The Art of Racing in the Rain

It makes such a good blog post heading doesn't it?

I wish it were original with me. But nope. It's the title of one of the best books I've picked up recently. By Garth Stein.

I try to avert my gaze from the book section in Costco and Target, I really do! I have more books waiting to be read than I'll EVER have vacations, so I don't need to discover any more new ones!

But in this case I'm glad I did.

And for someone who isn't really all that terribly fond of animals and who is even quite scornful of anthropomorphism, (with the single exception of Get Fuzzy) this is a

REALLY

GREAT

STORY!!!

It covers an 11 year span of Denny's life, while he gets a puppy, meets a girl, marries girl, has baby girl with girl, adult girl gets sick, sad things happen for a while until good stuff can start happening again and it's all told from the perspective of Enzo, Denny's dog. He's a good dog. Gooooood doggie. "Es he is......! A smart, and a loyal, and an obedient, and a dignified dog. 'Es 'e is!!!

Oh. Excuse me.

If you have and love a dog, you will love this book. If you don't have a dog, you will want to get one. And you will also begin to understand why some people can have deeper relationships with their animals than with some of the humans in their lives. Probably you will also need some kleenex, it's that good.