A Dog Year

I just finished reading the book "A Dog Year" by Jon Katz.  If you've been taking note of my book reviews recently, you might notice that the last one was for "Dewey," a book about a cat.

You see, when I start reading a certain author or sometimes a certain topic, I go all the way.  I read every single book that I can by that author, and then go on the waiting lists for the ones that I can't get.  Stephenie Meyers? Check.  Jodi Picoult?  Double check.  Douglas Preston? James Patterson? Check check.  Dan Brown?  Working on his latest....

Knowing that, it should come as no surprise to you that when I decided that I enjoyed "Dewey" enough to continue reading more animal/pet nonfiction, I went all out. 

The sad part is, there isn't nearly as much good nonfiction about animals as I would have hoped.  I have already checked out the vast majority of options at the Northland Public Library. 

I started with "A Dog Year" because I had enjoyed Jon Katz's writing in the past, and this one definitely didn't disappoint.  You know an animal book is good if it has you in tears less than half-way through.

The stars of "A Dog Year" are 2 border collies.  As is my style, I immediately decided that Murph might have some border collie in him.  Crazy running and nipping when he hasn't gotten enough exercise?  Murph does that!  Wanting to go EVERYWHERE with us and being destructive when left behind?  Another border collie characteristic that Murph shares.

 And doesn't he sort of look like a border collie? 

I think part of the reason that I like this book so much is that every day of my life is like "A Dog Year."  This blog in itself tends to be more about my pet and my interactions with him than much else. (Perhaps I should start writing animal non-fiction?)  He's the apple of my eye, and I'm afraid to think about what I'll be like as a parent if I'm this enamored with my dog.  I don't think the world is ready....

So, if you're animal lover like me, and you haven't already read this book (I think it was published in 2003) I definitely recommend that you check it out. 

Dewey

I'm a sucker when it comes to books about animals.  I'm a dog-lover at heart, but I'll read just about anything about just about any animal.

So when I saw a book on display at the library that featured the face of a beautiful orange cat, I knew it was for me. I didn't even read what it was about.  It didn't matter, I knew I would love it.

From Amazon.com

So maybe it's not fair then to call this a book "review."  After all, I'm a sucker for a good tear-jerking story about a beloved pet, and "Dewey" did not disappoint.  Dewey was a cat in Iowa who was shoved down a return book drop at at library, and was rescued by the librarians there.  He lived there for 19 full years.  The entire community loved him, and he actually became rather famous - apparently people would drive long distances just to meet him.  He had more character as a cat than even most dogs, and that's coming from a true dog lover.

I won't say anything more about the book, since I think you should just read it for yourself.  Especially if you're an animal lover, and even if you're not. 

Breaking Dawn

After many, many weeks of waiting, I finally got the email.  I had been on the library's waiting list for months, and finally, Breaking Dawn was mine.

From stepheniemeyer.com.

(Authors Note:  Spoilers ahead.  If you're going to read these books, you should stop reading now. I'd hate to ruin them for you.  If you have no intentions of ever reading the Twilight series books, this post may not make any sense to you.  However, it will probably have some excellent comedic value since you'll be wondering what kinds of crazy people read these books.)

I first heard about these books on a blog.  They kept popping up in various places - Facebook, Twitter, etc.  I didn't know much about them, but decided to request the first book - Twilight - from the library.  I enjoyed young adult literature like the Harry Potter books in the past, so I was willing to them a shot.

I was hooked.  And I felt ridiculous for saying that.  The premise of the books are absolutely ridiculous.  A young girl named Bella moves to a small, rainy town in Washington state to live with father.  At her new high school she develops an odd attraction to Edward, a pale, intense and attractive young man who seems to hate her.  We learn later than he's a vampire and that he was intensely attracted to Bella's blood and stayed away from her so as not to kill her. But he decided that he wanted to be her friend, and she finds out that his "siblings" are also vampires - they all live together in a house in the woods and feed off of a vegetarian diet (meaning they drink the blood of animals instead of people.) Nice, huh?

In book 2, New Moon, Edward leaves Bella so that he can keep her safe (she was nearly killed by an evil vampire in book 1.)  Bella is heartbroken, but befriends a Native American boy that we later learn is a werewolf.  Alice, Edward's sister that can see the future but can't see it when the werewolves are around, has a vision of Bella jumping off of a cliff with no ending, and she tells Edward that Bella died, when in fact, Jacob - the werewolf - simply caught her.  Edward can't imagine being a world without Bella so he goes to the Volturi - a sort of evil governing vampire group - to be killed.  Because, you know, only a vampire (or a werewolf) can kill another vampire.  All ends well though.  Obviously, since there are still 2 books to go!

In book 3, Edward is back and so is Jacob, the werewolf friend.  Him and Bella have a love hate relationship, but the vampires and the werewolves need to band together when a vampire comes to Washington to kill Bella.  Also in this book, Bella decides that she wants to become a vampire, since that is the only way that she can stay with Edward forever.  He's not fond of the idea, but agrees to convert her to a vampire if she'll marry him, which she reluctantly agrees to do.

Before I continue let me say that I LOVED Twilight, but was less enthralled with New Moon and Eclipse.  New Moon was a little slow and Eclipse seemed a lot like Twilight in that evil-vampire-wants-to-kill-Bella-who-makes-stupid-decisions-and-puts-everyone-in-danger-better-save-her sort of way.  I remember thinking, "How stupid can this girl be???" over and over.  But the writing was still captivating and so I didn't give up.

And I'm so glad that I didn't.  Book 4 - Breaking Dawn - was by far my favorite albeit the most ridiculous.  It starts out with the wedding of Edward and Bella.  They then go on their honeymoon to a private island off the coast of South America owned by the "mom" of the vampire family.  (Did I mention that the vampires are ridiculously wealthy? Their future-seeing sister helps predict the stock market.)  During this honeymoon, Bella becomes pregnant with a half-human, half-vampire child.  Keep in mind, she's only 18 years old.  Anyway, this mutant child starts growing at an astounding rate, and even though everyone thinks she should abort it, Bella is dead set on keeping it.  The baby is so strong that it's breaking her ribs from the inside.  The baby also only wants blood, so Bella drinks to keep the baby alive (she actually enjoys the blood. Yeah. Weird.)  On the night that the baby is born, it snaps Bella's spine and basically kills her.  The only thing that they can do to save her is to turn her into a vampire, and so Bella gets her wish.

But of course, there needs to be drama, right?  A different vampire sees the baby from a distance and immediately reports it to the vampire police (Volturi.)  Apparently, it's illegal to turn a baby into a vampire, but obviously this situation was different!  But of course, drama ensues and Alice sees in the future the Volturi coming to kill them.  Long story short - lots of friends come to join them to fight the Volturi, but it doesn't end of mattering because Bella's vampire "talent" (they nearly all have one) is that that she can create an invisible shield around everyone that protects them. The Volturi leave in frustration and everyone lives happily ever after.

Obviously these summaries are WAAAAY abbreviated, and I didn't really do the books justice at all.  But this really illustrates what a good book can do to humanity - we agree to suspend all disbelief and become engrossed in a ridiculous, captivating world where humans fall in love with vampires and make half-vampire babies that our werewolf best friend falls in love with.

I would recommend the Twilight books to nearly anyone.  If you need an escape from reality you'll find it here.  The books are so addicting that I would go into the bedroom to fold laundry and fifteen minutes later Dave would walk in to see me standing in front of my dresser with a book in my hand, reading away while the laundry remained untouched.

Oh, and for those of you that saw the movies but perhaps haven't read the books yet, know that the movies do them absolutely no justice.  Read the books.  Totally worth it.