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Post by Claire on Apr 2, 2014 11:46:03 GMT 1
Hi all, this month's selection is Gillian Baxter. Feel free to discuss her books here including your favs or those you didnt like, favourite characters or anything else related. I'll also add a poll. The Gillian Baxter book I have chosen for the reading circle is Sweet Rock - see link below. I'll also be adding a quiz and possibly doing a review of one of her other books if time permits. Links: Reading circle book - Sweet RockGilliam Baxter web pageGillian Baxter quiz
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Post by haffyfan on Apr 2, 2014 14:13:07 GMT 1
I have a bit of a love/hate with Gillian Baxter. A couple of her books i really like and some i really disliked but can't put my finger exactly on why.
In the love department are Stables At Hampton, Bargain Horses, Sue-Elaine and i also enjoyed Horses and Heather and in the hate department Ribbons and Rings and Tan and Tarmac. The Pantomine Ponies books are okay, i enjoyed them as a child certainly, but the Bobby and Shelta trilogy is another i can take or leave. I think for me i struggle to connect with her characters, for whatever reasons, i didn't expect to enjoy horses in the Heather as i don't like Sean's character in Ribbons and Rings but then i did, it's so long ago now that i read Ribbons and Rings i cannot remember much about it just an overwhelming desire not to go there again.
I've never read Horses in The Glen (i have the scary CBC edition!) or special delivery despite owning them for many years.
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Post by Claire on Apr 2, 2014 20:55:14 GMT 1
Oh yes I've got the scary CBC edition of that too lol.
The only book I dislike of hers is Tan and Tarmac, which is really only cos its boring and not very well constructed. Quite a few I think are OK. The ones I really like are the Panto Ponies, Bobby and Shelta and Team From Low Moor. Sweet Rock, Bargain Horses and Stables at Hampton pretty good too.
I like Special Delivery too which is actually a donkey story for those who don't know.
I do have a question about Gillian Baxter which I hope someone can answer - namely did she have any short stories published in any annuals or compilations as I have never come across any. I find this quite strange for a pony author of her status.
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vera
Pony Clubber
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Post by vera on Apr 2, 2014 23:09:02 GMT 1
I loved Tan and Tarmac. It was the first Gillian Baxter I came across and I loved the idea of horses being in stables upstairs. I found it ran very much along the dreams can come true lines, but that was great for a young horsemad girl with no possibility of ever getting near a pony!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2014 6:54:03 GMT 1
I liked Tan and Tarmac too Vera for the reason you mention. So far I haven't disliked any of the books I've read of hers.
The last 5 in the poll I haven't read yet.
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Post by susanb on Apr 3, 2014 11:13:42 GMT 1
I've liked all of her books, the only one I haven't read is Special Delivery.
I did have the scary CBC edition of Horses in the Glen, but have since replaced it with the original. Do read it Claire and Haffy....just take the dj off and tuck it away somewhere while you read the book, that's what I did. (Now that's a measure of REALLY bad cover art...it actually puts you off reading the book!)
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Post by brumby on Apr 3, 2014 22:18:17 GMT 1
Agree with Susan, please do read it I loved it! I am fast discovering Gillian Baxter is one of my absolute favourite authors, yes I really liked Tan and Tarmac. Have just finished reading Horses in the Glen and couldn't put it down, it was a book that raised a lot of strong feelings in me. One of the main characters at the beginning of the story is very much taken by a very flashy well breed mare and takes the dear old Highland pony for granted and sees him as inferior. Great character development as the story progresses. I have a another lovely pony character to add to my list of favourites, Robbie the black highland pony. The only thing that irked me a bit was the breedy ponies at the trekking stable had names and the garrons were known by colour Anyway won't spoil the end but I had lots of tears at the end happy or sad you'll have to read it to find out:P Put a brown paper wrapper over the cover if you have the yucky one, worked for me as a young teenager when I was reading something I wasn't supposed to be that had a racey cover!
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Post by Claire on Apr 3, 2014 22:57:34 GMT 1
Do read it Claire and Haffy....just take the dj off and tuck it away somewhere while you read the book, that's what I did. (Now that's a measure of REALLY bad cover art...it actually puts you off reading the book!) Lol I HAVE actually read it a couple of times. I did have the paperback version but it disappeared and got replaced by the gruesome CBC. Now thats one time I'd have rather kept the paperback - I think that was Mary Gernatt cover...? I am really surprised that Tan and Tarmac has so many votes so far - I guess its a bit of a love or hate book. One of the reasons I like GB is that she does look in depth at some of the characters and situations - not all, some of the books are more basic pony stories but others explore issues beyond that of the books of most of her contemporaries.
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Post by Darkhorse1 on Apr 4, 2014 14:53:13 GMT 1
Put a brown paper wrapper over the cover if you have the yucky one, worked for me as a young teenager when I was reading something I wasn't supposed to be that had a racey cover! Lol I like nearly all of the Gillian Baxter books I have read. My favourites are the Bracken Stables books. There are quite a few I haven't read yet. I luckily have the paperback edition of Horses in the Glen, not the horrid one. Can't vote on the poll as I still can't log in: is there any way you can change the settings to enable guests to vote in polls Claire?
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Post by Claire on Apr 4, 2014 19:40:37 GMT 1
Can't vote on the poll as I still can't log in: is there any way you can change the settings to enable guests to vote in polls Claire? Sorry it doesn't have an option for that worse luck
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Post by Claire on Apr 13, 2014 13:47:09 GMT 1
Re, the Bobby and Shelta books, did anyone find the disaster in The Difficult Summer a bit too much? It really shocked and upset me when I read it as a child and still does. There's also a shocking moment in Sweet Rock. Gillian Baxter doesn't exactly sugar coat things.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2014 12:05:40 GMT 1
I didn't find it shocking I must admit, only a bit unbelievable but that's just me I expect.
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Post by Darkhorse1 on Apr 16, 2014 16:05:08 GMT 1
Is that the plane crash? I found it quite unpleasant too. I think she took it a bit far and I agree with Rosie it seemed a bit unrealistic and extreme.
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Post by Claire on Apr 16, 2014 18:52:33 GMT 1
Yes it did seem a bit unnecessary and almost gratuitous/sensationalist. Surely a lesser disaster could have made it a 'difficult summer' for the stables.
For me what made it a bit shocking was that it was unexpected. In for instance the Follyfoot books which have some upsetting scenes, they are sort of expected as the books are about rescuing horses, some of which have been abused. But TDS just goes from being a nice normal riding school story to carnage.
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Post by fizz on May 6, 2014 22:45:35 GMT 1
Most of the Gillian Baxter's I have read have had a fatality or a serious accident. I won't mention them in detail as I don't want to spoil peoples' reads. I haven't read The Stables at Hampton, Horses and Heather or The Team from Low Moor. Can anyone tell me if similar events occur in those books?
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