Love, Let Me Not Hunger

by Paul Gallico

This book surprised me. It's about a small circus that falls onto hard times. Entertainment shifting towards the new invention of television, the circus owner decides to take his tour to Spain, where nobody in the small villages has tv yet and his performers will still be appreciated. But when they get there, after a promising start, disaster strikes. The locals are equally devastated by natural disaster, and can't offer any help. When the owner and most of the circus hands return to England to seek redress and assistance, just a few people are left behind to care for the animals. Pretty soon their money runs out, they are all starving, and turn to rather desperate measures to keep the valuable livestock - and themselves- alive.

I was surprised on several fronts. Surprised at the turns the story took- nothing was as I expected, yet I could imagine all this really happening. Surprised at how well it was told, how tender and brutally realistic at the same time. Most of all, surprised at how much this book was about sexuality. Not in a sordid way (although one amazon reviewer thought so- I couldn't find opinions elsewhere online of this book- it seems pretty obscure). But, I thought, in an honest depiction. There's a young girl Rose, grown up in poverty, who comes along with the circus as companion to one of the clowns- she keeps house for him in his little caravan, and becomes enamoured of the animals in the menagerie. There's the strict moral code among the circus people- they reject her as an outsider, and assume that because of her background she's just selling herself (which is untrue). For her part, Rose accepted the old clown simply as a matter of course and a measure of comfort, but she finds herself attracted to the young horseback performer Toby. He is drawn to her even more, having never been with a girl before, but at the same time despising her because of gossip and agonizing over things he doesn't know. When (as is obviously inevitable) these two finally get together, Toby is disappointed that his first experience doesn't live up to wild expectations. More stuff happens, there's estrangement and rejection and forgiveness, and in the end Toby finds what he had been looking for- the difference between needing and using someone, and truly loving them. I think that was the most tender, delicate moment in the whole book.

It was Rose and Toby's story that touched me most, but everyone else in the novel also has their needs and desires- in different forms. Some abandon the circus to try and survive elsewhere, some make promises and fail to keep them, some turn to violence and petty revenge. Some care most for the animals, others for their own skills and opportunities, others for their family's approval and so on. They all do what they can to get what they want, but those who go out of their way to assist the others and keep their integrity really shine through the dross. One of the strangest passages in the book occurs when the old man who is caretaker for the menagerie approaches a vastly wealthy woman in the hope of some charity. The enclosed world that was her walled estate such a very different place, with its own rules and codes. There is a shocking scene near the end that suggests this woman too, had her own needs, but she forced others to meet them, able to do so with her vast power and the fear she instilled in people. I didn't know what to make of this at first. It was disturbing to say the least. What a bald contrast this selfish manipulation, to the free tenderness shared between Toby and Rose. And yet in the end I just found it hideously sad.

I've just mentioned what stood out most to me when I turned the final pages, but the novel is full of other details and characters. There's a woman-hating elephant. A beautiful, wild tiger. The complexity and frustration of dealing with laws and regulations in a foreign land, where none of them speak the language. The ins and outs of the performers, animals and property changing hands as the status of the circus changes. The difficult decisions the manager faced. The social hierarchy within the circus. How they played the crowd, work behind the scenes, attitudes towards the animals, the public, their fellow circus workers. Close on the heels of Bad Elephant, Far Stream, this was another look at circus life that says a lot about love and need, the generosity and mean-spiritedness of human nature, all hand-in-hand.

Have any of you read this book? What did you think.

Rating: 3/5       323 pages, 1962

more TBR!

thanks to all my fellow book-loving bloggers!

Blackbringer by Laini Taylor- Read Warbler
The Cruise of the Cachalot by Frank T. Bullen- mentioned in Alone
Between You and Me by Mary Norris - Caroline Bookbinder
The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller- Book Chase
The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro- Ardent Reader
That's Not English by Erin Moore- Caroline Bookbinder
Hold Still by Sally Mann- Bermudaonion's Weblog
How to Live Forever by Colin Thompson- Melody's Reading Corner
Hammer Head by Nina McLaughlin- Sophisticated Dorkiness
The Tarball Chronicles by David Gessner- The Lost Entwife
Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky- So Many Books
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro- Maggie Reads
When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning- So Many Books
My Age of Anxiety by Scott Stossel- Farm Lane Books Blog
On the Move by Oliver Sacks- Caroline Bookbinder
Bone Gap by Laura Ruby- Things Mean a Lot

Letters from Yellowstone by Diane Smith- Caroline Bookbinder
The Death of Jim Lonely by James Welch- The Lost Entwife
Buffalo for the Broken Heart by Dan O'Brien- The Lost Entwife
And the Birds Rained Down by Jocelyne Saucier- Jules' Book Reviews
Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson- mentioned in Gipsy Moth Circles the World
Alone Through the Roaring Forties by Vito Dumas- ditto
Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum- ditto
The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-mi Hwang- Stuff as Dreams are Made On
The Virago Book of Women Travellers edited by Mary Morris and Larry O'Connor- Read Warbler

all of the below written by authors quoted on the back of Gifts of An Eagle:
Flight to Freedom by Kent Durden
A Fine and Peaceful Kingdom by Kent Durden
A Squirrel of One's Own by Douglas Fairbairn
Wild Brother by Ronald Rood
How Do You Spank a Porcupine? by Ronald Rood
The Blue Whale by George L. Small

some random bookish thoughts

I don't do this kind of post often, but have been thinking lately a few things about books, where else better to share them.

~ Do you ever come across a book that suddenly makes you realize how very different times are now from a century or more ago. How acutely opposite the way people thought, their worldview, their concerns and outlook on things?

A few of these have really jumped out at me lately. When I read The Alley Cat (published 1981), there was a character distinctly disdained by the others for his bookish habits. They all seemed puzzled by his immersion in the written word, dismissed and pitied him for it, and tried to avoid his company, because his conversation was so dull and incomprehensible! In Beautiful Joe (published 1893) also, there was a son who loved to read. The mother saw this as a bad habit and advised how to compassionately encourage a reader to set the books aside and become engaged with the world. She was very earnest about this. I'm glad reading as a whole is no longer seen as a lazy habit that will ruin your mind. I have run into people who can't imagine why I spend time reading- it seems pointless to them- but overall I think most parents and teachers encourage their kids to read, correct? (Or do I just see it that way because I am a reader).

On a different note, in The Sea and the Jungle (published 1912) there's a little passage about a man who looses his job because he went into debt. Not to the company, just in his own circumstance. His wife was ill, the doctor bills unmanageable so he "went to the moneylenders" and this was seen as such a foolish, irresponsible act that his boss (a "rigid moralist") fired him because a man who got into debt, not being able to control his own life, was no good for the business of another man. How times have changed. While I don't like having debt and am trying to pay mine off, I can't imagine someone nowadays getting fired for simply acquiring it!

