Felix Salten: Bambi, ein Leben im Walde

This is such a classic that I have known the title since I was a child, of course, but had never read the book or even seen the Disney film. I really had to change that.

Having animals talk and think like humans has fallen out of fashion for a while now. In this book from the 1920s they still do that, and while this anthropomorphization is a bit unnerving, the book still works to some degree and could not have worked in any other way.

The book is interesting and entertaining, with less saccharine than I had feared.

Elizabeth Bear: Undertow

For some reason this book does not really grab my interest, despite a quite positive review by Russ Allbery. There is good writing, and there seems to be a good story behind it, but why is it loaded with so many other things, like that technology stuff, the probability manipulation, and stuff? I don't know, but then I am far from through. I picked it up a number of times, but so often something else was more interesting or just alluring that I have not come very far yet.