The author of 41 novels, Dick Francis is a name that has only really become familiar to me over the past couple of years.  I found a hard back cover of Shattered for sale at a cheap price and the interesting story that revolved around a glass blower had me curious until the end.

I now have 24 of his 41 novels and will eventually have them all in my library.

Come to Grief focuses on the jumps jockey turned investigator, Sid Halley who it seems has bitten off more than he can chew when accusing a close friend of some horrific horse related crimes.  Of the half dozen or so books I’ve read by Dick Francis, the hero of the story is of course someone you’re hoping will catch the villain in the end.

Despite being the ‘good guy’, it isn’t all easy and Francis does a good job of making his main characters real, likable and flawed.

Giving you the ‘whodunit’ at the start of this novel, it was a great read to discover alongside Sid Halley, how to prove the guilt of the accused and how things pieced together.

Although focused around racing in the UK, the book lists famous race courses such as Flemington, Churchill Downs, Longchamps, opening the reader’s eyes to famous tracks around the world.  Although not particularly a horse novel, these gorgeous animals are the victim of the crime the book entails.

Although not particularly horsey, the book does focus on the lifestyles of racegoers and owners and is a very entertaining read.

Author: Dick Francis
http://www.dickfrancis.com/
Fiction – Crime.
In My Library? Definitely.  Not full on horse related; a great read and one I’d be happy to let any age child or adolescent read through without fear of them reading something inappropriate.

Interested in non fiction books that may be worth adding to your equine library?  Take a look at Lori’s Library of Horse Book Reviews.

“In the trojan horse story man entered and touched the inside of a horse, but to see a horse in high spirits is to have the horse enter and touch the inside of a man.”

tag: horse story, equine book review, dick francis, equine author, horse library, horse writing

As someone who’s collecting as many horse books as possible with the view to have them available in a library on my property for all to read, it seemed it was about time I started to review the books I own… and other horse related books that I’ve read.

The plan for my library is to have a room full of books (hopefully in excess of 800) that line the walls and on a day that the weather doesn’t allow horse riding, all the agistees and clients of the riding school will be able to spend the day in my library just reading about horses.

Recently I was checking out a friend’s packed bookshelves while at her house and stumbled across In Search of a Wild Brumby.  Even though I had four on the go at the time, she insisted I borrow it and there was no rush with regards to getting it read and back to her.

Once I started to read it, I realised returning it wouldn’t have been an issue due to the book being hard to put down.

As someone who grew up on the likes of the Silver Brumby series by Elyne Mitchell, it’s fascinating now at 23 years of age to read about these places in the high country but from a non fiction point of view rather than the fictitious series I adore.

Keenan after being asked his opinion on the mass shooting of brumbies in the Australian High Country in a culling effort, struck out to meet those who inhabited the areas of northern Victoria and just over the New South Wales border that brumbies were found.

Through meeting such people his plan was to find the small number of remaining brumbies scattered over the country and observe them in their natural environment to determine if they were detrimental to the high country land.

A great look at the start of horses in Australia and our horse riding history, the book has been a great read and caused me to want to go check out some areas in Northern Victoria that I hadn’t before known existed.  I think the Blue Duck Inn will have to be on the list with some planned horse riding.

In Search of a Wild Brumby is well worth the read.

Author: Michael Keenan
http://www.michaelkeenan.com.au/
Non Fiction
In My Library? Absolutely!   A very interesting read with some great Australian history.

“Ride a wild horse against the sky, hold tight to his wings before you die, whatever else you leave undone, once ride a wild horse into the sun.”

tag: horse story, equine book review, michael keenan, equine author, horse library, horse writing