A New Book...and we got to meet her!

Before I left my job at the bookstore, I bought a copy of Susannah Charleson's new book, THE POSSIBILITY DOGS.

      

SCENT OF THE MISSING was her first book. In it, we came to know Susannah and her dog Puzzle, the golden retriever she decided to bring into her life and train to work Search and Rescue (SAR). She had questions about her own ability to handle a dog for SAR, which is difficult work in and of itself. She and Puzzle have come to work together beautifully, and I felt privileged to learn about her journey in SCENT OF THE MISSING.*

In THE POSSIBILITY DOGS, she explores whether rescue dogs, dogs who have been through abuse or neglect, can be trained to work as service dogs. Would this be possible? Could she find rescue dogs that were trainable? What if she works at training a dog and he doesn't work out as a service dog? She asks these questions as she meets Jake Piper (that's Jake on the cover of the book!). When Jake came into her life, he was a cruelly neglected, starving puppy. Could Jake become a service dog, even with his rough start in life?

Her discovery that Jake was actually quite well suited to service work is only part of this wonderful book. Susannah talks about all kinds of service dogs, what is involved in assessing and finding dogs suitable for service work in the rescue population, the people who can benefit from service dogs (including perhaps herself), as well as living with and loving dogs as pets. Susannah has Puzzle and Jake, as well as several assorted Pomeranians and a couple of cats. She was, as she did so well in SCENT OF THE MISSING, brilliantly able to capture the joys and challenges of having, training, and loving dogs.

I loved the stories of handlers and how they got matched with dogs who were perfect for them. Bob was one, a traumatized firefighter and his dog, Haska, his psych service dog who can lead him home if he becomes disoriented. And Nancy, whose rescue/service dog Lexie can help calm her panic. And of course there is Jake Piper, who, through the course of the book learns, along with Susannah, how he can become invaluable as a companion and as a service dog. I must admit, there were some tears as I read this book. There was laughing too. She had some great descriptions of the Poms, some of which, she discovered, were also well suited to service work. Some of the other Poms were not, and her life with all of them is rich and wonderful.

Not only have we gotten to read this book, but lucky for us, Susannah Charleson came to town! She and Jake came to Powell's. We got to hear more about her, Jake, and her important work with her organization, Possibility Dogs. And we got to meet her...

     

If you look closely, on the table in front of us, you can see the certificate I got after handselling 100 copies of SCENT OF THE MISSING, which she graciously signed.

Clicking on the book covers will take you to Amazon's web page for each book. Clicking on the underlined book title may take you to the Barnes and Noble page for each book. Purchasing through these links helps support the blog...and the author and her work. You can like us on our facebook page, NOT The New York Times Book Review. You can also like Susannah's facebook pages, Possibility Dogs, Inc, and her Scent of the Missing facebook page. Thanks for stopping by!

*I have talked about and reviewed SCENT OF THE MISSING in several posts on this blog. I chose SCENT OF THE MISSING as my handsell when I worked at the bookstore. I sold over 120 copies of SCENT OF THE MISSING during my tenure there.

Back in the Saddle

Ahhhh...I am sitting in my favorite coffee shop (Longbottom Coffee Roasters in Hillsboro, Oregon). I love coming here, it's dedicated time for me to work on the blog, plus they have an amazing bumblebee latte (there's some delicious combination of honey and lavender in it).

It's been weeks and weeks since I've been here. The holidays at the bookstore have been incredibly hectic. It feels a little strange, as though I don't quite have the mentality to settle in. The only way to get back in the swing of things is to do it.

I've started brief drafts of blog entries, taken notes on what I want to write about, new customer events happen almost every day, it's a new year (shouldn't I be doing a "best books of 2011" or "books I'm looking forward to in 2012" post?); I'm a little overwhelmed and scattered thinking about what to write about.

Right now, though, it's really good to be here.

I have many things pulling to be written, but for now...IndieBound posted on the blog's facebook page (NOT the New York Times Book Review) about World Book Night...

http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/about-world-book-night/what-is-world-book-night

(And I apologize. There is a way to add a link on the blog post creation page, but it doesn't seem to work. So you'll have to cut and paste.)

I'd never heard of World Book Night before this morning and it sounds like a wonderful idea. It's interesting to me that World Book Night is on April 23. Not only is April 23 the birthdate of Shakespeare and the anniversary of the death of Cervantes, it is also St. George's Day, a holiday celebrated in Spain. It is a day on which you give your loved one a book and a rose. (J., the manager of my store and I commented a few years ago about St George's Day. We wondered why our bookstore wasn't all over this, a holiday specifically FOR giving books? It seemed like a pretty perfect opportunity to get people to buy more books.)

