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stew1000's review against another edition
3.0
If you’re not in search of spirituality and not middle aged, this book probably won’t impact you as much as it would readers in those demographics. But I wouldn’t say this book didn’t leave an impact on me.
I’d like to think this guy and I would get along, but I’m also left with the feeling that this book didn’t really get going until the last third, as well as a handful odd questions I didn’t feel were addressed until they didn’t matter anymore. But oh well. I’m glad I read it.
I’d like to think this guy and I would get along, but I’m also left with the feeling that this book didn’t really get going until the last third, as well as a handful odd questions I didn’t feel were addressed until they didn’t matter anymore. But oh well. I’m glad I read it.
sl0w_reader's review against another edition
4.0
Midlife meets mountain. And dogs. And Thomas Merton.
It's a very personal account of a writer's search for a meaningful retreat from his everyday life, but holds lessons for us all.
It's a very personal account of a writer's search for a meaningful retreat from his everyday life, but holds lessons for us all.
luann28's review against another edition
3.0
"This was like ending a long and complicated marriage. The Fool and I had been through a lot together. Still, indispensable at times, he'd become an obstacle. I fired him on a hot July day. "You're toast, Fool," I announced. "No severance, no counseling. You will undoubtedly have no shortage of offers. Go take one; you're outta here." The Fool was shocked, speechless. Then he recovered, and complained bitterly. I was ungrateful, he said. He had done a great job for me, he argued, making everybody feel better about me, making me feel safer....I'd regret it, he said. The Fool huffed and took off down the mountain. As he skulked away, I felt relief, followed by a rush of anxiety. Now there was nobody to take care of me but me."
laneamagya's review against another edition
4.0
Jon Katz's Running to the Mountain is the book that got him really talking about dogs. The autobiographical piece explains his impulsive purchase of a cabin in upstate New York, his attempts at establishing a new literary career, and his quest for spirituality. I read the book to meet his Labrador retrievers, and to get the back story on the man who wrote A Dog Year and The Dogs of Bedlam Farm. I read Katz's books out of order, having learned of him first from his columns about dogs that appear in Slate. Like Katz, I disdain the ridiculous notion that our dogs are surrogate children or replacement children, or, frankly, anyone's children other than their dams'. I love dogs for their dog-ness, and I won't ask them to be furry people. They are fine the way they are. It soothes me to immerse myself in a book that accepts that important fact.
This is a good book, but is much more about Thomas Merton than it is about Julius and Stanley the labs. I can accept that. I like Merton. I did find it hard to accept that Katz would so clearly risk his family's financial situation by purchasing a cabin they couldn't afford. Except that I wish I would do the same, only long before I'm 50.
This is a good book, but is much more about Thomas Merton than it is about Julius and Stanley the labs. I can accept that. I like Merton. I did find it hard to accept that Katz would so clearly risk his family's financial situation by purchasing a cabin they couldn't afford. Except that I wish I would do the same, only long before I'm 50.
afterwordsbooks's review against another edition
3.0
"This was like ending a long and complicated marriage. The Fool and I had been through a lot together. Still, indispensable at times, he'd become an obstacle. I fired him on a hot July day. "You're toast, Fool," I announced. "No severance, no counseling. You will undoubtedly have no shortage of offers. Go take one; you're outta here." The Fool was shocked, speechless. Then he recovered, and complained bitterly. I was ungrateful, he said. He had done a great job for me, he argued, making everybody feel better about me, making me feel safer....I'd regret it, he said. The Fool huffed and took off down the mountain. As he skulked away, I felt relief, followed by a rush of anxiety. Now there was nobody to take care of me but me."
debnanceatreaderbuzz's review
3.0
A perfect book for the first day of a new year. This year my husband and I will both turn fifty and our youngest child will leave home for college. I have a lot in common with Katz.
My favorite quote:
"I am not nearly as afraid of dying as I am of the hinges inside my mind and soul rusting closed. I am desperate to keep them open, because I think that if they close, that's one's first death, the loss of hope, curiousity, and possibility, the spiritual death. After that, it seems to me, the second one is just a formality."
My favorite quote:
"I am not nearly as afraid of dying as I am of the hinges inside my mind and soul rusting closed. I am desperate to keep them open, because I think that if they close, that's one's first death, the loss of hope, curiousity, and possibility, the spiritual death. After that, it seems to me, the second one is just a formality."
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