What is Elsa Watson reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Elsa Watson, author of Dog Days.

Her entry begins:

At the moment, I have a couple of books going. We have an eight-month old at home, so my reading time is pretty limited—I squeeze it in whenever I can, depending on the baby’s schedule.

When I sit down to feed him, I can usually get in a few pages of The Iowa Baseball Confederacy by W.P. Kinsella. Kinsella is a Canadian author who also wrote Shoeless Joe (which became the movie Field of Dreams.) Honestly, this is a book I never would have picked up on my own because I don’t follow baseball at all, but my mom gave it to me and I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Like Shoeless Joe, the story is very mystical. It’s about a man who has a magical, almost prophetic memory of a 40-day baseball game that happened generations earlier in his little Iowa town. The only hitch is that no one else remembers this game. In fact, the whole town thinks he’s crazy. Kinsella is clearly one of those authors who has images and metaphors just spilling out of him. It’s a delight to read just for the clinic he’s giving in simile writing.

At baby bedtime, I’ve been reading...[read on]

About Dog Days, from the publisher:

In Elsa Watson's Dog Days, struggling café owner Jessica Sheldon volunteered to be the chairperson of Woofinstock, Madrona’s annual dog festival, to overcome her reputation as “number one dog hater” in her dog crazy Northwestern town. Determined to prove her dog-loving credentials, Jessica rescues Zoe, a stray white German shepherd— and in the process the two are struck by lightning.

Jessica wakes to discover paws where her feet should be, and watches in horror as her body staggers around the town square…. Zoe and Jessica have switched bodies. Learning to live as a dog is difficult enough, but Jessica’s real worry is saving her café from financial ruin. To complicate matters, she’s falling hard for Max, the town veterinarian.

It’s clear that Zoe is thrilled to live life on “human terms,” thoroughly relishing all of the fun and food Woofinstock has to offer. But Zoe is also anxious to use her new human skills to find her missing family—who may not want her back. And Jessica needs to confront a complicated figure from her past before she can move on with her life.

Jessica and Zoe will need to learn from each other to set things right, and possibly find acceptance and love in the bargain.

Learn more about the book and author at Elsa Watson's website.

Writers Read: Elsa Watson.

--Marshal Zeringue