Fiction horse books

[DancingAppy]

Ah, AP and Honors English classes. I loved how I liked all the books the other kids hated. I LOVE “Lord of the Flies”. Don’t know how many times I’ve read it. For one project, we had to read 500 pages worth of books, and I choose Bradbury novels: Fareinheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and Something Wicked This Way Comes. I wanted to include Dandelion Wine (the opposite of Something Wicked) but didn’t have enough time.

Everyone hated the Great Gatsby, I loved it. Same thing happened with Heart of Darkness, Grapes of Wrath (I love that book), Othello, Frankenstein, Of Mice and Men, Things Fall Apart, etc. I also enjoy Dickens and hate Austen (that made me WiErD). :lol:

For my AP Lit and Comp test, my essay was about A Clockwork Orange! Majority of people used either Othello or Huckleberry Finn. I was one of two people that year in my school to pass the test.

Ah gotta love high school English…

I loved Marquerite Henry when I was a kid. I also liked that book about the boy and a gray horse. I think it was called Beauty. Sad ending though…

[Indy-lou]

Memory flooding…My Friend Flicka and the Trilogy “Thunderhead” and “Green Grass of Wyoming”. I think films were made of these, but poor versions of the books.

[Silver_Snaffles]

I used to love Horse Heaven Jane Smiley, Until I heard what happened to her mare. That women is not a horse lover

[Katy9532]

Can we get this made a sticky?

[Katy9532]

[QUOTE=copper1;3533706]
I thought “God of all Animals” was one of the worst books I had ever read! I hated it and in fact, threw it in the garbage when I was done! The horse stuff was way too far fetched for me and the story line was way too depressing! I am not saying the writing was bad, just very inaccurate and again too depressing for me![/QUOTE]

Agreed agreed agreed.
That book was more than horrible. I threw it in the fireplace when I finished and used it at fire starter.

I would like to also agree that “Water for the Elephants” is excellent.

[Moderator_1]

Just a heads up: if this thread reaches 100 posts, it’ll be saved from the regular board pruning/deletion process by default. If it doesn’t we’ll move it over to the reference forum for safekeeping.

We’ve had some requests for maintaining some of these threads for a COTH Library of sorts. The longer ones are saved by default, but we could also add shorties into one big ol’ reference thread to be saved for posterity–and we can add a post to that thread with links to the longer book threads elsewhere in the forums. We’ll see what format seems to be most applicable, but feel free to let us know via alert or PM, now or in the future if there’s a book (or other) thread you think would be a good one to save.

We’ll check back on this one in a week or two and go from there, as this one seems to be pretty comprehensive and could be a good place to start.

Thanks!
Mod 1

[cranky]

[QUOTE=Indy-lou;3535864]
Memory flooding…My Friend Flicka and the Trilogy “Thunderhead” and “Green Grass of Wyoming”. I think films were made of these, but poor versions of the books.[/QUOTE]

OMG, I loved that trilogy as well! I feel like I could go back and read it even now. Also loved almost anything written by Marguerite Henry.

[grayarabpony]

[QUOTE=Silver Snaffles;3535884]
I used to love Horse Heaven Jane Smiley, Until I heard what happened to her mare. That women is not a horse lover :([/QUOTE]

What happened to her mare?

I used to read and re-read the Mary o’ Hara triology all of the way through high school and college.

[HandD]

I just read the Mountain’s Call by Caitlin Brennan. Really a nice fantasy work revoloving around majestic white stallions as this race’s Gods. Cool premise and interesting story.

[poltroon]

[QUOTE=Moderator 1;3536099]
Just a heads up: if this thread reaches 100 posts, it’ll be saved from the regular board pruning/deletion process by default. If it doesn’t we’ll move it over to the reference forum for safekeeping.

We’ve had some requests for maintaining some of these threads for a COTH Library of sorts. The longer ones are saved by default, but we could also add shorties into one big ol’ reference thread to be saved for posterity–and we can add a post to that thread with links to the longer book threads elsewhere in the forums. We’ll see what format seems to be most applicable, but feel free to let us know via alert or PM, now or in the future if there’s a book (or other) thread you think would be a good one to save.

We’ll check back on this one in a week or two and go from there, as this one seems to be pretty comprehensive and could be a good place to start.

Thanks!
Mod 1[/QUOTE]

Over the years, there have been several:

http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=89863 (175 posts)
http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=157483 (30 posts)
http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=152765 (30 posts)
http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=73524 (129 posts)
http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=70735 (126 posts)
http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=24440 (295 posts)
http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=24259 (237 posts)
http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=24284 (251 posts)
http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=35614 (67 posts)
http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=35677 (41 posts)
http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=35271 (104 posts)
http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=35672 (103 posts)
All the way back to 2001.

