Dick Francis Reading Group discussion

I found Dick Francis when I read the Reader's Digest condensed version of Break In. I jotted down his name and immediately started looking for other Dick Francis books at the library and book store. It was just a coincidence that Bolt was the second book I read. By then I was completely hooked and read my way through every Dick Francis I could find.

I can't really remember my first Dick Francis, but I do know that I started collecting them soon after I read the first one. I just loved his writing style and stories. I have converted two of my teacher friends to reading all his novels, too.

My first DF was a Penguin paperback edition of "Dead Cert". I was hooked at once and every September saw a new novel bought... long may it continue!

Chris

I've been reading his books since I was a child. My father collected all his books. I was even fortunate to meet him at a book signing at our local library!

Hi - I just joined this group due to the poll about how long people have been reading DF. I discovered DF when I was 12 and found a paperback of For Kicks on a book rack in a gift shop on Cape Cod. For a horse-crazy, mystery-loving avid reader, it was the best thing I'd ever seen! During my 15 years as a book seller I turned a lot of people on to his books. I also have a good friend whose entire family are fans; they used to give the latest novel as a "hostess gift" to whichever family member was hosting Christmas and then everyone would read it. They also had a game they'd put together; it was a mechanical horse race game and all the entries were Dick Francis horses and jockeys! I'm looking forward to discussing these books with other fans; I've read many of them at least twice.

Hi, Patricia! Welcome to the group! Feel free to participate in our Guess Mysteries by Plot game as well. :)

Hey there. The first Dick Francis I read was Straight. I was recommended DF by one of my high school English teachers and it turned out that my house already had a copy of Straight in the basement. This one remains a fav and I think I have read it more than any other, except maybe The Edge which is another fav.

Hi, Laura! Welcome to the group!

Any others with interesting "How I discovered Dick Francis" stories?

Hey there everyone. :) I've enjoyed Dick Francis stories for the last 26 years, when a doctor I worked for introduced me to the series. I read the whole slew of the published ones up to that time, and have eagerly awaited each and every new one. I wish I could remember which was the first I read, but unfortunately I can't. I have them all. I've managed to collect many in hardback, but the first, older ones I still have in the old paperback format. Doesn't matter, they're great no matter what the package.

Pontalba wrote: "Doesn't matter, they're great no matter what the package. "

I heartily agree! Welcome to the group, Pontalba!

I've started reading Dick Francis as a little girl in Czech Republic. My mother had his books in her library and I've just stumbled upon them. I've been a fan ever since and now I read them in the original language, English, instead of the Czech translation.

Welcome to the group, Bubettka! Very interesting. How do the Czech translations compare to the English versions?

Luann wrote: "Welcome to the group, Bubettka! Very interesting. How do the Czech translations compare to the English versions?"
That's a good question! I've been living in the US for the past decade so I don't have the Czech translations on hand, but it'd be definitely fun to compare! All I remember is that I was completely absorbed in them so they must have been pretty good otherwise I'd put them down. We used to have very skilled translators who had PhD in literature and/or foreign languages and were themselves celebrated authors, so the level of translation used to be quite superb. However, I've come across some pretty poor translations once in a while in the new millenium because texts are available on the internet and pretty much anyone can take a stab at translating them. Luckily, that hasn't happen with any Dick Francis book though.

My mom, who is in her sixties, always collected Dick Francis books. I never really picked them up until after University, even though I spent my teenage years as an exercise rider at the track. Got hooked pretty quick, maybe 'cause I still pine for the backstretch! I do remember "The Racing Game" the t.v. show based on the books about Sid Halley, used to be on PBS and I thought it was the coolest show ever.

Welcome to the group, Krista! The Racing Game is available on DVD if you want to watch it again sometime. Although many reviews say the sound quality isn't very good. I bought them on video - back before DVD was even a thing. It's been so long since I've watched them, though, that I don't remember any of the details.

Luann wrote: "I found Dick Francis when I read the Reader's Digest condensed version of Break In. I jotted down his name and immediately started looking for other Dick Francis books at..."hi my first was whip hand which i only read cos i was mad about horses in secondry school and had a detention in the library, from then my mum bought me his latest release every year for my birthday and now i still buy them mostly from charity shops in hardback and have quite a collection.

I ran across a copy of Odds Against on a small shelf of abandoned paperbacks years ago and picked it up because I'd heard the author's name from a friend. Didn't put it down until the last page. Within a year I'd read through his entire list up to that time, partially through a lucky windfall of hardbacks at a library deaccessioning sale. For me it was especially appropriate that his return in 2006 was with another Sid Halley book.

Welcome to the group, Agapi!

I found DF because while raising my children, the only time I found to read was while chauffeuring them to sporting events. I was astonished how much "reading" I could do while going back and forth to town. I soon went through most of my favorite authors and started on unknowns. The library had quite a collection of Dick's books and I have gone through them all. I've loved the information on horse racing that he deftly gives. I also rarely can figure out the end.

Welcome to the group, W.S.! I can't figure out why you put "reading" in quotes, though. Is it because you were listening to an audiobook?

Yes. I enjoy listening but I don't get the same things. Sometimes, depending on the reader and not so much with Dick Francis books but others, I miss something subtle that I wouldn't have missed if I had seen the words themselves. But I have been exposed to a new and different authors with audio books and there are lots of days that those are the only books and I get my hands on (or ears.)

I agree, W.S., that listening is a different experience than reading. I enjoy them both - and consider them both "reading." :)

I also found Dick Francis in a Reader's Digest and instantly fell in love. I always instantly get sucjed into the story.

