Awkward Family Pet Photos by Bender and Chernack

I decided I'm just going to dive into the book reviews I need to finish up from 2011 and come back to my 2012 goals later, since I'm still thinking about them.

Awkward Family Pet Photos is the only book I got for Christmas from family (I did get one from a blogger friend and hope to read it, soon). You may have seen the Awkward Family Photos website and its companion site with photos of families and their pets. The book is a collection of some of the photos from the website, some with added description, and a few awkward pet stories tossed in for good measure.

There's really not much to say about the book. Some of the photos are really funny, some actually quite clever (I love the photo of a family standing in the shape of a Christmas tree, wearing identical outfits and each holding out a large ornament) and some a little embarrassing. There are a few very old photos to show that people have been posing with their animals for a long, long time. Awkward Family Pet Photos is a good pick-me-up for a bad day -- lots of smiles involved.

We used to take an annual family Christmas photo and have lapsed, since the eldest moved out, but I think it's notable that we've usually tried to include our cats in the family photos. Cat wrangling is such fun. There was always plenty of laughter when we took those photos and I think we need to resume that tradition, next year. Awkward Family Pet Photos was a good reminder.

More brief reviews to come!

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Dog Tales by Susy Flory

Dog Tales by Susy Flory is subtitled "Inspirational Stories of Humor, Adventure and Devotion." While I've never been a dog owner and am none too fond of the fact that dogs are allowed to run loose where we live, I tend to like dogs on an individual basis -- when I know them well, that is. I'm just telling you that because I know my regular readers are well aware of my love of cats.

In Dog Tales, Susy Flory has chosen a variety of touching, humorous and otherwise interesting stories about dogs. Unfortunately, I don't remember many. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the book. I did. But, it wasn't memorable enough to stick with me for a month. What I mostly recall is impressions. Some of the stories are heartwarming, some sad, some truly amazing.

One story I remember well is the story of a Chow chow (eventually named Ohio). Ohio was filthy with long, matted fur and he spent his days lying in the middle of the street. A huge bear of a dog, he lay around looking depressed; he didn't respond to friendly strangers. A woman named Mary, who lived in his neighborhood, walked past the dog almost daily for a couple of years before deciding she needed to do something about him. After a bit of prayer, she summoned the courage to talk to the dog's owner. The owner hated the dog for reasons I won't go into and claimed he was a danger to her children. That was her excuse for neglect.

Mary asked if she could have the dog and his owner was happy to get rid of him. Mary and her friend took Ohio to Mary's house, where they clipped his filthy coat. What happened after the dog's fur was trimmed is beyond cool. He got up and danced around her yard! I would love to see such a thing. That particular story had a very happy ending as the dog's personality changed dramatically and he lived a long and happy life.

The stories in Dog Tales are a mixed batch. I liked some better than others. There's a Christian bent to this book, but it's not about Christianity. It's just that the author happens to be a Christian and mentions it when people prayed for their dogs or talked about God when they told their stories. I think this book is probably mostly likely to be enjoyed by dog owners, but I enjoyed reading it. I particularly loved the tale of a dog who saved a little boy from the Indonesian tsunami and a seeing-eye dog that led his owner out of one of the Twin Towers on 9/11. Heroic dog stories are always favorites.

The only thing I disliked about the book was the fact that many owners found what I personally consider bad behavior charming. Some of those dogs sounded to me like they needed to spend time at obedience school. But, I can relate to sometimes letting your pet get away with something he or she shouldn't, merely because a pet's so cute you don't want to stop them. Taking the time to snap Isabel's photo when she was lying in a place that's strictly forbidden (on the piano) is a prime example.

Recommended for pet lovers, particularly those who love dogs. My thanks to the author and Harvest House for the review copy.

And, speaking of dogs . . . my grand-dog is here for a visit! She very kindly brought my son with her. Here's the grand-dog, Peyton:

Don't you love those ears? Peyton has had to be boarded because she's an indoor dog and she doesn't like cats, but she's a very friendly, lovable dog and we had fun with her before she went to be boarded with our local vet.

