Wordless Wednesday

Potty Humor

Wertheim, Germany

October 2015

Tuesday's First Chapter, First Paragraph - City of Thieves

Each Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile By the Sea shares the first part of a book that she is reading or thinking about reading. This week I'm sharing the first paragraph from the book I recently finished (and loved).

 City of Thieves 

by David Benioff

You have never been so hungry; you have never been so cold. When we slept, if we slept, we dreamed of the feasts we had carelessly eaten seven months earlier--all that buttered bread, the potato dumplings, the sausages--eaten with disregard, swallowing without tasting, leaving great crumbs on our plates, scraps of fat. In June of 1941, before the Germans came, we thought we were poor. But June seemed like paradise by winter.

At night the wind blew so loud and long it startled you when it stopped; the shutter hinges of the burned-out cafe on the corner would quit creaking for a few ominous seconds, as if a predator neared and the smaller animals hushed in terror. The shutters themselves had been torn down for firewood in November. There was no more scrap wood in Leningrad. Every wood sign, the slats of the park benches, the floorboards of shattered buildings--all gone and burning in someone's stove[...]

I finished this book last week and the characters continue to haunt my dreams. This is my first 5-star book for 2016 and I can't wait to share my review with you.

Happy Tuesday, friends! Visit Bibliophile By the Sea for more introductions.

A Window Opens

A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan
Fiction
2015 Simon & Schuster
Finished on September 23, 2015
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)





Publisher’s Blurb:

For fans of I Don’t Know How She Does It and Where’d You Go, Bernadette?.

In A Window Opens, beloved books editor at Glamour magazine, Elisabeth Egan, brings us Alice Pearse, a compulsively honest, longing-to-have-it-all, sandwich generation heroine for our social-media-obsessed, lean in (or opt out) age.

Like her fictional forebears Kate Reddy and Bridget Jones, Alice plays many roles (which she never refers to as “wearing many hats” and wishes you wouldn’t, either). She is a mostly-happily married mother of three, an attentive daughter, an ambivalent dog-owner, a part-time editor, a loyal neighbor and a Zen commuter. She is not: a cook, a craftswoman, a decorator, an active PTA member, a natural caretaker or the breadwinner. But when her husband makes a radical career change, Alice is ready to lean in—and she knows exactly how lucky she is to land a job at Scroll, a hip young start-up which promises to be the future of reading, with its chain of chic literary lounges and dedication to beloved classics. The Holy Grail of working mothers―an intellectually satisfying job and a happy personal life―seems suddenly within reach.

Despite the disapproval of her best friend, who owns the local bookstore, Alice is proud of her new “balancing act” (which is more like a three-ring circus) until her dad gets sick, her marriage flounders, her babysitter gets fed up, her kids start to grow up and her work takes an unexpected turn. Readers will cheer as Alice realizes the question is not whether it’s possible to have it all, but what does she―Alice Pearse―really want?


A Window Opens is another one of those books with eye-catching cover art that I simply could not resist. Egan’s debut novel is a fairly quick read and one which book lovers (and those working in the book biz) will enjoy. I laughed out loud and I may have shed a tear or two. As Marysue Rucci (Vice President and Editor-in-Chief, Simon & Schuster, Inc.) says, “…reading A Window Opens is akin to reading the work of Anna Quindlen—like spending precious time with your brilliant, brutally honest, funniest, and most observant best friend. You never want the evening to end.”

As with all bookish-type of books, I loved the bookseller chatter about current recommendations:

Susanna: How are you guys holding up? Thinking of you constantly.
Me: The cousins are skim-board phenoms, taking the island by storm. Adults are more subdued; nice to all be together. You?
Susanna: The usual. College kids quitting for a better offer, so basically on my feet all day, ringing up Fifty Shades of Grey. What is it with that book?
Me: Ya got me. I’m halfway through The Light Between Oceans and LOVING IT.
Susanna: That one’s selling like hotcakes, too, thankfully.

And the joy of working in a bookstore:

When I arrived for my first day of work, visible rays of light crisscrossed through the store, turning the shelves into a rainbow of spines: thick, thin, shiny, matte, striped, printed with small pictures and designs, lettered in gold. The effect was dazzling. I already knew the bustle of the Blue Owl on a weekend afternoon, or after closing with customers in work clothes lingering over platters of Triscuits and cubed cheese. But, I realized, this was my first time in the store before it opened and, instantly, I knew it was the best time to be there—the bookseller’s equivalent of watching your kids sleep. I could feel the peace in my bones.

