Book Review - Comet's Tale, Steven Wolf

Comet’s Tale: How the Dog I Rescued Saved My Life

 

Steven Wolf, Lynette Padwa

Category:  Nonfiction: Memoir: Animals; Dogs; Disabilities

Synopsis: Wolf, suffering from a spinal condition, rescues a retired greyhound, Comet, and teaches her to be his service animal.

Date finished: 8 August 2013

Rating: ****

Comments:
I simultaneously love animal books and loathe them. But mostly I loathe them because they can be so sad. I save the last couple chapters of Marley and Me for months before I had the guts to finish it. It all started with Where the Red Fern Grows in Mrs. DeJarlais’ third grade classroom. (Raise your hand if Where the Red Fern Grows destroyed you.) Of course, that doesn’t stop me from buying them, letting them sit on the shelf awhile, then taking a deep breath and digging in.

This one came highly recommended, but while it was good, it wasn’t great. The author is opposed to the anthropomorphizing animals, but he does it in this book. A lot. And that didn’t really bother me, per se, but it did make me feel the teeniest bit manipulated. And it made me distrust the story. I really liked Comet, but I’ll never know how much of what I like is Comet and how much is in the imagination of Steve Wolf.

The idea of a greyhound being a service animal is interesting in and of itself. I enjoyed reading about how Comet was trained, and how much of what she learned she learned intuitively. And I for one would love to see a greyhound pulling a man in a wheelchair through an airport at top speed!

My trouble with the book was the humans, not the dog. I wasn’t enamored of Wolf, but his wife and daughters were childish, selfish people. It bothered me that they seemed to sever ties with Wolf as he became more and more disabled and came around when he had a successful back surgery. Wolf seems to brush it away and doesn’t seem all that bothered by it, but either I missed something or he did, because what he relates of the mean way his wife talks to him and how his daughters just stop talking to him altogether was unpleasant enough that I didn’t want to read about it.

So, my rating is for Comet and Comet alone.

And at least one half of a star is given for the very fact that the book doesn’t end with a dog death like all the others do! Hurrah!

Would you recommend this to a friend?
Yes, I think so.

You might also enjoy:

Marley and Me by John Grogan (naughty dog)
The Good, Good Pig by Sy Montgomery (huge pig)
Homer’s Odyssey by Gwen Cooper (blind cat)
Dewey by Vicki Myron (library cat)

Book Review - When We Were the Kennedys

When We Were the Kennedys: A Memoir from Mexico, Maine

 

Monica Wood

Category: Nonfiction: Memoir: Death & Grief

Synopsis: Wood recounts the time following her father’s death in 1963, just months before JFK’s assassination.

Date finished: 3 August 2013

Rating: *****

Comments:

This is another book I decided to read because everyone else had. Its central theme, death, hadn’t appealed to me in the least. And reading a whole book about grief? Didn’t sound like the way I wanted to spend four days.

But I am so glad I read this book.

Not only was the writing stunning, but it was intelligent and well-controlled. It wasn’t sloppy or sentimental or indulgent. Wood told the story she meant to tell, and she told it plainly and with dignity.

This book reminded me a lot of Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I think it was tone, more than subject matter, though, that prompts the comparison. Both Wood and Smith are masterful at telling a story through a child’s eyes.

There is almost no action in this story whatsoever. But there are little adventures and memorable characters. And something that surprised me a great deal was how very little time the author spent describing her father. We knew little about him, but just enough to bring us into the family and allow us to feel grief. Any other author telling this story would have bombarded the reader with facts and stories about the man, at the very least, including a chapter introducing us to him. The fact that she didn’t made the story even better.

I found myself analyzing how the story was put together as much as enjoying the read. This would be a great book for a nonfiction literature class or a memoir writing curriculum. There’s much to study here in technique—most of it so subtle you don’t realize it’s technique at all.

This is a book I anticipate returning to again and again. In an odd way, it’s a very comforting read.

Would you recommend this to a friend?

Absolutely.

Bout of Books Update - Sunday

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is now over. I only got another 30 or so pages in on Sunday. Sunday's my busy day. Saturday is errands day, and Sunday is a work day (church & teaching Sunday School, laundry, balancing the checkbook & paying bills, various church duties, making a big supper, etc.). I was happy to sneak in a few minutes of reading while the laundry washed.

So, here are my stats:

books finished:
Food Rules
Winnie-the-Pooh
Murder on the Orient Express

books abandoned:
Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading (70 pages)

book in progress:
The Wilder Life (2/3 through)

estimated hours spent reading:
24 - the equivalent of one whole day!

