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Title: Seabiscuit: An American Legend by LAURA HILLENBRAND ISBN: 0-449-00561-5 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 26 March, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.79 (563 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent book! Run, don't walk!
Comment: Okay, I admit it. I was stubborn. I watched this book on the shelves of my local bookstore for a year, but refused to pick it up and read it because I didn't want to be disappointed. I have been a great fan of horse racing ever since I was seven years old and sat inches away from my grandmother's television set to watch Secretariat win the Belmont Stakes. In the past, I have picked up other books that involved this subject matter and have always been let down, either because the facts weren't exactly right, or the author spent too much time anthropomorphizing.
I decided to break down and read the book when I read a blurb in the newspaper that USA Today had chosen this title as it's Book of the Month, quite a feat for anything to do with horse racing in a world of football, baseball and basketball. I purchased 'Seabiscuit' along with three other books, started reading another one first, picked this one up just to browse through it, and I was hooked!!!
To say that Hillenbrand does a wonderful job of telling this story doesn't do her justice. She focuses not only on the horse, but the amazing and sometimes sad stories of the people involved with Seabiscuit. Just what the jockeys had to struggle through alone is enough to make you want to turn your eyes away. She didn't fall back on the cop out of trying to make the horse have overly human emotions and thoughts, and yet tells a historical 'biography' that entertains like a novel. In addition, having struggled through the rigors of a graduate degee in history myself, I have an enormous amount of respect for the depth of research and investigation Hillenbrand has covered in this book.
Her work represents an enormous effort that requires the tenacity of a bulldog while the whole process can be like giving birth - long, hard, and you just want it to be over with. (And then to take into consideration the physical issues she herself confronts.)
I thought I would be too tough on this book, but now I have been won over in spades! Do yourself a favor and don't be as stubborn as I was. Read this book and I am certain you will enjoy the ride.
Rating: 5
Summary: Not Just for Horse Lovers
Comment: This book came recommended as 'not just for horse lovers' and it was true. Beginning with some history of the resisted transition of horse to automobile in the United States, we are introduced to some colorful and amazingly tenacious characters, especially Charles Howard and Tom Smith, the owner and handler respectively of Seabiscuit. I found the first 100 pages to be a bit slow, but then the story took off. In race after race, the vivid descriptions put you there on the animal's back seeing things from the jockey's perspective. It was quite an education to read about the lives of jockeys. I had no idea they were so obsessed with weight that they would resort to ANY means to lose pounds, almost to the point of killing themselves. It was hard to believe some of the tactics they used to win races, such as pulling on the tail of the competitors horse, before regulations were put in place. Seabiscuit was a total prima donna right from the start: sleeping laying down on his side for hours on end, insisting on having his pals by his side in his stall, overeating every chance he got. This book was thoroughly enjoyable and I recommend it to everyone looking for one of those hard-to-put-down reads.
Rating: 5
Summary: Seabiscuit is my hero here in 2004!
Comment: It took me a while to get thru the first part because the author writes about the history of the owner and the jockey. It got interesting when I got to the middle of the book. The book is full of old photos of Seabiscuit and some of his races. I actually cried during some of the sad parts. I just wished I was there back in the 30's so I could really see Seabiscuit in a race. I was never a horse lover, but after reading this book I realized what a great horse Seabiscuit was and what a true American hero he was for people back then. I'm glad Laura Hillenbrand wrote this book so Seabiscuit would not be forgotten.
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Title: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown ISBN: 0385504209 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 18 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd ISBN: 0142001740 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 28 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Life of Pi by Yann Martel ISBN: 0156027321 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title:Seabiscuit (Widescreen Edition) ASIN: B00005JMCN Publisher: Universal Studios Pub. Date: 16 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $20.24 |
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Title: The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom ISBN: 0786868716 Publisher: Hyperion Press Pub. Date: 23 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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