The Art of Racing in the Rain

The Art of Racing in the Rain is the February read for the Poudre River Regional Public Library Main Library Book Club.  Before it was chosen for the Book Club this year I was told by my brother and sister-in-law that it was a great book and I needed to read it.  Right before I began reading it a friend told me the same thing.  Why then don't I feel like I read the same book?  I knew that the book was going to be narrated by a dog named Enzo.   I didn't know it was going to make me cry in the first few pages. What surprises me is that this book mentions reincarnation on more than one occasion and I am pretty sure my brother and sister-in-law don't believe in reincarnation for one moment.  They usually don't care for any fantasy element.  So why did they like it?

Enzo fantasizes about talking quite a bit and being a human in another life.  He tells the story of his owner Denny who is working at a BMW dealership while he pursues his dream for becoming a professional race driver. Enzo goes back to his first meeting with Denny and covers his marriage to Eve, becoming a father and the inevitable hardship that drives the rest of the story.  If you really are into car racing there are many references to races, drivers,  and movies about racing that you will enjoy.  There are several poignant moments in the book that drew me in, but I didn't feel a depth to this story that I was expecting.  Maybe my expectations were too high. The movement from past to future and back wasn't handled badly, but I was not caught up in this story, I could easily have put it down and not picked it up for a week or a month.  I felt no urgency to finish it and find out what happened.  Some of it was predictable, but that hasn't prevented me from enjoying a book before.  Unlike other book club choices I hadn't looked up the author on the internet to get more information.  Usually I do this before I finish the book because I want to know more about them and how they came to write their book.  

Here is the Garth Stein's web site address http://www.ravenmoon.com/ .  I'd be interested to hear what other people found or didn't find in this book.

Pigs of Heaven

A friend recently loaned me Barbara Kingsolver's  sequel to The Bean Trees, Pigs in Heaven.  I had read the first book about Taylor and Turtle while visiting Dad at La Possada in Green Valley.  My sister found it in their library and laughed so often as she read it I had to read it too.   Pigs in Heaven begins 3 years later and Turtle, the adopted Cherokee daughter, is now six years old.  While on Easter vacation with her mother, Turtle sees someone fall into a tunnel of the Hoover Dam.  She later asks her mother how he will get out and Taylor turns around to find someone to rescue the man.  This leads to an appearance on Oprah.  A Cherokee lawyer sees the show and suspects that Turtle has been illegally adopted.  When she pursues it Taylor panics and whisks Turtle away from Tucson and their life with Jax, a musician.  Kingsolver effortlessly peoples this novel with many characters and draws you into their lives making you care about each one.  Although Taylor and Turtle desperately want to stay together, there are many light-hearted moments that give the reader a break from the desperation Taylor feels as she struggles to earn a living and keep Turtle.  Barbara Kingsolver 's Website