Reading Until Infinity discussion
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May 2020 Group Read - Animals
I started already today
Canal Days Calamity by Jamie M. Blair cozy mystery and the main character and her family has 6 dogs with varying characters and prone to mischief - DNFRead:
Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron 3* non-fiction
24 Modernized Aesop Fables by Luke Christodoulou 3* mostly told from the POV of animals
Nachbarschaftsverhältnis by Johanna Danninger lit. transl. Neighborhood Liason 3* - I love the great dane in this story so much!
Run to Ground by Katie Ruggle K-9 romantic suspenseKate Shugak by Dana Stabenow with Mutt (half wolf, half husky as vital character and wild-life descriptions in several books): The Singing Of The Dead 4*, A Fine and Bitter Snow 5*, A Grave Denied 5*, A Taint in the Blood 4*,
Butterscotch Jones series by Melanie Jackson with Max (a wolf hybrid and a few wild-life scenes): Due North 4*, Big Bones 3*, Gone South 3*, Home Fires 3*, Points West 4*, The Wedding 4*, Wild East 3*, Still Waters 2*
Currently reading:
A Deeper Sleep by Dana Stabenow(view spoiler)
Wow! That's a lot if books! 😁 You must really love dogs too since all of the books are about dogs. The book I'm reading now actually has a wolf in it but that was by accident as I didn't know there was a main character that was a wolf. It's
and when this famous character from the series died, Harry, his ... Soul? Split into different pieces and they went into different people. One of the pieces went into a wolf. So now the wolf is part of a group of three. And his name is Wolf. Or Three. The main character Scott is One and he had to travel from England to Greece to rescue Wolf, as Wolf was hungry and had been killing chickens and people had been hunting him. But he found Wolf and he took him home. Magically of course! There's no way you could snuggle a wolf out of a country by normal means! The second person in the group is a lady and she has an alien creature (small slimey jello like slug) inside her and it's her Kiff. Her name is Shania or Two. Together they have to save the world from a trip of very evil people. The three are telepathic which helps especially when you have to communicate with a wolf. This situation is very hard on Scott as he was living a normal life until this stuff started. I hope to finish this one today. I have other animal books to read too so I'll tell you about them as I read them.
Sarah wrote: "Wow! That's a lot if books! 😁 You must really love dogs too since all of the books are about dogs..."I'd say it's just chance - I read what's available & if possible fits my challenge requirements (in one group I need in May books with a BARE CHEST on the cover and as one of the participants pointed out - who says it has to be a guy why not go for an animal and that's what I wanted to include as well *grins*)
In the question cat or dog - I'm a dog person. Which reminds me I wanted to read
Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron this month as well.Then I checked my emails and my father sent me two books one of which is
Wszystko wina kota! by Agnieszka Lingas-Łoniewska (lit. transl. Everything was the Cat's Fault!) and looks like a fun read so I added it to my May reading list as well.I have my eyes on
Nachbarschaftsverhältnis by Johanna Danninger (lit. transl. Neighborhood Liason) about a woman with a cat who has suddenly to deal with a new neighbor who comes with a great dane - and they share the garden - sounds fun so the perfect book for these times :-)Finally I forgot I get Saturday
The Enlightenment of Bees by Rachel Linden from my online library (Wow the next person who wants it has to wait until Mid July!) I hope this book is as good as this long waiting list indicates and not just a hype-book.I'm not sure if the two with Cat & Bees in title are really animal books or if they only have one in title. I'll let you know when I read them plus I'm more of a mood reader so it's more than likely there will appear some books short term and at least one or two of the planned will suddently disappear.
Back to the favorite animal question! My favorites are white stork and hedgehog unfortunatelly there are only few books with these.
I believe I read that book about Dewey a long time ago and gave it to my one friend for her birthday? It was nonfiction about a cat living in a library and how famous Dewey became. Sometimes y don't remember books until someone mentions them. I'll write more later. I have a meeting now via phone.
I am reading "Animals in Translation" by Temple Grandin. I had started it in April, being the month dedicated to Autism awareness, and the book is still in progress. This is a non-fiction book, the author being an animal behavior analyst, and on the autism spectrum herself. In this book, she talks about why animals are so good with children with autism, and why people on the spectrum find it easier to relate to animals.
Worth Her Weight in Gold
Great short story about the hippos!
Worth Her Weight in Gold (River of Teeth) by Sarah Gailey is a terrific short story in the series of the hippos. A short but fun story to put a smile on the reader's face! I love this world. Hope she has another book in the series!
Montzalee, I read River of Teeth that's in the series about the hippos! It's such an original idea...but hippos are truly scary creatures (or they can be). I remember watching a documentary on YouTube about hippos and how they can behave towards humans. Renata: that sounds like a really terrific book! And animals are very great at helping heal people. Not only for autism but also from lifelong trauma, bullying, etc. Like horse therapy. It really helps..and I know several people who have service dogs.
