July RandomKit 2022 - Dog Days of Summer

Welcome to the "Dog Days of Summer" traditionally the hottest days of the year (July 3rd to August 11th).

This month we are reading anything and everything related to canines. Dogs, wolves, coyotes, jackals, and foxes, even werewolves. Any genre, any style, any length. From a story about a dog to a dog on the cover. Just stay out of the heat and read.
Here's the wiki
 

I will be reading The Rise of Wolf 8 by Rick McIntyre. I won The Reign of Wolf 21 from Early Reviewers last year and loved it. This is the first book of the trilogy.

What a great graphic and subject for this hot month!

I think I'll go with the first horror anthology the HOWL Society put out, Howls from Hell, which has a gorgeous wolf illustration on the cover. I've been reading their more recent anthology this month (I'm two stories away from the end), and enjoying it so much that it's pushed the older one to the forefront of my TBR.

That is a great graphic! I plan to read Full of Beans which is a follow up to Turtle in Paradise, which is one of my fave books and set in one of my fave places--Key West! There is a dog riding in a wagon on the cover of my copy of Full of Beans. Thanks for starting us out.

Options for me
The Dog Stars and
The History of Wolves.

Great topic! I have The Little Dog Laughed on my TBR pile; moving it to the top!

I've already read 2 book this year with dogs in them, but I think for this I'll read A Boy and a Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher.

I think I will re-read The Hound of the Baskervilles.

I'll read Truffle Hound: On the Trail of the World's Most Seductive Scent, with Dreamers, Schemers and Some Extraordinary Dogs by Rowan Jacobsen.

I am planning on reading Galina Petrovna's Three-Legged Dog Story by Andrea Bennett.

My book club's choice for July is The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

I'm liking this one!

Nice theme and picture!

Hmmmm maybe I will re-read Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth, by Frank Cottrell Boyce. Sputnik is an alien disguising himself as a dog. The audiobook is masterfully narrated by Peter Capaldi :)

I found at least FIFTEEN books on my shelves that fit this challenge!!!

I'm not usually a dog fan, but there must be some pooch lurking on my shelves, waiting to be read. hmmm.

>14 rabbitprincess: Ooh, I've got Sputnik on my TBR, maybe I can sneak him in too! My main plan for this one is to read Skylarks with Rosie: A Somerset Spring, by Stephen Moss. It's an account of the lockdown spring of 2020, and his walks around the local countryside with his dog Rosie.

I just finished Sweep With Me, where the protagonist's love interest is a werewolf.

I ended up reading Grandkids Gone Wild which was a humorous light mystery, featuring goofy grandkids and a cute dog.

I quite enjoyed my read of Galina Petrovna's Three-Legged Dog Story by Andrea Bennett. This is a comedy of errors and misconceptions set in 1994 Russia as some senior citizens scramble to save a dog from an over-zealous dog catcher.

I finished The Dog Stars for this one. I enjoyed the story.

I reread The Terracotta Dog by Andrea Camilleri.

As usual an enjoyable story where Montalbano comes to an agreement with mafiosa Tano the Greek. However, as I said when I first read it my only complaint about Camilleri's writing is that the profanities come across as even more crude than they are generally.

Read Magic stars by Ilona Andrews for this months challenge. Werewolves and monsters...

Just finished Always Faithful: A Memoir of the Marine Dogs of WWII by William W. Putney. A loving tribute to the hard-working dogs and the men they served, especially those who were instrumental in the recapture of Guam.

I read Dog Friendly by Victoria Schade featuring several dogs.

Pit Bull: The Battle Over an American Icon / Bronwen Dickey
4.5 stars

The first half of the book starts with a history of dog breeds, dog fighting, “pit bulls” (however defined, as it constantly changes, but it’s mostly based on looks although there is one actual “American Pit Bull” breed, but many others tend to be lumped in, as well) as seen in history. In the second half of the book, the focus is more on dog bites, breed specific legislation, the media and politics.

The author has done an incredible amount of research here. She looks deeper into some of the media accounts (which are rarely, if ever, based on any kind of proper research), interviews people (on both sides of the “debate” over whether “pit bulls” should be banned or not). I learned of a few myths (like “bait dogs” – apparently they don’t really use bait dogs to train dogs to fight).

This was really interesting and I was impressed how, with very little information she was able to dig deeper, particularly into statistics, to find that most of the stats in the media accounts are just not based on valid (can’t think of a good word) stats. That is, one of the first “peer reviewed” (shoddily done, it seems) articles (which, of course, was then cited in later peer reviewed articles) that did find that pit bulls caused the most deaths was based on very flawed stats (“flawed” is the word I’m looking for).

I’m really impressed with this book and the amount of research that went into it. I feel like a lot more people should read it!

I read Truffle Hound: On the Trail of the World's Most Seductive Scent, with Dreamers, Schemers, and Some Extraordinary Dogs by Rowan Jacobsen. We follow the author from his first truffle tasting though his travels around the world learning about trufle hunting and the truffle business overall.

I read Der Hund aus Terracotta, a Montalbano mystery where a clay dog plays a minor role.

I finished Ian McEwan's Black Dogs.

I just finished Season of Storms for Susanna Kearsley, which features two dogs throughout -- greyhounds named Max and Nero -- who play a role in the climax of the novel.

August is here https://www.librarything.com/topic/342898#unread

Whoops just realized I called it a CAT instead of Kit. I don't think I can change it??

>31 clue: I can change the title :)

>31 clue: LOL! Calling it a CAT instead of KIT - I have been doing that (in my own notes) all year!

>33 LibraryCin: Ditto! I still think of it as a CAT. Maybe it will attain that status again. Regardless of what it is called, I want to see this challenge continue.

