Racing Reviews

Of all NFM's books,this one is my favorite. It is humorous and touching. It's about a teenager named Sarabeth who lives in a trailer park. Her mother makes them move into a new trailer so they'll be in a different school district and Sarabeth can get a better education at a different school. Unfortunately,most of the kids at Sarabeth's new school are wealthy,and she isn't. Nevertheless,she makes friends with a clique of rich girls. Through them,she learns that money can't buy happiness. One aloof girl named Patty has a crucial problem. What is it? Can Sarabeth help her? Sarabeth also has troubles of her own with Mark,her new boyfriend. Any teenage girl could relate to at least some of the situations in "Silver". This is a great book that almost anyone would enjoy.

I am 20 years old, and still call this adolescent paperback one of my favorite books in the world. The first time I read the trials of Sara Beth Silver, I clearly remember tears streaming down my face. From then on, every book I have ever read has been compared to Silver. Norma Fox Mazer is incredible for capturing raw emotions in all of her books and making the characters relatable.
After reading Silver, I came away learning a life lesson I shall never forget. Money cannot buy one happiness, friends or love. I know now, that I would rather lack material things and money but be rich in love and friendship. I highly recommend this book for people of all ages.

As a young teen, I loved Silver, and must've reread it a dozen times! Sarabeth is a wonderfully realistic character, and it's easy to imagine the awkwardness she feels at bridging the gap between life in a trailer with her mom, and the classmates who've known nothing but the rich life. But, as Sarabeth soon discovers, there are problems in everyone's lives, and money can't make them go away...in fact, sometimes it even makes things worse.

"Secretariat" is a compelling and addictive book that thrusts the reader into the lifestyle of Big Red himself. The reader learns all about the colts amazing breeding, training, and the record shattering Triple Crown, that he won in 1973. It's a very god read for those who enjoy racehorses and their careers or anyone who likes a great peice of storytelling.

This book was originally published in 1975 as BIG RED OF MEADOW STABLE. I read the book when it first came out, and I thought it was one of the greatest books ever written on thoroughbred racing. I finally bought a copy of my own in 1989, just a couple of months before my visit to see the great horse in Kentucky.

Perhaps because I saw Secretariat just weeks before he was put down, this book still brings the tears to my eyes when I read it. It takes a truly outstanding writer to write about such a magnificent subject, and Nack fills the bill beautifully. He traces Secretariat's lineage and of the history of Claiborne Farm in Kentucky, long the leading breeder of thoroughbred race horses. He writes in depth about Secretariat's races leading up to the legendary Triple Crown triumph of 1973. He writes about observers such as Charles Hatton, who spotted Secretariat's greatness immediately and who called Secretariat the greatest horse he had ever seen.

The only flaw in this great book is that it stops at Secretariat's retirement. There is no updated edition of this book. Perhaps someday Nack will write the rest of the Secretariat story. He certainly wrote a magnificent obituary about him in Sports Illustrated called "Pure Heart."

All in all a great book.

I bought William Nack's original writing of this book which was published in 1975. Although I was too young to follow Secretariat's racing career, reading this book gave me a very detailed and full account of his performance as a two-year old in 1972 and as a three-year old in 1973.

I have been a big horse racing fan for some 20 years now, and I have read many books on throughbred racing. This is definitely the best book on the subject that I have ever read!

Not only is it an excellent description of Secretariat and all of his connections. It tells the racing fan a lot about what goes into training a horse and bringing him along before he runs his first race.

My favorite chapter is the author's narration of the 1973 Belmont Stakes. I never get tired of reading how Secretariat was running down the backstretch so effortlessly while Sham could barely keep up with him. Ron Turcotte didn't realize how fast they were going until he saw the clock near the end of the race.

If you love thoroughbred racing you'll certainly love this book.
This is quality writing! You'll know Secretariat's career so much better after reading this book.

It's too bad that Secretariat never got to race at the age of four. He might have been even better than he was at three.

One can only guess what might have been!