I ran into quite a different example when I tried to read Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour (published 1853). I couldn't get past the first chapter, as I could not at all visualize what was being described. It was mostly about clothing styles. Characters were introduced with meticulous descriptions of their clothes, obviously meant to communicate something about their station in life and habits, but I had no idea what all these clothing articles were, much less what they said about the person. It makes me think that a lot of books which have remained classics over the decades, have a key feature: not only are they well-written, compelling stories, but they must also be accessible to readers beyond their own time frame. Books like this one full of dense descriptions that are pretty much meaningless to someone like me, have made themselves obscure in part because they're hard to enjoy and understand. At least, that's my thought.

~ On a completely different track, why is it that when I saw this picture, I instantly and vividly thought of The Dragonbone Chair (which I haven't read in over a decade)? Was there a scene in the forest where Simeon saw a white deer, or some other elusive, mysterious animal? I cannot remember. Anyone enlighten me? (I never finished that series either, got about halfway through its sequel Stone of Farewell. Another set of books I mean to go back to someday).

The Sportsman's Anthology

edited by Robert Kelley

The short stories in this collection are about sports. Sports enjoyed by outdoorsmen- I imagine they reflect was was popular in the forties. There are stories of mountaineering and saltwater fishing, of yacht races, of football and baseball. There's a story of a golf club getting itself established, another about a poor western college boy cobbling together a crew team so he could travel to New York and meet a girl. Another about a bobsled team. I liked two about mountain climbing - Matterhorn and McKinley. Quite a few hunting stories- most with dogs, setters and spaniels. I rather liked the one called "A Red Letter Day" by Edwyn Sandys which really gave a beautiful picture of the skill, eagerness, communication and grace a good bird dog can bring to the field (such was my impression). More than half the stories are about horses: horse racing, fox-hunting, steeplechases, etc. Of men trying to show themselves upper-class enough to go foxhunting but making fools of themselves, or of a man pitching himself into a race with high hopes on how his horse would perform. One featuring a polo pony match is just a blur."Ting-a-ling" by David Gray was a poignant story. Told how a young bride saw a streetcar-horse struggling with an overloaded car, she admired its spirit and bemoaned its fate. Her new husband promptly bought the horse for her. They hoped he would shine as a steeplechase horse, but he turned out to do something much more significant for their family than simply win a race.

My favorite story was "Don- the Story of a Lion Dog" by Zane Grey. This one was set in wild, dry scrub country that was Arizona at the time- the author accompanied a group of men that set out with hounds to catch mountain lions. Although the story centered on a certain aloof dog and how the author tried to win its affections, I was struck by two points. Firstly, the lion-hunter just gathered up a motley bunch of unwanted dogs, and when they got out in the desert let them run loose alongside the horses. He taught them to hunt lion in a simple, brutally effective manner- if the dogs took off after any scent or animal sign that was not from a lion, he yelled at them and shot them (birdshot). When they finally struck a lion's trail, they were encouraged instead. The author adamantly opposed this method, but nobody would listen to him. I was also left wondering why they were tracking and roping up cougars. It surprised me how many, how easily they came upon the big cats. The descriptions of their grace and wildness stunning. It was obvious the hunter wanted to take them alive, but I didn't know their intended fate. I've read somewhere else that they roped lions to use for training other dogs or to sell to zoos, but this story itself was never clear on that.

But I actually only read half the book. I skipped many chapters- either because I know nothing about the sport and couldn't follow well, didn't care for the writing style, or just didn't find the story itself interesting. I found this one in an antique store, in a pile of books on horsemanship.

Rating: 2/5       396 pages, 1944

Bad Elephant Far Stream

by Samuel Hawley

The life of a circus elephant. Far Stream, given many different names later in life, was captured and taken by force from her forest home in Asia. Separated from her family, shipped across the ocean, she spent thirty years learning routines and performing for peoples' amusement. This sad and disturbing book details what it might be like to lead such a life- from the elephant's viewpoint. The confusing lessons on unnatural dancing and balancing acts- beaten into them by force. The long hours standing in confinement, in chains, in railway cars, in stables. Being teased and poked and stared at by thousands of strangers. Expected to accept everything mutely and submit endlessly. It's no wonder some of them "went bad", and this particular elephant, called Topsy near the end of her shortened life, did just that. Simmering resentment built up during long years of bad treatment and idle torment lashed out just a few times, and she was sentenced to death, deemed too dangerous to keep. Done by triple means- poison, hanging and electrocution with over six thousand volts, orchestrated by Thomas Eddison himself (who probably wanted the publicity), her death was a spectacle in itself.

Distressing as all this is, for me the most poignant parts of the book were reading about her distant memories of the forest, the physical sensations she would dream away into, removing herself from current boredom and misery. Or the one moment she actually escaped and roamed the countryside for a week, finally realizing she couldn't find enough food to keep alive, she missed the company of other circus elephants, even the reassurance of familiar routine and human direction. It was a sad reminder of how used to this travelling life she had become, how dependent on the people who enslaved her. There's so much more to this book- the way circuses were run, the constant changing hands, being rented out for events and such. The danger of male elephants- eventually Far Stream saw most of them disappear from the circus tents, as people realized they were just too much liability. How things changed over the decades- the first few troupes she was with journeyed by horse-pulled wagons, later it was all by rail. She survived quite a few derailments, witnessed or experienced many kinds of accidents as well.

It's all based on actual accounts of circus elephants, most of the incidents in the book are purportedly true although of course the details have been re-imagined. They feel very authentic- the author's notes at end of the book list numerous sources that I bet are rich reading in themselves. Even the way the author chose to portray how the elephants communicated among themselves with contact calls, reassurances or moments of humor, how they felt each others' emotions and shared memories, didn't feel contrived to me (as it did to some extent in The White Bone). It felt like the way things could be. Most of all I felt sad at the complexity, intelligence and patience of these great animals that were often treated so inhumanely, for so long.

I received a copy of this book from the author, via a giveaway at Opinions of a Wolf. Thanks to them.

Rating: 4/5      263 pages, 2013

Bird Brainteasers

by Patrick Merrell

Curious and interesting facts about birds, lovely quotes and myriad games and puzzles pack this short volume. The illustrations, done in an ink style reminiscent of old woodcuts, is quite lovely, and I really like the inclusion of a page of dodo sketches, from a 1601 journal kept aboard the ship De Gelderland. I enjoyed working through the crosswords, searches and other word puzzles that all feature bird names. This little book is a quick, fun read (probably would make a great gift for any bird-lover).

