Dog Days! Books with Canine Stars

 

Enzo is a clever old dog who has learned a lot.  He adores Denny, an aspiring race car driver, and Denny’s daughter, Zoe, who is at the center of a custody battle. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein is a heartwarming novel with both tears and joy. 

A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron is the first in a series of dog books. Bailey the dog is searching for his purpose in life. He finds it in caring for his boy, Ethan. When that life comes to an end, Bailey becomes a police dog, but he knows he needs to find his way back to Ethan. This book will both touch and charm dog lovers!

 

One Good Dog by Susan Wilson follows the story of Adam March, who once had it all until one day he lost control.  Sentenced to community service, he ends up with Chance, a pit bull mix who has issues of his own.  Wilson has several warm and affectionate fiction books that revolve around the human-dog connection.

 

When widower Sam moves with his son to Christmas Street, Jack the dog welcomes them to their new home.  Jack was left behind when his owners moved, but this neighborhood stray has the knack of building connections between people. A Dog Called Jack by Ivy Pembroke is a wonderful feel-good story about community and the love of a dog.

 

Jet pilot Brady Cole is really attracted to his next-door neighbor, Lily, but he’s not much of a dog person.  The trouble is, to get to Lily he’s going to have to get through her opinionated, temperamental, destructive doggy companion, Doug.  And Doug does NOT like Brady.  Beware of Doug by Elaine Fox is a delightful rom-com with a canine twist!

 

When Dawn’s boyfriend dumps her, she turns to the one being she can count on for comfort:  her rescue dog, Chuck. Chuck has some thoughts on the matter, which much to Dawn’s surprise, she can hear. In fact, she can hear all dogs now and they are just full of advice. Merrill Markoe’s Walking in Circles Before Lying Down is about the search for love, the etiquette of peeing, and the joy of playing fetch.

 

 Dancing Dogs is a collection of sixteen stories by Jon Katz featuring a variety of dogs, from purebreds to mutts.  Katz is a noted dog lover who titled his memoir A Dog Year.  The tales run the gamut of emotions, but all are endearing.

Nevermore: Overstory, Longevity Paradox, Wild Swans, Blowout, Beekeeper of Aleppo, In a Sunburned Country, Pursuit, None of the Above, The Dog I Loved

Reported by Laura 

Nevermore read a wide variety of books this week; some were enjoyed, some were not. The first was The Overstory by Richard Price. Each chapter is a new story about a different tree and the character’s unique experiences with them.  This book won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize, but the reviewer was not impressed. She found the stories a little weird for her taste.

          Our next book has been read by several members. Most did not like it. The Longevity Paradox by Steven R. Gundry outlines a nutrition and lifestyle plan that he says will support gut health and help people to live, not only longer, but well. Our reviewer felt it wasn’t scientifically sound and didn’t find it very helpful. There was no new useful information and the book could do with some editing. One food item (lentils) was on two lists: What to eat and what to avoid. Definitely not recommended.

          The Wild Swans by Jung Chang was a book that was recommended! This nonfiction book spans a century covering three generations of a Chinese family. The author tells the biographies of her grandmother and mother and then her own autobiography. The reviewer enjoyed the book and said she learned a lot about China and the Japanese invasion. The grandmother was a concubine with bound feet and the mother was strong in the Communist party, though fair. The family suffered a lot and Ms. Chang relates how the only time she ever saw her father cry was when he was forced to burn his books.

          Another nonfiction book read this week was Rachel Maddow’s Blowout. The reviewer found it to be a slow, dreary read and couldn’t finish it. She said it covered anything you might need to know about big oil and gas taking over the world and Rex Tillerson illegalities. If you are interested in those topics, give it a try.

          The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri is a fiction book based on the author’s experiences over two summers in Athens at a refugee center. It deals with the flight of refugees from Aleppo to Europe during the Syrian Civil War. Nuri, a beekeeper, and his artist wife, Afra, are faced with leaving everything they love behind as they embark on a journey to Britain where Nuri’s cousin and business partner has started an apiary to teach beekeeping to fellow refugees. The reviewer found it thought-provoking and a good read.