The sea was so vast, and the ship was so small.
Man and everything made by man is finite.
-Richard Winning, owner of the Winston Churchill, reciting a seafarers' prayer at a Memorial Service

At the outset, let me just say that the Brothers Judd full disclosure policy requires me to acknowledge that Mr. Knecht is a fraternity brother of mine and if the book stunk, I'd not say so. In fact, the first few pages had me a little worried because there's some rather pedestrian prose and one of the yachts in the race was owned and skippered by Larry Ellison, of Oracle, who seems early on like he's going to be the center of attention in the book. This would be unfortunate because he's a difficult man to root for, at least as presented here, often in his own words. Actually, most of the yachtsmen seem fairly unlikable. It sometimes seems like every one of them thinks he's the only competent guy on board. But any initial concerns disappear once the storm hits and as the action at sea picks up so too does Mr. Knecht's writing.

The Sydney to Hobart race is apparently quite a big deal in Australia; from the sound of it, nearly the whole nation stops to watch the start on Boxing Day (December 26th). In 1998, 115 unsuspecting boats set out but only 43 made it to Hobart (Tasmania). Seven boats were abandoned and another five actually sank. 55 men were rescued. Six men died. The race had run into hurricane conditions, a cyclone sporting 80 mile per hour winds, and the sleek, ultra-engineered boats seem to have been particularly unsuited to such weather. In short order men were in the water and it is mostly them that Mr. Knecht follows and it is there that the book becomes genuinely thrilling, and terrifying.

The crew of the Winston Churchill, which was capsized by a 60 foot wall of water that broke over it, ended up in two life rafts. The other crew whose ordeal Mr. Knecht chronicles had been aboard the Sword of Orion. The hours, even days, these men spent in the water make for painful reading. One of the indelible images from the book is that of survivors recalling the sight of the bobbing heads of crewmates just a hundred yards away and knowing there's no way to get to them. The stories of these men and, as in The Perfect Storm, of the rescuers, make for a substantial portion of the book and it's outstanding.

A shorter concluding portion, featuring various courtroom hearings, unfortunately serves to remind us that, with some exceptions, these sailors just aren't a terribly sympathetic lot. Mr. Knecht presumably chose to write about Larry Ellison because he's a well known figure and a major businessman (Mr. Knecht writes for the Wall Street Journal), but he becomes kind of emblematic of the hubris that plagues them all :

I could have bought the New York Yankees, but I couldn't be the team's shortstop. With the boat, I actually get to play on the team.

Note he's characterizing himself not just as any old player but as the shortstop. Likewise, Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert, who sailed on Ellison's boat, Sayanora, has this to say :

There are people who in their makeup need to take risks. [...] Every once in a while I just have to do things that require me to make
judgments about how far I can go.

It takes a nearly superhuman effort on the part of the reader not to wish that it had been their boat that foundered. In this regard the book has a significant structural weakness in common with The Perfect Storm in that we spend too much time with people we don't care about and not enough time with some of the most compelling people in the book, the rescue workers who risk their own lives to save such men.

On balance then, Mr. Knecht has written a book that's well worth reading and is truly gripping throughout the bulk of the action. That less might have been better does not diminish the quality of what's best here and at its best the book is very good.

GRADE : B+

I read The Proving Ground in one night ... I just couldn't put it down. And I didn't mind that I was exhausted from lack of sleep the next day because I so enjoyed the read. Bruce Knecht not only has written a detailed account of the horrific experiences of the yachtsmen on three boats in the Sydney-Hobart race, but he has captured what it was like for the sailors to endure the ordeal ... the fear, the heroic sacrifices, the physical endurance, and the struggle over having to make decisions that could result in fatal errors (which some did).

As an experienced ocean sailor, I can say that Mr. Knecht has done an excellent job of portraying life at sea on a racing boat, without getting overly technical. I recommend this book to anyone interested in a gripping adventure story with characters who are both heroic and flawed, and for the men who died, are also all too real.

As an experienced offshore sailor, I found Knecht's book absolutely riveting. He sets out to examine why it is that already highly-successful people (who don't necessarily have anything to prove) are tempted to put their lives at stake competing in a yacht race. He then goes on to describe and examine what went wrong, and why. He deals with the meteorology, the nature of the yachts, the personalities of the crews, and their reactions to severe stress and, in some cases, disaster.