Some of the more interesting tidbits I read: when the James Bond character was created, author Ian Flemmings was looking for a very ordinary name and glanced at the cover of his favorite bird book- by James Bond, an ornithologist. Cassowaries are the most dangerous bird- in some zoos they are considered the most dangerous animal. It was also interesting to read about all the different presidents who have kept pet birds, and of many musicians throughout history who have incorporated specific birdsongs in their melodies. Mozart kept a starling, Charles Darwin had a pet crow, Picasso was fond of pigeons. Audubon killed hundreds of birds for collections and to study their anatomy for his paintings. There is a bird I never heard of before, the hooded pitohui, which has poisonous feathers and skin!

My favorite quote, by Henry Ward Beecher: If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be clever enough to be crows.

Rating: 3/5      324 pages, 2008

People of the Sea

by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear

I can't remember the last time a stranger approached me in public because of a book I was reading! But it happened just a few days ago in the park while my kids were playing- this guy came up to me surprised and delighted to see I was reading a book from his favorite series. He (and his dad) like the books so much they wait anxiously every few years for the next one to be published. The First North American series is written by a husband-wife team, one is an anthropologist, the other a historian and archaeologist. As far as I understand it, each book is set deep in pre-history, based on archaeological findings and ancient native legends from different areas of the continent.

This one is set in the region that became California, some eleven thousand years ago, in a time of glaciers and great change. It pitches into the storyline abruptly with people facing epidemics of illness while the megafauna around them is disappearing, especially the great mammoth herds. The focus is on two characters- a spiritual leader struggling to understand the changes and upheaval his people face, and a young woman fleeing her irate husband when he discovers she's committed adultery. I'm pretty sure their paths intersected, but I didn't get that far. I just couldn't stay interested. I think because the story was told too quickly, it's an easy enough read but it was all about what happened among the people and I wished for a bit more description of the land and the animals... Disappointed I couldn't get into this one after the glowing personal recommendation I received, but the series as a whole has a lot of positive reviews online. Some people mention this one in particular is their least-favorite. I have another on my shelf, I'll give it a try instead.

Abandoned        425 pages, 1993

Through the Eyes of a Young Naturalist

by William S. Sipple

I thought I would love this book. Maybe it was just hard to appreciate, right on the heels of My Family and Other Animals. It's an autobiographical work, the author describing how he explored the woods as a boy, his fishing trips and trapping exploits, his later bird-watching activities and work in local conservation efforts (Maryland wetlands). Unfortunately, it's not very engaging. The writing is very straightforward, descriptive but in a flat style that was frankly rather boring- we saw this bird, we hiking up this hill, we visited this pond, we wondered whose tracks those were oh and now I know they were this animal etc etc. It's the kind of book you might like if you knew the author personally, but otherwise not really. There are a few awkward aspects to it that make me wonder if it's self-published. Although the physical book itself is of good quality paper and materials, the illustrations are unpolished and look copied straight from photographs- then reading the flyleaf I learned (not too surprised) they were done by a student. The flyleaf doesn't tell you what the book is about in an interesting manner, but instead lists the author's credentials. And through the entire book, words which I'd expect to see in italics, are instead all underlined- book and article titles, species names, birdcalls written phonetically. It made the reading a bit jarring. I ended up skimming a lot, to see if the actual incidents described (instead of just mentioning all the animals he saw and places he went) were worth reading, but they weren't enough to keep me going so I didn't finish the book.

Abandoned     204 pages, 1991

My Family and Other Animals

by Gerald Durrell

Durrell describes his childhood on the Greek island of Corfu, with his interesting family. Each of his siblings had their passion. One of his older brothers was into literature and art, the other guns and hunting. The author himself was, of course, fascinated by wildlife and as he was often left to his own devices all day long, he spent his time prowling the island observing myriad insects and small animals, catching them when he could. He brought home a wide variety of small creatures- turtles, birds, fish, lizards and so on- continually upsetting his family when they found scorpions in the matchbox or snakes in the bathtub. Finally they realized he wasn't going to abandon his interests, and gave him a room of his own to dedicate to his nature studies and growing collection. He was also blessed to have a series of personal tutors who recognized and shared, each in their own way, his passion for nature. One was as happy to spend afternoons catching insects and wading through marshes as Durrell himself, another later on had his own attic full of bird cages and a balcony converted into aviaries. Aside from the descriptions of animals and his minor adventures with his dogs finding, watching and catching things, there's also plenty of hilarious stories about incidents in his family. Even in the midst of an argument, trying to rescue a dinner party ruined by a pair of magpies or put out a fire in someone's bedroom, they have the funniest exchanges ever. It's a delightful book, one of the best Durrell I've read so far. I often fail to find other reviews on his animal-collecting books, but this one seems more popular and I can see why.

The opening passage alone cracked me up: It was originally intended to be a mildly nostalgic account of the natural history of the island, but I made a grave mistake by introducing my family into the book in the first few pages. Having got themselves on paper, they then proceeded to establish themselves and invite friends to share the chapters. It was only with the greatest difficulty, and by exercising considerable cunning, that I managed to retain a few pages here and there which I could devote exclusively to animals. Well yes, but the animals and descriptions of the countryside definitely stand out to me. His observations of male tortoises wrestling during the mating season and of a large preying mantis battling with a gecko on his bedroom ceiling were the best parts of the book.

Rating: 4/5       319 pages, 1956

more opinions:
Read Warbler
A Work in Progress
Rivers I Have Known
BookNAround
Valentina's Room
Shiny New Books

another Dare completed

Yesterday was the end of the TBR Double Dog Dare! hosted yearly by C.B. James.

If I count up how many book posts I've done since the Dare started, I read 22 books and abandoned one. There were a lot more I shuffled onto the discard pile, where I sampled twenty pages or so and then just realized I didn't want to continue, and the book didn't merit a post- I didn't get far enough into it to say much about it. My "unread" tag on LibraryThing now has 174 books remaining (down from 190-something three months ago), I don't have exact numbers because several times lately when going to mark a book off the unread list I realized it wasn't on there to begin with. I usually try to put books into the catalog when they come into my house, but I've missed some.

My TBR shelves are now down to eight and a half- it feels a lot more tidy and manageable. I no longer have stacks of unread books on the floor (except for one of cookbooks) or across the tops of shelves. Feels like I'm getting somewhere!

I only brought a few new books in during the Dare- one about an elephant that I won from Wolfshowl, and a lovely illustrated version of Pinocchio I just found at an antique store yesterday. I had one little lapse early on in the Dare, when I came home after a long day with a bag full of books a friend had given me for the kids. Including a cute little series about a hamster, and I sat down and read the first one on the spot. Then realized I broke the Dare! I've since held off reading the rest of the Freddy books... So I didn't really stick to it 100%. But I feel like I accomplished a lot on the TBR pile, and that's something.

