Clan of the Cave Bear

Ok, so who among you has read "The Earth Children" series by Jean Auel?

Clan of the Cave Bear
Valley of Horses
The Mammoth Hunters
The Plains of Passage
The Shelters of Stone


AWESOME series!

It's about a pre-historic woman, Ayla, who lives during the Ice Ages. She's a human, but her family is killed in an earthquake, and she's adopted by a group of people called Flatheads.

These people are thought of as animals, but they aren't - they're human - just maybe one link in the chain shy of humans as we know them. Maybe Neanderthal's, but that's never stated.

She grows up with the Flatheads, who call her, Ayla's, people "the Others". They know of them but avoid them.

Ayla doesn't think like the Flatheads - they're born with much intuition. But Ayla has reasoning on her side, and proceeds to learn a lot of things on her own.

ANYWAYYYYYYYY......

The reason I'm bringing this up is because, FINALLY, after about 10 years, we're getting the final book in the series. It's called The Painted Caves, and I finally got my hands on it!

I even bought it in hardback!

I don't like hardbacks books - too bulky to hold, hard to carry, and much more expensive than paperbacks....

So this past weekend, I immersed myself in the Painted Caves, just like I did the first book in 1980. As a result, I didn't stamp much - hee hee

I've read Clan of the Cave Bear at LEAST 4 times. It was as good the fourth time as it was the first time.

I've read Valley of the Horses a couple of times... It, too, was great on a second reading.

I think I might have gotten into them fairly close to each other and was still "in" the books.

When I read, I go wherever the book takes place. I AM the main character. I live in the time frame. I learn along with the character. And I'm always sad at the end of a good book, cuz I don't want it to be over.

It took quite some time to get books 3, 4, and 5 in the series, as the author suffered some physical ailments that slowed her down. I'm sure she's had the whole story in her head for a very long time. Clan of the Cave Bear was published in 1980, and here it is 2011, and we're finally getting the final book in the series.

I've learned a lot being Ayla over the years.

I'v learned a lot about the Ice Age and the plants and animals that existed then.

Since the people live off the land, there's a lot of information on edible plants and medicinal uses for them - sometimes plants, depending upon which part was used and at what stage the plant is, were used for both.

She taught herself how to hunt, so there's a lot of information about how animals react to things. She studied them for several years before she tried hunting.

I could go on, but you really didn't come here for a book review, did you?

But, if you've read the series (any or all of the books), leave me a comment and let me know what you thought of it! Would love to find another Ayla fan out there!

Well, I don't have any cards that feature any of the things that I just discussed above...


Oh wait~! Yes I do...


How about this card?



It's one that features plants. Quite appropriate, eh?

This was made using the burnished technique I blogged about a while back, but I can't find the entry! If I find it, I'll edit it into this post. If not, I'll try to remember to post the technique...

In the meantime, thanks for stopping by - come back again soon...