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Post by Claire on Mar 27, 2010 10:56:17 GMT 1
Next reading circle book is The Silver Brumby by Elyne Mitchell This is our first Aussie book and also I think the first one from the horse's viewpoint. Post here if you haven't got a copy and would like to join in. As usual, discussion will take place in about 10 days time which will hopefully give everyone time to have got hold of a copy and read it. I will add poll then too.
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Post by trixiepony on Mar 27, 2010 11:42:28 GMT 1
Oh goody one off my faveites, I have always loved The Silver Brumby.
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Post by kunuma on Mar 27, 2010 22:42:18 GMT 1
Does happy dance!! ;D ;D ;D
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Post by Claire on Apr 8, 2010 9:41:43 GMT 1
Hi all,
I have just started the book. Has anyone else? Don't forget to post if you need to borrow a copy.
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Post by foxglove on Apr 8, 2010 10:14:00 GMT 1
I'm going to rely on 20 year old memories- I did read it many times as a child and remember it very clearly. A lot of the vivid description and place names came back to me when I travelled round Australia for several weeks about 5 years ago. I will dig out a pic of brumbies that I took when I was there.
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Post by Claire on Apr 11, 2010 20:39:27 GMT 1
Hi all, have added the poll. How are we getting on? I've finished it, tho like foxglove I could probably have discussed it without reading as I have read it so many times before!
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vera
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Post by vera on Apr 14, 2010 7:32:52 GMT 1
Love that this is a book to which I have easy access and also the movie! I have lost count of the number of times I have read it but it is up there with my favourites. Cheers, Vera
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Post by foxglove on Apr 14, 2010 9:32:18 GMT 1
Just for interest, here is a picture of some wild brumbies I saw in Australia about 6 years ago. As you can see, I am not a professional photographer and do not have a very powerful camera! This was in Northern Territory, on the way to Uluru. It was extremely hot and dry, and the horses must have been pretty tough to survive on such bare grazing. I did also spend some time around the Snowy Mountain area of the Silver Brumby books (New Zealanders find it hilarious that Australians call them "mountains"!), in Cooma and Jindabyne, but didn't make it up to Threadbo (which I'm sure is mentioned in one of the books)- public transport is not as good in Oz as it is in NZ, so it is harder to travel around if you don't have a car. No silver ones in sight!
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Post by kunuma on Apr 14, 2010 10:33:22 GMT 1
Thank you for posting that picture Foxglove Of course there were no silver ones, they were all in the Secret Valley! PS Any more piccies???
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Post by Claire on Apr 14, 2010 11:12:26 GMT 1
Thanks for the picture. I have the edition with the photos in as well as the lovely illustrations, as a child I just had the pb, so its a bonus to have photos of real life brumbies. I've always wanted to visit the Snowy Mountains. I fell in love with the descriptions in the books and also the names!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2010 13:01:02 GMT 1
Lovely photo of the brumbies foxglove.
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Post by Claire on Apr 15, 2010 13:34:45 GMT 1
Not sure what stage everyone is at with this, but thought I'd start the ball rolling and people can chip in whenever they are ready.
Like a few other forum members I have read the Silver Brumby books so many times it was like visiting old friends. It will be interesting to see if our reactions to the book differ from those reading it for the first time. I do love the books. I think this book was the first book I ever read set in Australia and about wild horses which made it quite exotic to me. (Nowadays no doubt the book would have been published in America with American terms replacing the Aussie ones just in case the kids reading it didnt understand!) To me the unfamiliar setting was one of the appeals of the book. I just loved the names which were very evocative and charming. I think my fav was Paddy Rushes Bogong! Also the exotic creatures and birds and the bush setting gave more interest and depth to the book.
The story is quite simplistic really. In a way I see this book as setting up the series which develops further with a lot more characters. My favs were always Silver Brumbies of the South and SIlver Brumby Kingdom as the characters were becoming more faimilar and interacted more.
Another thing I like about the book is that it is building up a legend of Thowra which gives the book (and even more so in later Brumby books) a slightly spiritual feel. Thowra is larger than life and mysterious. To many animals and the trackers he is a legendary ghost like figure and we can feel this even tho we know the truth behind his legend. (ie his secret valley, his antics over the cliffs) In later books both he and Bel Bel become ghostly figures who appear to other horses after they really are dead and so continue the legend that Elyne Mitchell has built up. Once again, I think you get much more out of the book if you read more in the series.
