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Post by jennifer on Dec 31, 2005 5:57:10 GMT 1
I love books, I love animals, I love history. My family know this so this year I was delighted to receive two books - Hell Riders (charge of Light Brigade) and Animals in War. Much as I am enjoying reading them I have to keep putting them down as the contents are often just unbearable.
Am I nuts to be so affected by the fate of long-dead animals (and humans too by the way!)
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susan in greece
Olympic Poster
"you can't stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf" Joseph Goldstein
Posts: 556
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Post by susan in greece on Dec 31, 2005 9:51:08 GMT 1
hi jennifer, it may also be the time of year jennifer, i always get really emotional at this time of the year, god knows why. and you are by no means nuts at your reaction, respectful yes and no doubt justified. i also find the role animals have played in history fascinating, and i would definitely read the books you mention. i almost said 'would like to read' but its not really enjoyment is it, bitter sweet definitely, and just increasing awareness. does the light brigade book go into details of how they treated and cared for the horses or is it battle strategy etc? does it tell individual stories of soldiers and their mounts?
susan
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Carole2
Grand Prix Poster
IH Member
Posts: 1,401
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Post by Carole2 on Dec 31, 2005 11:21:34 GMT 1
No, your not nuts. I can't even cope with watching Black Beauty or Lassie and they're just fiction - pathetic.
It show that you have a heart - good for you.
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Post by gordo on Dec 31, 2005 12:40:15 GMT 1
I blubbed my guts yesterday watching Spirit, felt a right twit! My son was upset too but I had to explain that horses really did suffer as depicted in this amazing film, hard I know but he has to know. Children and animals and I am a wreck. Both rely so much on us to defend them and understand their needs.
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Post by meg on Dec 31, 2005 13:01:12 GMT 1
Iwas hoping to get Animals in War but didnt (will now treat myself I think). Jennifer do you mind me asking a question? There was a simmilar book that was published around the same time as Animals in War about a war horse. The story was told from the horse's point of view, I cant remember what the title or who the author was. Any idears?
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Post by sandalfarm on Dec 31, 2005 13:10:14 GMT 1
Since Mist died (my young dog) it takes nothing to set me off...walking out of the door did it this morning! I dare not read or watch anything sad.
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Post by meg on Dec 31, 2005 13:18:10 GMT 1
Oh Ive just discovered the book is actually called War Horse. Thank you for helping me to jog my useless memory. Sandalfarm Ive read what happened to poor Mist, so so sorry. Meg.
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Post by felicia on Dec 31, 2005 23:41:48 GMT 1
I took the Animals in War book out of the library a couple of years ago (if it's the one by Jilly Cooper) and read about two pages! I was haunted by the images conjured up and the photos and couldn't cope at all. I can't even watch Dumbo without howling and I'm nearly 50! I would love to go and see 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe but my daughter refuses to come with me so I'll have to wait until it's on DVD. It's tough being so pathetic!
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Post by fin on Jan 1, 2006 3:22:12 GMT 1
No. You're not being a wimp at all. The useless waste of animals in wars that are not of their own making is something that ought to grieve us....
The casualty and death rate of horses in the First World War actually outstripped the human statistics, which were appalling in themselves. Both the Cleveland and the Trakhener breeds were practically extinguished at the end of WW2.
I've not read the Jilly Cooper book and have no intention of doing so. I was invited to contribute to the the Animals in War Memorial in London while I was down in the Imperial War Museum in Duxford though, and refused to do so. Didn't exactly make myself popular, but a memorial that's inscribed 'THEY HAD NO CHOICE' aboot 8 million dead or slaughtered horses is frankly a bit of an up-its-arse own statement about outdated cruelty and exploitation when there are so may needy animals in our own society that could have done with the million odd-quid that funded the memorial. Seemed very sentimental to me. Didn't the Jilly Cooper book pay a certain amount of royalties towards the memorial???
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Post by jennifer on Jan 1, 2006 15:26:18 GMT 1
Thanks for replies, nice to know you too get overcome at times, whether anger or anguish doesn't matter does it?
Susan, yes, there is much on the horses in the Light Brigade book. It has lots of personal experiences in it too, written by those involved from all walks of life.
Meg, I don't know the War Horse book, what period is it set in?
Finn I've just had a look at Jilly Cooper's book and though she mentions the Imperial War Museum, she says nothing of the memorial. It is a second hand book, published in 1983 so maybe it is a later biook which gives a contribution.
Sandalfarm, so sorry about Mist, especially as you say she died young, it's bad enough to lose an old friend when the time comes, but tragic when a young life is cut short.
Felicia I am older than you! And still blubbing but I need to finish the books, I strangely feel I owe it to the animals and that is seriously weird. My Dad was in Burma during the war and he told me about how animals were involved (but kindly spared me the details)
Thanks again to you all.
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Post by Francis Burton on Jan 1, 2006 16:05:39 GMT 1
Michael Morpurgo wrote a book called War Horse. Could it be that one? Morpurgo was (is?) Children's Laureate and has written many good books, including Out of the Ashes which is about the foot-and-mouth crisis. Anyway, reading War Horse made me cry and I'm a grown man. Something else that always brings a lump to my throat - this American Red Star Animal Relief poster from the the Great War, titled "Good-bye, Old Friend": docsouth.unc.edu/wwi/41932/50.html
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karen
Advanced Poster
eh!....dirty mare
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Post by karen on Jan 1, 2006 17:09:27 GMT 1
i am with Carole 2 black beauty made me cry lots and that's fiction (based on fact though !)
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karen
Advanced Poster
eh!....dirty mare
Posts: 430
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Post by karen on Jan 1, 2006 17:10:37 GMT 1
oh god gordo and don't even get me started on spirit........i bawled my eyes out, threatened to turn it off if it got any sadder - my husband still remids me of this (well he did until he cried at Narnia-hahah cannon fodder)
I think it's sweet to shed a tear over those past-it keeps them alive you cry away for their memory!
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Post by sandalfarm on Jan 1, 2006 17:43:58 GMT 1
I dont know Spirit...is it an old film? Who is in it?
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Post by sulasmum on Jan 1, 2006 18:37:23 GMT 1
I even cry at Bambi when his mum dies
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