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As I read dog book after dog book for research while writing my own dog book, it occurred to me that there might be too many dog books! Still, I soldiered on. These books were my homework; besides, one needs something to do while curled up next to your dog in a ghostly West Texas RV park. I read so many dog books over the course of my cross-country journey with my dog that I feel well-equipped to tell you about a few good ones you may have missed. The Difficulty of Being a Dog, by Roger Grenier This beautiful collection of vignettes by French writer Roger Grenier (and translated by Alice Kaplan) delves deep into literature, history, and metaphysics to explore our complicated, fascinating connection to dogs. Though the slim volume is a celebration of that relationship, it’s an introspective and nuanced one. Grenier writes, “A pet is a protection against life’s insults, a defense against the world, the somewhat vain conviction of being truly loved, a way of being both less alone and more alone.” Grenier also doesn’t shy away from exploring the ways humans might—often unintentionally—hurt our best friends. “Perhaps those who love their dogs the most are, by that very fact, executioners,” he writes. “Here Sartre isn’t wrong: too close a proximity to humans makes domestic animals unhappy. They spend their time observing their master, figuring out what he’s going to do with them. Everything is a sign—a cough, a glance at a watch, turning off the television. There is no innocent act. Every minute carries its ration of anguish.” READ FULL POST
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Former leading New Zealand publisher and bookseller, and widely experienced judge of both the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, talks about what he is currently reading, what impresses him and what doesn't, along with chat about the international English language book scene, and links to sites of interest to booklovers.
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