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Post by Claire on Apr 2, 2014 1:41:56 GMT 1
This month's reading circle selection will be Sweet Rock by Gillian Baxter who is our author of the month for April (sorry a bit behind in setting that thread up will do it asap) Download the book here:If you have any probs with the download let me know and i can email the scans to you. I can also lend out the book itself but it will need to be sent and returned by recorded delivery as its quite a valuable one. I think the book will give quite a lot of material for discussion! BTW before we even start - what do you think of the cover?!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2014 6:25:41 GMT 1
I'd like a scan please Claire.
The cover isn't my sort of thing but I've seen worse!
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Post by trixiepony on Apr 2, 2014 6:43:16 GMT 1
The covers a shocker but I'd like a scan off the book thanks.
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Post by Claire on Apr 2, 2014 11:40:09 GMT 1
I'd like a scan please Claire. The cover isn't my sort of thing but I've seen worse! Lol it looks worse in real life! I think they must have been trying for a striped candy rock effect in the background - horribly literal interpretation as well as artistically gruesome! I case anyone is wondering what its about here is a bit from the blurb: Every cloud has a silver lining. For Sharon King who couldn't afford a pony of her own or even belong to the local riding club, the silver lining represented Chris Bowman and his superb but wild pony Sweet Rock. Chris was spoilt, impolite and, as anyone who knew horses could see, treated Sweet Rock very badly. And yet, thought Sharon, there was something very charming and likeable about him. Sharon's growing friendship with Chris and her attempts to reform him are skilfully drawn against the insecurity of Chris's home life and a background of horses, show jumping and gymkhanas.I think we will have lots to say about the character of Chris! Will try and do the scans for the weekend. Might even have a go converting to a kindle file if time permits.
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Post by haffyfan on Apr 2, 2014 14:04:33 GMT 1
Will try and do the scans for the weekend. Might even have a go converting to a kindle file if time permits. That would be great if you could! You can also use PDF's on the kindle if it's easier to format the scans that way. The cover is not very appealing to be blunt, it has an Eric Carle (Hungry caterpillar etc) feel about it for me, i like some of his books but his illustrations on the whole are not to my taste, the blocks of colour remind me of the prelims in his books. And does the horse have two heads?!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2014 18:02:27 GMT 1
Can't wait to see the scan of it then
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Post by brumby on Apr 2, 2014 23:58:07 GMT 1
Claire do you have any idea who illustrated Sweet Rock? There appears to be no mention of the illustrator! Find that very annoying, perhaps some anonymous person working for the publisher! Agree ghastly cover, would turn a lot of people off from buying the book. Although probably not as ugly as the book club version of Horses in the Glenβ¦β¦.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2014 6:49:53 GMT 1
.......or most of the CBC covers! Did they actually do any decent ones?
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Post by haffyfan on Apr 3, 2014 18:52:09 GMT 1
.......or most of the CBC covers! Did they actually do any decent ones? I think horse from Black Loch is okay? Or i may be confusing editions mind.
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Post by brumby on Apr 3, 2014 22:00:17 GMT 1
Just looked it up on Claire's website, I agree its quite a good cover. I wonder if some of the publishing houses trying to publish mass market cheaper versions of books, used unknown illustrators, and didn't pay them as much. Perhaps the cover designer/illustrators of the CBC version of Horses in the Glen is happy to remain anonymous I wonder if Gillian Baxter was peeved when she saw the cover? The cover on the version I have (Evans 1962) is ok, but one of the girls does look like a grey squirrel has landed on her head from a great height!
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Post by Claire on Apr 3, 2014 23:16:02 GMT 1
I can't find any mention of the illustrator of Sweet Rock anywhere. (Yes you folks who haven't got the book - the delightful art work continues throughout the book - altho its not quite as bad inside) Lol haffy no the horse hasn't got 2 heads but it has it turned at a very strange angle. I think there are quite a few nice CBC covers including Black Loch. Some of the Monica Edwards ones are nice, I also liked the CBC edition of the Mystery Trek by Primrose Cumming and The Heron Ride by Mary Treadgold. There are however some pretty gruesome ones, tho I think for consistency of gruesomeness you should look no further than the infamous Blackie 'orange' reprints lol.
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Post by Claire on Apr 5, 2014 19:45:46 GMT 1
Anyone who would like to download a scan please visit this link in the members only section: ponybooks.proboards.com/thread/2149/sweet-rock-gillian-baxterDue to time constraints I have only done half so far, will try and get the other half done in the next few days. If you have any probs accessing or downloading let me know.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2014 15:00:00 GMT 1
I'm enjoying this so far
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Post by Claire on Apr 9, 2014 23:09:13 GMT 1
Glad you are enjoying it Rosie. Apologies have moved your post from the members section to here as I want to lock that thread and make sure all discussion about the book is in one place (ie here!)
