Week Three Winner: Blueline Goddess

Blueline Goddess gets the romance novels!  Please send me your address so I can send them out!

More giveaways to come...

Movie: Ruffian

Ruffian
2007

When I watched this once upon a time, I wasn't a fan.  I didn't remember why when I picked it back up.  Regardless, I remember being less than impressed.  Recently, I watched it again and was vaguely pleased by it...up until I remembered why I didn't like it.  Those reasons were less pronounced the second time around, but I'll just list them here for the fun of it.

Basically, they are as follows:

1) The big needle shot.  Okay, look.  I'm not very squeamish about these sort of things, but for some reason I just find it beyond creepy that they decided to show Ruffian's last moments in such a way.  Close up shot of her eye...great.  Fine.  Close up shot of her eye showing the reflection of the vet looming over her holding a giant needle...kind of reminds me of Frankenstein.  Equine Frankenstein!  Imagine the horror!

2) You could call this 1975: The Year Bill Nack Became Disillusioned With Racing aka Ruffian.  Yes, Bill Nack is a wonderful writer, and he has written many glorious, beautiful things about racing.  However, he kind of gets in the way a lot. 

3) This movie had a horrible release date.  Not that this is something I can logically hold against the movie.  Maybe I can hold it against ESPN, but there's something morbidly amusing about ESPN releasing a movie about a famous horse who breaks down in what was one of the most famous American races of the century the year after Barbaro broke down (and mere months after he died) on one of the three days America stops to remember horse racing exists.  I mean, why do we even bother trying to get people interested in this sport?  Is there a point anymore?

Basically, I just want Secretariat to be much, much better.

Grand Prix

Essentially, Seo Joo-Hee is a jockey who suffers the breakdown of her favorite horse and must battle through her emotions to return to the track. Woo-Seok plays the romantic male lead who has also suffered heartbreak and finds a kindred spirit in Seo Joo-Hee.

I don't know, you guys.  I could potentially love this...

(Thanks to Cinda for pointing this out to me!)

Book Giveaway: Week 3

This week is dedicated to romance.  The titles I've pruned from my collection are as follows:

Who's Cheatin' Who?

Ride a Dark Horse

Who's Cheatin' Who is about tapas and murder and horse racing.  I also recall some trust issues mingling with baby daddy problems.  Or something.  Melodrama is fun, you guys.  Just go with it.

Ride a Dark Horse.  This is one of those romance novels that involve children.  In my history of reading romance novels for this blog, the ones with children are automatically the most insane.

You only need to comment, and your name goes in the hat.  Previous winners need not apply.  Contest ends 8/9.  Winner announced 8/10. 

Week Two Winner: Fear Street

FEAR STREET

You have won the Bonnie books!  Send your address to wbfblog at gmail dot com!

Book Giveaway: Week 2

For week two, I am prepared to offer what I have of the series known as A Horse Called Bonnie.  Or whatever.  It could conceivably be called something else, like Girl and Dog Rescue Horse From Ghosts and Simultaneously Cure Heartburn/Cause Imminent Peril By Driving Crazy And Other Fabulous Adventures!

It's kind of an insane (or awesome? awesomely insane?) few books.  They were just recently republished, but I've got the old school, forty-year-old copies.  The books in this batch will be as follows:

A Horse Called Bonnie

Sunbonnet: Filly of the Year

The Betrayal of Bonnie

That's the second, third and fifth books in the five-part series, for those not aware.

So, listen.  All three of these books broke my brain in different ways that I don't think I'm ready to really contemplate yet.  However, they are fantastic reads.  The person who receives these books will be damn well happy they have them as they are presented by plots that will delight and horrify them all at once.

You only need to comment, and your name goes in the hat.  Previous winners need not apply.  Contest ends August 1st.  Winner announced August 2nd.

(Yo, Rebecca: you won the last round.  I also need your address.) 

Upcoming Books

The Risen Horse
by Karen Taschek (aka Karen Bentley)
Release Date: September 15

It's 1905 in New Mexico Territory, and John Chavez, a survivor of Victorio's band of Mescalero Apache warriors whom we first met in Horse of Seven Moons, is now an adult with teenage children of his own. Life is difficult on the reservation, and after the death of his beloved wife, John decides to send his daughter, Isabel, to the Indian Industrial boarding school in far-off Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to get a fine education and leave the reservation village. Reluctantly, Isabel agrees to go, although she doesn't want to leave her family or the horses she secretly trains on the reservation.

At first Carlisle is everything Isabel and her father hoped for, but the school is not immune to tragedy, and Isabel must confront her fears of death and loss. She finds new horses to train and love, linking her life and passion to the horse her father is training for her as a special surprise back home. This story of the tribulations of early reservation life that led to the modern-day triumphs of the Mescalero people also offers a rare glimpse at the strengths of education at Carlisle, largely remembered for its flaws. 

 I am so excited, you guys.   (My thoughts on Horse of Seven Moons can be found here.)