Moominpoll!

tossup between comet in moominland and moominland midwinter, but i went with the latter.

An Unwanted Guest is a picture book, but instead of Tove's illustrations it has photos of these miniature sets of the Moomins and the Moomin House. It's written by Tove still. I remember really liking it as a kid, but I haven't seen it ever since.

You could've included the comic strip as one option, though I'm not sure if anyone else besides me would've voted for it.

comet ftw

can't decide between comet (childhood favourite) & november (most depressing kids book ever)

They sell An Unwanted Guest in the Moomin Museum in Tampere City Library Tuomas! (or at least they supposedly do - they didn't have any copies when I was there).

I am glad I have until Friday to consider this difficult poll.

Oh Toft, I should vote for you but...
http://www.moomintrove.com/images/0140305025-0-large.jpg...wins 'cos it's actually got Moomins in it (well one anyway).

midwinter ???? come on guys stilts across a dried out ocean.....crazy astronomers....THE HEMULEN!!!!..hiding in a cave waiting for the end of it all....

which one has the living room jungle in it?

Comet seconded. Depends on what you're looking for in the books, though.

Pathos, mostly.

Oh, and Hemulens are scary.

Raise your hands if you've ever been to the Moomin Museum!

Never been to the museum, but I've been to Finland after growing up with the books: tiny details I remember from the illustrations about the Finnish environment, the way the houses look and the way people dress kept hitting me. They really have those funny flags on top of buildings, and they're made out of wood. Those stoves. And so on and so on.

Finn Family Moomintroll

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Tales for me, I love those shorter stories so much.

i bought three of these books on ilx recommendation at the used bookstore last year but haven't read any of em yet!

Midwinter, though it's a tossup between that and Finn Family Moomintroll (the one with the living room jungle). Comet was never a favorite, though it's worth it for the chapter that begins, "On October 5, the birds stopped singing."

Moominpappa at Sea is way depressing, even with the redemption of the Groke. Also has the creepy scene in which Moomintroll wakes up to find that the island has moved over him in his sleep.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I would have chosen Moominland in Midwinter. My favorite so far. I'm working on Moominpappa At Sea right now (kind of slacked off for a while...), then I have Moominpappa's Memoirs and Moominvalley in November waiting after that.

I liked the somber quality of Midwinter and how Moomintroll had to learn to adapt to life in a completely foreign environment.

up at 4 AM time for some rambling.

Moominvalley in November is the one that now fascinates and confounds me the most. Not only the idea of ending your beloved children's series without the central characters, but making half the book a regretful reflection on the series itself, and the mistakes made by the author. Along with the metaphorical business with Toft and the Nummulite and things getting too big, there's the whole reexamination of Snufkin. It seems like Jansson was actively bothered by how much people loved Snufkin, and decided to point out that he's not that great a guy; he lives his idyllic wandering artist life while being completely useless to all the emotionally damaged misfits around him. He's the cool kid that makes everyone around him feel kind of shitty.

Best chapter opening: “The hemulen woke up slowly and recognised himself and wished he had been someone he didn't know.”

I just got a volume of the D&Q comics anthologies but never realised most of the Moomin output were novels. Where should I start? Or should I finish the comics first? so confused

Comet in Moominland and Finn Family Moomintroll are good ones to start with. They are a bit more fanciful and lighthearted. As JoeStork mentions, the novels get progressively more existential and bleak.

Would also stan for Moominland Midwinter without a flicker of hesitation, such a beautiful book. As a child I read them completely out of sequence, but can see that following the emotional arc across the series would be satisfying. There was a great documentary about the life of Tove Jansson on BBC4 over Christmas (prob easily enough found online) def worth a look for any fans.

I saw the author's biography on BBC4 over the Xmas holidays. Very interesting, not sure if I've actually read any of the books though. Must remedy.

