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Post by Claire on Feb 3, 2011 12:46:24 GMT 1
Hi folks, time to do the best and worst books of all time. I know we have done threads before for your favourite books but not for a while, and we havent worked out a top 10 for them as yet. So nominations please, for stand alone books or a particular book from a series. Top 10 series is on another thread. Obviously this is going to be a hard one as there are so many great books out there but we will try and whittle it down to 10. When I did something similar on a different forum years ago the winner was Black Beauty, be interesting to see if it features again.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2011 13:26:42 GMT 1
Oh blimey will have to think hard about this one as I like so many!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2011 14:50:44 GMT 1
Very Hard! Silver Snaffles - Primrose Cumming Six Ponies - JPT The Horsemasters - Don Stanford Cobbler's Dream - Monica Dickens Moorland Mousie - Golden Gorse Lucky Purchase - PMM Blind Beauty - K M Peyton Black Beauty - Anna Sewell Jills's Gymkhana - Ruby Ferguson Shank's pony - Eleanor Helme Fly-by-Night - K M Peyton Eventers dream - Caroline Akrill I could go on and on...
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Post by susanb on Feb 3, 2011 17:09:37 GMT 1
This is going to be awfully hard! It depends so much on what you loved as a child and, quite conversely, on what you've read most recently! Here's a start, but I make no promises about changing my mind National Velvet by Enid Bagnold Dark Sunshine by Dorothy Lyons King Sam (US title Tall and Proud) by Vian Smith King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry The Crumb by Jean Slaughter Doty The Sweet Running Filly by Pat Johnson and Barbara van Tuyl Gaze at the Moon by Joanna Cannan The Secret Horse by Marion Holland
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Post by haffyfan on Feb 3, 2011 21:20:03 GMT 1
Like Susan I amy chnage my mind but for starters I love
The Eventers trilogy (the 3 in one edition of course!)
Prince among ponies
Pony Club Camp
Woodbury PC trilogy (as with eventers!)
The Black Loch
Janet must ride
if we have to whittle down to 10 i may have to think hard about the last 4 I'm allowed
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2011 21:30:34 GMT 1
Oh, were we only supposed to say ten? Ooops!
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Post by Claire on Feb 3, 2011 22:13:33 GMT 1
You can have more than 10 suggestions if you want but you can only vote for 10 on the poll. I dont think it lets you have more than about 30 items on the poll so we will have to try and keep the possibles down to that!
Some of mine:
Pony Club Camp Blind Beauty Dream of Fair Horses Fly by Night/the Team Mystery Trek The Wild One (OK not really much pony content in it)
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Post by kunuma on Feb 3, 2011 22:57:56 GMT 1
The Silver Brumby Silver Brumby's Daughter Silver Brumbies of the South Silver Brumby Kingdom Wish for a Pony No Mistaking Corker Black Hunting Whip Prince Among Ponies Pony For Sale Jill's Gymkhana
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Post by susanb on Feb 4, 2011 1:30:20 GMT 1
I'd suggest that the Saddle Club be retired to the "Bad-Pony-Book Hall of Fame....it's almost pointless to add to the list because I think we all hate them sooo much. If you listed 10 titles from the series at random, that would be the top 10 right there!
(Of course, I have to admit I also hated the Babysitters Club books, which I understand the Saddle Club was based on).
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Post by trixiepony on Feb 4, 2011 4:25:55 GMT 1
Mm this is a hard one, I'll have to think a bit about this one.
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Post by Claire on Feb 4, 2011 11:42:00 GMT 1
Susan I think you are in the wrong thread! ;D
I know someone who has read the entire saddle club series..... ;D ;D ;D
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2011 13:14:52 GMT 1
Give that woman a medal ;D
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Post by jinglerebel on Feb 4, 2011 13:34:43 GMT 1
Dream of Fair Horses For Love of a Horse The Pony Problem Fly By Night The Team Currently going through my Jill books, looks like Jills's Gymkhana will get the nod, unfortunately my copy is really grotty from its years in the garage so haven't braved it yet!
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Post by foxglove on Feb 4, 2011 17:36:03 GMT 1
I think there is a difference between "best" and "favourite"- if I'm honest, some of my favourites are comfort reads rather than great masterpieces.....
