Ronnie Blair's 3 favorite reads in 2023

• 2023
• 2024

Rin Tin Tin was one of the many TV animal heroes who entertained me growing up. What I didn’t know at the time was that the Rin Tin Tin rushing to the rescue on my black-and-white screen was just the latest in a line of Rin Tin Tins, and the original dog had been an even bigger star in 1920s silent movies.

Susan Orlean delves into that first dog’s history. An American soldier rescued him as a pup on a World War I battlefield in France, brought him to the United States, and trained him into international stardom.

The nostalgia factor drew me in, but Orlean makes this more than just Rin Tin Tin’s story. The book touches on such subjects as World War I, pet ownership in America, and other early dog stars, such as the now largely forgotten Strongheart, a German shepherd whose silent-movie popularity rivaled Rin Tin Tin.

I first learned about World War II news correspondent Ernie Pyle when I was a boy in the 1960s. An elementary school reading book included an article about him and did not gloss over the fact he died at the hands of a Japanese machine gunner on April 17, 1945.

His story stuck with me, perhaps because my father fought in World War II, just like the soldiers Pyle wrote about.

Pyle mostly covered the European theater, becoming beloved by Americans as he reported on the lives of average soldiers. But in early 1945, he moved to the Pacific. In the Last Chapter, published a year after his death, Pyle writes about and celebrates the marines, sailors, and pilots he encountered in the Pacific, noting their names and hometowns as if writing a personal letter to their families back home. But for the reader, there is a sense of poignancy, knowing Pyle also is unwittingly detailing the last months of his life. 

Few things sound more morbid than writing your own obituary – unless James R. Hagerty is leading you through the exercise.

Hagerty, the obituary writer for the Wall Street Journal, isn’t afraid to inject humor into a serious and, for some, unpleasant subject. As a former journalist myself, I can tell you that family members aren’t always equipped to supply the best obituary material, especially when they are in mourning.

So, Hagerty suggests writing the obituary yourself right now, telling the stories only you can tell. The best obituaries aren’t just a list of jobs held, places lived, and survivors left behind. Hagerty urges everyone to add personality to this final summation of your life so that those reading it are captivated by your sense of humor, your resilience in the face of hardship, or anecdotes from episodes in your life.