A Wild Life: review of DREAMING OF LIONS, by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Dreaming of Lions

My Life in the Wild Places

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

$17.95, paperback; our price $14.36

I first learned of Elizabeth Marshall Thomas in 1987 when I read a review of her novel, REINDEER MOON, and raced out to the local bookstore to buy a copy. I was enthralled, and have continued to be a fan all these thirty years later. Not only is Ms. Thomas an insightful observer of animals (note her titles, THE HIDDEN LIFE OF DEER, THE HIDDEN LIFE OF DOGS, and THE TRIBE OF TIGER—all available at www.booksforanimallovers.com), both domestic and wild, but she is a talented anthropologist as well.  And she ranks as one of the best nature writers we have. All of her work is autobiographical to some extent, except the novels, but DREAMING OF LIONS is the first time she has completely opened her front door and allowed her readers into her private dwelling.

Brought up by a father who was drawn to wilderness exploration, and who taught his children to read the constellations in case they were ever lost in the woods, and a mother whose love of animals was so extensive, she literally wouldn’t hurt a fly, Liz’s inclination to explore the world and learn as much as possible were encouraged . . . up to a point. She was a girl, which meant that ultimately, her goal in life should be to marry and produce children. Overcoming those limitations put on her because of gender may have helped steel her inner drive, because she certainly never let such limits get in her way.

In 1951, when Liz was a freshman in college, the Marshall family went on an expedition to the Kalahari Basin in Africa, a supposedly unexplored, uninhabited section, which in fact, had been continuously inhabited by Bushmen for thirty-five thousand years. Friends and acquaintances thought there must be a specific reason for such a dangerous trip: Were they searching for diamonds? A lost city? Why would a young girl want to leave college to follow her family into such wilderness? The purpose for the journey was adventure, and adventure equaled knowledge. It was an experience that shaped the rest of her life and her work:

“ . . . one way or another, the Kalahari is in all the books I’ve written . . . I always seem to write the same book. Whether I’m writing about dogs, cats, deer, people, or anything else, the lens through which I see them is the Kalahari. With the exception of some jobs I’ve had . . . which required at least a college degree if not an MA, I could have skipped college altogether.”

Later in her life she again lived in Africa, this time with her husband, two small children, and her dogs. Her experiences in Nigeria just before and during the coup inspired a fear in her that eventually drove her into one of the darkest times of her life. But her fascination with the people and animals of the region, as well as the still unfolding history, never left her.

As with any life lived fully, tragedy comes to call, not just once but many times. Ms. Thomas is a woman who never shied from dangerous circumstances, and that vibrant and courageous streak was inherited or instilled in her two children, a son and daughter. Both suffered life-changing incidents, and yet their enormous psychic and physical strength and determination were never diminished, and in fact seemed expanded by their hardships. Her admiration for them is profound, as is her enduring love for her husband, Steve Thomas, to whom she was married for sixty years.

I was fortunate to see Elizabeth Marshall Thomas at a local book signing recently. At eighty-five, she exudes an energy and intense interest in the world around her that is contagious. She is hard at work on a new book, her third novel to follow REINDEER MOON and THE ANIMAL WIFE. I for one will be anxiously awaiting its arrival.

Wild or Tame: review of PAX

PAX

Sara Pennypacker

Illustrated by Jon Klassen

277 pp., hardcover with jacket $16.99 (our price $13.59)

The title of this wonderful book for young (and not so young) readers refers to the fox’s name, but you know immediately this book is not about peace, but war. The war here is not only the outside, inexplicable destruction of all good things, but the personal war the young protagonist is having within himself. There is no good side or bad side in this war, just a fierce and heartbreaking struggle.

Peter is twelve years old, walking the ridge between childhood and adulthood. He lives with his father, an angry and wounded man whose love for his son is overshadowed by the death of Peter’s mother, and by his belief in his duty to be a soldier when his country calls, which it inevitably does. Peter’s comfort comes from his pet fox, whom he’d rescued as a two-week-old kit, several years before. Pax’s mother had been killed, and his siblings had perished. Peter becomes his provider, protector, and brother. They become inseparable, “two but not two.”

