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Post by darkhorse on Jul 17, 2018 21:41:11 GMT 1
Can I have a smiley for Triple Bar please which I enjoyed. I have added comments about it on the reading circle thread.
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Post by brumby on Jul 18, 2018 23:46:14 GMT 1
Well it's another smiley for The mystery trek I absolutely loved this book, took myself out for lunch and spent half the afternoon reading it while enjoying numerous pots of tea!
Have started The Intruders, its looking good so far.
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Post by Claire on Jul 19, 2018 14:41:19 GMT 1
Hi Brumby, glad you enjoyed The Mystery Trek, it's my favourite Primrose Cumming book and probably my all time favourite trekking holiday book too. I wanted to do a re-read of it this summer but the blinking thing has disappeared. If I have lent it to anyone on here please let me know!
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Post by haffyfan on Jul 20, 2018 11:29:29 GMT 1
I'm struggling with Rider By Night, it's not terrible i just can't get into it, a few odd translations/phrases too.
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Post by susanb on Jul 21, 2018 0:38:59 GMT 1
Can I get a smiley for Grounded by Sheila Wilkinson? Another great book by this writer. Back to Thudding Hoofs this weekend. It's going to be miserable weather Sunday, maybe that will drive me to finish it.
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Post by louise on Jul 21, 2018 7:46:07 GMT 1
The P-T's biography is dragging on!
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Post by trixiepony on Jul 21, 2018 7:51:16 GMT 1
Trixiepony I've got number 2 The Trail Home 4 Changing Leads 9 Riding to Win
10 Ground Training 11 Cross Ties
13 High Stakes
14 Headstrong of the Pine Hollow series if you need any of those.
Well yes 13 and 14 sound like ones I would like to read if you are shore.
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Post by ginslinger on Jul 21, 2018 17:30:44 GMT 1
I wish the PTs autobiography had not been so childhood focused. The eccentric childhood was interesting at times but the three perspectives made it a bit repetitive and I wanted more about their writing.
Can I have a smiley for The Silver Eagle Riding School. It is well written but a bit patchy and I did wonder about some things like a take off pole three yards in front of the fence and was a bit horrified by the casual reference to rapping. The illustrations were rather lovely but the proof reading was flawed with Whippet saddle!
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Post by rallycairn on Jul 21, 2018 20:20:01 GMT 1
I took a detour from my challenge list to read Nancy Cato's All the Rivers Run, quite a tome. I loved the Sigrid Thornton miniseries in the 1980's but as usual the book is just so much richer. It really is a great book, wonderfully capturing the Australian riverboat era on the Murray - Darling River system, and the main character is such a complex and philosophical person.
Got a little more on that one and then back to The Second Mount.
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Post by trixiepony on Jul 22, 2018 2:50:37 GMT 1
Ok Pine Hollow Cross ties gets a smiley, it was not that horsey but was a good read.
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Post by ginslinger on Jul 22, 2018 9:40:24 GMT 1
I went on the paddle boat they used in All the rivers run, or one of them when I visited the mighty Murray river in 1989. It as a beautiful place. Didn’t realise there was a book.
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cloud
Pony Trekker
Highland Dale
Posts: 56
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Post by cloud on Jul 22, 2018 14:10:52 GMT 1
Oh for goodness sake, three times I typed in the details for kunuma and it refused them - then logged me in as cloud - I should just admit that computers have me beat! On the other hand the rest of the world isn't any too good at being efficient either, I just received a parcel from a well known catalogue firm - only trouble it, I had not ordered anything from them - the invoice in the parcel is for something completely different to what is in the parcel too - what the heck is going on with this country!!
Well before I got started on my rant I was logging in to say to Trixie pony that if she pms me her address I will try and see if I can post the books over the sea, (might need Claire's advice on overseas posting!).
