Why am I passionate about this?

The me of me is a “late in life rider” and freelance writer—with an edge. I learned to ride horses in my ‘40s when we left the wonders of California for sweet tea, okra, and equine “yard art” of Tennessee. Horses and writing mixed to create Horse Sluts. My political bent led me to craft an exposé on the brutal “training” of Big Lick TN Walking Horses. I still ride and explore the more humorous sides of aging and riding. A stickler for "writing worth reading,” I eschew self-conscious, wandering-lost writing. The books I recommended are well crafted.


I wrote

Book cover of Horse Sluts: The Saga of Two Women on the Trail of Their Yeehaw

What is my book about?

A swelling number of horse riders aren't nubile nymphs and don't start riding as toddlers. Horse Sluts: The Saga of…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Wild Horses of the Summer Sun: A Memoir of Iceland

Candace Wade Why did I love this book?

Tory Bilski hooked me with her first line. I searched riding trips sites by the end of the paragraph. Wild Horses of the Summer Sun is a crafted odyssey. The book gifts us with Icelandic horses, foreign travel exploration, and the human (and herd) dynamic of a group of women who crave to “be Iceland.”

Tory is a writer in all that the craft implies. Her storytelling speaks to the explorer in us. She guides us around each mystical curve and through a physical (and emotional) blinding fog. She swims us across a (gulp) deep lake. We encounter “Tippi Hedren-esk” killer birds and truculent bulls. We hunger for the “gifts of the earth” meals and well-earned, decadent desserts. Ancient Nordic Sagas of trolls, ghosts and a fatal love affair spice the travelogue.

By Tory Bilski,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Wild Horses of the Summer Sun as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Blame it or praise it, there is no denying the wild horse in us.' Virginia Woolf

What if you could steal time out just for yourself each year, a brief reprieve from ordinary life and its responsibilities? Wild Horses of the Summer Sun is author Tory Bilski's witty, sometimes poignant, account of her annual 'horse sabbaticals' to Iceland. She and her travelling companions exhilarate in their freedom, the spectacular scenery, the midnight sun energy and the Icelandic horses that connect deeply to the soul. Each year brings a new discovery about Iceland, about herself and about her relationships with the…


Book cover of Lady Long Rider: Alone Across America on Horseback

Candace Wade Why did I love this book?

Bernice tells us a story. Her clean, quiet narrative rides us with her. Bernice was soft spoken, unpretentious, and steadily courageous. A long-time, long distance, trail boss told me he was humbled after sitting on an Adventure Riding panel with Bernice.

Bernice lived and wrote the partnership she had with her horses. Her book is a last gift to those of us who dream of horse adventure.

By Bernice Ende,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Lady Long Rider as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In her incredible memoir, Lady Long Rider: Alone Across America on Horseback we are introduced to Bernice Ende, a solitary figure with the daunting goal of traveling from Trego, Montana to New Mexico in a single ride. At the age of 50, Bernice turned south into the unknown and began her first voyage on the way to becoming a world-class long rider. Since that fateful decision she hasn't looked back. Accompanied by her horses and an exceptional dog named Claire, Ende has logged more than 29,000 miles in the saddle, crisscrossing North America and beyond.


Book cover of Half Broke: A Memoir

Candace Wade Why did I love this book?

I tend to flee from memoirs and “horse story” books. Then I read Half Broke by Ginger Gaffney.

Ginger is a schooled writer, horse trainer, clinician, rider-trainer and, in my opinion, a master observer. She was asked to help the tooth-bearing, ear-pinning, predatory gang of horses tended by the Livestock Team of resident “multiple offenders and felons” at an alternative-prison ranch in New Mexico. As a memoir, Half Broke is a “peeling off” of emotional bandages—for her, for the raw souls of the inmates and for the horses.

Ginger’s style is straightforward, non-judgmental, and thought challenging. No gooey anthropomorphizing.

