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Post by susanb on Mar 16, 2017 13:22:00 GMT 1
LOL...recovery is a work in progress.....physical therapy twice a week, and I'm still working from home. Apparently torn ligaments are tougher to heal than bone, who would have thought? I have read Easter Meeting, but it's been a few years now, and I remember it as being very enjoyable, so no objection to reading it again. I haven't read any of the others, but as you say, not sure how easily any are to source. I remember Pony Trackers as being quite cheap, and of course the paperback of Easter the Showjumper isn't difficult to find in the UK (I understand opinions are very divided on it, so might make for quite a discussion )
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Post by susanb on Mar 16, 2017 13:34:51 GMT 1
OK, had a quick peek on abebooks....there are a few copies of Easter Meeting out there, the cheapest is actually in the US, in Vermont.....all of three dollars! (Far less than I paid for my copy, though mine wasn't crazy expensive either).
Lots of copies of Castle in Northumbria out there, though the cheapest are in the UK, the others aren't too dear and are available in Australia, New Zealand and US.
Surprisingly there are only three copies of Pony Trackers out there on abebooks....I had no idea it was rare-ish. None are very expensive, but not super cheap either.
Lots of copies of Easter the Showjumper in pb out there, all at decent prices. Some are available via Book Depository on abebooks (probably from them direct as well) so free shipping worldwide.
As you suspected, Pony in the Luggage (Pony Surprise in the US) far and away the cheapest and most available, oddly though, only in US and Canada outside of the UK....no copies showed up in Australia or New Zealand.
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Post by darkhorse on Mar 17, 2017 21:33:08 GMT 1
I have Ponies in the Luggage. I don't think I have ever read it so I would definitely be up for that one. I'm open to any of the others if they aren't too expensive.
Best of luck with your recovery Susan. Hope the physio isn't too painful.
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Post by Claire on Mar 21, 2017 23:56:30 GMT 1
Thanks for checking those out Susan. I wouldn't inflict Easter the Showjumper on anyone tho. Strange thidra picked the worst book in the series (and certainly not the rarest one) to re-publish. I think we will go with Pony in the Luggage as it's easy to find/a lot of people will have it, it's by a European author, and I dont think we have ever read a book in the group read by A non-Brit European. Also I haven't read it myself for ages and I quite fancy a re-read!
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Post by brumby on Mar 27, 2017 6:25:34 GMT 1
I'm in with Pony in the luggage, just ordered it for $6.00, should arrive by the time we are ready to go!
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Post by susanb on Mar 27, 2017 15:44:59 GMT 1
Just a heads up for those looking for copies, the US edition is called Pony Surprise. Obviously most useful for those in North America, but you never know, the odd US copy often turns up in Europe or Australia.
LOL....we can start the book debate now, over the title change I think Pony in the Luggage is much more fun and interesting than Pony Surprise, but I can see where it would have been confusing/potentially off-putting to US readers, as for us "luggage" refers more often to a suitcase than to a trunk*, and a pony would have to be in pieces to fit in (eeek! Shades of the Godfather!!!).
(* "trunk" would be the US name for the container that the pony on the cover is standing in....or "steamer-trunk", alluding to an ocean voyage" . Unfortunately, "trunk" is also the word for what you would call a car "boot", so changing the title to "The Pony in the Trunk" wouldn't have helped either!)
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Post by Claire on Mar 27, 2017 17:43:25 GMT 1
Yes we're back into that endlessly fascinating subject of British and American word differences. A trunk to us Brits, is something an elephant has lol. Actually trunk was used in the UK in the same way as the American version a while back but died out in maybe the 1950s. The changes in title get more interesting when you consider the book was originally written in Swedish! The original title is MED LIL-KLAS I KAPPSACKEN !! Kappsacken(which I think is a gorgeous word) using google translate is suitcase! One more note to add. Pony Surprise is also the title of a Patricia Leitch book so don't get mixed up and get that one by mistake.
