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Post by Claire on Aug 20, 2013 21:31:30 GMT 1
Maybe a new book/author...I've got Catch Rider by Jennifer Lyne in my tbr pile, it just came out. Sigh...just looked at amazon.uk, and it's not in print in the UK (though a kindle edition is available), and it's available through the Book Depository I haven't heard of that one Susan. Its not just for the reading circle, we need an author of the month who has written quite a lot of books and who most of us has read so that there is something to discuss! However there is nothing to stop us doing a reading circle book unrelated to the author of the month. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2013 20:19:53 GMT 1
How about Monica Edwards?
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Post by Claire on Aug 21, 2013 21:40:40 GMT 1
How about Monica Edwards? Thats definitely one for the future but I thought I'd leave it til a little later as I am friends with the bloke who runs the Monica Edwards website and thought I could rope him in to do something for us  maybe a Q and A or interview or something similar. I thought maybe November for that one and then I could stick in another author before the mastermind competition gets under way in October. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2013 7:19:22 GMT 1
How about Monica Edwards? Thats definitely one for the future but I thought I'd leave it til a little later as I am friends with the bloke who runs the Monica Edwards website and thought I could rope him in to do something for us maybe a Q and A or interview or something similar. I thought maybe November for that one and then I could stick in another author before the mastermind competition gets under way in October. Ohhh that would be brilliant!  |
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Post by Claire on Aug 22, 2013 12:13:05 GMT 1
Not that he know anything about it yet haha! |
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Post by Claire on Aug 27, 2013 12:23:04 GMT 1
Well I think we'll stick with garej's suggestion of DPT for Sept. I'll not bother with a dedicated web page for it as haven't really got time before I go away, but I'll set up a discussion thread before I go off. Pretty sure we already have a poll for fav DPT books so I'll put on a link to that too. Decided to do The Hermits Horse for the Sept reading circle read as it will be interesting to do a lesser known and later title, also I think it might make for some interesting discussion. But more on the respective threads...
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Post by Claire on Oct 15, 2013 14:41:30 GMT 1
Well due to various reasons I have decided to postpone the Monica Edwards author of the month for a while. So if anyone has any suggestions for November's author of the month please post here.
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Post by susanb on Oct 15, 2013 15:06:57 GMT 1
I don't know about everyone else, but I'd welcome a plain old book of the month rather than an author of the month. (Especially with Mastermind and the holidays approaching)
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Post by Claire on Oct 16, 2013 12:42:49 GMT 1
You could be right susan. I may defer the author of the month until the new year. But folks feel free to make nominations for future authors.
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Post by susanb on Oct 16, 2013 17:16:53 GMT 1
Maybe something off the beaten track? An author we've never done, or an adult book? A few suggestions: Clear Round by Pamela Macgregor-Morris Alison's Pony Adventure by Sheila Stuart Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart Wild Pony by Lucy Rees I think they're all fairly easy to find in the UK (and don't even bother saying Wild Pony is expensive, there are FIVE copies on abebooks selling for £2.00 or less, see link below). I've got a spare each of Wild Pony and Clear Round I could send to US members (Rally, Ally?) if they wanted to join, Airs Above the Ground is easy to find and cheap in the US, and shockingly enough, there are three inexpensive copies of Alison's Pony Adventure here too. www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?an=lucy+rees&bt.x=0&bt.y=0&sts=t&tn=wild+ponyAny thoughts? I'm open to suggestion too, as long as I can get hold of the book reasonably quickly (overseas shipping entering the holiday season is incredibly slow, unfortunately). |
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Post by Claire on Oct 16, 2013 17:28:32 GMT 1
Some good ideas there Susan. Pamela M M would be a possible candidate for an author of the month as she's written quite a few. The other authors maybe not enough (horse titles anyhow) but those you mention would make good books for reading circle. Yes I quite fancy a re-read of Wild Pony and its got a few talking points. May make that our November reading circle choice then maybe a Christmas one for Dec. Oh we should really be discussing it in the 'next book' thread on the reading circle section but what the heck lets live dangerously and talk off topic! |
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Post by susanb on Oct 16, 2013 17:50:41 GMT 1
Re Macgregor-Morris, I know she's written a number, but some are so hard to find and expensive...I think Clear Round and Topper are probably the only ones that are fairly easy/cheap.
I was trying to think of a Christmas one actually and had no luck coming up with any we haven't already done, except for one of Albert G. Miller's Fury books....Fury and the White Mare, if I remember correctly, has a blizzard and Christmas, but I don't think the books had UK printings.
