Customer Reviews

Dogs: Funny Side Up!

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Delightful! Worldly insightful!

Quoting from the back cover:

"Welcome to a 'dog-gone' hysterical perspective born out of a life that has literally gone to the dogs. From Nat Geo's Dogtown to the temples of Northern Thailand, Kelsey's biting satire offers an outrageously fresh perspective on the world of animal rescue and a life spent among man's best friends."

My favorite chapter is titled So Ya Wanna Start a Sanctuary. Allow me to share the opening paragraphs with you:

"Many of us dream of starting our own animal sanctuaries. In my world you hear this fantasy so often you'd think shelters would be as common as pigeons in Balboa Park or Republicans in denial.

"After two decades of working at, and volunteering for, every ilk of animal rescue, in addition to attending seminars on founding sanctuaries, and driving past many more, I fancy myself quite knowledgeable on the basics of sanctuary operations. This is precisely why I don't start one."

If you have any interest in animals, you'll like this book. If you're involved with animal rescue organizations, you'll love this book. Nola Lee Kelsey, a consummate writer who knows her stuff, has a quick mind and sharp wit, and it's not all about dogs.

Kaye Trout
Reviewer

This is not just a well written book about dogs - but a very poignant look at them. The abuse some of them have suffered at the hands of human beings is unforgiveable. The author really makes you think about the injustices, as well as the wonderful part of owning a pet. I have shared this book with everyone in my office! A great read!

Although I am not particularly interesting in reading about dogs -- I read this book because I loved "Bitch Unleashed Revised!: The Harsh Realities of Goin' Country", also by Nola Kelsey. I am very glad I read "Dogs: Funny Side Up!". This book not only is filled with razor sharp wit and subtle wry intelligence; but, dog-gone-it, I actually learned a few things in spite of the fact that I normally read for fun rather than wisdom. The diverse spectrum of topics, settings, and situations keeps the essays interesting. I would give this truly original book five stars for people interested in the wide world of dogs, or four stars for the nonpet owners. Read it, laugh, gain new perspectives!

Nola Lee Kelsey speaks puppy. She speaks dog. Best of all, she speaks canine appreciation. Yes, even in her chapter 10 Signs of a Stupid Dog.

With her sharp humor sprinkled throughout, Kelsey chronicles her doggone crazy experiences at Dogtown, Best Friends Animal Society (Utah, USA) and Care for Dogs (Thailand). Dogs Funny Side Up! is packed with anecdotes and oddities, chewtoys and pooper scoopers.

Your pooches might not want you to read this book, because Kelsey gives away a number of dog secrets. (Canine assumption: 'If it's set out to thaw it's for you!')

My bet is animal rescuers will especially love So You Wanna Start a Sanctuary, but you can decide for yourself which chapter is your favorite. No doubt about it, Kelsey is one zany zoologist!

I read this book in one session - I went from rolling on the floor laughing to tears of pain and rage - and every range of emotion in between. From Thailand to Utah, tales of dogs and rescues are told with Kelsey's unmitigated cutting humor mixed with her profound love of dogs. Sugar coated, many facts are woven into the blend, so I accidentally learned while totally enjoying this book. I really support the author's suggestions on how to remove dog fighters from the human gene pool. I could add others to the list of those who should not reproduce, but I'll spare you and just tell you to read any Nola Kelsey book you can grab. You will laugh your way to knowledge! Don't miss her "Keeping the Masses Down". It humorously predicted todays harsh economic times and tells you how to survive them. Kelsey is a delight and must surely be the up and coming comic writer of this century! I predict she will be the next Dave Barry. My favorite parts of "Funny Side Up" were her tales of Flipper and Henry. Someone should make a movie about those two dogs!

This book is one of the most poorly written and edited books I've read in a long time. It is not witty, funny or satirical, except for the chapter entitled "Fish Whisperer" in which the author TRIES to satirize Cesar Milan and his animal training techniques but does a very poor job of it.

I have no idea to which book the other reviewers are referring; it certainly can't be this one.

I do NOT recommend that you purchase this book however, if you decide to do it anyway, I suggest you plan to invoke my "100 page rule." If you don't like the book in the first 100 pages, you get to stop reading it without any guilty feelings. My reasoning is that if an author can't grab you in the first 100 pages, they're not going to grab you later on. I wish I'd followed my own rule when I read this book; now I feel guilty for wasting my time reading the whole thing hoping that it would, somehow, get better