Skye's West: Bannack Review

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(More customer reviews)I gave this 3 stars, because too many good guys died and they didn't deserve it. In other words too much reality. At least let some of the most hated characters get what's coming to them.

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Barnaby Skye, a pressed seaman in the Royal Navy, jumps ship at ort Vancouver in 1826 with little more than the clothes on his back and a belaying pin for a weapon. Fighting for life, starving, his from his pursuers--the Hudson's Bay Company and the British Navy--he follows the Columbia River inland toward a fate he never anticipated. In a trapping brigade, Skye falls in with legendary mountain men such as Jim Bridger and Tom "Broken Hand" Fitzpatrick and in the fabled Rocky Mountains finds another unexpected turn in his life when he meets the Crow maiden, Many Quill Woman, who will become his wife.

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The Scout Review

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(More customer reviews)After Brules, which was spectacular, The Scout was somewhat of a let-down. It should have been a continuation of the magnificent Brules, but it was not. Harry Combs just didn't seem to write with the same flare. In parts I had to fight boredom, as the story became monotonous. It was just "Brules the soldier" for a long time. The Scout was good, but it just didn't seem like the the same book as Brules, which I thought it should have been.

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Watch for Me on the Mountain (Originally Published As : Cry Geronimo) Review

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(More customer reviews)Reading THE EDUCATION OF LITTLE TREE prompted me to find other Forrest Carter works. Through Amazon, I discovered the Josey Wales books (terrific). References to Geronimo in those books piqued my interest about this fascinating historical figure, so I ordered WATCH FOR ME ON THE MOUNTAIN. It did not disappoint. Though Carter takes liberties with the story by including personal details about Geronimo which he could not know--thus making it a fictional work--there is a symmetry in his use of history and folklore which is captivating. He tells a great story, and if you are the least bit interested in the spirituality and mysticism that defined this man's life, you will find this book fascinating. Geronimo lived between the earthly and spiritual worlds, giving him great powers which he used to enable the Apache to ward off slavery and death,against huge odds, for twenty years longer than seemed possible. Moving, sad and inspiring, this book brings about heightened appreciation for Native American spirituality and resillency.

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Sons of Texas (Sons of Texas Trilogy 1) Review

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(More customer reviews)The first of a trilogy, Sons of Texas looks at Texas' gaining of independence from Spanish rule by following the lives of central characters, Michael Lewis and his younger brother, Andrew. Mordecai Lewis, Michael's father, headed the western Tennessee family when the story began in 1816 - a time when a hunter had shot pouch and powder horn.
Mordecai was often away and he led a group of local landowners to Texas to bring back a herd of wild horses. Sixteen-year-old Michael tagged along as did Cyrus Blackwood whose family had a reputation for thievery and causing other trouble to their neighbours.
Protecting the interests of the Spanish crown at that time was the brutal Lieutenant Armando Rodriguez. Rodriguez captured and killed Mordecai and Michael was left to die by Blackwood that was a beginning of a feud between the families when Michael survived and returned to Tennessee some time later.
Michael still found Texas an irresistible draw and together with Andrew left to protect his family from the hostility that the Blackwoods were directing towards him, to find romance and to eventually confront Rodriguez.
The feud with the Blackwoods is to be developed further in The Raiders and The Rebels and I'm hoping that the rest of the Lewis family will be featured more. Especially Michael's mother Patience who married Mordecai's brother Benjamin, and the effervescent Annie, Michael's younger sister, who adored Michael for being so like their father.
Elmer Kelton has an understanding of the outdoor life and the ability to pass that onto the reader in a clear, entertaining manner that remained at a very high standard throughout.


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Donkey: The Mystique of Equus Asinus Review

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(More customer reviews)I was skeptical when I was handed this book by one of my fellow lawyers in the office. Why on earth would I be interested in a book about, of all subjects, Donkeys, unless it happened to be about the Democratic party? But the images throughout the book were so enticing I decided to invest my time and read this book. Well, what a surprise! I had no idea of the rich history, elogence, complexity, culture and travails of what I had always perceived of as the simple, stupid donkey. And perhaps the most interesting fact of all: if you are referred to as a donkey, (or its more popular pseudonym), is that it is actually a compliment, not an insult! Turns out that donkeys are really smart. Who knew? I would highly recommend this book if you want a fun, interesting, and eye-opening read. How Michael Tobias got on to this subject is baffling; what he did with his "tail" will enchant you.