Offshore sailors know why we do it anyway: racing yachts is exciting and challenging. Knecht reports impartially on the attitudes and judgement capacities of those he interviewed. He asks all the right questions, and passes no judgement on the answers. He does not attempt to draw conclusions, and makes no recommendations. He reports, and well.

Non-sailors will enjoy this book because it is so damn exciting. They will be amazed - maybe horrified as well as stirred - at some of the characters and events described.

Sailors will enjoy it too, recognising events and personalities that we have all seen before, but maybe on a less extreme scale and under less extreme circumstances. Sailors SHOULD read this book because it will give them a better understanding of the well-worn maxim that "what CAN go wrong sooner or later WILL go wrong". Then they may be better prepared for that awful event, but it still won't stop them going to sea!

This is the first Nora Roberts "mystery" that I have read. In the past I have read her more traditionally romantic books, and I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. There is a breadth of information and a depth of characters here that puts this above many of her other books for me. I was genuinely interested in Kelsey and Naiomi's relationship, and pleased with the way that both of them, and Kelsey's father as well, seem to learn and grow in the course of the book. The supporting characters are also good, and there is enough detail to the descrptions of the world of horse racing to make the story feel realistic.

Interestingly enough, I think the weakest character in the novel is Gabe, who seems fraught with contradictions that I think should have bothered Kelsey, given her concern for ethics and rights and wrongs. I am not disturbed by Gabe's background at all, but I am puzzled by the acceptance of him as a "gambler," which sometimes seems to feed into some of the stereotypes abotu racing that the novel seems to be trying to contradict.

Overall, I think this is a good vacation read. I enjoyed it and will look for mor eNora Roberts books from this sub-genre.

"True Betrayals" is a fabulous book that will definitely keep you reading. Kelsey & Gabe are great main characters, both well-developed and likeable.
Kelsey has been told for her entire life that her mother died when she was a child, but she finds out differently one day when a letter shows up from her supposedly deceased mother! After getting over the initial shock, Kelsey decides to travel to her mother's thoroughbred farm in Nothern Virginia. Kelsey has to deal with her family's strong disapproval, especially from her grandmother, but decides that she really must meet the woman who gave her life. Kelsey arrives on the farm and slowly begins to bond with her mother and the handsome man who owns the neighbouring farm, Gabe. This story is full of betrayal, sabotage, romance, and excitement. Overall, a highly enjoyable read.

Nora Roberts does it again! What a great story to curl up with and burn the midnight oil! She throws a little bit of everything in this novel to make it one of her best...betrayal, murder, romance and of course--love. The title says it all. I was hooked from the very first page.

I bought a copy of Retired Racing Greyhounds for Dummies before I adopted my
first ex-racer. What a disappointment. This book had no rhythm or flow and
seemed to be written by a committee, rather than a person. I found the layout
confusing and most of the content so general as to be meaningless. When I got my
dog, I re-read the book, and again, found much of its content too focused on
training (I think the author is a dog trainer by profession) and did not have
enough about health or their life at the track. Luckily I found Adopting the
Racing Greyhound by Cynthia Branigan and it had everything I was looking for.
She runs an adoption agency, and it shows! Her advice and experience were just
what I was looking for. I'm afraid that as far as I'm concerned the "Dummy"
book lives up to its name!

This book embodies what is so great about the "Dummies" books. It's easy to read, funny without being stupid, informative, and interesting. And it has lots of cute Greyhound pictures, too!

I recommend this to anyone who is even considering adopting one of these fine dogs. Check it out at your library. If you end up with a Grey, buy this book. It's worth it.

My wife and I read this book before we adopted our ex-racer. The book greatly helped us in preparing for our new best friend: it describes the Greyhound history, basic characteristics, how to prepare your home (and yourself), proper foods, and much more. Thanks to this book, we saved ourselves many hours (and dollars) in preparing ourselves and our house for our Greyhound.

But the book proved even more valuable after we adopted our hound. After a second reading, we understood much better what to do in addressing some minor problems and behaviors.

If you are thinking about adopting an ex-racer, first read Chapter 3: Determining Whether Adopting a Retired Racing Greyhound is Right for You. You'll be able to tell after this chapter if the Greyhound fits your lifestyle. If the answer is yes, buy the book immediately. It will become the most valuable source of information about your new best friend you'll have at your disposal. Then enjoy your new pal. You're in for loads of fun.

