5 comments about Horse of a Different Color.

1. Just finished reading Jim Squires' outstanding book "Horse of a Different Color" which details his experience breeding,raising and racing Kentucky thorobreds, plus other bits & pieces of interesting lore. Haven't enjoyed a book this much in years. If you want to learn about the thoroughbred horse business, in general, and Kentucky horses in particular, and how Jim and his wife Mary Anne went about it, you won't find a more intertaining book anywhere.



2. Jim Squires provides a very unique approach to writing about an industry few have had the luxury of being on the inside of. "Horse of a Different Color" is intelligently presented and cleverly written. What a refreshing way to present information on a "culture" which exists in and of itself that few will ever have an opportunity to learn of otherwise. If you are at all interested in the horse racing industry, this book is a must read.



3. "Horse of a Different Color" shines when it shines the spotlight on Monarchos, winner of the 2000 Kentucky Derby. It sinks when the author looks at himself.

   Somewhere along the line, an Editor should have warned the author against using a second person narrative style. It just gets annoying after a while. And his dubbing of his wife as "The Dominant Female" is kind of cute at first, but after 300 pages it really grates on the nerves.

   Cutesy writing has no place in a book for adults.




4. Jim Squires, Horse of a Different Color (Perseus, 2002)

   Horse of a Different Color is an autobiographical account of Jim Squires getting into the horse breeding business and, three years after he started, breeding 2001 Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos. Whether that was a stroke of luck or breeding genius remains to be seen, but following Monarchos through the eyes of his breeder is engaging enough to make a decent book.

   Where it falls short is in Squires' writing style. First, note the word "autobiographical" in that first paragraph. Squires insisting on using the third person would have been an amusing trick for a chapter or two, but he persists throughout the novel. It gets old after a few pages. Also, there's something vaguely disquieting about his attitude towards women here; it almost seems too deferential to be real (and thus, a cover for something else). This could certainly be a literary device; the book's subtitle does mention that there are an excess of dominant females within these pages. Still, some of the descriptions in here made me read twice.

   When he focuses on the horse, though, everything works just fine. Even the annoyance of the insistent third person narrative fades into the background. Monarchos was one hell of a horse, and Squires' book captures that well enough. Not as well as Hillenbrand captured Seabiscuit or Farley captured Man o' War, but enough for the Derby-and-Breeders' Cup horse fan to relive some good memories.

   Recommended, though it won't make the top twenty-five list this year. ***




5. I really enjoyed Seabiscuit, so I figured I'd give Horse of a Different
   Color a try. This book focuses on the money and the dumb-luck of the
   breeder (and author) of Monarchos, Derby winner from a few years back.
   The author uses self-depricating humor and name-dropping en masse to
   turn an undoubtedly exciting story into a painful, annoying tale. In a
   few paragraphs of unwisdom, author Jim Squires mentioned
   Seabiscuit, only compounding my fury at what this book is not.
   Instead of interesting characters (although I imagine they were there,
   Mr. Squires just didn't let us know them), we got names and
   generalities. Instead of heart-pounding tales of horse races, we got
   ho-hum descriptions of only two races.

   I will admit that there were a few worthwhile pages. I was unaware of
   the foreign interest in horse racing nor the internal politics of racing and
   breeding, but I would have rather read that in a short magazine article.

   Maybe this book is selling to all the hopeful newspaper editors turned
   lucky breeder. If that's not you, I'd stay away.

No comments about Clay: Memoirs of a Gardening Man.

No comments about The World's 100 Greatest People (The Inteliquest Historical Biography Series, Volume One).

5 comments about Hitler, Part 1 (15 audio cassettes).

1. I bought this book because Joachim Fest is a respected historian and the knowledge gaps I have for this part of history as I don't belong to that generation. I fail to understand what people saw and still see in Hitler to be spellbound by his "magnetism". HE IS SIMPLY SOMEONE ANYONE SHOULD RUN A MILE FROM!!! The fact that so many people were and are drawn to him is an indictment of and reflection on the society, then and now.



2. Joachim Fest's book "Hitler" is a rare pleasure to read. His words create an atmosphere and a world that we can understand. Fest manages to step into the shoes of Hitler -- we sit and day-dream with that man and build castles in the air. More than that, he manages to bare Hitler's mind and soul to the reader. We learn how and why Hitler acted as he did. His actions that are so vile that we absolutely condemn them, suddenly become clearer. We begin to understand and are warned of the power that one single man can usurp, even though he is penniles, without education and friends. Fest does in no way justify Hitler or his tyranny. On the contrary, he does open our eyes so that we see how actions of such brutality are possible. He makes us understand that they can happen again, but also how they can be avoided. It is an in-depth study of a strongman--strongmen by the way come in all sizes; we encounter them in our daily lives. Since Hitler's demise, half a dozen countries have suffered strongmen as heads of state, and it is vital that we understand and recognize a tyrant before it is too late. None better to learn from than Fest's Hitler, one of the shrewdest and most ruthless strongman of them all.
   Roswitha McIntosh, author of "The Madman & His Mistress"



3. Not a replacement for the Ian Kershaw two-volume biography of Hitler but an excellent book nonetheless. The author sets Hitler's life into context and inserts essays on the meaning of various events. Highly recommended.