Two of the animal books I'm going to read include:
Both of these have been sitting on my shelf for a long time so I'm going to start out with these two. Then I will read other animal books as well. There's also a PIFM read from another group that I think will fit in nicely:
I believe it's about some sort of sea creatures but unsure what..
I'm almost done reading The Touch and it's a very fascinating book. And Wolf is a great character. I also find myself greatly caring for the little alien Khiff that travels with Shania, but I don't think the Khiff qualifies as an animal. Unless it does...it does resemble a slug though so...?? But it's amazing a book can make you care about an alien slug and hope it doesn't die!
Agnieszka wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Wow! That's a lot if books! 😁 You must really love dogs too since all of the books are about dogs..."I'd say it's just chance - I read what's available & if possible fits my challen..."
That's so clever Agnieszka! To use the furry bare chests of cats and dogs for that challenge! Besides the three books I mentioned above, I also have a few library books here I need to read in May. And one of them is a sci-fi book about the Nighthorses! So yes, alien horses! 🏇
I also have a western I need to read, which I had checked out way back in February - hard to believe I checked these books out so long ago - for the Popsugar challenge! And that's about horses too!
And I have a lot of other books too about animals. 😁 I do need to get caught up on these library books in case they really DO open...I don't know if they will. Luckily I can read a lot of books in a month.
All.of your books sound grand too! I recall the other year before I knew about Goodreads I had read a few K9 books - I just remembered that now! And I know that sometimes just because they have the word "dog" or "cat" or "bee" in the title doesn't mean that animal will be in the book! I remember as a kid that would really annoy me as a kid!! I would see these movie titles with the word "dragon" in it and would feel tricked or cheated because there was no actual dragon in the movie!! Only people doing karate or stuff. Because to me, a dragon was a big fire breathing lizard!
That cat with the great Dane sounds like a wonderful story! It should be interesting to see how the two different species gets along. Same thing with Everything is the Cats Fault. Hmm...a cat being blamed for stuff makes me think of the musical CATS. There were a few very naughty cats in there! Mongojerry and Rumpleteaser. And who could forget McCavity? 😸
It should be fun to see how many animal books I can read this month.
Sarah wrote: "Montzalee, I read River of Teeth that's in the series about the hippos! It's such an original idea...but hippos are truly scary creatures (or they can be). I remember watching a documentary on YouT..."Sarah, I read the two books in the Teeth series and this is a short prequel added. I love this alternative world! Yes real hippos kill humans but in this world they are used like horses near the rivers!
Renata wrote: "I am reading "Animals in Translation" by Temple Grandin. I had started it in April, being the month dedicated to Autism awareness, and the book is still in progress. This is a non-fiction book, the..."This one sounds very interesting and I have a sweet spot for autist, especially Aspis. I'll see if I can get my hands on this one.
Agnieszka wrote: "Renata wrote: "I am reading "Animals in Translation" by Temple Grandin. I had started it in April, being the month dedicated to Autism awareness, and the book is still in progress. This is a non-fi..."In that case, I would recommend Autism in Heels by Jennifer O'Toole. It's a memoir of the author who herself has Asperger's, and her life bringing up children who also have Asperger's.
Renata wrote: "Agnieszka wrote: "Renata wrote: "I am reading "Animals in Translation" by Temple Grandin. I had started it in April, being the month dedicated to Autism awareness, and the book is still in progress..."Thank you! I have this one on my watch list.
I abandoned
becuase it was too much drama again and I just lost patience for it. These books are more chick lit with some light mystery than cozy-mysteries and I'm not a fan of chick lit.
I'm sorry the book didn't work out for you, Agnieszka.. sometimes that happens. I've done that to books too.I finished these books yesterday:
. This turned out to be a decent book of 5 short stories that involve magic, mystery and teach morals. They read like fairy tales. Two of them involved animals. The first tale had a lot of cats and a cat named Charley switches bodies with a very bored boy. And the last one was about birds and the money hungry hunter who went hunting the Queen of Birds. I liked the first one with the cats but I didn't really like the last one.
then I finished this one late last night. The orange cat on the cover is Ambrose and the black cat is Oliver. There was also another previous cat mentioned named Lama. The two donkeys in the book are Fred and Mingoose Merlin. His previous donkey - who was Fred's mother - was Penny. This is one of the autobiographies of Derek Tangye and his adventures living on a Cornwall flower farm. A large portion of the book is the mishaps he has with the animals or what they were doing. Like every Christmas he and his wife cooked mince pies for the donkeys! I loved reading the parts about the donkeys, mainly because I know two donkeys and I really miss my equines right now! I also think the donkeys had bigger adventures than the cats did, like running off the leads and vanishing over the hills and leaving the author trying to catch them! I also never heard of a long haired donkey before but apparently that's what Merlin is! He also helps wild birds in the book too!