In addition to the book chatter, the novel also deals with the loss of a family member, which I found to be spot-on. I found myself nodding my head in agreement on more than one occasion.

On platitudes:

One by one, the guests left my mom’s house. They promised to check in soon and made us promise to let them know if there was anything they could do.

News flash: nobody is going to give you an assignment. Just do something.

Amy, the daughter of one of my mom’s tennis friends, worked quietly in the kitchen, sleeves rolled up, brewing pot after pot of strong coffee and stowing Mass cards and sympathy cards in a straw basket so my mom could read them later. Even though our mothers had been friends for decades, we weren’t friends; she’d been a few years ahead of me in school. Up until this point, most of our contact had been through families she’d babysat for, whom she passed along to me when she lost interest watching 227 alone on Saturday nights. I knew Amy was a teacher now, and the mother of toddlers, which meant that she’d lined up both a sub and a babysitter of her own so she could take coats and arrange crudité platters for our family. Her kindness was mind-boggling.

Final Thoughts:

I wasn’t planning to keep my ARC of A Window Opens, but after thumbing through it while composing this review, I realized that it was really an enjoyable read and that I’d like to at least attempt to find time to read it again someday. I enjoyed the smooth conversational style of Egan’s writing and anxiously await her next novel. Fans of Jojo Moyes, Liane Moriarty, and of course, Anna Quindlen, are sure to enjoy this smart and humorous novel.

From the New York Times Book Review:

Egan has an eye for the absurdities of the corporate workplace and an ear for its preposterous jargon: “drilling down,” “onboarding,” “action item,” “noodle that over.” And she’s very funny on the cultural chasm separating Alice, who is in her late 30s from her savvy younger colleagues in their “statement glasses.” As Alice puts it, “Sometimes I felt like one of the Danish au pairs I made plans with on the front lawn of the school – understanding but not understanding.” These workaday passages are further enhanced by the presence of two delightfully loathsome villains.

About the Author:

Elisabeth Egan is the books editor at Glamour. Her essays and book reviews have appeared in Self, Glamour, O, People, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Huffington Post, The New York Times Book Review, LA Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Chicago Sun-Times; and Newark Star-Ledger. She lives in New Jersey with her family.

Looking Back - Beach Music

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

I was so saddened to learn of Pat Conroy’s death last week and so I decided to jump ahead a few months with my Looking Back feature and share my thoughts about one of my all-time favorite books.

Beach Music by Pat Conroy
Fiction
1995 Nan A. Talese Doubleday
Finished in September 1996
Rating: 5/5 (Outstanding!)





Publisher's Blurb:

Pat Conroy is without doubt America's favorite storyteller, a writer who portrays the anguished truth of the human heart and the painful secrets of families in richly lyrical prose and unforgettable narratives. Now, in Beach Music, he tells of the dark memories that haunt generations, in a story that spans South Carolina and Rome and reaches back into the unutterable terrors of the Holocaust.

Beach Music is about Jack McCall, an American living in Rome with his young daughter, trying to find peace after the recent trauma of his wife's suicide. But his solitude is disturbed by the appearance of his sister-in-law, who begs him to return home, and of two school friends asking for his help in tracking down another classmate who went underground as a Vietnam protester and never resurfaced. These requests launch Jack on a journey that encompasses the past and the present in both Europe and the American South, and that leads him to shocking--and ultimately liberating--truths.

Told with deep feeling and trademark Conroy humor, Beach Music is powerful and compulsively readable. It is another masterpiece in the legendary list of classics that his body of work has already become.

My Original Notes:

The BEST!

I think this has to be one of the very best books I've ever read. I couldn't put it down and didn't want it to end. I want to read everything Pat Conroy has ever written. He writes the most beautiful sentences and I felt like I could see, hear, taste and smell everything he described. The characters became a part of me. I laughed. I cried. What a beautiful, lyrical book. I recommend it to everyone. Rod read it in a few days and enjoyed it, too.

My Current Thoughts:

As I grow older, my list of all-time favorite books grows by leaps and bounds. I have read dozens and dozens of 5-star books and would be hard-pressed to name my lifetime Top Ten. However, if it came down to it, Beach Music would most definitely be on that lifetime list. It is one of the first examples of lyrical writing I ever encountered and I can still picture scene after scene twenty years later. This is one of those books that I have always wanted to re-read, but have been afraid to, worrying that it may not live up to my expectations the second time around. I downloaded the audio edition, thinking I'd try going that route for a second reading, but now that Conroy has passed away, I think I'd like to honor his memory, his talent, and his craft and give the book another reading.

