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Post by Claire on Dec 26, 2013 20:16:14 GMT 1
Hi all, our Christmas holiday read is The Ponies of Cuckoo Mill Farm by Catherine Harris As its a bit last minute, I'll not put the usual 10-14 day delay for discussion on this one - just join in as soon as you are ready. (Dont forget to note spoilers tho) Post or PM if you need to borrow a copy of the book.
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Post by brumby on Dec 29, 2013 6:25:50 GMT 1
I'm in with this one, started reading and realised I was yet to read 'They rescued a pony' so am now reading this first and then will go back to Cuckoo Mill Farm. Must read things in the right order
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Post by Claire on Dec 29, 2013 14:01:18 GMT 1
For some reason I always think of this book as the first in the series, not sure why, which is why I suggested. But for those of you who haven't read They Rescued A Pony, I wouldn't worry as this one actually works well as a stand alone, all the characters are introduced well and it also focuses on new characters which aren't even in the first book.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2013 15:09:55 GMT 1
I'm reading it at the moment
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Post by haffyfan on Dec 29, 2013 18:03:15 GMT 1
I've got this so i'll try and get around to re-reading anf join in.
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Post by kunuma on Dec 31, 2013 18:46:53 GMT 1
Love this one for the adventures in the floods and with the barge, also for the description of Cuckoo Mill Farm on Christmas Eve. I fast forward through the wildlife killing bits but still love the book. Am very intrigued as to how well they get on using an Old English Sheepdog to work sheep and feel I should give them a lecture on responsible pet ownership over having unwanted pups - but that's just me being picky, I like that all the animals get described and have their own characters. Plus it must be the only book with the gypsies as the good guys, although of course they are real romanies and not the ahem travelling community type! lol
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2013 19:22:01 GMT 1
I haven't read it all yet but agree with you on this, I love the descriptions of the actual farm too.
I'll be back when I've finished it......
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Post by rallycairn on Dec 31, 2013 21:20:56 GMT 1
I'm waiting on my copy to arrive, but will get right on it when it does!
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Post by fizz on Dec 31, 2013 22:00:30 GMT 1
Could someone lend me a copy?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2014 19:22:35 GMT 1
Just finished this. A second reading and enjoyed it as much as the first time. I can't look at the cover without giggling though. I keep thinking of that Christmas on line party here a few years ago where we had a book covers caption competition and Claire put something along the lines of "you'll never be a good rider if you don't wear baggy jods like me!" *spoiler alert* I did notice something odd. Jake the gypsy refuses to go into the Marshams house saying he's never been in one and he would never feel the same if he ever did enter a house but later on he's sitting in the Marshams kitchen after the chicken stealers have been caught and he doesn't seem all that bothered! Did I missed something?
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Post by Claire on Jan 3, 2014 21:35:06 GMT 1
I can't look at the cover without giggling though. I keep thinking of that Christmas on line party here a few years ago where we had a book covers caption competition and Claire put something along the lines of "you'll never be a good rider if you don't wear baggy jods like me!" Lol I think this is the one you mean Rosie: Have added poll. Fizz I can lend you my copy but the only thing is it will cost £2.60 to send back to me even 2nd class so it may be more worth your while buying a copy if you can get one cheap.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2014 7:54:26 GMT 1
That's the one
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Post by darkhorse on Jan 4, 2014 15:59:21 GMT 1
Lol Rosie I remember that too.
Managed to read this! I enjoyed it but I preferred They Rescued A Pony as I thought it had a better plot. This one was more bitty and there was a bit too many different rescues in it. I agree with Kunuma and Rosie about the description of Christmas Eve. I voted good.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2014 19:06:11 GMT 1
I must read They Rescued a Pony again now. I can't remember the story at all!
