Don't Miss: 'Woodrow on the Bench,' by Jenna Blum

I'm not sure there is any experience more poignant than caring for an elderly pet in its final months; I'm not sure there's any creature on Earth sweeter than an old dog. Jenna Blum captures the sorrow and joy, the sweetness and grief in "Woodrow on the Bench" (Harper, $22.99), her memoir of caring for her old black Lab during his final months. We first meet Woodrow when he's 15 — quite old for a big Lab — and ill with what the doctors say is heart disease. Blum, divorced and living in Boston, brings him out every day to sit on a park bench near her apartment. And an amazing community is born as neighbors, passers-by, regular park-walkers and other strangers stop by to pet the old guy and chat. Does it help to know going into it that Woodrow is going to die? It does, a little, but there is a reason why Blum's press kit includes a tiny package of tissues.