Between the morning and evening dog walks, we can think of no better way to wile away a long summer day than reading a good book, especially a book about dogs. Here are some recent releases for your summer reading list:

In Dog Years, Mark Doty recounts, with great pathos and luminous prose, how a pair of dogs brought him through wrenching grief and led him back into life.

Dreaming in Libro, Louise Bernikow's sequel to Bark if You Love Me, relates the subsequent and (sweetly, sadly) final chapters of life with her boxer in Manhattan and "how a good dog tamed a bad woman."

Publishers Weekly called Cathleen Schine's novel, The New Yorkers, "a love letter to New Yorkers and the dogs who own them." But, truly, this story of city dwellers drawn into each other's orbits by dogs is a mash note for urbanhounders everywhere.

The central tenet of The Loved Dog--that training should be based on mutual understanding and positive reinforcement--is not new, but it is timely, and the book, by Oprah's personal dog coach Tamar Geller, is a light, easy read.

First there was Marley & Me. Then, the illustrated edition. And now the bestselling memoir by John Grogan has been spun off into Bad Dog, Marley! (a picture book for the playground set) and Marley: A Dog Like No Other (an adaptation for ages 9 to 12). Both these editions for kids have already hit the New York Times bestsellers' list, just like the original.

Got a favorite dog book? Post your suggestions to the HoundTalk boards.

Happy reading, and happy summer to you and your hounds,

Laura Cavaluzzo,
Editor, urbanhound San Francisco