Not a bad week, I'd say. Can't wait for next year!

Bout of Books Update - Saturday

 

I didn't get much reading in on Saturday, but I normally don't read at all on Saturday. I did get 15 pages in while hubby slept in. Then we decided on a spur-of-the-moment trip to Minneapolis--book store for me and guitar repair shop for hubs. I bought four Agatha Christie mysteries, As Always, Julia (Julia Childs' letters to Avis DeVoto), The 100 Best African American Poems edited by Nikki Giovanni (love her poems, so this should be a great collection), and Persuasion (the Austen book I want to read next). So instead of chipping away at the reading list, I added to it. My favorite kind of day!

Bout of Books Update - Friday

 

Spent yesterday at work after three wonderful days off. So I was back to my usual hour and 15 minutes of reading time. Only got 40 pages further in The Wilder Life. Friday night here is grocery shopping and Sci Fi movie night, so no more reading. Maybe I should have chosen shorter books, you know, for better numbers. :)

 



Bout of Books Read-a-thon Update

(I must apologize. I didn't realize I was supposed to be writing daily updates and linking them to the Bout of Books website as part of the read-a-thon. Following are my Monday through Thursday updates.)

I spent three whole, glorious days this week reading.

Monday evening, I finished Michael Pollan’s Food Rules

and Winnie-the-Pooh.

 

(If you can believe it, this was my first time through this treasure.)

Tuesday, I read Murder on the Orient Express all day and nearly finished it, but kind of hit the wall.

Tuesday morning, I finished Murder on the Orient Express and began Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading.

Tuesday evening, we spent an hour or so without power. Let me tell you, there is NOTHING to do without electricity. I was shocked at how fidgety I was without the ability to read, cook supper, watch TV, or even go online. And without lights, we couldn’t even play a board game. Note to self: buy some candles. Or a lantern.

Wednesday, I returned to Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading and after a few pages, I finally admitted to myself this was not the book I’d expected, and I hadn’t enjoyed a page of it. I hate abandoning a book after getting so far (70+ pages plus a LONG introduction numbered in Roman numerals so as not to count in the page count—what’s up with that?), but I found the author so arrogant and the writing so boringly academic that I couldn’t go on. I had to cut my losses.

I’d planned on beginning My Life in France this week, but it didn’t feel right, so I went to my shelves in search of something lighthearted and adventurous. I chose The Wilder Life.

All in all, I’d hoped to finish more books, but my false start with Leave Me Alone set me back. Doubt I’ll finish another book this week, but I’ll keep going.

The read-a-thon was a success as far as I’m concerned. I finally read Winnie-the-Pooh, and I fell in love with that silly bear. I allowed myself to end a book I wasn’t enjoying; that’s personal growth. And I found that I could really love Agatha Christie mysteries.

Book Review - The World's Strongest Librarian, Josh Hanagarne

The World’s Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette’s, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family

 

Josh Hanagarne

Category: Nonfiction: Memoir: Disabilities & Diseases (Tourette’s); Religion (Mormonism)

Synopsis: Hanagarne, a librarian, takes up weightlifting to deal with his Tourette’s Syndrome.

Date finished: 30 July 2013

Rating: ****½  

Comments:
I can see why all the bookish librarian-types I know have read this or have put this book on their reading list. There aren’t nearly enough books out there about librarians. And funny Mormon weightlifting librarians with Tourette’s should be writing books, in my opinion.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

I enjoyed the horrendous stories of manning a library. Who knew Salt Lake City had so many crazies? Our university library deals mostly with men looking at porn and confused middle-aged women going topless—and being on third floor, I see none of it.

I also enjoyed the discussion of Mormonism. There seems to be a hush rule in Mormon Temples. Mormons never talk (write) about the details of their religion. Perhaps it’s a “pearls before swine” fear. But here, our author discusses the Book of Mormon, the two-year mission that young men go on, giving blessings, and even a bit about the marriage ceremony. He’s “lost his testimony,” or suffered a crisis of faith, and he discusses this in a simple and heartfelt way, and the elders seem to deal with the news lovingly and without judgment.

I enjoyed the way he talked about his parents. They were real and exceptionally caring people. There aren’t enough books that deal with parents this way.

I even enjoyed his adventures in weightlifting and his herculean efforts to control his Tourette’s tics.

The humor and honestly with which he approached all of these subjects as well as infertility, his wife’s miscarriages, and becoming a father, was refreshing and uplifting. I would recommend this book to most anyone.

Would you recommend this to a friend?

Absolutely.

You might also enjoy:
Heaven is Here, Stephanie Nielson