2008 books

16) Jack London, The Call of the Wild, 1903
A domesticated St. Bernard/Collie crossbreed, Buck, is snatched from 19th century California and taken to work on the sleds in the freezing Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rushes. This is less of a juvenile novel than it's usually taken for, and there are some harsh and violent scenes between dog and man that harden Buck's character to the extent that he can become accepted as the unlikely leader of a wild pack of wolves. Full of incident and atmosphere, London's anthropomorphism is so convincing it's easy to see why this is his most popular novel.