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Mar 30, 2010

Carol rated it:

Read a review on this one and think I will like it. I love hunting for archeological finds and this one is about two women who hunt them together. Tracy Chevalier was browsing a museum on the south coast of England and saw that specimens of fossils were found by this woman and built a fictional story around what her life might have been like.
I adored Chevalier's Girl With A Pearl Earring so I'm hoping this comes even close.
Fifty pages in and hooked.The feeling I have as I rea More...

7 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 08, 2011

Natalie rated it:

"She sells seashells" . . . .

People have been trying to wrap their heads and words about the story of Mary Anning for a long time, including Tracy Chevalier here in Remarkable Creatures.

Remarkable Creatures doesn't have the same sure hand or intricately drawn world as Girl with a Pearl Earring, but Chevalier's own curiosity in her subject can not be doubted as you can see in this BBC slide show narrated by Tracy Chevalier and this Barnes and Noble Studio More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

May 22, 2010

Suzanne the Mighty ~Satin Seductress~ rated it:

Tracey Chevalier is one of my auto buy authors and has been since I read first Falling Angels, and then Girl with a Pearl Earring. This is why I bought this book, despite not really having more then a passing curiousity about fossils. The book is based in the 1800s and tells the story of two real people; Miss Elizabeth Philpott and Miss Mary Anning it slightly fictionalizes their lifes, although the events that happen in the book especially regarding the discovery of fossils are correct and thin More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 05, 2011

Abby rated it:

What happens when you discover something that could change your worldview forever? Does the world stop?

No, of course not, life goes on, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.

Remarkable Creatures focuses on two women who find fossils - one she can eat, the other out of curiosity. When they find a fossil that contradicts religion's view of the origins of the earth, the practical appreciates the money and added business fame brings and the curious are concerned, More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 21, 2010

Tigger rated it:

Remarkable Creatures is about the stories of two women (both actual historical figures) who live in a small town by the English seaside and share a passion for finding fossils - Elizabeth Philpot, a genteel if not very wealthy spinster, and Mary, a poor working girl whose family struggles to survive.
The book has many wonderful elements and delves into a fascinating piece of early scientific history, as scientists sought to understand the fossils they were finding and what they meant for t More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

May 09, 2010

Chrissie rated it:

Finished: I am glad that is over! I think I chuckled maybe once. The prose was stilted. I have never run into such a bunch of miserable souls. A huge disappointment. I absolutely adored this author's book Girl with a Pearl Earring.

Through page 183: Ahhhh, I am laughing. The two main woman characters are jealous of each other, and it's quite amusing. Of course a man is invoved. Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot are two real people and the two central characters of the book. The stor More...

17 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jan 03, 2012

Elizabeth rated it:

mary anning and elizabeth philpot are friends that have an interest in hunting fossils on the shores of england. anning makes strides in the field when she unearths some rare bones never found before.

the friendship between the women is one forged in the mutual interest of finding remarkable creatures. but also because it is during a time when there are no advocates for women in science and so these two must stand strong together in the face of a partriarchial area of studyintOike al More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 11, 2010

Julie rated it:

Really enjoyed this, not the sort of book I would have picked up normally but am so glad that I did. The book moved along at a good pace and I enjoyed the style in which it was written. Fossils have now become interesting for me......

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 24, 2011

Cheryl rated it:

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier is loosely based upon the real story of Mary Anning, a fossil collector leaving in Lyme Regis (SE coast of England), in the early 1800s. Mary is famous for having discovered several complete fossils (ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs) at a time when it was not considered appropriate for women to be involved in scientific pursuits. Mary, however, loves fossils, has an eye for finding them, and needs the income from selling them as "curies" to tourist More...

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Aug 03, 2011

Michele added it

4e de couverture : "La foudre m'a frappée toute ma vie. Mais une seule fois pour de vrai" Dans les années 1810, à Lyme Regis, sur la côte du Dorset battue par les vents, Mary Anning découvre ses premiers fossiles et se passionne pour ces "prodigieuses créatures" dont l'existence remet en question toutes les théories sur la création du monde. Très vite, la jeune fille issue d'un milieu modeste se heurte aux préjugés de la communauté scientifique, exclusivement composée d'homme More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 23, 2012

S'hi rated it:

This is Tracey Chevalier’s best book yet. Here she has developed her structure and style further so that the dual viewpoint caresses the story and builds a stronger bond between the two central characters which in earlier works had a tendency to jar at times. But there are other interesting effects, that we can all learn something from. The sense of people leading with a particular part of their body gives an awareness of body language which is effective for its brevity in each instance, while i More...