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Post by Claire on Jan 4, 2014 20:35:34 GMT 1
I did notice something odd. Jake the gypsy refuses to go into the Marshams house saying he's never been in one and he would never feel the same if he ever did enter a house but later on he's sitting in the Marshams kitchen after the chicken stealers have been caught and he doesn't seem all that bothered! Did I missed something? It was not Jake who refused to go into the house but one of the gypsy boys passing on a message from Jake to the Marshams. My comments on the book... This was a re-read for me. Maybe I am getting old and cranky but this time round I found the Marshams really irritating. The kids were all quite intolerant and narrow minded and the mother really was a hopeless parent. I didnt find any of them sympathetic at all and I couldn't see how the Forrests eventually wanted to be friends with them/more like them. The only characters I really liked were Gold and Luke. I think if I had read They Rescued a Pony again before this one I would have liked the Marshams more as they were more sympathetic in that. (Rosie - thats the one where they rescue Punchinello from the circus - I agree darkhorse that one has a better story). I'd be interested to know what others think of the Marshams - did you like them or not? I'm another one who enjoyed the Christmas element of it. I'd have liked the snow to come a bit earlier than on the last page tho so they could have gone sledging and done some more typically Christmassy things. I also liked the fact that the gypsies were the good guys and not the usual cliched villains. Lol yes the number of rescues was a bit silly and the book was extremely over melodramatic. The rescues of Valiant and of the cows from the flood were reasonable, even the capture of the hen stealing villains was believable with a pinch of sale but to add in Gold galloping to the rescue to stop Jay being run over by a train was just a step too far. Reminded me of those old silent movies where the heroine was tied to the train tracks! Plus the villains turning out to be international jewel thieves was just silly - why would they bother nicking a few hens? Also why did Jake the gypsy recruit Flyn and Janson to help him instead of just taking some grown up gypsy men who would have been a lot more use? Does anyone other than me think that Catherine Harris is a bit like JPT in her writing: large families bickering and squabbling, irritating younger siblings, absent minded parents, fairly light hearted tone with some humourous moments. All in all enjoyed it but maybe not as much as on previous read.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2014 7:48:16 GMT 1
Honestly what am I like? I forget the beginning of the book before I've even finished the blooming thing!!! Maybe Jake should have felt the same as the other boy being a true gypsy.
The book was one big cliché from beginning to end I agree but I didn't realise she was young when she wrote it.
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Post by rallycairn on Jan 5, 2014 18:36:19 GMT 1
I'm just under half through and don't like it as much as I thought I would, given the lovely-sounding setting. I mean, who wouldn't want to live on Cuckoo Mill Farm OR on a barge docked on the river? Either sounds wonderful to me.
But like Claire I am not especially drawn to the Marshams, who do seem sort of a rowdy and conceited lot. The Forrests have their faults, too -- leaving the sheep-field gate open was thoughtless and careless in the extreme, but the Marshams act a bit like an unruly mob. I mean, I hope at some point they stop by the department store where Timothy ran away to and was gorging himself on their candy (was this in a give-away bowl or was helping himself to stuff for sale? I wasn't sure but if it was sale merchandise the store should be paid for it, and even if not the staff deserve thanks for baby-sitting an unwatched toddler for a half an hour and getting him into the hands of the authorities when no one came to get him). And the author may have meant to be somewhat humorous, but I am completely sure they aren't one bit "popular" in the tea shop, as the author said -- what a crew, taking up tables for such a long time waiting for the entire family to arrive, spilling an entire jug of milk, tripping the waitress (even if accidentally) and so forth. No doubt the shop lost big time on that little visit, unless the Marshams paid for the broken china and spilled food, but that still wouldn't make up for the lost custom from other folks who might have come in if they weren't there for such a long time and bothering other customers with their hubbub. I suppose we're meant to see them as jolly and lively and the kind of family everyone would love to be part of -- but not me! I'd be all too willing to try to smack some manners and empathy into them, since the free rein and lots of parental sympathy approach doesn't seem to be working too well ...
Still the setting is wonderful and the writing is skillful, if cliched as everyone has already pointed out. I am glad to have been prompted to get the book, and I probably will get the first and third in the series, though at this point I don't think I'd spring for the fourth, rarer [expensive] title.
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Post by Claire on Jan 5, 2014 22:16:06 GMT 1
Lol Rally, great description of the shortcomings of the Marshams! Yes I think some of it is supposed to be humourous as most of her books are light hearted. I agree tho I would run a mile from the family in real life! Still, as I said in my post they are far more likeable in the first book in series.
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Post by susanb on Jan 6, 2014 17:05:04 GMT 1
Whew! I thought it was just me fighting down a desperate desire to smack the lot of 'em!
