Rating: 
Summary: Single female meets mysterious male
Review: A non-dog type woman, Louise Bernikow, jogs through Central Park one unassuming day and comes upon a crowd complete with police cars. Normally Louise jogs past such things but some mysterious force drew her to investigate. Through these events, she winds up caring for a dog that has been mistreated and left tied to the tree. As the book unfolds, the dog from the "wrong side of the tracks" turns out to be a refined gentleman who keeps revealing clues about his past. This "gentledog", Libro, aids the lady author in healing from past and present relationships with boyfriends. Libro helps Louise move beyond her comfort zone - way beyond - try new things, and venture into new relationships with people from all walks of life. The book starts well and unfortunately slows down in the middle. The end was a disappointment because clues about the dog's past become very intriguing and it is not explored further. Overall, this book helped in understanding someone who is not from the Midwest, who is a non-dog person in a big city, and who has not a clue in handling dogs. It does provide insight in the difficulties of having a dog in the city. Who would have thought of walking a dog down four flights of stairs just for him to use the restroom! Despite the differences of raising a dog in a city versus a rural or suburban area, the common ground with dogs is the impact they have on humans. If we let them, they do change our lives for the better.
Rating:
Summary: Single female meets mysterious male
Review: A non-dog type woman, Louise Bernikow, jogs through Central Park one unassuming day and comes upon a crowd complete with police cars. Normally Louise jogs past such things but some mysterious force drew her to investigate. Through these events, she winds up caring for a dog that has been mistreated and left tied to the tree. As the book unfolds, the dog from the "wrong side of the tracks" turns out to be a refined gentleman who keeps revealing clues about his past. This "gentledog", Libro, aids the lady author in healing from past and present relationships with boyfriends. Libro helps Louise move beyond her comfort zone - way beyond - try new things, and venture into new relationships with people from all walks of life. The book starts well and unfortunately slows down in the middle. The end was a disappointment because clues about the dog's past become very intriguing and it is not explored further. Overall, this book helped in understanding someone who is not from the Midwest, who is a non-dog person in a big city, and who has not a clue in handling dogs. It does provide insight in the difficulties of having a dog in the city. Who would have thought of walking a dog down four flights of stairs just for him to use the restroom! Despite the differences of raising a dog in a city versus a rural or suburban area, the common ground with dogs is the impact they have on humans. If we let them, they do change our lives for the better.
Rating: 
Summary: An easy read, a gentle laugh
Review: Anyone who's ever owned a dog knows that there's a lot more to it than patting Fido and filling up a food dish. It really is an entry into an enormous club, filled with veterinarians, new friends, neighbors you've never known until your dog starts sniffing them, and relatives you thought you knew right up until the time they start giving you unsolicited opinions about ringworm. Louise Bernikow relates her entry into this club with light-hearted humor in her new book Bark If You Love Me. This is a non-fiction book but a light read that is very much like a novel. In the first chapter, Ms.Bernikow does something her mother always warned her not to do: she brings home a strange male. This time, it's a boxer she names Libro. You don't need to own a dog to laugh at the quirky characters she and Libro meet. At times, she realizes with some surprise that she feels motherly toward him. There is a lover (human), and a mystery over Libro's past, but through it all, she laughs gently at herself and learns what a trusting, reliable relationship can mean to a single woman, even if it is with a dog. Berkinow is a journalist whose writes about women's history and the nature of being single in contemporary society (see: The American Women's Almanac : An Inspiring and Irreverent Women's History.) Her latest book will make you laugh and if you don't own a dog already, might make you think seriously about getting one.
Rating:
Summary: I Loved This Book!
Review: As someone who was thrown into the world of dogs and "dog people" after acquiring my first dog 2 years ago, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I could relate to so much of the story, from the author's initial bewilderment and frustrations of new dog ownership to her development of a love and bond with this animal so strong that it indeed becomes a personal life transformation. A humorous, touching story I would recommend to all dog owners!
Rating: 
Summary: how to become a dog-lover
Review: As someone who was thrown into the world of dogs and "dog people" after acquiring my first dog 2 years ago, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I could relate to so much of the story, from the author's initial bewilderment and frustrations of new dog ownership to her development of a love and bond with this animal so strong that it indeed becomes a personal life transformation. A humorous, touching story I would recommend to all dog owners!
Rating:
Summary: great book and best cover ever on a book
Review: I adored this book. Obviously, I'm a dog lover and like the author a single not exactly 20 or 30 something woman living alone. Like the author I never intended to become a "dog person". I loved her stories. However, what I loved best about the book was it's cover. Who could resist that face and title? More important was the subtitle "what if mr. right turns out to have four legs and a tail?" I can honestly say it's the only book cover I've ever ripped off a book and framed for my wall. Like dogs? You'll like this book.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding read for dog lovers!
Review: I picked this book up and couldn't put it down. Bernikow and Libro make quite an engaging couple.
Rating:
Summary: Bark If You Love Me
Review: I'm not ordinarily a reader of woman-meets-dog books-- I picked this one up planning to give it to a friend who recently became the wildly enthusiastic owner of a poodle puppy. I ended by reading it myself, and with more interest than I would have expected, given my own dogless state. At first, I just wanted to find out more about the mystery surrounding Libro, a fifty-pound hunk whom the author found cowering in Central Park in pitiable condition. (The eventual solution to the mystery, while incomplete, is surprising and touching.) Then I got pulled into the book's deftly-drawn portrait of the existence of a contemporary single professional woman on New York's Upper West Side. Libro's new owner isn't a sweetie-pie; she's actually a pretty tough cookie for whom caving in to love, mutual dependence, and emotional intimacy with both humans and dogs is, at least at that point in her life, not the easiest thing in the world. Bark If You Love Me, the literary result of her struggle, is kind of an offbeat book in its genre--it's nowhere near as cuddly as its title suggests, and some of the narrator's efforts to cope with the trials of being a first-time dog owner may distress some dyed-in-the-wool pet owners looking for the printed equivalent of a warm puppy. But Libro's an extremely likable protagonist, and the story of his fate as an adoptee and the author's as his somewhat ambivalent adoptive owner held my attention to the end. In sum: a tough, sophisticated, very New York woman-meets-dog story that's as much about a certain kind of contemporary American woman's existence as it is about a very, very nice dog.
Rating:
Summary: Libro--A Real Gal Pal!!
Review: Move over Turner and Hooch, Timmy and Lassie---make way for Louise and Libro. This is a wonderful story of how human (Louise) and animal(dog Libro) transformed each others lives.It is truly a love story about "woman's" best friend, filled with an array of characters and situations that will make you smile, laugh out loud and also shed a heart-felt tear. I enjoyed the book tremendously. Can't wait for the movie!!
Rating:
Summary: A Heartwarmer and great laughs
Review: Sophisticated, funny, city love! In,"Bark If You Love Me" we find the perfect antidote to modern, over-the-top stress. Ms Berkniow succeeds in sharing her accidental falling-in-love with her big-city boxer, without resorting to mushy sentiment. You'll find yourself falling in love with this boy, too. Sophisticated and funny, "Bark If You Love Me" offers a welcome reprieve from the usual pet-book fare.
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