But in fact, Peter and Pax are separated. When war intervenes, Peter is sent to live hundreds of miles away with his grandfather, who, like his father, is reticent and angry. Worse, he is forced by his father to deceive Pax and abandon him alongside a deserted road. It’s time the pet fox were wild again, his father commands. Peter, being a child, is powerless to disobey. He is a soldier in a different war. The novel eloquently explores the worry a child feels that he has no control over his own life, or even his own character. The apple never falls far from the tree, as Peter’s grandfather likes to say. Peter wonders if he is doomed to grow up angry and distant like his father and grandfather.

The deception of Pax gnaws at Peter.  Leaving the fox was not right, no matter what the adults around him say. He knows that he is not where he’s supposed to be, so he fills his backpack with basic supplies and leaves his grandfather’s home in the middle of the night. He will find Pax and keep him safe. He will always be where he’s supposed to be.

The chapters alternate between Peter and Pax, taking the reader along on their parallel journeys as each struggles to find the other. Peter is aided in his search by a reclusive, one-legged woman, a former medic in the ever-present war, who lives in the wilderness and avoids all human interaction. By the time Peter stumbles upon her, he has a badly broken foot. Vola is a woodworker, and makes him a set of crutches to use after setting the broken bone. She feeds him, and helps him gain the strength he will need to continue on his journey, but she also opens his mind and teaches him to trust again. Before he departs, Peter offers Vola a gift of his own.

Pax, meanwhile, is gradually welcomed into a small family—a brother and sister fox—who show him how to survive in the wild. He understands his boy’s act was false, but also trusts that Peter would never intentionally hurt him. He never loses faith that they will find each other. When he successfully hunts for the first time in his life, he is filled with wild delight, shedding his tameness for the first time. Likewise, Peter’s time with Vola releases a sort of wildness in his being, allowing him to feel the emotions he has tried hard to repress. Peter tells Vola he will not be angry, not be like his father. She laughs. “We all own a beast called anger. It can serve us: many good things come of anger at bad things; many unjust things are made just. But first we all have to figure out how to civilize it.”

This is a book about war and its devastation on the natural world as well as the human. It’s about trust, and learning to trust oneself as well as others. And it’s about the intense, unbreakable loyalty a child shares with an animal, whether wild or domestic (or both). Peter asks Vola if her raccoon is wild or tame and she “waves the words off as if they were gnats.” She simply leaves the porch door open and lets the animal come and go. And she asks Peter as he settles into the hammock on the porch his first night: “You staying out here on the porch. What do you suppose that makes you? Wild or tame?”

                                                                                                                                

10 Favorite Animal Books from 2015

Everyone loves lists, and I guess I’m no different! I read about thirty books in 2015, but there were ten that really stood out. Here they are, in chronological order, with easy links to the website. To read all of my reviews, go to the Blog on the website. 

1. A WOLF CALLED ROMEO, by Nick Janis

The true story of an enormous black wolf who befriended domestic dogs in Alaska, raising concerns, questions, and alarms among residents. Although you know any interaction between wildlife and mankind will likely end badly for the wildlife, this is still a compelling and, in some ways, uplifting account and not to be missed.

2. LAST CHAIN ON BILLIE by Carol Bradley

I believe this book, as well as social media outcry over the use of elephants for entertainment, was instrumental in Barnum & Bailey’s phasing out of elephant acts. The animals are still being slaughtered and abused throughout the world, and work must continue to ward off extinction, but learning about individuals who have devoted their lives to making a difference in the world of animals is always an inspiration. Long live Billie!

3. H IS FOR HAWK by Helen Macdonald

Of the memoirs I read and reviewed in 2015, this one definitely ranks at the top. Macdonald is an extraordinary nature writer, as well as a poet—a combination of talents that will take a reader’s breath away at times. We can feel the chill English air and feel the prickles of nettles and the grip of talons from her goshawk. We also understand the author’s intense grief and slow, almost reluctant, crawl out of melancholy. Paper edition available March 2016.

