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From the dark end of the street to the bright side of the road!

Another guest review!!

My friend Kiko has been doing some more reading and she's been kind enough to send me another book review. The book is Nose Down, Eyes Up. Here's Kiko!

This book is by Merrill Markoe, who also wrote Walking In Circles Before Lying Down. Like that book, it is about a person who learns to communicate with dogs. It is mainly about family and what comprises a family, and how we might relate to those that are in our family--or want to be. The narrator is Gil, whose girlfriend Sara is an animal communicator. Unfortunately, she always gets it wrong, as Gil discovers when the dogs start talking to HIM. Jimmy is a lab who Gil has raised from a puppy; the other three are rescues. Jimmy thinks that Gil is his actual father, and that fact gives him insight into people and how to live with them. He gives Tony Robbins-style lectures to the neighborhood dogs to share his wisdom with them. But when he learns that his biological family lives with Gil's ex-wife, he insistes that Gil take him to meet them. Their lives will never be the same after that.

While this book is quite funny in parts, mom didn't really love it. There is quite a bit of 'bad' language in the book. Mom doesn't hang out with people who talk that way, so reading it is not her favorite thing. Also the main character, Gil, is a guy, and his main preoccupations seem to be drinking and having sex whenever he can. His family is very dysfunctional, and it doesn't seem over the course of the novel that anyone really learns anything about themselves, except for Jimmy. Gil does learn a bit about what having a family is about, but it doesn't seem to change his character for the better, IMHO. It will be interesting to see if anyone else views it differently. We got it from the library, so hopefully it will be available to most of you.


Thanks, Kiko! Happy reading, everyone!

National Candy Corn Day!

Thanks to my special secret anonymous candy corn giver who tells me that today is National Candy Corn Day. My kind of holiday!

Have a happy Candy Corn Day and a happy Howl-o-ween tomorrow, everyone!

The Unscratchables

The Unscratchables by Cornelius Kane, is billed as "a new breed of crime novel." Quite frankly, I had to check to see if Lyle wrote it. It's much better writing and more clever than anything Lyle's written, but it's so completely Lyle-ish I had to check to be sure.

Here's the story: Detective Max "Crusher" McNash of the Slaughter Unit in the Police Dog Force is a hard headed, tough as nails bull terrier. He's called to the scene of a double murder--2 rottweilers are dismembered on the docks in a rough district of the Kennels.

When the evidence points to a cat as the perpetrator, the Feline Bureau of Investigation is brought in to partner up with the Slaughter Unit. Crusher has a deep-seated hatred for cats, and Siamese in particular--he was a prisoner of the North Siamese in the war. When the FBI liaison turns out to be a smooth talking, impeccably dressed Siamese, it's almost more than Crusher can handle. But he's a good dog at heart, and obedience trained, so he buries his instincts and partners with Cassius Lap in the investigation.

What they uncover is a conspiracy extending to the highest levels of government, canine and feline. In the process, Lap and McNash form a bond of partnership and incorruptibility--together they become the Unscratchables.

Lyle for sure gives this one a 4 paw rating. If you like a little cheese with your novels, you're sure to enjoy it. Watch out for some eye-rollers and groaners, but all in all it's a smile from start to finish.