Collateral Bloggage What passes for thought around here…

Wordful Wednesday: Christmas is Good

How does a person determine his favorite author?  It seems to me that the most reasonable way would definitely fall into the qualitative side of things.  But I’m an engineer, so I need data.

Quantitatively speaking, there’s no question that my favorite author is Dean Koontz.  Since I started tracking my reading in 2003 (about halfway through that year), I’ve taken in nineteen Koontz titles.

Now, I’m not convinced Mr. Koontz is actually my favorite author, but a lawyer could probably prove he is.  I just copped to the relevant evidence.

Suffice it to say that I enjoy Koontz’s work quite a bit.  I like some of the predictable things he does, like focus a bit overmuch on architecture, particularly that of churches.  A book club could have fun starting a betting pool for which page would first use the word “nave” in any of Koontz’s books.  (To be fair, I haven’t read all his books, and I’m not convinced the word appears in all the ones I have read, but someone could always put down a coupla bucks on “No Nave.”)

One thing that’s stuck out from the very beginning is Mr. Koontz’s affection for dogs.  And it wasn’t hard to figure out where that affection came from, because the Author Bio section on the back flap of his hardcover books usually mentioned both his wife, Gerda, and their beloved dog, Trixie.

In recent years, the bio has changed to include his wife and “the enduring spirit” of Trixie. 

It turns out that Trixie, while not being as prolific as her “Dad,” has also written a couple of books.  The latest is Christmas is Good: Trixie’s Guide to a Happy Holiday.  (She points out in the introduction that having written one book was enough since it was one more than Lassie ever wrote.)

I’m not counting this book on my yearly list, because it doesn’t meet the loose criteria I have for inclusion (generally, I look for fairly normal-sized print and a  hundred pages or so, depending on genre).  But I did enjoy it.

And of course, the book has been loosely translated from Dogese into English, with this kind of result:

Sometimes seems people forget wonder of Christmas.  Dog like me could help people see wonder again.  Dogs see wonder in everything.  Tennis balls!  Old shoe!  Stupid rope tug toy!  Dust ball!  Hey, look, grass!!!!!  Roll, roll, wriggle, eat, roll, wriggle, eat, spit up!  That’s just grass!  Christmas has lots more better wonder stuff than grass!

It’s not all silliness, of course.  Trixie gives some good advice for things dogs should do at Christmas.  Such as:

Say prayers.  Don’t forget part about sausages.

She also mentions sausages at least five times in her Christmas wish list.  Meatballs are also feature heavily. 

And then there’s this kind of mixture of seriousness and doggish humor:

People think Christmas is about gifts.  Is not about gifts.  Is about Jesus, love, hope and dog treats.

But by far my favorite tidbit was under Trixie’s recommendations for Fun Stuff to Do for Dogs and their People.  Dad, this one’s for you:

Play Frisbee in snow.  If don’t have snow, play Frisbee anyway.  If don’t have Frisbee, throw cat.

I almost feel bad about getting this book from the Library, because the proceeds go to Canine Companions for Independence, who gave Trixie to the Koontzes in thanks for their generous support.

(I just read on Wikipedia that the Koontzes have adopted a new dog, another golden retriever who’s a grandniece of Trixie.  That’s cool.)

I had to do this book review, because I seem to have gotten stuck in one of those “I’ll never finish another book” ruts.  I know, you were wondering what was going on, because it’s been more than a week since I finished one.  Totally.  But hopefully I’ll finish my current one in time to get a Fiction Friday post up about it.

(Hint on the title:  The sequel to this book is next year.  Any guesses?)