famous writers’ dogs | Cambridge Canine

Letter to Jeff Bezos

Recently I attended a reading by Martha White at Porter Square Books in Cambridge. Ms. White, as you may know, is the granddaughter of author E.B. White and the editor of a new collection of his writing, “E.B. White on Dogs.”

Martha White (R) with members of the audience — Martha White (R) with fans

Last week I went to a local bookstore for a reading by the granddaughter of my favorite author and the inspiration for my other blog, Salutations!. An audience of about thirty people and five dogs (a trio of retired greyhound racers, a three-legged shepherd mix who, according to her companion, enjoys hearing Beatrix Potter stories read aloud, and a boisterous dachshund named for a large biting fly native to Africa) crowded in the back of the small store for the reading and the Q&A that followed. At several points the audience applauded enthusiastically and the dachshund barked loudly. It seemed to me that the smallest member of the assembled book lovers had a great deal more to say, so in the epistolary spirit of several of the selected readings I am sharing a letter she might have penned afterward to Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon. Continue reading “Letter to Jeff Bezos”

Shaggy Muses: Book Review

"Keeper from Life" by Emily Bronte, 1838

As a dog blogger and an English major, how could I resist a book entitled, Shaggy Muses: The Dogs Who Inspired Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edith Wharton and Emily Brontë? I mean, this book has my name all over it, except, that is, where I was wish it was—on the title page! As much as I enjoyed reading it, I would have liked writing it even more. Continue reading “Shaggy Muses: Book Review”

Miss Gillie Frost of Brewster Street

Border Collie (by Vincent J. Musi for National Geographic)

On a recent visit to the main branch of the Cambridge Public Library, I wandered into the Cambridge Room, where the library collects its archives of the city’s history. Located on the second floor of the light-filled new building, which itself will go down in Cambridge history as the one of this century’s finest municipal buildings, the Cambridge Room is sure to delight anyone with a modicum of curiosity about our city’s rich past.

Archivist Alyssa Pacy greeted me warmly and inquired what I was interested in researching.

“Dogs?” I replied, somewhat off-the-cuff. Truth be told, I was just passing through and hadn’t come prepared to do any serious research. Continue reading “Miss Gillie Frost of Brewster Street”