Given the current global concern, I can either give you an update on the pandemic, or tell you what’s on my bookshelves. Anything else would be distastefully self-serving. Since we’re many of us stuck indoors, and since people far more expert than myself can inform you on the virus, I’ve decided to help you get through your social distancing by virtue of a good read. Here are just a few selections for fellow animal-lovers.
First off, anything Bob Tarte is great fun. Tarte, a friend of mine, starts with Enslaved By Ducks, a laugh riot which details “how one man went from from head of the household to bottom of the pecking order.” Bob is a self-described sloth whose attempts at doing nothing are frequently disrupted by the needs of the mounting number of animals he and his wife acquire.
Next in the series is Fowl Weather, in which Bob writes about the pressing tandem issues of dealing with even more pets, as well as dealing with his mother’s Alzheimer’s disease. It contains more of Bob’s humor as well as his touching efforts to make sense of his mother’s downhill slide into dementia.
Thirdly is Kitty Cornered, where Bob focuses on the six cats who have taken over his life and home. From Maynard, his kindred spirit in slothdom, to Lucy, who always aimed outside the litter tray, to the rest, you can be sure that they all got the best of Bob!
Bob’s fourth book, Feather Brained, is about his “bumbling quest to become a birder.” Bob and his caustic friend, Book Character Bill Holm (who features in all four books) discover the delights of birding at the Muskegon [Michigan] Wastewater Treatment System – the last place anyone would think that watchable birds gather. Even if you’re not a big fan of birds, you’ll still enjoy Tarte’s self-deprecating humor.
Then there are my three books: Crazy Critter Lady, No Better Medicine, and Sorry, Honey But The Critters Come First. All three center around the many and varied species of animals I’ve encountered, down the years, as well as their quirky characters: who knew a Pekin duck could tell one to go f—k themselves in a completely alien but entirely decipherable language?!
Other books on my shelves include perennial favorites A Street Cat Named Bob, Marley and Me, the last in Peter Gether’s trilogy, The Cat Who’ll Live Forever, and Ever By My Side – A Memoir In 8 Pets, by Nick Trout. All available on Amazon. Hopefully, you’ll be inspired to read a few.
In the meantime, please be well and stay healthy!