Book Report.

I finished two books this week. The first is Oprah's Book Club pick this month, which shouldn't scare you off if you're a literary snob.

Oprah chooses some challenging subjects. The Reader, now a major motion picture, was one of her choices. And now, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, a nearly 600 page tome, is another.

Edgar Sawtelle is a meticulously-written first novel that, it turns out, is a modern re-telling of Hamlet, with a little Greek Tragedy thrown in for good measure. The fact that it took me about a third of the novel to figure this out, is testament to how modern and captivating the re-telling is.

The novel takes place on a farm in rural Wisconsin, where the family business is raising a fictitious breed of dog. The Sawtelle dog.

Edgar Sawtelle is Gar and Trudy's only son. He was born mute, but communicates with his parents, and the dogs, with a combination of sign language and telepathy. There's also his Dad's twin brother, Claude -- the conflicted, bad seed. But you'll have to read it to get the skinny on him.

What makes the novel riveting, and what also gives it its most evocative tragic quality, is that each of the characters is profoundly flawed. Sometimes lovingly so, sometimes maddeningly so.

It makes it interesting, and sometimes challenging, to read a novel where you don't always like the main character.

But lest you thought there was no one likable in the novel, get ready for the dogs themselves.

If you love dogs, you MUST read this novel.

You'll not only learn the finer points of animal husbandry and training, you'll be introduced to one of the most generous, and furriest, heroines in all of literature. Almondine, Edgar Sawtelle's closest confidante and staunchest ally, personifies service and goodness. She will break your heart with a wag of her tail.

So, as you might have guessed, this was a deep and nuanced read. The sort of thing you need to sit with and ponder. Which is exactly why I followed it up with Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher.

The book is based on what surely must be a gut-splitting one-woman show. It details her life living with addictions of all kinds, a bi-polar disorder, and a regrettable hairstyle in Star Wars.

I couldn't put it down. I actually didn't put it down. Read it, in its entirety, in two sittings.