Marley and Me
Thursday, February 23, 2006
An Unlikely dog tale
ABCnews.com today ran a piece by the Reuters news service titled: "Unlikely dog tale tops bestseller list." The piece, by Jon Hurdle, begins:
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The tale of a rambunctious puppy is proving its staying power in the dog-eat-dog world of U.S. bestsellers.
With more than 1 million copies in print, "Marley and Me — Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog" has struck a chord with dog lovers who are laughing and crying over author John Grogan's account of his yellow Labrador retriever.
The story is more than a recounting of Marley's antics that include chewing through doors, expulsion from obedience school, clawing paint off concrete walls, devouring furniture, swallowing valuable jewelry and swooning over soiled diapers.
The excitable, good-natured lab also knows how to protect the family's tiny children and consoles the couple when they grieve over a miscarriage.
The nonfiction book has been on The New York Times bestseller list for 17 weeks. It seems likely to break the barrier of a million copies sold, a feat generally accomplished by no more than a dozen books each year in the U.S. hardcover non-fiction market.
The story goes on to state:
Grogan's publisher Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins, set an initial print run of 50,000 copies. But as sales took off, it has gone back to the press for 24 runs, with 1.17 million copies in print as of February 22.
Fox 2000 has bought the movie rights to the book and plans to put it on a fast-track production schedule, a Morrow spokesman said.
Bob Wietrak, vice president of merchandising for the Barnes & Noble chain of bookstores, said the book's success was due to its focus on broader human themes. "It's about the human condition, it's about relationships, it's about family."
To read the entire story, please go to:
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=1654962&entertainment=true
posted by John Grogan at 7:40 PM
 
4 Comments:
<< Home
Previous Posts
Powered by 
|
I just wanted to leave a comment and tell you just how much I appreciated your book. I grew up w/ dogs all my life and now that I'm moving I had to give my 2 half labrador retrievers away. Marley reminded me so much of my dogs that it made me laugh the entire way. Thanks for such an amazing book.
Wow! Your book made it to Drudge! I'd read it but I think it would make me too sad. I might have to try though.
My mother bought me this book for Christmas because, she said, she simply couldn't believe there was another Marley out there as bad as mine. :) About the only difference is my Marley is a black Lab!
Fantastic book! Congrats on the success!
Good for you!
This really demonstrates how much our animals mean to the human race. We love them and love to read about them.
Woof,
The Whippy Curly Tails in the Toasty South
=^..^=