I had this book on my TBR pile for the last couple of years and I don't know why I had been putting off reading it. I guess the time was just right and I pulled it out and read it this weekend - finishing the last 25 pages on the patio this evening.
Jeanne Laskas was/is writer in Pittsburgh where she lived on the South Side with her cat, Bob and her dog, Betty. She had a perfectly happy life, with a little garden, friends (aka "The Babes") she enjoyed and an interesting writing job. But she had always dreamed of having a farm. Still when she and her psychologist boyfriend, Alex, go out for a drive one fall afternoon they really didn't intend to buy the 50-acre farm an hour south of Pittsburgh. But that's what happened. This book chronicles their first year as farm owners and the characters (animal and human) they encounter. The poodle in the title refers to Alex's dog, Marley ("a standard poodle, not the yappy kind").
This was a simply delightful book! I laughed and I cried. It was all I could do not to double my 15 minute break this afternoon to finish it but I am glad I didn't as that last part was one where I ended up having tears streaming down my face and at one point I could no longer see the pages. I have Laskas' sequel, The Exact Same Moon, Fifty Acres and a Family and I just may have to read that next. I imagine I will end up getting her third book about her raising her two adopted girls from China as I just can't get enough of Jeanne, Alex and their adventures at Sweetwater Farm.
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2 comments:
You can read her weekly column with the Washington Post, if you like! I, too, am a huge fan of Laskas' writing. Loved both books and plan to read her latest eventually. Google her name to get to the columns and then set up a Google alert. I get mine via email every week.
Good idea about the Google alert. Thanks for the tip. I also get her column in Ladies' Home Journal. I didn't even remember subscribing to the magazine and wasn't planning on renewing, except I do enjoy her column!
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