Although I grew up in the heart of a big city (Pittsburgh, PA), I have always loved animals. I had dogs, I had cats, I had turtles. There was a horse that pulled a wagon through our streets and he always stopped so I could feed him sugar. I still remember the way his breath felt on the palm of my hand. My parents would drive me to a park where I could rent a horse and ride. I’m old now and I’d have to be lowered onto a horse by a crane, but sometimes I think it would be great if that were to happen.
A Horse to Die For is part of the Robin Vaughan Equestrian Series. Like the other books in the series, It’s a comic novel as well as a mystery. It takes place around Christmas and starts when Robin’s best friend, Lola, gets a horse for Christmas. He’s a rehab, Lola tells her, because he charges when he’s out in the pasture. Lola doesn’t mention that one of the people the horse charged was killed. Robin thinks the horse is familiar. Furthermore, he reminds Robin of a horse that is dead. Worse, the horse died while Robin was horse-sitting. This calls Robin to track the evil-doers down.
This is the first book by Dick Francis that I ever read. I knew it was based on an incident that happened to him when he was riding in a steeplechase. I was dying to get to the accident and scared, knowing what was going to happen and when. Whew!
Dick Francis, the bestselling master of mystery and suspense, takes you into the thrilling world of horse racing.
Steeplechaser Alan York knows well the dangers of the sport. But when his best friend and rival Bill Davidson takes a fall in the middle of a race and doesn’t get up again, Alan discovers it was no accident. Someone rigged a tripwire to take down the running horse.
The more Alan investigates, the more he suspects that there is more to the plot than just murderous horseplay. But even as he approaches the finish line to this mysterious race, those responsible…
All Creatures Great and Smallis a sweet book that at the same time can make you laugh out loud. His prose is understated and he’s able to make fun of himself. Herriot’s encounters with all sorts of animals are unique and heartwarming, and that spreads to include his dealings with humans as well.
I’ve always loved animals and, clearly, James Herriot does too. And I’ve always loved things British, and this book is so very so.
A tie-in to the PBS Masterpiece series and Christmas special, available on streaming and home video.
All Creatures Great and Small is first volume in the multimillion copy bestselling series. Delve into the magical, unforgettable world of James Herriot, the world's most beloved veterinarian, and his menagerie of heartwarming, funny, and tragic animal patients.
For fifty years, generations of readers have flocked to Herriot's marvelous tales, deep love of life, and extraordinary storytelling abilities. For decades, Herriot roamed the remote, beautiful Yorkshire Dales, treating every patient that came his way from smallest to largest, and observing animals and humans alike…
Heads Up - Heels Down is beautifully written by C. W. Anderson and beautifully illustrated with pencil drawings by Paul Brown. I remember some of his lines and I read this book first when I was 13! Buy an old hunter, he says, and if there’s a fence between you and open country, “he will solve the problem nicely.”
This novel is told from the point of view of Traveller, Robert E. Lee’s horse. That may sound hokey, but it’s a powerful book that reveals the horrors of the Civil War. It brought me to tears at the end, when Traveller is mystified by goings-on that we, the readers, realize what Traveler cannot know—that Robert E. Lee has died.
This ironic, revisionist view of the Civil War is seen through the eyes of Robert E. Lee's horse, Traveller. Told in a series of monologues directed at a tomcat, his story depicts battles, retreats and casualties. But Traveller's idealization of his rider does not allow him to recognize or even understand defeat. Richard Adams has written "Watership Down", "Shardik", "The Plague Dogs", "The Girl in a Swing" and "Maia".
The Art of Racing in the Rain is told by Enzo, an old and much-loved dog. If you don’t weep reading this book, you don’t have a heart. Along with the man-and-dog story is the owner’s fight for the custody of his daughter. And you’ll love the ending, which I won’t spoil for you.
Soon to be a major motion picture, this heart-warming and inspirational tale follows Enzo, a loyal family dog, tells the story of his human family, how they nearly fell apart, and what he did to bring them back together.
Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: he thinks and feels in nearly human ways. He has educated himself by watching extensive television, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver. Through Denny, Enzo realizes that racing is a metaphor: that by applying the techniques a driver would apply on…
Gabrielle found her grandfather’s diaries after her mother’s death, only to discover that he had been a Nazi. Born in Berlin in 1942, she and her mother fled the city in 1945, but Api, the one surviving male member of her family, stayed behind to work as a doctor in a city 90% destroyed.
Gabrielle retraces Api’s steps in the Berlin of the 21st century, torn between her love for the man who gave her the happiest years of her childhood and trying to come to terms with his Nazi membership, German guilt, and political responsibility.
Api's Berlin Diaries: My Quest to Understand My Grandfather's Nazi Past
"This is not a book I will forget any time soon."
Story Circle Book Reviews
Moving and provocative, Api's Berlin Diaries offers a personal perspective on the fall of Berlin 1945 and the far-reaching aftershocks of the Third Reich.
After her mother's death, Robinson was thrilled to find her beloved grandfather's war diaries-only to discover that he had been a Nazi.
The award-winning memoir shows Api, a doctor in Berlin, desperately trying to help the wounded in cellars without water or light. He himself was reduced to anxiety and despair, the daily diary his main refuge. As Robinson retraces Api's…
