My Book of the Year

Written by John Camp

Interesting that Mike should ask me about my favorite books of 2019. In addition to being a thriller writer [John writes thrillers under the pen name John Sandford —Ed.], I’m a thriller fan, and also read a bit of sci-fi and general adventure novels and also quite a bit of non-fiction. I think I probably read 60–70 books a year—something more than one a week—plus dip into quite a few more that I don’t finish. For me, the outstanding thing about 2019 was the number of extremely reliable, excellent writers who produced books that were sharply sub-standard. I don’t want to get into names, but boy, some famous writers really turned out poor books last year. Embarrassingly poor.

One exception was Stephen King—I’ve always had a soft spot for him, because while he sometimes writes too fast and drops in a lot of extraneous stuff, he is capable of writing really well. He did that in the set-piece introduction to his book this year, called The Institute. You could live in that intro.

And my favorite photobook? The most outstanding book I got—and I mean this sincerely, I’ve gone back to it dozens of times since Christmas—was a photo book produced on the Shutterfly site. Several years ago, we adopted a German Shepherd from a German Shepherd rescue kennel in Los Angeles. When picked up by the rescue people, the dog had nearly starved to death—he was young, but terribly emaciated, hardly able to hold his head up, from living on the streets. Years went by and Scout died last summer of cancer. We did everything we could to save him, including spending three weeks at Colorado State University and their animal clinic, renowned as an animal cancer research center, through which he was given a serious course of chemotherapy.

The cancer was non-operable, though, and he died in August. He was the dog of my life; I can still break down and cry when I think of him. Unbeknownst to me, a friend of ours from the Twin Cities collected a bunch of photos of him (and there were quite a few) and put together a Shutterfly book that showed his progress from a seriously starved rescue dog to a big, happy, confident shepherd who loved to romp, ride in the car, and meet new people. Always looking for something to do. We used to go for long walks, with Scout on a leash, making sure the rabbits in the neighborhood didn’t get too bold. I called them "bunny walks," and all I had to do, at a certain time not long before dusk every day, was mouth the words "bunny walk" and he’d be running around in circles, eager to go.

Anyway, that was my book of the year, made by our friend Cindy, and sitting on top of everything else in our library.

John

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Kenneth Tanaka: "Thank you for sharing that story, John. Believe me, I’m with ya. Our beloved cat of 16 years, KC, died of renal disease in 2016. Our home features more photos of him than of our family. We also have a private gallery of some of his photos online that we can browse from anywhere at any time. (And we do!) No other medium has the power of testimony and recollection that photography has offered from its very first moment of inception. Isn’t that a truly magical and wonderful thing?! My condolences on your loss of Scout. My enthusiastic head-nod on your photobook-of-the-year nomination."

Jim Arthur: "Nice post, John. I did something similar for my younger brother after his dog, Sandy, died. In hindsight I should have offered to make a photo book but he asked me to print his favorite photos of Sandy and put them in an old-school collage photo frame. He loved it. Sandy was a once in a lifetime dog for me as well so I really enjoyed the project.

"A few years later I did another photo project for the same brother after he suffered a traumatic brain injury. I printed photos of friends and family and brought them to the hospital to help him place names with faces. Luckily, brother has recovered and I like to think that photography helped him along the way.

"The power of two-dimensional photography to trigger a memory, tell a story, remember an association, or elicit emotion is an amazing thing. After all that’s passed, it’s especially nice to see brother pause to look at his Sandy collage when I’m there for a visit."

Al C.: "I am guessing responses to this post may break the record. Here's mine.

"Shortly after I finished school and got my first job, my then girlfriend, later wife, saw a beautiful terrier mutt puppy get hit by a car. She took her to the vet (the dog was fine), then home. We looked for her owner; none came forward. To keep her, we moved to an apartment next to a small lake, which quickly became her domain. Here's a soul who greets every day as a special gift, every stranger as a new friend, every outing as a great adventure. She was also independent, and saw us not as owners or parents, but peers and pals. She had her own circle of friends and admirers. Kids in the neighborhood would drop by after school and take her off to play in their yard. She would take long swims in the lake with the resident ducks. She was always mischievous, never missed a chance to show off her charm, to stick her nose in things, to be in the middle of the action and attention. But she instinctively knew when it was proper, and when not. Well, mostly.

"One day, there was a fire in the laundry room on our floor. When the burly firemen came stomping in, she rushed to and past them to make sure not to miss the excitement.

"We constantly talked to her. She understood everything. In return, she taught me how I should live my life. I try, but fall short. After all, no one I know possesses her reserve of good cheer, good will, and good sense.

"I started my own company for the sole and express purpose of being able to take her to work with me every day. It used to break my heart every morning, knowing I was ruining—stealing—her day. Thus, everything I have now I owe to this 25 lbs. bundle of irrepressible spirit and joy.

"We lost her after 19 short years. I continue to re-tell and regale my friends with tales of her funny, endearing antics, tales which would overflow a children's book. A few years ago, I wrote them down, more a catalog than a book, for when I start to forget. Silly thought: I shall never forget. I keep the snapshots I took of her—with the Voightlander Vito my father gave me in high school—in the very front of our family albums. I look at them, as often as I could bear to. The colors have faded, but not the feelings of joy, pride, and eternal gratitude."

