I've just been reminded of the time the wonderful @tkingfisher.com said lovely things about Peter S. Beagle and The Last Unicorn so this is a day when I have to remind you that that book is ice and fairy wings and lilacs and the death of everything and if you have not read it you absolutely should.
As I have grown middle aged myself it's Molly Grue meeting her that really devastates me these days. www.tumblr.com/crudely-draw...
Peter S. Beagle is next to Le Guin on my monument of all-time greats. I met him once at a screening of The Last Unicorn. He was absolutely lovely to my awestruck kids, gave them wonderful encouragement to keep telling stories. Such an incredible writer, such gorgeous writing.
I had a fleeting terror on reading this that he was no longer with us that book is everything
That book altered my brain chemistry for sure. So stunning and aching and delicate all at once.
occasionally i think of how he ALSO wrote a fine and private place, at age 19, and have to go scream into a pillow
I do wonder how he continued to write, after his first two books, _A Fine and Private Place_ and _The Last Unicorn_. I mean, where do you _go_ from there. Personally, I am also extremely fond of _Folk of the Air_ which is everything that the SCA was to me when I was sixteen.
oh man that is one of the greatest books
I also loved The Unicorn Sonata. And I dug The Innkeeper's Song.
When I went to get a book signed, Patrick Rothfuss also spoke very highly of the book. It's on my ever-growing TBR...
I was fortunate to converse with Peter S. Beagle, reminding him of a friend who had contacted him decades ago. Lovely, lovely man. It was a pleasure. Please buy his book! He deserves the royalties!
Years ago I went to see him play guitar and sing French ballads with Phil Sigunik’s at PS’s art studio/store in NY state. It was an utterly delightful evening, I got many things signed and received a hug when I shyly requested one. He’s a treasure and TLU is my favourite book.
But be cautious. It can break your heart.
Oh, it will.
I was today old when I found out that there’s a movie!
It has been a while since I read it but I remember it being dreamy in all the good ways
📌
I made the terrible mistake of reading it for the first time on a flight and ended up ugly-crying at the end while surrounded by complete strangers. I was a mortified teenager, so when asked, I pretended I was homesick and that's why I was crying, definitely not because my book destroyed me.
Very much among my very favorite, life-altering, beloved books.
At some point, Beagle put out the 1st draft of Last Unicorn, and I accidentally picked it up before laying hands on the final published form. It started off much the same, then ... veered in a different direction. Obviously it had potential. 😁 Sometimes, a project needs to age a bit, though.
It's a wonderful book, and incited my favorite English teacher (shout out to you on the ethereal plane, Mrs. Stahl!) to tell me solemnly, "You can't fully appreciate contemporary American literature if you don't know Yiddish."
I read it long before the movie. It's lovely.
I’ve read the book but haven’t seen the movie
I did my Big Presentation on it in 8th grade. :)
One of those books that make you wonder why you even try. I have half a dozen or so.
It's the journey, isn't it?
It's the certain knowledge that other people are better than you are. Everybody has it, up to and including people like Aeschylus and Shakespeare.
Yeah. If you're very, very lucky you get one of those in a lifetime. If you're Ursula K. Le Guin, of course, you get maybe four.
i'd settle for even, like, half of one tbh
Well, like Sturgeon, she was a hell of a lot better than most folks, too.
It's a thing. ❤️