The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwoodby Sy Montgomery
There are readers, and then there are bookhounds: the folks who will pick up any title that looks interesting from the most jumbled of rummage-sale boxes and the most tucked-away library shelves. I have a cousin like that, and it was her recommendation that put me on to the memoir The Good Good Pig nearly two decades after it was published in 2006. “You have to, have to read this,” she told me—not because the author lived in rural New Hampshire (like me) or because it came stamped as an international bestseller (which it was), but because it was as soulful a portrait of an animal as you will ever find. Taken in as a piglet by the naturalist Sy Montgomery, Christopher Hogwood repays the care of the humans around him with the gift of seeing the world in new and deeper ways. It’s a gift that readers receive, too, and will want to share, saying, “You have to, have to read this.” —Jenn Johnson, Yankee senior managing editor
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 Pigcelebrates 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 inUSA Todayand 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 Pigprovides proof that with love, almost anything is possible.
The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwoodby Sy Montgomery
There are readers, and then there are bookhounds: the folks who will pick up any title that looks interesting from the most jumbled of rummage-sale boxes and the most tucked-away library shelves. I have a cousin like that, and it was her recommendation that put me on to the memoir The Good Good Pig nearly two decades after it was published in 2006. “You have to, have to read this,” she told me—not because the author lived in rural New Hampshire (like me) or because it came stamped as an international bestseller (which it was), but because it was as soulful a portrait of an animal as you will ever find. Taken in as a piglet by the naturalist Sy Montgomery, Christopher Hogwood repays the care of the humans around him with the gift of seeing the world in new and deeper ways. It’s a gift that readers receive, too, and will want to share, saying, “You have to, have to read this.” —Jenn Johnson, Yankee senior managing editor
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 Pigcelebrates 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 inUSA Todayand 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 Pigprovides proof that with love, almost anything is possible.
