Another Day, Another Book Review, Another Book By Jon Katz

As you have probably surmised if you are one of the dozen or so people who humor me by reading my blog (even though my blog reading has dropped off considerably for the nonce -- I'm sorry ...) I'm on a bit of a Jon Katz jag right now. I've been a rather joyless reader this year. There has been very little that has inspired me. I've started a number of books, lost patience with them, and simply quit reading them. Others I've read all the way through, only to close them with a hmm. In short, it's been a dry season. Then I remembered how much I enjoyed Katz's first couple of books about his dogs, and decided to catch up with what he's doing now.

A Good Dog just about broke my heart -- perfect! I welcome a genuine good cry. Reading out of chronological order, I jumped to Izzy and Lenore: Two Dogs, an Unexpected Journey, and Me. Izzy is a purebred border collie, another rescue dog. Initially unwilling to go there again after his experiences with the rescued border collie Orson, Jon -- I've read so many of his books now, that I feel we can be on a first name basis -- Jon realizes that perhaps he has been given a second chance to get it right with Izzy, and decides to keep him. Lenore is a black lab puppy that Jon buys from a breeder.

One of the things I really love about these books is that, although they are funny, moving, and even sentimental, there is little that is syrupy, dewy-eyed, or manipulative about them. Jon simply loves his dogs (and a handful of other animals) and through them, as well as his writing and Bedlam Farm, he is trying to make sense of his life. So in a sense, he is just chronicling his muddling through, and as an experienced muddler myself, it resonates deeply.

The "unexpected journey" refers to Jon and Izzy's work as trained Hospice volunteers. The chapters where he describes Izzy's (and his own) interactions with dying people and their families are beautiful. It may also refer to Jon's struggle with a particularly deep depression that winter, about which he writes movingly and candidly.

I find these books to be very spiritual, and I was surprised and pleased to find out near the end of Izzy and Lenore that Jon is a Quaker. He doesn't claim to have any answers to anything really -- not dog training, not farming, not faith nor love -- and it is precisely that not knowing that makes me want to keep reading his work.

Did I say "keep reading"? Oh yeah, I am nearly finished reading Dog Days: Dispatches From Bedlam Farm, the book that actually precedes Izzy and Lenore. I understand there is a new book coming out this summer, one that spotlights Rose, his workhorse border collie. I'm looking forward to it.

Book Review: A Good Dog by Jon Katz

There are so many dog books around, and they are all funny and heartwarming and wise and ... and ... and ... it almost seems as if you've read one, you've read them all. In fact, I usually don't read them, because they become so ... formulaic (and manipulative) after a while. A few years ago, however, I was moved to check Katz's A Dog Year out from the library. It told the story of how Katz, a middle aged writer who was prone to owning Buddha-like labrador retrievers, acquired a troubled border collie named Devon -- whom he dubbed "the Hell dog." I read it, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

In this book Devon is back, although he has been renamed Orson (and Katz explains why this is so early on in the book.) The full title of the book is A Good Dog: The Story of Orson, Who Changed My Life. As I began reading it, I got the sense that Katz felt the first book had not done justice to Orson's story and what the dog meant to him, so he decided to tell it again. Yeah, it's a dog story and there are parts where he describes Orson's antics that are laugh-out-loud funny, as well as parts that moved me to tears. It's more than a dog story, though. It's also a rooster, sheep, and donkey story, and a people story. I found it very spiritual -- about faith, hope, and love, the ties that bind. Schlocky-sounding, I know. But there you have it.

The bottom line is, if you love dogs, you will most likely enjoy this book. If you like a good writer -- which Katz most definitely is -- you will probably enjoy this book. If you've ever dreamed about moving to the country you might enjoy this book.

Here is some of the highest praise I can bestow on a book: I plan to purchase A Good Dog. I don't buy too many books these days , and have to really love something to want to own it. Jon Katz also has a nice website, as I mentioned in the previous post, and he's becoming a damned good photographer too. Enjoy.

(Notice in the sidebar that I am now reading his most recent book Izzy and Lenore: Two Dogs, an Unexpected Journey, and Me. Stay tuned for the next review.)