Maki (Ma'ingan -- Ojibwe for wolf): The Restless One
Owner of Louise
Has winter come and gone? Was it here? Questionable. Maki was buried
in snow last year and saw none this year. Heard Louise talking with the
Ojibwe maple sappers who said the maple trees did not run. She bought
snow tires, took them off, and is spooked. That's what everyone says.
Ah, how wonderful, yet, how weird. Maki would be the first to recommend a
book on climate change, but that is not what he sees Louise reading.
She burrowed into The History of the World in 100 Objects.
This is book must be read in hardcover, she says. Get it while you can.
And she keeps buttonholing family members to make them listen to the
description of 7,000 year old pots, and first carving of human lovers,
pre-Columbian gold mysteries, a find by a farmer looking for a hammer in
his field and pulling up a Viking treasure hoard . . . Maki thinks
about his dog dish. Blue, beloved, ceramic, slightly chipped. The
history of Maki's world lies in that object, the filling and refilling,
and who cares? Does she care? Wait, she's got a piece of toast. We
always share toast. Hey!
Dharma: The Enlightened One
Owner of SusanDharma: I would like to thank the many readers of
our Dog Blog for bringing me treats, petting me endlessly and generally
fawning over me in response to my last posting. Your kindness has
touched my Canine Heart (Please continue.) Woof!
My Human tucked herself in under the reading light every night for a week with The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach.
She simply had to see for herself what all the fuss was about. Gauging
by the amount of hand-selling going on back at the store I'm thinkin',
she REALLY liked it. ( For once she agrees with America's best- selling
book lists!)
Human: Who'd a thunk, a book with baseball as a
central theme that isn't really about baseball? Human frailty and the
meaning of family, friendship, and as a back drop, the Zen of being a
gifted baseball player. She found within its pages an original story
with characters she cared about in an irresistible read.
Mycophilia: Revelations from the Weird World of Mushrooms
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Boozhoo (Boo)
Owner of HeidSometimes the people I live with refer to me as Truffle Hunter because I snuffle loudly. I think they've figured out that I cannot hunt mushrooms, but at least I can tell them about Mycophilia: Revelations from the Weird World of Mushrooms by Eugenia Bone. Yes, the author's name did attract me, as did the fantastically beautiful cover art--mushroom botanicals. The book takes us on a passionate exploration of the world of mushrooms and mushroom hunters. We learn that fungi (never pronounced FUN GUY, but FUN GHEE) dominate life on this planet. Fungi live within and on all of us and their powers rival science fiction. Note to mention their tastiness, which is, apparently, a plot. Enjoy!
Annabelle
Owner of EmilyA Language Older Than Words (and everything else by Derrick Jensen). It's hard to use language to describe this book. If Annabelle could, she would just tell you to stop what you're doing and look out at the world. Pay attention! Listen to the birds! Watch the leaves forming on the trees in Minnesota even though it's only April! The book is about these things and much, much more. It's about observation and paying attention. Seems simple, yet....it is also about the enormous loss EVERYone and EVERYthing experiences when human beings fail these tasks. Annabelle thinks everyone should have a copy...being an elder dog, she has observed our human natures for quite some time now...
Bailey
Owner of DianeLast year I read Hugo by Brian Selznick. I liked the book and the illustrations (I haven’t seen the movie yet.) So, when I saw that Brian Selznick had a new book out, Wonderstruck, I was eager to look at it. When I opened the book, the first thing I saw was “Gunflint Lake, Minnesota 1977”.
I was so excited, I used to play at a cabin on Gunflint Lake! I have so many memories of running wild in the woods, swimming in the big lake. My owner was actually up there in 1977 (I wasn’t born yet.)
Just like the first book, the story is told through pictures and words. There are actually two stories that are woven into one. Ben was the boy from Minnesota. I liked the Minnesota connections because they talked about my cousins, the wolves! Who doesn’t love hearing about Minnesota wolves. It brought back so many memories of northern Minnesota. I could actually picture the placed they were talking about, so fun.
Rose is the other character, she lives in New York City and is deaf. It was really cool to see the different perspectives. You know dogs, we depend on our hearing so much, it was difficult to imagine not being able to hear. I learned a lot of different ways you can communicate.
When Rose and Ben meet up in New York City, the book took a big twist. I don’t want to give it away, you’ll need to read it yourself.
I would highly recommend this book, I think it is much better than Hugo. Check it out!!
