Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: A Year at the Races : Reflections on Horses, Humans, Love, Money, and Luck by JANE SMILEY ISBN: 1-4000-4058-2 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 13 April, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)
Rating: 5
Summary: Every Horse Story is a Love Story
Comment: When Jane Smiley won the Pulitzer prize for Literature in 1992 for her novel "A Thousand Acres", she celebrated by buying a skinny, white Thoroughbred gelding called Mr T. Mr T, Smiley then discovered, had trained at Longchamp in France and had won races all over the United States. From here there was no going back.
Thanks in part to Mr T, Smiley now owns a string of Thoroughbred race-horses and dreams, but only dreams, of leaving her writer's days behind her and becoming a full-time horse-trainer. In the meantime, she has compromised by writing "A Year at the Races", an account of her experiences as a racing-stable owner.
Each chapter reads like a letter to a friend and the entire book covers an amazing amount of ground. The author looks at the special role of horses in human society: Horses, according to Smiley are more intelligent than dogs and more like humans in their wide-ranging abilities. She considers the personality types of horses, compares them to human types, and considers how we both react to our environment, challenges and communities.
The book also takes a long, hard look at what horses have to do earn their living. Horses, unlike other "pets", are too expensive to be indulged as only companions: They must race, jump, show or carry. Mini-horses are even earning a place as guides for the blind. A horse that fails to socialize properly and learn to earn a living has a poor future. That gives owners and trainers a particular responsibility to help the horse succeed at its job and remain healthy and strong.
Where I am sure the book will draw criticism is in Smiley's use of "horse communicators," who claim to be able to "talk" to horses. It sounds silly and it's only when the author disarmingly admits that such activities are probably "rubbish", but nevertheless wildly entertaining, that you realize that it is not Smiley who is the fool. She is an intelligent and open-minded individual, who can explore possibilities that are beyond the imagination of most of us. That is what made her a Pulitzer prize-winner and that is what makes "A Year at the Races" a great read, even for those who don't consider themselves "horsy."
 |
Title: Blood Horses : Notes of a Sportswriter's Son by John Jeremiah Sullivan ISBN: 0374172811 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 01 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
 |
Title: Horse People: Scenes from the Riding Life by Michael Korda ISBN: 0066212529 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 21 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
 |
Title: Funny Cide: How a horse, a trainer, a jockey, and a bunch of high school buddies took on the sheiks and blue bloods ... and won by Sally Jenkins, Funny Cide Team ISBN: 0399151796 Publisher: Putnam Pub Group Pub. Date: 22 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
 |
Title: Betting on Myself: Adventures of a Horseplayer and Publisher by Steven Crist ISBN: 097264010X Publisher: Daily Racing Form Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
 |
Title: Horse Heaven by Jane Smiley ISBN: 0449005410 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 27 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
