The author, on Fenton's role in her writing:
Fenton figures quite prominently in my writing. I would call him a major character in Contents May Have Shifted, and he figures into several essays I have written over the years. Much more importantly, I believe spending as much time as I do out in the world with my dogs generally, and with Fenton in particular, makes me a better noticer. Fenton is a great noticer, and all of my writing begins in my noticing, rather than in my imagining. Also, one of the things that gets me down on the couch with my laptop in my lap and really working on something is the knowledge that he will very likely join me up there on the couch, rest his chin across my ankles, keep me company while I work. Having a wolfhound rest his chin across your ankles is probably one of the top ten best feelings in the world....[read on]About Contents May Have Shifted, from the publisher:
Heart-stopping prose and crackling observations on a spiritual journey toward a life rich in love and freedom.Visit Pam Houston's website.
Stuck in a dead-end relationship, this fearless narrator leaves her metaphorical baggage behind and finds a comfort zone in the air, “feeling safest with one planeticket in her hand and another in her underwear drawer.” She flies around the world, finding reasons to love life in dozens of far-flung places from Alaska to Bhutan. Along the way she weathers unplanned losses of altitude, air pressure, and landing gear. With the help of a squad of loyal, funny, wise friends and massage therapists, she learns to sort truth from self-deception, self-involvement from self-possession.
At last, having found a new partner “who loves Don DeLillo and the NHL” and a daughter “who needs you to teach her to dive and to laugh at herself”—not to mention two dogs and two horses—“staying home becomes more of an option. Maybe.”
Read--Coffee with a Canine: Pam Houston and Fenton Johnson.
--Marshal Zeringue
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