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Post by Claire on May 21, 2023 22:39:17 GMT 1
Yes it's almost that time of the year again! The challenge will be starting in a few weeks time so any suggestions for possible categories or any other ideas would be much appreciated.
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Post by susanb on May 22, 2023 15:10:59 GMT 1
LOL, we're on the same wavelength, I was just checking on availability of The Three Jays go to Town...it appears to be available, via abebooks, pretty cheaply, in the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada....if anyone wants to join the the group-read portion of the summer challenge, it shouldn't be difficult to get hold of a copy!
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Post by susanb on May 22, 2023 15:28:13 GMT 1
Other ideas:
We've done new books a lot, which is great (love finding new authors!), but how about adding, not just a re-read, but a re-read of a best-beloved book from childhood?
a new-ish book, instead of a "new" one....something since 2000? In case people have books sitting in the tbr pile, and would rather pull from that than buy another book
a book with a military setting?
full disclosure on this one, as I have a pair sitting in my tbr pile, but a sidesaddle book?
dogs and ponies seem to be topics covered by the same authors....maybe a dog book by a pony book author?
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Post by garej on May 23, 2023 13:08:46 GMT 1
Yes I like the dog idea as both DPT and CPT wrote dog books. Apart from Dear Pup I havent read any PT dog books even though I own every single fictional PT book.
Another thought/suggestion is a book that's been republished and is currently available brand new. So for example it could be one of the many books available as an ebook. It doesn't necessarily have to be an ebook (so if you have an physical copy that's fine) or even the same edition as the republished copy just as long as it's available. Examples include A Wind is Blowing by Monica Edwards or Phantom Horse by CPT.
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Post by susanb on May 23, 2023 17:49:43 GMT 1
Like the idea of republished book.....it's both old and new We should compile a list to pick from! (Not that anyone has to pick from the list, just to provide ideas for anyone who doesn't want to hunt )
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Post by garej on May 23, 2023 22:49:52 GMT 1
janebadgerbooks.co.uk/books-in-print/Others available in print and available from amazon include A Wind is Blowing; Storm Ahead; No Mistaking Corker (all by Monica Edwards) A Pony For Sale; Riding With The Lyntons; Janet Must Ride (all by DPT) The entire Phantom horse series (all by CPT) Gin and Murder; They Died In The Spring; Murder Strikes Pink (all by JPT) Fair Girls and Grey Horses; The Pullein-Thompson Treasury of Stories; Black Beauty's Family; More from Black Beauty's Family (all 3 PTs) The entire Jinny series (all by Patricia Leitch) Darkling; The entire Swallow series; the entire Flambards series; Blind Beauty; All That Glitters; Fly by Night; Dear Fred; Pony in the Dark; Poor Badger; Greater Gains; Windy Webley (all by K M Peyton) The entire Katy series; the entire Joe series (both by Victoria Eveleigh) I have included a mixture of pbs and ebooks so some are only available as ebooks; some are only available as pbs and some are a mixture of both.
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Post by susanb on May 24, 2023 13:47:24 GMT 1
Thanks for posting the link to Jane's site, there were a few authors there that I'd forgotten were back in print (in spite of having actually bought the ebooks when they came out )
The only add I can think of for the UK is Monica Dickens
The US hasn't been doing nearly as well with bringing books (horse or otherwise) back into print, but there are a few (leaving out the obvious Black Stallion and Marguerite Henry books, as they've never been out of print ):
Sawdust in His Shoes by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (I read the paperback reprint and loved it so much I actually bought the hardcover...gulp, not cheap!)
Keeping Barney, A Horse Like Barney (short series), Working Trot by Jessie Haas Dria Meredith Trilogy (Star Dream, Summer for Seven, High Hurdles) by Janet Lambert Chestry Oak by Kate Seredy Scarlet Royal by Anne Emery Can I Get There by Candlelight by Jean Slaughter Doty (avoid Summer Pony, Winter Pony they've been totally rewritten, not by the author, and in no way are reprints)
Tic-Tac by Leslie Baird McDonald
The situation appears even worse for Australian books, the only ones I can find are Mary Grant Bruce's Billabong series.
