Book cover of Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog

Book description

A moving, insightful love story about the vast possiblities of the relationship between humans and dogs.

While on a camping trip, Ted Kerasote meets a Labrador mix living on his own in the wild. They become attached to each other, and Kerasote decides to bring the dog, who he names…

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Why read it?

3 authors picked Merle's Door as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I love Merle’s Door because it demonstrates how Ted and Merle taught each other what it means to be human and animal, and they broke all barriers about what it means for an animal to love, be free, to form powerful bonds, and to be worthy of the utmost respect.

From Michelle's list on soulmate animals that think and love.

This last recommendation is a bit of a cheat as it doesn’t deal with a challenging journey as much as an exploratory one. But I couldn’t leave it out. Part memoir, part exploration of the relationship between humans and our beloved dogs, my experience of this book was that it is all heart.

I was so deeply touched by author Ted Keresote’s commitment to letting his adopted dog, Merle, really be a dog and not just be forced to fold himself entirely into his human’s life. I found Merle’s story to be deeply touching and revelatory. This is the book…

This was one of the first of many thousands of books extolling the power of the dog (Note: Nothing to do with Jane Campion's film of the same title). It also happens to be the best, or at least one of the best, and nobody can come away from reading it without recognizing that we are living with the friendliest aliens in the universe, and they, for mysterious reasons, love us!

There are so many good books about dogs that it is hard to pick just one. Pack of Two is another terrific book. But note that it is fairly…

From Jeffrey's list on animal emotions.

If you love Merle's Door...

Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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