On the whole I am not really a fan of books from the horses view point as they are often an inferior copy of Black Beauty and rather dull. This one is different as it is one of the few books to concentrate mainly on wild horses and their interaction in herds. Some of this is realistic, some of it is not, like Storm and Thowra remaining friends throughout life. (But the author does attempt to explain this and you have to give her some artistic licence!)
This leads to a criticism of Elyne Mitchell which I think we must discuss. Some have disparaged the Silver Brumby stories as anthropomorphic, giving the animals too much in the way of human characteristics, especially as the horses talk to each other like humans. This perhaps accounted for the fact that in Elyne's later books about the Brumbies, the horses did not speak to each other in this way. For me, I actually prefer the books where they talk together. The only quibble I have with this (and it is widespread amongst books where the viewpoint is from the horse) is that the horses (or other animals) seem to understand human speech. This of course would be completely impossible and always slightly irritates me when I read it in a book. I have been learning Spanish for over 2 years and I still can't understand Spanish speakers very well so how could an animal instinctively understand humans?!! For example in the book the cattle hear the men telling tales of Thowra and pass them on to the other bush animals which helps to build up his legend amongst the animals. Now I like cows but I'd be the first to admit they are not the most intelligent of creatures - so how the heck have they worked out human speech! But this is really my only quibble with the book.
I don't think the anthromorphosism spoils the books at all and it is coupled with much realistic horse behaviour which balances it out. What critics on this score seem to forget is that it is a work of fiction, designed to entertain children, not a dry tome on herd behaviour in horses!
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Post by foxglove on Apr 15, 2010 14:44:55 GMT 1
Sadly that is the only brumby photo I have- taken through a minibus window in ye olden dayes before digital cameras.
What I remember about the book was that I didn't actually know what a lot of the plants/animals were (eg possums and wallabies), but that it never stopped your enjoyment of the story. The setting did make it feel like another world as it was so unfamiliar, especially some of the distinctive Aborignal names for the horses. I only recently discovered that what Australians call wattles (quite an ugly word for a beautiful tree) are what I would know as mimosa, and that snow gums are eucalyptus trees.
As a child, I liked the fact that the animals communicated with each other, and remember comparing it to another great favourite of mine, the Flicka books, where the life of horses running free in a herd is also described in engaging detail, but without the horses "speaking" to each other. I loved The Animals of Farthing Wood and the Redwall series, where animals speak across the species barrier (although with Jacques often with distinctive dialects), so perhaps that's why it didn't bother me. The whole of the bush seemed to be so alive with all the different communicating animals, very vibrant. It would be a very different book without the horses expressing their emotions through "speech".*
I had the first four books in the series, but only read Silver Brumby Whirlwind once from the library; I didn't like the ending. I don't think I've read Son Of The Whirlwind.
* this reminds me of an incident a couple of years ago when I visited a friend in Norway who keeps a horse. I rode her friend's horse (a lovely Danish Warmblood mare), who was the alpha female in that yard. The mare and my friend's gelding were already out in a field, when a young, new horse was put in with them. The new mare trotted over to them, then slowed to a hesitant walk, with her head down, approaching the boss mare and very clearly "saying" humbly with her body language, "please may I graze in this part of the field with you?". The boss mare sniffed, snorted, and then turned away as if to say, "I suppose so."
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Post by darkhorse on Apr 15, 2010 20:52:58 GMT 1
Sorry I'm behind with the book as I've been away. I've voted excellent!
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Post by trixiepony on Apr 16, 2010 3:00:14 GMT 1
I Have all ways loved the Silver Brumby books and being Aussie well makes them speshell to me.
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Post by haffyfan on Apr 17, 2010 20:05:57 GMT 1
I ahven't read this one in a long time...sorry was too busy with twilight!
What I love about them...Elyne's books in general...is the vivid descriptions of everything especially the countryside. You may never have been to the snowy mountains but you certainly feel you know every inch. Obviously the living there herself only adds to this as she is describing scenes from a first hand experience and not just 'winging it' as so many do. This allows her to flow where others would surely falter however well they researched their topic/locations.
I must admit I actually prefer the newer Brumby books which are told from a more human perspective I guess than the early ones....I think is it in Moon Filly where the communication between the horses becomes more subtle and 'equine' rather than the the way they initially speak to one another in the first 4 titles.
