Dogs of Dreamtime

I read Karen Shanley’s beautiful blog for a long time but somehow I’d never read her book. In researching for the class on dogs I’m teaching at the homeschool co-op, I was tickled to come across Dogs of Dreamtime and immediately started to read it.

Karen is a gifted writer, who has a rare combination of practicality while also making space for life’s mysteries. This book was seamless from start to finish. Never was I looking ahead to see how many more pages, never was I bored reading it. The relationships between Karen and the dogs in the book are intense, and complicated. As a reader you are not only on the edge of your seat, you learn a lot. As a writer, I was all…damn…that’s some good editing! I love how this story is put together!

There are people who like dogs, and there are people who are so deeply connected with dogs it’s otherworldly. Karen does a good job explaining herself as one of the latter in this memoir, even as she navigates some tough situations and choices she’s had to make around her dogs.

I absolutely loved Dogs of Dreamtime. My only regret is not having read it sooner!