Horses
Arthur Conan Doyle: Sir Nigel
I didn’t quite want to limit my “birthday boy” look at Arthur Conan Doyle’s work to the predictable Sherlock Holmes binge, so I decided to take a look at one of his historical novels in addition. Well, I suppose I have to hand it to Sir Arthur for mastering, with panache, genres as diverse as […]
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An Alphabet of My Likes and Dislikes: “U”
This is a post belonging to a new blogging project — the title is pretty much self-explanatory, I think; the project’s introductory post can be found HERE. Credit for the idea: BeetleyPete. As always, the only thing linking the two items mentioned in this post in my mind is that they both start with the […]
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An Alphabet of My Likes and Dislikes: “H”
This is a post belonging to a new blogging project — the title is pretty much self-explanatory, I think; the project’s introductory post can be found HERE. Credit for the idea: BeetleyPete. As always, the only thing linking the two items mentioned in this post in my mind is that they both start with the […]
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Josephine Tey: Brat Farrar (Reread)
24 Festive Tasks: Door 16 – Melbourne Cup Day, Book: Read a book by an Australian author, set in Australia, or a book that involves horses. As my book for this holiday, today I revisited Josephine Tey’s “Brat Farrar” (thanks to Lillelara for the nudge) — and still liked it every bit as much […]
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24 Festive Tasks, Door 3 – Task 1: Pick Your Ponies Results
Reblogged from: Darth Pedant Thanks to all who participated in Task 1: Pick Your Ponies. The race is over, results are in, and points have been won! Please be sure to record your task participation and any bonus points in the Task Reporting Form which can be found on any official Holiday post, such […]
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24 Festive Tasks, Door 3: SUPER OFFICIAL EXCLUSIVE TASK 1 PREVIEW!!!
Reblogged from: Darth Pedant CORRECTION: Cup Day is Door 3 this year, please pardon the goof and my further breaking of MbD’s spiffy formatting. Please excuse the caps. It’s my first Festive Tasks guest post. I’m a tad excited. Ahem! This is a partial opening of Door 3, Melbourne Cup Day, because there’s no challenge […]
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Books Featuring Children Rescued from Peril
24 Festive Tasks: Door 15 – St. Nicholas’ Day / Sinterklaas, Task 4: List your 3 favorite books involving children being rescued from serious peril. I suppose Harry Potter and just about every children’s / YA fantasy (or mystery) series would fill this bill, but big HP and Three Investigators fan though I am, […]
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Favorite Sports Teams and Pennants
24 Festive Tasks: Door 8 – Penance Day, Task 2: It’s “Pennants” day according to MbD’s husband: post a picture of your favorite team’s logo/mascot and the last time they’ve won a championship (or not). QUIDDITCH First things first (though I’m not the first here to post about this) — as a proud Gryffindor, […]
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Dick Francis: Field of Thirteen
24 Festive Tasks: Door 3 – Melbourne Cup Day, Book I’ve owned this collection of short stories since forever and decided our Melbourne Cup Day book task was the perfect occasion to pull it out and finally read it. Candidly, I’m not sure why Dick Francis didn’t write more short stories: both his style of […]
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CHIO Aachen (2013)
24 Festive Tasks: Door 3 – Melbourne Cup Day, Task 4: Have you ever been to or participated in a competition involving horses (racing, jumping, dressage, whatever)? Tell us about it. Photos welcome, too! The very first equestrian tournament I ever went to as a kid was the Hamburg Derby (see 2019 trailer here), which […]
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Josephine Tey: Brat Farrar & The Franchise Affair
A Josephine Tey Double Dip Both Brat Farrar and The Franchise Affair were on my 2017 Halloween Bingo long list, but so were many other books … oh well. Both of these are stand-out books, in that (1) they’re not, or not substantively, part of Josephine Tey’s Inspector Grant series (in Franchise Affair Grant appears, […]
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16 Tasks of the Festive Season: Square 14 – Dies Natalis Solis Invicti
Tasks for Dies Natalis Solis Invicti: Find the sunniest spot in your home, that’s warm and comfy and read your book. –OR– Take a picture of your garden, or a local garden/green space in the sun (even if the ground is under snow). If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, take a picture of your local […]
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Dick Francis: Knockdown
I love horses and used to be an enthusiastic horseback rider throughout my entire school years, and I also love mysteries, so Dick Francis’s books were a natural go-to choice for me once upon a time. Having revisited a Dick Francis novel after many years, though, I find that this, too, hasn’t weathered the passage […]
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Beryl Markham: West With the Night
A British African Amazon Taken to Kenya at age three, in 1905, Beryl Markham was raised on a farm by her father and a much-hated governess – her mother soon re-abandoned pioneer life for England. And while other girls were groomed to be ladies of society, she learned to ride and train horses, played with […]
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Holiday Splurge 2015
The way things have been shaping up in the recent couple of months, the holiday season ending today was most likely my last real reprieve from fairly major (not to say time-consuming and persistent) work-related unpleasantness for the foreseeable future. This being the case, I naturally decided to make the most of it: I […]
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