I'm going to start reading
and
... The first one is my PIFM and a buddy read in another group..so I'll start on that one first..
Well I just finished reading
and it's about Humboldt Squid. It's a very well written story very similar to Jaws but it also talks a lot about how human activity is changing the nature of the ocean. Certain sea life is dying or disappearing ... That leaves gaps then that other creatures can fill. So creatures, like the Humboldt Squid in the novel, might move into new areas where they never were before. Because in the past other large animals kept them out of that area. The book also talks about parasites and how parasites can change the behavior of animals they infect. The book uses rabies as an example that almost everyone knows about. So yes this is a scary story but it also talks a lot about other things too, like science. It's not just thrills and fears.Many of the Humboldt Squid also were written as characters. The book has also managed to make me feel sad for some of them at the end even though they were supposed to be the bad guys! I felt sad for the one eyed female and for the old scarred female, but especially the one eyed one. She was just so confused and was trying to survive. The parasites had stolen everything from her. In some ways I think it's similar to a human with alzeimers (spelling?) who knows something is wrong but doesn't know what.
Please think about the oceans and how our trash can affect it too..
This morning I read this book about horses:
This was a fun children's book set in 1776 in Virginia. It's about a girl saving her plantation from a British spy who is also a horse thief. It was obvious to me from the beginning who the thief was! But Felicity had to make some hard decisions near the end. And I could understand her nervousness and uncertainty as what was the right thing to do. It's not easy. Lots of great horse action in here. Also nice details that bring the time period to life, like stays, buckle shoes, foolscap paper and Banbury cakes.
I'm currently reading
which is about the Nighthorses. So far it's about an abused boy Danny who bonds with a Nighthorse named Cloud. Danny is young and he's "too loud" mentally. When the only rider who ever treated him decent gets into trouble and leave without any of his supplies, Danny decides to go after him..and something dangerous is out there: a rogue Nighthorse. So far I'm on page 160.
Sarah wrote: "This morning I read this book about horses: This was a fun children's book set in 1776 in Virginia. It's about a girl saving her planta..."
Sounds interesting.
My friend gave me a bunch of horse books yesterday so I will read those too! She gave 7 of them. These are the books she gave:
And finally the last one:
Her timing couldn't be better!
Sarah wrote: "My friend gave me a bunch of horse books yesterday so I will read those too! She gave 7 of them. These are the books she gave:
[bookcover:The Ghost Horse: A True Story of Love, Death, and Redemp..."
Good for you. Have fun reading :-)
I decided to extend my KU membership another month and already finished one of the Kate Shugak books (she's a former investigator for the prosecution working as PI now) and started the next and even if they are not animal books per definition Mutt Kate's female half-wolf & half-husky is a vital character in the series, saved her life many times, warned her of danger even more often and according to Kate she's her roomie, soulmale, best friend, bodyguard, best character judge (except for Jim - Kate's usually annoyed by him in her personal relationship but respects him very highly in his professional function as Alaska state trooper) ...In my current book A Fine and Bitter Snow there's such a great series of connected scenes I thought some of you would enjoy them as well (loc. 1204-1214, 1385, 1428-1435, 1457-1461):
Annoyed, he [Jim] thumped on the door again. “Police! Open up!”
There was loud, wild Wraaaaaoooowl right next to his head. He jumped back to the edge of the porch and slipped off the top step. His arms wind-milled wildly and he fell heavily on his back. “Son of a bitch!”
There was another inhuman howl, and a black house cat jumped down from a timber just below the roof of the porch. Her hair standing straight out from her body, she looked like a big black porcupine. Her eyes were wild and her fur was stained red. She hit the porch once, bounced off it and landed on his chest, leaving red paw prints on his dark blue jacket, bounced off again and landed on the trail, skimming over the snow as if it wasn’t there and vanishing into the trees at a dead run.
“Oh shit,” he said, remembering Dina and Ruthe’s cat for the first time. They had called her Galadriel, after Ruthe’s favorite wood witch, and over the years the name had naturally been shortened to Gal. She was a longtime member of the family and, what was even more important, a legendary greeter of Camp Teddy’s summer guests. Gal had purred from the laps of the rich and powerful for a decade. If Ruthe survived, Gal would be the first person Ruthe would want to see. He wallowed around until he managed to get to his feet. “Gal! Here, kitty! Come on, Gal, you know me! Come on back now!”
[...]
Mutt looked up at Kate and raised an eyebrow. Kate shook her head. “Not worth it.” Mutt gave an almost-perceptible shrug. “Find Gal,” Kate said. Mutt looked disgusted and stalked out, disapproval evident in the slightly backward set of her ears.
