Gardening Sale!
 
 

Special Offers see all

Enter to WIN!

Weekly drawing for $100 credit. Subscribe to our Specials newsletter for a chance to win.
Privacy Policy

More at Powell's

Recently Viewed clear list

Original Essays | April 29, 2013

Edward Lee: IMG How to Clarify Butter: A Writer's Tale

2 comments By Edward Lee

Chefs don't have time to write. While I was working on Smoke and Pickles, I was running a restaurant — a daily regimen of testing recipes,... Continue »
  1. $20.97 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

    Smoke and Pickles: Recipes and Stories from a New Southern Kitchen

    Edward Lee 9781579654924
spacer
Ships free on qualified orders.
$6.95
Used Hardcover
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
Qty Store Section
1 Burnside Pets- Pet Tales

More copies of this ISBN

The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood

by

The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood Cover

ISBN13: 9780345481375
ISBN10: 0345481372
Condition: Standard
Dustjacket: Standard
All Product Details

Only 1 left in stock at $6.95!

 

Review-A-Day

"If you're comfortably carnivorous and want to remain so, don't pick up this book. Otherwise, I'd advise you to hasten to add it to your summer reading list. It's the lovely true tale of the enormous, amiable porcine personality who lived with (and delighted) naturalist and author Sy Montgomery and her husband (the writer Howard Mansfield) for 14 years." Marjorie Kehe, The Christian Science Monitor (read the entire CSM review)

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

"Christopher Hogwood came home on my lap in a shoebox. He was a creature who would prove in many ways to be more human than I am." — from The Good Good Pig

A naturalist who spent months at a time living on her own among wild creatures in remote jungles, Sy Montgomery had always felt more comfortable with animals than with people. So she gladly opened her heart to a sick piglet who had been crowded away from nourishing meals by his stronger siblings. Yet Sy had no inkling that this piglet, later named Christopher Hogwood, would not only survive but flourish — and she soon found herself engaged with her small-town community in ways she had never dreamed possible. Unexpectedly, Christopher provided this peripatetic traveler with something she had sought all her life: an anchor (eventually weighing 750 pounds) to family and home.

The Good Good Pig celebrates Christopher Hogwood in all his glory, from his inauspicious infancy to hog heaven in rural New Hampshire, where his boundless zest for life and his large, loving heart made him absolute monarch over a (mostly) peaceable kingdom. At first, his domain included only Sy's cosseted hens and her beautiful border collie, Tess. Then the neighbors began fetching Christopher home from his unauthorized jaunts, the little girls next door started giving him warm, soapy baths, and the villagers brought him delicious leftovers. His intelligence and fame increased along with his girth. He was featured in USA Today and on several National Public Radio environmental programs. On election day, some voters even wrote in Christopher's name on their ballots.

But as this enchanting book describes, Christopher Hogwood's influence extended far beyond celebrity; for he was, as a friend said, a great big Buddha master. Sy reveals what she and others learned from this generous soul who just so happened to be a pig — lessons about self-acceptance, the meaning of family, the value of community, and the pleasures of the sweet green Earth. The Good Good Pig provides proof that with love, almost anything is possible.

Review:

"Montgomery's books on exotic wildlife (Journey of the Pink Dolphins, etc.) take her to the far corners of the world, but the story of her closest relationships with the animal kingdom plays out in her own New England backyard. When she adopts a sickly runt from a litter of pigs, naming him Christopher Hogwood after the symphony conductor, raising him for slaughter isn't an option: Montgomery's a vegetarian and her husband is Jewish. Refitting their barn to accommodate a (mostly) secure sty, they keep Christopher as a pet. As he swells to 750 pounds, he becomes a local celebrity, getting loose frequently enough that the local police officer knows to carry spare apples to lure him back home. The pig also bonds with Montgomery's neighbors, especially two children who come over to help feed him and rub his tummy. Montgomery's love for Christopher (and later for Tess, an adopted border collie) dominates the memoir's emotional space, but she's also demonstrably grateful for the friendships the pig sparks within her community. The humor with which she recounts Christopher's meticulous eating habits and love of digging up turf is sure to charm readers. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"This is a book not so much about a barnyard animal as about relationships, in all their messy, joyous, and heartbreaking complexity." John Grogan, author of Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog

Review:

