The Wind in the Willows

Reclusive Badger...Mole, having adventures for the first time...Kind Rat...and, of course, ADHD Toad, always looking for something more...

These are the charming characters of the amazing Wind in the Willows. As Peter Hunt writes in LitHub, “...these are animals who drink and smoke, own houses, drive (and steal) cars, row boats, escape from jail, yearn for gastronomic nights in Italy, eat ham and eggs for breakfast and write poetry—while Toad combs his hair, and the Mole has a black velvet smoking-jacket.” Wind in the Willows is thought of as a children's book, but it offers a lot for us adults, too. Adventures. Complex characters. And intriguing life advice, offered from...well, animals.

Some of my favorite quotes:

“After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working.”

‘“And you really live by the river? What a jolly life?”
“By it and with it and on it and in it,” said the Rat. “It's my world, and I don't want any other. What it hasn't got is not worth having and what it doesn't know is not worth knowing.”‘

And my favorite quote:

“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing—absolutely nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”