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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2013 18:38:57 GMT 1
I've read them now. Hope I don't forget it all before we start
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Post by Claire on Mar 28, 2013 18:23:09 GMT 1
Hi folks, hoping to feature an American author for next months author of the month. Any suggestions? The big 3 in the UK in terms of popularity and availability of books are probably Mary O'Hara, Walter Farley, & Marguerite Henry. But if anyone can think of others which can be found easily in the UK as well as USA just jot them down here.
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Post by susanb on Mar 28, 2013 19:01:21 GMT 1
I think we've probably already done the easiest....Florence Hightower, William Corbin and Kim Ablon Whitney. Will put on the thinking cap and see if I can come up with any others!
Tough, really, because I know some people loathe the Black Stallion books and find Flicka hard to get into. Hmmmm.........
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2013 19:27:02 GMT 1
Me for one The only American books I have are William Corbin's Horse in the House and Afraid to Ride by C.W. Anderson. Love them both
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Post by Claire on Mar 28, 2013 23:24:21 GMT 1
I think Marguerite Henry might be a good one, all the Misty series are easy to get and she's written a lot of books. We may even be able to do a film club tie in if Misty is still on youtube! BTW we can feature authors some people don't like - makes for some juicy discussion. So I don't rule out Walter Farley.
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Post by susanb on Mar 29, 2013 2:33:29 GMT 1
Walter Farley did do a nice non-Black Stallion book....a fictionalized biography of the racehorse Man O'War, that might go down a bit easier. He created a teen/young man character to be the horse's groom who stays with him throughout his career.
Another option might be Diane Lee Wilson, who has done some excellent historic fiction (think King of the Wind).....I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade or Black Storm's Comin' might be good. All still in print, so easy to find.
And if you don't object to a Canadian instead of an American, Winners/Jordy by Mary Ellen Collura had both US and UK printings.
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Post by rallycairn on Mar 29, 2013 4:33:18 GMT 1
Patsey Gray?
Lavinia Davis?
Dorothy Potter Benedict's Pagan the Black, Fabulous, and Bandoleer (BTW why do so many blurbs about this trilogy claim Fabulous is Pagan's son? Fab is an early Pony of the Americas and hoping he will have "color" from his sire and be a good representative of the "new" breed (POA) through both his color and his handiness in trail classes is a fairly big part of the book. Bandoleer, though, is indeed a son of Pagan. -- Ahem, excuse the tangent.) ?
Don't know about UK availability, though, but maybe Lavinia Davis of those three might be the most common?
Or Jane McIlvaine, esp if we also did her adult book (published under Jane McIlvaine McClary, A Portion for Foxes (excellent view of the Civil Rights 1960s in Virginia)). Seems like I've seen plenty of mention of the Cammie books, so maybe those are available in the UK??
Col S.P. Meek (Frog, the Horse Who Knew No Master is surprisingly good, and he wrote many other horse and dog books) was so prolific -- perhaps he is available in the UK?
Adult books, but what about Rita Mae Brown? The first few of the Sister Jane books are excellent, though I do think they deteroriate sharply in quality about the 4th book or so. Still, Outfoxed (the first Sister Jane) is outstanding, and her Riding Shotgun (a non-series time slip novel) is a great read with a fair bit of horse content.
Hey, was Walt Morey published in the UK ? At least two horse books and many other animal books, including Gentle Ben, upon which a TV series was based (about a bear). Year of the Black Pony is really, really excellent. I've read it over and over -- good horse content but also good depictions of family and step-family dynamics, set on a western homestead in the late 1800s or early 1900s. YOTBP is available in ebook editions now, so that might help.
