The Dog Says How
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Kevin Kling, best known for his popular commentaries on National Public Radio's All Things Considered and his storytelling stage shows like Tales from the Charred Underbelly of the Yule Log, delivers hilarious, often tender stories to readers everywhere with his first book, he Dog Says How. Kling's autobiographical tales are as enchanting as they are true to life: hopping freight trains, getting hit by lightning, performing his banned play in Czechoslovakia, growing up in Minnesota, and eating things before knowing what they are.
In "Circus Tale," Kling recollects how his love of boats, animals, and adventure inspired him to join a traveling circus troupe—but it was the all-you-can-eat buffets that cinched the deal. In "Hockey Hair," Kling spots old pals from his hometown who sport mullet-like haircuts, spurring him to unlock doors to his past. In the comical yet poignant title story, Kling straddles the world of the ordinary and one rivaling Dante's inferno as he learns how to use voice-recognition software after a motorcycle accident.
In Kling's classic and never-before-told stories, "the mundane becomes magical, the fantastic becomes accessible and through it all his profound sense of curiosity about the world transforms the everyday to the timeless"—Queen Anne News, Seattle.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A playwright and regular contributor to the popular newsmagazine-style NPR show "All Things Considered," Kling hems close to his wry on-air delivery in these 29 short essays, ruminating on a variety of topics including a life-altering motorcycle accident, his congenital arm disability and a favorite dog. Among these, Kling's childhood memories stand out; "View from the Card Table" remembers an eventful Christmas at the Klings, touched by a child's rumination on the puzzle of the Savior ("And Jesus came down, and we all went crazy like cats") and the threats of impatient grandparents: "In my day, you kids ... hickory sticks ... woodshed ... G. Gordon Liddy" sic. Other childhood highlights include taxidermy class ("Mr. Damyanovitch taught through a method called: love.") and the time he and his dad were struck by lightning. Having grown up in Minnesota, Kling can evoke frigid temperatures in a sentence or two; he's similarly skilled at emotional gear-shifting, drawing laughter just a few paragraphs before eliciting tears in essays like "Prayer" and "Rio." Kling's collection will please any fan of his radio home, or of sister Public Radio programs "This American Life" and "A Prairie Home Companion."
