List $29.99

Written by Jon Katz - Unabridged Nonfiction - 6 COMPACT DISCS - 6.5 hours

Publisher, Recorded Books (September 2006)

In this gripping and deeply touching book, best-selling author Jon Katz tells the story of his lifetime dog, Orson: a beautiful border collie–intense, smart, crazy, and unforgettable.

From the moment Katz and Orson meet, when the dog springs from his traveling crate at Newark airport and panics the baggage claim area, their relationship is deep, stormy, and loving. At two years old, Katz’s new companion is a great herder of school buses, a scholar of refrigerators, but a dud at herding sheep. Everything Katz attempts—obedience training, herding instruction, a new name, acupuncture, herb and alternative therapies—helps a little but not enough, and not for long. “Like all border collies and many dogs,” Katz writes, “he needed work. I didn’t realize for some time I was the work Orson would find.” While Katz is trying to help his dog, Orson is helping him, shepherding him toward a new life on a 200-year-old hillside farm in upstate New York. There, aided by good neighbors and a tolerant wife, hip-deep in sheep, chickens, donkeys, and more dogs, the man and his canine companion explore meadows, woods, and even stars, wade through snow, bask by a roaring wood stove, and struggle to keep faith with each other. There, with deep love, each embraces his unfolding destiny.

About the Author: Jon Katz has written 14 books—six novels and eight works of nonfiction—including A Dog Year, The New Work of Dogs, The Dogs of Bedlam Farm, and Katz on Dogs. A two-time finalist for the National Magazine Award, he has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, and the AKC Gazette. A member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, he writes a column about dogs for the online magazine Slate and is co-host of “Dog Talk,” a monthly show on Northeast Public Radio. Katz lives on Bedlam Farm in upstate New York and in northern New Jersey with his dog and his wife, Paula Span, who is a Washington Post contributing writer and a teacher at Columbia University.

About the Narrator: Actor and narrator Tom Stechschulte hones his storytelling skills at home when he reads aloud to his four-year-old son. “Children don’t like being talked down to,” he explains, “I want to be as truthful with the piece as possible.” His natural, expressive style lends itself to the biographies, mysteries, suspense, drama, and children’s stories he has narrated for Recorded Books. Compelling performances of James Redfield’s The Celestine Prophecy, Pat Conroy’s The Water is Wide, and S.E. Hinton’s children’s tale, Rumble Fish showcase his command of various genres.

He didn’t plan to be an actor. On his way to starting a travel agency, he was offered a part in a college production of Oliver. “I got the bug,” he confesses. With credits now in 11 television shows and five films, his face has become familiar. He has appeared on regional and larger stages in numerous plays, including Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and a stage adaptation of Steinbeck’s East of Eden.

As a narrator, Stechschulte says, “Each book is a learning process.” He reads the book, then rereads sections just before the recording sessions. He savors dialogue and feels that bringing long descriptive passages to life is both challenging and rewarding. Developing the southern voices for the characters in T.R. Pearson’s Cry Me A River, for example, became one of his most memorable narrating experiences.

You’ll find that listening to Tom Stechschulte is always a wonderful experience. Look for his performances of humorous works like Soap! Soap! Don’t Forget the Soap!, gritty suspense like Under the Lake, and the lyrical National Book Award-winner Farewell, I’m Bound to Leave You.