Book Tuesday

This morning, I wrote this comment for The Witch's entry "On Choices, Museums and Books."

 

So many great books, so little time. I work in the tech services department of a public library, doing processing on all new books and repairs on damaged books. I am afforded the luxury of having a few minutes to browse everything that comes in.

 

There is a lot of crap out there, for sure. Danielle Steel comes to mind. We're getting a deluge of requests for the genre of "Christian Fiction." The "Left Behind" series is just about the biggest pile of pulpwood poop I've ever witnessed.

 

My favorite is definitely the genre I call Southern Disfunctional...Alice Walker, Flannery O'Conner, Toni Morrison's "Beloved" was one of the best horror stories I've ever read,  Rick Bragg's "All Over but the Shouting", Willie Morris and his "My Dog Skip".

 

I usually keep at least two novels, and at least one audio book going at one time, not to mention the knitting and textile books that I keep open for reference. Right now I'm listening to "The Attack" by Yasmina Khadra and reading "The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton: A Novel", by Jane Smiley, and "Sapphire's Grave" by Hilda Gurley-Highgate.

 

There is an unbelievable amount of Young Adult and Children's Fiction out there too, many that I wind up taking home, if I can't finish them at my desk. I wait with enthusiasm for "Walter the Farting Dog Goes on a Cruise" by William Kotzwinkle...the previous books in the series have been real page turners!

 

I have to keep a notebook at my desk to list the books I want to read, there is just no way to get them all home to read, but all of us in my department have agreed, that we wish that every week, we could read a book like "Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog"  by John Grogan.

 

  

I know, I'm a dog lover (LMAO!  Can't you tell I love dogs?) and I identified with the humor, the destruction, the unconditional love.  Marley was NOT the world's worst dog.  Marley was a Lab.  As a past and present owner of labs and retrievers, I just think that I've got the world's worst dog when I have to replace a sofa, or rehang drapes or suck up the remnants of the destruction of a waterbed.  Those of us at work that read the book loved it, and I listened to it while I was at work, and laughed.  I also cried at the inevitable conclusion, bringing back all of the pain that I felt this past January when I had to let go of my dear Golden Smiley (who did as much if not more to destroy this home than Marley did to his.)

 

Reading this book now, has helped remind me that no matter what happens now, the puppyhood phase won't last forever, sheetrock can be replaced, and unconditional love and devotion is priceless.    This is one of the rare popular hits that resonated with me, and if you are a dog lover, it probably will with you too.