Dog Is My Co-Pilot: Great Writers on the World's Oldest Friendship

Dog Is My Co-Pilot: Great Writers on the World's Oldest Friendship
Average customer rating:

Dog lovers can relate to the stories in this book

A must read!

A Dog in Every Chapter

Easy pick up

Dog is my Co-Pilot

Dog Is My Co-Pilot: Great Writers on the World's Oldest Friendship
Bark Editors
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Dogs | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Essays | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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Cesar's Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems

The Bark

97 Ways to Make Your Dog Smile

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You Are a Dog: Life Through the Eyes of Man's Best Friend

ASIN: 1400050537
Release Date: 2004-10-26

Book Description

Dogs have been our muses, our mentors, and our playful and noble co-pilots. They’ve had a profound influence on us as healers and spiritual guides, and also as co-workers, helping to guide, hunt, herd, search, and rescue. Our bond with dogs is deep and unbreakable, and there’s no better source a reader can turn to for a richer understanding of that complex and wonderful relationship than The Bark.

The Bark began as a newsletter in Berkeley, California, that advocated for an off-leash area where dogs could cavort and play. Within a few years it had become a full-fledged, award-winning glossy magazine that published work by some of the best writers in America today. And as it grew, the magazine embraced a much larger canvas: to cover the emerging phenomenon of “dog culture” that has been developing over the past decade, as dogs have moved out of the backyard and into our homes, communities, and, indeed, the very center of our lives. As editor Claudia Kawczynska writes, “The implications of integrating another species into society’s daily fabric go well beyond how we nurture our dogs. It calls for a revamping of the standard etiquette—respecting the concerns and interests of society at large. This new relationship, along with an appreciation for our rich and unbounded future, comprises what we call dog culture. This is what The Bark set out to chronicle.”

Dog Is My Co-Pilot is an anthology of essays, short stories, and expert commentaries that explores every aspect of our life with dogs. Fifty percent of the material here has never been published before. The book is divided into four sections: Beginnings explores that first meeting, “the initial murmurings when a dog-human relationship is formed.” Pack investigates the theme of “togetherness” and pays tribute to the dynamic of multiple personalities in the canine-human relationship. Lessons examines what dogs teach us, from love to enlightenment. The final section, Passages, reflects on the themes of true friendship, transformation, and loss.

Included are pieces by Lynda Barry, Rick Bass, Maeve Brennan, Margaret Cho, Carolyn Chute, Alice Elliott Dark, Lama Surya Das, Pam Houston, Erica Jong, Tom Junod, Caroline Knapp, Donald McCaig, Nasdijj, Ann Patchett, Michael Paterniti, Charles Siebert, Alexandra Styron, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, and Alice Walker. In selections that are humorous, poignant, truthful, sometimes surprising, and frequently uplifting, Dog Is My Co-Pilot embraces the full experience of the world’s oldest friendship. For people who love great writing and, yes, great dogs, it’s a book to be both shared and treasured.

Customer Reviews:

Dog lovers can relate to the stories in this book.......2007-07-19

Most of the stories in this book "hit home" with me and I found myself saying "I've had that experience with my dog(s) - I could have written that". Some stories were a little long, just a few I found not as interesting. A good read for dog lovers.

A must read!.......2007-06-26

If you are a dog lover this should be required reading it is such a great book! It is a little treasure of great writing from some of the best writers ever....I wanted this book to last forever I enjoyed it so much!

A Dog in Every Chapter.......2007-01-28

There's a lot in this book for dog owners--namely, 42 stories on some aspect of dog. Some of the information is factual, but most has to do with relationships--dog to person and dog to dog, the former being much more prevalent. Most any dog owner would gain something of value from this book.

I like the stories from Caroline Knapp, Alice Elliott Dark, and Bonnie Jo Campbell the best. Knapp's and Dark's stories are serious and compelling. Campbell's story about her dog Roscoe, who she comes to believe is a reincarnation of her former and erstwhile fiancé Oscar, is hilarious. The ties between the two are numerous. Even the dog's shortened ear (frostbite) is linked to Oscar's untimely and embarrassing demise.

