Nonfiction: The Perfect Horse, Elizabeth Letts

The Perfect Horse: The Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis
Elizabeth Letts
ISBN: 9780345544803
Read September 2016

So the title is a bit misleading, because honestly the US didn't know (or didn't care) about European stallions during the course of the war, and even through the course of this book.  They don't even appear in the narrative until half-way in, and that's just to track the beginnings and development of the characters for when they DO become important, which is at the last minute (insert "typical American" joke here).

So this is the real sub-title: How Devoted People from LOTS of Countries Saved Really Expensive Horses During the Last Days of the War.

So: Why is this important?  Did you know that Hitler wanted to apply eugenics to horses, so he got the civilian manager of the German-hosted Olympics to start a horse-breeding program, which he did mostly by stealing the Arabian and Lipizzaner horses from neighbors as they were conquered.  Horse-loving people in several places all worked furiously behind the scenes to keep the welfare of the horses in mind as the horrible war took place and people's minds were generally on more important global issues, until one week, right at the end of the war, when everything fell into place for the US to basically steal the stolen horses, and try to get any of them back to their proper owners and countries of origin (which we didn't do very well, but it was only partly because we were selfish and wanted them for ourselves).

Very well written, interesting cast of characters, and a really interesting read - right up until the end, when all the narrative drive just dies a slow whimpering death as people lost track of the horses which had been so important up until then, and leaves the story to end with only two of the now-American horses' fates actually known.  How sad that was.

Storytelling: O'Sullivan Stew, by Hudson Talbott

I found this while searching for good St Paddy's Day books for storytime, and while it's way too long and convoluted for that use, I really enjoyed the story, and I liked that it was a newer book, and a more modern attempt to create a mythological-style Irish tall-tale.  Also, the illustrations are fantastic!

O'Sullivan Stew
Hudson Talbott
ISBN: 0399231625

The King's men are stealing a beautiful stallion from the witch who lives on the beach, and Kate rushes into the village to get help for her, but the people demur, unwilling to face the King's wrath for a mere witch.  This proves to be a mistake, as an angry and rejected witch causes misery after misery for the villagers, until Kate rallies her family to steal the horse back from the King, to give to the witch, to hopefully uncurse the village.  Got it so far?

Sadly, Kate's family are terrible at horse theft, and they are summarily dragged before the King, who orders their execution, but Kate has been given the gift of blarney, and she's determined that her family will live.  But will the yarns she spins out convince a skeptical King?

I have to say, that without the grand illustrations to carry the story, this wouldn't be nearly as fun and imaginative as it is.  But with them, man oh man, this is a fun read.  Kate is spunky and fun, the witch is justifiably angry at the stupid thoughtless villagers, and the King is increasingly incredulous at this loquacious upstart preventing him from dispensing justice.  Everything of course ends well, and there is even an indication that Kate's blarney might actually be based on fact!

 

Romance: Where the Horses Run, Kaki Warner

Where the Horses Run
Kaki Warner
ISBN: 9780425263273
Series: Heartbreak Creek, #2 (first book in series: Behind His Blue Eyes)
Romance: An ex-Ranger turned horse-whisperer rancher goes to England to find a horse and a lady needing rescue.
Read January 7, 2015.

Picked this up on the strength of the back cover copy and the associated Goodreads reviews (I love negative reviews, they often are much more revealing than the positive ones) in this case, a set of negative reviews griping about the lack of intimate scenes and the slow pace of the story and the focus on elements of the book besides the growing relationship between the two main protagonists.  Really?  Sounds perfect!

Rafe Jessup quit the Rangers after a bloody shootout (one minor complaint from me is that the circumstances of that event remain cloudy) and moved on to his real joy - working with horses.  He's a sort of horse-whisperer with a reputation for helping animals others would have put down or broken.  Based on that, he's hired by an ex-pat Scot from Heartbreak Creek to run his newly established stables, and their first big job is to head over to jolly old England to pick up horses from distressed nobles short on cash-flow.

Josephine Cathcart is the daughter of one such distressed noble - well, actually, they aren't noble, and that's the problem.  Her father worked his way up from a position in the mines to become that disgusting creature known as "new money" and as such, he and Josephine are barely tolerated in polite society, despite the grand house and scrupulously-correct manners and his continued bribes and gifts to fellow noblemen.  Josephine learned her status the hard way as a young girl, smitten by a neighboring young lord, who pledged love, but married a Countess.  Now, with a young bastard son, and her prize stallion ruined by a grueling steeplechase, she is being farmed out for marriage or companionship by her desperate and broke father.

I loved that the story came first (as ridiculous a premise as it is) and I loved the "fish out of water" impact of a Texan in British polite society (he keeps getting himself kicked out of the house) and I loved that the villains were actually three-dimensional people (eventually) and the conundrum was presented as an actual difficult proposition to consider and manage the repercussions, rather than the obvious "marry the Texan and run off" that I worried it would become.

I don't think I'll be reading the first in the series.  The blurb didn't appeal to me, but if there is a subsequent book about our interesting Scots lord and his feisty English wife, I think I might pick that one up.  I am interested in the next book about one of the minor characters, an American-Cherokee warrior and his Quaker, African-American freed-slave lover.  Talk about getting into an interesting political debate there!

  

Katie and the Mustang Series, Kathleen Duey

Katie and the Mustang Series, Kathleen Duey
(individual books are untitled)

Book 1: ISBN: 9780142400906
Book 2: ISBN: 0525472738
Book 3: ISBN: 0142400920
Book 4: ISBN: 0142400939

Read October 14-18, 2013

This is the second series of early-chapter horse books I've read by Kathleen Duey.  I have to say that I like the Irish set more than these.  For some reason, the main character in this story struck me as less active and more emotionally fragile than in the previous set.  As the "girl power" themes are part of why I liked the others as much as I did, I found the lack here to be disconcerting.

