About book Bad Dogs Have More Fun: Selected Writings On Family, Animals, And Life From The Philadelphia Inquirer (2007)
I am definitely a sap when it comes to animals. I am also definitely a sap whenever I watch the movie Marley and Me, based on John Grogan’s book of the same name. So, when I was at the used bookstore and saw Bad Dogs Have More Fun, by John Grogan, I snatched it up. Truth be known, I never actually read the book Marley and Me, so I had no idea what Grogan’s writing would be like, but the cute English Springer Spaniel on the cover was a definite selling point—especially since I have two English Springer Spaniels at home.After coming home and actually looking at the book—how could I look past the dog on the cover and not buy it?—I realized that it wasn’t a follow-up novel to Marley and Me, but a collection of stories written by Grogan that were published in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Seeing that they were all roughly 3 pages long, I figured I’d give it a try.While there are some stories that seem to lack some meat, there is plenty in this book that made the purchase worthwhile—especially the animal stories. Maybe I’m just a sucker but any story involving the beloved Marley was a good one. And the best part about reading a book of stories is that I could put it down and read something else if the mood struck.If you liked Marley and Me, be forewarned: This is not the same kind of book (or so I assume, having not read Marley and Me). However, if you like reading a good story about family, animals, and life, then maybe this is the book for you. It’s humorous, touching, and I’m sure that it contains something for everyone.NOTE: I just recently found out that this book is, in fact, not “by” John Grogan. True, he did write all the stories for the Philadelphia Inquirer, but the book was released without any involvement by him, nor with his consent (the Inquirer owns the copyright for the stories written by Grogan during his time there) therefore he doesn’t get a penny off of any sales of this book. It makes me happy that I got it from a used bookstore, but maybe in the future I should check up on these things. If you want to read John Grogan’s side of this, you can do so on his blog.
Overall it was a good book but it was not what I expected. With that title, I expected it to be about dogs or at least his articles about dogs. As a former lab owner I was expecting lots of articles about his rambunctious lab. I always love reading the crazy stories about labs and all the trouble they cause. It reminds me of my crazy lab Doc Holiday and his endless antics. I wanted him to prove why "Bad dogs have more fun". John Grogan is known for his book "Marley and Me". While there was a small section on animals it was not the main focus. I could count the times he mentions Marley on one hand. There was only two full articles focused on Marley in the entire book. The book was made up his articles for the Inquirer that they put together in book format. While the articles where very good and have an easy flowing style if you are looking for "Marley and Me" this is not it. I found many of the articles funny and heart warming but the flow could be a bit disjointed from one article to the next. Overall, I enjoyed the book. I like Grogan's writing style and wit. I wish that he had had input on this book.
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"Zlobiví psi" je příjemná oddechový četba, která nikoho neurazí. Nenechte se zmást názvem. Já osobně byla velmi překvapena, možná zklamána, že se v knize neobjevoval oblíbený hafan Marley. Kniha je celá poskládaná z mini článků, které byly vytištěny v novinách, pro které autor po několik let psal. Kniha je rozdělena do třech částí - rodina, zvířata a život. Převážně poslední část je tou, kterou se John Grogan zabývá nejvíc. Každá článek nese jiný název a nese se v jiném duchu, v knize se objevují jako třístránkové s daty původního publikování. Nemohu se vyhnout tomu, abych neřekla, že mě tvůrci opravdu namíchli zavádějícím názvem a taky obálkou. V knize byste marně hledali ony "zlobivé psy", jelikož články se zcela zaměřují na Groganův pohled na lidi, život ve Filadelfii, na společnost, život či smrt. Kniha je fajn, ale dvakrát jsem se načapala, jak přemýšlím, zda v ní pokračovat. Určitě nečekejte žádný příběh, který by ve vás zanechal stopu k přemýšlení. Ve mně zanechal zvláštní pocit. Celkově vlastně ani nevím, jak bych tuto knihu měla hodnotit. Dvě hvězdičky mi připadaly dost málo, tři jako maximum ;)
—Kristina Čechová
The Philadelphia Inquirer capitalized on Grogan's and Marley's mad popularity by publishing this book under a misleading title. There really aren't many articles in the book about dogs or even animals. There are some, but go into it expecting just what it is...a collection of essays by John Grogan about a variety of subjects and varying in tone. I enjoyed it more than a lot of folks because it gave me a chance to revisit the day Grogan came to south-central PA to visit two elementary schools and to do a signing at our Borders store--all organized by yours truly. I was wildly stressed out. Grogan was totally zen. He was so easy to work with! He handled the mobs of kids at the elementary schools beautifully. He was quiet and calm and not at all full of himself. And I could hear and feel that guy through the articles in the book.
—Cheryl
I will always buy any book by John Grogan just because he wrote Marley and Me and it´s one of my favourite books of all times. This one is a short compilation of some of his column writings for The Philadelphia Enquirer. He talks about life, family and of course, animals. There´s a little bit of everything in here: something that will make you laugh out loud, something that will make you cry, something that will leave you with an open mouth in surprise... All in all a good, quick and easy read.
—Alejandra