[...]
She heard a noise on the porch and went to the door. Mutt was on the top step, Gal between her front paws, her face screwed up into an expression of deep distaste as Mutt washed her with a raspy pink tongue. They both became aware of Kate at the same moment. Gal sprang away and hissed. Grr, Mutt said in return. Gal jerked her tail and padded between Kate’s legs. She gave an imperious meow, but when Kate got her some food, she barely waved a whisker over it before going right to Ruthe’s chair and curling up.
“Welcome home,” Kate said. She was immensely relieved. She didn’t want to have to tell Ruthe that Gal had disappeared. She bent to give the cat a scratch behind the ears and found her fur damp to the touch from Mutt’s ministrations. She looked over at Mutt. “You make a pretty good nurse.”
Mutt gave an elaborate yawn, and cleaned up Gal’s food with a single swipe of her tongue. It was all show, because Kate knew for a fact that Mutt had dined very nicely the day before on the remains of a moose carcass not a mile from the homestead.
[...]
Gal’s head poked up over the back of the chair, and Jim said, “Hey, Gal, you came back! Good girl. Thank god. I couldn’t find her after she took off.”
He told Kate what had happened, and she laughed, surprising both of them. He picked up Gal and sat down with her in his lap, where she immediately curled up, purring and kneading. Mutt padded over and rested her chin on the arm of the chair, and Jim freed a hand to scratch her ears.
Kate sat down and started going through the paperwork again. When next she looked up, Jim had his head against the back of the chair and his eyes closed. Gal was curled into a soft black ball on his lap and Mutt was stretched out on the floor with her head on one of his feet.
It was quite a domestic scene.
Thanks for sharing those great scenes with us! That's funny how Gal scared Jim so he fell off the porch! It must be embarrassing for him since he's a cop!! But why we're the cats feet so red? Leaving red footprints?? Paint? Red clay?? Hopefully nothing too freaky!
I'm starting on
now..Here is a scene from
between Danny and Cloud. From page 238. The words between the < > are the communication between human and horse. Some are images they see and they can send to the other while some are emotions they feel. Danny is still a young rider so he still has a lot to learn about being bonded to Cloud. I had to change the < to ( because the < refused to show up!"Come on..." He pleaded with Cloud. (Cloud with ears up. Cloud cheerful)
Not likely.
He carefully let go of Cloud's nose, wanting (Cloud walking quietly, easily besides Danny.) He walked, kept imagining it, tried to remember (Jonas talking to him.)
(Jonas talking about elbows and knees.) That was when you were riding. That wasn't any good and he couldn't remember the rest of it.
He tried to slow his breathing despite the thin air. He tried not to shake. That was harder. But Cloud didn't do anything else rash, at least - Cloud had calmed enough the bitten spot was hurting, one of those spots Cloud couldn't reach to lick, so Danny got into his pack while he walked and found the drying-powder, took his glove off long enough to pat a little on to Cloud's hide.
It made a white and red spot on Cloud's shoulder and it was going to scar. It made him (mad.)
And Cloud got upset.
Shut up, he said to himself then, desperately wanting (quiet ) Jonas had said it was his fault Cloud got upset. And he'd just done it, he'd just set Cloud off.
So he concentrated on being quiet, on (Cloud walking quietly. Jonas saying (elbows not moving. Knees quiet. No extra movements.)
Hard to do when you are walking with a batch of scum, but he could, he had to....
Sarah wrote: "Here is a scene from between Danny and Cloud. From page 238..."Nice. Thank you.
Sarah wrote: "Thanks for sharing those great scenes with us! That's funny how Gal scared Jim so he fell off the porch! It must be embarrassing for him since he's a cop!! But why we're the cats feet so red? Leaving red footprints?? Paint? Red clay?? Hopefully nothing too freaky!"
If you knew (and liked) Jim as much as I did you'd know it's so contrare to his usual demeanor and appearance. He's this stoic always looking as if freshly changed (any time of day or night) and charming state trooper - until recently and that makes him crazy.
The red thing on Gal's paws was blood. All books in this series have at least one murder case at the center of the plot. Sorry if it's too freky I thought I took that part out of the quote, looks like I forgot.
Oh it's not freaky at all (I do read horror book you know) I just thought maybe there was a more simple explanation for the red stuff - although blood was my first thought. In the book I just finished there were bits of bones and bloody clothes and the remains of many corpses lying in the streets of a town... And the book before that people got killed and eaten by squid.
