I never knew these American “Saddle Club” novels growing up, but I’d aged out of any pony books but ones I already knew by the time these started publishing in 1988 (these are 1990s editions). Matthew found them for me in the San Diego Public Library library sale on a work trip, which is why I’ve left the price stickers on (25c each!). Out of the nine print books I acquired in March 2023, I have now read and reviewed six (and two of the others are in Spanish, while one is on my 20 Books of Summer). And yes, I did pick two “quick wins” from my older TBR to make some space on the shelves towards the end of last month. They also form part of my 2024 TBR project which I’m galloping through at the moment, ha ha.
Bonnie Bryant – “Horse Crazy” (The Saddle Club #1)
(6 March 2023, from Matthew)
In the first in a massive series of 101 books (some written by ghostwriters, apparently), we meet Stevie and Carole and their new friend Lisa, who comes to the stables to learn to ride. Stevie gets embroiled in a scheme to make money to go on an overnight trek they’re all keen on and of course needs to learn a thing or two. The usual rivalries and learning points ensue, and we learn a bit about horse care as we go along. I was pleased to read Carole is African American, although really in these two books there’s nothing to distinguish her experience from that of the others; still, I don’t think I’ve seen a Black girl in a British pony book (tell me if I’m wrong!).
Bonnie Bryant – “The Secret of the Stallion” (The Saddle Club Super Edition #2)
(6 March 2023, from Matthew)
The Super Editions are apparently a spin-off series, a bit longer than the originals, and here we get the amusement, found with the Three Investigators series, too, of an American author writing about Europe. The girls, plus nemesis Veronica, posh and self-absorbed, go to the UK to do a pony club exhibition at a three-day event. They have adventures in a very American London and that old school story staple of an Alarming Event happens, with people having to be saved. It’s interesting that class issues play out in US as well as UK horsey circles, with Veronica enthusiastically joining in but making a fool of herself.
Two fun novels, I would pick up more of these if I encountered them but won’t make a huge effort to buy the other 100-odd (also there seem to be a fair number of animal deaths in subsequent books!).
I bought this book in December 2021 with a handmade voucher that Gill had given me for The Bookshop on the Green, an independent bookshop in Bournville which has since closed temporarily and relocated (reopening in Summer 2024). This was part of a big chunk of books acquired even before Christmas came along, and I’m thrilled to say I have “dealt with” (read and reviewed all but one which I DNF) ALL of the books in this post! This also forms part of my 2024 TBR project, of course, and I read it last month so it predates my 20 Books of Summer, but I was glad to pick the next-oldest one off the TBR in advance of starting that!
James Rebanks – “English Pastoral: An Inheritance”
(12 December 2021, Bookshop on the Green)
But the new farming had created its own morality and ethics, and the people caught up in it had to change theirs, or get out, and thinkgs that inially shocked them soon became the new normal. (p. 130)
I feel like I’m a bit late to the party with this one, as everyone seemed to be reading it when it came out in 2020. It’s a wonderful book and one I’m very glad I read, even if it’s, by its very nature, a bit “Nature red in tooth and claw” in parts.
It’s divided into three sections: firstly, we meet James as a young lad, kept down by his father but close to his grandfather, who decides to teach him farming, grabbing his interest and making a farmer of him. He engages in the “old ways”, stopping the tractor to save a bird’s nest, allowing wild and woolly bits on the farm, too old to change his own ways and not keen for the next generations to, either. Then we move on to the time of transition when big fields were better fields, more chemicals were better chemicals … and the familiar birds and other wildlife had almost disappeared.
THEN the ecological movement starts, and James realises that he still knows the old ways of doing things and starts to embrace help and grants and surveys and all sorts from various parties, not rewilding as such – he’s not keen on true rewilding with its plagues of deer, though he does mention Isabella Tree in a positive way – but running his farm in cooperation, not competition, with wildlife, learning a lot more than he ever knew before about insects, etc.
Rebanks is open, honest about himself and his feelings and immensely rooted in his landscape and community. He’s open about what consumers need to do, too – pay attention to where our food is coming from, query why it’s so cheap, etc.
