Domesticated partners

Amy Sutherland, author of "What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love, and Marriage" and "Kicked, Bitten, and Scratched." (Jay york)

Everything Amy Sutherland needed to know about improving her marriage she learned at a school for animal trainers. That's the gist of what she wrote in a 2006 "Modern Love" column in The New York Times. It stirred debate - and became the most e-mailed Times article of the year.

The column landed her an appearance on "The Today Show," the sale of movie rights (with Naomi Watts expected to star), and a contract for the newly published "What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love, and Marriage: Lessons for People From Animals and Their Trainers" (Random House).

Sutherland, who divides her time between Boston and Portland, Maine, teaches feature writing at Boston University. Married for 14 years, she wrote the Times column to promote her book "Kicked, Bitten, and Scratched," for which she spent a year in California at the top school for trainers of exotic animals.

The "Least Reinforcing Scenario" - one of the most powerful techniques she learned - curbs annoying behavior by ignoring it. Her husband and she used to get into a fight every time he lost his keys. Now she pays no attention to his frustration and they get along better.

Nobody should feel sorry for her husband, Sutherland says, because he uses the techniques as well. He meets her whining with silence. "Obviously, since he's using [LRS] on me," she says, "he sees the advantage to it."

Attention seeking

More marital advice will be arriving next year in "Married to Distraction" (Ballantine) by Dr. Edward Hallowell, a pioneer in identifying attention deficit disorder in adults, and his wife, Sue Hallowell, a marriage counselor. Dr. Hallowell, a psychiatrist with a practice in Sudbury, is co-author of "Driven to Distraction." The upcoming book, sold by Boston literary agent Jill Kneerim, will suggest ways for couples to overcome distractions in their relationships.

Celtic pride

Samuel Wenger, a seller of Celtic books in Woodstock, N.Y., for 30 years, has moved his shop, Three Geese in Flight Books, to Somerville.

Wenger has a degree in Celtic folklore and has taught at the Irish Arts Center in Manhattan. His fascination with Celtic culture grew out of his interest in poetry (the name of his shop comes from a medieval Welsh poem), J.R.R. Tolkien, and Arthurian legend.

Wenger's used, out-of-print, and antiquarian shop specializes in the culture of Celtic Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany. Yet he also stocks books on medieval Europe and the Revolutionary War, among other subjects. Orders from all over the world come in to his website (threegeeseinflight.com), but what he relishes are the conversations with Celtic devotees and curious passersby who visit the shop, at 55 Elm St. in Porter Square.

Coming out

"Yours for Justice, Ida B. Wells: The Daring Life of a Crusading Journalist," by Philip Dray (Peachtree)

"Becoming Holyfield: A Fighter's Journey," by Evander Holyfield with Lee Gruenfeld (Atria)

"Lady Killer," by Lisa Scottoline (Harper)

Pick of the week

Susan Schlesinger of Brown University Bookstore, in Providence, R.I., recommends "Sharp Teeth" (Harper) by Toby Barlow: "It's a dog-eat-dog world in this spellbinding debut novel. There is a war going on that involves an ancient race of werewolves, crystal meth labs, and an elderly woman. Told in verse, this is an eccentric tale of power, love, and belonging in LA."

Jan Gardner can be reached at JanLGardner@yahoo.com.