:(

"My troubles are all over and I am at home; and often before I am quite awake, I fancy I am still in the orchard at Birtwick, standing with my old friends under the apple trees."

Black Beauty was one of my favourite books as a kid, but I managed to avoid reading it in later years. That last paragraph always makes me teary so I worried reading more of it would make me cry. It did.

It's a sad book. The 'happy' parts at the start, which I didn't read, are setup for the later sad stuff. This is how it could be....
Later, even when good things happen, they're not necessarily happy. Like the cab driver getting a better job, so the horse is sold and from there it is all downhill. Until things are as bad as they could be, then it all ends happily ever after. Why is the end so sad?

It's a predictable story. It's just one event after enough, with little connection between them. It's very moralistic, in a heavy handed way -- drink is Bad, mistreating animals is Very Bad. It's very memorable.


*It occurs to me, that's what I'm trying to do with the plotline I'm working on now

1001 books? Maybe not

Via girliejones where there's been a bit of discussion on 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. Although its not a very inspiring list, for the most part.

So, I need my own list!

But it should really be made up of books I haven't read yet, or what's the point.

Therefore it requires input from people. Other people. You (esp you who don't comment very often).

What books would you put on a 'must read' list? They might be recent or classics. Fiction or non-fiction. Deep and meaningful or simply fun.