"I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up Sy Montgomery's story of Christopher the pig. What I found was a charming, touching, funny, and ultimately very powerful tale of an extraordinary, even complicated pig and his impact on some very loving, perceptive, and extraordinary people. This story is heartwarming but packs a wallop." Jon Katz, author of Katz on Dogs

Review:

"I love this book! It takes us into the world of one pig with such delicacy, such gentleness and yet such depth, that you will never be able to look a pig in the eye again without recognizing the unique person living within. You become somebody who sees why Sy Montgomery loved a pig beyond all measure." Jeffrey Masson, Ph.D., author of When Elephants Weep

Review:

"Move over, Wilbur, there's a new pig on the block. Sy Montgomery has conjured a pure classic for the animal lover's soul. Poetic, insightful, funny, and deeply moving, The Good Good Pig is as hard to define as it is to put down. Who else but Sy Montgomery could introduce you to a hog and give you a such glimpse of heaven?" Vicki Croke, author of The Lady and the Panda

Review:

"Montgomery's descriptions of Christopher's amazing adventures and celebrity status are hilarious, enchanting, and deeply affecting....Montgomery writes with extraordinary lucidity, candor, and grace..." Booklist (Starred Review)

Review:

"While death haunts this book from start to finish, Montgomery learns a good deal from Hogwood about celebrating the evanescent pleasures of living. May well spark a stampede in porcine acquisitions, not as consumables, but as companions." Kirkus Reviews

Review:

"All this is great fun to read, but when Montgomery talks about the 'deep' life lessons she and her friends learned from Christopher...the book treads dangerously close to becoming sentimental hogwash, a porcine Tuesdays with Morrie or Marley & Me." Library Journal
back to top

About the Author

Sy Montgomery is a naturalist, author, documentary scriptwriter, and radio commentator who writes for children as well as adults. Among her award-winning books are Journey of the Pink Dolphins, Spell of the Tiger, and Search for the Golden Moon Bear. She has made four trips to Peru and Brazil to study the pink dolphins of the Amazon; and on other expeditions, she was chased by an angry silverback gorilla in Zaire; bitten by a vampire bat in Costa Rica; undressed by an orangutan in Borneo; and hunted by a tiger in India. She also worked in a pit crawling with eighteen thousand snakes in Manitoba; handled a wild tarantula in French Guiana; and swam with piranhas, electric eels, and dolphins in the Amazon. She lives in New Hampshire.
back to top

What Our Readers Are Saying

Add a comment for a chance to win!
Average customer rating based on 6 comments:
Jeane, February 10, 2008 (view all comments by Jeane)
Christopher Hogwood was the smallest of the runts. But he was so endearingly cute and plucky that his owners couldn't bring themselves to kill him. So Sy Montgomery and her husband Howard adopted the little pink-and-black pig and took him home. Unlike most pigs who are raised for slaughter, Christopher Hogwood was granted life just for the sake of living. Montgomery did everything she could to keep him healthy and happy. A lifelong naturalist with a deep love and connection to animals, she found herself enjoying his company and tending to his every need and sensitivity. The pig returned the favor. In ways simple and surprising, he brought neighbors, local children and people from the community at large into her circle of friends. If you want to know anything about pigs, or how they can be so appealing, this is a great book. It is full of lore about pigs in art, hogs in history, wild swine in nature. Pigs and their place in different cultures around the world. Montgomery explores possibilities about why pork is forbidden to Jews and Muslims, yet other cultures seem to venerate the pig. Examples of their intelligence are abundant. As well as pigs, a flock of hens with lots of spunk and good sense and a troubled border collie named Tess live between these pages. Together they and Christopher Hogwood make Sy Montgomery's home a little bit of animal heaven on earth.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(3 of 10 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment
mary.hannah, January 22, 2008 (view all comments by mary.hannah)
I heard an interview today with Sy, the owner of the pig and she loved her pig so much she started crying about missing him. I was at work and she got me crying too!!!
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(1 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment
rlminnis, February 5, 2007 (view all comments by rlminnis)
This book is a wonderful, heart warming and tearful story about a farm pig and his human parents. The book made me laugh and made me cry! I loved it. Sy has done a terrific job in relaying her feelings for an animal many people do not think of as a pet. Pigs are intelligent, sensitive, loyal and very funny. This book makes you fall in love with Christopher, much like this little community did. Thank you Sy for sharing Christopher's life and entertaining us all with your story.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(8 of 18 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment
View all 6 comments
back to top

