The most recommended books about human animal relationships

A boarding school, mysteries, magic, and animals – another classic in the making as far as I’m concerned!

It stars an autistic girl who is reluctantly sent off to boarding school – but the school and her experience that follows is far from what you’d expect. Alice’s autism is portrayed authentically, and we get to climb right inside her mind to share her worries and anxieties and in turn her actions.

Her autism is intrinsic to her character and that’s what makes this book so real. But, for me, the most marvelous aspect of this book is that an autistic character plays the lead in an exciting fantasy any child would be thrilled to read. 

This book is like taking a step inside a dream. For me, it had everything I could ever ask for from a novel—lyrical prose, gorgeous imagery, fun and lovable characters, a little bit of quirk, and a rare depth at the heart of it. Nature is a major element, taking place in Oklahoma, Oregon, Michigan, Mississippi, and Montana. The writing is so vivid it immerses you in the adventure, making it feel as though you’re walking beneath the pines, smelling the gulf coast air, or simply marveling in the beauty of the natural world alongside Wylan, the quirky and heroic protagonist. 

Tamora Pierce was one of the authors that initially introduced me to my lifelong love of young adult fantasy, and all her books are wonderful. I picked Wild Magic because the protagonist has some really enviable magical abilities that I loved reading about and watching her develop. (True confession: I also may or may not have had a pretty tragic crush on the love interest in this book in high school...) This one will always be a favorite!

Anthony has synthesized a vast literature on historical linguistics and archaeology to explain the origins of the first steppe nomads on the South Russian steppes in the fourth millennium B.C.

In my opinion, Anthony does an outstanding job of explaining the origins and distribution of the speakers of Indo-European languages whose migrations have defined the linguistic map from Ireland to India. Subsequent DNA analysis of the populations of Yamnaya steppe culture has confirmed his thesis based on linguistic evidence and archaeology.

I recommend this book as the fundamental work for any study of the early Indo-European-speaking nomads.

Oh, my goodness me, what a book! The title drew me in, and the first page had me gasping with laughter. The author took me straight back to my own 1970s English childhood. It was so funny I could hardly breathe in parts. It was so desperately sad that if I were a crier, I would have been sobbing.

It is honestly one of my favorite books ever. It is about a crazy, up-and-down, dysfunctional childhood that leads to a pretty exciting adulthood with lots of premature deaths thrown in along the way. The author has survived an awful lot of trauma, and the fact that she can still laugh and see the good in her family is reason enough to buy this book immediately. 

After this book received accolades from reviewers, I ordered it on a whim because I was intrigued by the description of a novel about an older woman who works as a night shift custodian at an aquarium, where she becomes friendly with one of its occupants, a clever octopus named Marcellus.

Both woman and octopus are keen observers, and they narrate their experiences and thoughts while reflecting on their pasts, presents, and futures. I will put this on the list for my book club.

Catalyst (and the sequel, Catacombs) are for anyone who cherishes cats. It’s obvious that McCaffrey and her frequent collaborator Scarborough know cats very well indeed. In this universe, a ship's cat has proven to be as essential a crew member as captain, navigator, or engineer. (I find this totally believable, as one of my cats has decided his job is to notify me when someone has left a package on my porch.) The cats in the story are evolving to be even more valuable to humans, especially when it comes to alien relations and saving a colony's livestock from destruction. Do yourself a favor and read Catacombs, too, to find out what happens when the Barque Cats meet a cat god.

A boisterous dog named King is the narrator of this charming mystery series. He and his owner Kayla solve various puzzles: a missing ring, stolen treats, or in this case, a lost dog separated from his family. The books have an appealingly dog-like perspective, focused on smells, sounds, and food, with little sense of human concepts like time (e.g., King remarks that “nine or three days go by”). The straightforward mysteries have just the right complexity and drama for beginning readers.  

Horses have been helping humans build civilization since the time of their domestication at least 6,000 years ago. This book analyzes the horse’s contribution to construction, transportation, military warfare, hunting, food, therapy, frontier expedition, and more. Interesting in its own right, it also taught me to look with new eyes at the modern cities and towns, the farmland and infrastructure, even the art and music, that humans created only with the cooperation of their horses. I enjoyed thinking about how both Western and Eastern societies have horses as their common cornerstone.

John Lilly, a Caltech and University of Pennsylvania trained doctor who also probed the murkiest waters of the psychedelic experience, was the inspiration for Dade Harkenrider in my book, Ann Marie’s Asylum. Lilly was a genius, who crossed over the edge more than once.