Very cool, Jennifer! Do you remember which book it was? I think there were quite a few that made it to the Reader's Digest Condensed books. I never read any after that first one, though. I was hooked and wanted AS MUCH content as possible.

I can't imagine reading a condensed version. His books are so tight with everything leading to the end.

Many decades ago, I picked up a paperback book with a horse on the cover and the title FOR KICKS. I really liked it and knew I wanted to read more by this author. And I did!
Sasscer Hill
http://fullmortality.blogspot.com/

For the life of me, I cannot remember how or who, but thinking back, I've been enjoying them since at least the late 1980's. My mother, my sister and I are all crazy for Dick Francis. The past few years I've gone almost completely to listening to my fiction as audio books, and Tony Britton's readings are my absolute favorite. I've decided, though, that even though some of the other readers aren't as good, I'd rather listen to a Dick Francis book read by a mediocre reader than not listen at all! And, I keep listening to them over and over. If a librarian ever looked at my borrowing history, they would probably conclude that I'm stuck in a rut. Oh well, it's a good rut to be in!

Cathy wrote: "For the life of me, I cannot remember how or who, but thinking back, I've been enjoying them since at least the late 1980's. My mother, my sister and I are all crazy for Dick Francis. The past few ..."

I agree! I love listening to them in the car! I'm in the same rut and not willing to get out!

Cathy wrote: "Oh well, it's a good rut to be in!"

LOL. Definitely!!

I was given a copy of "Odds Against" by a family friend that knew I was a horse crazy teen. I read any books that included horses when I was a young girl. I also loved mysteries, so it only took one to get me hooked on DF. I have picked up any I could find over the years on sale or in libraries, but have not read them all yet. They will always remain a favorite.

Cherylt wrote: "...but have not read them all yet."

The anticipation of reading an unread Dick Francis mystery! There's nothing else quite like it. Welcome to the group, Cherylt!

My father got me hooked on DF and I have been a loyal fan even since. (My mother got me hooked on romances--Georgette Heyer, Harlequin, etc.).

Welcome to the group, Peregrina651!

I read a few DF's when I was a youngster, then years later a friend let me borrow Second Wind(I think). Last year a friend was telling me about Higgins and while searching for a Higgins book I saw Second Wind. Reading it I kept thinking I've read this before but to make a long story short the fella had 11 DF books, and when I finished all his I went and read all the local library had. Now I'm buying the DF books I haven't read over the Net.

Luann wrote: "Welcome to the group, Peregrina651!"

Thanks, Luann. It's nice to be among fellow DF readers.

Don't remember the first book I picked up...but as a middle schooler I picked up one of his at the library and was hooked.

Welcome, David!

Sorry I haven't been around much. Life has been crazy!

It was the very late 80's and I had been working in the public library for about two years. We had this regular customer who, everytime she came in, would ask "have you got the latest Dick Francis in yet?". One day I thought I'd see what was so special about him. I now own every novel he'd written!

I've been reading mysteries at least since I was in my teens. I had avoided Dick Francis because I was not interested in horses or horse racing.

On day, in the summer of 1991, I was touring used bookstores with a friend and saw a copy of Rat Race on a 25-cent bookcase. For that price, I thought, I might as well try it.

I did, and I enjoyed it immensely.

I started buying every DF I could find, and bought each new one as it came out.

Public library in junior high, shortly after college I had caught up through all his novels and avidly looked forward to new ones coming out up to his death a few years back. Now revisiting the classics on my shelves, and it's like reading them for the first time again. Marvelous.

When I was in high school and taking riding lessons, my instructor mentioned Dick Francis: "He's got horses in his books." That was enough for me to start. She loaned me Nerve, and I was hooked. And I was thrilled to discover how prolific he was, which gave me a steady stream of Francis' books to read.

Years later I interviewed Mr. Francis for the Seattle Times while he was on a book tour.

I started reading The great early work about 20 years ago but I don't read any of the later work, just not nearly as we'll written or interesting.

Hope wrote: "Years later I interviewed Mr. Francis for the Seattle Times while he was on a book tour. ..."

Is that interview available online anywhere? I'd be interested to read it.

HJ, I found it: http://community.seattletimes.nwsourc....

I interviewed Mr. Francis in 1994. My assignment was to interview him on a Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. and deliver the article by 9 a.m. the next morning. Needless to say, I was up all night.

I interviewed him at the Four Seasons in Seattle, and his wife, Mary, and son Felix were there, along with a PR person and Seattle Times photographer.

Mr. Francis had been interviewed so many times before that I had a hard time preparing questions he hadn't already been asked a zillion times, or for which he didn't have rote answers. My only success with that was to ask "Why are you still writing?" about five different ways, finally making him a bit miffed with me and saying what I used for the last quote in the piece.

Talking to him remains one of my favorite interviews, and I really appreciated then-SeaTimes book editor, Donn Fry, giving me the opportunity.

Thank you, Hope. What was Mr Francis like, as a person? and did Mary say anything?

He was cordial in the best British sense of the word, as I recall. I was introduced to Mary and Felix and they remained in the room, but didn't talk at all. If I did it again, I would have asked Mrs. Francis a couple questions, too, but oh, well.

You couldn't have known then that she was the person to talk to - and they'd have taken care to ensure that you didn't find out!

I was in a hospital waiting room and had finished my book this was about 1968? and I was waiting for my mother to get out of surgery. There was a reader's digest condensed book there and I picked it up and I started reading my first Dick Francis. It was Nerve.

My grandmother introduced me to Dick Francis. Don't know how she started reading him but I read one to see why she liked them so much and was hooked. She also loved Rosemary Pilcher and I could very get into those.