Dominic (MG)

Dominic. William Steig. 1972. FSG. 150 pages.

Dominic was a lively one, always up to something. One day, more restless than usual, he decided there wasn't enough going on in his own neighborhood to satisfy his need for adventure. He just had to get away. 
He owned an assortment of hats which he liked to wear, not for warmth or for shade or to shield him from rain, but for their various effects--rakish, dashing, solemn, or martial. He packed them, together with his precious piccolo and a few other things, in a large bandanna which he tied to the end of a stick so it could be carried easily over a shoulder.

Read this book. Trust me. It's worth it. It is such a delightful book. It's got adventure and charm. And it's full of quirky characters. And the writing, well, it's just SO enjoyable! So unique!

Dominic wanted more from life, so this dog sets out to have quite an adventure. He knows he made the right decision when he encounters an alligator-witch soon after leaving home. He does NOT want to have his fortune told to him, however. But he does choose to listen to her advice on taking the road to the left...

Who will he meet on the way? Who doesn't he meet?! This is quite a fun little story. A very quick read that just worked really well for me!

Read Dominic

• If you love delightful children's books; quirky books with plenty of heart
• If you love adventure stories
• If you love animal-fantasies
• If you love satisfying, feel-good stories
• If you usually hate dog stories because you're worried that the dog will die
• If you love books with happy endings

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

We

We. Yevgeny Zamyatin. Translated by Mirra Ginsburg. 1921/1972*. HarperCollins. 233 pages.

I shall simply copy, word for word, the proclamation that appeared today in the One State Gazette... 

We is a dystopian novel. I've been wanting to read it for almost as long as I've been blogging.

What did I think of We?

I found the novel interesting but not necessarily comprehensible. I struggled to make sense of this one. (I think I followed about a third of it.) I'm sure I missed much of what was going on simply because I was trying to make sense of this world, this society. Could the problem--for me--be this society's emphasis on math and logic?

The narrator of We is a state mathematician named D-503. (I did figure out that men have a consonant and an odd number; women have a vowel and an even number). Everything is calculated and precise and governed or regulated. Even intimate relationships. D-503 has two registered partners--O-90 and I330. O-90 desperately wants a child, a dream that isn't likely to come true. And I330 is a big, big tease who manipulates men in oh-so-many ways. Perhaps because D-503 cannot understand her at all, cannot predict anything about her, she fascinates him, enslaves him.

So one of D-503's projects is working on the spaceship, Integral. One State has plans to conquer the universe. Perhaps because of what he does, I-330 sees an opportunity to use him to get what she wants...

A human being is like a novel: until the last page you don't know how it will end. Or it wouldn't be worth reading... (162)

Read We

• If you are looking for a literary quality to your science fiction
• If you enjoy a challenge as you read; if you enjoy complexity
• If you are looking to read a science fiction classic
• If you are interested in Russian literature from this time period

*It was first translated into English (according to Wikipedia) in 1924, this translation by Mirra Ginsburg was done in 1972. 

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews