Other – Carol's Notebook

First off, the obvious question - why did I read The Man in the High Castle. I don't WW2 books or, in general, sci-fi. A friend made me borrow it and he never suggests books, so I felt like I ought to read it. And then Michelle came up with her Sci-Fi Summer read-a-thon, so it was the prefect excuse. After all, according to the blurb, this is the book that established "Philip K. Dick as an innovator in science fiction." On a side note, I never realized alternative history is a sub-genre of sci-fi. I tend to think of it more as fantasy. Wikipedia says, "since the 1950s, this type of fiction has, to a large extent, merged with science fiction tropes involving time travel between alternate histories, psychic awareness of the existence of one universe by the people in another, or time travel that results in history splitting into two or more timelines. Cross-time, time-splitting, and alternate history themes...

I had to take Amber to the dentist one day last month and The Dentist from the Black Lagoon was sitting on the table in the waiting room. I picked it up and read it of course, because it's a book and it was sitting there. It's the tried and true Black Lagoon formula. The dentist is coming to school and of course Hubie imagines all sort of horrors, but it all turns out good in the end. All the dental words - caps, crowns, bridges, etc. - make for some amusing illustrations that are fun, colorful and busy. This is not one I would go out and buy, even if I did have a kid the appropriate age, but I would pick it up from the library, especially if I had a child who was leery about going to the dentist....

Source: Other

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

The Dentist from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler