Book Review: Dewey: The Small-town Library Cat Who Touched the World

Author: Vicky Myron with Bret Witter
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, ISBN: 0-446-40741-0
Date Published: September 2008



Synopsis

DEWEY is the heartwarming story of Dewey Readmore Books, the beloved library cat of Spencer, Iowa, as told by his owner and companion of nineteen years, Vicki Myron, the librarian who found him on a frigid January morning when he was abandoned as a kitten in the book drop slot. It is also the story of a remarkable small town, which burned down at the beginning of the Depression, only to rebuild itself, and which was almost shuttered during the farm crisis of the 1980s, before regrouping and rededicating itself to small town American values. Dewey's local charm and worldwide fame became a symbol of hope for this recovering town. Through Dewey's antics, we come to know and love many of the colorful and inspiring people of Spencer. But perhaps the most inspiring person in Spencer is Vicki Myron herself, a single mother who survived the bankruptcy of her family farm and working in a box factory to put two of her brothers through college to become one of the leaders of the Iowa library system. Dewey is one lovable, roguish cat who managed to transform an entire town and inspire people across the globe.

I have wanted to read this for some time. I have always loved animal stories. I’ve read Marley & Me and loved every bit of it. I’ve have also read James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small series in my youth and loved them all.

I was expecting the book to be about Dewey the cat. But, it turned out to be more than just about Dewey. It was about the small town, Spencer, in Iowa and about the author herself, Vicki Myron. Because of this, it is not your typical cute cat stories. Most everything is all intertwined into Dewey’s story.

He is the perfect library cat – who wouldn’t love an outgoing and calm cat like him? Because of his personality, he became famous worldwide.

Personally, I liked the book Marley & Me more than Dewey, which is surprising because I am a cat lover.

My personal rating: 4 out of 5 stars. The only reason why I gave it a 4 instead of a 5 is because it sometimes went into details about either the small town and about the author that didn’t relate much to Dewey himself. It just didn’t seem to flow or intertwine together well. But, that is just my two cents.

I issued a photo challenge to Dan that is related to my weekend getaway – take pictures of the sharks’ teeth I’ve found and saved throughout the years. I had to tell him where to find them – they are in a pill bottle that I stored in one of the mini Lang cedar chests (along with other small mementos) I collect which is inside the safe in the office.

He asked what it was exactly that I wanted. I wasn’t really sure what I wanted and ultimately gave him the creativity since he was the “photographer”.





Aren’t these amazing? These are not the original pictures since I had to resize them for posting on this blog; but still, it gives you an idea of how gorgeous the pictures turned out. I had totally forgotten about the necklace I made with the help of my brothers. I absolutely love these pictures!

Update on Mother

As most of you know, Mother underwent surgery, a procedure called kyphoplasty, to help alleviate her back pain. Basically, this procedure injected bone cement into/onto her fractured vertebrae to help stabilize it. My understanding is that she not only had an older fracture, she also had a newer fracture. We were told by the doctor (surgeon) that she is a prime candidate for this procedure. Here is a recap of our week:

She went to St. Luke’s last Tuesday morning. The ambulance service messed up. They were supposed to arrive at 9:45am; but, they did not show up until 10:30am.In spite of the ambulance being late, we managed to arrive around 11:15am – not too bad considering. Mom’s procedure was set for 1:00pm. However, it was delayed because she was fibrillating. The initial examiner wanted a cardiologist to check her out and give the okay. A Doppler machine arrived to take images of her heart. Eventually, the cardiologist arrived, checked her out, and gave the okay.

However, an order was given to check out her legs for blood clots. I do not know who gave this order – Most likely the person who gave her the initial pre-op examination. So, she was taken down to get Doppler images done on her legs. That alone took an hour.

She checked out and was finally given the okay for the surgery. Both Mike and I were relieved. Mom, however, was terrified. By this time, she was over tired and wanted to go home. She had lost her courage. She is way too much like me – scared of any and all things surgery-wise. I guess I inherited that from her. Anyway, she was encouraged to hang in there and to think about the ultimate result – freedom from pain.

She was eventually given a little morphine while waiting to take away the pain as she had been weaned off certain pain meds. They finally took her in for the actual procedure around 7pm. She was out and in recovery a little after 8pm. The doctor said “it was a textbook procedure” and “it was successful”. He also said that “he’d be very surprised if she still had pain after the surgery”.

We did not get to see her until after 9pm and she was doing real well at this time. She smiled at me real big and that did my heart good.