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Post by Claire on Oct 9, 2017 19:05:16 GMT 1
Hi all, well it's almost time for the Halloween spooky read! I thought perhaps Stealaway by K. M. Peyton may be a good choice as its very easy to find and low cost in the UK and also easy to find, if slightly more expensive (not hugely so) in the USA. Otherwise if anyone else has any suggestions for a spooky/ghostly read which is not too rare or expensive please post here.
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Post by trixiepony on Oct 13, 2017 11:01:23 GMT 1
I can see if I can find a copy once you have decided on witch one to do, I’m not that into spookie story’s but I do what to get back in to joneing in again. It must off almost looked like I had left the group.
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Post by rallycairn on Oct 13, 2017 17:48:23 GMT 1
How readily available is Dreamcatcher by Pamela Kavanagh?
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Post by haffyfan on Oct 13, 2017 19:10:25 GMT 1
I have stealaway - bonus being it's short.
One suggestion could be Riding a Dead Horse by Bonnie Lewis, if i recall it was a decent read, and if i have it on my kindle it means it was a freebie and maybe others will have picked it up too? It's probably free if anyone has kindle unlimited too.
Will have to google Pamela Kavangh, she is a new one on me.
Have we ever done Black loch as a group read, not spooky as such but a bit different.
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Post by Claire on Oct 14, 2017 21:06:12 GMT 1
Unfortunately Dreamcatcher is not easy to find in the UK, pity as it's quite a good story. Haffy is Ride a Dead Horse kindle only or was there a print version published too? (As some folk on the forum don't do e-books.)
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Post by susanb on Oct 14, 2017 21:26:46 GMT 1
I can do whatever is decided on, I just ordered Stealaway, and the other two would be easy to pick up.
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Post by garej on Oct 15, 2017 0:58:05 GMT 1
Riding a dead horse is available as a paperback on amazon UK and is (at time of checking) less than a fiver Claire so it may be a good choice.
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Post by susanb on Oct 15, 2017 2:13:39 GMT 1
One other thought would be The Black Unicorn by Tanith Lee. Available inexpensively in either paperback or on kindle. Full of magic and humor, rather than spooky, but then Halloween is for magic too, not just ghosts
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Post by rallycairn on Oct 15, 2017 6:14:58 GMT 1
Stealaway is a great book, but I'm not sure I'll have more to add than I wrote in this thread ponybooks.proboards.com/thread/2212/stealaway-peytonIf Dreamcatcher is hard to find, Mr. McFadden's Halloween is really quite wonderful -- has it been discussed before? Black Unicorn sounds nice, too, susan. And Riding a Dead Horse looks intriguing. But really, anything is fine with me. I'm sure I would enjoy revisiting Stealaway if we decide on that one.
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Post by darkhorse on Oct 16, 2017 15:58:14 GMT 1
Any would be fine by me. Stealaway would be the easiest, as I already have a copy, but the others suggested sound interesting too.
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Post by susanb on Oct 17, 2017 1:59:56 GMT 1
Rally, Black Unicorn is actually one of my favorites....below is a link to the book on Amazon, as it has the "look inside" feature. Black Unicorn
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Post by rallycairn on Oct 21, 2017 17:31:31 GMT 1
So, looks like it's Stealaway or Riding a Dead Horse or Black Unicorn??
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Post by susanb on Oct 21, 2017 20:00:17 GMT 1
No idea! I'm good to try anything! I checked out Mr. McFadden's Halloween (Rumer Godden) and it looks lovely.....found a copy in the US going cheap so I ordered it. Coming from California though, so no bets on whether or not it actually arrives by Halloween, but I could always jump in late (I'm usually late anyway )
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Post by rallycairn on Oct 22, 2017 19:13:57 GMT 1
Oh, Susan, I was scarred by Rumer Godden's The Doll's House and a little by Dark Horse, but when I read McFadden's Halloween a few years ago, I saw why so many love her! It is FANTASTIC. Nuanced, delightful, meaty but fun -- reminded me of the depth of KM Peyton.
