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Post by garej on Aug 22, 2015 17:48:55 GMT 1
I am lagging behind I am afraid. Took All that Glitters on holiday with me didnt do any reading at all. Then I left it behind in my parents house. Thankfully there are some weeks left to read 4 books.
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Post by haffyfan on Aug 24, 2015 17:39:52 GMT 1
Can i have a smiley please for Dance Of Dragons part 1, loved it! Tyrion is my favourite character by far, although i'm warming to the character of Jaime too these last few books, or am i just warming to him now since they chopped his hair off in the tv series?! I've started the dreaded Mary Gervaise book, lol, all the jokes of 50 shades of hay...i think she already wrote it! She moved forward and sat firmly on his head, clinging with both hands to his mane. She expected a mighty heave that would send her high into the air, but he only sighed, trembled, and seemed to relax. With one shaking hand she stroked his neck. "Beautiful boy! King of Pussies!"
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2015 18:05:21 GMT 1
I've started the dreaded Mary Gervaise book, lol, all the jokes of 50 shades of hay...i think she already wrote it! She moved forward and sat firmly on his head, clinging with both hands to his mane. She expected a mighty heave that would send her high into the air, but he only sighed, trembled, and seemed to relax. With one shaking hand she stroked his neck. "Beautiful boy! King of Pussies!" I won't be able to read that book again without giggling!
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Post by Claire on Aug 24, 2015 19:43:27 GMT 1
I've started the dreaded Mary Gervaise book, lol, all the jokes of 50 shades of hay...i think she already wrote it! She moved forward and sat firmly on his head, clinging with both hands to his mane. She expected a mighty heave that would send her high into the air, but he only sighed, trembled, and seemed to relax. With one shaking hand she stroked his neck. "Beautiful boy! King of Pussies!" I won't be able to read that book again without giggling! Me neither Rosie. I thought I had a dirty mind but I missed this last time I read it. Don't worry anyone who is lagging behind as I can extend the finish date by a few days if anyone needs it. (That will probs include me lol)
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Post by Claire on Aug 25, 2015 20:53:54 GMT 1
Finished The Castle Grey Pony by Denise Hill. It merits a smiley. It's a nice very simple read for younger pony lovers or the young at heart only. Its about a bunch of kids falling in love with a miniature pony they rescue and look after. May go for the Joyce Stranger book next as it's the shortest lol. Have updated the web page. Well done to Brumby who is the 3rd to finish and win a trophy.
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Post by trixiepony on Aug 27, 2015 4:33:19 GMT 1
Oh wow oh wow, Karen Wood has sent me a early copy of her new book Under the Flame Tree for doing a drawing for her. Happy dace. Attachments:
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Post by trixiepony on Aug 27, 2015 4:34:51 GMT 1
Here's the drawing, a photo of it I took before sending it. Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on Aug 27, 2015 6:27:39 GMT 1
Well done Trixie! Love the drawing
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Post by trixiepony on Aug 27, 2015 11:38:19 GMT 1
Thanks Rosie happy with it.
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Post by rallycairn on Aug 27, 2015 16:53:07 GMT 1
That's gorgeous, Trixie! I love that it is such a nice mixture of whimsy and realism. Wonderful!
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Post by rallycairn on Aug 27, 2015 17:09:32 GMT 1
Well, Fox Tracks is a little hard to rate because it started off very slowly, lots of diatribes and personal sociopolitical views of the author with only the thinnest veneer of disguise over them, etc. All taste in food, clothes, shoes, cigars, automobiles, appliances, etc. of her main characters are presented as clearly superior to those of anyone else, living, dead, fictional, or real!
But the mystery did build well and the red herring subplot was reasonably readable and certainly believable. There were hints for the close reader about what was really going on but I didn't catch on until it became very clear near the end whodunit.
And there were many great outdoor and animal scenes, some of the best.
So I went from frowny to conditional neutral face but overall, with caveats, have to give it a SMILEY for FOX TRACKS. Much improved over the previous few in the series, which I either skimmed through for the horsey and other animal parts and skipped the rest, or even in one case, never finished at all.
And lastly, big SMILEY and clear winner of my STAR READ designation goes to
BRISTLE FACE by Zachary Ball. Some of the best of the best in children's lit especially if you like the genre from the middle of the last century, which I very much do. I also read the author's Sputters (a sequel to Bristle Face) and Tent Show this past week, and they are wonderful as well.
