Going to the Dogs: Word Shop Newsletter January 2008
I'm sure there was some reason why I wanted a puppy. I just forget at this juncture exactly what it was. What I do remember, is that I also got a puppy in early January some 16 years ago. A sudden flash of familiarity struck me while standing in the rain muttering entrepreneurial encouragement, "Good girl, do your business..." You would think I would have remembered this before driving to Madera in the middle of the storm of the century to pick up our mail-order bride. But noooo....If you've recently come into The Word Shop on my shift, you have met our bundle of fur (and teeth and claws). Sasha is very enthusiastic about visitors. She has a shoe fetish, is particularly fond of flopping laces. We are trying to teach her to stay down and not bite. The operative word is "sit." Bellowing "down" with increasing volume doesn't seem to work. One day I heard a kind lady say softly, "But we shouldn't punish them for chewing." I looked over and saw that Sasha had a firm grip on the lady's lovely sheepskin jacket.
Of course we'd already sold the books written by the monks of New Skete who have raised German Shepherd dogs at their monastery for over 20 years. The Art of Raising a Puppy and How to be Your Dog's Best Friend sat on our floor next to the bunny books for several years before they were bought. Clearly, bunny books were going to be NO help with this puppy. Fortunately Pat happened in, reminded me that she had bought The Art of Raising a Puppy and offered to loan it to me. Tremendously helpful. I may just have to buy another copy of How to be Your Dog's Best Friend.
Sasha is a Queensland Heeler mix. Mom is an Australian Cattle Dog. Dad is bigger. If anyone has some cows that need to be chased at 7:00 in the morning, by all means let me know.
"If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons." -James ThurberThe Resurrection Book Group read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner. This novel about oppressed women in Afghanistan is unrelentingly grim. We sat around the table saying that it was probably good for us to read this kind of thing. And yeah, he is a good writer. My thesis is that Hosseini was a product of the oppressive culture and although he was definitely writing a pro-women book, he couldn't escape his own machismo. Therefore, he missed the interior feminine graces that would have given the book some light. The other women were too polite to say I was nuts. If it weren't for the group, I probably wouldn't have made it through the book. Michael, who also liked Kite Runner, didn't get past the first 50 pages. Anyway, this $29 hardback is now available for $15 if you're brave enough to take it on.
"Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." -Elie WieselI suggested we read Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking next. However, the group thought we deserved something light and jolly after A Thousand Splendid Suns. I couldn't resist peeking into Magical Thinking and now I'm hooked. Joan Didion is so lucid and articulate that reading about her grief process is not grim at all. Well, OK--a little scary. Life changes in an instant. If I read it with my fingers crossed behind my back, will that insure MY husband won't die and MY children won't get sick? I suppose facing mortality is a small price to pay for the gift of seeing the innerscape of Joan Didion's year after her husband's death. I am, however, reading it in small doses.
"Death is not extinguishing the light; it is putting out the lamp because the dawn has come." -Rabindranath TagoreLent is suddenly upon us. And I'm still picking pine needles out of the rug. A pastor in Southern California ordered 50 copies of Using the Word for a Lenten study. Between him and those of you who have bought bunches to hand out, I'm deep into my fourth box of a hundred books. Since I only printed 500 copies, a reprint is around the corner. If you noticed any typos or errors, now is the time to let me know. Bob says that there must be errors in the first printing so that book collectors can discern the true first edition--and make a fortune on ebay. Right.
"The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything." - Theodore RooseveltMeanwhile Rodney has made greeting cards out of his five illustrations for Using the Word. He's selling them for $1.50 each. Or, you can get a Gift Pack for $12.50 which includes the book, five cards with envelopes and a precious little bookmark. Samples are due to show up at The Word Shop this weekend.
"Hide not your talent, they for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?" - Benjamin FranklinSuzy Gazlay's science books for children are now available. If you know me, you're probably wondering why I'm recommending science books, but if you knew Suzy, you'd know that if anyone can make science interesting and fun, it would be her. The three Scienceworks titles are:Be a Volcanologist, Study Earthquakes and Join a Shark Expedition. Hardbacks are 25.27 and paperbacks $8.95.
My mom once told me that Chemistry is just like cooking, but I could never make the connection. Probably because of the missing eating piece. We got in a load of beautiful cookbooks. Many are too gorgeous to put on our usual $1 Paper/$2 Hardback Food and Health Shelf. I priced them at $3, $4 and even (gasp) $5. I took home The Soup Bible to peruse. Hey, it had "Bible" in the title. Come and see.
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone's soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd." -Jalaluddin RumiBarry loaned me Alexandra Fuller's memoir of her African childhood. He says it's a powerful story. Barry's recommendations are usually good--except for Marley and Me; Life and love with the world's worst dog. That well chewed book by John Grogan was a hysterical, rollicking account of raising a big exuberant Labrador. Made it sound like fun. Sure it is. I should have stuck with dogmatics. Meanwhile this African childhood recommendation awaits on the desk. The title is Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight.
Maybe tomorrow.
Blessings,
Alliee +
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