Sarah wrote: "Oh it's not freaky at all (I do read horror book you know) I just thought maybe there was a more simple explanation for the red stuff - although blood was my first thought. In the book I just finis..."OK horror is where I draw the line which is an issue for one of my yearly challenges (I have to complete 25 of 26 tasks) and there is one to read a book by Steven King (nixed that one immediately) and another one to read a horror story. Now I'm looking for something tagged horror that's not really one.
Sometimes horror is... It's not always blood or guts or stuff like that. Sometimes horror is the idea. Like in Stand By Me. It's about 4 boys going out to see a dead body they had heard about. You know a rumor. The movie is based off of one of Steven King's short stories. Are you ok with the movie Stand By Me? It's mainly just these kids walking and talking along a train track. One boy is telling these stories. They have problems. Then there's older trouble making teens that do dumb stuff like knock mailboxes off of posts with baseball bats.. it's the IDEA that these kids heard a RUMOUR about a body and they are traveling to see it. It's basically a drama. Oh the short story is called "The Body".Lots of his stories are kind of like dramas. They might put you to sleep!
Some of Kings short stories are really good! I remember one about chattering teeth. They usually have unusual twists.
OH!! I know! If you want to read King but not read something truly scary read these:
This is the story about a girl lost in the woods. She has to survive on her own and she gets through by listening to a radio (baseball). It's not scary. Or she scares herself through the night sounds in the woods. You know, what was that sound? It's horror because King wrote it but it's a "girl versus nature" story.
Another good choice would be:
This is another great non scary book by King. It's about a young girl who is given a magic box by a strange man. The box might have powers. But does it? It's about belief. Once again not scary! It's about superstition and belief. You know, did something happen on the news because I pressed this button or is that all random? Oh...I think there IS an icky scene in this book...I just remembered that.
Not all of his books are super scary! I bet you could read these easily! You might enjoy them..the books are also thinner for a King book. They are more novellas.
If you want I can think of other non scary horror.
You could read both of those King books and complete TWO of the challenges! Horror book and King. 😀
If you want some other horror, maybe read something really old. Like Edgar Alan Poe. Or what about RL Stine?
Another one King wrote is
which actually reads as a fantasy novel. Not horror. But a few characters die I think. But that could happen in any book. I enjoyed this one.A different author wrote
.. I don't remember anything truly horrid in this one. Although I believe it is classified as horror. It's more suspense. It's about a girl and her imaginary friend. A tale of people on vacation at a summer house and the things that had happened in the past. You know, a family secret. There was one scene in here I hated but it involves a horse and I love horses so it bugged me. I felt it was unnecessary. But I don't recall any icky human related scenes.
Anyway I have read these two animal books:
This is the true story of a club footed race horse that for a short time actually overcame her physical deformity and made it to the big race track of Saratoga! Along the way she saved a man's life. Horse owner Timmy Snyder was depressed after his wife died of cancer and he even had thought of killing himself. But horses and horse racing was his life. He didn't know anything else. So he bought a cheap horse for $4,500 and he helped that horse to overcome obstacles..and Even when people offered him a half million dollars for it, he said no..he named the horse after his dead wife and the filly was special to him. Lisa's Booby Trap was the name of the horse. This book was a delight to read! I sped through it. And in case anyone is doing the Popsugar challenge, it's written by a journalist.
I also read this book today and enjoyed the fun mystery.. this was the second American Girl book I've read and I found the mystery in here to be more complicated (but of course I still corrected guessed both parts of the double mystery). And yes, it's a double mystery! First you have to guess who is stealing food and other items from Kit's house (and there are many suspects) and second you need to guess who is trying to break in at the monkey house at the zoo and why.. the story is set during the Great Depression. Of course this book is aimed at kids but I did enjoy it. I think I actually liked this one better than the one in 1776.
I've finished
which is about a young man who sets off into the artic wilderness with a dog sled team. He has zero experience in this sort of thing and doesn't really know anything about dogs either. The story is part dream and part "real". He decided out of the blue that he was bored and not satisfied with his life in the villiage living in a government house that was like a square box, so he just set out to live the old way. Hunting with the grandpa's old tools and weapons. He has the dogs...The story is a good adventure story. I give it that. But I also find it a bit hard to believe. That a modern young man with no experience (although he had hunted with a gun before) could survive out there.
Sarah wrote: "...The story is a good adventure story. I give it that. But I also find it a bit hard to believe. That a modern young man with no experience (although he had hunted with a gun before) could survive out there."Wow, you're knocking them down at a pace it's unbelievable.
I agree with you it's unrealistic - especially after I read quite a number of books set in Alaska and some of them described how hard the fight for survival there is - especially in winter.
Thank you for your recommendations. I can deal usually with blood and gore much better than emotionally tense writing - even less with any kind of emotional/mental abuse or mental spiral down. Before I was aware Joyce Carol Oates writes horror I borrowed Jack of Spades from my library a couple of years ago and that's an experience I don't plan to repeat if I can - even if her writing style's great and hooks you from the very beginning.
