The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Note: first part of blog entry also appeared on my Goodreads profile.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein



rating: 5 of 5 stars
Meet Enzo.



Lover of crap TV, loyal friend of Denny, Eve, and Zoe; and a keen observer of human nature, one whom no one hides their true selves from because no one thinks he actually understands what it is going on.



While tales of anthropomorphism are nothing new—stretching from Aesop’s Fables to The Heart of a Dog to Animal Farm and beyond—Enzo really is something special—thanks to his laid back style and sense of humor.



A heartfelt family story for people who usually hate heartfelt family stories and stories about pets—I heartily recommend that you take a couple of hours to meet Enzo.


Now for the iPreferreading portion of the entry.

Genre: Fiction
Subgenre: pet story, family fiction
Location: Seattle, Washington, and one of my fave childhood vacation spots--Winthrop, Washington (oh, bubble gum ice cream--so exotic)
Cliches: Story narrated by dog (although Stein pulls it off), evil in-laws/grandparents
Good Plane or Waiting Around in Line Reading: Yes
Good Enough Reading to Keep You Distracted From Plane Movie: Yes
Good Enough Plane Reading to Distract You From Kids or Jerks on Plane: Yes
Can read when depressed and/or when winter: No. This is a great book, but as anyone who has read any pet fiction knows, there usually is some kind of Charlotte's Web/Where the Red Fern Grows action by the end.

Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin, 240 pages

Shubin was one of the scientists who discovered Tiktaalik, a 375-million-year-old fish in the Arctic that became famous for being the missing link between fish and humans. Throughout Your Inner Fish, Shubin explains the evolutionary process that led from Tiktaalik to you and me.

Your Inner Fish is a book for people who are normally intimidated by science writing. His clear prose, sense of humor, and excellent use of illustrations throughout the text make this book not only an informative and accessible book for the readers who do not normally read about science, but an entertaining one as well.

Genre: Nonfiction
Subgenre: Science
Location: University of Chicago, the Arctic
Good Plane or Waiting Around in Line Reading: Yes, Shubin keeps his prose concise, so interruptions won't get you confused.
Good Enough Reading to Keep You Distracted From Plane Movie: Yes, unless it is a plane movie with both Chris Cooper and Pierce Brosnan, it would be tough to find a book that could compete with that.
Good Enough Plane Reading to Distract You From Kids or Jerks on Plane: Yes!
Can read when depressed and/or when winter: Yes

The House of Widows, Askold Melnyczuk, 255 pages

James Pak witnesses his father's suicide and then travels throughout Europe to discover why his father did it. Melnyczuk shifts time periods and narrators throughout so you have to really concentrate on the text in order to determine if the chapter in question is set in 1989, 1949, 1969, 2004, or 1936 (and let's not get into whether you are in New England, Oxford, Austria, or near Chernobyl or which narrator it is). While hard to get into at first, the book grows on you, but the main narrator, James, is rather uninteresting. When the book switches back to him for the final few chapters, it gets boring, and the ending is a disappointment. Intersting, but not satisfying.

Genre: Fiction
Subgenre: Historical fiction/Family Trauma Fiction
Location: New England, Oxford, Austria, Russia
Cliches: Son with troubled relationship with father, who became depressed alcoholic after mysterious tragedy, Heathcliff Syndrome, One Night Stand = Love of Lifetime
Good Plane and/or waiting in line Reading: No, you really need to concentrate on text to be able to keep up--and some sections require rereading
Good Enough Reading to Keep You Distracted From Plane Movie: Yes, as long as there are no kids or jerks distracting you.
Good Enough Plane Reading to Distract You From Kids or Jerks on Plane: No
Can read when depressed and/or when winter: No

Farm Sanctuary, By Gene Baur--286 pages

It has been way to long...Here's to hoping I can be better about posting!

Baur details his career as a animal rights advocate--specifically as an advocate for farm animals. His stories of downed animals (animals in stockyards who are so ill they cannot stand, but are carted off to be slaughtered for food anyways) are particularly heartbreaking, and the book definitely puts one off eating meat. Baur's writing style leaves a little to be desired, as the book is informative, but boring. Some sections just read as a list of "I did this, then I did that, oh, and I met this celebrity." The best part of the work are the several profiles of rescued animals which are incorporated throughout the book.

Genre: Nonfiction
Subgenre: Advocacy, agriculture.
Location: Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Watkins Glen, New York, and Orland California.
Good Plane and/or waiting in line Reading: Yes--chapters are short and can easily pick up where left off.
Good Enough Reading to Keep You Distracted From Plane Movie: Sadly, no.
Good Enough Plane Reading to Distract You From Kids or Jerks on Plane: no.
Can read when depressed and/or when winter: No. Although it would be a good book to read when getting ready to start a diet, as it puts you off meat and dairy.
If you like, try this better book: Fat Land by Greg Crister. While Crister's book is more about the food industry as a whole, both books deal with the issue of mass production of food, and Crister's writing style is much more inviting and engaging.