CALL OF THE WILD, By Jack London & BEAUTIFUL JOE, By Marshall Saunders

It was unintentional, but I ended up reading two stories, back to back, which just happened to be told by dogs!

Call Of The Wild is about a domestic dog named Buck, who - up to the point where the story begins - has led a pretty nice life with a family on a large estate.  However, a series of events lead him to be stolen and sold to serve as a sled dog in the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush.  It's interesting to see Buck transform from a leisurely dog, into a dog whose wild instincts begin to emerge as he adjusts to the cruel and harsh environment of the snow and mountains.  He says he "remembers" things, but we realize that he is merely feeling his ancestor's animal instincts rise up in him.  In other words, he is feeling the "call of the wild". We see the "pecking" order of the pack, as well as how the pack relates to man.  To me, the ending was somewhat sad as I saw Buck finally commit fully to being a wild dog...but my husband saw it as the natural order of things.  Hubby is right, but it still felt kinda sad to me.


I'd never heard of Beautiful Joe, but I found it as I was browsing Amazon.com on my Kindle app on my Droid phone.  The book was free, and I really just wanted to try the app out to see how it would be to read a book on my phone.  I loved the app, but sorry to say, I didn't really love the book. The story is told by "Joe", a dog, who starts off by saying that he's going to tell his life story.  Joe's story is true - he is an actual dog that endured abuse by his owner before he was rescued by a family.  The author was so taken with Joe's story, that she decided to write this book told by the dog's perspective. It starts out interestingly enough, but at a certain point, it begins to be overly preachy about cruelty to animals.  Let me just say, I dont think animals should be treated cruelly, but the characters in the book talked about the subject soooooooo much, that the conversations seemed very unnatural.  It's hard to imagine that people could spend days and days and days talking about the topic with each other!  At first, its ok, but it begins to drag on and on, and it almost feels as if Joe's story is lost in all the preachy-ness.  I discovered that the author had submitted the story in a writing contest being run by the Humane Society - which puts the preachy-ness in perspective! 


These arent the first books I've read that were told by dogs - last summer my son and I read a book called A Dog's Life:  The Autobiography of a Stray, By Ann M. Martin.  That was a good book! 

So I have been accidentally gravitating to stories told by dogs...hmmm...maybe I should switch it up and read a story told by a horse or something.  Hey, I've never read Black Beauty...

HOME TO HARMONY, By Phillip Gulley

Books like this one aren't for everybody. This book was not suspenseful nor full of drama. But...if you do like these types of books...quaint stories about small towns, where nothing too dramatic happens...then I'd recommend Home to Harmony. It's very reminiscent of Jan Karon's Mitford Series, although I'll say that even Mitford has more drama than Harmony!

Sam, a young Quaker Pastor, narrates the book. It's not really a story, but rather, lots of stories. He recalls memories of his childhood, he tells about different people in the town, he recounts experiences he's had as a young pastor, and it's all entertaining and touching, with a bit of humor and emotion. Gulley goes back and forth from the present to the past, and each story leads into the other so that before you know it, you've arrived at the last page.

There are six books in the Harmony Series. I can't say I'm on the edge of my seat to rush right out to buy the next one...but I will read the next one, simply because its the kind of book that takes you back to a simpler time and place, and sometimes we need that!


Side Note: This was the first complete book that I read on our new Kindle. (see photo on the right) I was able to purchase it immediately with their free wireless delivery! Yup, while I sat at Jury Duty, I browsed books at Amazon.com, picked a book, and was able to start reading it in a couple of minutes!