          In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson was deemed laugh out loud funny and highly recommended. In his usual style, he takes readers off the beaten path as he explores Australia and gives information not found in ordinary travel books. With all that is going on in the area at present, it was somewhat bittersweet to read about, but all in all, an excellent book.

          Our next book was a suspenseful offering by Joyce Carol Oates. Pursuit is told in flashbacks, alternating between present day and the terrifying childhood of the main character. Abby marries one day and is in a horrible accident the next. In and out of consciousness, she shares horrifying details of her past and her husband is faced with wondering what his new wife hasn’t told him. The reviewer enjoyed the book, but figured everything out halfway through.

          None of the Above by I. W. Gregorio is a YA fiction book that was sad, but very informative. The book centers around a young girl who is a popular high school student. She is an athlete and elected homecoming queen, but when she decides to lose her virginity, she finds it unbearably painful. A trip to the doctor reveals that she was born intersex, having both male and female parts. After she confides in her best friend, the secret is leaked to the entire school, the bullying begins in earnest, and her life is changed forever.

          The Dog I Loved by Susan Wilson was a beautifully written book that focuses on two different women and the dogs who saved them. Rose was a woman caught in the trap of a controlling boyfriend who ends up serving time in jail for a crime she didn’t intend to commit. While in prison, she becomes part of a program training service dogs. Meghan is a young woman severely damaged in the war and searching for a way to regain her freedom. A service dog may be the key to fulfilling her dreams. This book is a testament to the human (and canine) spirit.

Wilson by A. Scott Berg

Reviewed by William Wade

What are the characteristics of a biography that make it truly outstanding?  First, it provides the reader with a well researched and organized narrative, written with both style and grace.  Second, the author includes personal characteristics, even eccentricities and foibles,that give depth to the subject’s persona rather than being no more than a cardboard cut-out.  Third, the author seeks to define his subject in the timeframe in which he lived, in short, his importance and influence in history.

Judged by these standards, A. Scott Berg’s recent Wilson, a biographical study of our World War I president, is a stunning success.  There have been many studies of Woodrow Wilson over the last century, but this one now stands forth as the definitive choice.  It is a long book – over 700 pages – but Wilson lived a full and energetic life, most of it in the public eye.  While one can read selectively those  passages that are of most interest, the full impact of Wilson on his times calls for a steady reading from cover to cover, even if it takes a considerable time.

Berg presents Wilson (1856-1924) as a man driven by two fundamental characteristics.  First of all, he was bred in 19th century American Presbyterianism, which held that God was active in all aspects of life and it was the duty of every Christian to shape his life by a careful following of Christian principles.  Second, Wilson had an abiding faith in democracy, strongly persuaded that people fare best in democratic societies.  These two impulses made him a crusader, and throughout life he found himself battling for God-ordained democratic standards against evil and corrupting influences.

As president of Princeton University, he sought to abolish the snobbery of exclusive eating clubs; when governor of New Jersey he battled the entrenched bosses who made a mockery of a functioning democracy; as President he set forth the principles of the New Freedom, that enlightened government could be a constructive force reinforcing an egalitarian democratic society; when he led the nation into World War I, the cry was to “make the world safe for democracy”; and when he fought cynical world leaders for a just peace at Versailles, it was for the principle of “self determination of all peoples.”  Finally, when he battled a reluctant Senate for American membership in the League of Nations, it was the necessity for enlightened American wisdom to save Europe from another World War.  Little wonder that in the latter stages of his life, he was felled by a paralytic stroke that left him with a rigid personality,  unable to made modest compromises to enable America to join his beloved League.

This is an important book, because so many of the international issues that beset us today – an autocratic regime in Russia, the search for peace in the Islamic world, and the rise of a Communist-nationalist state in China – were all shaped by events taking place when Wilson was president.  It’s instructive not merely for a century ago, but for the world in which we live today.

Wilson, by A. Scott Berg.    New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2013.   743 pages.  Classification: 973.913/Ber.

Dr. Wade is  professor emeritus at King University where he taught history and political science.  He is a member of the Nevermore Book Club which meets on Tuesdays at 11:00 AM at the Bristol Public Library.  Join us for coffee, books, and doughnuts from the Blackbird Bakery!