By Ginger Gaffney,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Half Broke as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

At the start of this remarkable story of recovery, healing, and redemption, Ginger Gaffney answers a call to help retrain the troubled horses at an alternative prison ranch in New Mexico, a facility run entirely by the prisoners. The horses are scavenging through the dumpsters, kicking and running down the residents when they bring the trash out after meals. One horse is severely injured.

The horses and residents arrive at the ranch broken in one way or many: the horses are defensive and terrified, while the residents, some battling drug and alcohol addictions, are emotionally and physically shattered. With deep…


Book cover of Horse People: Scenes from the Riding Life

Candace Wade Why did I love this book?

Horse People is an oldie but a goodie. It is a canter through Central Park... being thrown onto the hood of a taxi... his horse startled on Columbus and Ninth then trying to back through the door of the White Tower hamburger shop. It is riding lessons on Staten Island, and close-your-eyes-and-hope-for-the-best at the Break Your Neck Fox Hunt. Korda’s story is honest—an equestrian smile. My ego was salved when I read some activities on horseback scared Korda too. The quality writing takes us over each jump.

By Michael Korda,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Horse People as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Bestselling author Michael Korda's Horse People is the story -- sometimes hilariously funny, sometimes sad and moving, always shrewdly observed -- of a lifetime love affair with horses, and of the bonds that have linked humans with horses for more than ten thousand years. It is filled with intimate portraits of the kind of people, rich or poor, Eastern or Western, famous or humble, whose lives continue to revolve around the horse.

Korda is a terrific storyteller, and his book is intensely personal and seductive, a joy for everyone who loves horses. Even those who have never ridden will be…


Book cover of Hold Your Horses: Nuggets of Truth for People Who Love Horses...No Matter What

Candace Wade Why did I love this book?

Timmons’s little treasure book is “Nuggets of truth for people who love horses... no matter what” (Bonnie Timmons quote). Hold Your Horses is a laugh at ourselves and the horses we love. We are exposed on her pages. Our goofs, gaffs, and trials are not easily explained to those who don’t kiss horse faces. Timmons’ book is a smile, a cringe, and an “I am not alone.” No arduous tome, each page of this little book is a quick elbow in our equine-loving ribs.

By Bonnie Timmons,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Hold Your Horses as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A whimsical but honest look at the equestrian's life and world, and a gift idea for everyone girl or woman who loves horses.


Explore my book 😀

Book cover of Horse Sluts: The Saga of Two Women on the Trail of Their Yeehaw

What is my book about?

A swelling number of horse riders aren't nubile nymphs and don't start riding as toddlers. Horse Sluts: The Saga of Two Women on the Trail of Their Yeehaw winks at mid-life riders who relate to the feeling "when memories of who we were and what we used to do smash at our egos like bugs on a windshield." It's how to stand up to fears, how to challenge ourselves. Horse Sluts is for women who refuse to surrender to age, who embrace moving forward; it's for women open to the thrill of freedom, of movement, of power—okay, of controlling a large animal between her legs.

Book cover of Wild Horses of the Summer Sun: A Memoir of Iceland
Book cover of Lady Long Rider: Alone Across America on Horseback
Book cover of Half Broke: A Memoir

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Alan Pearce Author Of Coma and Near-Death Experience: The Beautiful, Disturbing, and Dangerous World of the Unconscious

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Why am I passionate about this?

As a journalist, I'm driven to find stories that have not been covered before and to make clear the incomprehensible. I like people, and I like asking questions. I've covered wars and disasters, and on any given day, I could expect to see people at their very worst and at their very best. With my book about comas, I've met some of the finest people of my career, doctors, nurses, and other clinicians who are fighting the system, and coma survivors who are simply fighting to get through each and every day. This is the story I am now driven to tell.

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Coma and Near-Death Experience: The Beautiful, Disturbing, and Dangerous World of the Unconscious

By Alan Pearce, Beverley Pearce,

What is this book about?

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Interested in horses, New Mexico, and Iceland?

Horses 125 books
New Mexico 61 books
Iceland 63 books