Here are 6 books that Hoof Beats fans have personally recommended if you like Hoof Beats. Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Man’s Search for Meaning

Luke William Hunt Author Of Police Deception and Dishonesty: The Logic of Lying

From Luke's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Luke's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Luke William Hunt Why Luke loves this book

This should probably be mandatory reading for everyone at some point. It is a (true) story about meaning after all is lost. Almost no one will encounter the horror experienced by the author, but it is precisely this aspect of the book that makes it so powerful. By reflecting on the author's remarkable ability to find meaning in a devastated life, we are given a model for finding meaning in our own lives.

By Viktor Frankl ,

Why should I read it?

52 authors picked Man’s Search for Meaning as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

One of the outstanding classics to emerge from the Holocaust, Man's Search for Meaning is Viktor Frankl's story of his struggle for survival in Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. Today, this remarkable tribute to hope offers us an avenue to finding greater meaning and purpose in our own lives.


If you love Hoof Beats...

Book cover of The Rosewood Penny

The Rosewood Penny by J.S. Fields,

2023 Queer Indie Award Nominee!

The dragons of Yuro have been hunted to extinction.

On a small, isolated island, in a reclusive forest, lives bandit leader Marani and her brother Jacks. With their outlaw band they rob from the rich to feed themselves, raiding carriages and dodging the occasional vindictive…

Book cover of The Obelisk Gate

Bethany Brookshire Author Of Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains

From Bethany's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Bethany's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Bethany Brookshire Why Bethany loves this book

N.K. Jemison is a masterclass in compelling, complex characters, deeply original worlds, and plot.

By N. K. Jemisin ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Obelisk Gate as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Essun's missing daughter grows more powerful every day, and her choices may destroy the world in this "magnificent" Hugo Award winner and NYT Notable Book. (NPR)

The season of endings grows darker, as civilization fades into the long cold night.

Essun -- once Damaya, once Syenite, now avenger -- has found shelter, but not her daughter. Instead there is Alabaster Tenring, destroyer of the world, with a request. But if Essun does what he asks, it would seal the fate of the Stillness forever.

Far away, her daughter Nassun is growing in power -- and her choices will break the…


Book cover of The Wolf Age: The Vikings, the Anglo-Saxons and the Battle for the North Sea Empire

Valerie Nieman Author Of In the Lonely Backwater

From Valerie's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Valerie's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Valerie Nieman Why Valerie loves this book

I'm continuing my research for the second of my Macbeth books, The Last Highland King, and this book really filled in the world of the Norse and Danes in the decades leading up to my period. Well-written and just full of the small details that add context to the recitation of events. Great use of the sagas!

By Tore Skeie , Alison McCullough (translator) ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Wolf Age as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In the eleventh century, the rulers of the lands surrounding the North Sea are all hungry for power. To get power they need soldiers, to get soldiers they need silver, and to get silver there is no better way than war and plunder. This vicious cycle draws all the lands of the north into a brutal struggle for supremacy and survival that will shatter kingdoms and forge an empire.

The Wolf Age takes the reader on a thrilling journey through the bloody shared history of England and Scandinavia, and on across early medieval Europe, from the wild Norwegian fjords to…


If you love William T. Taylor...

Book cover of Tangle of Time

Tangle of Time by Maureen Thorpe,

A spellbinding journey through time and cultures.

When Annie Thornton, midwife and apprentice witch, falls through time to a 15th-century Yorkshire village with her telepathic cat, Rosamund, she befriends Will and Jack, two soldiers returning from the French Wars. Mistress Meg, Annie’s ancestral aunt living in the 15th century, is…

Book cover of Writing Black Beauty: Anna Sewell and the Story of Animal Rights

Celia Haddon Author Of Being Your Cat: What's Really Going On in Your Feline's Mind

From Celia's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Celia's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Celia Haddon Why Celia loves this book

Black Beauty was my favourite book, when I was a child. I read it 33 times. This book told me how it came about and its influence on horse welfare.

By Celia Brayfield ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Writing Black Beauty as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Black Beauty is a novel that changed our world. Intended to 'induce kindness' in a Victorian audience who relied on horses for transport, travel and power, it remains a dearly loved children's classic. Writing Black Beauty is the story of the remarkable woman who wrote this phenomenal book.

Born in 1820 to a young Quaker couple, Anna Sewell grew up in poverty in London. She was 14 when she fell and injured her ankle, leaving her permanently disabled. Rejecting the limitations that Victorian society forced on disabled people, she developed an extraordinary empathy with horses, learning to ride side-saddle and…


Book cover of Glacial

Bethany Brookshire Author Of Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains

From Bethany's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Bethany's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Bethany Brookshire Why Bethany loves this book

A step by step history of why the US has only recently begun to address the climate crisis, coming from someone on the inside.

By Chelsea Henderson ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Glacial as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It took nearly sixty years for a meaningful climate change bill to run the political gauntlet from Capitol Hill to the Oval Office. Why?

From mavericks to party standard-bearers, U.S. Senators, members of the House of Representatives, and presidential candidates have campaigned for four decades espousing their intentions to address the impacts of climate change.

Glacial: The Inside Story of Climate Politics is the first Inside-the-Beltway account to lay bare the machinations of what went wrong in Washington-how and why our leaders failed to act on climate change as mounting scientific evidence underscored the urgency to do so. Glacial tells…


Book cover of Forgotten Churches

Celia Haddon Author Of Being Your Cat: What's Really Going On in Your Feline's Mind

From Celia's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Celia's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Celia Haddon Why Celia loves this book

Lovely illustrations. I adore old churches and this book has inspired me to visit more of them.

By Luke Sherlock , Ioana Pioaru (illustrator) ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Forgotten Churches as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Sunday Times bestseller

Discover England's Most Beautiful and Overlooked Churches with Forgotten Churches: Exploring England's Hidden Treasures

For centuries, England's churches have stood as quiet witnesses to history, filled with remarkable craftsmanship, untold stories, and layers of cultural heritage. Yet many of these extraordinary buildings remain overlooked - until now.

Luke Sherlock, or @englishpilgrim, has spent years travelling the length and breadth of England, uncovering hidden architectural gems and sharing their beauty with thousands online. In Forgotten Churches, he invites you on a journey through 70 of the country's most atmospheric churches, from thousand-year-old Saxon chapels and striking Gothic…


If you love Hoof Beats...

Book cover of Chasing Light

Chasing Light by Traci Medford-Rosow,

Chasing Light is a lyrical meditation on grief, memory, and the fragile beauty of everyday life. At its core, it is a story of resilience, forgiveness, and the transformational power of human connection. It sheds light on the overlooked realities of homelessness and addiction, while emphasizing the importance of compassion…

Book cover of Man’s Search for Meaning
Book cover of The Obelisk Gate
Book cover of The Wolf Age: The Vikings, the Anglo-Saxons and the Battle for the North Sea Empire

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