TIMBUKTU by Paul Auster

When I first began investigating the list of "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die" to see if it was really something I wanted to make a project out of, I randomly started looking up books I'd never heard of before on Amazon. Timbuktu was the first one I selected. With my love of dogs, it was absolutely fate which made that decision for me. It is about a dog. In fact, it's told from the point of view of said dog, Mr. Bones. Mr. Bones is owned by a homeless man, Willy Christmas, who is dying, and they both know that Mr. Bones needs to find a new master before Willy's time runs out.

As Willy and Mr. Bones travel their final days together searching for one of Willy's former high school teachers, Mr. Bones thinks about the years they have spent together and when the end for Willy finally comes, Mr. Bones takes all the lessons he's learned and sets out for his uncertain future.

That's all the specifics I'll tell you about the story. All I'll say further is that isn't the end. There's more. And it's worth every single Kleenex you'll use getting to the end. It's been a long, long time since a book got me that emotional. I tend to shy away from animal books, because, quite frankly, I can't handle it. But I'm very glad I took the chance with this one. It's not happy, but it's not completely sad either. I can't describe it properly. I laughed, I had moments of deep introspection, and I had a great soul-cleansing sob-fest with our dogs when it was all over. I would absolutely recommend this book, but don't forget to have that hanky handy.

And don't forget that things aren't always what they seem to be on the outside . . .

Lezlie