Three Singles to Adventure

by Gerald Durrell

The book starts abruptly, without much introduction or explanation. It was the early 1950's, when Durrell (looks to be in his twenties, from a photo in the book) and a few companions set off for Guiana, on a trip to collect wild animals for zoos. (He seems already experienced at this venture- I wonder as I read more of his books, if I'd find one that describes his initial attempts. I bet that's hilarious). The title comes from a phrase referencing the tickets bought, with end destination a small village called Adventure. Through scenery strikingly reminiscent of the last book I read (but much briefer!) they travel into South America and visit a number of small villages and settlements, seeking a variety of specimens to take home. Sometimes he made short forays into the forest with his companions, but more often than not they simply asked the locals to show them animals- purchasing those the natives kept as pets or animals that hunters caught for them. He mentions quite a few curious creatures. Snakes, monkeys, lizards and caiman were common. More interesting to me was reading about the capybara, agouti, tree porcupine and an anteater they tried to catch by chasing it down on horseback and lassoing it! I was surprised at the final count: he had more than five hundred animals (of a variety of species) collected when it was time to board ship and home. Then describes the difficulties in keeping the animals clean and fed, and the inevitable losses (but doesn't say how many- I wonder how high the toll really was). The author's admiration for wildlife really shines through the pages, in spite of the fact that he was pulling them out of their native habitat to cart home for display and scientific study. It really seems he did the best he could by them. As well as delight in reading about the animals, there are lots of different characters here in the people met on their travels. One in particular that kept me laughing was a man eager to guide them, who continually had to impress and "one-up" with a better story, every time something happened. There are also lots of amusingly awkward incidents when animals nearly get away, and misunderstandings when communication was difficult.

It was sometimes a puzzle to read and try to picture the wildlife- they did not have the same common names I know, as Durrell often referred to them by local names- "pimpla hog" was a tree porcupine, "pipa toad" the surinam toad (I myself only first heard of this animal a year ago!), "sakiwinki" were the squirrel monkeys, and so on. The "crab dog" a type of raccoon- it amused me that this was such a strange animal to Durrell, until I remembered he was from England (raccoons are so familiar to me, but then they're native to the Americas. In his time perhaps he had never seen one before). I kept forgetting that "uwarie" was a possum- despised by the locals because it was a scavenging pest- they were astonished and delighted that Durrell's team eagerly bought these animals- I imagine it would be like someone coming here asking around to buy rats or cockroaches for their curiosity.

Rating: 3/5       191 pages, 1954

The Sea and the Jungle

by H.M. Tomlinson

I didn't know what this book was about at first, but I found the cover intriguing- it looks like woodcut panels. (They follow the timeline of the journey in the book, but the two on the back cover are first, chronologically). The first line definitely caught me: Everyone knows that the purpose of a travel book is to make the reader miserably envious of the author. It's a travel book unlike any other I've read. It describes the route of a cargo ship, a steamer that in 1909 carried a load of Welsh coal from Swansea to Pará, Brazil and then up the Amazon river and a small tributary to a site near the San Antonio Falls where it sat "in port" for a month while inspections were made and cargo unloaded. The return trip went via Barbados, past Jamaica and landed at Tampa, FL from where our narrator caught a train to New York and made his final way home.

I haven't spoken of him. He's actually not much of a figure in the story itself- mostly an observer. It begins rather abruptly when Tomlinson is on his way to work, feeling bitterly oppressed by the daily grind, and stops to have conversation with a sailor on the street. This man invites him to take passage on the cargo steamer (it being short a few hands) and our narrator pretty much ditches his job, family and responsibilities in an instant to go along. (If you read the forward it becomes apparent the sailor was his brother, but still it seems very impulsive!) From there the book is all about the journey. I liked reading it, but the descriptions can be so dense it's hard to keep track of what you're reading about sometimes. The author has interesting insights and musing to share about everything he witnesses. The few momentous events seem to occur to other people, and there are a number of tall tales and travel stories told by other people met along the way. Tomlinson went aboard the ship in role of purser, which I understand means his job was to keep track of accounts, so he doesn't seem to do much but sit around chatting with people and watching everyone else work. It really does give you a vivid sense of place, the pitch and roll of the ocean, smothering heat inside the belly of the ship, characters of the deckhands (most did not speak English), the changes of weather, the sudden wall of greenery of South American jungle, glimpses of native people, birds and astonishingly gorgeous butterflies (never any wildlife larger than a peccary or anaconda), fears of mosquitoes and disease, and a crazy story about this railroad being built deep in the rain forest headed who knows where.

Certain aspects of the book reminded me vividly of The Lord of the Flies, Mister Johnson by Joyce Cary and State of Wonder but it's hard to put my finger on exactly why.

Rating: 3/5     302 pages, 1912

The Dangerous Book for Dogs

a parody
by Joe Garden, Janet Ginsburg, Chris Pauls, Anita Serwacki, Scott Sherman

Just the kind of light-hearted, amusing read I needed. A book of instructions pitched to dogs themselves, it includes advice on things like how to defend territory from the mailman, drive dinner guests from the house (with great subtlery), select the best shoes for chewing, get out of and destroy stupid costumes and train the owner to feed you when you want. The dogs' viewpoint on sharing a household with cats and the inevitability of bathtime (horrible but still vastly preferrable to visiting the groomer) were hilarious. Also pretty amusing were the doggy advice on how to woo a female in heat and why humans disdain the lovely odors of fresh dead carcasses and feces, but won't share drinks from their toilet bowl. In between the advice and instructions, there are tidbits on famous dogs in history and literature, most of which I found rather inane. But the one about the dog fighting a toaster was pretty funny.

Rating: 3/5         192 pages, 2007

Gifts of An Eagle

by Kent Durden

The author tells how he and his father raised and trained a golden eagle. At the time eagles were only protected at the state level, so they were able to obtain a permit to trap and keep a golden eagle for educational purposes. They studied the bird as it grew, keeping a record on film. They created short films depicting the eagle's flying skills and intelligence, and later created early nature films for Walt Disney and pieces that were used in the tv show Lassie. That was all pretty interesting, but most I enjoyed reading about the eagle's habits, how they interacted with and trained her, how she adjusted to new situations, how she bonded with the author's father while viewing the son as pretty much a sworn enemy for life. (Because he had to hold the eagle when his father trimmed its talons, and also was the one to trap the eagle when they re-enacted its capture for a film). It was fascinating to read about how the eagle became a foster parent numerous times- when she laid unfertilized eggs during the breeding season (having no mate) they replaced her eggs with fertile ones from other birds to see how she would raise them. Geese, ducks, owlets and last of all some actual golden eagles. So many interesting moments here, told very well. This book was a surprisingly good read. It made me laugh a good number of times.