I also thought that the themes and main ideas here were a little more mature and harder to grasp - Katie is escaping from an abusive home and traveling ALONE on the Oregon trail with a farm-hand she barely knows (problematic by itself), and then as the series progresses, there are issues of "ladylike behavior" and the existence of ignored or persecuted Mormon pioneers, and the presence of a traveling circus (deemed to be dangerously not respectable people).  Further, and more pertinent to the horse-mad reader, Katie refuses to attempt to tame the mustang, despite the hardships of the Oregon Trail, meaning that there are no thrilling instances of the horse being ridden, and the bond between them remains fragile and tenuous, despite the author's best intentions.  This will likely frustrate the seriously horse-crazed, and the postscript of incoming foals who aren't even included in the book will do little alleviate that frustration.

However - because I didn't find them as good as the others, doesn't mean that they're all bad.  I do think that I would prefer to read the other set aloud, and let a horse-mad reader discover these on their own.   If I had to recommend a set from this author, I'd go with the original Irish Hoofbeats Series, or perhaps the Unicorn's Secret Series, which I'll be working through shortly. 

Hoofbeats: Lara Series, Kathleen Duey

Hoofbeats: Lara Series, Kathleen Duey
Lara and the Gray Mare.  ISBN: 0525473327
Lara and the Moon-Colored Filly.  ISBN: 0525473335
Lara at Athenry Castle.  ISBN: 0525473408
Lara and the Silent Place.  ISBN: 0142402338

Juv Historic Fiction: Irish 10 year old girl must fend for herself and her filly against the rest of the world.

I had fun reading these, but the very last one had significant typo and editing problems, which hampered my enjoyment at the last.  I also felt that the plotting of the last one was weak, and the telegraphing of the final solution felt both last-minute and heavy-handed.

Short summaries:

Gray Mare: Larach lives in a poor tuath (holding) where her father is the ri (lord) and her aunt is 15, unwed, unbetrothed, and unhappy.  After a raid, the girls are sent to care for the sheep and cows in the upland, and Lara finds the stolen pregnant mare giving birth.  The book ends with both Lara and her aunt being abducted along with the days-old filly.

Moon-Colored Filly: Lara is at a much richer holding, in the care of the lord that took her and her Aunt.  While the Aunt falls in love with the enemy, Lara continues to scheme to get her own freedom and that of the filly.  She learns of the filly's heritage, and finds her own enemy to begin having feelings for.

Athenry Castle: Lara's filly was taken from her, and now she's in disguise in the "city" around the castle as a boy, and working in the stables.  She's been training the filly to run with her, and that may be key to winning her - if she can keep her identity hidden, and manage to win the upcoming race.

Silent Place: Lara's on the run with the filly, in a different disguise, from the disgrace and chaos of Athenry.  She meets with a party of nuns, but decides to leave them to minimize their chances of being harmed through association with a horse-thief.  Her father captures her on the road unknowing (in disguise) so even though she didn't want to bring the filly (and the danger) back to her home, she is stuck following her father.  Her independence is too much for his traditionalism, and her peace-loving desires don't mesh with his need to war.  It all comes to nothing when Lara and her father are caught and returned to Athenry, where Lara manages to save the day with ancient knowledge.  Afterwards, Lara realizes she can't live at home, and she slips off to return to the nuns. 

I only wish that some of the male characters weren't horrid people.  The only ones worth anything are the men from Moon-Colored Filly, one boy at Athenry, and one man from Lara's hometown.  Nearly ALL of the women are portrayed positively, so that was a slight let-down.  It's possible (and better) to have girl power without slandering the guys.

Otherwise, nice quick moral-but-not-Christian set of books for the adventuresome horse-mad reader. 

Mrs Queen Takes the Train, William Kuhn

Mrs Queen Takes the Train
William Kuhn
British/Scottish Monarch Fantasy
ISBN: 978-0062208286

If you totally disregard actual real life and the staggeringly minute possibility that anything like this could ever actually happen, this is a fun little romp through the purported mind of the aging figurehead.

The Queen has been feeling a bit down lately.  Her yoga hasn't been helping, neither has her horse Elizabeth (born on Her birthday natch) or her doggies.

So one rainy sleety night, she pops off to the stables and ends up headed off to Scotland to visit the old family yacht, now pulling tourist-attraction duty. 

The narrative splits niftily between The Queen and the people around her - butler par excellence William, novice equerry Luke, the queen's personal dresser Shirley, her somewhat titled (but broke) lady in waiting Anne, the horse-keeper Rebecca (perhaps an Aspie?) and English-Indian Rajiv.  All of them have their own lives, their own goals, and their own problems, and in perfect little cozy fashion, all of their needs are met quite nicely by their coming together during this interesting event.

The sections are labeled by yoga poses, and The Queen references her yoga practice often in her efforts to remain calm and stable, which I thought cute, but maybe a bit twee.  What was most certainly twee was the inclusion of photographs of various subjects based on what was being talked about - a badger, for instance, or various photos of The Queen in the past.  That was actually offputting, to be quite honest.

Again, the premise is laughable, but while you're reading it, you don't want to laugh - you want to pat The Queen on the hand and tell her everything will be all right (wouldn't that cause fits if it were done?). 

The inevitable coupling off was a bit heavy-handed, if sweet, and I especially side-eyed the equerry's very quick decision. 

It would be interesting to have this as the read for a grandmother-mother-granddaughter book-club, to see if the impressions of the story and the characters changes with the stage of life you're in.