My pick of three female authors should not be considered unusual in that most of the stories in this book are by females ("A dog is woman's best friend"). Most, also, are about medium- to large-sized dogs. Labs and herding dogs (blue heeler or cattle dog, Border collie, kelpie, and German shepherd) get the most ink.

If you're like me, meaning you often don't do what trainers recommend, you should find some comfort in instances where an owner didn't do what trainers recommend, and things turned out okay. Amusingly, one owner and her dog celebrated their graduation from training by going home and climbing onto the sofa, something the dog had been forbidden to do during the twelve-week training course. The story's message is two-fold: Loving your dog the way you wish is sometimes more important than rules. And since dogs are infinitely variable, what works with one may be useless or even counterproductive with the next.

Many of the owners in this book seem to have dogs who sleep with them religiously. My dogs never have. The closest I've come has been a miniature schnauzer, but even she had her limits and often baled sometime during the night. My current dog's routine, which matches that of the dog before her, is to stay with me until I stop reading and turn off the light. Then she's off to her familiar haunt--a fabric-covered chair near the front door (a nice arrangement, however, for the nights we forget to lock the front door). What these other owners have that I don't I can only wonder. Less body odor or perhaps--we're talking dog here--more?

(I'm giving the book five stars even though I found the formatting (justified, double-spaced text in two columns) at the start of each chapter irritating.)

Easy pick up.......2006-08-02

This is a book that is easy to carry with you and the stories are just the right length to read while waiting (for anything). I could relate to many of the stories.

Dog is my Co-Pilot.......2006-02-24

If you enjoy dogs, you will enjoy this book. It is a perfect book to have by your bed to read a few essays, savoring them, before drifting off to sleep. The essays are well written, in different styles, some humerous, some sad, all enjoyable. I have bought several as gifts for fellow dog lovers.

Average customer rating:

Excellent Early Childhood Literature
Bark George
A fun, silly story
Not George the Monkey, but George the Puppy . . .
What a Fun Read Aloud

Bark, George

Manufacturer: Laura Geringer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Picture Books | Baby-3 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Humorous | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Picture Books | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

I Lost My Bear
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type
Knuffle Bunny (Bccb Blue Ribbon Picture Book Awards (Awards))
Good Night, Gorilla

ASIN: 0062051857

Amazon.com

When George's mother tells her son to bark, he meows. She patiently explains that "Cats go meow. Dogs go arf. Now, bark, George." But he quacks! Then oinks. Then moos. Becoming less patient and more exasperated, George's mom takes him to the vet, who reaches deep down inside the errant pup, and, much to everyone's surprise, pulls out a cat! Then a duck, a pig, and finally a cow. George is cured, and barks at last! On the way home, his proud mother wants to show off her convincingly doglike son to everyone on the street. But when she says, "Bark, George," he simply says, "Hello." This is the simplest offering yet from Jules Feiffer--creator of the delightful picture books Meanwhile and I Lost My Bear. Still, his cartoonish drawings are intensely expressive, alive, and hilarious. None of it will be lost on the youngest of readers who will giggle every time George fails to bark, every time the vet extracts a new animal, and at the final punchline, too. In a world of often overdone or underdone picture books, this fine Feiffer creation is just right. (Click to see a sample spread. Copyright 1999 by Jules Feiffer. Permission by HarperCollins Publishers.) (Ages 2 and older) --Karin Snelson

Book Description

"Bark, George," says George's mother, and George goes: "Meow," which definitely isn't right, because George is a dog.
And so is his mother, who repeats, "Bark, George." And George goes, "Quack, quack."

What's going on with George? Find out in this hilarious new picture book from Jules Feiffer.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Early Childhood Literature.......2007-06-10

Bark George is a wonderful book. It incorporates animals, their sounds, a mother's dilema and love, and mystery/humor into a child's book. It is short, but wonderful! My 20 month old grandson wants it read to him over and over again. He loves to put on the "longest latex glove" like the veterinarian does in the book. A plus for children's literature...through 2nd grade.

Bark George.......2007-05-13

My 3 kids love this book, we decided to get it for my Kindergartener's teacher, for a gift.

A fun, silly story.......2007-04-20

My daughter adores this story. She laughs so hard when the poor little puppy tries to bark and loves the mother dog's reactions to him. A fun story to read at bedtime, or anytime! Your kids will love it.

Not George the Monkey, but George the Puppy . . ........2006-10-31

You'd think a mother dog would have no trouble teaching her pup how to bark. But in this hilarious picture book, George's mother doesn't have it so easy. She tells George, the puppy, to bark, and he meows, quacks, oinks and moos, but doesn't go "arf". Something is terribly wrong--and it makes for a delightfully funny book by Jules Feiffer.

If you're a parent and you haven't come across this gem of a book yet, I recommend you take a look at it. Jules Feiffer started his career drawing cartoons and comic strips and it shows in his work here. It might seem strange to call a book with such simply drawn pictures and hilarious text elegant, but it's true. Each page has only foreground characters, the background is a single soft color that highlights the characters and their comic expressions as George's predicament gets worse and worse. The drawings are simple line drawings, but they convey exactly what the author wants them to, coming across as finished comic art. Each scene spreads over two pages to create a complete layout of the story at that moment. Usually the mother dog is on one side telling George to bark, while George responds with a regular menagerie of sounds on the other side. Sometimes the two page spread is crossed over for one single drawing, such as when the vet pulls a cow out of little George's mouth. The images are drawn large enough that even a crowd full of children can interpret what's happening on the page. The text is simple, repetative and funny as all get-out. It's a perfect read aloud story for youngsters and will give them the opportunity to respond to the story, telling the reader that a cat goes meow, not a puppy, and so forth.

From personal experience, the humor in this book is probably best with a kindergarten age group, but preschoolers who might not get the humor in it's entirety will still enjoy the story and the animal sounds. Adults will probably get a kick out of the story too: I've had more than one parent break into chuckles while I'm reading this to their children. Feiffer has the artistry and the knowledge to create an excellent book for children and has lived up to those skills. I only hope he can continue the trend with more delightful reads. For those who enjoy Bark, George, I'd also recommend Hi Pizza Man! by Virginia Walter (it's out of print but well worth finding) as well as Ella Sarah Gets Dressed by Margaret Chodos-Irvine.

^_^ Happy Reading! Shanshad

What a Fun Read Aloud.......2006-10-17

My students love this book. It is pure fun all the way throught. It makes a great read aloud and the children love to help read the words deep on each page as the vet has to reach deeper into George to remove the unwanted animal. We always get a great laugh out of the mothers expressions and relating it to the children's mothers always brings the house down with laughter. I don't think in all the times I have read this book to my students has anyone ever guess the ending. Just a delightful book from beginning to end.

The Bark Busters' Guide To Dog Behaviour and Training

Average customer rating:

The Bark Busters' Guide To Dog Behaviour and Training
Sylvia Wilson
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Australia
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0684020874

A Bark in the Park: The 40 Best Places to Hike With Your Dog In The Reno/Lake Tahoe Region

Average customer rating:

Your Dog Will Thank You!
Great guide for hiking with your dog in Reno-Tahoe area
A Great Book for Doglovers in Reno!

A Bark in the Park: The 40 Best Places to Hike With Your Dog In The Reno/Lake Tahoe Region
Sherril Steele-carlin
Manufacturer: Cruden Bay Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Best Hikes With Dogs: Bay Area & Beyond (Best Hikes With Dogs)
The Dog Lover's Companion to the Bay Area: The Inside Scoop on Where to Take Your Dog
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The Dog Lover's Companion to California: The Inside Scoop on Where to Take Your Dog (Dog Lover's Companion Guides)
Top Trails Lake Tahoe (Top Trails)

ASIN: 0974408301

Book Description

Have you ever considered how far you walk with your dog? If you walk just 20 minutes a day, in ten years you will have walked far enough to cross the United States. With all that walking ahead of you and your dog, arenÕt you ready for a new place to hike? Our new book, available now, A Bark In The Park: The 40 Best Places to Hike With Your Dog In The Reno/Lake Tahoe Region rates the best dog-walking destinations with your best friend in mind. How's the trail surface? Any water out there? What hazards are waiting for dogs on the trails? Don't own a dog? Author Sherril Steele-Carlin brings along enough local history, botany, geology and architecture in this lively guide to entertain two-legged hikers as well. The Reno/Lake Tahoe region can be a great place to hike with your dog. Within a short driving distance you can hike on sand trails, climb mountains that leave you and your dog panting, walk through some of the most historic forests in America, and even find a place to go for a swim. ...Where can your dog walk in the footsteps of Ben, Adam, Hoss and Little Joe Cartwright of "Bonanza" fame (page 43)
...Where can your dog wander among the ruins of a frontier fort? (page 105)
...Where can you walk your dog along an irrigation ditch in use
...since 1878? (page 47)

