Travels with Casey by Benoit Denizet-Lewis

Travels with Casey; one immediately compares the title to the Travels with Charlie written by Steinbeck.  And that's kind of the point.  The author thought about that classic book and then decided to do his own spin on it.  Take his dog on a trip around the country in an RV, but instead of learning about the people, he wanted to learn about the dogs of the country.

Denizet-Lewis never really felt connected to his dog.  Sure he took care of Casey well, made sure he had everything he needed, but he always felt as if maybe Casey didn't want to be his dog.  There just wasn't a connection with him despite several years together.  So on a writing assignment he decides to pack it up and see if being stuck in an RV together will do anything for that connection.  Along the way he'll stop at various points in the US known for Dog Shows, unique dog parks, dog people, and other such things relating to dogs.

Despite this being a book about dogs, Denizet-Lewis encounters several different people as well.  From the guy who will stop at nothing to find a lost dog, to the guy who lives with wolf-dogs, people can be just as different as dog breeds.  Some of them he describes as a bit crazy, but he takes care to show the goodness that they all have and the common bond of dog ownership.  These are all people, that for various reasons, are obsessed with their dogs or helping dogs.  And it's nice to read about that sometimes when there's so much on the news that points to the other directions.  For himself, Denizet-Lewis tells you all about his flaws, but he comes across as a genuinely likable guy. 

I liked the pace of this book.  While there were sections I would have liked to read more on (Best Friends Animal Sanctuary) I think overall the different snippets were enough to keep the book moving along and interesting.  I enjoyed all the different things related to dogs that he found on his travels and didn't know about some of the others (dog shaped hotel, etc.).  The only part I didn't really like was that so much of his personal life and drama invaded the book.  I think it's probably more of a memoir/dog travel book and while there was nothing particularly out there, I guess I just expected it to be more about the dogs and less about his personal anguish.  It was a mix between.  Again, that doesn't mean this book was poorly written, it just wasn't what I expected based on the title.

For those that like memoirs and books about dogs this is probably going to be a good read.  It has enough whimsy mixed with enough serious topics to keep it interesting.

**This book was won in a Goodreads Giveaway**

Travels with Casey
Copyright 2014
309 pages

Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Marty Becker, Carol Kline and Amy Shojai

I don't have a dog, but I like dogs.  They just require a lot of time, effort, which I don't really have an abundance of.  So I enjoy dogs through reading about them and this book was chock full of dog stories.

Like the other Chicken Soup books, this one was filled with little stories that were meant to inspire and create warm fuzzy feelings for you.  The stories ranged from dogs as rescuers, letting go of a dog, adopting dogs, and a whole lot more.  The dogs as rescuers was the most interesting because a lot were dogs that taught themselves how to help sick owners or alert them to danger.  It just shows how intelligent they can really be sometimes.  About the only story I didn't enjoy was the one where it described a dog going after a bunch of bicyclists.  The only thing that stopped the dog was quick thinking by one of the bicycle riders, but for some reason the story was presented as trying to be cute, instead of as a dog not properly supervised that almost hurt some people.

Dogs can be characters, but I didn't really get the goofiness I associate with dogs from this book.  In fact, none of them had a huge personality, despite their owners describing them and having lived with them.  The sense of the animals themselves just wasn't there, despite their stories being told.  I think the humans in the book came across more strongly.  Their love for the dogs and how they related to the dogs.  That seemed to be the bigger focus here.

The short stories were easy to read and you could read this over several nights or in one sitting because of the format.  I enjoyed most of the stories about the dogs and there were a few truly remarkable ones in there.  While some were just so-so and had more to do about the person than the dog, there weren't too many of that type.  And although this is a Christian publication, there wasn't much about religion in it, just a lot about dogs.

Not a bad read for people who like dogs.  There's a little bit of something in here for every type of dog lover.

Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul
Copyright 2005
398 pages

Marley and Me by Josh Grogan

There are so many things to enjoy about this book and so many things not to enjoy.  While I can like the diligence put forth into writing an entertaining book, there were some things in this book that disturbed me.  And it's actually more of a memoir than a story about a dog, the owner's life is first and foremost here.

