Also of interest...in thoughtful paeans to our pets

The Big New Yorker Book of Dogs

(Random House, $45)

The New Yorker’s 400-page compilation of dog-related journalism, fiction, and cartoons “largely avoids the sentimentality that infects a typical dog book,”said Christopher Borrelli in ChicagoTribune.com. James Thurber’s classic “Snapshot of a Dog” and Susan Orlean’s “Show Dog” are true delights. Adam Gopnik’s recent appraisal of canines, on the other hand, is insightful but reads “like the memoir of a man so snobbishly removed from everyday affection he could be a cat.”

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Buddy

by Brian McGrory (Crown, $24)

The pivotal moment in Brian McGrory’s “skillfully jokey” memoir occurs when he realizes he’s no longer the only man of the house, said Janet Maslin in The New York Times. The other is Buddy, who grew from a fuzzy chick into the “monstrously loud, very male rooster” that is laying waste to the Boston Globe columnist’s suburban home. One suspects that the bird isn’t quite the demon he’s made out to be, but his misadventures allow McGrory to show off a “sure hand for storytelling.”

What’s a Dog For?

by John Homans (Penguin, $26)

This “thought-provoking” book asks and answers questions that you’ve probably never considered about the lives of dogs, said Timothy Braun in HuffingtonPost.com. Basing his observations on research in genetics, cognitive science, and anthropology, magazine editor John Homans explores nearly every facet of human-canine relations. And he “saves his best analysis for last”—a poignant meditation on how our short-lived companions serve as a reminder of our own mortality.

Another Insane Devotion

by Peter Trachtenberg (Da Capo, $24)

“Even for those of us who love and live with them, cats remain inscrutable,” said Colette Bancroft in the St. Petersburg, Fla., Times. That was certainly true for journalist Peter Trachtenberg when, during a rocky patch in his marriage, his orange tabby absconded. This “might seem like a slim premise” for a book, but Trachtenberg makes you care about his frantic search for Biscuit, a quest he undertakes while sharing musings on cats from Homer, Proust, and the Gnostic gospels.