On an older book

Last weekend, or one day early in the week, I was looking for a book to read that I knew I could finish on the same day I started.

So, I fished through bookshelves for things that have been around for awhile.

I came up with The Horsemasters, by Don Stanford, which has a copyright date of 1957.

I’d actually seen parts of the Disney television episode made from that book, but never read the book itself.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. 

How it fits in with the series of review/commentaries I’m doing over this weekend is literary epiphany.

The author does an excellent job structuring the book around the focal events of, or related to, a 15 week summer course not only in horsemanship but meant to equip the students to serve as assistant riding masters or mistresses in other schools and colleges by the end of the course.

Stanford does a great job connecting up little . . . and sometimes not so little  . . . personal epiphanies for the students, particularly the viewpoint character Dinah Wilcox, with the events of the horsemanship course.

I’ve read other writers who try to structure things similarly in more contemporary novels, and not always with as much success.

The book is surprisingly contemporary for a 1957 copyright, I didn’t find anything directly out of date as I have in other works of that era.

For someone who is looking at literary technique, The Horsemasters makes a good study while also serving as an entertaining read especially for those who enjoy reading about horses and horsemanship.  But, without ‘talking down’ to the audience, Stanford includes enough detail that I think even those who have no knowledge of horses will enjoy this book if they can find it given its “vintage” status.

 I plan to be back later today with another "best read."  And, then I should be due for some practical tips again in the blog.

I may toss in one more review than I planned, having just finished a book yesterday I greatly enjoyed again for the "character epiphany" reasons.  Interestingly, this is the second of a series and I didn't enjoy the first as much as the second.

But, I will probably add a post on practical tips before I cover that additional book; and perhaps try to capture some thoughts on the spiritual season of Epiphany, as well, before I add that review.

Epiphany . . .

Today is the actual day of the Feast of the Epiphany.

Nowadays, in the Catholic Church, the liturgical observance falls on the nearest Sunday.  Because of the timing of a Sunday Christmas and New Year’s, that means the observation this year is this coming Sunday. 

“Spirituality and religion” is one of my sub-category niches.  I’ve written in that area quite a bit, and while I don’t regard that as a direct product or service niche, in my spec samples for catalog copywriting I have tied that into three of my niche areas:  books, games and toys, and educational services.

So, because of the timing this year, I thought the general idea of Epiphany would be a good one to get a weekend’s worth of blog posts and that sort of thing out of. 

Further, from the writing perspective, the term “epiphany” has a name in terms of a fiction technique.  The word translates to something like “revelation” or “discovery” in writing.

Indeed, a well-made “epiphany” can form the most satisfactory element of a book.

I’ve read a good number of books over the past year, and I find that writers tend to go about this in one of two different ways.  A novel either has a succession of small epiphanies for one or more of the essential characters; or there is one real, major “ah hah!” moment for one or more of the most central characters.

Either of these approaches, if well realized, can have a satisfying impact on the reader.

I have had some very fulfilling reading experiences over the past year or so with each type, although for a wide range of reasons I would have to say that the book that I would recommend if I had to choose only one out of last year’s reading was the single epiphany type.

Which kind do  you prefer?