The animals’ bookshelf
Four reads to shift your perspective this spring
This column is lovingly dedicated, upon his retirement, to my guide dog, Laurence, the sweetest and smartest dog in the universe.
The Little Book of Bob: Life Lessons from a Street-Wise Cat by James Bowen. Thomas Dunne Books, 2019. Hardcover, 162 pages, $24.99.
Bob is back! Yes, the savvy ginger tabby (with help from his human sidekick, James Bowen) returns to delight millions of devoted readers in The Little Book of Bob. The two have come a long way from their days on the streets of London. With several best sellers to his credit, Bowen, long recovered from drug addiction, shares life lessons learned from his rescued cat. Whether it involves seizing or savoring the moment, Bob has much to say about how to live with compassion, self-awareness and curiosity. While follow-ups to best-selling memoirs can often be lackluster and repetitive, this book escapes such a fate. This is Bob at his heartwarming best.
Extraordinary Dogs: Stories from Search and Rescue Dogs, Comfort Dogs, and Other Canine Heroes, with text by John Schlimm and photographs by Liz Stavrinides. St. Martin’s Press, 2019. Hardcover, 288 pages, $27.99.
There is a good reason why books about heroic dogs abound, and nowhere is that reason more exquisitely portrayed than in Extraordinary Dogs. In this beautiful collection of tales from the front lines of natural and man-made disasters, readers will meet dozens of highly trained canines, along with their human partners, and get a glimpse of how these teams provide assistance under extreme and often dangerous circumstances.
While Extraordinary Dogs can certainly be read cover-to-cover, it is also a book that draws individuals in and holds our interest no matter where we begin. Those who love dogs will likely come away from any one of the stories feeling humbled and awed. Schlimm’s prose and Stavrinides’ photography give voice to hero dog teams and the work they do in a volume that is as much heart as art.
Molly: The True Story of the Amazing Dog Who Rescues Cats by Colin Butcher. Celadon Books, 2019. Hardcover, 304 pages, $26.99.
A former member of the Royal Navy, retired police detective Colin Butcher needed a fresh start and found just that when he began a pet detective company in rural England. Putting his maritime experience together with his detecting skills, Butcher had a dream of training a dog to help locate lost cats — a dream only he seemed to believe could see the light of day. Then he met a rescued cocker spaniel named Molly, and his vision took shape.
In an enormously appealing memoir, the author details the extensive training that he and Molly underwent and describes how they work as a team. In the 30-plus years that I have been reviewing animal-related books, I have rarely come across one as unique and unusual as Butcher and Molly’s story. The “amazing” in the subtitle isn’t hyperbole. Don’t take my word for it, though. Pick up a copy and prepare to be entranced.