A Time Out!

I recently gave myself a timeout! Not a vacation really because too much work was involved to call it that. No, it was really just time away. I had a lovely time in Georgia and Tennessee, visiting with family. The pups stayed behind with Dad, and I hear they missed me.While away though, I took the opportunity to do a little pleasure reading ... and what a pleasure it was! The book "The Art of Racing in the Rain," by Garth Stein, was fabulous! The story is about a racecar driver and his struggles with a terminally ill wife and some pretty evil in-laws. The twist however is that the entire story is told from the prospective of the family dog, Enzo. Enzo is something else with his obsessive desire for thumbs and a longing for a tongue that will form words.Enzo learns from watching TV and much observation of human activity. Writer Garth Stein has really crafted something special in his observations of dogs and Enzo can make you believe (if you ever had a doubt,)that there is much more going on inside a dog's mind than we will ever know. The story is funny and touching but not the least bit contrived or predictable. I loved it and would love to recommend it to all my fellow doggie lovers too. I have read that Patrick Dempsey (a race car driver/enthusiast himself,) has picked up the story and is working to bring it to film. That is funny, because the whole time I was reading I was picturing Dempsey as the lead character Denny, even before I knew about the project. So I would love to discuss the book with ya'll. If you have read it already or plan to read it in the future... let me know what you thought. I found it thoroughly entertaining and easy to read, and I bet ya'll will too.