Good Dog. Stay. - Anna Quindlen, 2007

There's been a lot of "it's just a jump on the Marley & Me bandwagon," and it's true that at a skimpy 82 pages for $14.95, this is basically an essay posing as a book. But on the other hand, Quindlen writes rings around Grogan and compresses almost all the emotion in a fraction of the space. A good third of the book is cute dog photos, which is a little confusing because some of them do seem to be of her two dogs (Beau and Bea), but taken by the same professional pet photographer (Amanda Jones) who did many of the unrelated dogs. (Alas, my favorite (p. 6, a Bichon Frise whose eyes are totally concealed by fur) isn't on the website). One hopes this wasn't some kind of kickback. But no matter, if you love dogs, the book's a winner. (My favorite dog book ever ever is still Elizabeth Marshall Thomas' The Social Life of Dogs.)