"Today is the first day I am not dead."

To live every day as if it had been stolen from death, that is ow I would like to live. To feel the joy of life, as Eve felt the joy of life. To separate oneself from the burden, the angst, the anguish that we encounter every day. To say I am alive, I am wonderful, I am. I am. That is something to aspire to. When I am a person, that is how I will live my life.
~The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

How cool would it be if we all lived this way? Just threw caution to the wind and lived each day as if it was a new gift that could never be taken for granted? I think we'd all be a lot happier. We all know that's not how it goes, but maybe this should be my New Year's Resolution. Or one of them, besides eating less processed foods (failed) and buying no new books (still got that one).

This book is from the point of view of a dog. Just putting that out there. Now normally this can be a little odd because dogs don't think like people do, but this one pretty much does. His name is Enzo, and he understands human life. And whatever he doesn't understand, he explains with the wonder and patience of an outside trying to learn.

Another warning: this book is horribly sad. There are some bad people in this book, and they do bad things, and Enzo the dog is witness to them all. That's what so sad; this innocent dog has to watch his owner go through such turmoil, and by the end of the book even though it's supposed to be happy, you're still crying.

Still, an amazing, amazing book (I can't emphasize that enough) and I thank my friend Sean for making me want to read it.