As others have pointed out, I did find the setting to be great, it was just the bratty characters dancing on my last nerve. (I don't even mind a cliche laden plot, if the writing is good and the characters likable). I'm really glad to hear that the first book is better, because I did buy it and the third, though (like rally) I'd have to be monumentally impressed by the third to go after that pricey forth book!
I have to say I generally find that you're from the country/city/another country/basically from somewhere-that-I'm-not-from-so-you're-not-as-good-as-I-am xenophobic nonsense monumentally irritating. Grin...probably the one hackneyed plot device that really does rub me the wrong way!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2014 19:46:47 GMT 1
I just knew you'd hate it Susan lol I remember you saying about one of Joanna Cannans books (I think it was) with irritating children you wanted to slap!
I think the worse one for this is Riders From Afar by CPT. Now that book really did grate on my nerves and I wanted to throttle the lot of them!
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Post by rallycairn on Jan 6, 2014 19:52:04 GMT 1
Ok, finished now. I have to say I actually enjoyed the part where Gold rides for help. I recognize the cliche, and agree with Claire you can almost hear the silent film organ music and/or picture the cartoon woman tied to the tracks -- nevertheless I thought that part was very well written and very suspenseful without being overdone. Both from Gold's perspective and from Jay's. I'm right there with Jay listening, listening for the train -- finally hearing it -- will it slow? NO! Keeps coming and coming, but she's not going to cry. Can't even save the pup because he won't leave her side. Then when it seems like it won't happen, it does -- the train starts to slow.
And from Gold's perspective -- doing all right riding at the gallop until Dragon shies when they come upon the two men. Then Gold trying to make them understand that it's not just she whom they have to worry about, and she's not delirious/shaken up, feeling like screaming with impatience but knowing that will make things worse -- and that it is the mention of Valiant that finally convinces the one man that the danger is real. And then the truly laugh out loud moment when one woman on the train cries that Gold lying there with her broken arm is a corpse, and even through her pain Gold is ready to giggle at that.
The flood was done well, too, I thought. Really I only found the poultry-stealing ridiculous, and even then I think the real issue is that we suddenly piled a bunch of crises one after the other in the final half to third of the book. The total number of adventures was what pushed credulity for me, rather than any one of them, although again the thieves bit was the least credible for me.
I think Gold as a character redeems the book for me. She's willing from the beginning to consider how her family's behavior and attitudes may need changing, and although I never shared her anxieties about animals or country experiences, still I found her thoughtfulness and determination to change very likeable. And although she doesn't figuratively clutch her forehead and wander about in aesthetic throes like Nick and Cressida do, I suspect she may have the most artistic sensitivity and sensibility of all, given her empathy for others and ability to look a bit outside herself.
One nit to pick about a "goof" -- when Jay and Janson dress as American Indians in the setup to Jay getting stuck on the tracks, it mentions several times they are riding bareback as part of playing Indians -- yet moments later Jay is "standing in her stirrups" to try to look in the walled garden where her arrow landed, and of course shortly after Dragon has a saddle when Gold rides for help.
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Post by susanb on Jan 6, 2014 19:59:12 GMT 1
Grin..you know me well, Rosie...but it was Plenty of Ponies with the useless children! The lot in this book aren't useless, it's just the narrow-mindedness that grates.
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Post by susanb on Jan 6, 2014 20:01:45 GMT 1
btw, Riders from Afar didn't bother me as much...you'd think it would have, because it does have that xenophobic thing going...but it's over pretty quickly...their prejudices don't survive very long once they've actually met, if I remember correctly.
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Post by Claire on Jan 6, 2014 20:54:18 GMT 1
I think the worse one for this is Riders From Afar by CPT. Now that book really did grate on my nerves and I wanted to throttle the lot of them! Lol that did make me giggle Rosie, but I quite like that book, even tho the Americans are somewhat stereotyped. I actually do like the 'fish out of water' scenario (or cliche if you will) where a character/characters are stuck in a new environment and have to adjust, but I prefer books where the inital mutual dislike of the characters is over quickly. It just goes on far too long in this book. Its quite shocking also considering the Forrests have just lost their father and home and the Marshams have no sympathy at all. Glad its not just me getting old and cranky and others were irritated by the Marshams too. The last time I read the book was straight after They Rescued a Pony which must be why they didn't annoy me so much then. Can we have some more votes please...?