242 pages

I am not a gambler, nor am I interested in gambling. I received this outstanding book as a gift. Once I opened the first page, I was hooked even though the subject matter was foreign to me. Konik's writing is among the best I have ever read. His prose is sharp, clever and funny. He paints vivid pictures and makes the reader feel that she is inside a secret world, viewing it from an insiders perspective. Since reading this unique book, I have tracked down many of his other articles which have appeared in newspapers and magazines. This guy can write. I look forward to his next book- whatever the subject.

I've read them all and this is almost the best book written on the subject of gambling stories. The BEST is TELLING LIES AND GETTING PAID which came out the year after this one I think. MAN WITH BREASTS is impossible to put down once you start. It's like a slot machine! I've read it 4 times. The characters are like family to me now except you wouldn't want a lot of these characters in yoru family, you know? Awesome book.

Tough call between the two which is why I recommend getting both. The sequel "Telling Lies" is a little more philosophical and has some bigger words. Man is a bit lighter and funnier. I have both in my collection of gambling books. They're both crucial to understanding the "world of risk and reward" but The Man has photos!

This is one of the first Dick Francis novels I read, and it remains one of the best for me. If I read it in the larger context of his work, it does seem to be something of an anomaly--not first and foremost about horses, and not concentrating on action and the understated heroics that many Francis heros find themselves forced into. ...there is a depth to the character of Alexander--a sort of simultaneous self-undertanding and also a oneliness that he wishes he could get past--that is touchingly human. I actually think this book has much more depth than some of the more action-packed stories. I would recommend it.

This is only the second Dick Francis book I've read, but I think I'm hooked. To the Hilt had just the right combination of suspense, intrigue, familial strife, and general pathos to keep me engrossed from start to finish. The plot centers less around who did what than *why* they did it, and what the results will be. I identified with and rather liked the main character, Alexander, and I appreciated the humanity Francis gave to all the characters, even the antagonists. I particularly appreciated the eccentric relationship between Al and Emily. Even if you're not a huge Dick Francis fan, or a mystery buff, I think you would enjoy this book.

All of Dick Francis' stuff is great, and here's no exception. It's a quick read and nobody at a university is going to assign it as fine literature. Yet, Francis deftly involves issues of personal character in the presence of money and titles, not unlike Shakespeare's greatest hits.
Continually underscoring the two human races: the decent and the indecent (good and evil are too pure of terms for true-to-life characters), the author always emphasizes through his first-person account the stiff-upper-lip culture and maturity of England's ideal man.
Inventing tasteful ways to present sex and gore both, Dick Francis shows off good writing skills for even a jaded modern audience.
This tale combines all of the above and spices it with Scottish landscape, royal jewels, treachery, jealousy, castles, a National Trust busy-body, and of course...horses.

This book is about a girl who was about to race in a one thousand-mile race. Bright Dawn,a teenage Eskimo,is her name. He was Black Star, the leader of the dogsled team. Bright Star had to fill in for her dad. He was praktising raceing and he fell of and he broke is sholder. When she was raceing a storm move in and it caused her to stop and get the snow of the doge's eyes. Right befor she finished she thought she had lost but she was in 2nd place. I like the book because it is about Eskimo's. I think the are smart, for the race's and igllos, they are cool. I liked it because she had to fill in for her dad.

An 18 year old girl is going on a dog sled race for her dad.She has been on lots of races before but now she is faced with the race of her life across three villages.They have to stop at every check-point and tell what place that they are in. She has to get her dogs warmed up but she only has two weeks.During the journey she meets up with some really bad animals and some bad things happen to her dogs. Her dad falls into a river and gets hurt really really bad and her dad can't race so she races for him. When she had to race back through the town,her dad's friend tries to cheat by trying to put in another dog and take out an injured dog so she unhooks the dog and leaves it there because when they start they paint a blue stripe on their back so you can't cheat. The reason I picked this book is because there is some sad parts and some really exciting parts.

