Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

When you’re the first person in 150 years to be charged with horse theft, but you did it, so then what?

Grand Theft Horse by G. Neri

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Grand Theft Horse started out slow, but once we get into the legal aspects and the world of horse racing things pick up. Told in first person narrative, G. Neri tells the story of his cousin Gail, who on Christmas Eve decided to steal a horse. Of course, it is not as simple as that. Part owner of a racing horse, she (as his trainer) realizes he is unable to run the next race due to an injury. But the majority-owners do not see an […]

Racing Time

Lexington: The Extraordinary Life and Turbulent Times of America's Legendary Racehorse by Kim Wickens

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A horse called Darley was born on a farm in Kentucky a decade before the Civil War; under the name Lexington, he broke the world record for speed and left an imprint on the world of American horse racing that persists to this very day. I was never a horse girl, but in elementary school I had a phase in which I read a great deal of Marguerite Henry and Walter Farley. As such, I’ve probably seen about four horses close up throughout my life, […]

The Last Race

Flamethrower by Maggie Estep

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Can’t believe it’s been four years between me reading books 2 and 3 of this series. I greatly enjoyed the first two but I kept forgetting about finishing the series. When I did remember, I’d have to get it on an interlibrary loan and it would take the loan too long to get in and eventually I’d lose interest. But then I saw it at a used bookstore and huzzah! Let’s finish this one. And it’s sad because this is the book I always wanted […]

“…a racehorse is a mirror, and a man sees his own reflection there. He wants to think he’s from the best breeding. He wants to think himself brave. Can he win against all comers? And if not, does he have self-mastery to take a loss, stay cool in defeat, and try again undaunted? Those are the qualities of a great racehorse and a great gentleman.”

Horse by Geraldine Brooks

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I didn’t realize I could or would enjoy a book about horse racing, but here we are! I’m a bit bummed I missed my library book club meeting about this book because it would be fascinating for a discussion. In 2019, a master’s student of art finds a painting of a horse in his neighbor’s trash pile by the side of the road. He is intrigued and takes it to see what he can learn about it. Maybe it can be part of his thesis? […]

Reading about computers in the ’80s is such a hoot!

Twice Shy by Dick Francis

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CBR14 BINGO: Dough, because it centers on horse racing and gambling BINGO: Series, Funky, Star, Verse, Dough My husband has a collection of Dick Francis novels, most of which he inherited from his grandfather, so they have sentimental value. When I was pondering what to read for the “Dough” category, he suggested giving one of them a try since they focus on horse racing and gambling. Dick Francis was a British steeplechase jockey who, post-career, wrote a weekly racing column and then branched out into […]

“Obviously She Was a Person to Whom Things Happened”

National Velvet by Enid Bagnold

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I remember reading National Velvet multiple times when I was younger. I was one of those horse crazy girls – show me a book about a horse and I’d read it. I recently decided to give it a re-read, and I think it holds up pretty well. The main character is Velvet Brown, youngest (age 14) daughter of a butcher father and a mother who had famously swum the Channel years before. Velvet has a quirky imagination that is tolerated and even supported by the […]



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