I have only read three of Conroy's novels: Beach Music, The Great Santini and South of Broad. I've watched The Prince of Tides, but have never read the novel. One book I'd really want to read is My Reading Life, which was published in 2010.

I stumbled upon this blog entry of Conroy's (from his website, dated October 22, 2015) and it brought tears to my eyes:

Conroy at 70 - Happy Birthday To Me...

excerpt:

But the subject of death is a frequent one among my friends these days. Terry Kay, the novelist, has announced his demise on a daily basis for the last twenty years. I’ve worried about my friend Anne Rivers Siddons’ health for the last five years. My wife Cassandra is a member of the Hemlock Society and hides potions in her closet I’m not to ask about on pain of divorce court. My irreplaceable friend Doug Marlette died in his fifties in a Mississippi car wreck. Jane Lefco, who took care of my finances, died of an embolism while still beautiful and young. My brother Tim killed himself at 34. I lost eight classmates in the Vietnam war and four of them were boys I loved.

So this number has deep resonance and I’m taking it more seriously than I ever thought I would. It strikes a biblical chord in me. The town of Beaufort is throwing me a birthday party.


Rest in peace, Pat. I'm so sorry we will no longer have a new book of yours to look forward to. Thank you for enriching my life through your beautiful words.


About the Author (from his website):

Biography

Pat Conroy, born in Atlanta in 1945, was the first of seven children of a young career military officer from Chicago and a Southern beauty from Alabama, to whom Pat often credits for his love of language. The Conroys moved frequently to military bases throughout the South, with Conroy eventually attending The Citadel Military Academy in Charleston, South Carolina, where, as a student, he published his first book, The Boo, a tribute to a beloved teacher. Following graduation, Conroy taught English in Beaufort, where he met and married a young mother of two children who had been widowed during the Vietnam War.

He soon took a job teaching underprivileged children in a one-room schoolhouse on Daufuskie Island off the South Carolina shore but, after a year, was fired for his unconventional teaching practices – such as his refusal to allow corporal punishment of his students – and for his personal differences with the school's administration. Conroy was never to teach again but he evened the score by exposing the racism and appalling conditions his students endured with the publication of a memoir, The Water is Wide published in 1972. The book won Conroy a humanitarian award from the National Education Association and was made into the feature film Conrack.

Following the birth of a daughter, the Conroys moved to Atlanta, where Pat wrote his novel, The Great Santini, published in 1976, and later made into a film starring Robert Duvall, that explored the conflicts of the author's childhood, particularly his ambivalent love for his violent and abusive father. The publication of a book that so painfully exposed his family's secret brought Conroy a period of tremendous personal desolation. This crisis resulted not only in his divorce, but the divorce of his parents; his mother presented a copy of The Great Santini to the judge as "evidence" in divorce proceedings against his father.

The Citadel became the subject of his next novel, The Lords of Discipline, published in 1980. The novel exposed the school's harsh military discipline and racism.

Conroy remarried and moved from Atlanta to Rome, where he began The Prince of Tides, which, when published in 1986, became his most successful book. Reviewers immediately acknowledged Conroy as a master storyteller and a poetic and gifted prose stylist. This novel has become one of the most beloved novels of modern time. With over five million copies in print, it has earned Conroy an international reputation. The Prince of Tides was later made into a highly successful feature film directed by and starring Barbra Streisand, as well as actor Nick Nolte, whose performance won him an Oscar nomination.

Beach Music (1995), Conroy's sixth book, was the story of Jack McCall, an American who moves to Rome to escape the trauma and painful memory of his young wife's suicidal leap off a bridge in South Carolina. While he was on tour for Beach Music, members of his Citadel basketball team began appearing, one by one, at his book signings around the country, Conroy realized that his team members had come back into his life just when he needed them most. He began reconstructing his senior year, his last year as an athlete, and the 21 basketball games that changed his life. The result of these recollections, along with his insights into his early aspirations as a writer, became My Losing Season.

Conroy's fifth novel and ninth book, South of Broad offers readers a love letter to the city of Charleston. It also presents a Conroy first: a totally lovable father in the character of Leo Bloom King, the story's central figure.

He followed the novel with The Pat Conroy Cookbook. His next book, My Reading Life, published in 2010, is a celebration of reading and the books that most influenced him. In his next book, The Death of Santini, a memoir scheduled to be published on October 30, 2013, Conroy revisits one last time his tortured family, where he describes his father's surprising evolution into a father he could finally love.