Out of print NOW, but it WAS back in print at one time is New Horse for Marny by Libby Anderson. If we count it, and you can grab one of the paperback reprints, it's well worth while.
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Post by garej on May 24, 2023 14:53:54 GMT 1
Speaking of rewritten books the Phantom Horse series by CPT has been edited so I DON'T recommend the ebooks/current reprints. I recommend getting an earlier reprint/first edition which thankfully the vast majority aren't rare so should be easy to find.
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Post by susanb on May 24, 2023 15:57:11 GMT 1
Good catch, garaj.....I'd forgotten that, and I actually got caught in that trap...I had ditched my old paperbacks and bought the ebooks when they came out (space issues ) and had to go back and buy Phantom again for a group read we did when I realized that the ebooks bore little relationship to the books as CPT originally wrote. There oughta be a law!!
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Post by haffyfan on May 26, 2023 17:59:58 GMT 1
The ebook of I'd rather not gallop is available at 99p currently, so that might cover a couple of above mentioned possibilities.
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Post by Claire on May 27, 2023 20:10:49 GMT 1
Thanks for all the great suggestions. (Apologies slow reply to the thread as I've been on my travels again with useless internet signal) I'll have to digest it all then pull it all together so I can start an official thread in the next couple of weeks.
Editing/updating is a particular bugbear of mine (which most of you will know by now). Reprints by Fidra Books, Girls Gone By and Jane Badger Books all seem to use the original text; with many other publishers you have to be wary. By the way Fidra Books sadly seems to have died a death. They still have a website but seem to have stopped selling or publishing.
Sidesaddle - not sure if there are enough books featuring this form of riding....I can only think off the top of my head of the Showing series by Caroline Akrill and Flambards. I'm sure there must be more - anyone else know of some others? If we can't come up with enough titles how about a category of something like non-standard riding/unusual forms of riding, then we can include things like trick riding, haute ecole, etc.
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Post by susanb on May 28, 2023 14:41:51 GMT 1
Too bad about the internet, Claire, not having a reliable connection is miserable 😖
Additional sidesaddle titles: Sidesaddle for Dandy by Nancy Faulkner Sidesaddle Ranch by Ann Spence Warner Can I Get There by Candlelight by Jean Slaughter Doty (also a reprint title) Why Didn’t They Tell the Horses by Christine McKenna
And, oddly,as it wasn’t a title I was thinking of for sidesaddle, though it was on my tentative list, The High Mettled Racer by Ernest Lewis. The cover art depicts a woman riding sidesaddle!
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Post by garej on May 28, 2023 23:22:59 GMT 1
Not that I have read it but does have a side saddle rider on the front cover is The Gift Horse by Alexa Romanes. Another possibility perhaps?
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Post by trixiepony on May 29, 2023 2:13:59 GMT 1
I will try this. I have been doing so book swiping with a fellow pony book friend.
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Post by garej on May 29, 2023 3:43:28 GMT 1
Good catch, garaj.....I'd forgotten that, and I actually got caught in that trap...I had ditched my old paperbacks and bought the ebooks when they came out (space issues ) and had to go back and buy Phantom again for a group read we did when I realized that the ebooks bore little relationship to the books as CPT originally wrote. There oughta be a law!! Don't forget that 3 of the books in the series have been retitled so if you're like me and own earlier reprints don't be fooled into getting the current editions thinking that you have missed out on some titles. One is obvious (Wait for me Phantom Horse has been retitled as Phantom Horse Wait for Me) but the other 2 are not. (Phantom Horse Island Mystery was originally published as Phantom Horse Goes to Scotland and Phantom Horse Disappears was originally published as Phantom Horse Goes to Ireland).