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Up and Down California in 1860-1864: The Journal of William H. Brewer, Fourth Edition, with Maps Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is a lot of things. First, it's a marvelous description of what unmapped California was like--when Los Angeles had 4,000 inhabitants, and shootings every Saturday night. The physical descriptions of the state are very interesting. But it's also a sort of social record; Brewer stayed with families on his travels, and the description of life on these isolated homesteads is absorbing. Up and Down California is also, of course, an adventure story. Brewer and his companions traveled for four years, on foot, by horse, mule and steamer, throughout a vast and wild territory, sleeping outdoors in fine weather and foul. As I recall, the only time during this period when he was ill was when he spent a couple of nights in a hotel room! Last, the book is very moving; Brewer joined the California survey because of the death of his young wife and child in New England. The book is a compilation of his letters home to his family. After the survey was over he returned to Connecticut and had a very useful career in the new field of public health, as teacher and administrator. He was an honest man, a good writer, and dedicated public servant. The book is highly enjoyable, and it's not necessary to be a California to appreciate it!

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In 1860 William Brewer, a young Yale-educated teacher of the natural sciences and a recent widower, eagerly accepted an offer from Josiah Whitney to assist in the first geological survey of the state of California. Brewer was not a geologist, but his training in agriculture and botany made him an invaluable member of the team. He traveled more than fourteen thousand miles in the four years he spent in California and spent much of his leisure time writing lively, detailed letters to his brother back East. These warmly affectionate letters, presented here in their entirety, describe the new state in all its spectacular beauty and paint a vivid picture of California in the mid-nineteenth century. This fourth edition includes a new foreword by William Bright (1500 California Place Names) and a set of maps tracing Brewer's route.

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Sass & Serendipity Review

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(More customer reviews)Sass & Serendipity possess a cute and eye-catching cover, but what is inside is where the gold lies. It contains family as well as sister drama, unpredictable romantic subplots, and best of all two realistic main characters you cannot help but adore and root for.
Sass & Serendipity begins the story of two sisters- Daphne and Gabby- who could not be any more different. Gabby has always been the girl most likely to succeed, the girl that makes her decisions with her head not her heart. She does not let love get in the way, because the last time she did it ended horribly. Daphne, on the other hand, remains a romantic to the bone. She believes in true love, and most often than not, she lets herself be caught up in it all, though everything changes when Cole enters the scene. He seems to be the perfect match for her. However, after a surprising development in their home life, the girls and their mother are left homeless. Left to salvage what remains, Daphne and Gabby are left to rely on each, switching everything up once again. They will find love, heartbreak, and will begin to see what it truly means to have and be a sister in this new fantastic addition to contemporary YA.
Daphne and Gabby are my favorite type of characters. Not only because of the way they are flawed and realistic but also in the way they evolve as the novel progress. I especially loved the way in which Sass & Serendipity allows the reader to get a view into each of their heads through switching third person narratives.
My favorite aspect of this novel would have to be the bound between Daphne and Gabby, though. I always love reading stories about sisters, especially ones in which the girls are incredibly different, and this one was no different. At the start of the book, the relationship between Daphne and Gabby is tense and full of hate in some ways, but as the novel progress and the characters evolve, the more the two begin to see eye-to-eye on situations they couldn't have before. Secondly, this novel is one about family as a whole as well. Gabby and Daphne come from a broken family so it was also interesting to see how the girls come to understand why it is the way it is and begin to come to terms with it as well.
I also enjoyed the romantic subplots in this as well. They never went exactly as I thought they would- in a good way of course. I really enjoyed reading about Mule, Gabby's best friend, as well as Prentiss, the boy Gabby loved to hate, because not only where both boys sweet and adorable, but they ended up surprising me in more ways than one.
Ziegler's writing was also fantastic. She seamlessly switched between Gabby and Daphne point of views, and she doled out plenty of sad moments as well as heartwarming and funny ones. She truly wrote a novel that shows sisters at their best, and more importantly a kind of family that is often found in today's world.
Romantic, sweet, and witty, Jennifer Ziegler's Sass & Serendipity is the perfect summer read to say the least. Moreover, I have to say that while this was my first book by Ziegler, it's certainly not going to be my last. I have How to be Popular, her previous YA, in my TBR pile, and I cannot wait to get started on it.
Grade: A+

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Imprint Training of the Newborn Foal: A Swift, Effective Method for Permanently Shaping a Horse's Lifetime Behavior Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this book by Robert M. Miller with my very first
miniature horse foal, and it WORKS!!!!
I imprint trained him at birth and some the next day and
everything I did, helped that horse just like he said it would.
His personality is beautiful, he learned the desired responses
well and I know its because of the imprint training.It does not
take much time or effort on your part. I bought a foal that was
not imprint trained and the difference between the two horses
later on is UNBELIEVEABLE. The imprint trained horse is
friendly, obedient, and unafraid of anything ,thanks to this
book. TO me it was well worth the money I paid for it.I expect
2 more foals this year and already have my book ready to
do everything he suggests, I know it will make my life easier
when that little foal becomes a weanling thru full-grown.
For me, it was especially helpful because of my inexperience
with horses but this book would work just as well with the
experienced. It does shape the horses behaviors for LIFE.