I'm basing mine on the number of times I re-read them, and the long-lasting effect they had on me.
Fly-By-Night (I think this is the only book in which I know the first and last sentence) The Silver Brumby (an important part of my trip to Oz was going to the Cascade region) Green Grass Of Wyoming (again influenced travel- spent a summer working in the stunning American Rockies) Darkling (cemented a love of racing) Pony Club Cup (for me this personally epitomises the Pony Club/rosettes type story, but with much stronger characters than most) Difficult for me to choose one Jinny book out of the series. If pushed, I'd say Horse of Fire, as it was the first I read and one of the few books I've literally been drawn into by the cover.
In rediscovering this genre over the past 8 months or so, I've read a lot of books with a jaded, adult eye. I'd say Dream Of Fair Horses is by some way the best in terms of character, pony personality, warmth and strength of writing. I'd put that and Fly-By-Night as the two best stand alone examples of the pony book.
This thread will reveal a lot about our tastes!
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Post by susanb on Feb 4, 2011 18:35:34 GMT 1
whoops! quite right, I clicked into the wrong thread!
Someone has read all the Saddle Club books? What courage!
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Post by susanb on Feb 4, 2011 18:38:51 GMT 1
I think foxglove is absolutely right! Would it make sense, could enough of us put on our "critical" hats instead of our "warm and fuzzy nostalgia" hats, to do both a BEST pony book top 10 and a BEST LOVED pony book top 10?
Looking over my list, for instance, I could say truely that, while King Sam (aka Tall and Proud) is one of my best loved books, his best work would really be The Minstral Boy or The Lord Mayor's Show.
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Post by Claire on Feb 4, 2011 20:26:51 GMT 1
Foxglove & susan you have hit the nail right on the head. I was just thinking along similar lines, like I love Only One Pony by Elinore Havers as I read it loads of times as a kid and it is such a part of my pony mad childhood but I can't say its great writing by any means. So yes maybe we could have 2 polls, with another one for best loved pony book, or maybe best comfort read which would distinguish it a bit more....? So then we can make 2 lists each!
What do the rest of you folks think?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2011 21:20:43 GMT 1
I would have my choices in both lists as I think , for me personally, they are all well written as well as comfort reads but I'm no expert on what is well written
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Post by Claire on Feb 4, 2011 22:21:46 GMT 1
Also what is it that actually makes a great pony book: is it something that is well written, insightful and intelligent or is it just a book that evokes all your horsy memories and was read over and over again throughout your childhood? Should it appeal to children more than adults....or both? Its more complicated than I thought
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Post by susanb on Feb 4, 2011 22:45:18 GMT 1
Claire, I think that
would fit the definition of a BEST book....i.e. the kind of book that could win a book award, that just happens to be about ponies
and that
would fit the definition of BEST LOVED book.
To provide concrete examples, you could say that K.M. Peyton and Marguerite Henry both won THE major children's book awards in their respective countries (Peyton for Edge of the Cloud, Henry for King of the Wind)....they were/are great writers, period.
If you could look at other books and say, "yes, they're in that class, of that calibre", then they'd fit the BEST book section.
Books that you loved beyond words, but that don't really fit that criteria, would belong in BEST LOVED. It doesn't mean that you're slighting that book....how much of what we love is really the "best" of anything?
That said, there would certainly be crossover....for my own part, I consider National Velvet to be one of the best of the genre, as well as being one that I just loved.
At any rate, I think two polls would be fun because a) it would get everyone to really thinking about WHY they think highly of a particular book, b) it would give everyone potentially 20 picks instead of only 10 ;D ;D
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Post by susanb on Feb 4, 2011 22:48:11 GMT 1
BTW, just looking further down the line, maybe it would be fun to read a couple of books from each of the "bests" for the reading group, to compare/contrast?
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Post by Claire on Feb 4, 2011 23:39:25 GMT 1
BTW, just looking further down the line, maybe it would be fun to read a couple of books from each of the "bests" for the reading group, to compare/contrast? I like that idea!
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Post by garej on Feb 5, 2011 10:20:23 GMT 1
All the ones that I feel go into this list have already been mentioned. Although there are a lot of books that are here that I have never read (such as Vian Smith's books).
