07/16/2026
This month's selection for the Archer Book Club is Fifteen Dogs by Canadian author André Alexis, winner of the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the 2015 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.
A bet between the gods Hermes and Apollo leads them to grant human consciousness and language to a group of dogs overnighting at a Toronto veterinary clinic. Suddenly capable of more complex thought, the pack is torn between those who resist the new ways of thinking, preferring the old 'dog' ways, and those who embrace the change.
The gods watch from above as the dogs venture into their newly unfamiliar world, as they become divided among themselves, as each struggles with new thoughts and feelings. Wily Benjy moves from home to home, Prince becomes a poet, and Majnoun forges a relationship with a kind couple that stops even the Fates in their tracks.
André Alexis's contemporary take on the apologue offers an utterly compelling and affecting look at the beauty and perils of human consciousness. By turns meditative and devastating, charming and strange, Fifteen Dogs shows you can teach an old genre new tricks.
Archer Book Club meetings happen on Teams, and link information will be provided closer to the planned meeting: 12:00pm - 1:00pm, July 29th, 2026.
Every month the Archer Book Club meets to discuss an acclaimed book in a low-pressure environment where readers are encouraged to participate as much or as little as they wish. For more information on this month's selection, and the Archer Book Club in general, go to:
library.uregina.ca/archerbookclub
