This Week's Book Reviews...

I finished "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein this past week. It was such a good book, but be sure to have a box of Kleenex handy because you're going to need it.

Handsome had read the book before me, but made a point of keeping it off my radar until after Taggart came into our lives. I'm so glad that he did. I think I'd still be weeping if I had read it while still raw from his loss.

I'm not going to tell you much about the book, except it involves a hard-working man, his dog, car racing and the life they share together. It's told from the dog's perspective...and you'll love reading this story.

I watched Part One of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on Pay Per View last weekend, and although I purchased the book as soon as it came out, I found that I wasn't familiar with the storyline. You know what that meant, right? I took the book off the shelf and started reading.

I don't think it read it at all after purchasing it! I have each Potter book and have read them all...well, I thought I had. This is the perfect ending to the Harry Potter series - even though there are rumblings that there may yet be more sequels. I think after reading The Deathly Hallows, I can be a content Potter fan if this is truly the end of the story.

It had everything you've come to expect from all these beloved characters. I laughed; I cried; and I was really angry with a few of the characters, only to be surprised right along with everyone else as the plot resolves.

This Week's Book Reviews...

I recently told you that I was going to read "Edgar Sawtelle" by David Wroblewski, and I was really looking forward to this book. It's set in the real northern Wisconsin town of Mellen in the Chequamegon National Forest (pronounced she WA me gon). It's a place I know and love. The central story revolves around dogs...another favorite topic for me.

I'm going to be brutally honest with you now. While there were so many wonderful dog stories told within the covers of this 800+ page book, I was actually angry with the author's non-treatment of the ending.

I'm not the kind of person who requires a happy ending. I can take sad endings, too. What I can't abide is an author who just decides that after having your undivided attention for that many pages, he has to wrap up the book in - oh, say...four pages - and get this book to print. In my estimation he just ran out of interest in his own writing and walked away from it. (Imagine rolling a bowling ball across a kitchen table and just letting it fall when it gets to the edge.)

There were so many loose ends, unresolved issues and wonderful, full characters just left hanging at the end. He apparently just decided, "Well, enough is enough. I'll just kill 'em all off." Really! I was more than mildly peeved. I was throughly incensed.

Here's my advice. If you want to read the book for it's amusing and interesting dog stories, go ahead and borrow the book from the library - or a friend who already laid out their hard-earned cash - but (here's the important part), stop reading the book before the final chapter and make up your own ending. Anything you can imagine is going to be 1000 times better than what the author wrote.

Barring that, steer clear of "Edgar Sawtelle" and read something anything else. Eight hundred pages is a lot of wasted time to get to this author's pathetic attempt to wrap up his storyline.
On a happier note, I also finished reading "Water For Elephants" by Sara Gruen last night. Filled with flashbacks that only enhance the storyline, this book is a great way to spend a few summer afternoons. (Don't forget to pour yourself a tall glass of lemonade. You'll understand why later in the book!)

I'm much more apt to read the book than see the movie any day, so pick up a copy of "Water For Elephants" and sit back and enjoy the vivid images that the author helps conjure through her writing.
Next up is "The Art of Racing In The Rain" by Garth Stein. Another book involving dogs (I'm told). I'll let you know what I think of this one as soon as I'm finished reading it.