Here are the links with titles:
Well written horsey novels for grown-ups (175 posts)
Horse-centric summer reads? (30 posts)
Horsey reads (30 posts)
If you could have one fictional horse, which one would you want? (292 posts)
Your fav horsey book when you were a pre-teen & why? (129 posts)
What’s your favorite horse book? (126 posts)
Teen Horse Fiction for $200, Alex (295 posts)
I need the author and title of a book (237 posts)
Name five best horse stories for kids (251 posts)
Books about life on the A circuit (67 posts)
And the New Grown Up Horsie Book Recommendations Are?? (41 posts)
Favorite Grown Up Horse Books (104 posts)
Favorite Horse Books from way back when (103 posts)

You can see why I started keeping track of these in a database at ponydom.com - solely for my own sanity, because I couldn’t remember them all!

[Bearhunter]

Virginia Gentleman by Mary Mitchell Barnes. Great book but a serious, serious tearjerker. I can’t remember a book where I cried as hard but then again it truly touched me. I recommend it to anyone who has ever had a once in a lifetime horse; a horse that has truly made a difference in your life.

[poltroon]

Another one that I’ve come to love that came from a suggestion here is Catch Rides by Sara McAulay. Not only is it a window into the California horse scene of the 70’s, but it also is a good window into how life has changed for women since then. It’s quite well written, definitely literature, and it’s mostly been forgotten, so you can find used copies cheap.

[Angel_Undercover]

[QUOTE=grayarabpony;3536202]
What happened to her mare?

I used to read and re-read the Mary o’ Hara triology all of the way through high school and college.[/QUOTE]

Try a fugly search… I will see if I can find the link for you tonight.

[cranky]

[QUOTE=poltroon;3536781]
Another one that I’ve come to love that came from a suggestion here is Catch Rides by Sara McAulay. Not only is it a window into the California horse scene of the 70’s, but it also is a good window into how life has changed for women since then. It’s quite well written, definitely literature, and it’s mostly been forgotten, so you can find used copies cheap.[/QUOTE]

OMG, I’ve been looking for this book for YEARS! I read in high school and I’ve been trying to remember the author and find it. I think I remembered the title correctly and haven’t been able to bring it up on an Amazon search, but maybe having the author name will help. Thanks so much!

[poltroon]

[QUOTE=grayarabpony;3536202]
What happened to her mare?

I used to read and re-read the Mary o’ Hara triology all of the way through high school and college.[/QUOTE]

This is the thread about Jane Smiley’s mare Waterwheel, featured in A Year at the Races.

http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=144574

Edited to add: the mare is fine and has a good home, but people are upset that she was sold in foal at auction for a low price with no reserve, and feel that Smiley didn’t do her due diligence to ensure Waterwheel and her foal would go to a caring situation.

[poltroon]

[QUOTE=cranky;3536993]
OMG, I’ve been looking for this book for YEARS! I read in high school and I’ve been trying to remember the author and find it. I think I remembered the title correctly and haven’t been able to bring it up on an Amazon search, but maybe having the author name will help. Thanks so much![/QUOTE]

Follow my link for Catch Rides and you go to ponydom.com which has a review and excerpt from it, and also contains a link over to Amazon, where today you can find copies starting at $2.05.

[poltroon]

[QUOTE=HandD;3536208]
I just read the Mountain’s Call by Caitlin Brennan. Really a nice fantasy work revoloving around majestic white stallions as this race’s Gods. Cool premise and interesting story.[/QUOTE]

I quite enjoyed the way she took essentially the Spanish Riding School and made it into a guild of magic users, with quadrille patterns being a way to cast extraordinary spells. All the horses in Judith Tarr’s (Tarr/Brennan are the same person) books are clearly Lippizans; she’s a breeder in addition and writes about them quite lyrically.

[Peggy]

Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss - young female horse breaker in rural Oregon ca 1917. Really gives you a feeling for the era.

I liked Lord of the Flies in HS and got an A++ or something like that on the paper with the comment “you really understand Golding.” Perhaps not necessarily a good thing for a 16- y.o. girl. Not an easy teacher either–the infamous Rose Gilbert at Pali High who’s still teaching there.

[hedmbl]

[QUOTE=grayarabpony;3535852]
King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry are great. If you don’t shed at least one tear at the end of the second one there’s something wrong with you. :sadsmile:

.[/QUOTE]

My fave book as a kid was King of the Wind. My dad tracked down a rare copy complete with hand drawn/painted illustrations with gold leaf pages and gave it to me for my 8th bday, it’s still one of my prized posessions. It might still rank in my all time favorite books although I haven’t read it in several years. I did read it at least once a year from when I was five until I was 14 or 15 and cried every time. hmmm…off to pull my paperback copy off the shelf.

[poltroon]

[QUOTE=SarahandSam;3533682]
Noooo, it’s because we English teachers simply don’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want to read a book we love so much. I read books going “Man, I want all my kids to read this one…” And I have never taught “Lord of the Flies” because I haaaaaated it in high school. d;[/QUOTE]

Clearly, we need to figure out how to add some horse fiction to your reading list.