Shared (Great) reads

Have you ever read a book and loved it so much that you wanted to pass it on to your friends in the hopes that they would love it just as much as you did?

During last week's vacation I watched my family open their hearts to some amazing characters:

• Enzo, the faithful and elderly lab mix from The Art of Racing in the Rain

• Augusten Burroughs, the quick-witted alcoholic from Dry

• Randy Pausch, father of three young children who fought and lost the battle against pancreatic cancer. He left a remarkable legacy via The Last Lecture.

I don't think of myself as one who needs positive reinforcement for the books I choose to read, but I admit feeling very pleased that Lisa, my friend's wife, loved The Art of Racing in the Rain.

Then at the beach, my brother held up the same book and asked me if I'd read it. I said, "YES!" and I was so excited for him to read it.

He loved it and passed it on to my mother who couldn't put it down. She adored Enzo - as we all should! Maria will follow shortly.

My mother, my brother and my sister all read The Last Lecture.

There are so many quotes from the The Last Lecture that touched my heart, but one of my favorites follows:

When you're frustrated with people, when they've made you angry, it just may be because you haven't given them enough time. But in the end, people will show you their good side. Almost everybody has a good side. Just keep waiting. It will come out."

I had a hard time taking this to heart last night when on my way home - through a sea of non-functioning traffic lights - I had to cut in front of a car on 751 (mind you, I used my turn signal and ample room was available for my merge). The driver behind me made an extravagant display of her middle finger for at least a full 3 minutes. I'm not afraid to say that I stared her down in my rearview mirror (left door mirror) and waved my heart out. I gave the driver just ahead of me a hearty giggle, but all I could think was, Really?! Seriously life is too short for that kind of white trash, redneck immature gesturing. All I could do was shake my head and hope said driver finds herself in a somewhat similar situation someday soon so that her idiocy is blatantly and brightly pointed out to her. Gee-freakin-whiz.

One of my brother's favorite quotes from Dry:

"Ad people don't care where you came from, who your parents were. It doesn't matter. You could have a crawl space under your kitchen floor filled with little girls' bones and as long as you can dream up a better Chuck Wagon commercial, you're in."

When I asked Maria about Todd's impression of Dry, she said, "He thought the beginning of the book was much funnier."

Of course it was - Augusten was still a belligerently drunk idiot. But I truly believe that the perseverance, subsequent failing, and rebound are what truly make Mr. Burroughs a hero to be admired.

Oh. And he's DAMN funny.

While my family was enjoying my earlier reads, I struggled through Angela's Ashes.

It wasn't that I didn't like the book, but the Irish dialect required a bit more concentration than what I hoped for in a beach read. Depressing? YES. But I still recommend the book.

Seriously, The Last Lecture and The Art of Racing in the Rain should not be missed.