Rating: 4/5      160 pages, 1972

The Bird Hospital

by Caroline Crowninshield Bascom

Another old book I picked up at a used sale somewhere, that wasn't quite what I expected. It's the firsthand account of a woman in the early 1900's who kept wild birds in her home, attempting to nurse them back to health. It began when as a young girl she was bedridden for long periods due to illness, and her mother brought in an abandoned baby bird someone had found to amuse her. Soon children in the neighborhood started to bring her birds as well- young ones fallen out of the nest, injured birds caught by cats, etc. Pretty soon she was known locally as the woman with "the bird hospital" and had a steady stream of avian patients.

While she was obviously kind-hearted and well-meaning, tenderly caring for her charges, it was also obvious that she was unfortunately ignorant about what the birds needed. This is my guess, because I'm not an expert myself, but I was surprised to read that she fed many baby birds a steady died of bread or crackers soaked in milk, that she gave birds she assumed had asthma sugar cubes dipped in whiskey, and many other birds got table fare on a regular basis, whatever they seemed to fancy. One bird she didn't know the name of but described in detail (I think it was a starling) became ill after eating some roses, was dosed with alcohol and promptly died. They also met with frequent accidents from swallowing string, or being attacked by her cat (which she constantly let into the room, with stern but unheeded verbal reprimands) and many simply died from unknown causes or escaped out windows the first chance they got.

All in all, it seemed from reading between the lines a dismal success rate, though she never lost her enthusiasm and conviction that she was doing well by them. It is fun to read about the birds' antics, her attempts at training them to sing along to the piano or come when called by their names. But I couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for them all, in spite of her evident fondness for them and desire to help.

Rating: 2/5      190 pages, 1905

Hummingbirds: My Winter Guests

by Arnette Heidcamp

Lovely little book written by a wildlife rehabber who specializes in the smallest of birds: the hummers. At first she just fed hummingbirds in her yard, then began tending to injured ones in her open sunroom. She became known as the lady who ran "Hummingbird 911" and this book describes a number of hummingbirds she cared for overwinter, so they could be released in spring when they were done healing and recuperating. The birds included a nestling found when a tree was cut down, a bird that was found severely injured after apparently running headlong into a window, one caught by a cat, and several others found wandering off-course when winter began, weakened without the reserves to migrate successfully. In each case the author describes how she fed and tended to the tiny birds- often having to invent new methods to safely handle them, due to their size. For example, one injured bird that could not preen got its feathers individually dried with a sable paintbrush. Another that needed extra protein (hummingbirds eat a surprising number of small insects such as gnats, whitefly and aphids) got fish food crumbled into its nectar solution. I learned a lot from her book about hummingbirds- their needs, biology, behavior and little quirks. I would like to read her other books especially the first one, because she glossed over a lot of details in this one that I bet were explained more thoroughly earlier- such as how she managed to get such sharply detailed photographs.

There was one interesting passage where she talked about the patterns of hummingbird migration, how certain species were being seen outside their usual area, speculating that they were expanding their range. While she couldn't help assisting the lost and injured hummers, she also wondered about the effects of humans intervention- rescuing the unfit birds where nature would have weeded them out, making the species as a whole stronger.

Rating: 3/5     204 pages, 1997

Gipsy Moth Circles the World

by Sir Francis Chichester

Another tale of a singlehander's voyage that I had on my shelf. It has some similarities, and many differences, to the previous one. In this case, the adventurer was a very experience sailor. He had a yacht custom-built for his trip, where he planned to circumnavigate the world stopping at only one port (Sydney, Australia) which had never been done before, and to do it faster than anyone ever had in a small vessel. Alone. He pointed out how different sailing is with an able crew, than one person solo. I was astonished that he even put to sea knowing all the things that were wrong beforehand- the boat wasn't balanced right, the sail yardage seemed wrong for its size, the keel wasn't big enough, it didn't steer well etc etc. I don't know what all the sailing terms mean, but even so I thought: I would never attempt to cross the oceans in that boat! Plus he had a serious leg injury right before leaving, and refused to see a doctor. Undaunted, he put to sea. And found many more problems along the way- issues with how the boat handled, leaks all over the place, moldy food and so on.

The book is based on his meticulous logs; some of it is about navigation and weather observations, most of it is a retelling of all the things that went awry and how he solved them. Ingenious fix-it-ups when things broke or malfunctioned. I was impressed that he baked his own bread during the voyage, grew cress, bean sprouts, mustard seed and wheatgerm for greens, and even drank seawater (small amounts) when he felt he lacked salt. Also impressed at how arduous it must be to sail alone- constant work to readjust sails and alter the steering whenever the wind and waves changed. Not to mention all the other work! Never any rest. Must be exhausting. I admit I could never face some of the things he did: re-baking moldy bread to eat it anyway, doing dental work on himself when he broke a tooth, going days on end of hard work with fragmented sleep.

And he did all this when he was sixty-five. Breaking several records for fastest-travelling sailing yacht of its size, longest passage without stopping at port, furthest distance travelled by a singlehander, and several others. His trip was followed avidly by newspapers at home, and he was met by adulating crowds and knighted by the Queen when he finally made it back to London (approx 8 months later).

I liked reading about his sightings- he was very interested in the seabirds, mentioned seeing whales or dolphins occasionally, not many fish. In one regard very marked difference with d'Aboville's account of crossing the Pacific in 1991, who remarked upon constantly running into floating plastic trash. Just twenty-five years earlier, Chichester made no mention of finding such pollution. Were the seas so much cleaner then, or perhaps he was too busy to notice it.

Overall, the book gets kind of tedious. It's fascinating to see what the experience was like, but I get lost easy in all the terminology. When he mentions doing this and that adjustment to such-and-such a sail to the boat's response in this way to that kind of wind, I just imagine things being tugged and swung around, but really have no idea. Probably this book is best appreciated by a sailor. It did give me a few great-sounding titles of other famed seafaring ventures, and cleared up some confusion I had when reading Rockbound. (In that book, the characters constantly groused about a seabird colony on the lighthouse island. They called them "the careys" and despised their burrowing habits which ruined the land for crops, and their stink. I couldn't figure out what these birds were. Chichester mentions seeing "Mother Carey's chickens" which he tells me are storm petrels. Ah! That puzzlement cleared up nicely.)