Been away for a couple of days so I haven't been able to scan the rest of the book yet - I will do it by the weekend folks.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2014 7:03:31 GMT 1
That's O.K. Claire I should have posted it here in the first place Doh! I can see why you chose this one. Looking forward to the next bit..
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Post by Claire on Apr 10, 2014 22:42:29 GMT 1
Well I finished reading it so if anyone would prefer to borrow the book itself rather than read the scan my copy is available. I only ask that you will pay for recorded delivery as I dont want it going missing. Otherwise part 1 of the book can be found here
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Post by Claire on Apr 12, 2014 13:54:09 GMT 1
Just to let people know that part 2 is now uploaded and can be downloaded. The full book can be accessed hereHow are people getting on with it? Has anyone else finished yet?
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Post by Darkhorse1 on Apr 12, 2014 16:08:20 GMT 1
I'm almost finished part 1. I agree with Rosie, I can see why you chose it, it could be quite controversial. I don't have a clue what is going to happen in the rest of the book which I find is quite rare with pony stories.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2014 17:44:25 GMT 1
Thanks Claire. I've downloaded it. Like Darkhorse I can't see how it's going to pan out....
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Post by Claire on Apr 12, 2014 18:58:13 GMT 1
Like Darkhorse I can't see how it's going to pan out.... Yes you two I remember thinking that the first time I read it and as darkhorse says its quite unusual in a pony book as you normally know roughly what is going to happen. Talking of controversy, the most controversial moment happens near the end of the book and the actual ending itself may divide some readers. I'll be really interested to hear everyone's comments.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2014 6:49:22 GMT 1
While I was waiting for the second part I started reading Horses at Home by DPT and felt like I was still reading Sweet Rock! The clichΓ© of wild horse and pigs are in both books
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Post by Claire on Apr 13, 2014 12:24:17 GMT 1
Its a cliche but I have found its true that most horses dont like pigs.
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Post by trixiepony on Apr 14, 2014 11:18:11 GMT 1
I recon I can still read it but when I got sweet rock my silly phone muddled the pages so there out off order think I can put it right thow.
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Post by Claire on Apr 14, 2014 14:09:36 GMT 1
Yes 'm not sure if that drop box thing works well on phones. Trouble is my yahoo email account won't send large attachments any more it has to go thru drop box or be put on another on-line share programme. Thats progress for you I guess!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2014 18:11:35 GMT 1
Well I've finished it and I don't know how to vote or what to say at the moment! I feel angry and don't like either character at all. I also don't like the illustrations, I'm not into the scribbly type of drawings, not my thing at all.
But having said that it's a great book! I'll wait to see what others say before I make any more comments.
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Post by rallycairn on Apr 14, 2014 19:21:28 GMT 1
Maybe some of you can give me some tips on how to handle the zip files. I tried just choosing the "Download" option from dropbox and the download failed three times. So then I tried just looking at the pages online, but any time I try to re-size a page, as soon as I let go of the button (or screen on my tablet), it just snaps back to the size it was originally, so no good. Plus the pages oriented sideways-- yeah, can't turn my computer screen on its side! And I couldn't find any kind of "view" options to turn the orientation or anything.
Are you guys downloading the file, unzipping it, and opening it in something like Adobe Reader?
In short, help!!
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Post by Haffy-fan on Apr 14, 2014 21:22:45 GMT 1
Rally i'm having the same issues regarding downloading. Even if i could get the pages to turn around it's too small to read...how did you try to resize?
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Post by Claire on Apr 14, 2014 22:34:46 GMT 1
Hi folks sorry you are having probs downloading it. Rosie - did you have any trouble? Not sure why it isn't downloading - possibly a temp error rally or did you try at different times? Unfortunately as i said in earlier post I can't send it in 2 zip files as attachments as I would have done previously because of stupid yahoo mail. I can try hosting it on a different site to drop box and see if thats any good. Or if I can remember my googlemail password I can try sending attachments from that to people's email. Why is nothing ever simple!
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Post by Claire on Apr 14, 2014 23:14:32 GMT 1
Well I've finished it and I don't know how to vote or what to say at the moment! I feel angry and don't like either character at all. I also don't like the illustrations, I'm not into the scribbly type of drawings, not my thing at all. But having said that it's a great book! I'll wait to see what others say before I make any more comments. Lol Rosie, I have a similar response to the book, altho I only dislike one character. I think we going to have some good discussions about it!
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Post by Claire on Apr 14, 2014 23:16:29 GMT 1
Hi to all who are having trouble with the scans please PM me your email address asap. I can after all send a large zipped attachment via my googlemail but it takes a long time to attach so I will have to do a bulk email to everyone at once.
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