No Dogs! Is there any more dispiriting day for a dog owner than driving to a new park and encountering the dreaded ÒNO DOGSÓ sign? A Bark In The Park: The 40 Best Places to Hike With Your Dog In The Reno/Lake Tahoe Region lists area parks that donÕt welcome dogs. Also packed inside these 144 pages are... ...skiing with your dog
...tips on outfitting your dog for a hike
...tips on practicing low impact hiking with your dog
...10 Cool Things To See With Your Dog On Reno/Lake Tahoe Trails A Bark In The Park: The 40 Best Places to Hike With Your Dog In The Reno/Lake Tahoe Region features 19 whimsical drawings by Andrew Chesworth. We're sure you'll want to get out with your dog and walk where Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable shot their final film (page 97), walk near the site of the first train robbery on the West Coast (page 73), walk in the footsteps of the Pony Express (page 51)...

Customer Reviews:

Your Dog Will Thank You!.......2005-09-29

This book was great to have as I'm not that familiar with the Tahoe area. I only got to do three hikes listed in the book but they were amazing and I probably wouldn't have known where to go w/o this book.

The only thing really missing from this book is a MAP! Otherwise well worth the money.

Great guide for hiking with your dog in Reno-Tahoe area.......2003-11-21

A Bark in the Park is a delightful book. Sherril Steele-Carlin covers everything you want to or need to know to walk with your dog in the Reno-Tahoe area, and provides good advice on walking with your dog anywhere. She begins by listing, among other useful items, some tips on physical conditioning, warns of a few hazards you may encounter, covers leash laws, and lists the contents of a first aid kit you should carry.

Detailed descriptions include directions, a brief history of each park, and "Bonus" items, such as a visitor center, historic sites, or an off-leash area for dogs to enjoy. This is a wonderfully comprehensive guide to almost 100 places to hike with your dog.

A Great Book for Doglovers in Reno!.......2003-11-07

I love to walk and hike with my dog, Maggie, and I'm always looking for new places to walk her in Reno and Lake Tahoe. This book has been such a great inspiration -- I've found some new trails and rediscovered some old favorites as a result of picking up this book. I'd recommend it to anyone who loves to hike with their dog and is looking for some new trails, along with some old favorites they might have forgotten.

Bark Busters: Solving Your Dogs Behavioral Problems

Average customer rating:

Well, it worked!
Magically effective
This book will fix your pet problems

Bark Busters: Solving Your Dogs Behavioral Problems
Sylvia Wilson
Manufacturer: Crossing Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Channeling | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

General | Veterinary Medicine | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Animal Husbandry | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
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The Bark Busters' Guide To Dog Behaviour and Training
Feeling Outnumbered? How to Manage and Enjoy Your Multi-Dog Household.
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The Other End of the Leash
On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals

ASIN: 0895948818

Customer Reviews:

Well, it worked!.......2000-07-12

I got a Jack Russels terrier three months ago and when I brought her home it was like bringing Tarzan home from the jungle. This little creature was totally uncivilized, knew nothing, turned our lives in a living hell. The first thing she did was to bite me when I attempted to clean her ears (thank God she had the baby teeth when she did that!). She was barking & biting us, no one would dare to touch her! My little "Tarzan" finally responded to her name after a whole month. I was so surprised with her behavior, comparing her to my poodle who brought all her good manners with her upon birth and learned everything almost instantly. I was really in a bad situation with her since I had to find a way to civilize my Tarzan and make her part of the family. I got a few books on training, and used my own methods I used for my poodle but none of them would work. Tarzan would still bite us, bark any time of the day and unfortunately night too, take things from the coffee table, drink our coffee from the cup when left alone, and take GOOD care of all the plants in the house!