 4. LAST CHANCE MUSTANG by Mitchell Bornstein

When Mitch Bornstein first meets Samson, the wild mustang, every alarm in my body went off. “Don’t go near him!” I wanted to yell, knowing, however, that he would go near the horse, and of course he would succeed in gaining his trust. Just look at the cover photograph, and you know the outcome. But still, it’s hard to read the opening without heart-pounding fear. This is a vitally important book about what’s happening to our wild horses. It’s a counter argument to those proponents of decreasing the wild horse population “for their own good,” and to the belief that horses, not cattle, are damaging the last remaining wilderness in this country through overgrazing. Read Mitchell Bornstein’s account of Samson’s slow rehabilitation, and then check out the Bureau of Land Management’s persistent denials concerning the tactics in dealing with the last remaining wild horses in this country. It is
eye-opening, to say the least.

5. THE DOG MASTER by W. Bruce Cameron

Cameron’s latest novel touches on some current theories about early mankind’s domestication of wild animals—particularly wolves. But what makes this book so compelling is the excellent writing and well-rounded characters. The various tribes are intertwined in an altogether believable fashion, with wolves at the center.  His expert storytelling will enthrall and delight.

6. LET THE TORNADO COME by Rita Zoey Chin

This memoir was published in 2014, but I hadn’t known about it until last year. More than just the story of a troubled horse and troubled woman, this is a portrait of an underside in our country that we too often ignore. Chin’s story is riveting, heartbreaking, and ultimately victorious. Whether or not you are a horse person, this is a book that will engross you and move you as few books can do.

7. RESCUE ROAD by Peter Zheutlin

One of the great things about social media is that it has allowed easy access to authors or author’s subjects. In this case, thanks to Zheutlin’s account of riding shotgun with Greg Mahle of Rescue Road Trips, I was able to then follow Mahle on Facebook and see him, virtually, in action. His work is harrowing and difficult, but the joy is obvious, too. Here, in his story, as told by a journalist whose own pup had traveled the road, is another reason not to abandon hope, but keep on truckin’. There are so many to rescue, but they are finding homes.

8. SCENTS AND SENSIBILITY by Spencer Quinn

Any of you who have come by my booth at an event asking for gift ideas or fun books to read on a trip knows that I always recommend the Chet and Bernie Series by Spencer Quinn. Beginning with DOG ON IT, and proceeding to this, the eighth book in the series, this outstanding detective series narrated by a particularly talented dog never fails to hold the reader by the collar and not let go.I guarantee it!

9. THE HORSE: THE EPIC HISTORY OF OUR NOBLE COMPANION by Wendy Williams

You don’t need to be a paleontologist to find this book fascinating. You don’t even really need to be a horse lover. But of course, it’s a huge bonus if you are, because then you will look at your horse with even more respect and admiration after learning about his origins and his connection to human evolution, and his intelligence. Journalist Wendy Williams poses the questions, Why is there such an intense bond between humans and horses? When did it form? Her search for answers takes her all over the world, and leads her to some startling conclusions.

10. THE SECRET LIVES OF BATS by Merlin Tuttle

OK, all you bat haters out there, I dare you to read this book and proclaim yourself still a bat blaster! The passion Tuttle has for his subject is contagious. I marveled at his stamina, apparent boundless energy, and overall kindness when dealing with stupid people who are determined to destroy the creature he finds so lovable. And his photographs are truly breathtaking. Do not discount a bat book out of childhood fears or myths. This will entertain and educate you. I promise you’ll never look at a bat the same way again!

Review of THE MARE, by Mary Gaitskill

THE MARE

Mary Gaitskill

Hardcover, $26.95. Our price $21.56

Mary Gaitskill is known for her previous novel, VERONICA, which garnered her a nomination for National Book Award, and for her variety of short stories. Her subject matter is best described as edgy, unflinching, and THE MARE is no exception.

Velveteen Vargas is an eleven-year-old Dominican girl living with her reticent, angry and, at times, abusive mother and her over-protected little brother in a rough section of Brooklyn. She is accepted into the Fresh Air Fund, and sent to spend a few weeks one summer with a white couple, Ginger and Paul, in the Hudson Valley. Ginger, longing for a child, but past the age of childbearing, sees the taking in of an older child as a way to test the waters for possibly adopting. She also has bought into the philosophy of “making a difference” in the life of an underprivileged child. Paul agrees, at least initially.

