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jenbsbooks 's review for:
Seabiscuit: An American Legend
by Laura Hillenbrand
It's a bit of a switch from my usual fiction to something like Seabiscuit, which had a definite "documentary" type feel. I'm not a fan of horses or horse racing, but this was still interesting to me. I saw the movie at some point, but couldn't really remember many of the facts. I'm not sure if I'll remember all the facts this book presented, there were a LOT!
There were three Parts, and the first part (six chapters) were more of an introduction to the era, and to Charles Howard (who would become Seabiscuit's owner), but it was quite a while before the titular horse even made an appearance. Lots of interesting information, about the first cars/replacing the horse and buggy, the earthquake of 1906, the stock market crash/depression ... all part of Charles Howard's history.
I love that nonfiction tends to have chapter headings ... and that's something I can look back over and often get some memory nudges as to what was in which chapter. PART I 1. The Day of the Horse Is Past 2. The Lone Plainsman 3. Mean, Restive, and Ragged 4. The Cougar and the Iceman 5. A Boot on One Foot, a Toe Tag on the Other 6. Light and Shadow PART II 7. Learn Your Horse 8. Fifteen Strides 9. Gravity 10. War Admiral 11. No Pollard, No Seabiscuit 12. All I Need Is Luck 13. Hardball 14. The Wise We Boys 15. Fortune’s Fool 16. I Know My Horse 17. The Dingbustingest Contest You Ever Clapped an Eye On 18. Deal 19. The Second Civil War PART III 20. “All Four of His Legs Are Broken” 21. A Long, Hard Pull 22. Four Good Legs Between Us 23. One Hundred Grand
I had to look up "obstreperousness" as that was used to describe Seabiscuit more than once. Also, "cerise" colored flags (is that really needed, red doesn't work?)
When it's non-fiction, one can't fault the "characters" or the "story arc" ... but this kept my interest regardless.
One instance of proFanity (a quote).
I went with the audiobook, but I had the Kindle copy borrowed from the library as well, and I'd picked up a copy of the physical book too (for #LFL182597 ... I love putting in books I've actually read). There were quite a few things in the text copies that weren't in the audio. Pictures (obviously) but also a "conversation with the author" and discussion questions, acknowledgements and a full reference section. There's a slightly different feel reading and seeing the notations/reference info (numbers) and knowing something was a direct quote, or from a source. In the physical book, these notations would be at the end of the chapter. In Kindle, there were numbered links in the text. In audio ... you (at least I) felt that I figured some things were direct quotes with references, but didn't know for sure.
Now I want to watch the movie again ;)
I also really liked the summary on the book jacket of the physical hardcover, which did a great job of giving a quick recap of the contents (and what to expect).
There were three Parts, and the first part (six chapters) were more of an introduction to the era, and to Charles Howard (who would become Seabiscuit's owner), but it was quite a while before the titular horse even made an appearance. Lots of interesting information, about the first cars/replacing the horse and buggy, the earthquake of 1906, the stock market crash/depression ... all part of Charles Howard's history.
I love that nonfiction tends to have chapter headings ... and that's something I can look back over and often get some memory nudges as to what was in which chapter. PART I 1. The Day of the Horse Is Past 2. The Lone Plainsman 3. Mean, Restive, and Ragged 4. The Cougar and the Iceman 5. A Boot on One Foot, a Toe Tag on the Other 6. Light and Shadow PART II 7. Learn Your Horse 8. Fifteen Strides 9. Gravity 10. War Admiral 11. No Pollard, No Seabiscuit 12. All I Need Is Luck 13. Hardball 14. The Wise We Boys 15. Fortune’s Fool 16. I Know My Horse 17. The Dingbustingest Contest You Ever Clapped an Eye On 18. Deal 19. The Second Civil War PART III 20. “All Four of His Legs Are Broken” 21. A Long, Hard Pull 22. Four Good Legs Between Us 23. One Hundred Grand
I had to look up "obstreperousness" as that was used to describe Seabiscuit more than once. Also, "cerise" colored flags (is that really needed, red doesn't work?)
When it's non-fiction, one can't fault the "characters" or the "story arc" ... but this kept my interest regardless.
One instance of proFanity (a quote).
I went with the audiobook, but I had the Kindle copy borrowed from the library as well, and I'd picked up a copy of the physical book too (for #LFL182597 ... I love putting in books I've actually read). There were quite a few things in the text copies that weren't in the audio. Pictures (obviously) but also a "conversation with the author" and discussion questions, acknowledgements and a full reference section. There's a slightly different feel reading and seeing the notations/reference info (numbers) and knowing something was a direct quote, or from a source. In the physical book, these notations would be at the end of the chapter. In Kindle, there were numbered links in the text. In audio ... you (at least I) felt that I figured some things were direct quotes with references, but didn't know for sure.
Now I want to watch the movie again ;)
I also really liked the summary on the book jacket of the physical hardcover, which did a great job of giving a quick recap of the contents (and what to expect).