THE HORSE WHISPERER by Nicholas Evans

I'm not much of a movie watcher. I only own about a half dozen movies on DVD and The Horse Whisperer is one of them. I have been in a bit of a rut lately and couldn't find anything that I really wanted to read so I thought I would give the book a shot. After all, books are always better than the movies based on them, right?

In this case, no. I enjoyed the movie far better than the book (joining Wonder Boys and Fight Club in this select group). The premise of the story is still the same. Fairly well-to-do couple lives with their young daughter, Grace. The mother, Annie, is a renowned magazine editor in New York City. The father is a lawyer. Grace goes horse riding in the snow with her friend one day. The horses slip climbing an icy hill and they fall in the path of a tractor trailer. Grace's friend and her horse die and Grace loses her leg in the accident. Grace's horse, Pilgrim, is badly injured in both body and psyche. Grace blames herself for the incident and becomes depressed.

Neither Grace nor Pilgrim recover well and Annie seeks help in the form of a Montana farmer known for his abilities with horses. The farmer, Tom Booker, reluctantly agrees to help after Annie drags an unwilling Grace and Pilgrim across country to his farm. Grace and Pilgrim begin to heal and Annie and Tom fall for one another.

Whereas in the movie Annie and Tom resist complete impropriety, the two show no restraint in the book. Because of this, the endings are quite different and it made a difference in my enjoyment of the film over the book. In the film, Robert Redford as Tom Booker is his usual charming self and he plays the well-mannered, well-bred country boy well. In the book, Tom Booker comes off as a bit of a rogue who sleeps around with women as he travels the country.

The style of writing is very similar to that of another Nicholas, Nicholas Sparks. If you like Sparks' books, you'll probably like those of Evans. They have that same not-quite-full-blown romance novel feel. Otherwise, I can't recommend The Horse Whisperer in book form.

--Jon

BORN TO RUN by Christopher McDougall

When a friend recommended I read Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall, I dismissed her suggestion right away. After she read it, she wanted to register to compete in an ultra marathon (31 or 62 miles). No way did an endurance run interest me! I like to run a few miles here and there on flat, comfortable surfaces – not vast distances on mountain trails and through deserts.

  

The book, which I did finally read several months after avoiding it, surprised me. It was the story of a runner but so much more. Adventure, fascinating characters, sports shoe science, human anatomy, history, anthropology, and suspense were all wrapped up in this unusual book.

This easy-to-read memoir takes the reader on a journey to Copper Canyon in Mexico to see how a tribe of super athletes are able to run ridiculous distances in hot weather, for fun. These people don’t have $150 high-tech running shoes or moisture-wicking clothing. They don’t use heart monitors and don’t have iPods plugged into their ears. But yet they run and run and amazingly enjoy themselves while doing it.

Inspiration and knowledge are what I gained from reading Born to Run (though I still have no plans for a long-distance run). I laughed out loud at some parts of this book and gasped in horror at others – it was a great, hard-to-put down read!

Several copies of this book (and also an audio book version) can be found in our library system.

JJ