Books I have read recently

  • Shirley by Charlotte Bronte — I'm reading a giant biography of the Brontes "Wild Genius on the Moors" By Juliet Barker (amazing!! but I'll post on that when I finish) So I'm reading each novel as it's discussed in the book. I loved Shirley. I have to agree with the critics that it is a slow painful start and it does take about 150 pages till we meet the title character Shirley. But besides that, it is so well written. Caroline Helstone’s angst is beautiful and poignant. And knowing that the last third of the book was written after Emily & Anne died explains so much about the change in the book. Charlotte likes to fix her world by writing about it and in her version the sick heroine recovers where her sisters did not. I definitely recommend Shirley for the Bronte fan. Don’t skip it.
  • A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas --- It took me a couple chapters to really dive in but after that I was in love. I had read somewhere that it was based on Beauty & the Beast, which is great. What I did not know is that it is a retelling of one of my favorite fairytales: East of the Sun, West of the Moon!!! What a treat when I discovered that. I love that story. It's whimsical and the girl saves the day which I love love love. Sarah does a beautiful job of it and I can't wait for the next one!!
  • Miss Buncle’s Book by D. E. Stevenson —What a little treat. My mom gave these books to me for my birthday and there are so much fun. It’s a light easy read and it made me chuckle.
  • Shadow Study by Maria V. Snyder— I adore her soul finder books. I’ve been reading them for years. She builds beautiful strong women and sweeping romance. Her magic system is unique and I want to live in her world.
  • The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr and E. B. White — A must read for every writer. Thanks to Stephen King for the recommendation. It has all those little things that I had questions about and answered them quickly and succinctly. It’s not the funnest read but it’s helpful.
  • Click of Titles to go to the book's Amazon page

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

There is a horse on my leg

So Emily and I are going horseback riding in Lenoir. Both pretty excited.

Meet Emily's horse : Joey

Joey loves children. Loves nothing more than going around and around in circles for pony rides. But he does not like anyone to follow him because he is a kicker. Hence Emily rides behind me. Overall a very charming horse.

Meet My horse : Ringo

Ringo does not love walking on the path. He wants to be an adventure horse. Trails are lame to him. He wants to walk up the steep ridge on the side of the trail. No one is quite sure why he does this.

Things to know
1. The horse in front of me hates to walk fast so if you let him , as the boy who is riding him does, he will walk 10 speeds slower than a snail but suddenly he will realize all his friends are way ahead of him and he will trot to catch up.
2. These horses are not allowed/trained to trot.
3. While trotting is rather fun, running while going down a steep gully is not fun.

So we are running down a steep gully. I am pulling on the reigns as hard as humanly possible but it doesn't matter anyways , he looses his footing. His large horse head falls to the ground as we tumble and fall to the left. Ringo in all this horse glory is now laying on my leg. I say "Oh God!". I take my hands and free leg and try to push him off (which he probably didn't even feel) and he got up when he was ready.
I jumped up and ran away from said horse. Shaking my ankle, my leg. Nothing broken, nothing bleeding. Amen. Trail leaders are now trying to gauge if I will try to sue them. Joey walks over and nuzzles me like the sweet dear he is. I get back on Ringo's back and we head home. It's funny my heart didn't have time to speed up and freak out. It was just in slow motion and then it was over. I am super achey on my left side and bruised on my shin but overall alive and well.

Aparently this is rather common because this video is pretty much what happened to me. Only difference add a steep gully and I say "Oh God" instead of "Oh S**t"


3 comments:

Britt Watt said...

I laughed out loud! lol fo real!

Anyways the reason it was so funny is because I could tell how excited you were to right it cause your grammar got so bad when the story got real good. I'm not making fun. I was smiling and excited commenting and Shawn pointed out how I said you instead of how. Anyways I love the description of the horse!

I hope this teaches you.... Never ride a horse again. They are just to big. Remember the horse that bit peggy's leg in hawaii? They don't like a million different people riding them. The only exception is if you get your own exclusive horse, a "Flicka" per say. They, according to movies, love you unconditionally and understand your thoughts.

Megan Erin Allen said...

I am mortified. I wrote it when I woke up this morning at 7 am full of inspiration and on rereading it now...
It reminds me of a line from "The Importance of Being Earnest"
Cecily- "The three letters you wrote me after I broke off the engagement are so beautiful and so poorly spelled even now I can hardly read them without crying a little."
lol
Ahh well If you can't laugh at yourself.

Unknown said...

Good grief! I'm glad you're okay...Seems you Gillmings are accident prone around the 4th of July...Perhaps you should consider visiting a cotton factory or pillow pile next year....
I was so caught up in your story I didn't even notice your typos, which is saying a lot since I notice that kind of stuff all the time!
Also, I'm glad that the Bree Tanner book was better than you expected...I'm next, right?!?