*NOTE: When I write reviews of books I've read, I will try not to have any spoilers; however, my main reason for blogging is for myself as a way of keeping a journal of things that impress me... so read at your own risk! :)
A Girl and Five Brave Horses
by Sonora Webster Carver and Elizabeth Land
I have this new thing that I do on Saturdays where I am easily distracted from homew
ork and will end up spending hours on the internet researching something that interests me (I'm sure there will be more posts to come of random things that I have researched through this weird hobby!). A couple of months ago, I had a dream about the movie "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken." It was one of my favorite movies as a kid but I haven't seen it in years so I don't know what prompted the dream. For those of you that aren't familiar with this movie, it's based on the true life story of Sonora Webster Carver and the high diving horses, a popular act at fairs and the Steel Pier of Atlantic City in the early 1900's.
Anyways, after this dream I was curious to find out more about her life so I Googled her and found out that she wrote an autobiography in 1961 about her experiences with the high diving horses. S
adly, the book is out of print and the going price on Amazon to purchase a copy was anywhere from $500 to $800. I was really bummed. But then, I found out about this cool thing called interlibrary loan in my research class; it's where you can put in a request for a book you want to read to your local library and they will borrow it from a library that has it! Genius! So I put in a request at ISU's library and two weeks later I received a very fragile copy of the book for a whopping $1. (Although you have to be careful with interlibrary loan books - the fine for failing to return a book is $100 - which I guess wouldn't be that bad considering I could turn around and sell it for a neat little profit!)
Anyways, I really enjoyed her book. I thought she could have gone into more detai
l about her own feelings about her experiences, but it was still good. It's short enough that I was able to read it in just a few days. The movie was definitely much more romanticized than what actually took place. She writes about the distinct personalities that each of the horses had; one in particular was disgusted with having to dive before small crowds - the bigger the crowd, the more he stamped his feet and put on a show! I was impressed with how much courage she had, and also how positive she was even after becoming blind. She writes about having a spiritual experience after she realized she wasn't going to get her sight back and feeling the presence of God and knowing that everything would be ok. It was very uplifting to read about her life and personality and I would recommend it for those of you who love to read and are looking for an interesting autobiography.
ork and will end up spending hours on the internet researching something that interests me (I'm sure there will be more posts to come of random things that I have researched through this weird hobby!). A couple of months ago, I had a dream about the movie "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken." It was one of my favorite movies as a kid but I haven't seen it in years so I don't know what prompted the dream. For those of you that aren't familiar with this movie, it's based on the true life story of Sonora Webster Carver and the high diving horses, a popular act at fairs and the Steel Pier of Atlantic City in the early 1900's.Anyways, after this dream I was curious to find out more about her life so I Googled her and found out that she wrote an autobiography in 1961 about her experiences with the high diving horses. S
adly, the book is out of print and the going price on Amazon to purchase a copy was anywhere from $500 to $800. I was really bummed. But then, I found out about this cool thing called interlibrary loan in my research class; it's where you can put in a request for a book you want to read to your local library and they will borrow it from a library that has it! Genius! So I put in a request at ISU's library and two weeks later I received a very fragile copy of the book for a whopping $1. (Although you have to be careful with interlibrary loan books - the fine for failing to return a book is $100 - which I guess wouldn't be that bad considering I could turn around and sell it for a neat little profit!)Anyways, I really enjoyed her book. I thought she could have gone into more detai
l about her own feelings about her experiences, but it was still good. It's short enough that I was able to read it in just a few days. The movie was definitely much more romanticized than what actually took place. She writes about the distinct personalities that each of the horses had; one in particular was disgusted with having to dive before small crowds - the bigger the crowd, the more he stamped his feet and put on a show! I was impressed with how much courage she had, and also how positive she was even after becoming blind. She writes about having a spiritual experience after she realized she wasn't going to get her sight back and feeling the presence of God and knowing that everything would be ok. It was very uplifting to read about her life and personality and I would recommend it for those of you who love to read and are looking for an interesting autobiography.
1 comment:
I love that movie. I want to read that book now.
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