I also like the fact that that The Silver Brumby was born from the fact she didn't feel their was any suitable books for her young daughter to read so decided she would write her one instead!
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Post by Buster on Apr 17, 2010 23:36:50 GMT 1
Lovely photo Cannot wait to read it now!
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Post by Claire on Apr 19, 2010 10:06:57 GMT 1
Mysteryarab dont forget to let us know what you think. I'd like to hear from someone who hasnt read the books a gazillion times like most of us! I think Son of the whirliwind was also one which was non-verbal communication wasnt it? Can't check cos my 2 whirlwind ones have gone missing Anyone got copies they can donate or swap, even tatty ones?
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Post by kunuma on Apr 19, 2010 12:33:58 GMT 1
I might have a Whirlwind copy - it is the one I find hard to read - so the only one I don't read over and over! However since poor MysteryArab is still waiting for the USELESS BRITISH POST OFFICE to deliver hers, (posted first class on the 6th!!) I might send one of the dogs off with it in a haversack! This time I did get a proof of posting slip - does anyone know how you go about actually using that to get the parcel either delivered or back??
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2010 14:23:24 GMT 1
poor MysteryArab is still waiting for the USELESS BRITISH POST OFFICE to deliver hers, (posted first class on the 6th!!) >: Oooooh I know just how you feel, don't get me started on this one This is why I don't ask to borrow books from anyone anymore as I had one go missing in the post, which belonged to someone else here, and it was never seen again. I hope mysteryarabs does turn up O.K.
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Post by Buster on Apr 19, 2010 19:20:08 GMT 1
Oooooh I know just how you feel, don't get me started on this one This is why I don't ask to borrow books from anyone anymore as I had one go missing in the post, which belonged to someone else here, and it was never seen again. I hope mysteryarabs does turn up O.K. Oh no! !
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Post by exmoorfan on Apr 19, 2010 22:50:14 GMT 1
Oh dear is this a post problem.? Sorry claire. I don't seem to have this book.. Thought I had all the wild books..lol But no. I can't find it..
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vera
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Post by vera on Apr 20, 2010 5:55:33 GMT 1
One of the things Elyne Mitchell said about "The Silver Brumby" was that it was more a dream of what horses could be than a story about horses. I think the film brings this out beautifully with its evocative music. Also the legend of Thowra grew with the telling. I remember being given the book as a ten year old and just loving the line illustrations of the different animals as much as the story itself. I went on to collect all the series. Some are better than others but they all have a quality of living in a world meant for horses. Man and his ways are the intruder. Which is really ironic when you consider that brumbies are an introduced species, damaging native habitat. I think this quality of horses living outside our world is one of my favourite things about the series.
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Post by Claire on Apr 20, 2010 11:51:24 GMT 1
poor MysteryArab is still waiting for the USELESS BRITISH POST OFFICE to deliver hers, (posted first class on the 6th!!) I might send one of the dogs off with it in a haversack! This time I did get a proof of posting slip - does anyone know how you go about actually using that to get the parcel either delivered or back?? They will probably blame the volcanic ash!!! Getting money back from them when something goes missing is slightly harder than getting blood out of a stone! You have to atually provide a receipt of the item's worth to get reimbursed otherwise they will only replace the postage costs. It's a joke and probably bordering on illegal when you comsider the consumer laws. How the hell are you going to have a receipt for a book you are giving or lending to a friend? I can get round it as I have a business and can print out receipts but the average person sending stuff thru the post hasn't a hope of getting their money back.
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Post by Buster on Apr 20, 2010 15:15:09 GMT 1
IT ARRIVED TODAY! Will get reading.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2010 17:10:57 GMT 1
IT ARRIVED TODAY! I'm pleased to hear that...a happy ending for a change Took long enough to get to you though
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Post by Claire on Apr 20, 2010 20:21:04 GMT 1
Glad it arrived, I think it would have got there quicker on the back of a silver brumby!
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Post by Buster on Apr 21, 2010 9:09:06 GMT 1
Wouldn't mind if one of them turned up at my door...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2010 12:35:31 GMT 1
Me neither. I'll have two please Maybe we can have some for sale in Pumbles farm Not that I'm dropping any large hints or anything ;D
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Post by kunuma on Apr 22, 2010 12:22:52 GMT 1
Claire will put Whirlwind in post - but unless there is an actual whirlwind at the time you probably won't get it before next year!! Exmoor fan do you want to borrow Silver Brumby??
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