Although Bristle Face was my clear Star Read, A Summer of Horses was also a great book and a bit of a surprise, with a lot of great interpersonal relationship and character development stuff, and the two JPT books on my list were also among that author's best, IMHO. And of course BLUE RIBBON SUMMER is among my all time favorite horse books, but although wonderful and readable and full of local color and great views of the horse show circuit, it doesn't have the same emotional and psychological punch of a book like Bristle Face.
Thanks for the challenge, Claire! I plan on going back through and reading everyone's comments again. We had some great picks this year I think, giving me plenty to add to my TBR lists!
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Post by Claire on Aug 27, 2015 22:56:49 GMT 1
As Trixie knows I have already seen her drawing on Facebook and love it. Nice to get a book from the author Trixie Well done Rally for completing your challenge. Yes I agree some really good picks this year. No frownie faces either as yet! I also like to go over people's comments and get inspiration for some new reads. Although it means the dreaded To Read list will be growing ever longer! Haven't picked up my next book for the challenge yet I am afraid! I may take it to read on the train tomorrow.
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Post by haffyfan on Aug 28, 2015 12:42:53 GMT 1
Great Pic trixiepony!
I've surprised myself as i didn't hate the Mary Gervaise book, not really a pony book (but Susan had already warned me) but i didn't dislike it and will maybe try the next one and see if the pony action gets better as i assume she learns to ride. Cam it have a smiley please.
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Post by Claire on Aug 28, 2015 20:01:32 GMT 1
Great Pic trixiepony! I've surprised myself as i didn't hate the Mary Gervaise book, not really a pony book (but Susan had already warned me) but i didn't dislike it and will maybe try the next one and see if the pony action gets better as i assume she learns to ride. Cam it have a smiley please. Falls down in amazement! Wonders never cease! I know that series has a lot of detractors but I have a soft spot for it. (It's brilliant compared to the Belinda series!) There is a bit more horse content in others but as Susan said its just as much a school series/holiday adventure series as a pony one.
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Post by ginslinger on Aug 29, 2015 12:23:48 GMT 1
OK I have read all the West Barsetshires and big smiley faces for all. I got the early hardback edition of Six Ponies and wonder if the others were similarly cut back as if so I will try to get hold of the rest in the old editions. Certainly the "with the brains of a mentally defective rabbit" have been excised from The Randy Riding Club. Had forgotten how annoying Henry was in PCT and that Noel was quite so drippy but completely in love with the Major..and not just for the gorgeous Georgian manor.
I have also read The Horse Sale which is another smiley. Show juming Secret which I did enjoy but not as much as the previous but still a smiley I think and I rode a winner which still makes me feel sad thirty odd years on so I think I am conflicted on that.
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Post by Claire on Aug 31, 2015 22:58:34 GMT 1
Well done reading all that lot Ginslinger. Some of my all time favs in that bundle. Yeah I really liked the Major, he was a great character. I think I liked him best in Pony Club Camp discussing marriage with the pony club matchmaker! Always provides a chuckle.
Yes unfortunately some of the later versions of the series were revised, Six Ponies being the main culprit. There's a huge amount missing from later editions of that. Also some of the illustrations were missing from the Armada paperbacks. But I actually read them as a child from the paperbacks and I don't feel that they lacked anything.
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Post by ginslinger on Sept 1, 2015 16:39:58 GMT 1
I read them in paperback too but now having read Six Ponies in the original (the one I had least clear memory of.. not sure I even owned it.. ) I wonder what I have missed. He is a much rounder character and as an adult you see more maybe. I read pony club camp first and I loved Gay and the Major's conversation too - what a pity she wasn't allowed to continue the series I am sure David and Gay would have been central. Quite obvious that the Major knows full well who she is talking about. JPT does do the adults well and consistently - only oddity maybe is that the Major and Henry's uptight mother are presumably brother and sister...
