Marley and Me: Reading and Re-Reading the Best Book in the World

Hey pups! Mom has been begging me for ages to let her rave about her favourite book, which you guessed is: Marley and Me! So good luck...

The first time I picked up Marley and Me, I didn't really get it. I hadn't been into read for a long time and was looking through the Animal section in our public library to see if there was anything worth while. I came across Marley and Me, I picked it up and read the blurb; it was okay so out it went. I got to about chapter 6 or 7 and it bored me to death and I returned it. 

Bored,yet?

About 3 years later, I was flicking through the book section in a charity shop and came across this book again (strangely enough it was in the children's section- I honestly wouldn't put it there!). By this time I loved to read and loved dogs more than ever. This copy was a beautiful special edition that cost 30 US Dollars but as it was a charity shop it was up for 2 pounds! Insane! So I bought it but-as can be expected- I did not read it straight away, only a couple of weeks after. I don't remember much from the first read just that I have read it at least 5 times -stoopid, Mom!- and have cried, laughed and smiled with never diminishing joy and sympathy, if anything it has grown. This book has become a best friend to me. It isn't about just a life with a dog, it shows what dogs can teach us and how they ingrain in our minds and lives. 

"A dog has no use for fancy cars, big homes, or designer clothes. A water log stick will do just fine. A dog doesn't care if your rich or poor, clever or dull, smart or dumb. Give him your heart and he'll give you his. How many people can you say that about? How many people can make you feel rare and pure and special? How many people can make you feel extraordinary?"

“Animal lovers are a special breed of humans, generous of spirit, full of empathy, perhaps a little prone to sentimentality, and with hearts as big as a cloudless sky”

“Dogs are great. Bad dogs, if you can really call them that, are perhaps the greatest of them all.”

“Then I dropped my forehead against his and sat there for a long time, as if I could telegraph a message through our two skulls, from my brain to his. I wanted to make him understand some things.

You know all that stuff we’ve always said about you?” I whispered. “What a total pain you are? Don’t believe it. Don’t believe it for a minute, Marley.” He needed to know that, and something more, too. There was something I had never told him, that no one ever had. I wanted him to hear it before he went.

Marley,” I said. “You are a great dog.” 

and of course the best until last:

“A person can learn a lot from a dog, even a loopy one like ours. Marley taught me about living each day with unbridled exuberance and joy, about seizing the moment and following your heart. He taught me to appreciate the simple things-a walk in the woods, a fresh snowfall, a nap in a shaft of winter sunlight. And as he grew old and achy, he taught me about optimism in the face of adversity. Mostly, he taught me about friendship and selflessness and, above all else, unwavering loyalty.” 

I hope you read it and love it as much as I do!

Hugs,
Dina Mom

Pee S. Doesn't she just go on and on?