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Post by darkhorse on May 30, 2023 19:51:31 GMT 1
I will join in this year. I like all the ideas. Claire did you say you had a spare copy of Three Jays go to Town, if so I would love to scrounge it off you
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Post by Claire on May 31, 2023 19:17:55 GMT 1
Yes Darkhorse I do have a paperback copy you can have. It's a little tatty but in one piece.
Thanks for the sidesaddle suggestions. Unfortunately I haven't read The Gift Horse by Alexa Romanes either so I don't know what the sidesaddle connection is. I'm intrigued now so I may hunt out a copy - or if anyone has read it let us know!
Re. The Phantom Horse series, it is annoying when titles are changed for no earthly reason. I too thought these were new books, possibly ghost-written to continue the series and was disappointed to find they were just changed titles. The only tentative reaon I can come up with for the changes to the Scotland and Ireland books is that they could be aimed at an international/USA readership who don't know where those countries are. If so it's a tad patronising. Anyway I do have the alternative titles on my CPT page on the website should anyone need to check in the future.
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Post by tintin on Jun 5, 2023 15:20:29 GMT 1
I am intending to join in the challenge
Claire - The Gift Horse has a sizeable side saddle component, but to say what it was would be to give the most of the plot away. It is a nice book which has other themes too - riding for the disabled and jealousy. I'll just say it's a very traditional use of a side saddle which you won't find in I think any other work of fiction
Side Saddle stories - side saddle loses out in that it had very much faded away before the great age of pony book writers. There are no Pullein-Thompsons of side saddle :-( Mrs Martineau's non-fiction "Reminiscences of Hunting and Horses" is the nearest you will get. Alice Martineau was brilliantly crackers and could also draw. One of the Black Beauty's family series has some nice depictions of good and bad side saddle riding - I can't remember the title, but it is the one where the horse hero spends some time pulling a bathing machine. It has very nice illustrations too and is a heart warming book.
Of the books that touch on side saddle with any depth, sadly usually not much depth, most of them have more than a slight tinge of melancholy - of these "Hounds Will Meet" is for me the best - a series of vignettes of people who attend a hunt with beautiful illustrations.
"Let's Meet Again" is a very good book and has a side saddle lady in it. Mrs Edward Kennard, who wrote during the golden age of side saddle, should come with a health warning. Every book I have read of hers contains a dastardly mercenary man after the heroine's dough and a scene of horse carnage (eg multiple horse pile up where groom has to clamp an artery).
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Post by Claire on Jun 5, 2023 22:22:42 GMT 1
Thanks for your sidesaddle suggestions Tintin. Glad to hear you would like to take part. I think I will give The Gift Horse a try. I was going to do I'd Rather Not Gallop as the sidesaddle book, but it will be nice to try something new. Folks, an update - I have set up the official thread for this year's challenge HERE - please visit, check the categories and post your lists in the next 2-3 weeks. As well as the great suggestions given by your good selves, just a couple of ideas of my own: As we have discussed, a few of us are going to be reading Three Jays go to Town by Pat Smythe so I thought we could have that as a mini 'group read' within the challenge. Also morphing from that, I had an idea that it would be quite interesting to have a category for a pony book written by an author who is also a horsy celebrity, so we can look at the story from both angles. So as well as Pat Smythe, we have Pippa Funnell, Ginny Elliot, Marion Mould along with Gillian Baxter under the name of Gillian Hirst (Sue Elaine Draws a Horse) even Clare Balding wrote a couple. There may be more titles which other people can add, these are just off the top of my head. I think we can draw a veil over the pony books written by 'Jordan' however... Oh and of course books from your TBR piles will I am sure make an appearance!
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Post by trixiepony on Jun 6, 2023 1:30:20 GMT 1
there is a small side-saddle bit in Tan and Tarmace. Off corse I have just given my copy away as I you'd it as a swop withe a friend.
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