On Reading "Marley and Me"

Imagine a loopy, ultra-energetic, adorably stupid dog with an unsatiable appetite for everything starting from dog food to hamburgers to dog leashes to gold chains to chicken poop. Sell him to a couple who want a little practice raising a baby dog before they start raising baby humans. Add the baby humans in the span of a few years. Garnish with stories of auditions and thunder-storm-phobias and stealing food and defecating in the sea and running away with tables and voila! You have the story of Marley and Me.

This memoir-novel by John Grogan relates the author's experiences with what is arguably the world's worst canine. Funny and heartfelt, this is a must-read for anyone who has ever loved an animal. And for people who are yet to meet the right pet, the novel yields the one secret that anyone who has ever owned a pet already knows: "There are no perfect pets; only terrific ones."

Read the book if you want to turn the last page feeling warm, fuzzy, and a little misty-eyed.