Rating: 3/5        269 pages, 1967

more opinions:
Loud Latin Laughing

Alone

The Man Who Braved the Vast Pacific- and Won
by Gerard d'Aboville

In 1991, this Frenchman d'Aboville rowed across the Pacific Ocean solo. From Japan to the American coast (his original goal was San Francisco but he landed in the small town of Ilwaco, Washington). It's quite an adventure story. Not the most gripping reading- although he describes his preparations, difficulties, encounters with sea life (few and far between), the overpowering emptiness of the ocean, its mood and weather, what it felt like to be so small tossed on the waves- it still did not compare to the fantastic storytelling that was Kon-Tiki, for example. The biggest question when I read this book was- why? why undertake such an arduous, dangerous exploit? D'Aboville states that a decade earlier, he rowed across the Atlantic- he often compared the two journeys- the Atlantic was calmer, warmer, much more populated with fish and sea traffic, and yet two other men who were attempting to row across at the same time he did, failed to make it. It turns out he just felt compelled to push himself to his limits, to prove he could do it. It definitely sounded like an ordeal. The cold, the wet, the tedious diet (mostly dehydrated meals), the loneliness (even for this is a man who prefers his own company more often than not). He kept accurate notes on his experience, took myriad photographs to document it- even in the midst of a storm or the turmoil that occured when his boat capsized. Which it did many times. It was a twenty-six foot rowboat with storage space fore and cramped sleeping compartment aft under the decks. It was specially designed just for this trip, had an ingenious water-pumping device to allow d'Aboville to right the boat when it capsized (with him trapped inside), solar panels for limited electricity to power his telex, and a radio among other things. The journey across the ocean took him 134 days. Several times he was passed by ships which invited him on board, and he refused- always determined to finish the crossing by himself.

When I first picked up this book on a whim, I thought from the cover image it was about a man who accidentally was adrift to survive the ocean- shipwrecked or something. Not at all- a deliberately planned venture of bravery and stamina. It's funny that one of the amazon listings for this book has a misleading subtitle: The True Story of the Man Who Fought the Sharks, Waves, and Weather of the Pacific and Won. There were no sharks!

It would be nice to read about his first venture crossing the Atlantic, but I couldn't find any evidence that he'd written a book about that.

Rating: 3/5        167 pages, 1992

Rockbound

by Frank Parker Day

On a remote island off the southern shore of Novia Scotia, young David ventures to claim a piece of land that is his by inheritance. It's difficult at first to make his livelihood and gain acceptance among the islanders. The community is mostly comprised of two families that are in constant friction- they argue over everything from who will marry whom, to whose task it is to fill a pothole in the common road. The harsh conditions and rough work make tough men, who are proud of their strength and skill. David finds his way among them, proving his worth and standing his ground against the "island king", an old man leader of one group of fishermen who makes all the important decisions. It was really intriguing reading not only the details about how fishermen make their living, but also the politics on the island, the gossiping and vying for power, the prevalence of ghost stories and superstitions. I was a bit surprised at how intent some of the men seemed to be on gaining wealth through their fishing enterprise, when they lived so crudely and seemed to just sit on the money. David's friend becomes keeper of the lighthouse on a small, even lonelier island and it was interesting again to read about the work involved in tending the lighthouse and ingeniously fixing it up when things broke and no supply ships could get in because of the weather. There's also a love story, acts of forgiveness and revenge, and a picture of how life on the island evolved over time. Machinery replacing some of the work done by cattle, women eventually getting to vote and choose their husbands instead of always being ruled by the men (even in these cases the men always had to save face in some way!) I even liked the details about managing the land- how the barren rock and thin topsoil was turned into rich gardens by composting with sea wrack- that appealed to the gardener in me!

Through it all there's the admirable character of David. He takes his hard knocks and comes through it. He survives shipwreck and debilitating injury, he doesn't stand in his best friends' way when they desire the same future. I thought it a bit far-stretched that this man could start reading Shakespeare's The Tempest shortly after learning how to read- but it made a nice allegory in the story. I almost didn't get into this book because at first the dialogue written in local slang really threw me off, but before long I was caught up in the narrative. There are some other disjointed parts in the beginning where the author suddenly tells what one character will do years ahead of the present storyline- and then jumps back into the flow- but after that it goes on fairly linear.

The afterword by Gwendolyn Davies is pretty interesting- it tells about the author's life and research, how the book was first published and its initially poor reception. Apparently the author had visited the fishing community on an island called Ironbound, to learn about the local culture. The inhabitants were offended when the book was finally published- though called fictional, they said it portrayed them in a bad light as being ignorant and crude. The book met strong disfavor and was out of print for over forty years, finally being reprinted in 1973.

Rating: 3/5       328 pages, 1928

The Marvels of Animal Behavior

edited by Thomas B. Allen

This book is from the National Geographic Society, part of their natural science library series. The chapters are written by over 20 different authors and scientists on animal behavior. Most of them from work in the field. A few are broad discussion on things like migration, how animals learn and different social orders among the animal kingdom. The majority have a specific focus: the shift of territorial boundaries between hyena clans, social order of bee colonies, echolocation in bats, how bison bulls vie for dominance, whale songs, penguin colonies, the courtship behaviors of fish. Featured animals also include storks, african lions, mountain gorillas, elephants, ants and wildebeest. Although the book is really outdated (for example, at the time it was written bat sonar and whale songs were new discoveries, nobody knew about elephants' subsonic communication and how birds navigate was still largely a mystery) I still learned many things and enjoyed the reading overall. For the first time I read the words of George Schaller! Another chapter is written by Dian Fossey (the other authors were unknown to me).

I recognized a number of the photographs- especially the ones of an albino gorilla- from my parents' collection of old National Geographic magazines- I used to look through the pictures a lot. Back then I hardly ever read the articles, so I don't know if the chapters in this book are just reprints of selected articles, or were written specifically for this volume. The publication data and acknowledgements are unclear on that. I did notice, if they were originally magazine articles, how focused they are on the science and the animals. Whereas I often feel that current articles I read (because I'm interested to learn about the wildlife) are just as much a travelogue- you get more about the place, its politics and relevant difficulties as information about the science and animals themselves.

Rating: 4/5         422 pages, 1972

Animalscam

the Beastly Abuse of Human Rights
by Kathleen Marquardt

This book is an opposing voice to animal-rights extremists. Using public quotes from animal-rights activists themselves and revealing machinations behind nonprofit organizations that claim to help animals, the author points out how absurd and harmful to mankind some animal-rights agendas can be, plus how money raised by some big-name organizations doesn't actually do anything to help animals at all. Funds not ending up where you think they should. People purporting to defend animals who use violent methods like bombing buildings and shooting at hunters. How activists stall research efforts that are working to help mankind by advancing medical science (not all research labs are poorly run or treat animals badly). She makes the case that animal-rights people are so for animals that they deliberately do things harmful to people, and that they would ban pet ownership altogether. And so on. Some of the arguments seem poorly put together, I am not sure how much of the quotes to believe- I'm sure they could all be found in public record, but guess that probably a lot are taken out of context to make their viewpoints seem more extreme. It's one of those books you really have to read with a lot of skepticism. A different take on everything. The author's voice comes across as pretty angry and judgmental throughout. This book is out of print. I read it some years ago.

