Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas

I have been adding a lot of dog books to my list recently since getting a dog of my own.  Becoming a dog owner has been a much bigger life change than I expected - with the help of my husband, the logistics and scheduling haven't been nearly as difficult as I expected.  However, the emotional parts of having a dog have been much greater than I expected.

So I chose to read this memoir to continue my quest to understand what I am feeling about owning a dog.  Granted the author's situation is worlds away from mine - her husband is in a serious accident and loses certain types of his memory.  Her relationship with her dogs is central to her maintaining her own mental health while also maintaining her relationship with her husband.

I liked this book and I think that Thomas was brave to write it.  That said, I didn't think it was really about her dogs very much.  Certainly she talked about each of her dogs and their personalities - also about how she acquired each one and what it was like when the each joined her family.  But she spent more of the book detailing her husband's condition (hallucinations, short term memory loss, long term memory loss, great anger and fear).  She talks about her decision to stay married to him, and her interactions with other family members and friends.  Reading it felt like walking into a stranger's kitchen and sitting down and spending some time there.

I'll read something else by Thomas in the future.  For now, still looking for some canine-themed books.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

This was a wonderful book. 

I had seen this book on the bestseller list but until Jim across the street mentioned it had been on his reading list, I didn't know it was a dog-book.  The story is about a man who is a struggling race car driver, and his relationship with his dog.  Uniquely, it is told through the dog's point of view. 

Right away, I will tell you that unless you are a "dog person" this is a book you probably want to skip.  I envision myself reading it a year ago and I'm not sure I would have made it past the first few chapters.  But now that I have Lucy and spend hours wondering what she is thinking and how much she understands, this book was a joy to read.

Enzo (the dog) is loyal, well-behaved, and well-educated from the TV his owner leaves on for him during the day.  He sees his owner through love, loss, job success and job failure, and develops a strong appreciation for watching races on TV.  He has strong feelings about the humans around him, resenting someone putting his favorite toy in the washing machine, for example, or thinking that "get busy" is a ridiculous cue to urinate at.  He also grasps a complex court case his owner is involved in, and catches many subtle interactions between humans.  In fact, he is the ultimate narrator, present for most of the story but invisible as pets can be during human interaction with each other.

At times, I thought it was indulgent to create a dog character who was anthropomorphized so strongly into a perfect companion.  But then I thought about how we are taught to "be a pack leader" and practice other activities the way a puppy's mother would have done it and realized that this is just another attempt to better relate to our canine friends.

Ravens by George Dawes Green

I heard about this book because the author, George Dawes Green, is one of the founders of The Moth, one of my favorite NPR shows/podcasts.  The Moth is a collection of 10-15 minute stories told live without notes to an audience about all sorts of topics.  Green said he started The Moth to preserve the art of storytelling; the name coming from moths that used to collect near his porch light growing up when his family and friends would stay up late telling stories.

Enough about The Moth - on to Ravens.  I figured someone dedicated to the art of storytelling would tell a good story himself...so the story Green tells is about a family who wins the lottery.  Two con men decide to hold the family hostage and threaten them to get half of the winnings.  The book follows the days just before and after the lottery win.

The book was ok, not great.  Stephen King really liked it which raised it on my list, but he seems to be doing a lot of reviews these days.  I thought the characters in the book were well-developed with excellent backstories justifying their actions throughout the book.  The desperate middle-America mom, the daughter anxious to spread her wings, her offbeat best friend, her loving grandmother (and the policeman in love with her) all left a mark in my head.  Both of the con men out to take their money were memorable as despicable and weak, respectively.  But something about the book just didn't come together for me: the story was slow to develop and reasonably predictable.

I'd be interested to read some non-fiction from Green to see if he is better at telling a real-life story.

Not Me by Michael Lavigne

Ruth recommended this novel to me and I was immediately intrigued by the plot.  A man discovers that his elderly father, known throughout his life as an activist and philanthropist in the Jewish community, may actually have been a Nazi.

The story held my attention - it alternated between the son's life in the present, and the father's diaries which outlined his past.  I was very interested in the story portrayed in the diaries, not just the questions around identity, but also the depiction of Israel in its infancy. 