Maybe World Book Night is the next iteration of St George's Day, or a U.S. expression of it. In any case, it's a great idea, getting books into the hands of people who don't generally read all that much. I'm going to keep my eye on this event. I hope you'll check it out as well.

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Other bits and pieces...

I did sign up with Barnes and Noble's affiliate program. I haven't set up any links yet, but will very soon. (Thank you again, Observant Co-Worker, for reminding me to do this.)

The other day I posted on facebook that I sold my 100th copy of SCENT OF THE MISSING by Susannah Charleson at my bookstore! We'd been given a challenge, to select a book and try to handsell 100 copies of the title. I am the first in my store to make it to 100 - beating the next person by about 50 books! (not that I'm competitive). And it is pretty darn satisfying. Not only did I beat the challenge, but I know that (at least) 100 more people will be learning more about Search and Rescue. I am grateful to have had such an easy book to sell!

Some blog post ideas I am considering...

-more customer stories
-books I really liked in 2011 (I actually have a draft of this one started)
-books I'm reading right now
-other book reviewer/lover blogs
-next 100 handsell challenge pick

I really appreciate your comments and encouragement...either here on the blog or on the facebook page or by email: 2of3Rs(AT)gmail(DOT)com. Thank you for stopping by!

More Dog Books!

I had German Shepherds when I was growing up. Our first dog was Jody (which was pronounced Yody, with a German "J"). Freda, one of my mother's college roommates, trained German Shepherds for show, and she arranged for us to get Jody. Jody was bred as a show dog, but he had hip dysplasia, so became undesirable as a show dog. As a family dog, however, he was wonderful.

Jody came to us when I was 9. His coat was mostly black, with gold highlights and it was coarse, except for his face and his ears, which were velvet soft, and he had lovely brown eyes. He was a guard dog absolutely, he'd bark loud, scary barks when anyone came to the house, but was gentle to all of us and anyone we deemed friendly. He encountered skunks a few times, and so endured (and so did we) baths in tomato juice. He ate steak left out on the counter to thaw. In other words, he was a dog. A great dog. The best dog.

At work I saw an advance reader copy for RIN TIN TIN: The Life and The Legend, by Susan Orlean. This is Susan Orlean of THE ORCHID THIEF fame. Interesting! While I never watched Rin Tin Tin on TV, I was certainly aware of him as a famous dog. And he was a German Shepherd. I wanted to read this.

          

Orlean begins by talking about Lee Duncan, the man who found the original Rin Tin Tin in World War I in France. There is a picture in the beginning of the book of him and his unit in uniform, sitting on the ground somewhere in France, and he has a gorgeous German Shepherd puppy in his lap. The puppy who would become Rin Tin Tin.

Orlean talks about how Lee Duncan bonded with this dog so closely, almost certainly in part because of his childhood, in which his father was absent, and his mother sent Lee and his sister to an orphanage for four years so she could get back on her feet financially. Duncan seemed to find solace and connection with his dogs as he got older, and his best and closest connection was with Rin Tin Tin.

Orlean does a skillful and fascinating job chronicling Rin Tin Tin and his life with Duncan, his rise to fame in the movies and then in television (these would be descendents of the original Rin Tin Tin, though it really doesn't matter), as well as talking about dogs' roles in the military and in family life. She talks about how obedience training came into fashion, not just to train dogs for military or farm and ranch work or show business, but for dogs who live with families. I'd never really thought about it, but obedience training is a relatively new phenomenon, started in the 1920's and 30's. It caught on in a big way.

I am loving this book, and all I'm learning about Rin Tin Tin and dogs... I think I need to see a Rin Tin Tin movie! Evidently, his screen presence is amazing. Does Netflix carry Where the North Begins or Clash of the Wolves? I need to find out.


The next dog book I'll be reading is PACK OF TWO by Caroline Knapp. She wrote the brilliant book about her recovery from alcohol addiciton, DRINKING: A LOVE STORY, and this is her story of her getting a dog after getting sober. Therapist has been recommending this book to me for several years now. And I finally bought a copy so I can read it.

                    



And again, not that this is about winning (okay, maybe it is a little bit), but I am over halfway in the 100 handsell challenge at work! We had been given the task of picking a book that we can handsell in the store, by talking about it with customers, writing staff recommendation blurbs, and getting people to know about it and buy it. The book I chose was Susannah Charleson's SCENT OF THE MISSING, her fascinating book about her decision to get a puppy and train her to work as a Search and Rescue dog. I loved the book, loved learning about Search and Rescue (of which, I admit, I was woefully ignorant), loved reading about her training Puzzle and Puzzle becoming her partner in Search. So far I've sold 53 copies...wahoo!

