GnL Recommend ~ Animal Stories

I haven't done GnL Recommend in a VERY long time....So without further ado....I give you GnL Recommend....Animal Story Edition.  Take it away girlies! 

 This vivid inside look into the world of horseracing, complete with colorful horses, jockeys, trainers and gallop girls, wonderfully depicts the insights horses and other animals can offer when we reevaluate our relationship with them. Reardon shares an unlikely story. In 2004, she quit her Washington DC–area office job and moved to rural Texas to open the racehorse adoption ranch LOPE. (LoneStar Outreach to Place Ex-Racers.) Though now the director of this high-profile organization that has saved more than 600 thoroughbreds from the slaughterhouse, Reardon didn’t learn to ride until she was an adult. Horses like Tawakoni, the son of a Kentucky Derby winner, and Endofthestorm, the speedy bay who required an emergency tracheotomy, give Reardon — and readers — an apprenticeship in facing fear and finding a new life. 

Ten-year-old Willy needs to win the big dogsled race in order to pay the back taxes on his grandfather's farm--but that means beating the huge Indian mountain man, Stone Fox. "Gardiner's description of the race and sudden climax (based on legend) is fast-paced and enveloping."--School Library Journal. New York Times Outstanding Children's Book.  NOTE: Our human LOVES this movie! 

  

Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver. Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn't simply about going fast. Using the techniques needed on the race track, one can successfully navigate all of life's ordeals.

On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through. In the end, despite what he sees as his own limitations, Enzo comes through heroically to preserve the Swift family, holding in his heart the dream that Denny will become a racing champion with Zoë at his side.

A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life...as only a dog could tell it.

 

 

“One Good Dog is a wonderful novel: a moving, tender, and brilliantly crafted story about two fighters—one a man, one a dog— hoping to leave the fight behind, who ultimately find their salvation in each other. Susan Wilson’s clear and unflinching style is perfectly suited for her story that strips away the trappings and toys we all hide behind, and exposes our essential need to give and accept love in order to thrive.”—Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain

Adam March is a self-made “Master of the Universe.” He has it all: the beautiful wife, the high-powered job, the glittering circle of friends. But there is a price to be paid for all these trappings, and the pressure is mounting—until the day Adam makes a fatal mistake. His assistant leaves him a message with three words: your sister called. What no one knows is that Adam’s sister has been missing for decades. That she represents the excruciatingly painful past he has left behind. And that her absence has secretly tormented him all these years. When his assistant brushes off his request for an explanation in favor of her more pressing personal call, Adam loses it. And all hell breaks loose.

Adam is escorted from the building. He loses his job. He loses his wife. He loses the life he’s worked so hard to achieve. He doesn’t believe it is possible to sink any lower when he is assigned to work in a soup kitchen as a form of community service. But unbeknownst to Adam, this is where his life will intersect with Chance.

Chance is a mixed breed Pit Bull. He’s been born and raised to fight and seldom leaves the dirty basement where he is kept between fights. But Chance is not a victim or a monster. It is Chance’s unique spirit that helps him escape and puts him in the path of Adam.

What transpires is the story of one man, one dog, and how they save each other—in ways they never could have expected.

NOTE: Our human bought this in e-book format because of the beginning of the story.  You think the author is talking about one character but you don't realize until the last sentence of the first section that she's talking about the other.