Maybe a winter book generally, even if it doesn't specifically include Christmas? I suppose it's not surprising that there are so few, since it's harder to come up with outdoor riding adventures that take place in several feet of snow!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2013 18:04:09 GMT 1
Pamela Macgregor-Morris would suit me  |
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Post by susanb on Oct 16, 2013 18:14:37 GMT 1
btw, I'm not objecting to MacGregor-Morris as an author, just playing devils advocate for those who haven't managed to track down her less available books!
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Post by Claire on Oct 16, 2013 21:02:47 GMT 1
Well PMM is a thought. I do realise a number of her books are rare but I know a few of us have read some of them already and I can always scan some of them for people. As for Christmas books, well we've still got a few weeks to come up with something. I do have a copy of the Fury one if we can't think of anything else. Just keep suggestions for authors and Christmas reads coming folks.
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Post by susanb on Oct 16, 2013 21:21:51 GMT 1
Maybe we could do PMM for January, as an author-of-the-month, which would give people time to track down whatever they can? Maybe with Clear Round as the book-of-the-month, because it's easiest to get hold of?
Possibly then a stand-alone (perhaps Wild Pony....as you said, it's one that has a lot to chew on, especially for such a slim novel) for November?
Re Christmas and winter....only other books that spring to mind are Jean Slaughter Doty's Winter Pony, or White Winter by Eleanor Helme...will keep the thinking cap on though, as unfortunately I think the former is hard to find in the UK and the latter in the US.
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Post by susanb on Oct 16, 2013 21:25:08 GMT 1
Oh, thought of one more...Christmas Horse by Glenn Balch...again, not one readily available in the UK.....it's lurked in my tbr pile for ....errm....some years now  |
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Post by brumby on Oct 16, 2013 21:54:49 GMT 1
I'm all for PMM I have four of her books. Have just ordered a cheap Wild Pony so that would suit me also. Hmmm..... still buying more books, my TBR pile is growing |
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Post by Claire on Oct 17, 2013 11:32:54 GMT 1
Re Christmas and winter....only other books that spring to mind are Jean Slaughter Doty's Winter Pony, or White Winter by Eleanor Helme...will keep the thinking cap on though, as unfortunately I think the former is hard to find in the UK and the latter in the US. Actually Winter Pony is quite easy to get here in paperback, easier than White Winter! But it is the 2nd in the series, usually we stick to a stand-alone or first in the series for the reading circle. There is a lesser known modern Brit book by Sylvia Green called The Christmas Pony. I enjoyed this one, aimed at slightly younger readers but its quite traditional. Not sure how easy it is to get in the USA but easy here. (It is also available as a 2 in 1 with a nice cat themed Christmas story included also) Other thoughts include Issie's Christmas Pony by Stacy Gregg, tho she's not my cup of tea, The Christmas Colt by Mallory Stevens (USA book quite good), Christmas at Silver Lake by Coleen Hubbard (USA historical story) One Frosty Christmas by Laura Hesse (recently published by Canadian author)Pony From the Farm by Mary Gervaise is set in the Christmas hols (but once again not first in series) The Christmas Pony by Wendy Douthwaite (fairly modern British story, pretty decent). There are a few others but as they are rarish I've not bothered listing them. |
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Post by susanb on Oct 17, 2013 14:39:44 GMT 1
Wow....had no idea there were so many! They all appear easily available in the US, with the exception of the Mary Gervaise book.
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Post by rallycairn on Oct 17, 2013 16:17:14 GMT 1
Claire, I believe the Hesse book is part of her holiday pony series -- I just read The Great Pumpkin Ride and did miss the backstory a bit as it clearly wasn't the first book in the series. I've been meaning to write a review of that one -- it had some strong points but also read in some ways like a self-published work. I think a good editor could have taken the strong points -- complex protagonist (attractive young girl that others are drawn to, both boys and girls, but she faces the huge obstacle of being a recent amputee and had withdrawn because of that), decent setting with some local color -- and tightened up some occasional grammar issues and quickened the pace a bit and made it a much stronger work. Still worth checking out, but I do think it's a series. Though the Christmas one may be the first one, so if you do read first books in a series, that should work.
The excellent Walt Morey book Year of the Black Pony culminates at Christmas time, but that would only be the last third or so taking place around Christmas. Still, it's a great book and kind of different -- frontier west of America. Hard struggles on a homestead but life still has some leavening, especially with the pony of your dreams!
