A Couple of Books

Winter drags on and on.  Rain today, splatting outside on the cement driveway.  The birds have not even come out yet.

Well, the Mourning Doves have come now, along with a few sparrows.

Miss D has turned into the monster I've made her into.  Demanding her treats, flicking me with her claw to wake me up, leaving me scarred with red marks of my disobedience.

The Ugly Side of Miss D

I finished one book and read another on Saturday.  The first was a mystery, with dialogue written so well, I began to see the words as a movie instead of as words.

I got the book for a dollar at the Habitat Store a couple weeks back.

The plot involved a young lawyer researching on a freebie case about the estate of a fellow Italian who died in a Montana WWII internment camp.  Yes, we did that also to Italians, but they were treated much better as a whole than Germans and Japanese internees.

She plods through the research, aided by her best friend, while dealing with difficult family issues that are made real and humorous.  The first part of the book is a little slow but the plot picks up the pace and although I noted some little issues in the plot, some left behind plot angles, the book was fabulous and the ending roared.

Killer Smile.  By Lisa Scottoline

The second book I read Saturday was given to me by a friend just after Christmas.   She had loved it.  It's very popular I hear.

I read through it quickly, as it is an easy read book, but it is very emotional.   I cried much of the way through it.  I don't typically like books written to play on emotion as this one definitely is.  This is the story about a man's life, as seen through his dogs' eyes.

Denny, the protagonist, buys the dog from a breeder, then gets married, has a kid, wife gets cancer, wife has evil parents who try to steal his kid from him after wife dies by framing him for sex abuse of a minor.  All the while Denny works as a mechanic but his real love is racing cars.  The dog, who narrates, also loves car racing and little wisdoms about car racing as applied to life are found throughout the book.  The book is an unapologetic not subtle at all comparison of life to car racing.

The book must make you a believer in reincarnation early on, in order to deliver the happy ending.  You have to buy in, even for the duration of the book, so you can be happy at the end.  I bought in.  I pretended.  Then I felt had afterwards, like about ten minutes after finishing the book when my emotions settled.  And a little dirty.  Like after having great sex with a one night stand.  That creeping guilt that ruins it.  Hey, bonk myself on the head, I don't believe in that shit.

It's an emotional ride.  Sometimes emotional books are nice to read and this one hits every button you could imagine and delivers a happy ending even though the dog dies in the end.   Imagine that!  Win, win, win!  I liked it.

But would I read it again?  Not unless I wanted to cry off and on for three hours.

The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein.

I've had two cups of coffee this morning, one cup more than the usual.  I better get something done!  Something besides reading maybe.   Maybe I should go at least walk in the rain!