I'm reading another of Kate Shugak books A Taint in the Blood and love the way she communicates with Mutt (her half wolf, half husky)
Well I would try those two books by King, especially The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon. I don't really remember it as being tense or anything. It's basically just a lot of walking in the woods, looking for food, etc. Her wondering about sounds she hears. The Button Box book has one bloody scene (brief) but it's also mostly from a kids viewpoint. Where she questions herself if she is really doing stuff or is it coincidence.
Yes I'm reading books fast. I read 3 books yesterday but then it was raining all day yesterday. And they were short books too. Two of them were kids books. It's not like I could go do my long walks in the rain. I don't mind the cold but I don't like walking in the rain.
You could try violet if it's available to you. I don't remember if it's tense or not. It's basically a ghost story.
Open library has Rider at the Gate. That has horror elements in it. But it's not tense.
Most of King's books move very slowly. In my opinion they are more likely to put you to sleep. They are not tense. Or not that I remember. Like if you watch the movie version of " Riding the Bullet" you will see not much actually happens. My mom and I once watched it on DVD from the library. It's just about a man, a weird hitchhiker and the man's desire to ride this big old wooden rollercoaster. As a kid he wanted to ride it but he was scared to do so. So the coaster became this big legend in his head. But basically nothing happens. It's a drama. Very slow. The only weird thing about the hitchhiker is he kept showing up. Or Maybe that he knew things. It's hard to remember as it was back in 2016 or so that I saw it.
I remember falling asleep as a kid while watching Salem's Lot on TV.
King has this big reputation that goes with his name. But don't let his name scare you. He mostly writes drama. Yes, a few can be scary like IT or Silver Bullet (the short story "The Cycle of the Werewolf") but most are actually slow moving dramas where some weird stuff going on. Silver Bullet is my favorite by the way.
My one friend who never saw a real horror movie...she went with me and this other friend to go see IT part 1 at the theatre. She was nervous that it would scare her. She ended up laughing at it!! I kid you not. She was laughing loudly at scenes in the movie. I thought that was kind of weird.
Well I finished
today.This is a collection of 21 individual true stories about horses and the people that knew them. More than half of these stories made me cry. This is a very emotional book..of course I feel very connected with horses. And I greatly miss Oliver and the herd.
The stories in here range greatly. Some are about horses that found forever homes or ones that recovered from illness or ones that changed bad behavior. Some are about ones that saved people's lives or have taught people things. Each story is very unique and was written by the individual who knew the horse. But many as I said are sad..it's been a long time since I have cried so much at a book. I had to pause reading it in the middle because it was just too overwhelming.
I started reading
now which is about dolphins. 🐬
Well I have finished The Forgotten. There were dolphins in it, mainly one named Cocoa, but she played a somewhat small yet very important role in the story. She helped the FBI with their case. Cocoa was sweet, super intelligent and a real hero! And one particular man will truly regret the day he dared mess with her friends! Needless to say, he's in lots of pain now. This was a pretty good murder mystery that had a supernatural twist to it. It includes ghosts and zombies. It's a very entertaining, fast moving story. I didn't guess who the crook was. Throughout the story I never really felt the characters were in danger. I guess I just expected they would be ok.
I started today Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World and loved the cat chapters as long as the author didn't put words in his mouth. The history chapters were way too dry and I don't see the relevance (yet). I hope there will be more of those fun cat antics and less of the other stuff in the other 75 per cent of the book.I just decided to start tonight another of the Kate Shugak books - mainly because of Mutt *grins*
Last night I started 24 Modernized Aesop Fables. All the fables are told from the POV of animals. I grew up with some of the classic fables and have to admit I struggle with the modernized elements but hope to get used to it.
Those sound like interesting books..I remember long ago I read the Dewey book..I had actually forgotten about reading it until you mentioned it..but I know what you mean about certain parts of the book being interesting and other parts not..that's how it was with "When the Wind Blows". I really liked the parts about the two donkeys but found other parts a bit slow. I finally finished reading Darkness by John Saul (which is not really an animal book - it was my second PIFM book in another group) so I can read another animal book now. It did have a few alligators mentioned.
Hopefully you'll enjoy the fables. But sometimes it can be hard to adjust to change. Once things change they are not the same..like the Disney movies. I generally prefer the original animated version than the live action remake. I got used to it being a certain way and I don't like the little changes even if they are minor. They bug me. Like with the live action of Lion King. I love Lion King but I didn't even bother going to see the new version. Scar didn't even look like Scar! And everyone said they didn't have any facial expressions. I did see the new Aladdin and while it was ok, they had changed some things in there too. I'll watch the cartoon version.