That's when this book came to the rescue. I must say I was very surprised with the techniques the author uses, but since I was desperate and had nothing to lose I put those methods to work. Well, after only a week Pinky learned more than what I tried to teach her in two months time.

The author is down to earth when it comes to dog training, making it clear that you have to understand that it's a dog you are trying to train and not human. She shows you the dog's point of view in order to understand their behavior better. Why they do the things they do, their way of thinking, and how you can can solve those problems. How would I know that by just spraying plain, natural water on her face would stop her from biting! But it did. That simple. Or when you want your dog to come to you, you must not run after her as she takes that for a game, but simply sit down and pat your legs.

We all love our dogs, there's no doubt. If we didn't, we wouldn't have got them in the first place. But that doesn't stop them from barking or biting. Just showing love and affection to the dog won't solve any behavior problem. If you are in the same situation I was, get this book, and you will see the benefits from the very first lesson. Thank you Mrs. Wilson.

Magically effective.......1999-11-21

We couldn't leave our dog in the back yard because of her barking at children, at neighbors, at the enemy cats next door, at joggers . . . everyone and everything. After three or four days of following the suggestions in this book, we have no more annoying barking. None! It's a miracle.

I don't know this author and have no stake at all in her selling this book. But if you have a behavior problem with your dog, you'll never spend a better fifteen dollars (with shipping).

This book will fix your pet problems.......1997-08-04

On Saturday morning 2nd August 1997 I took my dog "Chisel" a boxer staffy X for a walk as usual to the shops. And as usual he dragged me from the moment I left my house to the moment I returned. My hands were sore and my arms were tired. At the shops he also jumped up playfully onto a passer by who was clearly not impressed.

I had heard about "Bark Busters" and had seen the book at the vets. I went down to my nearest bookstore on Saturday around lunchtime and bought the book. I read through the first half and then turned to my specific problem on dogs "pulling" on the leash.

By Monday morning 4th August 1997 my dog was walking calmly by my side and it was once again a pleasure to take him for a walk.

There are some other problems I would like to cure and I am confident that using the techniques outlined in the book I will have no problem

The Bark Stops Here
Average customer rating:

My daughter loved this book ...

Excellent Dog Training Resource

Just kill the neighbor

The Bark Stops Here
Terry Ryan
Manufacturer: Legacy by Mail
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Dogs | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Training | Dogs | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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Feisty Fido

ASIN: 0967479622
Release Date: 2000-03-01

Product Description

"The Bark Stops Here"'s strengths is in giving owners insight as to why their dogs are barking and information on some behavior modification and management techniques to deal with it. Appropriately. Realistically. Humanely.

Customer Reviews:

My daughter loved this book ..........2007-02-13

and found it very helpful in dealing with her "barking buddy".

Excellent Dog Training Resource.......2006-07-31

Terry has done a good job of explaining the variety of different reasons dogs can bark to excess. By encouraging the owners to first analyze and understand the problem from the dog's point of view, she helps the owner take the first step in resolving the problem. Every dog owner needs to know how to manage their pets barking behavior, and dog trainers, too, will benefit from this ready-reference type resource! Get this book! This is on the recommended reading list of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers,and of the National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors.

Just kill the neighbor.......2001-06-29

I gave 2 stars probably because pictures were quite entertaining. The rest is absolutely useless. To stop the bark you have to eliminate the cause. Oh really? How clever! Just kill the neighbor.

Why Do Dogs Bark? (Easy-to-Read, Puffin)

Average customer rating:

A great book to give to your kids
Answers to basic dog questions

Why Do Dogs Bark? (Easy-to-Read, Puffin)

Manufacturer: Puffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
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Why Do Cats Meow? (Easy-to-Read, Puffin)
Why Do Horses Neigh? (Easy-to-Read, Puffin)
Why Do Rabbits Hop? (Easy-to-Read, Puffin)
Why Do Snakes Hiss?: And Other Questions About Snakes, Lizards, and Turtles (Easy-to-Read, Puffin)
Where Fish Go In Winter (Easy-to-Read, Puffin)

ASIN: 0140567895

Book Description

There are many different kinds of dogs and so much to find out about them. Why do dogs bark, howl, and bury bones? Why do they like to lick and sniff people? Children can find the answers to these questions and many more in this fun-to-read, informative book illustrated with big, colorful canine photographs and humorous drawings.

