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Post by Claire on Oct 31, 2013 14:12:29 GMT 1
Our November reading circle choice is Wild Pony by Lucy Rees. Please post here if you need to borrow a copy or have one to spare. Discussion will start in approx 10 days time.
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Post by Claire on Nov 13, 2013 20:09:54 GMT 1
Hi all, just wondering how everyone is getting on with the book? I forgot about it completely with all the drama with Rosie but picked it up in the last couple of days and have read it. Not really sure how I feel about it, I'd be interested to hear other people's reactions first so maybe someone else can start the ball rolling?
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Post by kunuma on Nov 13, 2013 20:41:18 GMT 1
Hi all, just wondering how everyone is getting on with the book? I forgot about it completely with all the drama with Rosie but picked it up in the last couple of days and have read it. Not really sure how I feel about it, I'd be interested to hear other people's reactions first so maybe someone else can start the ball rolling? That's exactly how I feel about the book and the author in general, ambivalent!!!!
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Post by susanb on Nov 13, 2013 20:49:22 GMT 1
Can we have a bit more time? I'm a wee bit behind, and Rally only got her copy on Monday (US Mail...their motto should be "a turtle would be faster" )
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Post by Claire on Nov 13, 2013 22:45:29 GMT 1
No problem at all susan (and anyone else who hasn't read it yet) I just thought I might be a bit behind myself! Its quite a short book so shouldn't take long to read.
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Post by rallycairn on Nov 14, 2013 15:46:37 GMT 1
Actually, Susan is being nice to me -- I don't think it's the postal service's fault, I let a bunch of mail pile up in my box from before the long weekend, so I think my book came late last week -- still I haven't had a chance to get going with it yet, just very busy with all the wonderful autumn (and now holiday) events that are cranking up!
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Post by Claire on Nov 14, 2013 22:19:03 GMT 1
Well no hurry everyone!
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Post by Claire on Nov 28, 2013 11:09:03 GMT 1
Just wondering if we have enough people who have read the book to start the discussion yet?
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Post by rallycairn on Nov 29, 2013 6:52:24 GMT 1
I'm determined to get to Wild Pony this weekend. Just been so busy this year with fall and now pre-holiday/holiday activities. All fun stuff and I adore this time of year, but it's not exactly a time when I get a lot of reading in.
Similarly, in the U.S., we have a fairly big movement/event called National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. The idea is to get some kind of complete draft of a novel on paper (so to speak). I think it's a great idea and I'd love to give it a try -- but it's in NOVEMBER. Great weather for much of the country, lots of events, Thanksgiving and the beginning of the Christmas season -- one of the busier months for sure. Why not designate July as NaNoWriMo, when people are either vacationing or stuck indoors because it's too hot to move outside? That's when I could sit down and try to crank out some semblance of a novel. Not in November -- no way.
But before I can get to the book, I've got a Knife Skills class (cooking) tomorrow, which means I have to face the crowds of the biggest shopping day of the year here, when I'd rather stay home and read and watch the webcam of my nephew and one of my nieces in the Waikiki Holiday Parade tomorrow (that's in Hawaii). They are in the competitive marching band ensemble from Carter High School of Strawberry Plains, Tennessee. I would LOVE to be holidaying in Hawaii and seeing them in person! But hopefully I can see their band on the webcam or youtube later. Mele Kalikimaka!
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Post by Claire on Nov 29, 2013 11:31:34 GMT 1
No probs rally, sounds like you are having a busy fun time! We can just delay the Christmas reading circle til a bit later to give us time to catch up with this one. Could even do it over the Christmas holidays rather than the beginning of December.
Susan - have you read it yet?
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Post by darkhorse on Nov 30, 2013 21:56:04 GMT 1
Is it too late to join in? Could someone lend me a copy?
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Post by susanb on Dec 1, 2013 1:12:30 GMT 1
I am scum I always forget how fast November just sucks me in every year! Rally isn't kidding, the holidays start early in the US....mid-November at the latest, getting ready for Thanksgiving and galloping right through December! I'm still only a few chapters in, but for me it's a re-read....I'm sure I can jump in regardless, so don't hold up the show for me! That said, I'm hoping to get more done tomorrow....though I do have four presents to wrap, three to tissue and gift bag, and the Christmas decorations to put up. Sigh. I've got friends coming the weekend of the 20th and probably the 14th as well, so I basically have one free weekend left till Christmas. Eeeek!!!! (And don't even ask about the Christmas cards :
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Post by Claire on Dec 1, 2013 13:29:47 GMT 1
Oh these organised people who have Christmas all sewn up weeks ahead! I haven't bought a single present, sent a card or even thought about Christmas yet! Mind you have had other things on my mind this year. TBH I have just about forgotten what happened in the book which can't be a good thing as only read it about 3 weeks ago - must have a skim thru again to remind myself then I'll add some comments.
Darkhorse you can borrow my copy when I've skimmed thru it!
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Post by rallycairn on Dec 9, 2013 1:34:20 GMT 1
Finally! got started on Wild Pony this morning while still in bed listening to the freezing rain come down. Was awake but DH wasn't and I wanted to let him sleep.
It is very good and I mostly like the psychological dynamics and the sociopolitical issues hinted at. Much like Horse of Air to some degree, but the dynamics and relationships discussed are somewhat different. Wild Pony feels more overtly "hippy" sixties/seventies whereas Julie in Horse of Air was struggling with serious depression, though there are some of the same ideas. I also really felt I could've been reading about Ken in the Jinny books.
Wild Pony needs to be more horsey, though, and less with Pippa and her feelings about the three boys for my tastes. At least so far. But I'm just at the part where Pippa is getting serious about her horsemanship, dressage, and "breaking in"/training young horses, so maybe there will be more horse stuff from here on.
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Post by susanb on Dec 9, 2013 18:42:10 GMT 1
LOL...I wondered if anyone would pick up on that 60s/70s vibe, Rally....I read it and thought "I wouldn't even have to look at the copyright to know when this was published!".
Re the horsey action...it does pick up, but it is more a slice of a girl's life than the plain-and-garden-variety girl and her pony book.
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Post by brumby on Dec 9, 2013 22:04:29 GMT 1
Yep Susan I also picked up on the hippy vibe I quite liked the book but I found it disjointed, the first part was as Rally suggested more about Pippa and her discovering interests in boys. The second half becomes more pony focused. Enjoyed the second half much more, although found it frustrating that the pony was not given a name! As far as the characters went, liked Pippa thought she presented quite well as a teenager, Barbara was great, really liked her as she was really the one that saved the pony and helped Pippa a lot with the schooling. Was fascinated by Adam but found his relationship with Pippa frustrating. Beano really concerned me and I worried about him (I guess in this day and age we are so much more aware of teenage depression) This book stayed with me after I finished it and it was one of those that made you think.
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Post by Claire on Dec 9, 2013 23:43:43 GMT 1
Yes it is very dated reading it in this day and age!
A bit ambivalent to the book. In parts I found it very well written and insightful but other bits just seemed self-conscious and trying a bit too hard to be deep and meaningful. Most of the time I actually felt like I was reading a book rather than entering into another world/another character's life. One of the irritating self-conscious things was the way Pippa kept saying that she couldn't explain things properly.
I didn't find Pippa a particularly sympathetic or endearing character, apart from the end where she tries to kill the men whom she thinks have killed her pony. A lot of the time she doesn't seem to care much about her pony - why does she not give her a name? That just seemed weird.
Some of the characters were very good - my favs were Barbara and Beano who really seemed like real people.
Some of the pony bits were a bit gruelling such as when they first try and catch wild pony, and the horrific aftermath of the accident. Both made me cringe at the way the poor creature was treated. And I thought this unpleasantness seemed a bit gratuitous and melodramatic.
The sheep stealing bit was also a bit over melodramatic and seem to belong in a different book. Didnt fit well with the rest of it at all. Also it seemed needless to the 'plot' of the book (not that there was much of a plot)
I agree with others that there was a bit too much about boys and navel gazing and a bit too little horse action and too little about the actual relationship between girl and pony.
But it did make an effort to be different from the usual run of the mill pony story so I did rate as good.
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Post by kunuma on Dec 10, 2013 14:07:03 GMT 1
I agree with others that there was a bit too much about boys and navel gazing and a bit too little horse action and too little about the actual relationship between girl and pony. I really find this sums up her writing as a whole, she seems obsessed with relationships, often to the detriment of the horse/pony. Has anyone read the autobiographical The Maze?? The same description could apply to it.
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Post by rallycairn on Dec 13, 2013 21:52:04 GMT 1
Finished it! I voted very good as I do think it is thought provoking, and I appreciate that it ties horses and horse ownership into broader issues like personal identity and relationships with others, and figuring out what's important in life and so forth.
