New York Times readers know a couple of things about Montclair-based Dana Jennings, assistant editor of the Arts & Leisure section: One, that he once wrote regular blog posts for the paper about his recent trials with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, and two, that he is enormously popular.
In March 2009, when Jennings wrote about how his family’s creaky miniature poodle, Bijou, comforted him through his at-home recovery, the post on the “Well” blog generated 700 reader comments. Now Jennings, already the author of three novels, a memoir, and a children’s title, has written a slim book that celebrates Bijou: What a Difference a Dog Makes: Big Lessons on Life, Love, and Healing from a Small Pooch (Doubleday). It arrives on shelves this month.
For dog lovers, there may be no better stocking stuffer.
“As I struggled with post-cancer depression,” Jennings writes, “Bijou’s presence never failed to slice through the fog that weighed me down. Sure, therapy, Zoloft, and Wellbutrin helped me recover, let me be myself again, but regular doses of Bijou’s sheer dogginess also helped me become whole again.”