I have STEALAWAY, I ordered RIDING A DEAD HORSE and expect to get it by Tuesday, McFadden is available at one of my local libraries, and Black Unicorn is an ebook -- so I'm covered whichever one we pick.
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Post by Claire on Oct 23, 2017 14:09:41 GMT 1
Hi folks, I've been away for a few days so haven't had a chance to sort this out yet. I will make a final decision on the book tonight or tomorrow. I think it's between Stealaway and Ride a Dead Horse - so if anyone has a huge preferance for one or the other of these books, let me know asap.
McFadden's Halloween does look very good, but the problem with this one is that it's hard to find in the UK and even though cheap to buy from America, may not arrive in time if ordered by any of us Brits. I think I will file it away for next year though! The Black Unicorn looks a likely read for the future too, though I will pass it over as the Halloween read as it's more fantasy/magic than ghostly.
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Post by susanb on Oct 23, 2017 16:21:10 GMT 1
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Post by rallycairn on Oct 23, 2017 17:42:29 GMT 1
McFadden is a touch on the long side for a Young Adult book IIRC, so the timing might be a little short for this year -- but I think it would be a WONDERFUL choice for next year and I will start lobbying for it as soon as the summer challenge of 2018 is over, so everyone can have time to find a copy and read it.
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Post by susanb on Oct 23, 2017 17:53:57 GMT 1
Confused again (seems to be my state today!), McFadden looks like it's 127 pages, Riding Dead Horse is 166. Stealaway is the only shortie at 96 pages, but I'd call that more juvenile than YA....a lot of YA books run around 500 pages these days (granted, that's a little nuts)
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Post by rallycairn on Oct 24, 2017 3:17:43 GMT 1
My copy of Dead Horse arrived sooner than expected and it has large print (looks 14 point or more) and screamingly big spacing (looks like full double spacing). Looks self published.
But McFadden for me was a dense-ish read and seemed long in memory - I think of books from the 70s as generally being slower paced and meatier than the typical (but certainly not all) read of today. But I don't have a copy of McFadden to check page numbers, I was just remembering it as a denser rather than quicker read.
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Post by susanb on Oct 24, 2017 11:04:25 GMT 1
I was going by abebooks/Amazon page counts for each book, which in the case of Dead Horse sounds like it might be misleading 14 point and double spaced...yikes! I think that in the pre-self-publishing age, books in general were better, simply because they had to be just to get published. Adjusted for inflation, books cost more then as well, so that weeded out even more so-so books. Kind of a double edged sword....there are some worthwhile books that get out today that might not have made it back then, but a lot more rubbish too.....more wheat, but a lot more chaff to sort through to get at it!
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Post by kunuma1 on Oct 24, 2017 17:41:45 GMT 1
Will see if I can find any of the three suggested, whichever one I can get hold of will probably be the one I vote for LOL
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Post by Claire on Oct 24, 2017 18:01:22 GMT 1
Well folks have decided on Stealaway. I've read a sample of Ride a Dead Horse and although it seems well written and like it may be a very good story, the subject matter may be a little depressing and I think we should have something fairly light. Susan - strangely McFadden is much harder to find on Amazon.uk than on Abe. I'd just had a quick look on Amazon and saw there were only copies from the USA, except for expensive ones, hadn't had a chance to check Abe. Quite odd that there's such a price discrepancy. Anyhow I think we'll defo pencil that one in for next year. But I digress - will set up a thread for Stealaway shortly. Kunuma - I'll send you a copy of Stealaway
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Post by susanb on Oct 24, 2017 19:11:30 GMT 1
Sounds good....my copy of Stealaway has already arrived, McFadden is actually due on Halloween! I'll be ready for next year. Oddly enough, the copy I've got on order via ebay from California is the British hardcover. It is weird that abe should be so much cheaper than Amazon.....doesn't the latter own the former now? Best buy up those cheapo copies before they become expensive. (Bonus: the Puffin cover is ridiculously adorable.)
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