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IMPRINT TRAINING OF THE NEWBORN FOAL offers an easy-to-follow, step-by-step approach to handling and training newborn foals, as well as numerous techniques and exercises that aid the foal in halter training and later in performing riding maneuvers. Imprinting can be defined as a learning process occurring soon after birth in which a behavior pattern is established. The newborn foal is imprinted to follow and bond with whatever large object looms above it at the time of birth.Dr. Miller's methods lay the foundation for teaching a horse most of what it will need to know to serve as a useful animal for the rest of its life. Early training can, in an amazingly brief period of time, assure an ideal relationship between horse and human, with the horse bonded and submissive to the human. In addition, the horse will be desensitized to the everyday frightening stimuli that typically elicit a flight reaction in the young horse, and which account for the frequent injuries that afflict horses and the people who work with them.The book includes nineteen chapters beginning with initial imprinting training, then following with subsequent sessions, halter training, performance basics, response reinforcement, problem prevention, and sections on racehorses, mules, and brood mares.

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Exploring Havasupai: A Guide to the Heart of the Grand Canyon Review

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(More customer reviews)Purchased this for a planned hike to Havasupai in the fall. This book is a great reference that includes great photo's, history lessons, photo tips, maps, and details on hiking the trail. Makes a great reference book but is nice enough to keep out for friends to thumb through. I recommend this book for anyone planning to make the trek to Havasupai or are just interest in a uniquely remote and beautiful place that is relatively off the beaten path.

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Some More Horse Tradin' Review

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(More customer reviews)This was an excellent book. I greatly enjoyed each and every adventure that Ben K. Green takes you through in the book. In a time where everything is done the easy way it is great to be able to look back and see how things realy used to be done. Through this book you are able to get a very clear picture of the old west. I loved reading about all the different ways the horse traders thought of to skam each other and somehow they both thought they were getting a good deal. I thought this book was great and was not able to put it down once I picked it up. I can't wait to read more by Ben K. Green.

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Muleshoe Review

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(More customer reviews)Jess Butcher has done very well with his graphic "Muleshoe" trip through backwoods Oklahoma and Kansas. It is set in some pretty remote, but interesting country. Entertaining, easy to read and follow, this is a good effort. You'll have a a good number of chuckles with this one. Butcher's real-life characters are vividly described, and ....many of them we can identify with or recognize as those we must have known from somewhere. A very enjoyable, quick read, highly recommended!

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Death is about to descend upon tiny Muleshoe, Kansas. Mike Bishop has arrived in the sleepy little town on a mission to recover a legendary cache of rare gold coins and Confederate currency. But others are racing to recover the treasure as well. Local Sheriff Laura Moss cautiously joins Bishop in his search. Together they unearth a dark secret; a secret with roots dating back to the Civil War, William Quantrill's planned assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, and an unexplained series of grisly local murders spanning more than a century.The line between good and evil blurs as Bishop and Sheriff Moss struggle to survive a murderous local legend ' a legend that threatens to turn the Kansas prairie black with blood.

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Crum: The Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)A hilarious, bittersweet saga of growing up in hardcore West Virginia. Crum isn't in the gentle mountains those of us who live here love, but a played-out, bleak wasteland locked in the heart of what used to be productive coal country. It is the dark West Virginia whose existence we like to deny. In Lee Maynard's Crum, the high school is the single bastion of hope and the single hope for living well is to get out of Crum. I first visited Crum a few weeks ago and began longing for my longlost copy of the book, first read, then read aloud to friends, then loaned away. The meatwagon chapter ranks as great American literature and I can't think why I've never seen it in an anthology. Would that another printing came about...