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Dec 28, 2011

Paula rated it:

Wonderful! Author Tracy Chevalier did an incredible job of bringing two little known women to life for us all and intriguing us with their stories.

Mary Anning is an uneducated young girl who has been searching the beaches of Lyme, England her entire life for fossils to sell at the families shop. Mary's father has taught her what he knows, but Mary has the eye for finding fossils and that just can't be taught. The story opens with Mary's first recollection; the feeling of being s More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 23, 2011

Ruthmgon rated it:

This book is a good period piece, and I see that the author wrote "The Girl with a Pearl Earring". For you Austen fans there is a sideways mention of her visiting the Assembly halls here...backed up by the historical research credits in the back.

Frankly, I wish I would have checked the back "postscript" here for this section before I started, because I feel like the research that the author did gives the story more credit, and would not have felt so fanciful and More...

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Dec 12, 2011

Lisasimon rated it:

I read this book at the end of the summer and raced through it. I enjoyed it all throughout but I wouldn't say much stayed with me. So enjoyable but not memorable. Still, looking back several months later, in the winter, I find that I do think of what I learned from reading it. As you'll know if you read the summary, it's about two women involved in the search for fossils. As in so many English novels especially set in early Victorian times, the issue of class is the big one. The novel alterna More...

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Nov 25, 2011

Sally rated it:

Every now and then, I choose to read a book based on the potential it represents from the plot summary I've read or heard about. And on occasion - I walk away a little disappointed because I felt that the potential was greater than the result ... and if given the opportunity, I'd have written it differently. (Not necessarily better.)

This book represented that to me.

This is a story rooted in history.

Mary Anning (21 May 1799 – 9 March 1847) was a British fossil More...

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Nov 01, 2011

Chance rated it:

Tracy Chevalier has the uncanny ability to craft a book that imitates its subject matter. Girl with a Pearl Earring feels like a Vermeer painting: bold and colorful, richly detailed, with subtle strokes and lush imagery reflecting 17th-century Delft. Remarkable Creatures feels like a fossil. This is a compliment.

Remarkable Creatures is two stories, the lives of Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot. Mary Anning, the fossil hunter, has a more vivid voice, and the story is very much her comi More...

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Oct 21, 2011

Dee rated it:

This was a good book --- the imagined story of two spinsters in the early 1800's who became fascinated with the earliest discoveries of ancient bones. One, Many Anning is a unschooled daughter of a cabinet maker, the other a middle class educated, but "useless" old maid, Elizabeth Philpot. These two women actually existed, and did some of the work attributed to them in this story. Chevalier has imagined what their life would be like given the constrictions placed on women in both cla More...

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Oct 08, 2011

Care rated it:

This wonderful work of historical fiction held me enthralled from beginning to end! The novel presents at its center the factual personage of Mary Anning, who became, in the early 1800s, a fossil hunter of great repute. Mary’s story, as the discoverer of the first ichthyosaur and plesiosaur fossils, among others, would be fascinating enough in its own right, but when you combine it with her station in life and the social issues that swirled through the scientific community of her day, the nove More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 28, 2011

Lettie rated it:

Tracy Chevalier captures the cadence of voices, the historical period and the unique personalities of two 1800s-era feminists who of course in their time would never self-identify themselves as such. I was completely unfamiliar with the subject matter covered here -- pioneer dinosaur diggers -- I mean, really? Really. Most of the book I enjoyed simply being pulled along by a good tale, but somewhere toward the end the historical moments in time presented themselves, and perhaps a bit heavy-ha More...

