Mikita Brottman

Previously published as The Great Grisby You cannot help but fall in love with Grisby Jeffrey Masson In this charming bestiary of exceptional dogs, Mikita Brottman reflects on the role dogs play in our world, explored through her relationship with her dog Grisby and the dogs of great writers and artists from literature, lore, and life. While gradually unveiling her eight-year love affair with her French bulldog, Grisby, Mikita Brottman ruminates on the singular bond between dogs and humans. Why do prevailing attitudes warn us against loving our pet too much? Is her relationship with Grisby nourishing or dysfunctional, commonplace or unique? Challenging the assumption that theres something repressed and neurotic about those deeply connected to a dog, she turns her keen eye on the many ways in which dog is the mirror of man. The Great Grisby is organized into twenty-six alphabetically arranged chapters, each devoted to a particular human-canine union drawn from history, art, philosophy, or literature. Here is Picassos dachshund Lump; Freuds chow Yofi; Bill Sikess mutt Bulls Eye in Oliver Twist; and Elizabeth Barrett Brownings spaniel Flush, whose biography was penned by Virginia Woolf. There are royal dogs, like Prince Alberts greyhound Eos, and dogs cherished by authors, like Thomas Hardys fox terrier, Wessex. Brottmans own beloved Grisby serves as an envoy for sniffing out these remarkable companions. Quirky and delightful, and peppered with incisive personal reflections and back-and-white sketches portraying a different dog and its owner, The Great Grisby reveals how much dogs have to teach us about empathy, happiness, loveand what it means to be human.

From critically acclaimed author Mikita Brottman, a true psychological thriller as intricately organized as a Hitchcock movie (Madison Smartt Bell, author All Souls Rising) about sex, religion, and murder in the deep South.Mike and Denise Williams had a tight knit, seemingly unbreakable bond with childhood friends, Brian and Kathy Winchester. The two couples were devout, hardworking Baptists who lived perfect, quintessentially Southern lives. Their friendship seemed ironclad. That is, until December 16, 2000, when Denises husband Mike disappeared while hunting on Lake Seminole.After no body was found, everyone assumed that Mike had drowned in a tragic accident, his body eaten by alligators. But things took an unexpected turn when, within five years of Mikes disappearance, Brian Winchester divorced his wife and married Denise. Their surprising romance set tongues talking. People began wondering how long they had been a couple, and whether they had anything to do with Mikes death. It took another twelve years for the truth to come outand when it did, it was unimaginable.Now, the full, richly atmospheric, deeply researched, and terrifying true crime (Betsy Bonner, author of Round Lake) tale is revealed as never before. Through tenacious research and clear-eyed prose, Guilty Creatures probes the psychology of a couple who killed and explores how it feels to live for eighteen years with murder on the soul.

Mikita Brottman wonders, just why is reading so great? Its a solitary practice, one that takes away from time that could be spent developing important social networking skills. Readings not required for health, happiness, or a loving family. And, if reading is so important, why are catchy slogans like "Reading Changes Lives" and "Champions Read" needed to hammer the point home? Fearlessly tackling the notion that nonreaders are doomed to lives of despair and mental decay, Brottman makes the case that the value of reading lies not in its ability to ward off Alzheimers or that its a pleasant hobby. Rather, she argues that like that other wellknown, solitary vice, masturbation, reading is ultimately not an act of pleasure but a tool for selfexploration, one that allows people to see the world through the eyes of others and lets them travel deep into the darkness of the human condition.

Contra la lectura es un texto apasionado y liberador a favor de los que, a pesar de todo, leen. Y contra los pedantes que dicen que aman los libros, pero en realidad solo consiguen que el mundo aborrezca la lectura. Te dijeron que no podias subrayar ni d