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Dewey's Nine Lives by Myron & Witter

Dewey's Nine Lives by Vicki Myron
with Bret Witter
Copyright 2010
Dutton - Non-fiction/Animals
306 pages

We don't love cats out of need. We don't love them as symbols or projections. We love them individually in the complex manner of all human love, because cats are living creatures. They have personalities and quirks, good traits and flaws. Sometimes they fit us and they make us laugh in our darkest moments. And then we love them. It's as simple as that.

Dewey's Nine Lives is a book of nine stories -- two Dewey tales and seven other stories about cats who in some way deeply touched the lives of their humans. I gobbled down the first half of the book so quickly that I actually set Dewey's Nine Lives aside to force myself to extend the joy. I enjoyed it that much.

Each chapter of Dewey's Nine Lives is headed by the name or names of the cats whose stories are revealed within the following pages. I had some personal favorite stories, like that of Mr. Sir Bob Kittens, also known as "Ninja", a cat who was reserved enough that he was practically unadoptable but made his humans laugh when they discovered why he'd originally been nicknamed "Ninja". You just have to read it to believe it.

What I loved about this book:

As I read each of these stories, I couldn't help but think of my own cats and how they've touched our lives, often in similar ways. Our Sunshine, for example, was the most outgoing, empathetic and intelligent cat I've ever been owned by. I'll never forget the time I was crying and she climbed up on my chest, licked the tears off my face then tucked her head under my chin and stayed with me until I felt better. Most of the cats in this book are in some way special because of how they responded to their people, kept them company in their darkest hours, made them laugh, came running when they called. I smiled a lot while reading this book and occasionally wiped away tears.

What I disliked about this book:

These are small complaints, but the stories are often a bit meandering. Sometimes it takes the author a long time to get to the actual cat portion of a tale, although I always found that the background was relevant and helped you to understand the reason a particular cat was so special or important to helping a human get through rough times. I also kind of disliked the way the author inserted her own story into those of others -- although, again, there was a relevance to her comments about her own experiences and I've found that even as I'm writing this review there are many, many stories that I'm bursting to share. So, I can certainly understand why the author chose to do so.

Highly recommended to pet lovers everywhere.

Dewey's Nine Lives is a feel-good book about cats that any pet lover will appreciate, even those who aren't enamored of cats. I was surprised and pleased at the final story of the book, a continuation of the author's tale that connects to the story of another person with a very special cat.

The author politely warns readers that some stories may make them cringe and she doesn't necessarily condone how the humans chose to care for their cats. I felt that way about the many cats who spent their days outdoors and those who were not neutered, although we have always neutered but we used to have indoor-outdoor cats. After our Spooky was injured several times (once by a pack of dogs that nearly killed her) and after I read about how cats are contributing to the sharp decline in songbird populations, we opted to make our cats indoor pets. During her last years, we accompanied Miss Spooky outdoors and called her back if she started to walk out of sight. It's difficult to turn a cat who loves spending time outside into an indoor-only pet, so we started out fresh with Fiona and Isabel. They like sitting in open windows, but that's as close as they get to the outdoors.

My thanks to Dutton books for the Advance Review Copy of Dewey's Nine Lives! My copy will be traveling to the home of a cat-loving reading buddy in Upstate New York.

In other news:

Saturday's 24-hour Read-a-thon wiped me out, but I recovered pretty quickly. I've just been busy. We returned Kiddo to school on Monday and then went shopping for necessities and to check out whether or not Bookfool had a preference for particular monitor sizes (I'm not picky). Husband surprised me by ordering a new computer almost immediately. It will be a relief to have a computer that doesn't continually lock up. It's taking me forever to accomplish anything online. I'll warn you when I go offline to switch out computers.

Just walked in:

The Queen of Last Hopes by Susan Higginbotham - about Margaret of Anjou (from Sourcebooks)

The plan, such as it is:

Since I managed to finish three books and a graphic novel during the read-a-thon, I've got a bit of a backlog of reviews to complete, now. I don't want to give any of them short shrift (although I confess I might just skip Fables: Legends in Exile) but I don't plan to review them in any particular order, although I seem to be doing best alternating between adult and children's books, lately, so I may continue to review that way.

This post obviously requires a cat photo and today is Wednesday, so this one's a Wahoo!

I love it when my kitties hang out together harmoniously. Always very wahooey.

Happy Wednesday!

©2010 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.