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OK So I did not care for it..

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  • #41
    <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Small Change:
    Here is a link to a page with real life brindle horses. They do exist, and are pretty neat looking animals. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

    Wow! Now there are some distinctive horses! I have never seen one before, I imagine they would create a lot of interest at a show.

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    • #42
      My vote for the worst horsey book ever has to be Keeneland, by Alyson Hagy. Sorry Alyson, I couldn't even finish it. I disliked the main character so much that I just didn't care what happened to her.

      Nora Roberts' very first novels, which happen to be horsey, are questionable too. But she's improved since then.
      If you are allergic to a thing, it is best not to put that thing in your mouth, particularly if the thing is cats. - Lemony Snicket

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      • #43
        Nobody does horse books better than Jane Smiley. In fact, I don't recall ever reading horse-based fiction that was nearly as good as hers.

        Dig out Horse Heaven and (re-)read it to soothe yourselves.

        Some other authors who do horsey bits very well (IMO) are Martha Grimes and Diana Gabaldon.

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        • #44
          I couldn't stand Martha Grimes' The Brave Maurice either.
          If you are allergic to a thing, it is best not to put that thing in your mouth, particularly if the thing is cats. - Lemony Snicket

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          • #45
            <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by EBO:
            Nobody does horse books better than Jane Smiley...
            Dig out Horse Heaven and (re-)read it to soothe yourselves.
            </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

            I loved that book! I should really reread it as well. I also liked Barn Blind, but not nearly as much.

            I'll admit I'm a sucker for some of young adults series (Thoroughbred, The Galloping Detective, etc).
            Future Re-Rider
            "Take care of your memories, for you cannot relive them." [Bob Dylan]

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            • #46
              As mentioned in another thread, the recent "In and Out" is pretty terrible. It apes Jilly Cooper's clever and charming "Riders" and fails miserably, IMHO. The author needs a good editor and a creative writing course, big time.

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              • #47
                I didn't enjoy the book either. I read it to the end hoping that the heroine would get herself together and give me something to cheer about...and she didn't. I guess I just prefer "let's fix this" to "oh, woe is me".

                I'd like to ready Flying Changes to see if I feel differently about it. At some point, this woman MUST get her life together...

                I enjoyed Horseplay.

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                • #48
                  I can honestly say Riding Lessons is one of the few books that I never finished. I'll read anything, including the local paper, but I wanted to hurl this book at the wall half the time. The main character was an absolute idiot who I felt zero compassion for. I actually kept reading in hopes she would have a tragic accident! I haven't read Flying Changes, maybe if I find it a Goodwill I'll pick it up, but no way am I paying full price for it.

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                  • #49
                    I have to agree about not liking Riding Lessons. I am not buying Flying Changes because I disliked Riding Lessons so much. I am with the others in thinking the heroine needed to grow up. Love Horse Play and the Lyndon Stacey books.

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                    • #50
                      [QUOTE]Originally posted by EBO:
                      Nobody does horse books better than Jane Smiley. In fact, I don't recall ever reading horse-based fiction that was nearly as good as hers.

                      Dig out Horse Heaven and (re-)read it to soothe yourselves.

                      QUOTE]

                      I didn't enjoy Horse Heaven. There were too many subplots. Many times I'd reread a page or two only because I just couldn't grasp what the writer was saying. There were plenty of words, but somehow they seemed empty. I'd think, "now what is she trying to say here?".

                      Kinda like a meal made of Twinkies, Ding-Dongs and candy bars, but a few courses had some meat.

                      JMO!
                      Barbara www.customstockties.com
                      Tulsa-QH; Schnickelfritz-Holsteiner; Atikus-Danish Warmblood; Buddy-QH/TB; Winston-Shire; Thomas-Percheron/TB; Mac-Belgian Draft, gone but never forgotten

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                      • #51
                        ExRacer-Do you know how many Galloping Dectective books there were total?

                        Comment


                        • #52
                          <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by poltroon:
                          I couldn't stand Martha Grimes' The Brave Maurice either. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

                          OMG, me too! PMU farm? In England? Using stolen high dollar mares?

                          Whoot, there has to be more feasable plots still available.

                          That and well... can't go into without spoiling... but the entire point of the book gets shot after they find her? Hmpf. I may have stopped reading there.

                          I was at the public library going through their used book sales. Found that. Was like "...oh horse book!" then "oh. that one."

                          ~Adrienne

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                          • #53
                            Imagine my suprise while reading Jane Smiley's Barn Blind.... when I found hundreds of similarities between the main character and my old trainer! The layout of the barn and the children.. their horses.. described in detail. I thought I was going crazy..

                            It turns out it really was -loosely- based on her! I have so many weird memories of this lady - she was a character! I wish I was able to spend more time around her, because I really, really respected her as a horsewoman. I really don't know enough about her relationships with her kids (I came along when they were a little older..) to know how much of the book is fiction and how much isn't - but I definitely remember some of the "main events".. Crazy!

                            The book is kind of grey and depressing - but I really enjoyed it. Read it!

                            It's really easy to get ahold of her books around here because she spent some time in Ames, (shes from Iowa) so I've read wuite a bit of her stuff. She has a lot more books that you'd expect - they aren't all horse books, either!