The Great Animal Orchestra: Finding the Origins of Music in the World's Wild Places
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Sylvie
Owner of Prudencelove to sing! I'm a soprano and am especially fond of operatic music, though I'm happy to chime in on just about anything. You know that Jimmie Rodgers kind of yodeling? LOVE THAT! My human was always bragging that she "taught" me to sing, so I showed her the new book The Great Animal Orchestra by naturalist and musician Bernie Krause, all about how humans learned to make music from listening to US, the animals, the birds and insects, even the wind and water. I thought she ought to know. Now when we sit and listen to the music of the natural world, we’ll both be listening with enlightened ears.
Remington
Owner of MarthaI'm Remington. My grandhuman is Martha at Birchbark Books. I'm going to bark books. My bark is so low and loud I am left on the patio when I visit Martha's house. I look in the window and there is a wall of books. There's a fox-colored creature in the house who sleeps with Martha and Tom so he whispers to me what Martha is reading. I'd still like to get my jaws around him (Frank). He reports she's at the very end of Elizabeth Bowen's The Death of the Heart. In the middle of the night she was under a blanket tent chewing her lip over 16 year old orphaned Portia. Bowen's delicate and fine observations mirror Portia's innocence as she faces the crushing disappointments uncovered in life with her older brother and his wife in London. Like a Shostokovich symphony, the darkly human quietly marches toward Chloe's initially sweet life of manners, threatening to shadow, then engulf her entirely like the cannons of revolution. That Frank does act high falutin. No one's heard what happens in the last pages.
Rowdy: The Protector
Owner of PersiaRowdy wants to make a public service announcement. If you buy the book Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet by Bill McKibben from Birchbark Books we will only make enough on its margin to cover part of the cost of stocking it. That's the way it is with the book business. BUT if you buy the book at Birchbark Books and read it, you'll end up doing something that will help your planet because this is the most persuasive book about the planet Rowdy's ever read. And you'll be part of something called the Slow Money movement, which is all about supporting little businesses like us -- we're here to help the world by remaining a locavore business selling mind food in a city setting. We're not here to get big and eat up more farmland in some mall. Please read eaarth and try not to cry at the beginning because McKibben makes it better -- makes you consider how you can change your life in sensible ways to support this lovely, lovely, planet we are making tougher to live on for ourselves and our dogs.
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Frank and Rocky
Owners of CarolynFrank and Rocky know that Winter means the lake freezes over and they get to run like mad dogs, bounding through snow, skidding over ice on unimpeded romps through a big frozen field. They also know that Winter means it gets dark very early and when Frank looks up over the lake, it reminds him of the month he spent in Diné Bikeyah (Navajo country) with Carolyn when he was just a youth. He once told his brother Rocky that the stars were so bright down there that he thought if he could leap up just right, he might be able to catch one in his mouth. At first Rocky thought Frank was an idiot until he realized what he meant on his last night walk on the lake. Frank's enthusiasm for stars might be contagious because Rocky was ecstatic when he ran across a book about the Diné night sky calledSharing the Skies: Navajo Astronomy. Since the Diné and many other tribes tell their star stories between October and February, it is the perfect Winter time book. It gives you an overview of each Navajo constellation and their Greek equivalents accompanied by breath taking photos taken by the Hubble Telescope and lovingly rendered depictions of constellations by Navajo artist, Melvin Bainbridge. A great accompaniment to this book is They Dance in the Sky: Native American Star Myths. This is a compilation of star stories from several tribal nations. Frank and Rocky, being the lovable but mischievous tricksters that they are, relate to stories about Coyote. They especially love the story where Coyote steals the star pouch from Black God and scatters them about the cosmos. This Winter will fly by for these brothers as they learn about Navajo astronomy, listen to Carolyn read star stories, and spend their nights gazing up at the bright stars over frozen water.
Holly
Owner of AlliciaFinally, a book that created a character just like me. Sometimes I feel like I live in an unrecognizable North America. Usually it is my fault, tearing apart my doggie toys and dispersing them around the room. This is just like Katniss in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. She has this amazing way with a bow and arrow but she has to search for them in the arena, just like I have to after my family picks up after all my hard work. Love for her family is what keeps her going each day, just like mine does for me. She fights to live, for her family and her district in an obstacle course called the Hunger Games. I thought it was appropriate that the book is called The Hunger Games as she is hungry throughout the games and I am ALWAYS hungry and can go for one of those delicious biscuits my Grandma gives me. I can’t wait to see what adventures Katniss goes onto in the next book… to be continued…
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