Customer Reviews:

A great book to give to your kids.......2005-01-05

Let's face it. Most kids like and/or own dogs. They're going to want a book about dogs! This is the one to give them. This book explains simple but interesting things on dogs, and also provides some fun facts and training tips.

The easy reading and pronounciation guides are a great way to get kids into reading. Plus, the book has a cute, touching ending that could possibly turn kids who don't care that much for dogs into kids that like dogs.

For an easy-reader book, Why Do Dogs Bark isn't exactly short. This is great, as it can make its young readers rise to the challenge of steadily starting to read longer and longer books.

Overall, adults, teens, and older children should already know everything the book says, and not enjoy it much, but this is a really great book on dogs to give to younger children. And there's one on cats, too!

Answers to basic dog questions.......2004-04-15

Answers such questions as "How many puppies can a dog have at one time?" and "Why do dogs burry bones?" Sentences are mostly short. Pronunciation hints are included in the text. Each page has at least one illustration or photograph. Instructs readers on teaching dogs to come, stay, and sit. Karen Woodworth-Roman, Children's Science Book Review

Average customer rating:

I shore these pieces against the ruins of a world in motion

The Dogs Bark
Truman Capote
Manufacturer: Plume
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Answered Prayers: The Unfinished Novel
A House on the Heights
Too Brief a Treat: The Letters of Truman Capote
Other Voices, Other Rooms
Conversations with Capote

ASIN: 0452259096

Customer Reviews:

I shore these pieces against the ruins of a world in motion.......1998-11-24

The Dogs Bark, Capote's compilation of his travel pieces and personal sketches, was written across twenty plus years. It is necessarily uneven. The brief sketches of varying locales and locals gives the reader the feelling of sitting at a wine tasting rather than an entire feast. Some pieces have tremendous body; still you are only allowed a nip of each. The travel pieces and brief sketches, especially those of persons in the post WWII era, are interesting as a fleeting view of alien people in closed cultures that no longer exist--Europeans in French Tunisia, Capote living in the old Quarter of New Orleans, the cast of the african-american musical "Porgy and Bess" in Soviet Russia, etc. Depending on your personal opinion of Capote's opinion of himself (he is the traveler at the center of the travel pieces, after all), some works are more enjoyable than others. Some readers will find his innumerable digs at the drabness of Soviet life in "The Muses are Heard" wickedly funny; others will be annoyed that he couldn't disengage his own sense of disenchantment to take a more objectively journalistic viewpoint. If you're considering this book, you are more than likely a member of the first camp. The avid Capote reader will find intriguing parallels and connections between the people he encounters in his travels and characters in his fictional works. Others will enjoy the works for their strengths as travel logs--the transparent eyeball of the traveler bringing terra incognita into sharp focus through well-described event and emotion. Skip back and forth through the book; savor the variety.

The Dogs May Bark: But the Caravan Moves on

Average customer rating:

Great Missionary Biography!

The Dogs May Bark: But the Caravan Moves on
Gertrude Morse
Manufacturer: College Press Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Inspirational | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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Exodus to a Hidden Valley

ASIN: 089900671X

Customer Reviews:

Great Missionary Biography!.......2000-04-01

This was a super missionary biography. It was exciting, detailed, exotic, and spritually encouraging. However, it was a little too detailed in parts I ended up skimming towards the end. After reading about the trials and successes the Morse family faced in Burma, my trials paled in comparison. However, I liked the out of print sequel, "Exodus to a Hidden Valley" even better than, "The Dogs May Bark but the Caravan Moves On".

Dogs Bark, but the Caravan Rolls On: Observations Then and Now

Average customer rating:

The Simple Pleasure of a Good Read
A revelation.

