Decoding Woof

If your dog could talk, what would it say about you? Would it dime you out for that illegal cable hook-up? Tell you to stop whining about your ex-girlfriend already? Order pizza when you asked it to? The canine brain has become more than an obsession for dog-owning writers, it's a whole genre now. From comic strips to best-selling novels, you'll find human scribners trying to access that great unknown, and the most creative are the ones who attempt to embody the voices of the pooches themselves.

One of the more recent stand-out, first-pup narratives is Denny Fried's Small Dog, Big Life, a memoir from the perspective of the author's seven-pound papillon, Genevieve. Not your average hound, Genevieve dishes on the whole scope of human-dog history with a wit that would make W.C. Fields sit and beg for more. Come by Books and Books this Tuesday for a free reading from Genevieve's perspective.
Tue., May 26, 8 p.m., 2009