DOG MAN: AN UNCOMMON LIFE ON A FARAWAY MOUNTAIN by Martha Sherrill
"As Dog Man opens, Martha Sherrill brings us to a world that Americans know very little about-the snow country of Japan during World War II. In a mountain village, we meet Morie Sawataishi, a fierce individualist who has chosen to break the law by keeping an Akita dog hidden in a shed on his property. During the war, the magnificent and intensely loyal Japanese hunting dogs are donated to help the war effort, eaten, or used to make fur vests for the military. By the time of the Japanese surrender in 1945, there are only sixteen Akitas left in the country. The survival of the breed becomes Morie's passion and life, almost a spiritual calling. Devoted to the dogs, Morie is forever changed. His life becomes radically unconventional-almost preposterous-in ultra-ambitious, conformist Japan. For the dogs, Morie passes up promotions, bigger houses, and prestigious engineering jobs in Tokyo. Instead, he raises a family with his young wife, Kitako-a sheltered urban sophisticate-in Japan's remote and forbidding snow country."
Why: dogs; devotion to dogs; Japan; unconventional person; remote area of Japan; Akita breed - never knew that they were used this way in WWII; further research into Akitas reveals that the breed is a lot alike to my dog - not the easiest breed to have.
TWENTY CHICKENS FOR A SADDLE: AN AFRICAN CHILDHOOD by Robyn Scott
Why: AFRICA! (I think I might have lived there in previous lives as I am fascinated by it); childhood in Africa; hopefully there will be animal/nature mentions in it too.
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