Horse of Fire is my favorite Christmas horse story, but obviously that's a non-starter as it is penultimate in the series and Jinny has been discussed a lot already.
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Post by rallycairn on Oct 17, 2013 16:27:31 GMT 1
PS: I just got a copy of Sleigh Bells for Windy Foot which as I understand it is full of Christmas-y content, but that's a series, too. Anybody read Windy Foot? I haven't but am looking forward to this one for December.
Also in the same lot (Free! Thank you Chronicle of the Horse cyber friend from North Carolina!) an intriguing one in a similar vein -- one of those everyday life type of stories -- Starlight by Regina Woody. Clearly written for a slightly younger reader than most pony books, but still looks good. I also got Winged Colt of Casa Mia, Stallion of the Sands, and several other ones new to me, and some Dorothy Lyons and Patsey Gray titles I've read but never had my own copies of (Star Lost, etc.) and Bluegrass Champion Harlequin Hullabaloo which I haven't ever read. And several more. So Christmas came early for me!
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Post by susanb on Oct 17, 2013 21:20:20 GMT 1
I never really thought of Starlight as being for a much younger reader...it does hit on class and race, which was unusual for it's day. I enjoyed it, and have read a number of her non-horsey books too (if you enjoy books on dance, her Ballet in the Barn is considered a minor classic).
I've read a couple of books in the Windy Foot series....I wouldn't honestly call the horsey detail all that accurate (the boy is a little old to be racing a Shetland pony, as he did in the first book in the series, unless he's a midget!) They are, nonetheless, totally charming, and none more so than Sleigh Bells...I'm sure it will add to your holiday cheer!
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Post by rallycairn on Oct 17, 2013 21:29:02 GMT 1
Hi, Susan, I see you are online! [waves] Re: Starlight, I was just going by the larger print and the illustrations in which the children look more like 9 or 10 than 11 or 12 and up. Sounds like a good one! My copy is in quite bad shape -- lots of scribbling on it, childish doodles, and the frontispiece pages are torn, so additional impressions that it was for younger readers. I'm looking forward to it, though.
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Post by susanb on Oct 17, 2013 21:33:15 GMT 1
[waves back!]
Pity about the doodles....maybe it was because the kid who got it was too young to actually read it!
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Post by Claire on Oct 17, 2013 23:03:06 GMT 1
Claire, I believe the Hesse book is part of her holiday pony series -- I just read The Great Pumpkin Ride and did miss the backstory a bit as it clearly wasn't the first book in the series. I'm not sure if the books are actually part of a series as such as they seem to feature different characters, tho possibly all the characters are introduced in the first book. But in any case the Christmas one is the first one going by publication date, so should be fine. I must say the books have intrigued me when I've been researching them for the website. Hmmm maybe we could even have a poll for top 10 Christmas stories now we are finding so many! |
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Post by Claire on Jan 24, 2014 12:12:47 GMT 1
Hi all, want to start this section up again now Christmas is well and truly out of the way. Any suggestions for Feb author of the month? Preferably someone who has written quite a lot as there is more to discuss etc. I was thinking possibly Judith Berrisford as she has a pretty large output and I don't think we have ever done one of her books in the reading circle.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2014 19:00:33 GMT 1
I've got Timber, which I like, but got rid of all the Jackie books I had a while ago. I could probably do one of those from memory...I think.
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Post by h affyfan on Jan 24, 2014 19:19:59 GMT 1
I quite like most of the Jackie books, if i'm honest. Ponies next door is also good and i don't mind the Pippa books either... basically i'm fairly easy with JMB, unless it's timber which i didn't like (sorry rosie) and as they're so easy/quick to read i might actually get around the reaading and joining in! My vote would be for jackie and the missing show jumper or Trouble At Ponyways (both childhood favourite)
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Post by susanb on Jan 24, 2014 22:02:12 GMT 1
LOL...me too Rosie, I had three or four of the Jackies, and just couldn't get on with them. If I remember correctly, it was because all the adults in the series treat Jackie and her friends as though they were idiots, and that always just burns me.
I too liked Timber, thought I was the only one! I also liked Ponies Next Door. I've got the Sue trilogy and Red Rocket, which I've never been able to get through. I read and got rid of Pony in the Family and Trouble at Ponyways.
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maybe a Q and A or interview or something similar. I thought maybe November for that one and then I could stick in another author before the mastermind competition gets under way in October. 