She was eventually taken to a private room a little after midnight and we all saw her to make sure she was settled. I was more than a little surprised to see she was in pain because I had seen her earlier and she was doing fine. She was begging to either go home or for one of us to stay with her. It broke my heart to see her like that. A nurse came in with a pain pill and that kicked in about 15 minutes later and she was doing better. She eventually calmed down and started sleeping. So, we all went home.

I had to hitch a ride with my brother and his wife because I rode over with Mother in the ambulance. I also stayed at their house overnight. By the time we arrived, I was so tired that I was beginning to feel sick myself. I slept deep. So deep that I found myself being awakened by an earthquake – I realized it was from my own snoring. I rarely snore. I’m sure of that. Ha!

I got up; left for St. Luke’s, and arrived a little after 8am. I have to tell you that Houston’s rush hour traffic is an absolute nightmare! Anyway, Mom was doing well. She was conversing and in very little pain. I was encouraged by this. I sat in a chair beside her, caught up on the ‘world’ with my laptop and chatted with Dan via Instant Messenger. My brother was there all morning working from the room (he had to leave after lunch to go to the office where he works). Another brother showed up later in the morning and visited with Mom quite awhile.

Mother was discharged around 3:30pm and was sent back to the Rehab place. I watched them load her on the stretcher. Other than her dizziness problem, she had very little pain. That was an awesome sight to behold. I had to let her go by herself as I drove myself to the hospital. She was fine with that – another first. She arrived at the Rehab facility just before dinner and was in good spirits.

Thursday was a very good day for her. She was sitting up somewhat when I arrived that morning. She was very nervous and scared about therapy though. She didn’t know what she should do or not do. Doctor told us that she was free to do anything she was capable of doing. The therapists encouraged her to sit up and get into a wheelchair. I could see the difference. It was like a miracle happened. She was no longer moaning in pain. She was actually sitting up straight and conversing with the therapists and me. It was an amazing difference from before her surgery. She even wheeled herself a little around the room. It did my heart good to see that. And, there is hope now. She even said “she’s going to walk out of this place”.

She started to feel ill later in the afternoon. I didn’t know what to make of it. She really did seem “off her feed” so to speak. I texted my brother to let him know Mom was not feeling well. I did what I needed to do for her after dinner and let her sleep.

I arrived earlier than usual on Friday because I was worried about her. She was not doing well – feeling nauseous, crampy, and dizzy. I texted my brother. It dawned on him that she may be experiencing withdrawal from Fentanyl – a pain medicine. Sure enough, all her symptoms match the symptoms of withdrawal for this medication. She is still getting another pain medication – a patch on her back. My brother is going to talk with the doctor about these things.

She did okay in therapy – still not experiencing pain, which is a very good sign. She didn’t do as much on account of feeling yucky. Once she gets to feeling better, we hope her progress in therapy will take off. She’s a very stubborn old lady as she refused to do the second reps of warm up exercises saying “it’s dumb”. Neither Mike nor I could convince her otherwise.

So, here’s hoping that things will continue to look up for all of us.

My Weekend Getaway

My weekend was wonderful. I so badly needed to get away for a bit. We went to Galveston Island and stayed in a hotel that Dan booked earlier in the week. We walked along the Seawall earlier Saturday. It was supposed to be a warmer (70 degrees); but, the wind made it feel like it was freezing. It was just my luck to have forgotten my jacket. However, I was so happy to be walking along the beach that I pretty much ignored the cold biting wind.

I had taken off my sneakers and socks and just walked along the shore relishing the feel of sand under my feet. Eventually, I noticed areas where tiny fragments of shells and beachy stuff accumulate along the edge of where the water comes up and recedes.

I dipped my toes into the water only to quickly withdraw because it was freezing. However, I just had to take a look to see if I can find a shark tooth. I’ve been finding sharks teeth since I was a little kid. But, I haven’t found any for years and years, most likely since hurricane Alicia (or the tropical storm Allison) because the hurricanes along with humans pretty much destroyed what used to be a diverse ecological system. I’ve read several years ago that Galveston is trying to change all that and restore what used to be.

Anyway, I bravely stood in the shallow water with feet gradually going numb scanning the debris of shells and whatnot brought in from the tides. My Dan refused to even dip one itty bitty toe in the water – a very wise man. He must have thought I was nuts. The water came in a rush a couple of times soaking the tops of my rolled up jeans. But, I didn’t care because I was happy just being there on the beach.

