Meeting Recap: The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein

Our book for July was THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN, by Garth Stein. Stephanie nominated this book several months ago but it didn't make the cut at that time. In our last round of voting Kara nominated it and was successful.

Bev hosted us on her back porch for this meeting. We enjoyed summer foods including corn on the cob, watermelon, salads, and margaritas. The weather was perfect for this outdoor meeting.

The general consensus was that the book was good. No one at the meeting disliked it, but some did like it more than others. Some of the topics we discussed included:

• gaining appreciation for the human/dog bond, especially for those gals who aren't "dog people"
• Enzo's philosophizing - some loved it, some thought it was a bit "wordy" for a dog, some thought it rather simplistic and obvious (rather than profound)
  
• the ending - some loved it, some thought it was cheesy
• the zebra - we differed in our opinions of what it represents
• even though the book dealt with some hard issues, we agreed it wasn't a depressing book
  

I don't think that anyone felt this book was great literature but we did agree that it was a fun read, and different from anything we've read as a club before.

*** After the meeting I came across an interview with the author. In it he answers some of the questions we raised at the meeting (including the zebra issue). You can listen to it at BookClubGirl.com. ***


*** And here's a link to the recap I wrote for ReadgingGroupGuides. ***