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Summary: To become 'Dog'!
Review: I LOVED it ! As a dog owner, animal lover, Gary paints a perfect picture of the trials of not only preparing for the Iditarod, but teaches us what is necessary to become 'one' with your Pack. It kept me laughing plus feeling the partnership that develops between man and all animals in shared lives. I can personally relate to the 'Skunker' episode, although ONE would be plenty per lifetime. I actually FELT the coldness of the Yukon, as well as the insight he developed while listening to his pack. This book will make you laugh so hard you hurt, and it will ultimately make you cry. Beautiful lessons from fuzzy friends.
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Summary: An Excellent Book
Review: This is my favorite book. It is totally amusing, told with a wonderful sense of the absurd. Mr. Paulsen knows how to build the suspense as well as how to explain the total foolishness of some of the situations in which he finds himself. This book is good for more than one reading. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: Total enjoyment
Review: Gary Paulsen's book is my favorite of recent years. It combines suspense and humor in a wonderful tale of a man diving into the unknown. It is excellently written and holds the readers attention at all times. I have read it and reread it and still find it totally enjoyable. I strongly recommend it to everyone.
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Summary: Iditarod Means a Distant Place
Review: This story by Gary Paulsen never lets up but gets better with every page. We are taken into the faraway world of the Iditarod sled race that is as much an adventure on another planet, where dogs are meant for your survival. Paulsen's lyric is spare, just as you picture the barren landscape that at times is described as stunningly beautiful. You learn a lot, about the frigid Alaskan wilderness and especially about the race itself, while the author goes through his own initiation as a rookie musher. I didn't find Paulsen to be as humorous as most do. Rather, his dry delivery for continous laughs kind of bugged me. I would have liked more background in the beginning instead of reported experience. Still, Paulsen does a masterful job here. Dog lovers will especially find the tale insightful and right on.
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Summary: Bought 8 copies....sent them to all my friends!
Review: This book was the most delightful story I've read in years.....I read it on the bus to work every morning and laughed all the way to work. This has got to be one of two of my all time favorites. My best friend,after reading it, said she immediately went outside to hitch her cat to a wagon! A quick, delightful read.
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Summary: So good, you can't own just one!
Review: This book is so great, you will need two copies - one to loan out and one to keep so you can reread it.Be ready to have tears streaming down your face from laughter. Be ready to get an understanding of the sled dog's true nature and abilities that you could never have gained elsewhere unless you are a musher yourself. This book is not for dog lovers alone, or dog sledders. It is for those who just enjoy a great story. It is for those whose who think running these dogs shouldn't happen. It is for anyone who wants to laugh while getting insight into a very unique way of life. I purchased this book over a year ago. I haven't seen it since except to pass it from one person to another to borrow and read. My husband never appreciated the true intelligence of our sled dogs until he read this book himself. And now he's known as Musher Bill - someone who truly understands what our dogs do an why. To Gary and his wife - thanks so much for one of the best books I have ever read. I can't wait for the movie!
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Summary: Winterdance
Review: I'm halfway through my 3rd or 4th reading of this wonderful book, and it's still fresh for me. I recommend it to anyone who has even a passing interest in dogs or mushing. This book was the seed of my interest in the Iditarod; I'm grateful to Gary Paulsen for writing it and inspiring that interest. Paulsen is an accomplished story-teller with an excellent sense of pacing, charming humility and an elegant writing style. His book is both wildly funny and fundamentally inspirational. Winterdance is a classic.
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Summary: Wonderful
Review: I loved this books. It was hilarious, but also very moving. Paulsen loves his dogs and it shows through in his writings. I felt like I was on the trail with him. Great reading!
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Summary: Curl up with this book on a hot summer day!
Review: I loved this book. The writing was so excellent I felt I was there, and reading it in hot summer weather I felt cooler already. It was perceptive, honest, and a great description of a fascinating race that you must be half-mad to even want to start.
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Summary: A wonderful, charming, funny story!
Review: This book was one of the funniest true stories I've ever read. You don't know whether Gary is brave, determined, inspiring, or just plain NUTS! Nothing I have read or seen so well portrays what running the Iditarod is really like. Gary shows so much of what is truly American...the desire to beat the odds, test yourself against nature, but really having no clue about what you are doing. His writing is a joy. Parts of it will have you breathless in awe. A top recommendation.
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