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Post by haffyfan on Feb 5, 2011 14:44:37 GMT 1
Claire, I think that would fit the definition of a BEST book....i.e. the kind of book that could win a book award, that just happens to be about ponies and that would fit the definition of BEST LOVED book. would definatly agree with this susan. Would have to think long and hard where my choices so far would fit too! Like the idea of being able to choose 20 this way as was really struggling to narrow my other contenders down to just 4 to complete my selection
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Post by Claire on Feb 5, 2011 20:11:06 GMT 1
Folks you can pick more than 10 suggestions. I'll just have to whittle the numbers down to about 30 for each poll if there are more than that suggested.
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Post by susanb on Feb 5, 2011 21:54:07 GMT 1
Revisions, revisions:
BEST
National Velvet by Enid Bagnold
King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry
The Crumb by Jean Slaughter Doty
War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
We Couldn't Leave Dinah by Mary Treadgold
Flambards by K.M. Peyton
The Minstrel Boy by Vian Smith
The Perfect Distance by Kim Ablon Whitney
I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade by Diane Lee Wilson
Dream of Fair Horses (US title Fields of Praise) by Patricia Leitch
BEST LOVED
The Secret Horse by Marion Holland
King Sam (US title Tall and Proud) by Vian Smith
The Sweet Running Filly by Pat Johnson and Barbara van Tuyl
Dark Sunshine by Dorothy Lyons
Gaze at the Moon by Joanna Cannan
The Pony Problem by Barbara Holland
Jill's Gymkhana by Ruby Ferguson
The Black Stallion by Walter Farley
Bright Spurs by Armine von Tempski
Horsepower by Patsey Gray
Big Jump for Robin by Suzanne Wilding
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Post by fizz on Feb 6, 2011 12:56:34 GMT 1
For me: Radney Riding Club, Blind Beauty Woodbury series The Hermit's Horse, I Wanted a Pony Flying Changes Ribbons & Rings Black Ebony My Friend Flicka Horses of Petrock
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Post by darkhorse on Feb 6, 2011 17:35:45 GMT 1
My selections......
Best loved/Comfot read: Three Ponies and Shannon Prince Among Ponies The Trick Jumpers Six Ponies Only One Pony Jump to the Top Jills Gymkhana Pony Club Team Pony Club Camp One Day Event Misty of Chincoteague All the Jinny series!
Best overall: Six ponies Prince Among Ponies Fly by Night Dream Of Fair Horses For Love of a Horse Ride Like the Wind Flambards National Velvet Eventer's Trilogy
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Post by Buster on Feb 7, 2011 10:53:40 GMT 1
Darkling and Blind Beauty (although its been a while since I read Blind Beauty, will have to get it out the library again)
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Post by Claire on Feb 11, 2011 20:21:16 GMT 1
Well here are some of my selections. It was quite hard to work out which category they should be in and some are in both! And no I havent stuck to 10!
BEST OVERALL
Pony Club Camp by J. Pullein-Thompson Six Ponies by JPT Dream of Fair Horses by Patricia Leitch The Heron Ride by Mary Treadgold Blind Beauty by K M Peyton Fly by Night by K M Peyton Crab the roan by K M Peyton For Love of a Horse by Patricia Leitch The Silver Brumby by Elyne Mitchell I Wrote a Pony Book by Joanna Cannan The Team from Low Moor by Gillian Baxter King of the Wind By Marguerite Henry The Horse Sale by CPT The Silver Bridle by Caroline Akrill Follyfoot by Monica Dickens National Velvet by Enid Bagnold Come Down the Mountain by Vian Smith The Wild One by Monica Edwards
BEST LOVED
No Mistaking Corker Wish for a Pony Pony Club Camp by JPT Six Ponies by JPT Pony Club Team by JPT A Stable for Jill A Horse Called September by Anne Digby Only One Pony & Dream Pony by Elinore Havers The Mystery Trek by Primrose Cumming Fly by Night The Team Silver Brumby Kingdom Ponies in Peril A Horse for the Holidays (Janet Young Rider) by Patricia Leitch The Black Stallion
I'll prob think of more later!
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