I’m on vacation, and I brought my ebook reader(s) – yes, plural – with me, but I don’t have a vacation book on them. I have some wonderful inspirational Christian books, I have some need-to-read work books (web design and development), but I don’t have a nice vacation read.
So I stopped at the drug store to pick one up. Scanned the book racks. Not interested in quick moving drama and intrigue. Not interested in books with murder and violence. Hmmmmm. I figured out I don’t really read the type of books they carry in the drug store. This is the back of all the ones that aren’t intrigue/mystery books…..
Ann/Monique/Victoria is carrying a deep dark secret/having trouble in her marriage/on her own again. Then a mysterious/handsome/annoying stranger comes into town. Who is this man, and what is he stirring up inside her? She must make a choice. Continue in the life she is living, or take a chance on real love.
Phooey. If I ever write a book, please let it be anything but cookie cutter.
So, I headed to the library. I had to be quick, my daughter was waiting in the car, so I went back to a writer I know. Jon Katz.
I first discovered this writer in an airport. An airport has great books, by the way. Perfect summer vacation reads. Stimulating, thought provoking, well-written books. Drugstores could learn from them.
One plane trip, a book with border collies on the cover caught my eye. The title of the book was The Dogs of Bedlam Farm. I read the back of the book. It was a true story. Perfect for someone who thinks real life is way more interesting a than fiction. I bought it.
I began reading. I was captivated. I had a Border Collie/Shepherd/Spaniel mix and I now I have an Australian Shepherd, and I love reading about this breed of working dog. And about the adventures of this man who wasn’t a farmer who bought a farm. Something I’ve always dreamed of doing, too, although we sort-of have dabbled with it small-scale on our 3 acres. (I particularly remember a warm-weather phone conference from my phone office, my windows wide open, when someone asked, “did I just hear a rooster crow?”)
I read a couple more of Katz’s books after that, then never really followed him to see if he wrote any more books because I really don’t read for pleasure that much anymore. However, I did see someone post something from a page he has on Facebook, just within the past couple of months, and I began following his blog, and so he was on my radar again.
So, I am back at Bedlam Farm, reading Dog Days, and enjoying it immensely. Although I have a suspicious feeling I’m going to finish this book well before the week is out.