Coffee with a canine: Marion Winik & Beau

This weekend's featured duo at Coffee with a Canine: Marion Winik and Beau.

The author, on why her new book is dedicated to Beau:

Highs in the Low Fifties is about my adventures -- misadventures, really -- trying to find new love after the demise of my second marriage, and it's one train wreck after another. Beau plays a key role in the story as the loving constant in my life. Kids can be bratty and friends can be busy but Beau is always there for me, ready to bound up the stairs and burrow under the covers to snuggle. His sweet doggy smell and long velvet ears are natural Xanax. I truly believe a close relationship with a dog is one of the keys to being happy as a single person, and this becomes ever more clear over the course of the story.

It may seem strange to dedicate a book to a dog...[read on]

About Winik's new book, Highs in the Low Fifties:

A cross between Nora Ephron and David Sedaris, longtime NPR commentator Marion Winik has a way of looking at life that's both relatable and remarkable. Following her beloved memoir First Comes Love and the award-winning The Lunch-Box Chronicles, her chronicle of being single in middle age will leave readers shocked, awed, and laughing out loud.

Brimming with humor, Highs in the Low Fifties follows Winik's attempt to rebuild her world as a once-widowed, once-divorced single mom. With her signature optimism, resilience, and poor judgment, Winik dives into a series of romantic experiences. Some are pathetic, some are sweet, and some are simply incredible. She gets propositioned (for money) by a sexy Salvadoran doing construction work on her basement, meets an emotionally unavailable dreamboat on Craigslist, and makes out with a former student. The adventure culminates not with a honeymoon but with a two-week stay in Johns Hopkins Hospital. But even her treatment for hepatitis C is kind of a funny story.

Winik's brand of single living is never lonely, never dull, and always a satisfying read. Her candor about her own mistakes and ability to find humor in the darkest moments has won her thousands of followers – and maybe a few voyeurs.

Visit Marion Winik's website and read more about Highs in the Low Fifties.

Check out--Coffee with a Canine: Marion Winik & Beau (December 2009).

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Marion Winik and Beau.

--Marshal Zeringue