Because for me, my horses and other animals are very much a part of my emotional and even "spiritual" life, if you will. Whereas I do enjoy books that focus much more pragmatically on schooling and interacting with ponies (like JPT's Six Ponies, or Don Stanford's The Horsemasters), I also really enjoy books that put horses into a broader take on life, like the Jinny books or a lot of Peyton's books. It's desperately important for characters like Peyton's Ruth Hollis or for Leitch's Jinny Manders to have a bond with a horse, important to their own senses of themselves and who they are, and I completely identify with that. And Pippa (and Julie from Horse of Air) are the same, so I like them as characters a great deal.
I wish the book had actually been a little longer so as to have things fleshed out a bit and less episodic feeling. It felt like first there was this interaction with Tom and the local people part, then the coming of Adam and his family and Beano, then the section about working at the trekking stable, then training Phoenix (I know her name from Horse of Air, but thought it lame and ridiculous Pippa didn't come up with a name in this book, however difficult it was to find a suitable one to sum up her wonder and spirit), then the quick section describing the rally, then the sheep stealers and traumatic finish.
I mean, I know stories need to have things happening to be interesting, but somehow it all felt kind of disparate to me. And as I said in an earlier post, it needed to be more horsey in the early parts, and that would've made it feel more cohesive as a story, too, perhaps. If there's going to be navel-gazing in a pony book [thanks, Claire, for the apt description!], tie it in directly to the horses as often as possible!
Also, if Pippa hadn't gotten delayed going home from the gymkhana and had to stop at the cottage, we might not have seen Adam et al. again in the story, and Tom only reappears at the very end. I think the different characters could have been interwoven a little more throughout the story, in other words. Perhaps if the book had actually had a quick intro with Pippa in hospital looking back on what brought her there, the story might have seemed to have had more of a cohesive narrative arc, even though that sort of flashback is typically hackneyed and clumsy as a literary setup. In this case maybe it would have pulled things together more, for me anyway.
One quick observation, I felt Pippa's impressions of the group at the cottage at the end, and her short conversation with Beano about their "bad vibe," felt like the author making a distinction between young people who find themselves marching to the beat of a different drummer but who are essentially caring, well intended people (should I say with "good vibes?" hahaha) and those who are delinquents or criminals in the making.
Similarly, I thought Rees gave us a nice slice of horsey types throughout the book, from Susan and her friends to Barbara and the trekking school to the actually rather perceptive DC-types (Mrs. Probart and Mrs. Marsham) at the gymkhana.
I liked the closing sentence as again that was an instance of showing how for some horse-mad girls, the whole horse "obsession" feels very much a vital part of what the world is all about.
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Post by Claire on Dec 14, 2013 12:01:31 GMT 1
Excellent review rally! I totally agree it has a very episodic feel and for the most part I prefer fairly tightly plotted books.
I also enjoy books that focus on the relationship between a girl or boy and their horse but I have to say that for me this was not one of them. I felt Pippa spent far more time thinking about boys and other things than she did about her horse. I know she had a very strong reaction when Wild Pony was hurt but this didn't seem true to the rest of the way she behaved. Not giving the pony a name for me encapsulated the lack of depth in her feelings. IMHO the pony should have been introduced much earlier in the book and a proper relationship developed between her and Pippa. I think the author got distracted from this element by a lot of other issues she was trying to explore.
I'd be quite interested to read Horse of Air now and compare the two.
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Post by rallycairn on Dec 14, 2013 15:38:36 GMT 1
Excellent review rally! I totally agree it has a very episodic feel and for the most part I prefer fairly tightly plotted books. I also enjoy books that focus on the relationship between a girl or boy and their horse but I have to say that for me this was not one of them. I felt Pippa spent far more time thinking about boys and other things than she did about her horse. I know she had a very strong reaction when Wild Pony was hurt but this didn't seem true to the rest of the way she behaved. Not giving the pony a name for me encapsulated the lack of depth in her feelings. IMHO the pony should have been introduced much earlier in the book and a proper relationship developed between her and Pippa. I think the author got distracted from this element by a lot of other issues she was trying to explore. I'd be quite interested to read Horse of Air now and compare the two. Pretty much completely agree, except that I do think she couldn't come up with a name because she wanted just that perfect name, not because she didn't care. She does mention combing through books, etc. but not finding the right name. Still, it's not compelling evidence (lol) and I can totally see your interpretation, Claire. Horse of Air does have a lot of those other issues, but to me the horsey stuff is a bit more prevalent throughout. When we first meet Julie she is helping an old craggy moorsman type with his ponies, then she has to move and her depression sets in, and that part has less horse stuff. But then horses reappear and remain throughout. Still, there are a lot of other themes besides horses so it's definitely not the type of story for every one. If I were forced to pick just one horse book as a favorite, though, Horse of Air would be it.
