of the New York Times bestseller The Library Bookgathers a lifetime of musings, meditations, and in-depth profiles about animals. How we interact with animals has preoccupied philosophers, poets, and naturalists for ages, writes Susan Orlean. Since the age of six, when Orlean wrote and illustrated a book called Herbert the Near-Sighted Pigeon, shes been drawn to stories about how we live with animals, and how they abide by us. Now, in On Animals, she examines animal-human relationships through the compelling tales she has written over the course of her celebrated career. These stories consider a range of creaturesthe household pets we dote on, the animals we raise to end up as meat on our plates, the creatures who could eat us for dinner, the various tamed and untamed animals we share our planet with who are central to human life. In her own backyard, Orlean discovers the delights of keeping chickens. In a different backyard, in New Jersey, she meets a woman who has twenty-three pet tigerssomething none of her neighbors knew about until one of the tigers escapes. In Iceland, the worlds most famous whale resists the efforts to set him free; in Morocco, the worlds hardest-working donkeys find respite at a special clinic. We meet a show dog and a lost dog and a pigeon who knows exactly how to get home. Equal parts delightful and profound, enriched by Orleans stylish prose and precise research, these stories celebrate the meaningful cross-species connections that grace our collective existence.
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review
TorieStorieS
On Animals | Susan Orlean
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This was an interesting and quick listen! Here Orlean includes previously published essays on animals over the years (some as dated as during Keiko‘s brief stint as a “wild” whale) as well as a journal style of her life in their upstate New York farm. It‘s not a profound look at the human-animal connection, but it makes for easy listening and the section on rabbits in particular is sure to help start discussions! I‘m glad it‘s kept mostly light!

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Susanita
On Animals | Susan Orlean
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I was out of town for a few days. It was a lovely trip, but it really messed with my reading time. For this weekend‘s #20in4 marathon, I‘d like to finish at least two of these books to get a little closer to my elusive June reading goal. Myspouse has some rare summer weekend time off, which could potentially cause more upheaval to my reading time…or maybe not.

Andrew65 Good luck 😊👍 2y
41 likes1 comment
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LMJenkins
On Animals | Susan Orlean
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Starting a new one while at the ball field.

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jlhammar
On Animals | Susan Orlean
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An enjoyable listen read by the author. This collection is comprised of enthusiastic and informative essays on animals of all sorts from backyard chickens to Keiko the killer whale to the hardworking donkeys of Fez, Morocco, just to name a few.

Most were previously published in The New Yorker between 1995 and 2020.

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akfreeborn
On Animals | Susan Orlean
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This collection of animal related essay was so entertaining and I learned some things as well. Orlean has a talent for finding an interesting story in each chapter, never overly sentimental but true and caring and what seems like responsible storytelling. I enjoyed the chapter on mules, the lost dog in Atlanta particularly but every chapter was great!

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Bookalong
On Animals | Susan Orlean
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Orlean a longtime lover of animals and animal stories offers us a collection of 15 pieces written throughout her career about humans relationships with tamed and untamed animals from all over the planet! From her own narrative of keeping chickens to stories of show dogs, animal actors, pet tigers, taxidermy, lion whisperers and more! These pieces are moving and Orleans rich prose shine throughout! #bookreview #essays

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RamsFan1963
On Animals | Susan Orlean
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12/150 I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. Orlean's essays on various animals and life raising farm animals were both amusing and poignant. As she said there is a fine line around the world between what animals we think of as pets, what animals we think of as food, and those that think of us as food. 4 🐕🐕🐕🐕
5th book for #JoyousJanuary @Andrew65 12th book for #Jumpstart2022 @Lizpixie @Clwojick 27th book for #WinterCosy @PuddleJumper

Lizpixie 👏👏👏 2y
67 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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RamsFan1963
On Animals | Susan Orlean
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I'm about half way through On Animals (ebook), a third of the way through The Confidential Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (print) and about half of Dinocalypse Now (audio)
#WeekendReading @Andrew65

Andrew65 Some good choices 2y
50 likes1 comment
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Erynecki
On Animals | Susan Orlean
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Orlean‘s essays are less about those she‘s kept as pets and more about, as NPR noted, “a heightened sensitivity to animals' life experiences.” Her writing is delightful and charming and the story structure of each essay, elegant. There is no narrative through line, but with an always curious author with a talent for weaving together humor&mundane details about the creatures with whom we share a planet, it‘s hard not to race through the chapters.

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rather_be_reading
On Animals | Susan Orlean
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Book 247

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Awesome 👏🏻👏🏻 2y
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Megabooks
On Animals | Susan Orlean
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A fun collection of animalish essays written over the last 20+ years. Orleans shares her story of owning a large property with a menagerie. She also writes about a champion boxer stud, what happened to Keiko from Free Willy, an outbreak of Rabbit Hemorrhagic Fever, and captive tigers in the US among others. Great as an #audiobook!

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Happy Thanksgiving 🍁🧡 2y
Megabooks @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks to you as well! I hope you get some time off. 💕🦃 2y
Cinfhen I‘m waiting to see if this might work for any upcoming challenges in 2022!! 2y
Megabooks @Cinfhen good idea!! 2y
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fredthemoose
On Animals | Susan Orlean
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really enjoyed this. It wasn‘t on my radar at all until I saw some Litsy reviews. It‘s a collection of essays about animals, ranging from her pets to Keiko, the killer whale from Free Willy. There were a couple that I was less interested in than the others, but overall a really nice collection.

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Sumi
On Animals | Susan Orlean
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A collection of essays by Susan Orlean featuring animals. All are good but I believe my favorites are the ones about her own animals well and the donkeys of Fez . . . Or about the Cuban oxen.

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Hooked_on_books
On Animals | Susan Orlean
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From donkeys to pandas to chicken husbandry, Susan Orlean‘s latest book is a delightful collection of her essays on animals. These have been published before in magazines, so if you follow her, you‘ve likely already read them, but if not, this is a completely delightful book.

ShelleyBooksie Oh! This is right up my alley. Stacked. 3y
59 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Hooked_on_books
On Animals | Susan Orlean
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My book just arrived and could these endpapers be cuter?!? 🥰 🐄🐓🐇🐕🐐🐖

Ruthiella Very cute! 3y
Megabooks I can‘t wait to get this on audio from the library! Third in line. But you‘re making me wish I had gotten the print. (edited) 3y
Soubhiville Those are great! 3y
KarenUK 😍😍😍 3y
52 likes1 stack add4 comments
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LMJenkins
On Animals | Susan Orlean
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Looking forward to this! #literati #TBR

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rather_be_reading
On Animals | Susan Orlean
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Im not screaming, you're screaming! 😲😲😲😲

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