My Lead Dog Was a Lesbian: Mushing Across Alaska in the Iditarod--The World's Most Grueling Race
Select Format
Select Condition 
Book Overview
The Iditarod may be the only race that awards a prize for last place. But then how many people can even complete a course that ranges across 1,000 miles of Alaska's ice fields, mountains, and canyons at temperatures that sometimes plunges to 100 degrees below zero? In conditions like these, anything can go wrong. For Brian Patrick O'Donoghue, nearly everything did. In My Lead Dog Was a Lesbian, his reporter and intrepid novice musher tells what happened when he entered the 1991 Iditarod, along with seventeen sled dogs with names like Harley, Screech, and Rainy, his sexually confused lead dog. O'Donoghue braved snowstorms and sickening wipeouts, endured the contempt of more experienced racers (one of whom was daft enough to use poodles), and rode herd of four-legged companions who would rather be fighting or having sex. It's all here, narrated with self-deprecating wit, in a true story of heroism, cussedness and astonishing dumb luck.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0679764119
ISBN13:9780679764113
Release Date:March 1996
Publisher:Vintage
Length:304 Pages
Weight:0.60 lbs.
Dimensions:0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"
Customer Reviews
5 ratings
My Lead Dog Was A Lesbian
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 24 years ago
I bought this book on the way to the airport for a flight to Helsinki. I wanted a book on mushing but and this was the only book the store had in so I grabbed it not convinced I was going to like it. Once I opened it I couldn't put it down. This has to be one of the greatest books I've ever read. This is a guy who can really keep a captive audience with his stories. And funny!!! I laughed almost all the way across the ocean. I'm a musher who wants to run the Iditarod and have gone through one when my boyfriend ran it and thought that's why I appreciated his humor so much but while I was in Helsinki my housemate who HATES dogs period and has ZERO intrest in mushing was laughing really hard one evening. I peeked into the livingroom to see what was so funny and there she was reading this book. I must have loaned it to a hundred people so far and everyone of them loved it! I reccomend this book to everyone!!! Even cat lovers! PS - we even "borrowed" one of his dog's names for one of ours!
Mush On!
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
Last January I drove a twelve dog sled along the Iditarod Trail outside Nome. I had not gone far when I was thrown from the runners whilst overturning the sled. That one event gave me a new appreciation for anyone who can not just mush, but run and complete the Iditarod. This is one fantastic book, well written, and suspensful. Since most of us will never do the race, it is the next best thing to pick up on a cold winter's night and dream of glory or humiliation. I know how the author did in the race, but I won't reveal the ending. Take it from someone who drove the Iditarod for three feet, you will love this book with the strange name.
Mush
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
On a cold winter night, to read this excellent book is about as close as most of us will ever get to doing the Iditarod Trail. I tried it with twelve dogs outside Nome last January, and I made it three feet before being thrown from the runners. That brief stint gave me a tremendous appreciation for the people who undertake the difficult journey. Brian has written a book as fast moving as the race itself. From the first page, I was entralled to see how he would finish. I know, but I won't spoil it for the reader. It's enough to say that as Brian approached Nome, I found myself pulling for him. Such is the way he can write. If one wants to know what it entails to make the one thousand mile plus journey, it can be found here. So pick up this wonderfully written and exciting book, sit back, and experience Alaska at its best.
A story about Grit
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 26 years ago
This book was hard to put down. Every time I started to read, I wanted to know what happened next. Every chapter was a new adventure for Brian O'Donoghue. I have a deep respect for what he did. I can only imagine how it was attempting to finish the "Last Great Race", the Iditarod. This is a TRUE story about determination and strong will power to accomplish one thing, finish the Iditarod.
O'Donoghue captures the essence of the Iditarod
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 27 years ago
Brian O'Donoghue uses his experience as a journalist with his flair as a writer to give you all the facts you need to appreciate the depth of his true adventure as a musher. I bought and read this book in Alaska, and it made me want to stay and witness the insane spectacle of the Iditarod. Here's a guy who knows he must be crazy to try this race, yet he does it, only to find a whole group of people equally crazy or more so, in somewhat the same way. I loaned it to someone... and they liked it so well I never saw that copy again! In short, get two.
Copyright © 2025 Thriftbooks.com
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information | Cookie Policy | Cookie Preferences | Accessibility Statement
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
