I Have Heard You Calling in the Night
Author: Thomas Healy
It seems now like a different me, the years I spent with Martin, a Doberman dog, and before he came, another me; and it is a new me now, once again, writing this. I would have been dead long ago had I continued to live the way I had before he came.
I think someone would have murdered me, given how I drank and the dives that I drank in and that I was an aggressive, angry man. I had no money and no friends. I didn’t care, I couldn’t have.
Thomas Healy was a drunk, a fighter, sometimes a writer, often unemployed, no stranger to the police. His life was going nowhere but downhill. Then one day he bought a pup—a Doberman. He called him Martin. Gradually man and dog became unshakable allies, the closest of comrades, the best of friends. They took long walks together, they vacationed together, they even went to church together.
Martin, in more ways than one, saved Thomas Healy’s life.
Written with unadulterated candor and profound love, this soulful memoir gets at the heart of the intense bond between people and dogs.
Publishers Weekly
Novelist Healy was a raging, brawling drunk until, on a whim, he adopted a Doberman pinscher puppy he named Martin. He nursed Martin through illness and wounds; Martin in turn stood guard over him while he lay passed out in fields. Their bond, and the slight but persistent duty of caring for Martin enabled Healy to very fitfully begin to recover from his alcoholism and propensity to violence and gently nudged him toward an understanding of himself and God. Healy embeds the story in a memoir of his life in the slums of Glasgow, his relationship with his parents, his conflicted attitude toward the church and his many loves, from a youthful encounter with a whore with a heart of gold to a mature affair with a boss who fired him after he makes clear that Martin is more important to him than she is. "It was not right that a man should need a dog as much as I had needed him," Healy acknowledges, but he makes no apologies that "for whatever reason, my best pal possessed four legs instead of two." In Healy's heartfelt prose, this eccentric friendship becomes the core of a moving meditation on the mysterious nature of redemption. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Part Angela's Ashes, part A Million Little Pieces, Healy's memoir of sin and redemption through dog companionship tells a story far larger than its 208 pages would indicate. As a young man, Scotsman Healy seems headed for prison or violent death owing to his drinking and brawling. But then he meets Martin, a Doberman Pinscher pup that he pays 50 pounds for on a whim. What Healy receives in return from this extraordinary dog is invaluable. Not only does Martin help Healy regain some dignity and regard for his own life, but he also helps guide him through a series of adventures and romances. Even in death Martin helps Healy grow to be a better person. Healy sometimes brags about the women he beds, but mercifully his tale is free of explicit sex or violence. And while his is not a humorous book, it offers some amusing moments. More important, Healy's memoir manages to do what all the best books do: leave you wanting more. Recommended for all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/06.]-Alicia Graybill, Southeast Lib. Syst., Lincoln, NB Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Glasgow-based novelist Healy makes his U.S. debut with an ode to his dog, "a gift from God, to keep me in the world."The author spent his early adult years roaming around Scotland, drinking, brawling, writing short stories, drinking, generally batching it, and, oh yes, drinking. Then, on a lark, he adopted a Doberman named Martin. This slender volume, marked by blunt, unadorned prose, is a paean to the dog whose devotion and dependence transformed his life. Healy got serious about earning money, so that he could pay Martin's veterinarian bills, and he gradually ditched the bottle. Though he wouldn't get sober until after Martin's death, Healy credits the dog with starting him on the path to sobriety: "I wanted to keep him and I could not have kept him had I continued to drink the way I had." The author and his elderly mother bonded over Martin. He began attending mass as a result of their more comfortable relationship and, over the years, gained strength from his Catholic faith. (The book takes its title from a Christian psalm.) Healy even embarked on a ten-day silent retreat at a monastery. The silence proved challenging only when he ran across a monk who used to tend bar at one of his hangouts. Dog-lovers who found Marley & Me too saccharine will welcome this darker-hued appreciation of a canine friend.
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Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005
Author: United States Government Printing Offic
Provides authoritative advice about how good dietary habits can promote health and reduce risk for major chronic diseases. Gives action steps to reach achievable goals in weight control, stronger muscle and bones, and balanced nutrition to help prevent chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and some cancers.
Table of Contents:
Contents
MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARIES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
CHAPTER 1 Background and Purpose of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans
CHAPTER 2 Adequate Nutrients Within Calorie Needs
CHAPTER 3 Weight Management
CHAPTER 4 Physical Activity
CHAPTER 5 Food Groups To Encourage
CHAPTER 6 Fats
CHAPTER 7 Carbohydrates
CHAPTER 8 Sodium and Potassium
CHAPTER 9 Alcoholic Beverages
CHAPTER 10 Food Safety
APPENDIX A Eating Patterns
APPENDIX A-1 DASH Eating Plan at 1,600-, 2,000-, 2,600-, and 3,100-Calorie Levels
APPENDIX A-2 USDA Food Guide
APPENDIX A-3 Discretionary Calorie Allowance in the USDA Food Guide
APPENDIX B Food Sources of Selected Nutrients
APPENDIX B-1 Food Sources of Potassium
APPENDIX B-2 Food Sources of Vitamin E
APPENDIX B-3 Food Sources of Iron
APPENDIX B-4 Non-Dairy Food Sources of Calcium
APPENDIX B-5 Food Sources of Calcium
APPENDIX B-6 Food Sources of Vitamin A
APPENDIX B-7 Food Sources of Magnesium
APPENDIX B-8 Food Sources of Dietary Fiber
APPENDIX B-9 Food Sources of Vitamin C
APPENDIX C Glossary of Terms APPENDIX D Acronyms
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