As a practice run for a baby, John and Jenny decide to get a dog.  They decide on a Labrador because they're fun and goofy, and purchase a puppy.  Right away they realize they've gotten in over their heads.  Marley is a whirlwind on four paws and constantly into trouble.  He also grows into a behemoth who is hard to control and somewhat untrainable for them.  But they love him and as the years pass he becomes a part of their family (joined later by 3 kids).

This is a book about John's life.  Not Marley's.  I like memoirs, but I was expecting more about Marley.  Having to hear about his wife's pregnancies and contractions and all that kind of stuff was something I wasn't really interested in.  And there's not much mention of his kids, so if it was going to be that type of memoir, you'd think there would be more in there.  There is a lot of Marley though, and it usually is the author describing the antics Marley gets into.  So since there is a lot of Marley in it, I'm not going to fault the author too much on that point.

But there were a lot of things that bothered me.  First and foremost, the buying from a backyard breeder.  I like to volunteer at shelter's and it always pains me when people go out and buy puppies.  I understand the allure of a pure bred, but there's so many dogs out there that need homes (some purebreds).  And now I'll get off my soapbox.  I also couldn't believe the way they trained the dog, and the most disturbing scene is when the wife, suffering from post partum depression is found by the husband hitting Marley.  Now he goes on to say that the dog wasn't hurt physically, just emotionally because his person was upset, but it still doesn't bode well.  Especially since the author does nothing about it when it sounds like the wife could have probably used some help even before that incident so she didn't get into that state.  Everyone makes mistakes, but you have to rectify them too.

The book overall was well written.  It flowed easily and was edited ok.  Obviously there is childbirth, dog poop, and other messy things in the book, but it wasn't overly descriptive.  And towards the end, since dog's lives are short, I felt tears coming to my eyes at Marley's plight.  Animal lovers should be well aware this book details the entire life of the dog and the inevitable.  And have tissues on hand as a result.  It's true that this family loved the dog, even if they were a bit misguided.  And that's why so many people think Marley is a funny read, because of the screw ups committed by the author and the people, not the dog.  But again, this book is more about the people than the dog, which was kind of disappointing.

A book full of mixed emotions, it does have some sensitive topics.  Because people have so many opinions on animal care, training, specialized collars, etc. it can be kind of a volatile subject.  But this is a book about a family who loved a dog.

Marley & Me
Copyright 2005
289 pages

Chicken Soup for the Cat & Dog Lover's Soul by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Marty Becker and Carol Kline

Ok, admittedly after awhile these all start to run together. I mean the collection of Chicken Soup books is just humongous. But I'm a sucker for anything involving animals, so I decided to delve into this particular collection of short stories.

If you're not familiar with the Chicken Soup series, they are a bunch of books, usually themed that contain lots of short stories that are meant to be uplifting and inspirational. This particular book, for the Cat & Dog Lover's soul, is about animals. But not just cats and dogs, in a little side note in mentions other critters too, although with the extensive amount of books I'm not sure why they just didn't make this one about cats and dogs; but I digress. Some of those stories will rip your heart out, because let's face it, a lot of these stories are about losing a special animal, while others are meant to be inspiring, like those animals that rescue humans from their burning houses. The Cat Who Needed A Night Light was one of these such stories, involving a guy and his heroic cat who saved his life.

There are a wide variety of animals in here, and some really aren't even that remarkable. The majority of the stories actually seemed to deal more with people's feelings about their pets than about the animals themselves. It was about emotions running high when pets were in danger or dying or when the person themself was losing a battle, be it physical or mental. I'm more of an animal lover than a people lover, so I would have to say that I wished the stories were a little more about the pets themselves.

And so many sad tales. I sometimes wonder if the Chicken Soup authors aren't in league with the sellers of tissues, as they seem to make you want to cry in every book. There's always someone or something dying and it gets a little depressing after awhile. A book full of happy stories would be just terrific. And yes I know I can skip the sad ones, but I find it hard not to read a book straight through so I always end up with a tissue in hand reading the rest of the books. And a lot of the stories are faith based, this is a Christian publication after all, but they are not in your face about it, so just about anyone can enjoy these tales. Since it's broken up into short stories you can read this in one sitting, or split it up into as many different reading times as there are stories.

An ok collection. All unique stories when compared with the other books in the series so you won't be rereading too much. And great for animal lovers, regardless of what kind of animal they're fond of.

Chicken Soup for the Cat & Dog Lover's Soul
Copyright 1999
408 pages