I’ve loved Paulson’s writing since I was a kid so this wasn’t a hard sell for me but what really struck me about this book is how well he captures the way things-people, places, or in this case dogs and a race and the wilderness-can get under your skin and become undeniable. “Fine madness” really is the best way to describe it.

It surprised me how much I liked this. Not only did it transport me to a rustic way of life up north and provide a virtual ride-along of the Iditarod experience, the engaging writing style brought the passion for this hobby to life. His love for dogs constantly rings clear, even though sled dogs often seem more like half pet and half wild running machine. He's funny, too, when the situation calls for it. I flat-out guffawed when he got sprayed in the face by two different skunks in one training run...a mile apart.

Pairs well with juvenile novel Ice Dogs.

4 ☆

It is almost impossible to articulate the [Iditarod] as a whole. It can be broken down into sections, days, hours, horrors, joys, checkpoints, winds, nights, cold, waters, ice, deaths, tragedies, small and large courage. But as a whole, to say generally what the race is like, there are no exact words.

Outrageous, perhaps. Staggering. Insane. Altering. All of them, and more. No one word works.

To those of us living Outside, ie. not in Alaska, the Iditarod is a dog sled race replaying the heroic effort in 1925 to get life-saving diptheria serum to Nome; transport via dog sled was the only option in winter. Apparently, this is a myth - https://iditarod.com/about__trashed/t... or https://iditarod.com/edu/origin-of-th....

Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod is about Paulsen's transformation during his dog-sled running days and his rookie experiences with the Iditarod in the 1980s. It began with financial circumstances pushing his family into a shack in the northern woods of Minnesota and a friend's gift of a sled and four dogs which became his only means of transportation. He slowly developed an appreciation for the beauty of life he witnessed during his first year with the sled dogs - from bold beavers to a she-wolf in heat whom he dubbed "Marge."

n  n   

I was starting to growl more and more at [my dogs] and talk less. Speaking in grunts. ...

It was still too soon in my dog career for me to begin to go mad while running them. That would come later.

n  n
It didn't even take two years with his sled dogs before Paulsen decided to participate in the Iditarod.

n  n   

We had spoken of the Iditarod a few times. ... I knew nothing of Alaska, crossing mountain ranges, running on sea ice, racing with a team ... 1,180 miles of snow and deep cold, cold like I had never even imagined, winds beyond belief, roaring waters and deadly dreams - a world, a whole world beyond my knowing.

n  n
The first half of Winterdance was about his preparations for the Iditarod. There were many laugh-out-loud vignettes as he didn't spare himself in recounting the unexpected encounters with nature and the mishaps as he assembled his team of 15 dogs. His tale about the skunks was the bomb.

The second half of his memoir described his first Iditarod. There was an "official" start of the race in Anchorage for the televised publicity before the competition really began in Knik. It quickly dawned upon him that his ignorance, in addition to the non-racecourse issues like deadly moose attacks and dog fights, may have gravely endangered his life. But the wildness of Alaska soon cast its spell on Paulsen and the Iditarod did the rest.

n  n   

And, finally, there was Alaska - the seductive, wonderfully magnificent deadly beauty of the place.

I thought my whole life had changed, that my basic understanding of values had changed, that I wasn’t sure if I would ever recover, that I had seen god and he was a dog-man and that nothing, ever, would be the same for me again, and it was only the first true checkpoint of the race.

n  n
If you love dogs, then you should consider reading Winterdance. If you also enjoy adventure tales or are curious about Alaska, then I'd recommend that you add this to your TBR.

I read this book years ago (in high school? - it is a YA book) And I loved it then. I love it even more now. I could not recommend it more to anyone who is an outdoor/animal enthusiast. I could use about 1000 more pages. I find it a very frank and concise telling of Gary's experiences, and it just makes me want to read more (or do the race myself)!