          

Did you know that you can learn more about any of the books mentioned by clicking on the cover? You'll be taken to Amazon's site where you can read more about the book, and order it if you'd like. Hopefully Barnes and Noble will be restarting their affiliate program soon as well. Thanks for reading the blog!

Contest, Books for Vacation (or not), and an Author Collaboration

There is a contest at work (see the March 14, 2011 blog post, "Scent of the Missing, Revisited")...

We're supposed to sell 100 copies of a title we choose. I chose Susannah Charleson's SCENT OF THE MISSING. We're not competing with each other, and there is no time limit on the contest. We're just supposed to handsell 100 copies. While the contest isn't about doing better than the other booksellers, I have to admit that I am a little bit pleased that (so far) I am selling the most copies! SCENT OF THE MISSING is a great book to sell...an easy one to talk about. People are interested!

         

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In the April 1 post, "More Important Than Clothes", I talked about the books I'm thinking of taking on our upcoming vacation. Last week, a co-worker told me about his 100 book, Stephen King's NEEDFUL THINGS. I bought it based on his recommendation, and put it in my "books I'll probably take on vacation" pile.

Therapist saw NEEDFUL THINGS and told me that she thinks it is one of the creepiest of Stephen King's books, really pretty intense. Which may not be the most relaxing for vacation.

And then I went to work today and "Twyla" suggested that I not take P.S. I LOVE YOU by Cecilia Ahern on vacation because it causes much crying. "You don't want to be crying on your vacation, do you?" Well, no, not really.

So I'm not sure if either NEEDFUL THINGS or P.S. I LOVE YOU is going to make it into the suitcase. Hmmmm.

         

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I am reading HEADS YOU LOSE, by Lisa Lutz and David Hayward. Lutz and Hayward used to be a couple, and decided to collaborate on this book, even though they may be, um, less than friends. They write alternate chapters. Unlike most other books with more than one author, this one includes the emails they sent to each other at the end of each chapter, as well as footnotes they wrote in the each other's chapters.

While the story is about Lacey and Paul Hansen (brother and sister) who find a headless body on their property, David and Lisa's relationship also features as a large part of the book. As I started reading I thought it was clever, reading their comments (and commentary) as well as reading the story. And then, about 80 pages in, I thought, "Okay, I get it." It felt gimmick-y, almost contrived. Then I came to the end of Chapter 13. I read their end-of-chapter comments and the beginning of the next chapter and started laughing loud (rare for me).

         

So it's working. I'm liking it. I am eager to see what happens to Lacey and Paul...AND Lisa and David!

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You can send email to: 2of3RsATgmailDOTcom. Thanks for reading the blog!

Scent of the Missing, revisited

They've set a challenge for us at work. Each bookseller is to choose one book to handsell, and our goal is to sell 100 copies of the book we've chosen.

At first I had resistance to this challenge. I didn't like the idea of picking just ONE book. All sorts of different people come into the bookstore with all sorts of different interests and needs; no one book fits everyone.

And that is the challenge. What book could I whole-heartedly recommend, AND would be easy to bring up in conversation with customers?

Perhaps if people were asking about a subject or buying other books about the subject, then I could start a conversation...

Dogs! We rescued a dog in October (a Springer Spaniel named Shelby), so we've had dogs on the brain. And on our bookshelves.

From deciding to choose a book about dogs, it was easy to know which one I wanted to choose. I chose SCENT OF THE MISSING by Susannah Charleson. (see the blog post from last May...
http://notthenewyorktimesbookreview.blogspot.com/2010/05/scent-of-missing.html)

          

Not only is it a fascinating insider's look at canine Search and Rescue, it is also a warm and wonderful book about her love for and the training of her dog. The subtitle of the book is "Love & Partnership with a Search-and-Rescue Dog", which describes it perfectly.

I'm thinking that this is a good choice for the challenge at work. People buy lots of books about dogs...heartwarming stories about dogs, training books, books that tell us more about our pets. And dogs are good conversation starters with customers.

I'm hoping to introduce many people to SCENT OF THE MISSING.

Game on!


Thanks for reading the blog! You can send email to: 2of3RsATgmailDOTcom

Scent of the Missing

Pilot Susannah Charleson worked search alongside canine teams for years before she got a dog of her own to certify for search and rescue.

Enter Puzzle, a golden retriever puppy who joins the author's six (yes, that's 6) rescued Pomeranians and a cat or two, not all of whom were as delighted to have a puppy in the household as she was.

Charleson alternates chapters between home life with the Poms, the cats and Puzzle, and search expeditions both before she got Puzzle and Puzzle's training to become SAR certified.

