Rudyard Kipling Books

I would stay away from this version of the Jungle book. I thought Boris Karloff would make a great narrator, but he doesn't this time. He tends to make the storyline hard to follow, emphasizing in odd places and then raising his voice tremendously as tho he were on stage. My kids were put off by that, and they love Jungle Book. They don't like listening to this.

This rendition of Just So Stories is a favorite of my entire family. Boris Karloff is a superb narrator- his voice is elegant, rich, and expressive. He has just the right tone of comic seriousness that emphasizes the ironies of the text. My four children from age 5 to 17 all rate this version a must-have and have large segments of it memorized from listening to it continually. The whole family loves it!

I thought it was a poor selsction, without his most famous, "If" included. The illustrations were like those from a newspaper, and it's overall content was not great.

Perhaps the above reveiw was for a different book of Kipling's poems. There are no illustrations besides the cover art, and Kipling's famous "If" poem is thankfully included. The book is lightweight and small enough to fit in a purse or briefcase easily. The cover is pleasing and the margins inside are generous. In all, well laid out and good to have around.

The second jungle book has a Mowgli that is getting older, and beginning to interact with other humans, not always in a good way. A hunter comes to take him down, for one. He also meets a cute girl.

This opens with 'How Fear Came', where Shere Khan tells how conflict came to the jungle.

This book had great stories in it and very good illistrations although few in book.

I purchased this CD for my two older children (9 and 11), not sure how well it would go over. We listened to it for the first time in the car on a long trip. It was quite a giggle for everyone! We loved the comic points in the Canterville Ghost story, especially. Mr. Weiss's rendition of one of the characters had my husband and I in stitches - sounding just like Carol Channing.

I have since purchased 6 other Jim Weiss story CD's and my Girl Scouts have begun to request them when going on trips with the troop.

You won't be disappointed.

I'm a novice storyteller, and I was looking forward to finally hearing the renowned Jim Weiss, especially sharing spooky tales. He does an adequate job voicing the different characters, but I was disappointed at the lack of humor displayed at what could have been comical events. I now know these stories well enough to tell them better myself!

This is alleged to be Kipling's masterpiece, perhaps it is, but that doesn't make it move any faster. The Old Lama was interesting at first but quickly palled as he never said anything interesting and simply said the same things over and over and over. His view of Buddhism was shallow at best. The attachment between Kim and the Lama never seemed to have any real foundation or purpose other than to give Kim a reason to wander about. The characters may have had interest and relevance in 19th Century India but they are not very realistic today. Walking all over the country side while spouting "The Wheel of Life" doesn't make for much excitement. However, it does provide a real perspective on what India must have been like under Victoria. But the perspective is all Indian and the British play a very small role, which I think detracts from the story. Kim is pressed into service as a spy but his spying never seems to come to fruition and he never seems to have any direction. Creighton recruits him and then never actually uses him. In fact the entire story seems to wander around much like Kim. The teacher Lurgan may or may not have been a pedophile but like much of this book, it is long on hints and short on action. The Wheel Of Life seemd to turn relentlessly without going anywhere and the Great Game was mostly talked about rather than played. I read it to the end and I can now mark it off of my list of classics to be read, but I think it is a classic past its prime.

I gave three stars because parts are interesting and you do get a good view of what India must have been like in the 19th Century and how the natives saw the British, but it isn't a page turner.

Kim, by Rudyard Kipling, is a book that can not relate to anyone who is not connected to India today. Kim came out in the 19th century when England was in India. This book appealed to the people back home because they wanted to learn about what their relatives were experiencing down there. In our day, England is not occupying India, so there is no connection at all to India. I think that people would appreciate Kim if they lived in the 19th century, but not now in the 21st.
I also think that the plot in Kim is weak. Kim is a son of two Europeans who have died; his father was in the British army, and his mother was a nurse. He is trying to find out is true identity; for even though his skin is brown, and he looks just like an Indian, Kim is of European blood. The book follows Kim and his llama(priest) friend as they journey across India in search of a special river the llama is determined to find. On the way, Kim is found by an English army regiment, and the army, after learning about who Kim really is, puts Kim in school. Kim eventually runs away from school, and becomes a spy for Britain. In the end, Kim and the llama find the special river, and Kim "finds" himself.
Another drawback to people living in this day and age trying to read this book is that the book, even though very well written, is brimming with Indian words Kipling sticks in in just about every paragraph. He says, for example," The old street vender gave Kim a piece of bread(nan) and told him to be off." In reading the book, I found it very hard to read around these "road blocks" without getting distracted.
I do not recommend this book to anyone who has never had any experiences overseas in the land of India.

I enjoyed this book. I think it is a very good insight to older Indian culture under English control. The story is about a young boy who goes on a journey with a Buddist llama in his search for the river that will cleanse all sins. Kim encounters many adventures and interesting situations as he gets involved in British military affairs. I would recommend this book for those who are interested in more challenging reading have an attraction for both the cultural and the spiritual.

Kipling's tale has been compared to Huckleberry Finn since it is a story about boyish adventures with an older man of a different race. Most of the story's characters have mildly hostile criticisms against other people different from themselves. The characters vacillate between hostility and friendliness. Usually, these criticisms are put in a humorous context. Kipling seems to accept it all with a grin as if to say "Oh well, that's how people are. They do enjoy their prejudices". There is no discomfort or condemnation of what the characters think of others. The judgments can be against someone's religion, caste, race, or sex. But as far as religion goes, the characters seem to think that someone of different religion is a surprisely decent person, even though they are following a religion that will send them straight to hell.

