The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
I actually finished this book about a week ago, but I've been a real slacker lately. This book, like my last few, was a Christmas present, this time from my friend Val. The narrator is a dog and, as the title suggests, there are a lot of references made to auto racing. I'm not necessarily a dog person and I'm definitely not a NASCAR person, but the plot line is actually about the relationship between a father (dog owner and professional driver) and his daughter after the death of his wife/her mother. The racing references have to do with the way drivers try to predict loss of control and how they handle it when it occurs and how that kind of driving zen applies to our lack of control in life. It's a book about family and relationships and philosophy on life actually written by a man instead of your typical female writer, and I think that brought an interesting spin on the genre. It took me a little bit to get into the story, what with the dog's eye view, but in the end I liked it.