Puzzle's delightful personality comes through loud and clear in the book. Puzzle is eager, oh so eager to work, extremely motivated by praise. And smart. And fabulous.

Early in her training, she was on a "Find!" command...

As we carefully extract Matt (from his hiding place where Puzzle found him, successfully completing her task), Puzzle steals a piece of burned wood from the debris pile. Matt carries her to the team to show off her success, and she has her head up, her trophy in her mouth. "Good girl!" they all praise. Rooo-wooo-wrroooo, Puzzle rumbles, the universal Golden retriever croon for dig me. She rumbles, wagging around the circle, showing off her burned stick. Wooor-oo-woo. I know the sound, but it's the first time the team has heard it from her. It's the sound of a dog who thinks she's hot stuff.

The book isn't all cute puppy moments, though. Charleson describes some of the darker and harder parts of search. She describes being on the search team for the space shuttle Columbia disaster (before she got Puzzle), how she and many others searched for days and weeks for shuttle debris as well as human remains. She talks about how the dogs came away from that search affected, overcome by the intensity of the search.

The true nature of canine grief - if this was grief - was a mystery to me. I had listened to experienced handlers at this search and opinions were strongly divided. Some said dogs didn't share grief in human terms, but that critical incident stress was as real for them as it was for their human partners. It could overwhelm a dog in the field, or it might take a while to surface. They said that handlers and dogs would need to proceed cautiously across the coming weeks. Easy, motivating practice searches for the dogs. Lots of play. Upbeat rewards. Pushing too hard could create an aversion to the work and shut a dog down from search for good. Perhaps some humans too - though none of us talked about that before we packed the cars to go.

As Charleson shares her experiences with all of her dogs and training Puzzle, incredible descriptions of the dogs, their handlers and their work, I feel as though I have a much greater knowledge of and respect for the incredibly hard and amazing SAR work by dogs and humans. Not only was it fascinating to read about SAR, it was made that much better by being so well written.

I appreciated Charleson's scope of her writing, from vivid descriptions of SAR to Puzzle's growth to how she and Charleson slowly became a real search team, sharing a wide range of emotions.

Clearly Susannah Charleson is lucky to have Puzzle in her life, and Puzzle is lucky to have her. We are lucky she decided to share their lives together with us in this book.

(This was the book I received for St. George's Day. Lucky me!)

Satisfying List of Books

I keep a list of books I've read...below is what I've read so far in 2010.

I have a sense of accomplishment when I look at the list. This is a nice contrast to my usual feeling of frustration and feeling overwhelmed so often at work. There so many books that I haven't read and there are so many books that I want to read and I know I cannot get to all of them.

Yet I have gotten to these...

The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers
The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor
Cowboy and Wills by Monica Holloway
Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith
Eternal on the Water by Joseph Monninger
One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Secrets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Impatient With Desire by Gabrielle Burton
Imperfect Endings by Zoe Fitzgerald Carter
Tweak by Nic Sheff
Mathilda Savitch by Victor Lodato
I Want to be Left Behind by Brenda Peterson
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Divine Misfortune by A. Lee Martinez
Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
The Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry
Making Rounds with Oscar by David Dosa
Every Last One by Anna Quindlen
Interred With Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell
A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

Some of the books on the list didn't really do it for me...The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Impatient With Desire, Even the Dogs, and even The Elegance of the Hedgehog...evidently just not the right books for me.

Others were fairly forgettable...Secrets of Eden, One Amazing Thing...

Some I really enjoyed reading...Every Last One (her descriptions of being a mother are spot on), The Map of True Places, Eternal on the Water (there were some flaws in the book, but I really liked the main characters), Mathilda Savitch (I really liked Mathilda, though I've talked to others who didn't...it's so personal)...

And many were lovely, even luminous...The Last Chinese Chef (the descriptions of food!), Making Rounds With Oscar (describing living with someone with dementia, though maybe it resonated for me because I was one of those people), A Reliable Wife (luminous in a creepy sort of disturbing way)...

Right now I'm reading The Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard, which is really enjoyable. It opens with Jody Linder in bed in the middle of the day. She's in bed with her (sort of) boyfriend. Her three uncles drive up to the house, which does not bode well, not only because she's in bed with a boyfriend that they don't know about, but the uncles, being ranchers, are rarely together in the middle of the day. In addition, they are dressed up, which is another bad sign. They've come to tell her that Billy Crosby, the man who killed her parents when she was 3 years old, has been released from prison and is coming back to their small town in Kansas.

Scent of the Missing by Susannah Charleson is what I'll be reading next. That was my St. George's Day present from my sweetie. The subtitle is Love and Partnership with a Search-and-Rescue Dog. This will hopefully be a partial dog fix until we can get a dog of our own.

Read on!