The characters are all distinctive and the closeness between the Lama and Kim is presented in a convincing, moving way. I really got the sense of wonder that Kim felt as a boy on the road for the first time and how he joyfully looked upon the new sights. Kim grows up by having many mentors since he is an orphan. He is also seen as a good candidate to be a spy for the British government since he can move so easily between the world of the British Sahibs and the Indian natives they rule over. The author mentions that most Sahibs would not like to be among the natives so closely, but it all comes so naturally to Kim who considers himself halfway a native. In fact, he struggles with his identity. Is he to take on this new identity as a white sahib or will he remain a white totally assimilated into Indian culture? But this identity crisis also helps him become a spy because he can easily wear different masks, acting a part for any occasion.

The other part of the story is the quest for the river which will give the lama enlightenment and how Kim, as his chela, helps the lama on his quest. This is the Hindu theme of freeing yourself from desire, lust, and anger. Kim does not really become like the Lama in pursuing this religion. But the Lama does warn Kim to act to acquire merit or don't act at all. Whether Kim acquires merit in the great game of spying is questionable since the game itself requires you to be a shady character who serves the interests of the government with its ambiguous reputation. Kim manipulates the lama to move in his direction during their journeys, just as the British government manipulates Kim into working for them. I can't say the relationships are entirely pure.

I thought this book was different than any other book that i have ever read. It kept going from the present time of what was going through rudyard kiplings head as he lay on the ground wounded back to what he was thinking about from his past. This book made me feel really bad for young rudyard kipling, because throughout most of the book he was helpless do to his near fatal injuries. He literally lay paralized on the ground completely helpless. The worst part about that was people were stealing things from him when he couldnt do anything about. Even the germans were taking things from him. It would have been better if they just shot him to put him out of his missery if they werent going to help him. But overal i thought the book wasnt the best ever written, but was very enjoyable to read. I would recamend this book to anyone whon likes a good war story.

I found this book a fascinating read. I was aware that it was based a nucleus of fact, namely how the son of Rudyard Kipling died in action on the Western Front, and that there was a fictional "infill". The story seemed very vivid, as if I were there myself, dying in No Mans Land. It was quick and easy to read, and left me with a srong feeling of the futility of war.

Jim Stacey, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, Ireland

Fiction is one thing, but, some stories should be left back in the day when ignorance could be used an excuse for a "cute" representation of wildlife. Poor example of a children's story.

I still consider this my favorite book as a child! I was so in love with the illustrations. The story is great. I recommend this for any child.

After reading Gardam's "Old Filth", I turned to this book as there are references to it as being important in shaping Gardam's story. It reflects on Kipling's childhood in which the experience of spending years away from home and loving parents affected him. It is hard to say if Kipling's or "Filth's" experience was worse in the trauma each endured but the ramifications are clear as Filth nears death and the reader sees how much of the experience he carried to his death. Am glad to have read this short story in seeing how the one influenced the later.

Rudyard Kipling was the master of deception back in 1899 with books like KIM and other pieces of fiction. There is a followup a century later with someone calling himself Neely. First, he self-published a book of news columns purportedly by him but now he is giving credit to others as follows: #1 was Knoxville's Secret History by Jack Neely, Aaron Jay, and Lisa Horstman (Paperback - Nov 1, 1995), #2 was Secret History II: Stories About Knoxville, Tennessee by Jack Neely, Ed Richardson, and Lisa Horstman (Paperback - Nov 20, 1998). Lisa Horstman must be the maiden name of Karen, but who is Ed Richardson. That's a new one on me.

What was supposedly history of old happenings in this town he admits to me is pure fiction based on the book, Sutree. Sordid and scandalous events which never happened except in his imagination. He is no Kipling but "borrowed" Paul Theroux's Secret History book as the title of the tabloid columns since 1995. He has created a sordid and scathing "past" which didn't happen. He has been on a sex craze from times gone by also which didn't happen as he wrote. He even promoted a fictional account of a prominent person who helped to write Harbrace Handbook for English. He is merely the office boy and others do the writing for which he gets credit. When he tries to talk to literary groups, he hems and haws and never says anything substantial. He tricked me, as he has tricked the newcomers to this sordid town. It is turning into a drug culture in the downtown area. One of them (actually two counting the wife) are now in prison for marjuiana sales and the properties they managed to pull over the officials as legitimate. People like them have ruined this town. And they have used the services of one Neely who is a pretender. Rudyard Kipling would turn over in his grave if he knew what this person has done to appear as someone from a century ago who existed only in Kipling's imagination.

I just finished a collection of short stories from the works of Rudyard Kipling entitled "Mine Own People". It has an introduction by Henry James and has 11 stories in it and it published by The Regent Press. I have enjoyed some of the stories but found myself plodding through some of the others. I find that I can tell early on if a Kipling story is going to be enjoyable or not. Oftentimes his loses me early on and I become disoriented through the rest of his stories. This book had several stories the left me in that frame of mind. On the other hand there were also several that I found interesting or amusing. "Bimi" and "Namgay Doola" were two of the better stories. However, the best story was "The Mark of the Beast" in which an eerie tale of possession is told in a very engrossing manner. I'm always willing to give Kipling a try. I know that there are a lot of gems amongst the colorful sketches he wrote.