It's great to see a deserving book, one so terrific and entertaining as Marley & Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog by John Grogan, garner not only rave reviews upon publication (including from Janet Maslin) and strong sales (it's currently number-two on the New York Times non-fiction best-seller list), but also continued general-interest media coverage some two months after it hit the stores.

For evidence of the latter effect, see "Belatedly, a Bad Dog Finds His Forte: Selling Books," by Dinitia Smith in today's Times; "The World's Worst Dog," from the Associated Press, as carried on CNN.com; and "Dog's Tale Unleashes Canine Passion," by Amy S. Rosenberg in the Philadelphia Inquirer (January 15).

I only recently moved Marley & Me from the "Current Reading" section to the "Recent Reading" area of the sidebar at right, that despite having finished the book just two days after I received a review copy in the mail.

It wasn't because I didn't enjoy the book. I absolutely did and I have recommended it widely, and at this site pegged it with a four-star ("very highly recommended") rating, richly deserved.

I've never been particularly good at writing book reviews, though I know I should try harder, and I wondered whether I could produce a notice that came even close to corresponding to Grogan's own cleverness and skill. So I'll just tell you what I told John: That's a damn good book.

[Post-publication addendum (January 27): Michael Klein reports in today's Philadelphia Inquirer ("Best-selling 'Marley & Me' is Heading to the Big Screen"): "Marley & Me, Inquirer columnist John Grogan's best-selling tale about his sweet but goofy Labrador retriever, is in line to become a film. . . . Terms were not disclosed, but the deal was 'substantial,' Grogan said. . . . Grogan, who plans to keep his day job, said Fox won out in bidding over 'another major studio,' which he declined to identify."]

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