Recently, I trotted out all my best dog puns for a column about how Marley & Me - that best-selling memoir about man and mutt - is breeding too many offspring.

I made no bones about it: Dog books have to go.

But apparently, my bark was louder than my bite, because publishers continue to ship new dog memoirs my way. Since the column ran, I've received advance copies or e-mails about even more new books just out or headed our way, including:

• My Life With George: What I Learned About Joy From One Neurotic (and Very Expensive) Dog, by Judith Summers

• Dogs I Have Met and the People They Found, by Ken Foster

• Rescuing Sprite: A Dog Lover's Story of Joy and Anguish, by Mark Levin

• The Dangerous Book for Dogs: A Parody, by Rex & Sparky (but, since dogs can't write, last time I checked, this spoof of the Dangerous Book for Boys is written "with the assistance of Joe Garden, Janet Ginsburg, Chris Puals, Anita serwacki and Scott Sherman").

• Rex and the City: A Memoir of a Woman, a Man and a Dysfunctional Dog (a new paperback of a book that was originally published in 2006)

• Shep: Loyalty Beyond All Bounds, by Kevin Davis

Some might say I should just quit writing about all these titles and their dog-loving authors, and they'll go away with their tales between their legs. But I can assure you that won't stop editors from getting their paws on these stories.

Besides, I can't resist. it's just too doggone much fun.

Still, I think it goes without saying that in trying to get me to review these books, publishers are probably barking up the wrong tree.

One more 'One Book'

The Denver Office of Cultural Affairs has notified me that it will announce its new title for the One Book, One Denver program Sept. 18. It's always fun to try to guess what title they will come up with. My prediction: Look for a book by a local author. If they don't appease the Colorado writing community this time around - having chosen three from writers in other states - they just might have to rename the program. I'm thinking something like, One Book, One Angry Mob.

Paperback picks

It's the dog days of summer (there I go again with the dog fixation), which means there's just enough time left to sneak in one last hammock-worthy page-turner. I highly recommend Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan. Hogan's story about a criminal who falls for one of his victims offers great suspense with writing so nuanced you don't have to put your brain on ice while reading it. I called it my "favorite surprise of the year" in 2004, when it came out in hardback.

It's just out in paperback from Scribner, $14. At that price, you can consider Thieves a steal.

'Love' in the time of cappuccino

Starbucks helped make a best-seller out of Ishmael Beah's memoir A Long Way Gone, the story of Beah's horrifying experience as a child soldier in Sierra Leone. The company's next coffee klatch will keep readers here at home with a book that celebrates the remarkable stories of everyday Americans.

Listening Is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Lives From the Story Corps Project, Starbucks' new pick for its book program, compiles true stories culled from a popular National Public Radio feature that airs interviews recorded in New York and in mobile booths around the country. Subjects are chosen from Indian reservations, Army posts and all points in between, sharing tales of joy and sorrow, courage and despair, that illustrate the breadth of American life.

The book, edited by David Isay, will be sold with an audio CD - but not until November, just in time for the holiday season, says a news release.