Moominvalley in November is the one that now fascinates and confounds me the most.
me too, it's like Waiting For Godot with all the waiting around for the main characters who never turn up. iirc Tove's mother had died while the book was being written which may be why the book is so bleak, the side-character "children" going back to the house where they were happiest but the Moomin "parents" are no longer there. made me cry as a kid without really understanding why!

Moominland Midwinter and Moominpapa At Sea work with similar themes of isolation and absence. In Midwinter, Moomintroll has to learn to cope with the Scandinavian winter without the rest of the family, who are hibernating, and Moominpapa At Sea has just the core family members stuck on a desolate island contemplating the vastness of the ocean and their complete separation from the rest of the world.

I just got a volume of the D&Q comics anthologies but never realised most of the Moomin output were novels. Where should I start? Or should I finish the comics first? so confused

the comics get taken over gradually by Lars Jansson from pretty early, don't wait years for them all to come out - read the one you've got if you like it, read Comet in Moominland and Finn Family Moomintroll if you're interested, don't stress

I just got a volume of the D&Q comics anthologies but never realised most of the Moomin output were novels. Where should I start? Or should I finish the comics first? so confused

Yeah, might as well start with Comet, but just be aware that a good deal of the depth and strangeness doesn't show up until Midwinter.

Though the Groke is the sign of things to come.

My coffee mug this morning - who are these guys?

http://www.finnishdesignshop.com/product_thumb.php?img=images/2Muumi_iso.jpg&w=350&h=350

The Cuppenisses!

You remember the theme song?

"Cup penis, cup penis
the greatest gift that I posess.."

hattifatteners:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=hattifatteners&tbm=isch

FYI Jansson's autobiographical story collection Sculptor's Daughter is now available in the US and UK, it's been out of print for 40 years or so.

http://pre05.deviantart.net/38cd/th/pre/f/2017/084/3/e/j1760_by_yonakisuwa-db3g6my.png

http://yonakisuwa.deviantart.com/art/J1738-666695236

http://yonakisuwa.deviantart.com/

http://pre10.deviantart.net/d9d8/th/pre/f/2017/061/e/1/j1738_by_yonakisuwa-db0xlc4.png

Surprised and vindicated to see Comet rate so highly! I thought the consensus was "she hadn't figured the right vibe for the stories out yet".

It seems like Jansson was actively bothered by how much people loved Snufkin, and decided to point out that he's not that great a guy; he lives his idyllic wandering artist life while being completely useless to all the emotionally damaged misfits around him.

Her dad was very much like this, according to the BBC4 doc.

surprised that november gained so few votes. that book is a vibe

I have deluxe editions of Moonin and Sandman waiting to be read (never read either before). Should I go with Moonin first?

the first chapter of moominland midwinter is still one of the most haunting things i've ever read.

It's kind of wild how stark and existential some of those later books get.

take it to the mooninpoll thread Captain

also Sandman probably reads badly in the out-of-order version from the collections imo

[looks around, worriedly] isn't this the Moominpoll thread?

The ones you have to explain are always the best, but read the repeatedly-typed word in Flopsy’s enquiry.

(I absolutely don’t think that a 400-page single-volume hardcover collection of newspaper strips is the best way to read Jansson for the first time either)

The novels are the way to go

Is this everything needed (minus the picture books): Sort Of Books Collectors’ Editions

yeah I’m working my way through those editions. they’re gorgeous

Ooh, wish I had those editions instead of paperbacks.

I wonder if Sun City will get reissued any time soon.

I bought all of them. The cheapest and most reliable seller was in UK so I have to wait at least a couple weeks.

Where would you expect the reliable sellers of a small publisher in the UK to be located?

Mainly I was clarifying that I won't have much to say about them for at least two weeks but I'm excited enough to report that I bought them

they’re gorgeous

I’m working on midwinter now

A nice companion piece to Moominpappa at Sea:

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/02/13/tove-janssons-the-island/#.XGTsmMGLy3s.twitter

h/t Ned