Bright Dawn was a teenage Eskimo girl. The dog was Black Star, part husky but mostly wolf and they were best friends. They were going to race in the Iditarod together as a team because her father had been injured and couldn't go through with it. So she trains for the Iditarod and finally the day comes when It's tim to start. Along the way they never expected it to be as cold as it was, a bull moos, ice that could crack and splinter at any moment. By the time she was halfway through the race Bright Dawn was not only depending on Black Star for the race, but for her life....

I'm beginning to think that Karen Robard's would be a lot better off sticking to historical fiction. This is the fourth contemporary romance that I've read of hers (the others were To Love a Man and Wild Orchids--both horrible and One Summer, not bad), and while it's better than most of the other contemporaries of hers that I've read, it's still disappointing. It seems that in all of her contemporary romances that I've read so far, one of the protagonists (i.e., either the hero or heroine) is nauseatingly desperate. In To Love a Man and Wild Orchids, it's the heroine. In Hunter's Moon, it's the hero. Even after receiving insult after insult from the heroine (e.g., he's "old" and "stuffy") and having to put up with her immature romantic games (e.g., necking in the car & receiving a hickey from a date because she knows Will is in her house and waiting for her), he stills falls in "love" with her. The thing is, Robards doesn't really give readers a reason for the hero falling in love with the heroine. By reading it, you can easily see why he falls in lust with her (she's drop-dead gorgeous), but I can't think of anything in her personality that would make him fall in love with her. I got sick and tired of the heroine constantly making the hero jealous by accepting dates with other men. Also, Robards didn't develop the hero's character enough. Although Will reveals that he is a widower with an 18-year-old son, readers are privy to very little about his feelings over his deceased wife or his relationship with his son.

Overall, the hero is undeveloped and his desperate fixation with Molly makes you want to shake him and wish he'd wake up and find someone more deserving of his love than Molly.

Will Lyman, an agent with the FBI, has been sent to Kentucky to investigate some questionable winnings at the horse tracks. Just when he believes he is tying up the case as they watch for the criminal to pick up their $5,000 bait money, a beautiful woman appears in the barn, looks into the sack that contains the money, and then picks it up and walks off. Will is close to speechless. How could such an easy assignment go so wrong and who was that woman?

Molly Ballard has just quit her job as groomer at the Kentucky stable and has come to pick up her final check. She accidentally finds the bait money and on a whim - takes it! She is beside herself with worry but is totally broke and she is responsible for the care of her four younger siblings. She is sure that no one saw her take the money and figures it is money that was earned illegally anyway. Within hours, a gorgeous man in a distinguished suit appears at her door sporting a FBI bag and a tape of her taking the bait money.

Will Lyman takes in the young lady's surroundings and determines that she is probably just plain desperate. She lives in a very run down home and is barely surviving financially as she takes care of her two brothers and two sisters. He decides to let her off the hook and not charge her with theft. Then he discovers that his informant has died and returns to asks (really demands) Molly to participate in the sting operation. To enable easy communication during the sting, Will acts the role of her boyfriend.

This was a really good, enjoyable story. Karen Robards can write some good male leads and I believe Will Lyman is one of her best yet. You just like being around this guy. It was a stretch for me to accept that he is fifteen years older than Molly. He has an eighteen-year-old son and it doesn't seem to fit with his other personality traits that he would be attracted to someone so much younger than himself. Molly is supposed to be a really kind person but she treats others with disdain more than kindness. She is protective and loving towards her siblings under her care but she is also quite prickly.

Eventually Will and Molly develop an attraction to each other that neither has pursued but cannot ignore. He is pure sophistication, from Chicago, and apparently lives the good life. Molly has only a high school education, is actually poor, and has never had any real advantages in her life. She has not been exposed to many refinements but is basically a good, hard working person. Her prickly nature is due to many hardships as she grew up.

I was engrossed in this story until half way through the book. Robards had managed to write a fresh story that was interesting on every page. Then, without warning, the author introduces one of the most overused, maddening romance novel plot lines. I just had to put the book down for a while. I felt betrayed. Molly discovers that she loves Will and realizes that there is no future for them. She decides the best way to handle her newly found feelings is to treat him with hate. She kicks into high hateful gear, treating Will with a huge amount of disdain when he has done nothing wrong, and doesn't speak to him unless it is with meanness. This "I love you so I must treat you as I hate you" is one of my least favorite things about romance writing. Fortunately, Will does not accept this treatment from her and ignores her. He has recognized her game and will not play into it. This contrived misunderstanding is the turning point of the book. Although I did not appreciate this particular turn of events, I kept reading and, with relief, found this situation did not drag on for long. This is the reason for a four star rating rather than a five star.