Rating: 3/5        221 pages, 1993

neverending TBR

Deep Down Dark by Hector Tobar- At Home with Books
Very LeFreak by Rachel Cohn- Caroline Bookbinder
Threatened by Eliot Schrefer- library catalog
Stitches by David Small- Caroline Bookbinder
The Sculptor by Scott McCloud
The Room by Jonas Karlsson- Farm Lane Books Blog
The Brother Gardeners by Andrea Wulf- Puss Reboots
Indian Boyhood by Charles Eastman- Bookfoolery
The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure- Shelf Love
Some Luck by Jane Smiley- Caroline Bookbinder
Decoding Gardening Advice by Jeff Gillman and Meleah Maynard- Garden Rant

Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King- Shelf Love
Into the Forest by Louis Nowra- Farm Lane Books Blog
The Vet's Daughter by Barbara Comyns- Shelf Love
Man v. Nature by Diane Cook- Shelf Love
The Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin- mentioned in Dance to a Dolphin's Song
Twenty Years A-Growing by Maurice O'Sullivan- ditto
The Virago Book of Women Travellers edited by Mary Morris and Larry O'Conner- Read Warbler

Dance to a Dolphin's Song

by Horace Dobbs

Dobbs was a scientist who studied dolphins. In the 1970's, several wild dolphins were observed off the coast of Wales and Ireland, which would curiously approach humans in small boats. Dobbs noticed the strong emotional impact that contact with a wild dolphin had upon people, and began to wonder if it could help individuals overcome depression. He invited "depressives" to come out and meet the wild dolphins, under his supervision and the eye of a film team. He wanted to find out as objectively as possible if contact with dolphins really helped people, so he filmed the encounters as a record (and made a documentary out of it all that appeared on british television). After two years of frequent interaction with one particular wild dolphin near a fishing village in Pembrokeshire, Wales the dolphin broke contact (which was always completely voluntary) and never reappeared. Dobbs and his team heard of another dolphin in Dingle Bay, Ireland that also approached boats, so they went there to continue the experiments. They not only tried different methods of attracting the dolphin's attention and enticing it to stay, but also approaches to filming underwater. The book is just as much about the filming effort as it is about the dolphin-human interaction, and the descriptions of underwater scenery and the ocean environment are riveting. It's amazing the trust and deep emotional pull people felt towards the dolphins- many of those who traveled from afar to have a dolphin encounter had never been in the sea before, some didn't even know how to swim. Others were so eager to jump in with the dolphins they didn't even wait to put everything on. Dobbs describes four individuals in particular who came several times to see the dolphins, and how they responded. One woman became part of his film project and the dolphin in Wales (called Simo) took a particular liking to her. He would tow her far out to sea, miles from the boat, to keep her attention to himself it seemed. I have to wonder at the animals' motives; reading between the line, the crew did not really seem to know much about dolphin behavior. It appears these were juvenile animals- were they out looking for adventure before settling down to adult life? ostracized from their pod? or just happened to be curious individuals, lacking normal fear of humans? Who knows.

What does seem certain is that close contact with the wild dolphins had a profound effect upon people (although there were a few individuals whom the dolphin ignored or spurned, and they felt the trip was a waste of time and money!) Many called it a life-changing event, most felt lifted out of their depression by it. Dobbs capitalized on this, founding an organization to bring people to the dolphins, producing various books and films about the encounters and creating recordings of dolphin sounds mixed with Australian aboriginal music. He asked people to listen to the tape and record their responses to see if that, too, could lift moods. The last few chapters of the book aren't about meeting the dolphins, but about the author's speculations on what contact with them can do for people. He briefly describes travelling to other locales around the world where close connections with wild dolphins were reported, and mentions other things like midwives who not only assisted women giving birth underwater, but in the sea with dolphins, and therapy groups that brought autistic children to meet dolphins as well. Pretty interesting stuff overall.

Note added 2/26/15 I forgot to mention this curious line on the publication page: Horace Dobbs has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work What does that mean? was the authorship in dispute? I'm curious, but doubt I'll ever find out.

Rating: 3/5     192 pages, 1990

A Ring of Endless Light

by Madeleine L'Engle

Vicky and her family are spending the summer on an island with her grandfather, who is dying from leukemia. The story is about her search for a sense of identity and stability, while facing her grandfather's approaching end, and the unexpected deaths of several other people around her. At the same time she's juggling the attentions of three very different boys- a solid friend who wants to be more, a reckless spoiled rich guy who has obvious history with her family (they don't like him, and I don't blame them although I missed the backstory, not realizing at first this is the fourth book about the Austins) and a friend of her brother's who works in a marine biology lab. She gets involved in his dolphin study and through him meets some wild dolphins. Her natural ability to communicate with them grounds her through all sorts of difficulties. She's always got the wisdom of her grandfather to fall back on, her older brother and the shoulders of her friends, but she often feels alone and confused as well. The summer is full of new experiences for her. She's apparently used to being overshadowed by her pretty younger sister, but now is growing into her own.

I am pretty sure this book wound up on my shelf from a library sale or secondhand shop. I picked it up just because it was an unfamiliar L'Engle to me, with a girl riding a dolphin on the cover! It's the first beyond the Wrinkle in Time quartet that I've read. I think I would have loved this book as a teen, but unfortunately reading it first as an adult, I wasn't so impressed. And that saddens me, because so many other readers mention this is their favorite of the Austin family books. It's got a lot going for it- young teen longings, cute and mysterious boys, exciting moments with the dolphins, a very bookish and wise family. I think the main reason I couldn't really get into the story was, surprisingly, the amount of deep, serious conversations everyone had. About life, death, humans wrecking the environment, animal communication, cryonics, suicide, poetry, science, discoveries in outer space and so on. It was interesting reading and has some wonderfully quotable lines, but I don't know many people who actually talk like this to each other- always sounding so profound. It stretched my ability to believe in the characters. I really felt for Vicky though. There's so much death in this book, so much grief. They handle it very well. The part about the dolphins and their telepathic communication was almost too much. If the book had been more mystical maybe I would have gone along with it easier. It did make me curious to read An Arm of the Starfish, though.

I should hand this one to my ten-year-old and see what she makes of it!

Rating: 3/5       324 pages, 1980

Charlie's Raven

by Jean Craighhead George

Charlie is visiting his grandparents for the summer, who lives in a small cabin near Yellowstone National Park. Charlie's beloved grandfather is suffering from a long-term illness. His friend from the local Sioux tribe, Singing Bird, is studying to be a storyteller among her people. She tells him of a legend that the presence of ravens can heal people. So Charlie steals a baby raven from a nest, and brings it home. His grandparents chastise him, but Grandfather (a retired naturalist) lets him keep the bird if he will make it part of a scientific study. So Charlie begins keeping notes, caring for the bird and closely observing its behavior as it grows.

