The Solace of Books
I should have been writing, or at least handicapping this Saturday’s Derby preps, but the unusual spring-like weather we had in the Boston area this afternoon lured me outside for a long walk that ended at one of my favorite used bookstores — Robin Bledsoe, Bookseller — where I contemplated buying a copy of the 1991 edition of the gorgeously illustrated “Secretariat” by Raymond Woolfe and admired a first edition of Joe Palmer’s “Names in Pedigrees.” Robin specializes in equine books and knows racing, and hanging out in her cozy Cambridge shop was a nice antidote to the mid-winter no-horses funk that’s been hanging over me lately. After nearly an hour of happy browsing and conversation, I left with a copy of Avalyn Hunter’s now out-of-print “American Classic Pedigrees” and a short list of books to look forward to in coming months, including a new biography of Man O’War by Dorothy Ours, a history of the great match race between Eclipse and Henry in 1823 by John Eisenberg, and a coast-to-coast guide to American racetracks (not written by McChump). There may be no live racing in Boston until May, but at least I won’t lack for reading material about my beloved sport until then.
