Great animal reads for 2009?
By Christie Keith
October 15, 2009
Last year, I put together a list of classic and wonderful new books about animals — fiction as well as non-fiction — and this year, I’d like to know what Pet Connection readers think should be added to the list for 2009.
What great books about animals have you read this year? It doesn’t matter if they’re nature books or novels, children’s books or adults, about companions animals, farm animals, or wildlife.
I get deluged every year with pet books, and thre are few I read beyond the first few sentences. Only a couple this year have really jumped out at me. Have you had better luck? What treasures am I missing?
And one more question, since I’m sure none of you has anything better to do than answer me… what animal book would you like to read, but it seems no one has written yet?
How about a short story? I love this one: http://mrrossi.weebly.com/uplo.....thrown.pdf
Comment by Smaki — October 15, 2009 @ 5:06 am
I really liked Karen Pryor’s ‘Reaching the Animal Mind’. Stories and science-wheeee!
Comment by redheather — October 15, 2009 @ 6:28 am
I think I technically read it last year, but I really loved The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.
Comment by Janine — October 15, 2009 @ 8:23 am
I don’t know if this counts at all — but I’d recommend the book The Science of Fear by Daniel Gardner — it’s not about pets at all, but it is an interesting look at media coverage that applies to some of our hysterical dog laws that are out there.
I, too, have a bunch on my night stand that I haven’t gotten a chance to read.
Comment by Brent — October 15, 2009 @ 9:25 am
I enjoy all of Sy Montgomery’s books, but I highly recommend “The Good, Good Pig.”
Comment by Susan G. — October 15, 2009 @ 9:51 am
“The Wolf in the Parlor: The Eternal Connection between Humans and Dogs,” Jon Franklin. I liked it a lot - but if the reader isn’t familiar with/doesn’t appreciate literary nonfiction it might be a turn off. It’s a bit like “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” but about brain science and dogs instead of philosophy and motorcycles.
Comment by Miki — October 15, 2009 @ 10:13 am
I second “The Art of Racing in the Rain”. Loved, loved, loved this book.
Comment by Katie Bruesewitz — October 15, 2009 @ 11:50 am
“All Creatures Great and Small,” “All Things Bright and Beautiful,” “All Things Wise and Wonderful,” all by James Herriot.
excellent books!
Comment by Kate — October 15, 2009 @ 12:47 pm
I’ve been reading Inside of a Dog, but since I already know most of the information in it, it hasn’t really held my interest. Too bad; I had high hopes for it. I wish Diane Ackerman would write a book about cats or dogs. I think I have Wolf in the Parlor in my stack of books to read; maybe I’ll switch to that.
Comment by Kim Thornton — October 15, 2009 @ 1:24 pm
I’m reading Dog Years by Mark Doty and often find it so moving that I have to simply close it and sit there for a few minutes before continuing. It reminds me intensely of the old dogs I have lost. It’s a remarkable book.
I’ve also recently found an old book in great little shop, and it will be my next read. One of those things you open while browsing through a shop, and then you start reading and think, “Oh! This is marvelous!” It’s called The Way of a Dog, by William Beach Thomas. I have no idea if it’s still in print, but, you know, Abebooks is your friend! If the bit I already have read is any indication, it will be a very pleasant read.
Comment by Glenye Oakford — October 15, 2009 @ 2:41 pm
I’m surprized you don’t have any of Richard Adam’s books on your list.
He has a way of making the reader feel like they are inside the animals head. The Plague Dogs is a very difficult read for animal lovers though. The story is about two dogs who have escaped from a scientific testing lab. The tabloid media discovers the lab has a section in which plague is tested and suggests the dogs might have it (they don’t). The early part of the book describe the tortures suffered by the animals in the lab and makes for very difficult reading. Oddly, an animated film made from the book substitues an unhappy ending for the book’s happy ending. Traveller is about General Lee’s horse. Watership Down is one of my favorite books and probably his most famous work.
Comment by Robert Forman — October 15, 2009 @ 7:58 pm
I had just read Sighthound by Pam Houston. Its a few years old but was a great read about a woman trying to understand her life and the dog that helps her.
Comment by Sandi — October 15, 2009 @ 7:58 pm
For a light read, I really enjoyed “Homer’s Odyssey.” (Dr. Patty Khuly wrote the foreword, BTW.)
Comment by LauraL — October 16, 2009 @ 7:52 am
Miki, I like literary non-fiction, and I’m currently reading Wolf in the Parlor. And I have to say, Mr. Franklin finds himself a lot more fascinating than I do.
Comment by Lis — October 16, 2009 @ 10:10 am
Lis - And I find him a lot more fascinating than I find you - but all that doesn’t matter, does it?
What do you think of the book?
Comment by Miki — October 17, 2009 @ 7:52 pm
Miki, I had no idea Mr. Franklin was your personal friend. My apologies, I’m sure.
By about page 50, he had finally focused on the ostensible subject of his book rather than himself, so I continued reading, and it appears likely, as of page 89, that the book will be well worth finishing.
But engaging the interest of the reader is part of the job of the writer, and a good editor would have leaned on him about those first 45 pages.
Comment by Lis — October 17, 2009 @ 8:46 pm
This is one I’ve just stumbled across this week that might, unfortunately, be hard to find. But if anyone else happens to find another copy, I’d highly recommend it! Abebooks.com might be a good place to start.
It’s called All The Dogs of My Life, and the author is given only as “Elizabeth, author of ‘Elizabeth and her German Garden.’” Published in 1936 by William Heinemann. It’s not very long, but it is a great little book whose first page made it irresistible to me. It begins:
“I would like, to begin with, say that though parents, husbands, children, lovers, and friends are all very well, they are not dogs. In my day and turn having been all of the above—except that instead of husbands I was wives—I know what I am talking about, and am well acquainted with the ups and downs, the daily ups and downs, the sometimes hourly ones in the thin-skinned, which seem inevitably to accompany human loves.
“Dogs are free from these fluctuations. Once they love, they love steadily, unchangingly, till their last breath.
“That is how I like to be loved.
“Therefore I will write of dogs.”
I had to read on after that!
Comment by Glenye Oakford — October 19, 2009 @ 7:28 am