Dave Hodson: "'We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone.' Not sure who said it (Katie Thurmes? [Yes —Ed.]), but it's always stuck in my mind. Funny how a bunch of crappy little snaps of our pug of 16 years can still choke me up."

Comments

[Benjamin Marks]

@John: would love some recommendations on sci-fi/fantasy from your reading of the last few years. So many books that my kids bring home in this genre are part of multi-volume series. I have something of a bias against story telling in that multi-volume mode(smacks more of marketing than good story telling). But I'd dip a toe in on the recommendation of someone who loved the genre.

My own recommendation for an excellent a one-volume read in the genre: _Spinning Silver_ by Naomi Novick. Wonderful, spritely prose from a world-creator who knows that good writing is the key to story telling.

My current strategy for finding new reads has been to throw myself on the mercy of book store employees and librarians after explaining the kind of thing I am looking for (and what I hope to avoid). _Spinning Silver_ was recommended by an employee of a bookshop in Madison, WI. I was headed east on a bicycle, and wanted something for the evenings. But that, as they say, is another story.

[Stephen McCullough]

John,

First, thank you for your own writing. It brings me peace and an escape from the grind.

Thanks too for telling us of your loss. I’m sorry there will be no more bunny walks.

I’m a bit surprised you mention some big names with a low standard in writing during 2019. I thought it was just my own view. Maybe it was just a year for some to churn out a formula...

[Michael]

My initial reaction to the lengths and most likely expense you went to, to save your pet was one of criticism for lavishing such care on a dumb animal,but when I read the full article I felt deeply ashamed of my first reaction.
May I offer my sincere condolences to you on losing such a great companion and loving pet and say how lucky the dog was to have you rescue and take such good care of it for the years it was with you.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Yeah, I did a ZNO book of Arwen and Naomi after they'd both died, and people still look at that around here. There's a framed triple portrait of Lilith up on the wall here, too.

[Dogman]

One of my favorite photos of our first Wheaten Terrier Kiri is framed and sits on a shelf over the computer. I took the photo right after we got her using a Kodak disposable camera. I never get tired of looking at that picture. We had been trying to train her--something we decided simply cannot be done with a Wheaten and pretty much later verified when we hired a personal trainer for our second Wheaten Christie. The poor guy was so frustrated with his efforts we finally fired him to save him from stroking out.

Although untrainable, I had taught Kiri to give me her paw when I asked and she would comply if she felt like it. We were playing in the back yard, rolling around together in the grass when I simply said, "Gimme your hand". So there she is in that photograph, a little fur ball, looking more like a teddy bear than a puppy, with her paw waving in the air. Technically it's a disaster. And I love it. I also get teary when I remember Kiri, her antics and her sweetness. It was sad to lose her and my wife and I grieved for the longest time. But after a few months we felt we could love again and we found Christie in southern Missouri and brought her home. She's even more willful than Kiri but also more affectionate.

Loving a dog is the best thing a person can ever hope to do with their life.

[Peter]

In March of 2016 I had a stroke - hit my right leg and arm. After a couple of days in the hospital I moved to a rehab hospital for a few weeks. The good news was that I pretty much recovered - walk with a bit of a limp and have some "aiming" issues with both leg and arm. The bad news was that my wife went home one night from visiting me in the hospital and found our Goldendoodle on the floor and unable to move. She took him to a very sophisticated animal hospital where he was diagnosed as having had a stoke, on one side. He was fourteen, used to walk several miles a day with my wife and was as animated as puppy. We (actually my wife) did everything possible for him but, unfortunately,he never made it home. What are the odds? - I have a stroke (no history) and my otherwise healthy dog has one at almost the same time.
A couple days ago I was looking at photos on the computer and ended up on a favorite picture of Benji. That led to looking at all his pictures from literally the day we got him until maybe a year before he passed. I wanted to print one but got so caught up in looking and remembering, that I really couldn't get to grips with it. I plan on going back to it soon, probably to print a picture of him as a puppy that is identical, in pose, to another of him as an adult and put the two together.
We have another dog now - terrific little guy named Buddy that really gets confused when we call him Benji.

[Bear.]

I’ve had great the joy of three dogs in my life. I often dream of them, and sometimes wake up ready to walk one or another, although it’s been 50 years since the first died and nearly 20 years since the last. As they were all analogue dogs, I only have a handful of photos of them, with all bar one being black and white; so no photo books for me. My present lifestyle would not be fair to a dog - I am away far too much - but I will want two when I am ready to make up for it!

[David]

Our beloved hound got a video:
https://vimeo.com/95071107
Shows the evolution of digital cameras as much as anything.

[That's very nice. :-) --Mike]

[Ken]

My wife was a long time professional photographer and I am a long-time hobbyist, and yet most photos hanging on our walls are of our dogs, all of them rescues, including our two current mutts who are getting older way too soon.

Sounds like Scout had a rough start but an awesome life once he was rescued.