The End of Summer

The End of Summer by Rosamunde Pilcher
Fiction
1971 St. Martin's Paperbacks
Finished on September 11, 2015
Rating: 2/5 (Don't Recommend)





Publisher's Blurb:

When you read a novel by Rosamunde Pilcher you enter a special world where emotions sing from the heart. A world that lovingly captures the ties that bind us to one another--the joys and sorrows, heartbreaks and misunderstandings, and glad, perfect moments when we are in true harmony. A world filled with evocative, engrossing, and above all, enjoyable portraits of peoples lives and loves, tenderly laid open for us...

After years in the United States, Jane returns to the tranquil Scottish estate, Elvie, where she spent a magical childhood. Memories of Elvie had always summoned the image of Sinclair, the rakish man Jane had once dreamed of marrying, but now that she is home, she finds Sinclair a different man. His charm has a purpose, and Jane can no longer trust him... or herself.

Rosamunde Pilcher has been one of my favorite authors since I first discovered her famous novel, The Shell Seekers, back in the early '90s. I've read several of her shorter novels, but none have provided me with anything close to the great enjoyment I've experienced in reading her longer sagas. I continue to read these novellas, however, ever hopeful that one will surprise me. Unfortunately, The End of  Summer isn't the one. I was terribly disappointed in the story and probably shouldn't have wasted my time, as I was eager to finish and move on to something else.

Final Thoughts:

If you haven't tried any of Rosamunde Pilcher's books, I strongly recommend The Shell Seekers, as well as September and Winter Solstice. Sadly, I can't recommend any of her short stories, including The End of Summer.

Wordless Wednesday

Wertheim, Germany

October 2015

Murder on the Orient Express

Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot #10) by Agatha Christie
Mystery
1934 (original copyright)
2013 HarperCollins Audio
Read by Dan Stevens
Finished on September 10, 2015
Rating: 3/5 (Good)


Publisher's Blurb:

"The murderer is with us - on the train now..."

Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Samuel Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. One of his fellow passengers must be the murderer.

Isolated by the storm and with a killer in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot must find the killer amongst a dozen of the dead man's enemies, before the murderer decides to strike again...

I've become quite a fan of thrillers and mysteries since I began blogging 10 years ago and I love getting recommendations from other readers, whether for a new series or a standalone. Agatha Christie's crime novels have been around for almost 100 years and I've never read one single book! This past summer, I decided it was well past time to give this famous title a try. I enjoyed the audio (the reader was very good) and Christie kept me guessing and changing my mind about the identity of the killer until the very end. I was more than surprised by the denouement, as not only have I never read any of Christie's crime novels, I've never watched any of the movies based on her books, either. So, now to watch the 1974 film. With an all-star cast that includes Albert Finney, Sean Connery, Lauren Bacall, Anthony Perkins, Michael York, Jacqueline Bisset, Vanessa Redgrave, and Ingrid Bergman, to name a few, how can it possibly disappoint?

Interesting tidbits from Wikipedia:

Murder on the Orient Express is a detective novel by Agatha Christie featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 1 January 1934. In the United States, it was published on 28 February 1934, under the title of Murder in the Calais Coach, by Dodd, Mead and Company. The U.K. edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence and the U.S. edition at $2.00.

The U.S. title of Murder in the Calais Coach was used to avoid confusion with the 1932 Graham Greene novel Stamboul Train which had been published in the United States as Orient Express.

and

The Guinness Book of World Records lists Christie as the best-selling novelist of all time. Her novels have sold roughly 2 billion copies, and her estate claims that her works come third in the rankings of the world's most-widely published books, behind only Shakespeare's works and the Bible.

I prefer the original cover art to the updated version, don't you? 

Final Thoughts:

I enjoyed Murder on the Orient Express and I look forward to reading more by Agatha Christie. Which Poirot should I read next?

Looking Back - From Beginning to End

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

From Beginning to End: The Rituals of Our Lives by Robert Fulghum
Nonfiction
1995 Villard Books
Finished in February 1996
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)




Publisher's Blurb:

Here is the book of a lifetime: a celebration of our everyday lives. Births, weddings, reunions, funerals: These are some of the events that Robert Fulghum explores in this powerful new work.