Product Details

ISBN:
9780345481375
Subtitle:
The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood
Author:
Montgomery, Sy
Publisher:
Ballantine Books
Subject:
Women
Subject:
Human-animal relationships
Subject:
Pet owners
Subject:
Personal Memoirs
Copyright:
2006
Publication Date:
May 2006
Binding:
Hardback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
8-PAGE 4C INSERT
Pages:
240
Dimensions:
8.50x5.80x.91 in. .82 lbs.
back to top

Other books you might like

  1. A Dog Year Used Trade Paper $4.50
  2. The Dogs of Bedlam Farm: An... Used Trade Paper $2.95
  3. That Quail Robert Used Mass Market $1.95
  4. Original Dog Bible Used Trade Paper $12.50
  5. My Cat Spit McGee New Trade Paper $12.95
  6. Chosen by a Horse: A Memoir
    Used Book Club Hardcover $3.50
back to top

Related Subjects

Biography » General
Pets » Pet Tales
Science and Mathematics » Nature Studies » Natural History » General

The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood Used Hardcover
0 stars - 0 reviews
$6.95 In Stock
Product details 240 pages Ballantine Books - English 9780345481375 Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "Montgomery's books on exotic wildlife (Journey of the Pink Dolphins, etc.) take her to the far corners of the world, but the story of her closest relationships with the animal kingdom plays out in her own New England backyard. When she adopts a sickly runt from a litter of pigs, naming him Christopher Hogwood after the symphony conductor, raising him for slaughter isn't an option: Montgomery's a vegetarian and her husband is Jewish. Refitting their barn to accommodate a (mostly) secure sty, they keep Christopher as a pet. As he swells to 750 pounds, he becomes a local celebrity, getting loose frequently enough that the local police officer knows to carry spare apples to lure him back home. The pig also bonds with Montgomery's neighbors, especially two children who come over to help feed him and rub his tummy. Montgomery's love for Christopher (and later for Tess, an adopted border collie) dominates the memoir's emotional space, but she's also demonstrably grateful for the friendships the pig sparks within her community. The humor with which she recounts Christopher's meticulous eating habits and love of digging up turf is sure to charm readers. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Review A Day" by , "If you're comfortably carnivorous and want to remain so, don't pick up this book. Otherwise, I'd advise you to hasten to add it to your summer reading list. It's the lovely true tale of the enormous, amiable porcine personality who lived with (and delighted) naturalist and author Sy Montgomery and her husband (the writer Howard Mansfield) for 14 years." (read the entire CSM review)
"Review" by , "This is a book not so much about a barnyard animal as about relationships, in all their messy, joyous, and heartbreaking complexity."
"Review" by , "I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up Sy Montgomery's story of Christopher the pig. What I found was a charming, touching, funny, and ultimately very powerful tale of an extraordinary, even complicated pig and his impact on some very loving, perceptive, and extraordinary people. This story is heartwarming but packs a wallop."
"Review" by , "I love this book! It takes us into the world of one pig with such delicacy, such gentleness and yet such depth, that you will never be able to look a pig in the eye again without recognizing the unique person living within. You become somebody who sees why Sy Montgomery loved a pig beyond all measure."
"Review" by , "Move over, Wilbur, there's a new pig on the block. Sy Montgomery has conjured a pure classic for the animal lover's soul. Poetic, insightful, funny, and deeply moving, The Good Good Pig is as hard to define as it is to put down. Who else but Sy Montgomery could introduce you to a hog and give you a such glimpse of heaven?"
"Review" by , "Montgomery's descriptions of Christopher's amazing adventures and celebrity status are hilarious, enchanting, and deeply affecting....Montgomery writes with extraordinary lucidity, candor, and grace..."
"Review" by , "While death haunts this book from start to finish, Montgomery learns a good deal from Hogwood about celebrating the evanescent pleasures of living. May well spark a stampede in porcine acquisitions, not as consumables, but as companions."
"Review" by , "All this is great fun to read, but when Montgomery talks about the 'deep' life lessons she and her friends learned from Christopher...the book treads dangerously close to becoming sentimental hogwash, a porcine Tuesdays with Morrie or Marley & Me."
spacer
spacer
  • back to top
Follow us on...




Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.