Ginger becomes ever more embroiled in Velvet’s life, inserting herself out of a desperate need to make sure the girl receives all that a child of the privileged classes would receive. Whether or not Velvet wants or needs Ginger’s obsessive attention is a tricky question. But in any event, the one advantage she does take to is the introduction to horses in a stable nearby. There she meets the mare of the title, an animal with whom she communicates openly and honestly. Known derisively by the girls at the stable as “Fugly Girl,” because of her marked face and “difficult” personality, the horse likewise bonds with Velvet. The two share their common scars, both physical and psychical.

Velvet’s presence in their home soon picks away at the cushion Ginger and Paul have relied upon to keep their marriage comfortable. Their history of despair has been packed away, only to be let loose with the introduction of Velvet’s adolescent passions. Being white and upper-middle class does not inure one to pain. The struggles are different, but still present, regardless of class or race.

Velvet’s love of Fugly Girl, whom she renames Fiery Girl because of her spirit, is as intense as the rest of her emotions. It is her loyalty to “her mare” that drives her north more frequently, becoming a regular weekend presence at the stable, and eventually a more accomplished eventer in the ring. Her mother fights her daughter every step, but the mare—her other mother—calls to her, and Velvet must answer that call, no matter the danger. The two of them, Velvet and Fiery Girl, become a team in a competition that ultimately forces all parties together.

Gaitskill’s characters grapple and grope with questions of fidelity, honesty, and cultural differences, wrapped into a deceptively simple story of a girl and her horse. THE MARE is so much more, both as a book and idea. It is thought-provoking and, as with Fiery Girl herself, overflowing with hopeful exuberance.

Bat Time: review of THE SECRET LIVES OF BATS, by Merlin Tuttle

The Secret Lives of Bats
Merlin Tuttle
$26.00, hardcover; our price $20.80
Click Here to Purchase

As Rogers & Hammerstein wrote in South Pacific, “You’ve got to be taught/to hate and fear….” Apparently, too many humans have been taught to hate and fear bats. The result of ignorance is often irrational hatred; the result of hatred is violence. Bats have suffered human violence for centuries, in spite of their vastly beneficial role in nature as insect eaters and fruit and flower pollinators.

 Starting in the 1970s, there was a definite movement towards not only tolerating but protecting these much maligned creatures. That movement is largely the result of the work of Dr. Merlin Tuttle. His passionate research led to the founding of Bat Conservation International that has succeeded in protecting and reinvigorating threatened bat populations worldwide.

His passion for bats began as a teenager in Tennessee when he discovered the behavior of gray myotis bats was decidedly different from what he’d read in books. The fact that he, at age seventeen, had possibly made a significant observation compelled him to further his scientific studies. In so doing, he also became a skilled photographer who would not let danger or any discomfort dissuade him from the perfect shot.

In working with National Geographic Dr. Tuttle’s expeditions have taken him all over the world, and subjected him to almost inhuman amounts of physical and emotional hardship, all of which he recalls with extraordinary good humor. He seems to possess not only Herculean strength and resilience, but a diplomatic personality that never condemns or judges those who have perpetrated harm on bats. Upon visiting Bracken Cave in Texas to witness firsthand the world’s largest bat colony, Tuttle is nearly overcome by the heat and carbon dioxide, even with his respirator. Beetles crawl up his legs, biting him, and he feels the first indications of losing consciousness. Fainting would be deadly, so reluctantly he retreats.

Upon leaving the cave, he encounters three men sitting in the shade, talking:

They were speculating on how much fun it would be to sometime throw a stick of dynamite into the cave and see how many bats would come out all at once. Of course, the answer was none. They’d all be dead. These men weren’t maliciously inclined. They were simply ignorant and were quite apologetic when I explained the consequences of such an act….

The appalling spectacle of how easily the world’s largest remaining bat colony could be destroyed by simple ignorance provided a strong reminder of just how important public education could be.

Bats are fragile creatures, easily taken down in the hundreds, thousands, millions, by human intervention. Many species are already extinct because of human action and loss of habitat. Now the notorious white-nose syndrome is killing many colonies in this country. Thanks to Dr. Tuttle and others who have fought for their protection, there are some species who are making a comeback, but there is still a long way to go.