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Blood on the Forge (New York Review Books Classics) Review

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(More customer reviews)William Attaway's BLOOD ON THE FORGE powerfully depicts both the Black migration to the industrial north after WWI and the startling hell-like environment of the vast iron & steel works of the era. No other writer--novelist, sociologist, historian--has ever captured so well the compelling, visceral experience of the humans working these sacrificial jobs. As Attaway walks us through the vast furnace & forge areas of the works, our own skin scorches along with that of his worker-protagonists. We become party to the daily struggle to survive the most appalling working conditions.
This novel deserves a place on the highest level of our American esteem. It's tragic Attaway was unable to produce more work, since both his vision of the American experience and his fictive language were intense, revelatory and precious to anyone wishing to know and acknowledge this nation's true industrial and racial history.

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This brutally gripping novel about the African-American Great Migration follows the three Moss brothers, who flee the rural South to work in industries up North. Delivered by day into the searing inferno of the steel mills, by night they encounter a world of surreal devastation, crowded with dogfighters, whores, cripples, strikers, and scabs. Keenly sensitive to character, prophetic in its depiction of environmental degradation and globalized labor, Attaway's novel is an unprecedneted confrontation with the realities of American life, offering an apocalyptic vision of the melting pot not as an icon of hope but as an instrument of destruction.Blood on the Forge was first published in 1941, when it attracted the admiring attention of Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison. It is an indispensable account of a major turning point in black history, as well as a triumph of individual style, charged with the concentrated power and poignance of the blues.

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Badger Boy (Texas Rangers) Review

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(More customer reviews)Little wonder that Elmer Kelton has been voted the greatest western writer of all time by the Western Writers of America. His current novel, "Badger Boy," extends Kelton's reputation of well-researched excellence. As entertaining as it's predecessor, "The Buckskin Line," "Badger Boy" transports the reader to post-Civil War Texas with writing so vivid you can smell the earthiness of frontier cabin and taste the pungency of frontier justice. You find yourself caring about these characters and if you're like me, you'll be eagerly anticipating their further adventures. Sink your teeth into this one!

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These Were The Vaqueros: Collected Works of Arnold R. Rojas Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been looking for a copy of this book for over a year, but since it was out of print all the books I found were very expensive. I was so glad to see this book was reprinted and at an affordable price. The book is full of great short stories and tons of history. It is hard to put down and I seem to laugh on a regular basis at some of the stories. If you have a horse, no matter what discipline, you should read this book.

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The book contains the collected stories of Arnold R. Rojas in five sections - based on five of his earlier works - withtales gathered from old California vaqueros. The first section tells the history of the early land grants and of the vaqueros who drove the great herds. The second section gives the lore of the vaquero - his ways and beliefs. Part three is filled with more stories from the vaqueros of old and how they worked their horses and mules. Part four tells more of the methods of the vaquero and section five speaks of bits and bitting and the ways of the bridle horse.

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The Rebels: Sons of Texas Review

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(More customer reviews)THE REBELS is the third entry in Elmer Kelton's Sons of Texas series, and was originally published in 1990 under the name Tom Early.
Set in the mid-1830's, THE REBELS follows the Lewis family as the struggle to build homes and families in Texas, while dealing with the culture clash between Mexican and American cultures. With his usual flair, Kelton creates a vivid picture of the struggle of early settlers in this part of the west, and politics and racism along with outlaws, the Mexican Army, and family feuds, give this story a depth I particularly enjoyed. Perhaps that's why Publisher's Weekly gave it a starred review and called it the best entry in the series.
The good news is that I didn't feel any particular lack for not having read the first two entries, and I don't imagine any reader would. With cameo appearances from famous historical figures such as Sam Houston and Santa Anna (among others), Kelton delivers a really solid piece of fiction, and a story and characters you'll remember. This title is highly recommended for fans of Kelton's work and general fans of excellent historical westerns.

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Donkeys: Miniature, Standard, and Mammoth: A Veterinary Guide for Owners and Breeders Review

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(More customer reviews)As author of The Donkey Companion (Storey Publishing), I was thrilled to see that Dr. Purdy has written a book about donkey care. I bought it and it more than fulfills my expectations! This would be a fantastic item to give your donkey's vet as a gift. Definitely, two thumbs up!

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Addressing a common misconception, this handbook explains that donkeys are not horses and that the two kinds of animals are genetically and anatomically quite different. Carefully laying out the special physiological and environmental needs of donkeys, the book educates owners, would-be owners, and breeders about how best to care for their charges while also providing clear technical information on donkey anatomy and behavior, diseases, breeding, and general husbandry. Written with affection for donkeys and their antics, the book goes a long way toward preventing common and sometimes dire mistakes in caring for these interesting animals.

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