Also, a Smiley for It Was All Through Patience - a lovely gentle snapshot of a lost time, and a conflicted smiley for Horseshoes and Handlebars. It would have got a smiley except for the hunting - although it did allow one of the characters to point out that it was a cruel sport, and to say that cats killed wildlife but we didn't use that as an excuse to enjoy killing them horribly! This was a brave statement back then I felt, but saved the book from a frownie.
Have now started the Byerley Turk book and think it will be hard going - but then I chose it because most of the others were easy ones!
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Post by susanb on Jul 22, 2018 18:44:12 GMT 1
Can I get a neutral for Thudding Hoofs, Claire? Barely scraped into neutral, helped by the very good Sam Savitt illustrations. A bit too much "Here is a Lesson, Take it All In, It Will be Good For You". Bummer, because the horsey detail was good and plentiful. Have started Empty Field and am enjoying it
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Post by trixiepony on Jul 23, 2018 8:34:18 GMT 1
Pony club Trek gets a big happy Smilley. I do love the Woodbury pony club story’s it’s a shame JPT only wrote the 3.
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Post by Claire on Jul 23, 2018 14:24:17 GMT 1
Hi all, glad everyone is getting their teeth into the challenge. Apologies for not updating the web page for a few days, due to internet problems.
I've just read Border Riding by Nigel Tranter. Wasn't expecting much of it really but I wanted to find out the story so I could add it to the website. Slightly better than anticipated as it was well written and the description of the traditional Border Ridings (which incidentally they still do in parts of Scotland) was very interesting, the characters were also quite good. But it was spoilt by an extremely dull and tedious sheep rustling plot which took over the whole book, when it would have far better been confined to a chapter or two. So I can only really give it a neutral smiley.
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Post by ginslinger on Jul 24, 2018 8:26:51 GMT 1
Pony club Trek gets a big happy Smilley. I do love the Woodbury pony club story’s it’s a shame JPT only wrote the 3. I totally agree. I hadn’t read them before the challenge and am so glad I got the omnibus edition. There was certainly scope for her to write more, she had a good cast of characters. Maybe demand was falling off for pony stories maybe after forty years of writing Josephine wasn’t so motivated or had other things to do. But I would happily read more of Alice and David and co. I could smack Mrs Rooke. Horrible having a favoured sibling.
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Post by haffyfan on Jul 24, 2018 10:53:13 GMT 1
Pony club Trek gets a big happy Smilley. I do love the Woodbury pony club story’s it’s a shame JPT only wrote the 3. These have always been my favourites from first reading Challenge, borrowed from local library. I had it on almost constant renewal, you would not believe how happy i was the day it was on the withdrawn and for sale table. Managed to find the other two in WH Smiths i think. Can Rider by Night get a neutral/conflicted. Maybe it was the translation but it didn't do anything for me, very long rambling story of which you could guess the plot/outcome within the first couple of chapters, lots of irrelevant stuff too to pad it out i feel. The only interesting part was the St Lucia celebration, which i'd never heard of...oh and i was horrified by them galloping on the ice on a frozen lake between villages
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Post by rallycairn on Jul 24, 2018 19:56:21 GMT 1
I went on the paddle boat they used in All the rivers run, or one of them when I visited the mighty Murray river in 1989. It as a beautiful place. Didn’t realise there was a book. Well that's just neat, seeing the real "Philadelphia."
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Post by ginslinger on Jul 24, 2018 23:47:04 GMT 1
I will see if I have a picture. The river especially the ghost gum trees along it made a big impression.
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Post by trixiepony on Jul 26, 2018 13:19:38 GMT 1
I’m struggling with The Heavenly Horse by Mary Stanton, I may try one off the others on my list and tackle that one last.