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Sep 17, 2011

Cheryl rated it:

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier is loosely based upon the real story of Mary Anning, a fossil collector leaving in Lyme Regis (SE coast of England), in the early 1800s. Mary is famous for having discovered several complete fossils (ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs) at a time when it was not considered appropriate for women to be involved in scientific pursuits. Mary, however, loves fossils, has an eye for finding them, and needs the income from selling them as "curies" to tourist More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 10, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

Wow! This was recommended to me by a lovely librarian in Lubec, Maine. I've read it extremely slowly as we've returned to real life, but that is not indicative of the pleasure it's provided, just my fatigue and inability to stay awake if not in motion. I loved the back and forth feeling of this novel with the crashing of waves against the shore in the dramatic events of the main characters' lives. I love historical fiction that is written in this manner. I feel I know and will remember the More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 10, 2011

Candace rated it:

I would not be able to say enough good things about this book, however I will give you a few in sites. I loved every minute of it, and it will be apart of my collection forever!

This is an amazing book, it is mild yet keeps your attention all at the same time, and best of all ~ it was based of true events, even though it is fiction, it still rang true.

This is darling story about two women that are drawn to the unfashionable art of fossil hunting and collecting, takes place in the 1800's and has b More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 10, 2011

Ann rated it:

This is the fascinating story of Mary Anning who lived in Lyme Regis at the beginning of the 1800's. Though barely literate, she had a gift for finding fossils of prehistoric ocean creatures, and she helped support her family by selling them to tourists. She becomes friends with Elizabeth Philpot, an upper class spinster, who also collects fossils. Despite the difference in their ages and their social class, the two women become good friends. Elizabeth encourages Mary to learn to read and ed More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 08, 2011

Jennifer added it

Favorite quote of the book: “I was the embodiment of what she did not want Mary to become – unmarried and obsessed with fossils”. Wonderful, wonderful book! It warmed my heart… women, fossils hunting, feminism, geology, sisterhood…. How many novels are written about female fossil hunters in early-19th century Britain? Both Elizabeth and Mary were such wonderful characters – I ended up loving both of them, especially the way Mary nicknamed all her fossils, referring to vertebrates as “verteberrie More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 19, 2011

Virginia rated it:

One review says "for a book that starts with a lightening strike, this book has very little spark." Oh, perfectly said. Once again Tracy Chevalier offers a thoroughly researched, yet boring book. Unlike the “Unicorn” where I learned quite a bit about weaving, in this book I learned very little about fossils. Similar to the “Unicorn”, I never really cared about the characters. According to the cover Mary Anning, who discovers the fossil of an extinct animal, “sets the religious comm More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 02, 2011

Alison rated it:

Disappointing. For a book that starts with a lightning strike, Remarkable Creatures has surprisingly little spark.

I could not quite connect with any of the characters. I felt as if I were looking at them through a window, unable to really see them or hear them, instead of being immersed in their story.

Also, Tracy Chevalier, whose previous books I've very much enjoyed, tries to pack so much into this book - religious and philosophical questions at a time when general bel More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 30, 2011

Shala rated it:

I sought this book out after reading Stone Girl, Bone Girl by Laurence Anholt to my 4-year-old daughter. I wanted to know more about this Mary Anning person, but as I take my history first in the form of fiction, I started with Tracy Chevalier. If you read this book, keep in mind that it’s a novel, not a true biography. Chevalier compresses the facts of Mary Anning's life to fit the needs of the story, but it is exceptionally well-written, and will give you a better sense of the cultural forces More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 18, 2011

Britni rated it:

I just finished Remarkable Creatures and can't quite explain what I think about the book. I was trying to give my mom a quick summary of the book and just couldn't do it. It's a book centered around two women - Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot - who are both fossil hunters, which I know doesn't sound like the most interesting topic but for some reason it was. The book is set in the 1800s and follows these two women through their life as they search for fossils and to find a place where they eac More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 13, 2011

Jo rated it:

This book, set in Regis on Lyme (a name that makes me think of US tv host Regis Philbin sitting on a lime) was about the relationship between two quite extraordinary women in the early 1800s who were fossil hunters. I really enjoyed this book because 1. it was faction - these women were actually real 2. they were really quite amazing for their time, when women were not supposed to be outdoors alone, let alone searching along the beach by themselves 3. my cousin happened to post some photos from More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 11, 2011

Linda rated it:

This story takes place in the early 1800's in Lyme Regis, a coastal town southwest of London, England. The two main characters are real women from history: Elizabeth Philpot and Mary Anning, both of whom had an unusual (for the time) and "un-ladylike" interest in fossils and were instrumental in bringing the subject of fossils and bones of pre-historic marine animals to the forefront of geological/paleontological societies. While Philpot preferred hunting and collecting fossilized f More...

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