The dies caniculares, the sultry days lasting until mid-August, or early September - it differs a bit from tradition to tradition, depends on latitude, etc., were named for the rising of the dog star, Sirius in the constellation Canis Major, at sunrise. This is no longer true because of precession, but we call them the dog days and colloquially the term now just means the hottest days of summer.
About two weeks ago a library visitor asked for "dog books." It turned out that she meant true stories about particular dogs, rather than something from the "How to train your Rottweiler to do calculus" genre. (Though that could be useful.) We sent her home with a couple of staff favorites, Farley Mowat's The dog who wouldn't be and Jon Katz' A dog year : twelve months, four dogs, and me
As we had assembled a bit of a book list in the process of helping her, we decided to post it on a wiki so as to make it collaborative. You can add your own favorites to the list if you wish. You don't need to sign up or log in - just edit as anonymous. Most of the books we listed are available here in the library.
See also:
online - Excellent Roman calendar
in the library -
THE LIBRARY IS A DEPARTMENT OF THE CITY OF TAKOMA PARK
