The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Just what the doctor ordered: Easy and soothing. Garth Stein has created a fictional novel that is written from the perspective of the family dog, Enzo.

Recommended and lent to me by my friend Anna D.B., she said it was an enjoyable easy read. After the struggle presented by Infidel, I welcomed the break.

Here's a quick summary from Wikipedia:

The novel follows the story of Denny Swift, a race car driver and customer representative in a high-end Seattle auto dealership, and his dog Enzo, who believes in the Mongolian legend that a dog who is prepared will be reincarnated in his next life as a human.^[2] Enzo sets out to prepare, with The Seattle Times calling his journey "a struggle to hone his humanness, to make sense of the good, the bad and the unthinkable."^[3]

Enzo spends most of his days watching and learning from television, gleaning what he can about his owner's greatest passion, race car driving — and relating it to life. Enzo eventually plays a key role in Denny's child-custody battle with his in-laws, and distills his observations of the human condition in the mantra "that which you manifest is before you." Enzo helps Denny throughout his life, through his ups and downs.

Garth Stein in his racing garb.

 This is a great picture of the author who was a champion race car driver until he crashed his car racing in the rain.

I really enjoyed this novel. It's well written and makes for smooth reading. It pulls at the heart strings without being too sentimental.

After reading this book, I found myself paying closer attention to my own dog, and wondering if he's trying to tell me things. Enzo the narrator of this novel spends a lot of time listening, understanding and trying to help his owner navigate the challenges of his life.

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Autobiography by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

I have resolved--along with my friend Lea Anne--that I will read each monthly book that our book club selects, regardless of whether I enjoy the selection. This month's read of Infidel was a challenge in many ways, and I struggled to complete it for a variety of reasons.

A brief summary of this autobiography from Wikipedia:

Hirsi Ali writes about her youth in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya; about her flight to the Netherlands where she applied for political asylum, her university experience in Leiden, her work for the Labour Party, her transfer to the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, her election to Parliament, and the murder of Theo van Gogh, with whom she made the film Submission. The book ends with a discussion of the controversy regarding her application for asylum and status of her citizenship.

I have read many autobiographies and I have to say that this was one of least enjoyable. It was a tough read for many reasons:

1. The narrative had little direction and as the reader, I found myself floundering between the author's life torments. It is a basic blow by blow, and the reader is left being dragged from trauma to trauma.

2. There were endless characters and it was tough to keep track of every cousin, aunt, distant relative. It would have been good to have a family tree to keep track.

3. A seemingly endless string of abusive women. Grandmother is a nightmare, mother is no better. Clearly Ali and her sister are abused. (Her brother is no better).

4. Wild generalizations about Muslims and Islam. Ali dismisses all Muslims as either repressed (females) or dominating repressors (males). It's troubling to me that she makes such broad statements and expects the reader to accept these statements as the truth. I found this very troubling, and I hope that other readers also challenge Ali's agenda on this assertion.

5. Ali suggests that the attempt by the West to accommodate Muslims by allowing specialized schools for Muslim children is detrimental to Western ideals.

I gained some insights and raised more questions for me:

1. I found that I questioned my lack of knowledge on this subject. Why have I never learned about any religion?
2. Where do I turn to learn more about Islam and the Muslim way of life, so that I can understand current events more thoroughly?
3. How can we, as a caring and functional society, learn to accommodate a wide variety of religions without dominating or being dominated.
4. Is there a role for middle aged women like me to help build bridges between different religious groups? (I think women must play a central role in this issue).

Those are my thoughts, and maybe because these issues have been raised by Ali's book, I would suggest that it's worth reading.