He pays tribute to the other farmers and their open-minded attitudes, and to his wife, who is raising their four children – she has a book now, too, which I’m really interested in reading!
When I became aware of this book coming out, I just knew I had to read it, and I was lucky that the lovely editors at Shiny New Books were able to request me an ARC to read. I had to devote slightly more time than I had expected to it, as it needed careful reading and rewarded that. I have reviewed the book on Shiny in greater detail than here and you can read that review here.
Zeinab Badawi – “An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Civilisation to Independence”
(1 March 2024, from the publisher, with thanks)
“I would like to say to the non-African reader of this book that I hope I have demonstrated that Africa has a history, that it is a fundamental part of our global story, and one that is worthy of greater attention and respect than it has so far received. And to African readers, I hope I have managed in some small way to enlighten you about the great history of your continent. My project was inspired by the memorable words of the late Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai: ‘You cannot enslave a mind that knows itself, that understands itself, that values itself’.” (p. 455)
Badawi has worked as a journalist in the British media for decades and is on several academic boards as well as being President of SOAS University of London. Born in Sudan and a recipient of the President’s Medal of the British Academy, her position within and outside the Establishment and her record in getting facts across to the general and academic publics means she is ideally placed to compile this fascinating and authoritative history of the continent of Africa and its individual empires and countries, something we haven’t really had in one volume before (there is a multi-volume history and I have at least two other books on Africa, Dipo Faloyin’s “Africa is not a Country” which is about the modern countries of the continent, and Astrid Madimba and Chinny Ukata’s “It’s a Continent” which pulls out interesting facts about each country). And it’s definitely an African history, as the experts, archaeologists, curators and academics Badawi seeks out and quotes are all of African origin, either still working on the continent or based elsewhere but working on African themes. This gives a wonderful showcase of people voicing opinions and sharing information which is often far from the accepted Western narrative and acts as an excellent set of counterarguments to stories by the colonialists.
Starting by witnessing Badawi actually “meeting” our ancestor Lucy, or Dinkenesh, we take a journey through empires rising and falling, moving roughly chronologically and also from North to South, starting with the point that Ancient Egypt was more African than its currently Arabic make-up would suggest and moving through people we might have heard of and kingdoms which have become obscured by history.
We refreshingly read alternative authoritative viewpoints, bringing out the facts of the global trade African empires were engaged in, including while Europe was in its own Dark Ages. Badawi ensures oral traditions are shown as sometimes providing a corrective to written sources. She addresses issues of slavery within the continent and promoted by Arab nations but makes sure the differences from Atlantic slavery are brought out and the effects of slavery and colonialism explained clearly from an African perspective, especially the underpopulation the former engendered. The origins of modern terror groups and apologies, the return of looted material lodged in museums and reparations are covered, so it’s brought up to date in some respects.
Badawi spent seven years researching this book, visiting 30 countries in Africa, so we see antiquities and ruins and meet researchers through her eyes, which adds a personal touch and saves the book from becoming at all dry. She has a nice concentration on both women academics and warrior queens, as well as reclaiming people like archaeologist Mary Leakey’s hard work and excellence, bringing a good balance where she can. I really think no home should be without this vital reference source.
There are no piles! I have managed to get the TBR down to the extent that I could move the pile to be a line of books again, hooray! I took eight print books off the shelf and read them (two of them pony books, no Three Investigators this month). I took the four oldest books off the TBR and read seven more of my TBR Project books (34 read, 31 reviewed, 107 to go). I set an intention to read three print books read two TBR books and need to start the review copy (that will be imminent). The Liz and Emma Read Together books are in a separate pile (middle shelf, to the right) because they don’t form part of the TBR project, and the two books on top of them are review books.
I completed 17 books in April (two with reviews to be published). I am part-way through three more (including my current Reading With Emma Read and a read that will take all year). I read all of my May NetGalley books in May (one DNF’d for being too Disaster Millennial) and DNF’d one of my June ones (too Y a YA for me); one of those was acquired in May, and my NetGalley review percentage is now a healthy 93%. I did no challenges this month, for once.