4. I'm certainly not an expert on WW2, and I know that there are other books out there (such as Ian Kershaw's) on Hitler that are very good. But several avid readers and history buffs told me that Fest's book was the best, so I read his first. It's true that he does not devote a lot of content to the Holocaust, but he is very graphic and adamant about what happened with that. He is harldy an apologist for Hitler, as one reviewer seems to say. In any case, the fact that he is German and lived through WW2, plus a terrific writer cinched it for me. It's a little dense at times, but if you stay the course, it's well worth it.



5. Most books written about Hitler concentrate on the Holocaust or World War Two and rightfully so. These are the two most prominent events for which Hitler is known. Fest takes a different perspective on Hitler by writing on his life before he unleashed terror on the world.
   
   Fest is NOT a Hitler apologist though. He clearly states that in his prologue. His thesis does highlight the patriotic Hitler who was successful in bringing back the pride to Germany. Unfortunately he had to throw it away with the war.
   
   It may be counter-factual history, but Fest makes the reader think: What if Hitler had stopped in 1938?

1 comments about David Beckham.

1. I seldom read sports biographies, but nonetheless found this book hard to put down once I started on it. Beckam provides a refreshingly honest and eye-opening account of life in the dressing room and beyond. The book takes the reader on a comprehensive narrative from his childhood years to his rise to international stardom that has few dull moments. Particularly commendable, in my opinion, is the book's effort to provide a fair assessment of all the major characters in Beckham's life, especially his manager and mentor for many years, Sir Alex Ferguson.
   
   Beckam's life beyond the football pitch also lends an extra dimension to his account that is usually absent in the traditional footballer's autobiography. His sometimes tragic, sometimes uplifting accounts of his convoluted relationship with the media, the wider British public and of course, his well-publicised courtship with Victoria are tremendously absorbing. In this sense, the book offers the reader much more than just a catalogue of golden goals and match performances.
   
   I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I believe it will captivate football fans and non-football fans alike. Highly recommended!

No comments about Fun While It Lasted: My Rise and Fall in the Land of Fame and Fortune.

5 comments about Narrow Dog to Carcassonne.

1. I read a lot of travel books and especially a lot of books about travel or living in France. This is, hands-down, one of the top 3 I've ever read, and I can't remember what the other two are! This is funny! It's honest. It's sometimes exciting. The writing is much better than that of most travel tales, by far!
   
   Mr. Darlington is a poet, and he's obviously had that wonderful sort of British education that sends one off into life with a head full of poetry as well as facts. This book is sometimes a poem, without a spare word. He makes his adventures come alive. He makes us want to be friends with him and his wife, Monica, and even with Jim the "narrow dog."
   
   I am really looking forward to the publication next year of his book about traveling the the southern U.S. Mr. Darlington, I hope you keep writing for a long time!



2. I must admit that I have been to the UK and have been on a narrow boat. This book is hilarious, warm, endearing and I cannot wait to get the new book. Anyone who has ever traveled, either with a dog or children to someplace completely unfamiliar will appreciate the author's experiences. If you have been on one of the uniquely British narrowboats you are even more enraptured with the book. If you have been on a motorhome for a long trip, especially with children, you will appreciate Jim (the narrow dog). I must admit that Americans will have trouble with some of the English usage but it is well worth it. Wonderful book, wonderful story, wonderful people.
   WH



3. We've driven a barge to Carcassonne and the auther captures the experience. However, it was his sense if humor that kept us helpless.



4. If you like travel and/or boats and/or dogs and/or a writer with humor and quotes from classics to films, this book will be right up your...canal. Funny and disarming, showing the downside moments as well as the champagne highs of taking a narrowboat across the Channel and, even more scaringly, down through France, not a dull page in the lot.
   
   I can't wait to see what happens when Terry and Monica and Jim the Narrow Dog come to my home country in the US.
   
   I read it in two sittings.
   BarbV



5. I didn't care for the book much. There were bits and pieces that were humourous, but overall, I didn't find it all that funny. That was disappointing, because I think the author can be quite humorous.
   I think, as others have mentioned, Darlington was trying too hard to show how erudite he was by including as many references to songs, books, quotes, poetry, etc. as he could. I'm well read and well traveled, but I didn't know what he was talking about half of the time.
   And even though this was about a boat trip, if I had to read one more ad nuasuem description of the locks they passed through, I would have screamed. Enough already!
   One more thing-it drove me CRAZY that there were absolutely no quotation marks in the book-made it very hard to read.

No comments about Down to Earth.

No comments about Autobiographical Reflections.

No comments about Harold B Lee: Remembering the Miracles.