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One of my favorite TV shows right now is the Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic channel. The star of the show is Cesar Millan, who is a…

“Renowned dog behavior expert and New York Times best-selling author Cesar Millan is one of the most sought-after specialists working in the field of dog rehabilitation.  From bullying Chihuahuas to timid great Danes, Cesar has an uncanny gift for communicating with dogs and seeing the world through their eyes.

Cesar has been called “a Dr. Phil for dogs,�? and for good reason.  His amazing rehabilitations of aggressive, scared, lazy, compulsive and jealous dogs—and the families that are usually in the dark about how their own behavior contributes to the dogs’ quirky traits—captured the national spotlight when his National Geographic Channel (NGC) series Dog Whisperer premiered in 2004.  On Friday, September 7, 2007, at 8 p.m. ET/PT, Dog Whisperer returns for a fourth season with a record 35 new hour-long episodes.”

Every time I watch an episode, I’m amazed at how Cesar can instantly control unruly and badly behaving dogs. I could have used Cesar’s advice and tips when I was helping my parents raise their cockapoo, Champagne. Champagne was an adorable dog but she was extremely excitable and despised other dogs.

I have no doubt that if we had read Cesar’s Way - The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding & Correcting Common Dog Problems, before bringing Champagne home, she would have been a more calm and balanced dog. If you are thinking about getting a dog, I definitely recommend reading Cesar’s book or watching his TV show. Previous seasons of the Dog Whisperer are available on DVD. And here’s a video of Cesar in action…

I read the Man in the Middle by John Amaechi recently and thought it was a very good book.  Here’s the book description…

“Man in the Middle chronicles John Amaechi’s extraordinary journey from awkward, overweight English lad to jet-setting NBA star. Along the way, he endured endless obstacles to his hoop dreams—being abandoned by his father, being cut from his first college team, recovering from a life-threatening injury, playing for abusive coaches, and losing his mother – while also protecting a vital secret that could have ended his career: John Amaechi was gay.

Now in this poignant and intimate memoir, Amaechi takes us into the hypermasculine world of professional sports and into the very center of his soul. As tender as it is brutally frank, Man in the Middle follows him from the rough streets of Manchester to Penn State (where he first achieved basketball stardom and began to recognize his sexuality) to the cities (Orlando, Houston, Salt Lake City) and countries (Greece, France) in which he played. A moving story of adversity and diversity, Man in the Middle is a testament to the power of one man’s convictions and to the universal desire to make the world a better place.”

I admit that I’m a little biased about the book because I’m a Penn State alumnus. During my senior year in college, I watched Amaechi play at Rec Hall. So, I’ve always been a John Amaechi fan, since he is one of the very few Penn Staters to make it to the NBA.    

Nonetheless, the book is a good read, regardless of your alma mater or sexuality. Ultimately, it’s just an inspirational story about a clumsy, overweight English boy overcoming adversity to achieve his goal of playing in the NBA. I think all of us can relate to conquering obstacles to achieve a goal.

One of my favorite excerpts from Man in the Middle is…

“The NBA locker room was the most flamboyant place I’ve ever been. The guys flaunted their perfect bodies. They bragged of their sexual exploits. They primped in front of the mirror, applying cologne and hair gel by the bucketful. They tried on each other’s $10,000 suits and shoes, admired each other’s diamond-studded rings and necklaces. It was an intense kind of camaraderie that felt completely natural to them but was a little too close for my comfort. As I surveyed the room, I couldn’t help chuckling to myself: And I’m the gay one.”

After reading Khaled Hosseini’s epic first novel, The Kite Runner, I was greatly looking forward to his second book, A Thousand Splendid Suns. The new novel does not disappoint and I actually enjoyed it even more than The Kite Runner.

The novel is again set in Afghanistan and provides the reader with a glimpse of the societal turmoil in this war torn country. I really enjoyed the book because it interweaves historical events and tries to depict Afghani life during the past 30 years. After reading Hosseini’s books, I definitely have a better understanding of Afghan political history. Like The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a highly recommended novel.

From Publishers Weekly…

“Afghan-American novelist Hosseini follows up his bestselling The Kite Runner with another searing epic of Afghanistan in turmoil. The story covers three decades of anti-Soviet jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny through the lives of two women. Mariam is the scorned illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman, forced at age 15 into marrying the 40-year-old Rasheed, who grows increasingly brutal as she fails to produce a child. Eighteen later, Rasheed takes another wife, 14-year-old Laila, a smart and spirited girl whose only other options, after her parents are killed by rocket fire, are prostitution or starvation. Against a backdrop of unending war, Mariam and Laila become allies in an asymmetrical battle with Rasheed, whose violent misogyny—”There was no cursing, no screaming, no pleading, no surprised yelps, only the systematic business of beating and being beaten”—is endorsed by custom and law. Hosseini gives a forceful but nuanced portrait of a patriarchal despotism where women are agonizingly dependent on fathers, husbands and especially sons, the bearing of male children being their sole path to social status. His tale is a powerful, harrowing depiction of Afghanistan, but also a lyrical evocation of the lives and enduring hopes of its resilient characters.”

And here is Khaled Hosseini discussing his new novel…

I read a great book recently called Moloka’i by Alan Brennert. “This richly imagined novel, set in Hawaii more than a century ago, is an extraordinary epic of a little-known time and place – and a deeply moving testament to the resiliency of the human spirit. Rachel Kalama, a spirited seven-year-old Hawaiian girl, dreams of visiting far-off lands like her father, a merchant seaman. Then one day a rose-colored mark appears on her skin, and those dreams are stolen from her. Taken from her home and family, Rachel is sent to Kalaupapa, the quarantined leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka’i.

Here her life is supposed to end – but instead she discovers it is only just beginning. With a vibrant cast of vividly realized characters, Moloka’i is the true-to-life chronicle of a people who embraced life in the face of death. Such is the warmth, humor, and compassion of this novel that few readers will remain unchanged by Rachel’s story.”

“Alan Brennert draws on historical accounts of Kalaupapa and weaves in traditional Hawaiian stories and customs…. Moloka’i is the story of people who had much taken from them but also gained an unexpected new family and community in the process.”

For an in-depth review of Moloka’i, check out the review at MostlyFiction. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and it makes me want to visit Hawaii again. Okole maluna!

The Road by Cormac McCarthy recently won the Pulitzer for fiction. I read it earlier this month and couldn’t put it down after starting it. It’s a chilling and suspenseful book.

“Cormac McCarthy sets his new novel, The Road, in a post-apocalyptic blight of gray skies that drizzle ash, a world in which all matter of wildlife is extinct, starvation is not only prevalent but nearly all-encompassing, and marauding bands of cannibals roam the environment with pieces of human flesh stuck between their teeth. If this sounds oppressive and dispiriting, it is. McCarthy may have just set to paper the definitive vision of the world after nuclear war, and in this recent age of relentless saber-rattling by the global powers, it’s not much of a leap to feel his vision could be not far off the mark nor, sadly, right around the corner. Stealing across this horrific (and that’s the only word for it) landscape are an unnamed man and his emaciated son, a boy probably around the age of ten. It is the love the father feels for his son, a love as deep and acute as his grief, that could surprise readers of McCarthy’s previous work.”

I don’t want to give away anymore of the story, but I highly recommend reading it!