The present story, however, was less interesting.  The narrator is a comedian, and that self-depreciating and sardonic personality that I associate with stand-up comedians was apparent.  I did not really "like" him or find his character's relationships realistic. 

One theme I came away from the book with was that family secrets always haunt the next generation, even if they are so secret they are unknown.  I got the impression that the narrator's failed and stalled relationships were inevitable based on his father's past.

Overall, this story was unusual and creative - just not sure the execution was as good as a good editor could have provided.

A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome by Alberto Angela

This was a fun book to read.  It reads as described - taking the reader through a typical day in the life across several socio-economic experiences in ancient Rome.  Stylistically, it was easy to read - translated from Italian, it read like a high school history book with a short chapter on each subject.  In that simplicity it reminded me of Sophie's Wold.  While the translation resulted in less-than-perfect grammar in a few places, most of the text was simple and clear.

The book discusses Rome around 115CE, after the Republic, once it is part of the Empire run by Trajan.  I was fascinated by how large it was geographically (Scotland to Iran, Sahara to the North Sea) and by population (proportionate to a country today having the population of the US, Russia, and China combined.)

I was amazed by how many "modern" things existed back then - toothpicks, bleach, ironing, sun umbrellas, crosswalks, even barbers and bookies!  There was glass but no prescription glasses.  There were many foods that are familiar to us (even some recipes included) but no coffee.  The author discusses how the issues in the city then are familiar to us now - rising rents in crowded apartments, traffic, safety, and pollution.

There are also several sections on parts of life different from how we live now: slaves, gladiators, bathhouses and public deaths to name a few.  It was fascinating to read a section on something familiar to our values, then have the next section be about stoning, or betting on a death for sport. 

While I got a little bored towards the end (the novelty of the book wears off) I did enjoy the experience of reading it and seeing what ancient Rome was like.  When I was a kid, my parents took us to Italy and we spent a day in Ostia Antica - today a popular tourist spot but then a little-known excavation that was fun to walk around...this book brought those memories back to life. 

Methland by Nick Reding

Crystal Methamphetamine has become a pop culture staple - Law and Order episodes are based on it, Third Eye Blind sings about it, and it often makes the evening news.  Last year I watched an HBO documentary on how badly meth had hurt the town of Brocton, MA, just 20 miles from where I live.  So when I noticed Reding's book on meth and its impact on a small town in Iowa, I was interested to read it.

Reding spent several years in different small town to form an opinion of exactly how lethal meth is to people, families, and communities.  This anthropological take on meth was interesting and devastating to read.  He included stories of people so desperate to get the drug or the ingredients that they would do terrible things.  He also included stories of people hallucinating on the drug who would ruin their lives during trips.  I came away from reading this book believing that meth is the most dangerous and ruinous drug in America.

In Olewin, Iowa in particular, the woman most responsible for bringing meth to the town is - oddly - comedian Tom Arnold's sister Lori.  From her story, Reding details the different ways meth has gotten into small towns, both through local labs, importing it from Mexico, or driving it from its most common source, southern California. 

What I also enjoyed about the book was the science  - how it impacts brain receptors - and history - how it was legally prescribed to mothers and soliders through the '80's - that he included also.  Reding also spends a significant section in the middle of the book detailing the politics around what could have been done to slow its distribution (limiting pseudophedrine production or distribution) and how that was not done for many years (because of the pharmaceutical lobby). 

The final theme of the book was around the connection between meth and economically depressed small towns in middle America.  One point he makes is that with economic troubles around agriculture in the Midwest, meth is a way for people to stay awake and work multiple jobs.  He also makes the case that as big agricultural conglomerates take jobs away from small-town America, the people in those towns turn to meth because there is little else to do to occupy their time or make any money.  While some of his conclusions seemed a little weak to me, the book also made me think of In Defense of Food and Pollan's conclusions around how our agricultural system was impacting small towns. 

Overall, I learned a lot reading this book.  I thought the writing could have been better edited in some places, and I also would have liked to see more focus in other areas.  But I would recommend it as an introduction to the difficulties in much of America around this devastatingly addictive drug.