After a few moments, much to my surprise and exhilaration, I found a…



shark tooth! I was thrilled to pieces because it was the first I have found for eons. I think Dan was amazed and thrilled for me. I couldn’t keep from bubbling over from happiness for awhile. Dan kept it safely for me in the little watch pocket of his jeans.

Once we decided we had enough of walking along the Seawall, we decided to head on to the State Park and explore awhile. I was saddened to see the changes there due to IKE. According to the Ranger at the “headquarters”, IKE lifted the big concrete walkway and shoved it into the old nice headquarters they had. The waves then took apart what was left and washed the rest away.

They now only have a small headquarters and are still rebuilding the park itself. The one change I like is that we can now camp somewhat near the shore. Both Dan and I agreed that it’d be fun to take time and camp there someday.

We purchased a park’s pass, which is valid for a year and at any state park. We might as well get one considering we’re planning to go to Garner early August. When I opened the door to the truck after we parked in the day use area, I immediately spied a penny on the ground. I exclaimed to Dan that “God must be smiling down on us”. First, I found a shark’s tooth and then, a penny.

We then walked along the beach for awhile. My mind flooded with memories of the days long passed. I eventually braved the cold waters again to look for sharks’ teeth. I was absolutely thrilled to find…



five more sharks teeth! They were somewhat smaller than the first one I found; but still, it was awesome. Dan found a beautiful decent sized shell that was undamaged. I was thrilled with that find too.

We then headed back to the hotel and crashed for the rest of the day. Since we were tired and really didn’t want to go anywhere, we decided to splurge and have dinner in the hotel’s restaurant. It wasn’t great food; but, it sure beat going back out.

I was so tired from worrying about and being with Mother for weeks and the day was so complete and relaxing. I just crashed early. I was asleep by 8:30pm according to Dan. I didn’t get up until almost 8:00am the next morning. I did wake up a few times in the night, which is normal for me. But, I slept deep, which is what I needed so badly.



We relaxed a bit Sunday morning and surveyed the ocean from the balcony of our room. We then went to Kroger for some milk and a bottle of water. We then decided to go to Moody Gardens. However, the Rainforest portion was closed – they’re in the middle of remodeling.

In a way, I was glad because I didn’t want to be spending any more money. I told Dan that I thought I would like to go on the Bolivar Ferry and explore the other side for a bit. So, we rode that ferry and I just loved every minute of being on it. We then, drove down a ways down the road looking at all the houses and wondering if there was any public access to the beach. We explored a place called “Surfside” and thought to ourselves that it’d be fun to rent one of these houses for a couple of weeks.

We then decided to head back and try accessing the beach another day. After riding the ferry back to Galveston, we decided to call it a day and head back “home”. We did drop by to see Mother for a few. She looked tired but well.

It was an awesome weekend – just what I needed.

Book Review: Stranger in a Strange Land

Author: Robert A. Heinlein
Publisher: ACE trade, first edition, paperback, ISBN: 0-441-78838-6
Date Published: October 1, 1991

Summary (from Goodreads)

One of the greatest science fiction novels ever published, Stranger in a Strange Land's original manuscript had 50,000 words cut. Now they have been reinstated for this special 30th anniversary trade edition. A Mars-born earthling arrives on this planet for the first time as an adult, and the sensation he creates teaches Earth some unforgettable lessons. "A brilliant mind-bender."--Kurt Vonnegut.

I’ve heard so many talks about this particular book recently that I finally got around to purchasing the original uncut version at a deep discount to read.

This book may be classified as Science Fiction; but, I don’t think there is much that classifies it as science fiction other than the fact that people went to Mars and one lone orphan of two highly intelligent people, raised by Martians since a baby, returned to earth as a young adult. This book is more philosophical in political (libertarian?), religion, and sexual areas. I totally understand why this book became a cult classic of the hippie movement.

With that said, I must say that this book was not my cup of tea. It was a huge disappointment. It was slow going at first. But, the story started picking up in Part II. Even then, it was tedious to wade through. I did “grok” the book. However, it was ideological to the point of being an impossible dream. Also, there were some aspects that I did not care for nor agree with.

For example, near the end, the “discorporation” of people just because wrongness existed within them bothered me. I have always felt that no matter how evil a person is, there is always room for redemption for them if shown the way.

Another thing that bothered me was the free-love and “polyamorous” relationship thing. I think the concept unrealistic simply because we are human. I also think that sex should be reserved for the marriage bed – between husband and wife and none other.

I also did not like how the main character had a messianic complex.

If you’re a devout Christian (like I am), I would highly recommend that you do NOT read this book.

My personal rating: 2 out of 5 stars