Incomings
A few print incomings: one to review for Shiny, one bought direct from the publisher, one from a Bookshop event and one ordered from them, one from The Works, one through BookCrossing and two from charity shops.
“This Volcanic Isle” by Robert Muir Wood is a review book requested for me to read for Shiny New Books which arrived suddenly early in the month. It’s about the effect of volcanic activity on the geology and landscape of Britain. I bought Neil Baxter and Helen Jefferson Lenskyj‘s “Running: Identity and Meaning” because it was referenced in “Smart Running” as covering issues of gender and race regarding running, which that book wasn’t able to cover in detail. My edibuddy Erin Brenner wrote “The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors” so I had to ask the Bookshop to order that in for me, and I went to a bookshop event with local author Tracy King talking about her memoir “Learning to Think” about getting educated and learning about critical thinking so of course bought the book. Richard Osman’s “The Last Devil to Die” was finally available in a cheap edition in The Works and I used my last loyalty card voucher to buy it. I found “The Carlyles at Home” by Thea Holme, a Persephone book, on the shelves in the new Coffee #1 in Moseley at our BookCrossing meetup – it was left by a friend a while ago but I’d not noticed it. After the meetup, a few of us popped to Oxfam Books and I found Robert MacFarlane‘s first book, on mountaineers, “Mountains of the Mind” and Gabrielle Zevin’s “The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry”, both on my wishlist.
Not so many NetGalley books in this month:
I won Nanako Hanada’s “The Bookshop Woman” in May and read it then, although it turned out it wasn’t published until June – already read and my review here. The publishers offered me Rachel Barnett’s “Escape to the French Chateau” (published in June) because I’d read and reviewed another of the author’s books, and the same happened with Lissa Evans’ “Small Bomb at Dimperley” (October).
I did order some Kindle books:
Namrata Patel’s “The Curious Secrets of Yesterday” was one of those free books you can claim on the first day of the month if you’re on Amazon Prime: it’s a novel about three generations of Indian American women running a spice shop in Massachussetts. I saw Lovis Johnson’s “Lobster, With a Straw” reviewed on Disabled Dahling’s blog and was intrigued to read a novel with a main character living with a disability, feeling reassured that she had rated it. And I spotted Jo Cheetham’s “Killjoy: How a Small Voice Made a Big Change” in the Kindle sale: it’s a memoir about her No More Page Three campaign. So that was 17 read and 14 coming in in April, which is still a bit of a win!
Currently reading
Emma and I are reading “Landlines” by Raynor Winn still, enjoying it though there are a lot of blisters and scary moments on Scottish mountains. And I’ve started my first 20 Books of Summer Read today, Ruth Ozeki’s “The Book of Form and Emptiness”. I’m also still reading my literary quotes for the year with Ali.
Coming up
I have two review books to read and review for Shiny New Books and then, well, it’s time for 20 Books of Summer, so here are my first seven. You can read about them here. Can I read them all this month? There are three shorter / lighter novels, a memoir, two books of non-fiction and the aforementioned quite long Ozeki novel …
I have seven books on my NetGalley TBR: I’m already part-way through Layla Liverpool’s “Systemic” about how racism is making us ill, and I need to read P.J. Ellis’ dual timeline gay superhero novel before I go to his bookshop event in June. “Escape to the French Chateau”, “The Lonely Hearts Quiz League” and “How to age Disgracefully” should be light romance / community novels, “Determination” is set in an immigration lawyers’ office, and “In All Weathers” offers a look at British weather.
I don’t think I have any reading challenges to do this month! With the ones I’m currently reading, I have two books to finish (I dont’ think Emma and I are going to get to the end of our one this month) and 14 other books to read, which sounds OK given the reading I’ve been doing recently. Maybe.
How was your May reading? What are you reading this month? Are you doing any book challenges for the year or the month?
Adventures in reading, running and working from home 
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