Oh the next animal books I'm reading are:
and
Sarah wrote: "...Hopefully you'll enjoy the fables. But sometimes it can be hard to adjust to change. Once things change they are not the same..like the Disney movies. I generally prefer the original animated version than the live action remake. I got used to it being a certain way and I don't like the little changes even if they are minor. They bug me. Like with the live action of Lion King. I love Lion King but I didn't even bother going to see the new version. Scar didn't even look like Scar! And everyone said they didn't have any facial expressions. I did see the new Aladdin and while it was ok, they had changed some things in there too. I'll watch the cartoon version."The first fable had the hugest 'culture-shock-value' where the ant had TV at home (watched super-ant) and the grasshopper sang everything from Michael Hopson to Elvis Grassley. It drove me bonkers I wasn't always able to figure out the pop-culture references (not really my area of expertise but still).
I've read several more of the fables and it's interesting how many different locations the author set them in and even managed to work in some regional factors into them. By now I realised I'm not in the intended target group (homeschooling parents/educators of small groups of children) so it's not that bad if I struggle with this collection.
I can understand your thoughts about the changes in Disney movies or stories. I can remember the first time I've seen a Jungle Book movie after we moved from communistic Poland to western Germany. I wasn't aware there was a new version of Aladdin. That was one of my favorites (at least one of those known outside the eastern block) way back when I was a child.
Have you ever read anything by Bev Pettersen or
Stephen Bly's Horse Dreams Trilogy: Memories of a Dirt Road Town, The Mustang Breaker, Wish I'd Known You Tears Ago I've got the trilogy several years back and collected quite a number of Pettersen books over the years (I'm a huge freebie and big deals hunter - you can never know what you'll need for a challenge *grins*). I wanted to know what you think of them, if you read any. Since book one of Bly's trilogy is on the Horse Lover's Literature Listopia list I assume they are really horse books and got the same impression from Pettersen's books.
I've never heard of either author I'm afraid. I have a lot of different types of books in my apartment too, as like you said one might need something for a challenge. Like I read the one book for the spring Holidays read. And I love looking in the free libraries around here. You can find all sorts of interesting books in them. But no one ever puts horse books in them. I don't think the people around here are into horses. I take that back...I did find Peril at King's Creek in a free Library during the winter but I just read it now - that's really a kids book obviously. Other times I like going to sales where you can get books for a quarter. 4 for $1. And even with our huge library system (the actual real library and not the little free libraries you find on people's front lawns or in front of a building) it can be hard to find certain books. Like in the one group I'm in, when they do voting to pick a book of the month for a group read, the majority of the time my huge library system doesn't even own the book. And it's a huge system with multiple library buildings all over the city and it has intra library loan and you can request books. But like 90 percent of the time they don't have the group read book. I really don't know where other members are getting the group read book..are they actually buying them somewhere? The latest book a lot of members said they didn't like it at all. At least one stopped reading it at chapter 1. I really don't like the idea of spending a lot of $$ buying a book (especially for a group read) as what if it's a bad book?
I'm not good at pop culture either. One day I tried playing this game with this group of other ladies at this event. I didn't know anyone there and I think I was an oddball compared to their interests. You had to pick a name of a celebrity and write it on a piece of paper. Then one person at a time goes up in front of the group. You get your piece of paper taped to your back. Another person goes up too but they can't see your paper. The ones in the audience can see the name though. The person then asks you questions to try and guess the name. I KNEW I was going to be bad at this game. I could guess that by loo at the people in the audience. They were a different ethnic group than I was and also different ages. I was supposed to guess. Well I told the person no singers as I knew I would flunk that right off. They promised me it would be someone I knew. Ok... Well I tried! But in the end I was not able to guess that either! They had chose some guy off s TV game show! And I NEVER watch TV game shows! I don't think I ever watched one in my whole life! I like watching sci-fi shows. I don't care about game shows. I just don't see what's the point in watching those? But you see that's pop culture too. They have different pop culture than I do. Tv stars that I know would not be the ones they know.
Then later someone had to guess my celebrity. Well since I like sci-fi and reading, I chose the author who wrote
- Michael Crichton. Tons of his books were made into popular movies! Who hasn't seen Jurassic Park or Congo or his other movies? Well guess what? None of them were able to guess it! They told me that my choice was "too hard" - while they had expected me to guess some game show host I had never heard of. Besides I love Jurassic Park and the first Jurassic World. But that's my story about pop culture. Different people have different pop culture. And it's different at different ages. And also it depends on your family and how you grew up. We never watched those game shows. We watched Star Trek and old Godzilla movies and Tales from the Crypt. Battlestar Galactica. Monster movies. My grandmother watched Dallas and Murder She Wrote and Rescue 911. So my pop culture is very different than theirs. I suppose if I had picked William Shatner they wouldn't be able to guess him either. William Shatner I mean who doesn't know Captain James T. Kirk? I'm thinking they wouldn't though. Different culture, different interest, different age...