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Post by susanb on Mar 29, 2013 16:06:07 GMT 1
Good additions, rally! I'd forgotten Lavinia Davis....possibly because I haven't read the one book that is very widely available in the UK, Plough Penny Mystery! It's one of those oddball books more available abroad than in it's native land...it actually had two UK printings in hardcover and isn't expensive. I've got a copy and would certainly be game to tackle it...I'd say her writing would appeal to anyone who liked the Trixie Belden books. Of the Cammie books, only the second (Cammie's Challenge) came out in the UK, but it can certainly be read as a stand alone....it was part of the Seagull library and seems very available and usually cheap in hardcover/dj I think Patsey Gray is very tough to find in the UK...the only book by her I've ever seen on offer is Challenger, and it's awfully scarce (weirdly modern cover, so I'm guessing it didn't sell well). REALLY a pity, because I think everyone would enjoy her work Sadly, none of Col Meeks horse books had UK printings...outside of Frog, his horse books seem to be getting a little scarce even here...I've been looking for a nice copy of Bellfarm Star at a reasonable price for a while now with no luck! I checked abebooks, and Year of the Black Pony did have a UK paperback printing and is very available and cheap Re Rita Mae Brown....couldn't agree more, Riding Shotgun was an excellent time slip with horses and I loved the early Sister books.....for the anti-hunting among us, I should point out that only people get killed in these murder mysteries!
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Post by Claire on Mar 29, 2013 18:12:44 GMT 1
Its not so much the availability of the books in the UK. Its also whether us Brits have read many of them. I've read quite a few Patsey Gray books, a couple of Jane McIlvaines (whom I dont really rate) and one or two of the other authors suggested by susan and rally but I don't think everyone has even read that many. Thats why I thought we may have to do someone like Walter Farley or Marguerite Henry for more people to join in discussions or be able to do quizzes, vote, etc. I think we'll have to encourage everyone to start reading more USA authors if we are going to regularly feature non-British authors as author of the month! However there are some really great suggestions for future books we can do in the reading circle!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2013 15:19:39 GMT 1
Claire, I'm sure you said you were thinking of doing Pat Leitch as Author of the month at some point? Can't find where you said it now. Anyway I only ask as I've just picked up a paperback copy of Horse from the Black Loch and I was wondering whether that could be one of the books to be done? As I'm not a huge fan of hers it might be interesting to see if I like this one. I think this is one of her popular stories? Just a thought
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Post by Claire on Mar 31, 2013 15:38:27 GMT 1
I did think Pat Leitch would be good as there's plenty of grist for the mill of discussion there, and she did do a lot of books (plus I would LOVE to do The Black Loch as a reading circle book). I just didn't want our American friends to think I am neglecting their authors! I'll try to make my mind up in the next couple of days
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Post by susanb on Mar 31, 2013 16:03:01 GMT 1
I don't know about rally, but I wouldn't be offended if there weren't American Authors of the Month....I think I'd rather have a reading circle read that people might enjoy than an author of the month that everyone dislikes!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2013 19:10:06 GMT 1
Oh dear, sorry susan and Claire I don't think I explained myself very well I meant Pat Leitch at some point after the American Author of the month.
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Post by Claire on Mar 31, 2013 21:28:48 GMT 1
Oh dear we are all getting in a bit of a muddle. Susan - didnt want you and rally and any other Americans who look on here to think I didn't rate USA authors (or Australians for that matter) as some of my fav pony books are non-British. I also think people would enjoy USA books in the reading circle as much as British ones. BUT I realise that with a lot of us on here not having read many American horse stories the discussions and quizzes may fall a bit flat. Anyway I have come up with a sort of plan which may get round this. If I decide the authors of the month in advance for the next few months then it will give time for people to read a few of their books, if they so desire. Instead of just deciding next months author, if we have a few suggestions then I can plan out the others for the rest of the year. In the meantime all you Brits - read more American horse stories!
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Post by rallycairn on Mar 31, 2013 22:33:14 GMT 1
Heavens, I don't think anyone is offended in the least. I agree with Susan, though, that I'd rather see good authors of any nationality rather than picking on some other basis. With my big cyber-mouth I'm sure I could come up with something to say about just about any author, but I wouldn't be too excited about Henry or Farley. But really anyone is fine with me.
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Post by susanb on Apr 1, 2013 11:28:57 GMT 1
Maybe a semi-break from the author of the month? An American book for reading circle, and a more general knowledge set of quizzes? Possibly a cover art scavenger hunt through your US pages? Just thoughts....grist for the mill
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Post by Claire on Apr 2, 2013 17:40:06 GMT 1
Some good ideas there susan - actually its had me thinking. I know some people suggested we could feature different types of books as well as authors so why not a feature on American books, whats everyone fav is, differences between Brit and USA books, etc. Plus we could compile a reading list for those who haven't read many (or any!) USA horse stories. We could also have American skewed quizzes. We have already got polls on fav American books and authors but I can link to them for anyone who hasn't voted on them or wants to change their votes.
