The Art of Racing in the Rain

For months now, I've been hearing great things about this book. After requesting it from my library in October, I finally was able to pick it up last week. It was a very fast read, but it was very good!

Despite hearing rave reviews about The Art of Racing in the Rain, there were two important details that I'm surprised I didn't know until I started reading. #1 - The "racing" referred to in the title is car racing...not running. And #2 - The book is narrated by the dog.

I should say that I'm not a fan of car racing. I've never understood why people would want to watch a car race, especially not on TV. But I was intrigued by the parallels drawn by the author between car racing and the struggles of life. It actually made quite a bit of sense. And I loved the use of a dog as the narrator. Throughout the book, he was the "innocent bystander," watching as events unfolded. I could feel his frustration as he knew exactly the right words to say to give comfort to his person but was limited to a bark, a gesture, a nuzzle.

This is a book that was at times sad, heartwarming, heartwrenching, aggravating, and funny. Especially if you can believe that pets have personality and care about their humans, I recommend this book!
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Total number of books read in 2009: 4
Total number of pages read in 2009: 2341