The book choice for this review is Marley & Me by, John Grogan. I know there’s a popular movie about this book, but I swear I didn’t watch it. I refused to watch it, mainly because the book was on my reading list. I’ll be honest it was on my reading list for a long time, and yes, I did keep up with all the hype that was surrounding the movie. Most people are like that right? Let me know in the comments how you decide what books you are going to read and which ones will continue to sit on your bookshelf.
Back to our book review, when I initially picked this book off of my bookshelf my attention went right to the front cover. I already knew that the book was about a dog that had behavioral issues whose owners were able to oversee those issues, and in turn loved their dog as is. Already knowing this information, I did not go to the back cover to read what it was about. Oh, no, no, my attention went to the front cover, and I noticed something.
Before I tell you what I noticed first let me tell you that I have the mass market paperback copy of this book. For those of you that don’t know what kind of book that is, a mass market paperback copy is smaller in size than your typical paperback version. Because these books are smaller in size so is the word font and the paper quality is not the best. This allows for the book to be sold at a cheap price in large quantities.
Back to what I noticed on my mass market paperback book, the authors name was in all lowercase. Yes, you read that right, lowercase! I stared at his name; I wanted his name to speak to me and give me the answers to the questions swarming around in my head. Why would the author allow their name to be lowercase on this version of his book? Is it because of who’s on the cover? My cover has a picture of Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson, the two main actors in the movie. Still staring at the cover and the authors name in lowercase, I wondered if the authors name was printed in all lower case to take the attention away from the writer, to place it onto the actors. As a writer myself this bothered me. I can’t imagine writing a book that turned into a movie to only have my name printed in lowercase to help promote the movie. Now I understand that the movie also promotes the book, but honestly at least capitalize the first letter in his first and last name. Maybe, Mr. Grogan, got paid very nicely to agree to have his name in lowercase in order to promote the movie. I’m not sure about the answer to that but I don’t think I personally would have agreed to that. Without Mr. Grogan there is no book, without the book there is no movie. Let me know your thoughts on this. From there, I moved on from the front cover and my unanswered questions, to actually reading the book.
In his book, Grogan wrote a memoir that surrounds his family and their dog, Marley. I thought it was good, and it kept my attention. I have two small dogs, so I was able to relate to the story line in different ways. One thing that I liked a lot about this book was the pictures of Marley that were in the middle section of the book. Grogan used glossy, magazine, type paper for the pictures which added a delicate feel to the book. Almost as if I wanted to take extra care as I read so that I don’t damage the pictures. Yes, I sneaked a peak at the middle section before I started to read. Who wouldn’t? You couldn’t miss the thickness of the glossy paper. I peeked and then went back to the first page to read the first sentence. Ha. Ha. Ha. Don’t judge 🙂 I promised myself not to peek again until I actually read all the way to the middle of the book where the pictures were. I did end up really examining the pictures that included Grogan, his wife, and Marley, their dog. I thought it was cool to have a face to their names as I continued reading.
Although I like many different things about this book, the thing that I loved the most was he allowed his readers to see what his writing life looks like. Within the pages of this book Grogan gives details of his daily routine which included his writing. He touched on time management, and his experiences of being distracted by the challenges of life. He explained how he kept himself motivated and focused to write his books. I thought that was great information for anyone that’s ever wanted to write a book and for anyone that has written a book. Mr. Grogan not only offered his readers an open window to his life, but he also provided an open window into his writing, and that my friend is priceless.
M.C. Addington 