How we change--yet remain constant--from moment to moment, year to year, from one stage of life to another, is Fulghum's memorable theme in From Beginning to End. Here, America's most beloved philosopher and essayist teaches us how to address our personal transformations, large and small, with dignity, love, and acceptance. Whether they are public rituals, anything from weddings to sales meetings; private rituals, such as the saying of grace at a family dinner; or secret passages, such as one's personal greeting of the day, these habits and routines are sacred, as they bring structure and meaning to daily life, enriching who we are both individually and collectively. "Structure gives us a sense of security," Fulghum writes. "And that sense of security is the ground of meaning." In this book, Fulghum prepares us for the whole range of meaningful and spiritual journeys that we take from childhood to old age.

Filled with unforgettable anecdotes and practical advice, and replete with Fulghum's signature wit, wisdom, and sagacity, From Beginning to End is a book to cherish, savor, and return to again and again for all the days of our lives.

My Original Notes:

Not as humorous as his previous books, yet filled with wonderful anecdotes. Good examples of non-traditional weddings, baptisms and funeral ceremonies. Also, an excellent "how-to" list for getting things in order for your death. A great book for a parent to give to a child when they graduate from high school. Great reference section.

My Current Thoughts:

I doubt a high school graduate would appreciate this book, but maybe a college graduate could glean something from Fulghum's advice. 

It's been ages since I've read anything by Robert Fulghum. As I recall, I enjoyed All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (pub. 1988) and I'm fairly certain that I read It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It and Uh-Oh, but I notice that I no longer own them, so I wonder if I didn't like them as much as his first book.

Thumbing through my copy of From Beginning to End, I see several topics that I'd like to revisit, so this book is going back on my shelf for a second reading.

About the Author (from his website):

Robert Fulghum was born in 1937, and grew up in Waco, Texas. In his youth he worked as a ditch-digger, newspaper carrier, ranch hand, and singing cowboy. After college and a brief career with IBM, he returned to graduate school to complete a degree in theology. For 22 years he served as a Unitarian parish minister in the Pacific Northwest.

During the same period he taught drawing, painting, and philosophy at the Lakeside School in Seattle. Fulghum is an accomplished painter and sculptor. He sings, and plays the guitar and mando-cello and was a founding member of the The Rock-Bottom Remainders–a rock and roll band of author-musicians. He is a member of The Beat Goes On Marching Band of Portland, Oregon, in which he plays cymbals and tambourine.

Robert Fulghum is married to the painter, Willow Bader. He lives part-time in Seattle, Washington, Moab, Utah, and in Kolymbari on the Greek island of Crete.

Wordless Wednesday

Wertheim, Germany

October 2015

A Month in Summary - February 2016

I had another amazing month of reading and, with the exception of audio books and graphic novels, everything I read came from my shelves. Well, that's really only three books and one of those arrived in 2016. So, it wasn't exactly the best month for the TBR Triple Dog Dare.

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi (own)* 4/5

The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg (audio - borrowed) 4/5

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar (ACR - own) 4.5/5

The Sculptor by Scott McCloud (borrowed) 2/5

The House at Sea's End by Elly Griffiths (audio - borrowed) 4/5

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki (borrowed) 3/5

The Season of Second Chances by Diane Meier (ARC - own) 3.5/5

Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol (borrowed) 2/5

*acquired in 2016


Stats:

Triple Dog Dare Challenge - 2/8 books read from my own stacks

8 books
2 novels
2 mysteries
1 memoirs
3 graphic novels
7 new-to-me-authors 
6 print
0 ebook
2 audio
6 female
2 male 
5 borrowed
3 from my stacks 

Favorite of the Month: The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

Reviews to follow 

Mailbox Monday

Yes, I brought another ARC home from work a few days ago. I really need to show better restraint, if I plan to read from my existing stacks, don't I?!

I Let You Go

by Clare Mackintosh

On Sale 5.3.16

The chilling international bestseller that everyone is talking about...

On a rainy afternoon, a mother's life is shattered as her son slips from her grip and runs into the street..

Jenna Gray moves to the remote Welsh coast, desperate to leave behind the heartbreak of the car accident and heal from the loss of her child and her painful past. At the same time, a pair of Bristol police investigators chase down one hopeless lead after another in the hit-and-run, finding themselves as drawn to each other as they are to the frustrating, twist-filled case before them.

What do you think? Too depressing? I love a good thriller and from all the glowing blurbs, this one sounds like a winner, in spite of the sad nature of the plot. It might be just the perfect read for my flights to Oregon later this year. 

Click on the title for more information.
 