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                            • #54
                              I liked Barn Blind OK. I bought it two weeks ago at a library sale for $0.25. If anyone wants it and will pay to ship it, you can have it.
                              It's a uterus, not a clown car. - Sayyedati

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                              • #55
                                [QUOTE]
                                It turns out it really was -loosely- based on her! I have so many weird memories of this lady - she was a character! I wish I was able to spend more time around her, because I really, really respected her as a horsewoman. I really don't know enough about her relationships with her kids (I came along when they were a little older..) to know how much of the book is fiction and how much isn't - but I definitely remember some of the "main events".. Crazy!

                                The book is kind of grey and depressing - but I really enjoyed it. Read it!
                                QUOTE]

                                Whoah woah woah. Luvinfoofy. We've talked about your strange mirroring of my life before. I'm serious about it this time. This is your last warning.



                                I don't know if we're talking about the same person, but I rode (very shortly) with the people that were rumored to be the family in Barn Blind. (I will never forget when she tried convince my parents to replace my 20 year old $600 arabian with a 24 year old $3,500 thoroughbred &lt;g&gt.

                                Jane Smiley came to Ames for a book reading. I went. Promised myself I would NOT ask. But then during the Q&A people were asking just dumb questions. So I raised my hand.

                                "I grew up in the Eastern Iowa horse community and there is a rumor about that the family in Barn Blind might not be entirely fictional. Is this true?"

                                She looked at me right in the eye, smirked and said "I have no idea what you are talking about." Then she grinned.

                                Everyone in the audience giggled so I assume they got the same meaning from that answer as I did.

                                (My other claim to fame in this set of characters is that I once gave a prominent horsewoman information that made her threaten to kill, probably not seriously, the golden son of the aforementioned family).

                                ~Adrienne

                                Comment


                                • #56
                                  Oh boy...

                                  When Jane described her sitting up high on the Irish Bank in a lawn chair, with a handful of ponyclubbers circling below.. that is what put me over the edge. Yep, it is her!

                                  Was the book reading at one of the smaller independent bookstores? One of my friends/profs started a small bookstore and was bragging to me about how he got Jane to come do a reading at his store a while back. Of course, I was telling him all about this mystery trainer from eastern Iowa!

                                  Ahem, "said" trainer had a great reputation for selling 20 y/o horses as 7 y/o horses, getting people to sell their horses to buy hers
                                  , and "making" kids buy tack from her! I remember vividly riding my pony in a lesson with her when she said I needed a whip. I'd never needed a whip with him, but I said I'd go get one from my tack box. She sternly told me I couldn't get off and sent someone to get a whip out of her old truck. She handed me the whip, finished the lesson and when I tried to give it back she said that by using it I was buying it and promptly tacked on $12 (for a USED crop!) onto my lesson bill! I was only 8 and didn't know how to respond.. geez, she knew how to work people over! A "horse dealer" FOR SURE!

                                  So since we're pretty much the same person, if you ever make it back to Ames - lets have lunch.. mmmkay???

                                  Comment


                                  • #57
                                    Rt66Kix--If you don't do subplots, don't ever, ever read Gabaldon. I love subplots, especially when led to by seeming digressions!

                                    To those of you who complained about Grime's
                                    Grave Maurice, you're right. That was not among her best, or even among her fair to middlin'. She's done a couple of things dramatizing animal rights (like the subject isn't wrenching enough to start with) that haven't flowed as smoothly as the Inspector Jury and Maxwell Plant series. (I'm madly in love with Maxwell Plant, btw.) I think combining the two was a mistake. At least in this case.

                                    Does post-adolescent horse madness go along with being Readers? Or are we all so personally obnoxious that the only beings* that can stand us are our horses and our dogs? And we have to read the rest of the time because we're too poor *(reasons for poverty) to afford TV sets?

                                    Comment


                                    • #58
                                      Thanks for the PSA. I was in a bookstore today and I saw "Flying Changes". I was surprised that these books were never discussed before. It's your prerogative to like a book or not. Honestly, I read a Rita Mae Brown book and hated it, so to each his own.

                                      Comment


                                      • #59
                                        has anyone read the Perfect Distance?? I saw it in the Chronicle today.. was thinking about asking for it for christmas... any opinions??
                                        love to love

                                        Comment


                                        • #60
                                          I think my "favorite" part of The Grave Maurice is where Mr. Plant, in the service of investigating Nell's disappearance, rather randomly goes to Ryder Stud and purchases a breeding stallion. Of course, Plant knows hardly anything about horses and cannot ride, but this does not stop him from buying the horse and installing him in a stable in his backyard. Curiously, though much is made of the stud farm's love and deep caring for its horses, they don't seem to notice that they've sold a prize horse to someone who barely knows what they eat. And Plant talks about racing the horse and standing him at stud - both while stabling him in the backyard and taking him for walks once in a while - activities which don't go together and which both require a lot of specialized knowledge. I couldn't tell if this was meant to show what a goof Plant was or if the author just didn't know or care.
                                          If you are allergic to a thing, it is best not to put that thing in your mouth, particularly if the thing is cats. - Lemony Snicket

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