Charlie is confronted with opposing opinions about ravens by those around him. Singing Bird says they are good luck. His grandfather admires their intelligence. And a new neighbor claims they are omens of evil, wants to drive them off his land. Charlie determines to find out for himself if ravens are "good" or "bad" by tallying up incidents in his notebook. Along the way he learns a lot about raven behavior and communication. He ends up with a mystery to solve too, when the raven comes of age and nobody knows where it goes (this continues part of a study his grandfather had given up on years ago). There's also a puzzle of why his grandfather's health seems to improve only on days the raven visits him in the mornings, and a problem to resolve with their neighbor who wants to shoot the ravens. It's a decent story, and I learned some things about ravens myself (the book even gives nod to Bernd Heinrich!) Some of the resolutions are a bit too convenient, but I liked it regardless. (It reminded me a lot of Coyote for Keeps, even though I haven't read that book in ages).

Rating: 3/5       190 pages, 2004

Marley

A Dog Like No Other
by John Grogan

I was right in my initial guess about this book. This is a middle-grade version of the book Marley and Me, simplified for younger readers. For what it is, it was pretty well done. Even though it doesn't really have any new material and all the main incidents and jokes were familiar to me.  I read it in one sitting, laughing all over again. It's been long enough since I read the first book that I had to stop and think to remember what portions had been left out. I still prefer the original, but this one is pretty good too. And has less of the serious moments, the adult issues and dealings with raising kids. It's mostly just about the family dog.

Rating: 3/5   196 pages, 2007

more opinions:
A Year of Reading

All Moms Go to Heaven

by Dean Hughes

I'm not sure where I picked up this book, I probably thought it looked cute. I didn't realize at first that it was written by a promient LDS member who has penned a lot of popular LDS historical fiction and children's books. Well. It started out pretty good, the author describing a summer he spent at home caring for his children while his wife worked on her degree. The chaos, funny moments and realizations about how difficult it can be spending all day with small children were familiar. He seemed to feel he'd earned his badge as stand-in "mom" and refreshingly, admitted to his own mistakes in parenting as well. But there's not much depth (even for a book that's so short) and the amusing conversations with his children are nothing compared to a favorite of mine, Conversations with Adam and Natasha. And before you get halfway through, the book starts to go downhill. It's still nice enough. Full of stories about mothering skills and incidents surrounding the children and women in his extended family- his grandchildren, his own wife as a mother and grandmother. There was too much of him being careful to name every person mentioned, give them credit, and excuse where he might sound critical, than actual storytelling. In the end, it reads more like an essay or a written "talk" than a proper book.

Rating: 2/5        95 pages, 2005

How to Speak Dog

by Stanley Coren

I've read many books before that describe the communication methods used by dogs, and how people can successfully interact with them. But none with this level of depth, detail and comprehension. Coren very systematically looks at the "language" of dogs- how well they understand spoken human words and human gestures, or can be trained to do so. What the wide variety of sounds they make specifically mean, plus all the different uses of body language, and the combinations thereof- which can vary meaning and nuance more than I had realized. How cross-communication works, why cats and dogs are classic enemies (many of their basic body signals mean opposite things). How dogs communicate with scent (hilarious story in here about a man who tried urinating around his wife's flower bed to deter neighborhood dogs from digging in it). He uses scientific studies, personal observations and carefully examined anecdotes to demonstrate the discussed communications (or miscommunications, as it were). Even points out why some methods used by humans to dominate their dogs, or teach them who's "leader of the pack" such as flipping a dog forcefully on its back or biting it on the nose (!) are misguided and won't get the result you want. Through it all there are interesting passages on the evolution of dogs, comparison of dogs to wolves, comparison of dog intelligence to that of children (about equal to a two-year-old's, although their concerns with social status and the doings of other dogs are more adult in nature), descriptions of studies on animal intelligence and communication with other species (many familiar names here- Clever Hans, Washoe and Koko, but also new insights and other individuals I had never heard of before).

To sum it all up- yes, dogs have their own form of language. They understand a lot, and can read incredibly subtle body language. When confronted with a fearful or aggressive dog, you can mimic canine gestures to give a dog confidence, or appease a possible attacker. You can use dog langauge to let your dog know you're definitely the boss in the house, but that he's accepted and loved. I was surprised at how many kinds of dog expression are often misunderstood by humans (for example, a dog who leans his body against you is trying to assert dominance- if you move aside, giving way, you've confirmed his higher status. Same with a dog who sleeps on your bed, or demands food from the table, etc). Fascinating stuff. A book I think every dog owner should read.

Rating: 5/5        274 pages, 2000

Woman's Best Friend

edited by Megan McMorris

From a collection of women writers, short stories and reflections about their dogs. The search for the right dog, the connection and depth of bond with an animal- whether it comes quick and easily, or slow and unexpected, sometimes reluctantly. A few amusing moments, but more of them are thoughtful, perceptive, precise in detail and pinpointing emotion and meaning. There are first dogs, training efforts, animals whose companionship helps women through tough times (more than one story about loss, divorce and the search for new connections). There are stories about finding an animal, and stories about loosing one. Nearly all of them resonated with me in one way or another. Very good reading.

I was at first dismayed that I only recognized two of the authors' names, until I read the short bios in the back and learned that most of them usually write for periodicals- thus I am unfamiliar with their names. I liked their words here.

Rating: 4/5       305 pages, 2006

Tails from the Bark Side

True Stories from the Family Dog Files
by Brian Kilcommons and Sarah Wilson

I've been busy lately. With work, with my kids, and trying to get my aquarium healthy. Not much reading time, and that in bits and pieces. Which this book was perfect for- a collection of brief stories from the lives of two renowned dog trainers. Mostly about experiences in training dogs and teaching people how to properly handle their dogs. These are wealthy clientele, as the authors lived and worked in New York. They also had a training center or kennel in a rural area of New York state, and there are a few stories from early days in vet school as well. (The stories are not arranged chronologically and sometimes I was left confused at the setting or context- a bit more could have been explained). In spite of their brevity, the anecdotes were all fairly interesting and informative. Some funny, others sad. I was honestly stunned at the story of a bodyguard who wanted a protection dog trained. Very upsetting. Most of all what shines through these stories is the authors' skill in working with dogs, and their patience with foolish, ignorant or cruel owners- they always try to help and educate people when it would often be easy to express anger or ridicule. I also liked reading about what it was like running a kennel in the middle of a big city- I could relate to some of that, having briefly worked in a kennel once myself, but many aspects of it were very different!

Do you ever find unexpected connections between the books you read? I'm always tickled when they reference each other. Turns out these authors have worked with Roger Caras (they named one of their dogs after him) an animal expert and author I read widely in my teen years. Caras is just mentioned briefly here (perhaps he didn't want stories about himself in someone else's book.) They have also worked with Barbara Woodhouse while using dogs in films for television- and it was really interesting to see through someone else's eyes this woman's methods and personality. (I knew it was her before they even gave a name, because the first sentence of that chapter mentioned a woman who rode her own cows and trained horses in Argentina for the army!)

Rating: 3/5       233 pages, 1977