Influential fiction

You may have noticed that I recently added news feed and a "Now Reading" list to my sidebar -->
And if you've noticed that, you may have noticed that one of the books I'm currently reading is The 101 Most Influential People who Never Lived.

This is one of those great books in which each fictional person is explained in a 2 - 3 page essay, making it the perfect book to pick up right before bed or in any free 5 minute span. The essays tend to be cutesy but also have interesting tidbits about the origin and/or influence of the character, legend, monster, etc being described. It's filled in some gaps for me about names that I've heard but knew little about - or knew the gist but not the history. All in all, a good enough read that I've been recommending it...

Sadly, the essay I just read about Buck from Jack London's The Call of the Wild, presented a sad turn in the book. Taking cute to an unfortunate low, the authors opted to write the essay as though it were a conversation with one of the authors' dog who not only read the book but could relate its story to the greater overarching sociological message.

And while I have occasionally been accused of anthropomorphizing my own dogs, I don't believe their take on literature is well-reasoned enough to pass on to my readers. Just a thought for authors Karlan, Lazar and Salter.