Whatever your feelings about bats, this is a highly entertaining and mind-altering plunge into their world. The color photographs are particularly awe-inspiring. Bats can be cute! They can also have faces only a mother bat would love. But they will never be evil, blood-sucking, hair-entangling creatures we’ve somehow cursed them to be. Next time you see a bat, thank him for the insects he’s eating or the fruits and flowers he’s pollinating. And leave him alone.

Dawn of the horse: review of THE HORSE: THE EPIC HISTORY OF OUR NOBLE COMPANION

THE HORSE: THE EPIC HISTORY OF OUR NOBLE COMPANION
Wendy Williams
$26; our price: $20.80, hardcover, with photos

Long before they were useful to us for work, war, or entertainment, horses have fascinated humankind. The famous Vogelherd horse was sculpted by admiring hands thirty-five thousand years ago. Horses seem to fill a niche in our lives. But when did this bond first form, and why? Those are the central questions journalist Wendy Williams strives to answer in her outstanding and ground-breaking book The Horse: The Epic History of Our Noble Companions. She writes:

“We must have horses and dogs and cats and other animals in our lives in order for our psyches to function as they should, just as we have to have bacteria in our guts in order to digest food.”

Other domesticated animals have changed biologically because of the process of being domesticated. Horses, for the most part, have not. The horse has evolved according to the world he inhabits, adapting as the climate changed, grasses proliferated, water ebbed and flowed. The horse we know now in North America originated 56 million years ago as the dawn horse, gradually losing his toes, developing a concave back and flat teeth. In fact, the evolution of the horse’s teeth determined his very survival, and the evolution of grass determined his teeth. Beginning as a browser, he developed into a grazer. Beginning as a scampering little creature, he became a galloping athlete. His intelligence, along with his physical prowess, also grew.

Because of horses’ unique intelligence (dawn horses had advanced brains, according to paleontologists), as well as social and emotional commonalities with humans, behaviorists are able to conduct tests to determine horse perception. It’s been revealed that horses can interpret two-dimensional images, much as humans can. And although they are far-sighted and partially color blind, they recognize different human faces, even being able to tell twins apart, and, more important perhaps, perceive emotions. When we gaze at a horse’s eye, we also read his feelings. Could the Pleistocene cave artists have felt that connection as well? And perhaps in finding this bond, did a mutual trust develop even in prehistoric times? (Humans have famously abused the trust of our animal companions on too many occasions, but horses seem to have unending faith in us anyway, which just proves that they must know something we don’t.)

In searching for a deeper understanding of horses, Williams explores some of the mysteries in their evolution, including one fascinating riddle: the disappearance of the horse in the Western hemisphere, and specifically North America, around 14,000 years ago. The reasons for this vanishing are debated vehemently by scientists, and no consensus has been reached. (The fact that horses were no longer here when Europeans arrived has been used as the rationale for the government’s removing the wild mustangs in the West as a non-native species.) Darwin himself had struggled to find an answer to this phenomenon. Why, after millennia of adapting to the changing conditions, would the horse population dwindle and die out in this region? Was it the result of human activity?

Williams’ investigation of this disappearance takes her all over the world, tracking the horse’s progress and decline, along with the planet’s shifts, and coinciding human development. One particularly illuminating incident occurred in 2013 in Britain’s New Forest National Park where dozens of free-roaming New Forest ponies perished as a result of the boomer crop of acorns. Horses love acorns to death. Literally. Oak trees proliferated relatively recently, after the ice receded, so equine tolerance has not had a chance to evolve, and probably will not. Perhaps that offers one clue to the North American extinction. The controversy, however, continues to rage in the scientific community, and may never be fully resolved.

What we do know is that the horse’s extraordinary evolution occurred not to benefit mankind, or as a result of our intervention, but in spite of it. We are fortunate to have found common ground that enables a mutually beneficial relationship, and that the horse is forgiving of our many trespasses. There is still much to learn as we humans evolve into wiser, more compassionate companions.

