Saturday July 19, 2008
E-VOX POPULI OUR READERS WRITE
Lee Quennell from Regina writes:In terms of the English canon, the King James Bible would have to be on the list, not on theological grounds, but because of its constituting power in relation to English as a language of literature.
One standing army that stood and stood, and still stands yet
CHINA'S FIRST EMPEROR AND HIS TERRACOTTA WARRIORSBy Frances WoodSt. Martin's, 209 pages, $27.95THE TERRA COTTA ARMYChina's First Emperor and the Birth of a Nation
Funeral in Berlin
I STILL HAVE A SUITCASEIN BERLINBy Stephens Gerard MaloneRandom House Canada,319 pages, $32.95In Berlin, you'll find more monuments to the catastrophes of history than in any other city in Europe. Given German history, I suppose that's appropriate.
The glorious city that never was
LOYALISTS AND LAYABOUTSThe Rapid Rise and Faster Fall of Shelburne, Nova Scotia 1783-1792By Stephen KimberDoubleday Canada,335 pages, $34.95Some years ago, I published a book in which Shelburne, N.S., played something of a bit part. So hard was I on the town that I felt the need to apologize, sort of, in an author's note, which rather cravenly suggested that the town was now a much more agreeable place than it was at its beginning, with a ''population friendlier and much less fractious than appears in this book.'' Craven because I rather like going to Shelburne (it has at least one rather good restaurant, and is a pretty and photogenic little place) and didn't want to turn the townsfolk surly. The town had ''started badly, but finished rather well,'' I wrote.
You've got me under your skin
One of my favourite paintings is The New Novel, by Winslow Homer, showing a woman lying on her side in a field of clover, enthralled by the book she holds. For me, it captures the very essence of reading. The escape. Solitary and personal, the act of reading strikes us as being one of the least interactive things we do, and yet we are coming to understand that reading, and especially reading fiction, is an activity that may hone skills vital to relating to others.
Ride is a bit bumpy
THE PUSH and THE PULLBy Darryl WhetterGoose Lane, 322 pages, $21.95Darryl Whetter's first novel occurs in a relentlessly figurative world where everything is heavy with significance. It's not enough, for instance, to tell a boy that his parents are splitting up while they are at the dog pound. In order to make the symbolism clearer, an innocent puppy's ''unbelievably fluffy chest'' has to be crushed by a passing car.
IN BRIEF: BEAUTIFUL PICTURES
An illustration from Off the Wall: Drawings by Tony Urquhart with Captions Courageous by Michael B Phillips (The Porcupine's Quill, 221 pages, $27.95).Message Received, from Mines, Minerals and Mustangs, by John and Jeannette Kerr (Focal Impressions, 176 pages, $49.95).
PAPERBACKS
STRANGERS DEVOUR THE LANDBy Boyce Richardson, Chelsea Green, 376 pages, $27.50New Zealand-born journalist Richardson, now living in Ottawa, wrote countless books and articles about indigenous people in several different countries, but this 1974 book - based on the struggles of the James Bay Crees in Northern Quebec - is considered his magnum opus.
Lost and profound
WHAT WAS LOSTBy Catherine O'FlynnAnchor Canada, 246 pages, $22This is the kind of tale that will reactivate even the most sluggish and embittered pulse. It's part mystery and part satire, alongside dollops of romance. In a nutshell: Unknown writer's first novel is rejected by 20 or so agents and publishers; tiny independent hometown operation (huzza, Tindal Street Press!) picks it up and the book goes on to be nominated for almost every literary prize in Britain, snagging a major award.
Holy, hint, Batman!
If The Dark Knight, the newest (brand new, in fact) entry in the Batman franchise, is too potentially nightmare-inducing for your children, you might want to consider a somewhat gentler new entry into Gotham City at night, and it's a book you might even enjoy yourself.
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
HOW I LEARNED GEOGRAPHYBy Uri Shulevitz, Farrar, Strausand Giroux, unpaginated, $19.50, ages 4 to 8Uri Shulevitz has drawn on his own childhood during the Second World War in this marvellous picture book, which begins hauntingly with the words, ''When war devastated the land, buildings crumbled to dust. Everything we had was lost, and we fled empty-handed.''
Tale of a whale is a whale of a tale
What do we look for when we read a novel? A gripping story. Memorable characters, who are recognizable but also unique and compelling, even if they are villains. Well-wrought language that occasionally - but not too often - reaches toward the poetic. And perhaps most important, we look for something that takes us outside, or perhaps deeper inside, our own lives. ''Spiritual truth'' may be too strong a term, but it gets at the essence of our encounter with great art.
Capitalism takes its lumps
THE NEW PARADIGM FOR FINANCIAL MARKETSThe Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It MeansBy George SorosPublic Affairs, 162 pages, $24.95ECONOMICS FOR EVERYONEA Short Guide to the Economics of Capitalism
Are the kids all right? Depends on whom you ask
THE DUMBEST GENERATIONHow the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future [Or,Don't Trust Anyone Under 30]By Mark BauerleinTarcher/Penguin, 264 pages, $27.50
BESTSELLERS
FictionTHIS WEEK/LAST WEEK/WEEKS ON LIST/TITLE/AUTHOR/PUBLISHER/PRICE 1 72The Condition, by Jennifer Haigh (HarperCollins, $19.95). 2 23The Last Oracle, by James Rollins (William Morrow, $21). 3 110The Host, by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown, $28.99). 4 -1The Shack, by William P. Young (Windblown, $15.99). 5 33Rogue, by Danielle Steel (Dell, $32). 6 55This Charming Man, by Marian Keyes (Penguin, $24). 7 49Love The One You're With, by Emily Giffin (St. Martin's, $27.95). 8 85Sail, by James Patterson and Howard Roughan (Little, Brown, $30.99). 9 64Fearless Fourteen, by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's, $30.95). 10 96Chasing Harry Winston, by Lauren Weisberger (Simon and Schuster, $29.99).
A mind-tweaking puzzle of a book
EVIDENCEBy Ian ColfordPorcupine's Quill, 188 pages, $22.95Redemption and resolution have little place in Ian Colford's dark-hued, genre-bending book of fiction. Not quite a novel, the book nonetheless unspools as a single first-person narrative. Finely observant, Kostandin's voice sustains an emotionally neutral tone. He describes his own life - even the conflicts of his inner life - with a lucid detachment. Colford's one-word title, Evidence, could not be more apt.
'Exporter of democracy' could use some itself
DREAMING UP AMERICABy Russell BanksSeven Stories Press,127 pages, $24.95As a novelist, one of Russell Banks's greatest skills is his ability to arouse empathy for the ''bad guy.'' His finest works are his most frightening; they shimmer with tension and inevitability. In Affliction and Cloudsplitter, he breaks down his characters' personal histories into their infinitesimal parts and contexts, revealing the horrific logic behind the actions of murderers and madmen. His books are bad dreams well written; reading them is like watching a sleep-walker head for a cliff and knowing there's nothing you can do about it.
What went wrong in the AIDS wars
THE WISDOM OF WHORESBureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDSBy Elizabeth PisaniViking Canada, 372 pages, $35This is an utterly fascinating book. I must admit that it's been growing on me since I read it, the arguments and language reverberating in my mind. Elizabeth Pisani writes with enormous verve and acerbity, her prose alive with anecdote and metaphor. There is, to be sure, a certain adolescent touch, delighting in naughty words and vivid sexual description, but all of that is forgiven in the sweep and force of the narrative. The Wisdom of Whores is a great read.
