A Three Dog Life: A Memoir by Abigail Thomas - Thank God...back to good writing, and in a memoir at that! I'd admit, the name of this book is what hooked me (a friend of mine has three dogs, thus the connection). Sometimes I choose books like that. Sometimes I am greatly dissappointed, sometimes I am pleasantly surprised. This book provided the later of the two.
This is the memoir of Abigail Thomas, more specifically her memories centered around the traumatic brain injury of her husband, Rich Rogin. One night, Rich took their newly acquired dog out for a walk on the Upper Westside of Manhattan and was hit by a car when the dog darted into traffic. The dog came home, but Rich didn't. Abaigail writes skillfully about the pain, confusion, and acceptance she experiences throughout the years following the accident when Rich lost his memory and became a totally different man. Unable to care for him at home, she writes about her visits with him in the hospital where he lives and their weekly visits when she takes him home. Although traumatically injured, many of his words seemed prophetic, as if he were seeing the world from a different plane.
Thomas is an artful writer who is able to write lucidly about a completely heartwrenching part of her life.
Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts - A Rival Readers Book Club selection, I was a bit dissappointed with this book. Written in the same style of her first book, Where the Heart Is, there are several very unique characters who she does a wonderful job of making the reader love and hate. With names like O Boy Daniels, Nicky Jack Harjo, Teeve, and Rowena Whitekiller, the reader can't help but get wrapped up in their individual stories.
Set in Oklahoma, we get a good idea of what this town and its residents are like from the beginning. Letts tells us a TON of important information about the characters in the first chapter...which was a bit overwhelming. From there the story unwinds. There's a murder and a lost child who is presumed dead but returns 25 years later looking for his real mother. When Nicky Jack Harjo, now Mark Albright, returns and finds that his mother was killed and he was stolen and then adopted, he sets his sights on uncovering the truth surrounding that day. Along the way he falls in love, barely misses being shot, and sets a small Oklahoma town topsy turvy before finally getting the answers everyone had been needing for so long.
The plot was suspenseful with enough mystery to hook the reader, but Letts' writing style was very plain and simple. Although I'm a sucker for a good story, I prefer good writing...and there she failed terribly.
I haven't had the chance to read much over the past few weeks with finishing my marathon training and traveling a bit more. I have read plenty of running magazines, though no one will be much interested in those. I should have a reading update very soon though as I'm reading our first book club book of the year and it looks to be awfully interesting! Check back for updates soon!
