Stacked-Up Book Thoughts: A Good Book and a Good Show

Argh! This is pretty much my slowest reading week ever. I didn't have a lot of time for pleasure reading because my editing work ramped up as my clients returned to their offices after the holiday break.

In addition, instead of reading after dinner, we've been working on a jigsaw puzzle and playing a lot of rummy. Both are fun and take our minds off the news of the world.

I'm still reading The Hazel Wood, a fairy tale / contemporary fantasy, and The Six, about the Mitford sisters.

I finished my reread (via audiobook) of The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman. I've come to appreciate Susan Duerden's performance of this series. I think because I read the books first, I needed to get used to Duerden's style and characterizations, which didn't match what was in my head. Now, however, I'm thinking that I'll go ahead and listen to the newest entry, The Lost Plot, instead of reading it in print. In case you missed any of my earlier reviews, this is an adult speculative fiction series that includes a fresh take on fae and dragons and involves a powerful library, alternate worlds, time bending, a little steampunk, lots of action, and mystery. The books are published by Roc (an imprint of Penguin Random House) and the audiobooks are from Audible Studios.

On television, we watched the Netflix original Godless. I highly recommend this dark miniseries set mostly in the mining town of La Belle, New Mexico in the 1880s. The town is run by a group of bad-ass women who took charge after the men died in a major mine accident. The story revolves around Frank Griffin (played by Jeff Daniels), the ultimate bad guy in a generally lawless land, and mystery man Roy Goode (Jack O'Connell), who shows up one night on a ranch outside of town, wounded and alone. The plot eventually connects the townswomen, Griffin, Goode, and a few lawmen. The series includes quite a bit of violence, a little romance, a twist or two, good character development and a satisfying ending. It's a complete story in seven episodes and feels almost like a novel. The acting and filming are great, and you'll recognize many of the actors (Michelle Dockery, Tantoo Cardinal, Sam Waterston). Don't miss this one (if you can handle the blood and guts). Here's the trailer (warning--adult language):

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Today's Read: Boleto by Alyson Hagy

What if you were the youngest of three sons looking for a way to escape your family's small ranch in central Wyoming? Although there's work for him at home, Will Testerman has a restless, independent spirit; besides, he's just about to fall in love with a two-year-old:

She was a gift, though he did not think of her that way for a long time. He paid twelve hundred dollars for her, money that came straight from his single account at Cabin Valley Bank. She was halter broke, and trailer broke, and she had been wormed for the spring. Someone had taken a rasp to her feet. He had seen her dam, Sally's Quick Ticket, win more than one prize in cutting horse competitions. He had no knowledge of her sire. The man who bred her kept good horses at his ranch outside of Cody, on the South Fork of the Shoshone River. The man did not use his horses much, but he had an experienced manager, someone who knew how to care for foals and weanlings. When the man chose to sell some of his animals, the manager, a careful fellow by the name of Campion, asked around. Campion did not go in for the commotion of stock sales. He had four horses he needed to sell, and the prettiest one was a quarter horse filly that was barley two years old. She was nicely balanced. There was a decent chance she had inherited her mother's speed.

—Boleto by Alyson Hagy (Graywolf Pess, 2012, p. 5 [opening paragraph])

Quick Facts

• Setting: rural western ranches; southern California polo clubs
• Circumstances: Will Testerman, an ex-rodeo competitor, is determined to make his name as a horse trainer; he's been told that trained polo horses can command a good price
• Characters: Will, twenty-three years old; Boleto, two years old; Will's family, friends, and enemies; other trainers and buyers
• Genre: contemporary western; character study; literary fiction
• Major themes: the new West; strong bond between cowboy and horse; social divides (wealth, class, region); changing way of life; hard dose of reality; non-romantic view of today's cowboy
• Writing style: beautiful, poetic, descriptive, unforgettable; many reviewers compare Hagy to Kent Haruf, Cormac McCarthy, and Annie Proulx
• Miscellaneous: Indie Next pick for May 2012; finalist for the Reading West Book Award; now out in paperback
• Novel's origins: story inspired by a chance meeting with a horse trainer

ISBN-13: 9781555976637
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy).

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