The Good Good Pig by Sy Montgomery

If you read and enjoyed Marley and Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog by John Grogan and are looking for something in a similar vein, then the Good Good Pig may be the book for you. The Abingdon Lite at Night book group read this in May and everyone enjoyed it very much. Unlike Marley and Me that was about a family and their dog, as the title suggests, this book is about a pig. The pig in question is Christopher Hogwood, the runt of runts, who is not expected to live when Sy and her husband, Howard, adopt him. This delightful story follows the life of this wonderful pig who has a far reaching effect not just on his immediate family, but on their whole town. It is a loving and endearing memoir. The book group thought it was not quite so intimate a book as Marley and Me, but was very readable, touching and full of friends and community.
We were all totally awestruck by the author, whose own life has been one of great adventure. She has traveled to many places, including Africa, Southeast Asia, and the heart of the Amazon. She has won many awards for her animal research and literature, and her children's books, that include, Search for the Golden Moon Bear, Journey of the Pink Dolphins: An Amazon Quest, and The Man-Eating Tigers of Sundarbans are excellent non-fiction with great photography.

Read the following reviews from Publisher's Weekly and from John Grogan, author of Marley and Me.

"Montgomery's books on exotic wildlife (Journey of the Pink Dolphins, etc.) take her to the far corners of the world, but the story of her closest relationships with the animal kingdom plays out in her own New England backyard. When she adopts a sickly runt from a litter of pigs, naming him Christopher Hogwood after the symphony conductor, raising him for slaughter isn't an option: Montgomery's a vegetarian and her husband is Jewish. Refitting their barn to accommodate a (mostly) secure sty, they keep Christopher as a pet. As he swells to 750 pounds, he becomes a local celebrity, getting loose frequently enough that the local police officer knows to carry spare apples to lure him back home. The pig also bonds with Montgomery's neighbors, especially two children who come over to help feed him and rub his tummy. Montgomery's love for Christopher (and later for Tess, an adopted border collie) dominates the memoir's emotional space, but she's also demonstrably grateful for the friendships the pig sparks within her community. The humor with which she recounts Christopher's meticulous eating habits and love of digging up turf is sure to charm readers."—Publisher's Weekly

Advance Praise for THE GOOD GOOD PIG:
"This is a book not so much about a barnyard animal as about relationships, in all their messy, joyous and heartbreaking complexity. In loving yet unsentimental prose, Sy Montgomery captures the richness animals bring to the human experience. Sometimes it takes a too-smart-for-his-own-good pig to open our eyes to what most matters in life. The Good Good Pig is a good, good book, beautifully rendered and filled with wondrous surprises. I will never forget Christopher Hogwood."—John Grogan, author of Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog.

To read more about the life and work of Sy Montgomery and her husband, go to www.authorwire.com