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Post by tintin on Sept 3, 2015 13:51:27 GMT 1
Smiley face please for
"Dog versus Crime"
only one more book to go
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Post by Claire on Sept 7, 2015 11:25:41 GMT 1
JPT does do the adults well and consistently - only oddity maybe is that the Major and Henry's uptight mother are presumably brother and sister... Totally agree re. JPT's portrayal of adults. I also like the bet between the major and his cronies. I always saw the Major as a lot older than his sister, not sure why but I saw him as 50s to early 60s an she in her 40s which could explain the different personalities. Be interested to hear what age other folk saw the Major as. Well I must admit I am a bit stuck with the challenge and have been reading non-pony books on my tablet. I have decided to extend the challenge until the end of September as I know a couple of others have a few to go too.
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Post by haffyfan on Sept 7, 2015 16:46:49 GMT 1
Yes i always had him down as being 'older' too (60's), wasn't he retired or have i made that up, i guess that's what made me think it anyhow. Never thought about him being the brother of Henry's mother but then again Radney riding club isn't a favourite of mine so not read it that many times compared to the others which i re-read constantly as a child.
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Post by trixiepony on Sept 8, 2015 11:32:19 GMT 1
He's age never really worried me, all it needs is he to be one of the older ones and Harry's mum be the baby and if it's a big family like 6 or more it can be a big gape, I have older cousins that are as old as my youngest Aunty and some of my mums friends there parents had 13 kids and there mum was still having the last 3 when there older sister was starting to have kids a Aunty before your born.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2015 12:14:08 GMT 1
I thought him in his 60s too, which as a teenager seemed really ancient but now I'm fast approaching that age it's really quite young!!
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Post by susanb on Sept 8, 2015 14:23:02 GMT 1
I picked up and put down my last book, Flying Ebony by Iris Vinton, several times over the last month and couldn't get into it....setting it aside for some other time. It's neither fish nor fowl...or rather, neither pony nor adventure, and just wasn't catching me at the moment, and as it (and it's sequel, Black Horse Company, which also lurks in the tbr pile) are very hard to find and expensive in dj in their original US editions, I don't want to blow it by forcing the issue.
So that's me for the challenge, unless you want to swap in another book from my still-staggering tbr pile that I did pick up and read, Sand Dune Pony by Troy Nesbit (very good, by the way.....a "modern" western in which a wild pony is tamed gently by eastern methods, and a modern day poacher/rustler is caught!).
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Post by Claire on Sept 8, 2015 21:35:57 GMT 1
I thought him in his 60s too, which as a teenager seemed really ancient but now I'm fast approaching that age it's really quite young!! Haha yeah I think I'd probably quite fancy him now !!
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Post by ginslinger on Sept 8, 2015 23:34:51 GMT 1
To be honest I didn't really think about Major Holbrooke's age at all when I was reading them for the first time as a child. All grown ups were old. Now I don't think he is as old as sixties at least not at the start.. remember the books have a six year span (though I think JPT isn't consistent with ages and James and Margaret Radcliffe start as seven and nine and finish at 11 and 13 I think.
Also I don't think many people were so active into their sixties then... we take a lot for granted with modern medicine. He is retired from the army but you can be that in your early forties and he is clearly involved in the running of his estate. I agree he could be anywhere from forties to sixties but for me the internal evidence suggests late forties early fifties at the start. I prefer the younger end so I can imagine him being run ragged by the next generation of ponyclubbers....
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Post by trixiepony on Sept 9, 2015 11:33:01 GMT 1
Yes that's the point as a kid adults are old.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2015 12:21:18 GMT 1
lol Claire. Yeah as a kid I thought 30 was really old. Oh to be 30 again!!
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Post by Claire on Sept 10, 2015 21:16:25 GMT 1
lol Claire. Yeah as a kid I thought 30 was really old. Oh to be 30 again!! Or even 40....
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Post by ginslinger on Sept 10, 2015 23:22:34 GMT 1
Is it really sad that I am now hunting down and raiding the piggy bank to buy old unedited editions of the West Barset books? Loving the extra snippets and the proof of changing times... couldn't help snorking when I read that Henry had been very gay all afternoon and I very much doubt the Major was thinking of Peter Tatchell when he named his show jumper Gay Crusader...
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2015 5:47:16 GMT 1
lol Ginslinger How Gay everyone was in the old pony books! And spanking girls in one which I haven't read yet. Claire or others here will be able to tell you all about that one! I prefer the complete versions and not abridged too so you aren't alone
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