>34 LadyoftheLodge: Oh, me, too!

>34 LadyoftheLodge: & >35 LibraryCin: Add me to the list! Maybe we can all vote for a permanent CAT.

>34 LadyoftheLodge: >35 LibraryCin: >36 VivienneR: I'm all in on Random CAT. It is the one challenge that invites me in every time. The problem is I add all the other challenges to my list too. Next year I will do only Random whether its a KIT or CAT and try to ignore the others. You all have such good ideas and I would like to follow through with each one.

The only dog book I've read so far this month is a pre-read for my granddaughter. Noodle and the No Bones Day. Its a cute book about a pug. They lost their pug last year and the kids are still deep in memories of her behavior. This one will capture their hearts.



One of my current reads has an adorable character named Bunchie who shows up at meaningful times. She is not essential to the story though. Search

>38 beebeereads: - The dog that book is about has been on the Today show a couple of times.

COMPLETED Honest to Dog by Neil Plakcy

>32 rabbitprincess: Thanks for the correction, I'll try to remember next time!

>37 beebeereads: I have to laugh. I said last year that this was the only challenge I'd do this year. When the year was being planned though all of those I've been participating in looked so great I jumped right in! Next year I'm going to TRY to ignore all of the planning threads except the one for RandomKitCat!

>41 clue: I like the title of RandomKitCat! Maybe that is what it should be called next year.

Finished Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth by Frank Cottrell Boyce. This is a child’s story that features an alien who appears to be a dog to most people.

Last week I reread a favorite, Connie Wilis's To Say Nothing of the Dog. It involves time travel, chaos theory, romance, and a very memorable bulldog named Cyril.

I've finished Skylarks with Rosie: A Somerset Spring by Stephen Moss. An account of the nature and wildlife in his local area during the first 2020 covid lockdown, often encountered while walking Rosie, his dog.

I'm just starting Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth.

I was surprised to learn that one of my July books very much fits this category, but who knew when I started. Lessons in Chemistry features a dog character who is incredibly smart and serves as an "inner voice" narrator in critical portions of the book. The dog's name is Six Thirty...kind, insightful, loyal and loving.
https://www.librarything.com/topic/338552#7892578

Finished Howls from Hell, a fantastic anthology of horror stories. Any of you lovers of horror should be looking up the HOWL Society anthologies. Review below...

The HOWL Society's first anthology is, without exaggeration, the best unthemed anthology I've yet read, and among the top horror anthologies I've read right alongside the HOWL Society's more recent anthology, Howls from the Dark Ages. Howls from Hell is itself a carnival ride of talented new horror voices, with stories that are so unique and memorable that each one reads as a world in and of itself.

But let me back up. To hear about HOWL Society and its anthologies, one might not expect much--because, really, it sounds too fantastical the way all this came together. A bunch of horror lovers met on Reddit, and spearheaded by a few, began a horror book club together on discord. Among the horror readers and lovers were a number of talented, mostly unknown writers, and as the book club quickly grew into being the most active online horror book club, those writers connected and began learning from each other just as quickly. And when the talent in the circle became clear, the idea of an anthology was born. (Now, they're working on anthology #3...)

From hearing all that, you might expect the anthologies to be somewhat slapshod or unprofessional, but even this first anthology is anything but. The stories are powerful, smart stories that are well-written and polished. The writing is itself gripping and impactful, from story to story. And what's more, the stories are fresh--I was never once tempted to put down the anthology in favor of something else rather than continuing right on to the next story. And as with the other HOWL anthology, I have my favorites, but most of these stories (if not all of them) are strong enough for me to feel like some reader out there will list them as a favorite.

If you're a horror lover, and especially if you care for horror short stories, you should be picking up the HOWL anthologies as soon as they come out. Just like the follow-up, this first anthology was a fantastic read.

Absolutely recommended.

I'm reading these two and hoping to finish both in the next couple of days - *FINISHED!*

Julie's Wolf Pack by naturalist Jean Craighead George. 3rd in the award-winning trilogy.

The Old Man by Thomas Perry. 2 wonderful dogs, Carol and Dave.
l started watching the TV series with Jeff Bridges. After the initial 8 episodes I wanted to know what happened next so I got hold of the book. Plot was very different!
I like Thomas Perry's series about Jane Whitefield, the native American woman who helps people disappear.

>26 LibraryCin: you might be interested in I'm a Good Dog by Ken Foster. I loved reading the library's copy, so I asked for and received the book for Christmas.

I'd also recommend The Lost Dogs by Jim Gorant, a sad yet hopeful look at campaigns against dog fighting.

I got one read!


A Highland Collie by Albert Payson Terhune

A fairly good story with some unexpected turns and a few plot developments that I saw coming. Worth a read, especially if you like the author's books.

I wish more of the dog's story was included, he's only in a few of the scenes. The original title is The Luck of the Laird which actually makes more sense considering the lack of collie involvement.

>49 fuzzi: Oh, I read "The Lost Dogs" fairly recently, and I would second that recommendation if anyone else is interested! :-)

I will take a look at "I'm a Good Dog". Thank you!

>51 LibraryCin: you're welcome!

I have enjoyed other books by Ken Foster (love that name!) and would recommend them.

I've finished A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher, a BB I took from Judy a couple of years ago.

Thank you to everyone who participated this month. It was so much fun seeing the variety of books chosen.

>48 nrmay: FYI: wrong touchstone, takes you to the book by Hemingway.

It took me a while as I kept putting it down, but once I moved to the audiobook I raced through Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth. Alien Sputnik appears to the main character, Pres, as a boy in kilt and goggles, but to everybody else as a dog.