Taking Chances, by E. L. Van Hine and L.H. Nicoll

[DeeDee]

Ok, let me get this "straight":

Me and You= Ennis and Alma   

Daniel and Ray= Jack and Lureen 

I'm already laughing like a fool...buckle your seat belts folks.....

[LoveEmBoys]

Hey everyone --

I've been AWOL for a VERY long time...  But I'm back to say:  Louise, I'm caught up!  And this is after reading 37 chapters since Saturday.  Whew -- a hard job, but one I'm more than willing to do... given the time!  Fortunately I'm off this week, making it possible.

So, here I am, Let's discuss E&E!   LOL.

Lucise, gotta say I like the animated gif of heath.  Nice touch.

Also nice touch on the paso fino, Louse.  They are amazing animals.  Never ridden one myself, but they do make me crack up every time I see them do a demonstration!  I have ridden some other gaited horses, and it is definitely a whole different world.

Monica

[notBastet]

It's too quiet around here for me tonight... so I'll throw this out.

Someone elsewhere noted that we do not discuss Jack and Ennis much on this thread.  Now I will grant that is true.  But I don't think it's due to lack of feeling/thoughts/opinions/etc. about Jack.  Rather I think we have other places to go to discuss Jack and Ennis.  But this is pretty much the only place we can discuss Ennis and Ellery without ridicule...

Others thoughts?

(Welcome back Monica, and wow that is a lot of reading.)

[LoveEmBoys]

It's too quiet around here for me tonight... so I'll throw this out.

Someone elsewhere noted that we do not discuss Jack and Ennis much on this thread.  Now I will grant that is true.  But I don't think it's due to lack of feeling/thoughts/opinions/etc. about Jack.  Rather I think we have other places to go to discuss Jack and Ennis.  But this is pretty much the only place we can discuss Ennis and Ellery without ridicule...

??  The thread is Ennis and Ellery.. seems clear to me what the topic is.  There are lots of other threads devoted to Jack and Ennis -- in all sorts of flavors.  I'm in favor of staying on topic.

[louisev]

Well, at the risk of answering critics who are too far afield to really worry about, the fact is that I have plotted the Laramie Saga as one in which Ennis learns to move on.  I have had a LOT of feedback from readers about how painful and tear-inducing the Jack flashbacks are, and I was extremely leery of including any police-level detail concerning the murder of Jack that would heighten the pain for readers.

In the first two books there were a lot of flashbacks and references, and in the third book, Ellery had his own ghosts of the past come up, putting him and Ennis on a more even ground regarding the power of the past.  But the third book takes in a rather compressed time period ,and the fourth book has so far taken place (up to the wedding weekend) in less than two weeks.  The next book is going to become more introspective, now that Ennis and Ellery's relationship is underway, and return to themes that were brought up in "Looking for Answers" about Ennis's unresolved guilt, Ellery's feelings of inadequacy in "measuring up" to the intensity of the love Ennis felt for Jack, the magical hold of Brokeback over Ennis, particulary over his erotic feelings.

But ultimately, Monica is right: this thread is about Ennis and Ellery.  The whole rest of the discussion board is about Ennis and Jack, and they don't know Ellery from a hole in the ground - and he is a worthwhile character in his own right, having brought some elements of experience to Ennis's life that are new and exciting for him, and (hopefully) for readers.

That having been said - I don't have any issue in discussing Jack in the context of the story, and it is certainly not discouraged here!

[magicmountain]

Here is Ennis tending a calf on Wes' ranch.

[notBastet]

  The whole rest of the discussion board is about Ennis and Jack, and they don't know Ellery from a hole in the ground - and he is a worthwhile character in his own right, having brought some elements of experience to Ennis's life that are new and exciting for him, and (hopefully) for readers.

Definitely new and exciting for me as a reader Louise!!

[louisev]

Here is Ennis tending a calf on Wes' ranch.

you'll have to put a horsehead on that calf, Jo... Wes only has horses!

[MaineWriter]

you'll have to put a horsehead on that calf, Jo... Wes only has horses!

Ohhhh, that sounds vaguely Godfather-ish to me...

[notBastet]

Fun with photos.

My humble abode, where I have done so much thinking/reading/etc. about Brokeback Mountain and E and E...  (hope this isn't too off topic).  The little window on the left (behind the tree) looks in to the computer room, where I spend the bulk of my non-work time...

[IMG]