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.