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Post by brumby on Jan 6, 2014 22:25:18 GMT 1
Well, I did stop reading and read We rescued a pony first. Good move, the Marshams are quite likeable in the first book and I really like Luke and Punchinello. Really enjoyed the first book. I found I was quite shocked by how rude and disgusting the Marsham children were in The ponies of Cuckoo mill Farm, especially the twins they really grate on me and need a good slap! Even though the adventures were coming thick and fast and were most improbable, I quite enjoyed the book as the second half moves along at a rollicking pace. Agree I really like Gold and love Valiant (he's a lurcher whats not to love!) Catherine Harris was a teenager when she wrote the book, do we know how old? Do you think the naughty Marsham characters were played up to appeal to the child audience? The Forrests were a bit dismal at the beginning as well. Overall I thought a good read. Have just finished the third book, and although it starts slow the end is quite exciting (very improbable), overall I have enjoyed the series and have read them in a short space of time as I was drawn to keep reading (always a good sign). Funnily enough I have the fourth book, can't remember where I got it or how much I paid but will keep you informed on whether or not its worth reading. Oh another reason I like the books is they use the word 'feeble' its just the best word, it cracks me up ever time I read a pony book and someone is described as feeble
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Post by kunuma on Jan 6, 2014 23:59:08 GMT 1
Compared with their real life counterparts round here, the Marshams are positively delightful!! There is an unmistakable arrogance and way of behaving that comes with owning most of the countryside for miles around! The Marshams come across as typical spoilt children whose parents let them do anything they like - in fact we are frequently told how proud their parents are of them! I don't mind them, probably because I've met much worse! Just reread the other two now, and funnily enough of course in one of them we come across a child who the Marshams think is spoilt!! That's an amusing about turn! Won't say too much in case anyone is reading the whole series at the mo!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2014 7:54:58 GMT 1
And a very appropriate read as it's happening in the U.K. right now. Plenty of Ponies I vaguely remember, I'll have to have a re-read and see if it gets on my nerves lol I say Feeble all the time to describe myself Rally
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Post by rallycairn on Jan 7, 2014 16:32:33 GMT 1
I doubt you are feeble, Rosie, but it is a great word! But it was Brumby who was noting how descriptive it is. But again, I agree! Who was it that pointed out that the Forrests have a bit of an excuse for not being on top of things, given they just lost their father and home? ... Claire mentioned it I believe. Anyway, I hadn't really thought it out but that is so true. Not just being grief-stricken but also facing the upheaval of losing their home and moving to entirely different circumstances. It really is different, even now, living in a rural area versus a big city. So many, many differences, practical (availability of shops and so forth, perhaps learning to find and appreciate local foods and merchandise), emotional (loss of friends and acquaintances, having to find new ones), cultural (very different not having movies, theaters, museums, etc. all to hand), and even recreational (not having the cultural stuff I already mentioned but also just different casual pursuits, such as not being around ponies and other animals in the city, different kinds of informal amusements and so on). So I was focused on the Marshams' rude and inconsiderate and condescending behavior, but didn't really think about how they might also have gone a bit easier on the Forrests given they just lost their Dad and their home. I personally think the Forrests were dead lucky in moving to a barge on the river, but losing a parent is nothing short of tragic, and the lifestyle change was not voluntary. So the Marshams could've been more understanding. Still, overall, the book was well written, I quite liked Gold by the end, and everyone had mellowed, and the setting is absolutely soul-satisfying to me. So I went with "Very Good" for the book, warts and all.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2014 20:49:27 GMT 1
Ooops so it was, sorry Brumby, blame my feeble eyesight!
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Post by darkhorse on Jan 7, 2014 21:37:26 GMT 1
Agree about the children's awful behaviour. I blame the mother. I mix with lots of mums and I have met quite a few mothers like her whose children are horribly misbehaved and they seem to take some sort of pride in it. Maybe the author came from a family like that or knew a family like that, as it does seem true to life.
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