If anyone thinks this is a good idea I'll set it up instead of this months author then we'll go back to the normal style next month.
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Post by susanb on Apr 2, 2013 17:43:22 GMT 1
Sounds fun to me!
Maybe for the reading circle it could be a "read the American book of your choice" and the circle could be a free-for-all commentary on what people had read/liked/disliked/etc?
edited to say, if you decide to go for that, maybe we could start the "suggested reads" thread right away, in case anyone is looking for ideas!
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Post by Claire on Apr 2, 2013 17:46:09 GMT 1
Sounds fun to me! Maybe for the reading circle it could be a "read the American book of your choice" and the circle could be a free-for-all commentary on what people had read/liked/disliked/etc? Yes that would be a little like the summer reading programme we did, except for just being the one book - good idea!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2013 18:30:25 GMT 1
All sounds good to me Claire.
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Post by susanb on Apr 2, 2013 18:57:03 GMT 1
While we're brainstorming future months, can I put in a plug for oddball reading circle books? I'd love to do some authors that don't really get talked about very much, but are great fun....something like The Heron Ride by Mary Treadgold or Wild Pony by Lucy Rees. Not hard to find or expensive, but a bit off the beaten path.
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Post by Claire on Apr 2, 2013 20:04:00 GMT 1
I did a review for The Heron Ride a while back and we had a bit of discussion about it then. Don't think we've ever discussed the Lucy Rees book. Its a strange one in terms of buying it, goes through cycles of being very expensive. OK so here is the schedule for the next 3 months: April - American authors feature May - Vian Smith (to tie in with something special susan has been organising for us ) June - Patricia Leitch We may need to take a break over summer to fit in the reading programme, although we could do featured authors as part of that.
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Post by susanb on Apr 2, 2013 20:17:27 GMT 1
Rats....I missed Heron Ride...will have to go back and look at the thread! Re Wild Pony...it appears to be on an inexpensive cycle, which is why I mentioned it. There are two copies in the UK priced at £ 0.66, and one at £10.00 (overpriced, I think). There is a copy in the US for $8.00. With those and the copies that I'm sure a few people have, maybe enough? At any rate, even if we don't do it for a reading circle book, take this as an alert folks, NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY!!
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Post by Claire on Apr 2, 2013 23:25:36 GMT 1
Lol its like stocks and shares - BUY BUY BUY
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Post by Claire on Apr 27, 2013 11:13:44 GMT 1
Hi all, just a reminder that next month's author will be Vian Smith. The reading circle selection will be his book Tall and Proud aka King Sam. Susan has very kindly sent me a number of copies of the book to pass onto forum members. Anyway more about this in the reading circle section. If you have any other Vian Smith books you haven't got round to reading yet it might be a good time to pick them up now!
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Post by Claire on Aug 16, 2013 20:00:52 GMT 1
Hi all, we will be starting the author of the month again in September, as the reading challenge should be about wrapped up by then (although it will start 2nd in week in Sept as I am away the first week). So if anyone has any suggestions for the featured author please let me know.
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Post by garej on Aug 16, 2013 21:31:00 GMT 1
I suggest DPT.
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Post by Claire on Aug 20, 2013 10:11:49 GMT 1
Thanks Garej. DPT would certainly give a lot of room for discussion. The only thing is we have already done a poll of favourite DPT books and quite a few of her books have been reviewed or in the reading circle. But I'll certainly put it on the shortlist. We could perhaps do one of the later less well known books in the reading circle such as the Hermits Horse or Cassidy in Danger.
Any other suggestions folks?
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Post by susanb on Aug 20, 2013 14:13:45 GMT 1
Mmmm...tough one! I think it's because I just went through a glut of pony books for the challenge!
Maybe a new book/author...I've got Catch Rider by Jennifer Lyne in my tbr pile, it just came out.
Sigh...just looked at amazon.uk, and it's not in print in the UK (though a kindle edition is available), and it's available through the Book Depository
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Post by susanb on Aug 20, 2013 15:19:00 GMT 1
Those cheap copies of Wild Pony by Lucy Rees are still on abebooks, btw! Another cheap copy appears to have popped up in the US too! Could be the Fates telling us now is the time
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