Thursday, July 30, 2015

Books Going to the Dogs!

Idgie Says:
Two interesting books out this summer that star our best friend and companion  - dogs.  The first one, Lawyer for the Dog, is a fictional novel sharing the story of a lawyer who learns more about life and what she wants while deciding the fate of Sherman the Schnauzer.  Let the hijinks ensue!  (P.S.  not a nonsensical premise, I have seen people go to court over who gets the family dogs when divorce occurs!)

The second book, Lessons from Tara, is filled with true life stories created from the forming and working with a rescue association for dogs, from the perspective of a man who had never owned a dog before meeting his wife, and her dog....and having his eyes opened to the love an animal can give you. They claim to average a home with 20 dogs at a time now - apparently the rescue is their living room!

I love dogs and always enjoy a good dog story, be it a fictional novel or a true life memoir.  Both books are available now.

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LAWYER FOR THE DOG (Thomas Dunne Books; July 7, 2015) is a moving, poignant, and often funny story about people’s battles for love, whether the love of another person or the love of a family pet. Filled with warm and engaging characters and several real-life themes—the canine-human bond, family, divorce, caring for an aging parent, and mid-life dating, it is a fresh and timely novel that will keep readers engaged until the very last page.   

About the LAWYER FOR THE DOG:
One of the sharpest attorneys in Charleston, S.C., Sally Baynard isn’t your typical Southern belle.  She’s certainly not what her mother hoped she’d grow up to be, especially since she divorced her husband, a family court judge with an historic family as well as historic wealth.  Maybe Sally was never going to be a proper society lady, but her success as a public defender and family lawyer have been enough for her.  She’s represented murderers, burglars, and drug dealers and has taken on some of the thorniest divorces, closing all her cases with her special blend of wit, charm and brains.
 One case she’s never successfully closed, though, is her marriage.  And when Judge Joe Baynard assigns her to one of his divorce cases by appointing her as the lawyer for the couple’s dog – Sherman, a miniature schnauzer—she’s forced into close quarters with him again.  As Sally investigates Sherman’s relationship with both the husband and wife, she knows she must ultimately determine who would be the better guardian for the dog—a task she soon finds is far more complicated than one would think. Juggling the needs of the dog, the angry, divorcing couple, her amorous but uncommunicative ex-husband, her aging mother, and the expectations of the court is more than Sally could have imagined.  But as rascally Sherman digs his way into Sally’s heart, he also helps her make some important decisions about her own life.

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Mystery writer David Rosenfelt is the Edgar and Shamus Award-nominated author of eighteen novels, twelve of which feature sleuth Andy Carpenter and his dog, Tara.  Carpenter and Tara are extremely popular with readers, and in Rosenfelt’s non-fiction book, Dogtripping, fans learned that the fictional Tara was actually inspired by Rosenfelt’s first real-life dog of the same name.   Now, they’ll be delighted to learn that Rosenfelt shares his sage and funny recollections of what Tara taught him about life, love, and being a man in his newest book, LESSONS FROM TARA: Life Advice from The World’s Most Brilliant Dog. (July 21, 2015 St. Martin's Press)
 
About the LESSONS FROM TARA:
Rosenfelt first met Tara when he began dating Debbie Myers, who would later become his wife.  As David and Debbie’s relationship grew, they also bonded over their love of Tara.  Tara was David’s first experience with having a pet dog, and he learned about the amazing love and comfort dogs have to offer.  It was because of Tara that the couple began volunteering at animal shelters and eventually founded their own rescue group, which they named The Tara Foundation.  Over the years they found homes for over four thousand dogs, and have adopted hundreds themselves.  At any given time, they have at least twenty dogs of their own; however, there was that one time when they had forty!  In LESSONS FROM TARA, Rosenfelt shares what he learned from Tara and all their rescue dogs about life, love, and happiness, including the importance of overcoming your fears, appreciating the little things in life, that there’s nothing wrong with growing old, and that the world has gotten smaller and we are all connected.  He also includes the small things he’s learned like who gets the pillow when four dogs sleep in your bed with you…it’s not the human!

Infused with David’s trademark wry and self-deprecating sense of humor, LESSONS FROM TARA will move readers to tears and laughter.