Dune / Frank Herbert / 412 p.

This sci-fi epic novel includes treachery and politics, love and loss, novel inventions and familiar motivations.  Having seen the 1984 movie several times, I found this novel comfortingly familiar.  The harsh desert planet of Aracus is all-encompassing, ever-present, and water always in the thoughts of its people.  The members of the House of Atreides seem to be the only honorable people in the entire universe created in Herbert's novel.  The Harkenons are a scheming people only after power and willing to do anything to get it.  The emperor plots to have any dissenters killed.  Meanwhile Duke Leto, Lady Jessica, and their son Paul have loving relationships and the respect of their people.  Unfortunately the schemes of the larger court are determined to unseat them from the newly acquired fief of Aracus.  Has Jessica's teachings prepared her son for the challenges that await him?  Will they be able to hold this fief and give its people the paradise so long prayed for? 




Dune is the first in the Dune Chronicles series.  The next book in the series is Dune Messiah.

Desert Dog/ Jim Kjelgaard/ 129 pages

Desert Dog was written by Jim Kjelgaard in 1975.  The setting for the story is a desert somewhere in the western United States.  Tawny is a racing greyhound who finds himself free in the desert.  He learns to cope with the harsh conditions, finding water, hunting food and avoiding predators.  Unlike many dog stories, this one has a happy ending for all.