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Post by Claire on Dec 14, 2013 20:16:29 GMT 1
I can't recall Pippa combing thru books and searching for a name! Which edition did you read Rally? I read the paperback reprint maybe it was not in that edition - or more likely I skimmed over that part and completely missed it lol. I agree that puts a slightly different interpretation on things tho I still can't imagine not giving a horse (or any animal) a name for such a reason. Maybe if it was a show name, but surely you'd still come up with a pet name or nickname? Bloomin 'eck I have even named the neighbour's cats who come into my garden because I dont know their real names!
Thanks for the info on Horse of Air - does sound like I would enjoy that one. Anyone else read both and would like to compare them (without giving spoilers away for Horse of Air of course)?
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Post by darkhorse on Dec 14, 2013 22:31:46 GMT 1
Thank you for the loan of the book Claire. I voted average. I enjoyed the horse parts but was a bit bored by some of the other bits. The part with the hippy family seemed a bit pointless and they all irritated me. I agree with Rallycairn, if the book had started with Pippa in the hosptial looking back it would have made more sense as a story. It would not have been more hackneyed than the sheep stealing/rustler type ending! One thing that didn't ring true to me was Barbara keeping the pony alive at all costs. To be true to character I would have thought she'd make sure the pony didn't suffer, rather than saving her for Pippa at a cost of so much suffering. She seemed to put horses before people.
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Post by rallycairn on Dec 14, 2013 22:44:21 GMT 1
Good observations, dark horse, esp about the sheep rustler ending!
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Post by susanb on Dec 15, 2013 1:57:57 GMT 1
Claire, Rally read the paperback version too....I know, 'cause that's the one I sent! I believe pb and hardcover are the same...I've got the hardcover now, and I didn't notice a difference (though I did read the pb a while back).
Rally...spot on...really, on everything. You've pretty much distilled my feelings on the book. It does suffer a bit from first-book-itis....as though Rees was capable of cutting beautiful gems, but wasn't as adept at creating the setting that would make the necklace whole.
Re the hippy bit....I rather liked it...I enjoy books that have a feeling of their time and place. It was, after all, written and set in the late 60s/70s, it SHOULDN'T have been written as though it was still 1940. It didn't really bother me that the pony didn't come in for a bit...part of the plot was about her working to get her pony on her own...really WORKING, not saving the master's favorite hound or rescuing some kiddies or putting out a barn fire or whatever and getting a pony as a reward. Not that I object to that kind of fantasy-pony-aquisition...it figured prominantly in my childhood daydreams, but I did enjoy the departure from the norm.
I also appreciate books that have protagonists that have more of a life than stables/home/stables/home/stables/home. Maybe there are people who literally have nothing other than a horse (or a job, a hobby, a boyfriend/spouse, whatever) in their lives, but there are not that many of them. And in real life, I expect they're deeply boring. This book did drift a bit further into teen angst than is to my taste, but still, it made an effort. (For a more sucessful effort at a well rounded heroine, both Dark Sunshine by Dorothy Lyons and Saddles for Breakfast by Janet Randall would fit the bill).
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Post by Claire on Dec 15, 2013 14:58:32 GMT 1
Claire, Rally read the paperback version too....I know, 'cause that's the one I sent! I believe pb and hardcover are the same... Oh dear, was just me not paying attention then! Still I had an excuse as I was reading it just after Rosie had her op so I probably wasn't giving it the attention it deserved. Susan, I agree, Dark Sunshine is an excellent read. It does have quite a lot of non-horse content but it merges seamlessly with the equine side which Wild Pony doesn't quite manage.
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Post by rallycairn on Dec 16, 2013 6:11:09 GMT 1
Really though it's just a mention, like I said -- when Pippa is signing in at the rally, they ask for the pony's name, and Pippa narrates, "I'd rummaged through my mind and endless books for a good name, but they all seemed too mean and narrow for her infinite freedom and grace."
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Post by Claire on Dec 16, 2013 13:50:44 GMT 1
Oh well at least I only missed a sentence not a whole section lol
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Post by brumby on Dec 21, 2013 22:45:36 GMT 1
Have just finished 'Horse of Air' Well worth a read, actually I loved it. Similar to Wild Pony but I think without the flaws. Much more horsey content and less disjointed. Something that appealed to me in both books is that Lucy Rees has a real affinity with animals and values them for who they are not what they can be turned into (sorry can't find the quote I read last night) but this really resonated with me.
Hope others read it, I would be interested to see what you think.
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Post by Claire on Dec 22, 2013 11:32:44 GMT 1
Its defo on my 'to read' list
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