Find more Mailbox Monday posts here.

{Gratitude Lately}

Lately, I've been thankful for

Friends who share

and delicious Manhattans

Music and memories

 of my youth

This sweet girl,

 who reminds me

 to stop and smell the snow

Adventures in distant countries

and the joy of memories

Winter sunsets 

through the trees

Saturday nights

and shared snacks

Friday nights

and a new bottle of wine

Creative neighbors

and the joy they share

Valentine's Day 

with my best friend

 Snail mail 
and cute 2-year-olds

Open windows in February

Creative community art

Grilling in February

 in Nebraska

Beautiful commutes

that make early mornings 

worthwhile

and the first sign of spring.

Happy Sunday, friends!
What are you grateful for this week?

For more Gratitude posts, click here.

Looking Back - Sleeping at the Starlite Motel

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

Sleeping at the Starlite Motel by Bailey White
Nonfiction - Essays
1996 Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Finished in February 1996
Rating: 1/5 (Poor)






Publisher's Blurb:

Anyone who has read her bestseller Mama Makes Up Her Mind--or who has heard her on National Public Radio--knows that Bailey White is one of the keenest observers of Southern eccentricity since Mark Twain. Sleeping at the Starlite Motel revives White's reputation as a master storyteller, Southern division, as it catalogs the oddities of the Georgia town she knows so well.

My Original Notes:

Terrible! Not at all like Mama Makes Up Her Mind, with regard to humor or subject matter. Very dull and senseless. I read the entire book and didn't enjoy a single essay.

My Current Thoughts:

Why in the world did I bother reading the entire book, if I was so dissatisfied? As I recall, I really enjoyed Mama Makes Up Her Mind, so maybe I was trying to remain optimistic. This was probably back before I gave myself permission to quit a book I wasn't enjoying. Live and learn.

Lost & Found

Lost & Found (Rocky Pelligrino #1) by Jacqueline Sheehan
Fiction
2007 William Morrow
Finished on September 5, 2015
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)



Publisher's Blurb:

A poignant and unforgettable tale of love, loss, and moving on . . . with the help of one not-so-little dog

Rocky's husband Bob was just forty-two when she discovered him lying cold and lifeless on the bathroom floor . . . and Rocky's world changed forever. Quitting her job, chopping off all her hair, she leaves Massachusetts—reinventing her past and taking a job as Animal Control Warden on Peak's Island, a tiny speck off the coast of Maine and a million miles away from everything she's lost. She leaves her career as a psychologist behind, only to find friendship with a woman whose brain misfires in the most wonderful way and a young girl who is trying to disappear. Rocky, a quirky and fallible character, discovers the healing process to be agonizingly slow.

But then she meets Lloyd.

A large black Labrador retriever, Lloyd enters Rocky's world with a primitive arrow sticking out of his shoulder. And so begins a remarkable friendship between a wounded woman and a wounded, lovable beast. As the unraveling mystery of Lloyd's accident and missing owner leads Rocky to an archery instructor who draws her in even as she finds every reason to mistrust him, she discovers the life-altering revelation that grief can be transformed . . . and joy does exist in unexpected places.

I'm not ashamed to admit that cover art plays a fairly large part in my decision-making process when choosing a new book to read. Unless it's one that has received glowing reviews, I generally ignore the ugly, generic covers that show only the title and author's name against a colorful background. Likewise, a sappy cover, even one with a cute puppy, rarely gets more than a passing glance. So how in the world did Lost & Found wind up on one of my bookshelves? It all but screams "sentimental fluff," don't you think? But someone must have raved about this book and I'm glad I listened. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the novel, coming to care about Rocky almost as much as I did Lloyd.

On being a dog:

But in this life, he is dog. His life is ocean, stick, ball, sand, grass, ride in the truck, sleep by the bed, look deep into the eyes of humans, lure them outdoors, greet them with a burst of joy when they come home, love them. Fill this brief life with more. And more.

Final Thoughts:

Do you judge books by their covers? I wonder how many great books I've passed up simply because I didn't like the cover art. Conversely, I know I've been disappointed on more than one occasion when I've chosen a book for its gorgeous cover. I've become quite a sucker for books about dogs, and in spite of the cutesy cover, this one didn't disappoint. While not the same caliber as The Art of Racing in the Rain or The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, Lost & Found is a step above brain candy and I quickly devoured it in just a few short days. There were a few loose ends, but overall, it was very enjoyable. I look forward to reading more by Sheehan. Recommend!