A DOG’S LIFE by Peter Mayle,...

A DOG’S LIFE by Peter Mayle, illustrated by Edward Koren (Vintage: $11, 192 pp.). The “autobiography” of Boy, a stray dog adopted by Mayle, recaptures the unpretentious good humor of his popular “Provence” books. Boy’s accounts of his misadventures and his observations on human nature--as exemplified by his owners and their eccentric friends--showcase his curiosity, impatience and blase charm: “There are those in this world who merely look, but take nothing in; Irish setters come to mind here, and I’ve heard the same said about office receptionists. . . .” Boy emerges as the dog people like to think they own, the possessor of “a logical turn of mind, a self-indulgent nature, and a frequently dormant conscience.”