The story is actually very tender. There are only a couple of sensual scenes and they rate no more than a three out of five (see More About Me for rating guidelines). The story does not need any more sensual pages - it is just right for the framework of the book.

Although the heroine stretches the limits of realism more than once, it is a book that I would read again some day. After all, romance writing is not very realistic. How could we depend on those happy endings if it were not? It is a pleasurable read with some degree of depth. I could actually read two more books with this hero starting today!

This is a fun book for me to read ~~ I think I found it at a library booksale and it was a quick and fun read. It is a mystery/romance novel ~~ the first Robards book I have ever read.

Molly Ballard, working as a groomer at a Kentucky stable while raising her younger brothers and sisters, runs into trouble with the law when she spirits away $5,000 that the FBI had planted in one of the barns. She was planning to use the money to feed her brothers and sisters, but FBI agent Will Lyman thought otherwise. Once he realized that she was speaking the truth, he decided to use Molly as an insider to investigate a race-horsing fixing scheme. Only Lyman got more than he bargained for ~~ not only was he focusing on the race-horsing fixing scheme, there were horse mulitations happening, a unsolved murder case, and a suicide in the peaceful Kentucky countryside. And falling in love with Molly ~~ it all provides entertainment and mystery throughout the book.

I would have given this book a 5 if it weren't for some explicit sex scenes in the book ~~ I am one of the readers who likes to be teased, not told of every sexual act in the story. Must be the midwestern in me. Other than that, this book provides great entertainment for me ~~ a fast read, which is something I need around here in a house full of happenings and it's fun to read as well.

If I run across Robards' other books, I'll be sure to pick them up since I enjoyed this book. She is a new author for me to explore and this book is hard to put down. I don't regret picking this one up at all.

11-7-02

This book is about breeding, and I hate to say it, but breeding is boring, as there are only so many ways to describe two horses in the reproductive act. Nearly every chapter has at least one trist, which by the middle of the book is tedious to say the least.

The descriptions of the farms and the people who live and work there are excellent, and save the book. However, I personally would have enjoyed the book a bit more if there was some more continuity. Each farm, and consequently each set of characters only appears in a single chapter. I would have enjoyed the book better had the author followed a colt thru the conception, birth, training, etc all the way to retiring to stud himself.

Stud is a book written for the rest of us. Those people who feel that there are better ways to spend 100,000 than on letting a mare have a good time with a handsome horse. It manages to make the world of those who DO spend that kind of money seem very real and very intriguing indeed.

Conley crosses the country from the elite of the business in Kentucky to the up and comers in California down to the struggling breeders in New Mexico. And he makes it all so fun to read. There are great portraits of the families and the farmers who try their hands at winning the most expensive 30 seconds in sport.

From the office to the breeding shed to the graveyards of the great sires nothing is left uncovered "Stud". Best of all the author makes it enjoyable for those of us who are not a part of the horsey set.

I never would have bought a book about thoroughbred breeding on my own, but a friend gave me Stud, and much to my surprise it turned out to be the best non-fiction book I've read in a long time. It fulfilled all the requirements of a "great read." It was interesting, funny and quite moving.

Conley succeeds in giving each horse a distinctive and appealing personality so it's fun to read about these grand and sometimes frightening animals and the life they lead. His descriptions of the fabulous horse farms - big and small - make you want to stop what you're doing and fly to Kentucky or California immediately!

Best of all, he takes you into the very select and rarified world of horse breeding - a world you would never even know existed before reading this book. His portraits of the patrician owners who have been breeding horses for generations as well as the oddball characters who work in the breeding barns is really fascinating and fun.

The book includes a surprising amount of history - which Conley manages to make very fresh and interesting. His observations - whether about British royalty, ancient horse trading or the origins of the first Stud Book - are fascinating, and his writing is as elegant as the horses he admires so much.

This book would make a great birthday or Father's Day gift for someone's special stud.