Slow but steady goes the good read

I confess that I bought this book more than a year ago. I'd heard it was really good. (I actually do that a lot - buy books and then take years to read them!!)

I lifted it off the shelf a few times - read the back cover - put it back!

But while I had a student teacher, she mentioned that it was a really great book, so I got it down from the shelf once again. Even put it on my nightstand. She read and enjoyed a book I had recommended, so I thought I should pay her the compliment of reading one she had suggested.

I even started it. Read a few chapters. Put it down. Read a few more chapters. Put it down again. Mentioned it to others - got some more rave reviews.

Finally got really into it and finished it tonight.

Let's just say it's worth the read. And worth the slow beginning. It's full of beautiful language. It paints wonderful word pictures. It alludes to Shakespeare, Hamlet specifically, but like a reviewer said, ultimately it stands on its own merits.

I'm not a "dog person" but if you are, you will love this. And the dogs are well-wrought characters - in fact Almondine, Edgar's life-long dog companion, is a thinly veiled Ophelia. But it's a characterization that works very well.

I'm often the last one to discover the best sellers - but if you haven't discovered this either, I'd say give it a try.