Book Beginnings ~ on a Caturday

Some of my best friends were dogs, when I was growing up in a family with three horses, a couple of dogs, a bird in a cage, and various other animals, including my kittens.

See the dog on the cover of my newest book?  His name is Enzo, and he tells this story.  Enzo has some of the same problems I have trying to communicate with humans (though I talk better than he does).

"Gestures are all that I have; sometimes they must be grand in nature.  And while I occationally step over the line and into the world of the melodramatic, it is what I must do in order to communicate clearly and effectively.  In order to make my point understood without question.  I have no words I can rely on because, much to my dismay, my tongue was designed long and flat and loose, and therefore, is a horribly ineffective tool for pushing food around my mouth while chewing, and an even less effective tool for making clever and complicated polysyllabic sounds that can be linked together to form sentences.  And that's why I'm here now waiting for Denny to come home -- he should be here soon -- lying on the cool tiles of the kitchen floor in a puddle of my own urine."

Uh-oh!  This doesn't sound good at all.  I got online to learn more about this book and found out I was right to be worried about this dog.

"On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through ... Having learned what it takes to be a compassionate and successful person, the wise canine can barely wait until his next lifetime, when he is sure he will return as a man."

I think I'm going to like this book. Enzo sounds like an intelligent fellow, like me, but it also sounds like Enzo suffers.  I empathize with him.  I'm suffering right now.

In most of my photos, it's hard to see much more than my face.  But the truth is that I'm ... uh ... overweight.  No, let me put it plainly:  I'm a fat cat.  Yesterday, the vet put me on a diet.  I love canned cat food, but last night Bonnie fed me a smidgen of dry food.  And that's all.  I thought it was my appetizer!  But she was relentless.  I'm suffering, I tell you!

Kiki Cat, signing off

Oh, yeah, the book is The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.  Bonnie always adds the date a book was published, so I will too.  It's 2008, though I doubt if you care.