Dogs Bark, but the Caravan Rolls On: Observations Then and Now
Frank Conroy
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Stop-Time: A Memoir
Body and Soul
Time and Tide: A Walk Through Nantucket (Crown Journeys)
Midair: Stories (Contemporary American Fiction)

ASIN: 061815468X

Amazon.com

Dogs Bark, but the Caravan Rolls On: Observations Then and Now, Frank Conroy's first nonfiction work since his acclaimed memoir Stop-Time, contains thoughtful pieces on jazz, writing, his father, and fathering. In addition to directing the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Conroy is a jazz pianist of some skill, as he proudly notes in this collection, taken primarily from articles published in Esquire and GQ. Profiles of Keith Jarrett, Wynton Marsalis, and the Rolling Stones are complemented by pieces about Conroy's own musical background, including a wonderful story of the Harlem club where Conroy became a regular, and of playing piano at a club without his bass player, who was late, only to have Charles Mingus arise from dinner and sit in.

On writing, there are some useful pieces regarding the process itself, particularly in "The Writers' Workshop." Conroy is direct and engaging, and he humbly discusses his childhood truancy, his flawed writings, and his family life. While some writers mythologize or sepia-coat their lives, Conroy tells it like it is, or was, but with careful thought and personal meaning to which readers can relate. As Conroy humbly jams with Marsalis, he confesses: "I feel like a child who has the skills to ride a pony but has been mistakenly mounted on Man o' War." After his first experience with Mingus, the great bassist said, "'You are ... an authentic primitive. That is true.' He leaned forward and lowered his voice. 'But you swing.'" Conroy's writings swing, too, and Dogs Bark, but the Caravan Rolls On has something for everyone, especially writers and jazz enthusiasts. --Michael Ferch

Book Description

For thirty years, Frank Conroy's commentaries on life, music, and writing have appeared regularly in the New York Times Magazine, Harper's Magazine, Esquire, and GQ. DOGS BARK, BUT THE CARAVAN ROLLS ON collects these pieces into an autobiography in journalistic snapshots. They evoke Conroy's southern childhood, his teen years in New York as a truant hanging out at pool halls and Harlem jazz clubs, his first glimmers of the power of language and the writing life in college, his romantic life, and his experiences as a teacher and as director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Here, too, are profiles of the musicians he has come to know -- and jammed with: Keith Jarrett, Wynton Marsalis, Peter Serkin, even the Rolling Stones. New essays fill out the collection from Conroy's wry retrospective viewpoint. DOGS BARK, BUT THE CARAVAN ROLLS ON is imbued with the honesty, humor, and insight that made his memoir STOP-TIME a classic.

Customer Reviews:

The Simple Pleasure of a Good Read.......2005-04-26

With the recent death of Frank Conroy, I remembered that I had purchased this book about a year ago after hearing him interviewed on NPR. My primary motivation in purchasing the book was to have a copy of the essay on his father that he read over the air. I've ended up with a lot more. I'm the type of person who thinks compulsively about good writing, what makes it, how I can move my own correspondence, office work, and creative writing toward something more beautiful, more pleasurable. I guess anyone with the most cursory knowledge of Conroy's life would be justifiably surprised if his writing turned out to be less than excellent. That's a given. But that he can write so well about nearly anything and take you along as a friend, a companion, speaking/writing so openly, so honestly, about life "things." If you have a best friend from high school or college, who has been there for the last twenty or thirty years, good times, bad times, and the vast expanses in between, think of the kinds of conversations that you have when it's just you two. That's how Conroy writes.

A revelation........2002-10-11

Yes, this book was a revelation to me. I am a writer wannabe, a pretender to the mantel of nonfiction writing. While I was searching blindly through the literature to find myself, my voice, perhaps an inspiration, I heard Frank Conroy interviewed on Michael Feldman's radio program on NPR. Conroy was talking about this very book. I was intrigued, I was interested. I went out, I bought the book. I read, and I learned, in the most pleasurable way possible. I was in the hands of a good writer, one that is able to carry me through his narrative and make his point with clarity and humor.

I learned about jazz, about music in general. I learned about the Iowas Writers Workshop, what they are trying to do and how they are trying to do it. It was, alas, a short book, but it made me a more knowledgable person. It made me appreciate life. It made me excited about things I never thought I would be interested in, and I am excited about writing. What more can you ask for from a book?

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