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Post by haffyfan on Jul 26, 2018 14:48:34 GMT 1
Can I have a smiley for Headed For The Win please. Bit of an odd quirk with the horse and rider switching places (in an otherwise predictable modern YA girl longs to ride/have a horse, winds up ridiculously talented and finds sponsor to provide horse, wins big competition ...and guy), sounds terrible i know, but she did the human inside the horse really well i thought. There looks to be a sequel so i may download it, i think this one was a freebie. Tried and failed to engage in The Earth Sings again
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Post by louise on Jul 26, 2018 21:05:11 GMT 1
Finally made it to the end of Fair Girls and Grey Horses (the PT biography). As Ginslinger said, it was too focused on their rather unorthodox childhood and the 3 accounts of everything made it fairly repetitive. I enjoyed parts of it, so will give it a neutral smiley.
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Post by rallycairn on Jul 27, 2018 2:58:45 GMT 1
When you guys say focused on their unorthodox childhood (re: Fair Girls and Grey Horses), do you mean in a preachy way, like they are advocating their style of upbringing? Or just too focused on their unorthodox life but not enough on the horses/ponies? I've long wanted to read it but you all aren't making it sound very good, lol!
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Post by brumby on Jul 27, 2018 6:13:18 GMT 1
Big smiley for We couldn't leave Dinah Very enjoyable read couldn't put it down towards the end
Its going to be really hard this year to choose my star read as so many of them have been good.
Its a shame The intruders is so hard to come by, (assuming its expensive can't seem to find a copy for sale anywhere) as it is a really cracking read. Veronica Westlake is such a great writer and not to mention the lovely Sheila Rose illustrations. I'm giving it a huge smiley very refreshing to read a story with boys as the central characters. Plenty of horsey action (although it does feature some hunting scenes) with a bit of mystery ghost story as well.
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Post by louise on Jul 27, 2018 7:34:44 GMT 1
Rallycairn, definitely give the biography a go. The issue I found with the book is that it is 350 pages just on their childhood. It stops with the war, when they are late teens/early twenties. I would have liked there to be fewer pages on this and for it to have continued into their adulthood. There was very little on their writing as at the end of the book, they'd only jointly published It Began with Picotee.
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Post by susanb on Jul 27, 2018 11:11:38 GMT 1
Rally, check with your library on Fair Girls and Grey Horses...it's in print over here, as paperback and ebook. I read it via the library on kindle, and I'd concur with louise's opinion....bits are interesting, but it is repetitive, as each sister goes over the same ground again (and again). I too would have enjoyed more insight into their writing/publishing years. Or just the whole thing told from one sister's pov
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Post by Claire on Jul 27, 2018 13:03:19 GMT 1
Re. The Intruders, yes Brumby it's a rare one. I really liked it despite the hunting and thought it was a lot of fun. I do have a scan of the full book somewhere - if anyone else fancies reading it, I'll hunt it out.
I must admit I never finished Fair Girls and Grey Horses myself, I did find it very repetitive when I read it. On the other hand I've never been a huge fan of biographies anyhow so I'm probably not the best person to judge.
Started Joey and the Magic Pony. Not really grabbing me so far.
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Post by louise on Jul 27, 2018 13:07:30 GMT 1
I managed to get a copy of Fair Girls and Grey Horses ordered into my local library (Surrey in the UK).
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Post by ginslinger on Jul 27, 2018 21:25:12 GMT 1
I think it is one of those cases when the subjects were not the best judges of what is interesting about themselves and perhaps were inhibited by that don’t make a fuss upbringing to really talk about their own lives. It is interesting but bitty and it is hard to find relevantbits again as no index. I wish they had a skilled interviewer draw them out and write it down in a more coherent way that actually drew the lines between the childhood and the work. It isn’t bad just frustrating that it ends just as they begin. Any insights into their works you have to draw for yourself. It also has 8nterest from a social history point of view that even quite well born girls, maybe especially well born girls had such limited prospects.
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Post by susanb on Jul 28, 2018 16:58:25 GMT 1
Claire, if you can find the scan, I'd love to read the Intruders! Meanwhile, can I get a smiley for The Empty Field? Probably not her best, but enjoyable nonetheless,looking forward to the other two Riding School books (post challenge, of course )
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