The Horse begins and ends with the author observing wild mustangs in Wyoming. Her quest for understanding the true nature of the horse, and the origins of the bond between horse and human, provides us with a joyous ride through equine history. Williams gives us a cohesive, comprehensive, yet comprehensible study of this magnificent animal. Her Epilogue is truly an “ahhh!” moment of personal evolution.

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Heroes and Angels: review of RESCUE ROAD: ONE MAN, THIRTY THOUSAND DOGS, AND A MILLIION MILES ON THE LAST HOPE HIGHWAY

Rescue Road

Peter Zheutlin

$14.99, paperback. Our price: $12

 

There are true angels among us. They are not supernatural, superhuman, or super wealthy. Instead, these angels are people who see a problem that is without ultimate solution, but they soldier on regardless, trying to solve it. If one life is saved, they tell themselves, that’s reward enough. One such angel is the subject of Peter Zheutlin’s new book, RESCUE ROAD: ONE MAN, THIRTY THOUSAND DOGS AND A MILLION MILES ON THE LAST HOPE HIGHWAY. Zheutlin writes,

The lows in rescue, I realize are matched by the incredible highs, and without one, there isn’t the other. I’ve met so many selfless, good-hearted people from all walks of life and different parts of the country, all connected by their love of dogs and willingness to go the extra miles—or a few thousand—to shepherd them along on their arduous journeys to love and safety.

The impetus for the writing of this book is, fittingly, a dog. Peter Zheutlin and his family adopted Albie from a high-kill shelter in Louisiana via labs4rescue. He learned that Albie was to be transported north via an organization called Rescue Road Trips, run by Greg Mahle (pronounced “May-lee”). Zheutlin, a journalist, decided to explore the amazing amalgamation of events leading to his own dog’s rescue. He reached out to Mahle and asked if he could ride with him over the course of a year and see for himself how rescue really works, and particularly, the place where his beloved Albie had come so close to death. He would not just be a passenger, but would help as needed. The experience was more than eye-opening. In fact, it was exhausting, exhilarating, and ultimately awe-inspiring.

Greg Mahle grew up in the restaurant business in Ohio, so he is inured to hard work, rough hours, and low pay. His wife Adella handles the back office duties to help with the ever-changing scheduling and myriad problems arising while Greg is on the road. It’s tough on the family to have him gone so much (he makes the 1000-mile trip south every two weeks), but the results are worth it. “Gotcha Day” is what Greg calls the happy end of the transport when he can hoist a previously unwanted and doomed pup into the arms of a happy adopter. Gotcha Day is what keeps him going through horrible weather, mechanical breakdowns, and personal crises. It makes it all worthwhile.

Zheutlin sees firsthand the poverty of the Deep South, particularly the Fifth Ward in Houston, and the disregard of human as well as animal life. The so-called shelters are often nothing more than brief holding cells for euthanasia. Some of the facilities have a 90% kill rate, usually targeting puppies first rather than have to fund vaccinations. Compared to shelters in the north, that seems unbelievable, but it’s a reality that rescuers know well.

The reasons for so many high-kill facilities in the south, and for the general poor treatment of domestic animals there, are complicated. There are cultural issues concerning how animals have been traditionally regarded, especially in the rural areas. There are, of course, financial issues. A family stuck in severe poverty is not likely to take measures to care for their pets. In fact, “pet” is not really a term to apply to the creatures who are forced to live their short lives outside, with no medical care or socialization. This mindset is changing slowly, thanks to educational initiatives that many rescue organizations and southern shelters are taking, but the tidal wave of unwanted, neglected, abused, and forgotten dogs still seems endless. In spite of the odds, however, rescuers such as Greg Mahle, and his colleagues in the south, push on, never taking a breath, it seems.

Now so many of those unsung heroes and angels out there have a moment in the spotlight, thanks to Zheutlin’s book. And anyone who thinks rescuing dogs means playing with puppies all day long will be humbled by the physicality and emotional strain rescuers endure.

Take this book as a call to action to not only support legitimate rescue organizations through donations and adopting, but to address the importance of education in slowly building empathy towards all living things. We can all be angels if we want to be.

To order your copy at 20% off and FREE shipping, click here!