Anyway that's my pop culture story.
I just read two more animal books. Both are actually about sea critters. 🐋
this was a truly fantastic book about how humans can live in peace with sea life like orcas and other various types of whales. They live on the planet Cachalot. The humans live on floating rafts which are very stable and they have small towns on them. Well 4 towns got destroyed by something. But no one knows what. So some scientists are sent to Cachalot to find out what is causing it. A big part of the story is the communication between humans and the Cetacea: whales of different types. Each type has their own society too. They behave different. The sperm whales are deep thinkers while the orcas like to hang around humans. And the porpoises just like to swim about to have fun. A mystery and an adventure story is also built into the plot. The book features great Cetacea characters like Latehoht and Wenkoseemansa and Lumpjaw. 🐳🐋🐬
I decided to read this zany book after I finished Cachalot. It's like a comic book: crazy fun. The plot is really wild. It's about evil older brothers, a zombie goldfish, trying to take over the school with an insane plot, a silly little sister and lits of other crazy situations. Very entertaining! This was a quick read. It has great drawings in it too. I like the little maps that show where the fish had traveled. 🐠🐠
I've read and finished
today. This is the third book from my friend that I've read and so far it's my favorite! I really can connect with this book. It explains a lot I think of what might be going on with me and the herd when I'm out at the ranch. I guess it's called passive leadership. Which I had never heard of before. I only knew that horses like calm people. But it's a bit more than that. This book contains a bunch of personal stories by the author of his actual experiences with horses. How he works with them peacefully to solve problems. How he tries to look at things from the horse's perspective. I would even go as far as to say this is my favorite non-fiction horse book!
I'm hoping that when I get back out to the ranch maybe in June) I can use some of these ideas on the horses there.
I started reading
which is a western and of course has horses in it. 🐎 I can't believe this is still one of my library books...from February! It's quite shocking if one stops to think about it. Isn't it? Besides this one, I still have 4 other library books to read. Hopefully I can read them before June 1. Agnieszka, I think there is a message for you at the moderator group.
Sarah wrote: "I can't believe this is still one of my library books...from February! It's quite shocking if one stops to think about it. Isn't it? Besides this one, I still have 4 other library books to read. Hopefully I can read them before June 1.Agnieszka, I think there is a message for you at the moderator group."
Not shocking at all. I lend usually more than I can read so it happen often I have library books for several months at a time, plus with Corona we got additional six weeks this time so I wouldn't be surprised if some of my books I'd had that long as well. Luckily our library opened this week so I returned four of the books yesterday (but brought another eight back home - five library books and three 2nd hand I bought there).
Thank you for pointing out the message. I've noticed it around that time as well.
I hope to be back properly tomorrow. The beginning of this week was crazy and difficult so I wasn't much online.
Well I have finished
which I had checked out for the Popsugar challenge. The challenge is to read a western. But it also has animals in it, mainly horses but also wolves and dogs. The animals all play small minor roles but are yet important. You can't have a western without horses! And the villian in the first story was having his own private war against a wolf pack while in the second story Ghost Shirt had a very protective dog named Custer that followed him everywhere. I ended up feeling sorry for his dog. I'll say something about the cover image too. There are two cowboys and horses on the front cover. The one in the upper right corner..I think he's in a very odd position on his horse! Hunched forward, neck jammed forward, rounded shoulders, hands held out in front...what kind of equestrian is that??! It just looks so weird!
And the other horse, the one closer to the viewer, if you look closely he's showing the whites of his eyes! And his ears are back! The teeth are showing too! When a horse starts showing the whites of their eyes you better watch out! A horse that does that might do anything: rear, bolt, change direction quickly, bite, etc. It usually shows fear or strong emotions. Same thing with the ears.
And when you are leading a horse on a lead rope, NEVER wrap the rope around your hand! If the horse were to suddenly rear or bolt, you could get injured. Horses are big, powerful animals. They easily outweigh you. It's not easy being an equestrian and it can be dangerous, so safety first!
Horses communicate with us and each other all of the time. Most of it is silent. It could be a swish of the tail or a bent ear or a tiny step.
Sorry you were having a crazy week, Agnieszka. Things have been crazy and weird everywhere I think. Hopefully things will go more smoothly for you. My library here is still closed. Our mayor said there are still too many cases here in the city so we cannot open yet. A few places, more stores, were allowed to open with limited number of people inside and I heard the subbards opened but the city itself is still closed. Buses are still limited to 10 people and many places are still closed.
I hope the new books you got are good ones!
I heard the ranch might be opening in June. Hopefully! 🐎
Reading Until Infinity
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