The Iditarod. Who isn't fascinated by this crazy race? Or is it just me? I actually liked this book a lot. I have no idea where the book came from, perhaps the Geauga County Fair book building? It was sitting there, on my TBR shelf and I grabbed it. When a book makes me snort out my morning coffee through my nose and my husband can hear me laughing all the way in his office, you know I like a book. But I will also tell you that it confirmed for me that I am never going to run the Iditarod, not that there was EVER any chance of that. It also confirmed for me that anyone who DOES run the Iditarod, even someone like Gary Paulsen, who didn't know what he was signing up for the first time around, are people with balls of steel, both literally and figuratively. "The Yukon River defines that which is cold".

There are moments in our life when we realize we are mere mortals. Some things we will never get a chance to do. After reading this book, I am now aware that I will never enter a dog sled team into the Iditarod race. Ah! Mortality!

Abandoned after 30% through the audiobook.

I was bored.

Also, there is profanity, including the phrase "God d*" which is strong and offensive.

The author also says that humans having dominion over animals is, and I quote, "biblical silliness."

The audiobook narrator's voice grated on me, too. He sounded like a lifelong smoker.

I have to give this one five stars because I think pretty much everyone would enjoy this. I do not have the character to do anything remotely this challenging. When Paulsen is describing training for the Iditarod there are some quite funny moments. When describing being in the race it amazes me that anyone survives! Easy, quick read.

Okay, I don’t know exactly how to rate this.
#1 Gary Paulson is a master storyteller! That is undeniable. The book is autobiographical, so non-fiction. I knew nothing about the Iditarod and dog-sledding, so that was very interesting. I don’t really know, but I felt like there was a bit of embellishment.
And #2, if it’s all true, the guy was a nut and a bit of a jackass. (And his wife? A saint.) I didn’t like him. Selfish, stupid (read a book, make a phone call, something!), and flaky. I found myself yelling at him….often.
So, 4 stars for great storytelling.

Gary Paulsen's passion in life is running sled dogs. This book is an account of training the dogs in Minnesota and then running the Iditarod, a 1,180 mile race in Alaska. His description of the bond between him and his fifteen dogs is wonderful. Paulsen is an exciting, humorous storyteller who will glue the reader to the page until the end of the punishing race. He came close to death several times during the race, but chose to go back and race the Iditarod again two years later. I recommend this book to anyone who would like to read a good adventure set in a frigid, beautiful area.

Even someone with zero interest in the subject matter of this book would have to work hard not to be captivated by Gary Paulsen's writing. I was wholly involved in each scene, conversation, and event. The journey this book documents is not just insane, it is often unbelievable. I don't understand how human beings can live through some of the conditions and catastrophic events that are commonplace on the Iditarod trail. It is a world unto itself - one that only a few souls are born to contend with. But I certainly fell in love with it from afar. I felt alive and transported by the end of this book, and tremendously grateful to Paulsen for letting me vicariously experience Alaska in this way. I want to go there now more than ever.

Newly obsessed with the Iditarod, we picked this up after Matt remembered he read Paulsen as a kid, and as I was searching for anything and everything Iditarod-related to devour. I'd seen some reviews that mentioned how funny this book is, but I didn't expect to laugh out loud as much as I did (and as this was one I read aloud to Matt every night, he was laughing alongside me). This book is really, really funny.

(It's also harrowing in places, including but not limited to all the times Paulsen should be really, really dead.)

I'm not sure if it's more amusing to people who have dogs, and/or people who know what it's like to run a dog who has seemingly endless energy, and loves, LOVES (maybe even lives) to pull.

We spent all winter skiing with (and roped to) our pup, Toya, and watching her joy while skijoring—pulling, pulling, pulling; literally sprinting up and down the sides of mountains—made us realize what an enthusiastic and capable snow dog she is. It definitely gave us a renewed appreciation (and interest) in the sport/hobby/life of running dogs. Hence the interest in the Iditarod and all the logistics therein.

There's a lot to love about this book, but the part I loved most: How honest Paulsen is about everything he had to learn with no one teaching him, save for his dogs, who taught him something new and vital (and often hilarious) every day. That's a feeling I know well, and one I'm thankful for every day.

[Four-point-five stars for being one of the most memorable books I'll likely read all year, for all the laughs, and for helping me imagine what Toya would look like running with joy across the heart of Alaska.]