The Regiment

Farley Mowat chronicles the history, mobilization and actions of the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment during World War Two. It's a different kind of war history from that of Malone's books in that Mowat has a much more lyrical style, and is much more personal with the members of the Regiment, while writing from the third person - it is not an autobiography by any means.

I read this one exceedingly quickly, as it was due back at the library, and I could not renew it because someone else wanted to read it.

So, it was much more readable than Malone's two books, but of a completely different style so I wouldn' t be too keen on comparing the two. In any event, the only critique I might level at the book is that the misery of war is rather minimized - it reads as a bit of a light story, with only a few instances of combat tragedy - and even those don't jolt or stand out from the narrative in an attention-getting device.

I shouldn't criticize too sharply - Mowat was there, I wasn't; and if he captured the experience of the Hasty Pees, only the Hasty Pees could tell. It is definitely worth reading, though.

A Portrait of War 1939-1943

Just prior to Remembrance Day I picked up some war history books from the library, and the first one I finished was Richard S. Malone's "A Portrait of War". The book details his involvement in Canada's participation in WWII, from an interestingly personal point of view, as opposed to the normal stories told based on troop movements, military actions, and political overtones. Malone was a newspaperman, and early in the war was tapped to work on the Defense Minister's staff, and eventually was involved in nearly every major Canadian activity. The book can read a bit like an exercise in name dropping - referring to General Montgomery as "Monty", in the context of a series of interactions the author had with the General; however, Malone's presentation serves to capture a sense of the personal, and this serves to provide an enriching background to the various events.

Malone's involvement included participating in the initial efforts to move Canada from a peacetime to a war footing, planning portions of invasions, facilitating meetings and the exchange of information between Canadian, British and eventually American war offices, and arranging press operations in Sicily and Italy (which included the inauguration of the Canadian military newspaper, the Maple Leaf.

It is not a fast read, and at times can get a little laborious, but it is a well written book overall that richly recounts a perilous time in history.

George Trosley-CARtoonist

George Trosley-CARtoonist looks pretty cool. Haven't had much time to look through it, but I will do so later.

The Slave and the Free (Walk to the End of the World and Motherlines)

This is one of the wierder sci-fi-fantasy books I've read. Before I get into that, this volume contains the first two books of a four-book series written by Suzy McKee Charnas over something like thirty years. Not a prolific pace for an author, and interesting since sci-fi (I know I'm probably mixing up genres a bit here, but never mind that, okay?) authors seem to be able to churn out books one after the other a bit like a sausage factory.

So that piqued my interest - perhaps this will be an extremely writerly book, which I think would be interesting in the genre. Okay, full disclosure - I just grabbed the book off the shelf in the library because it looked interesting, and it wasn't til later that I found out the rest of the stuff.

I'm still not sure if I like reading this series. Set formulaically after an apocalypse known as The Wasting, leftover and survivor humans are eking out a grimmish existance, with a rather bizarre set of customs and mores. In the first book, consider a patriarchal society embodying everything inequality of the sexes in the extreme. In the second, consider a matriarchal society - with no men. Read the book to find out how they procreate - as the process was hinted at I hoped against fleeting hope that it would not be so... It was.

So the social order of Charnas' vision isn't really to my taste. I suppose that would have something to do with her aims in writing the book - thirty years, the first book first published in 1974 - which strikes me as coinciding far too neatly with the cycles in radical feminism. (At the end of the second book, it's starting to sound like things aren't going to go too well for any male character that might appear in the third book. I hope the library has it.) Back on track: It's almost a Swiftian trope, but I will reserve judgement until I finish the series.

I would have to say that I am appreciating the vision and development of the books. The first one was a quick, interesting read; the second I found a little harder to get through. It could have been the subject matter, it may have been the writing. In any event, my interest is aroused enough to say "Bring on the next book," which I'll do next time I'm at the library.

Still... very wierd book.

Latitudes of Melt

Joan Clark's novel really is amazing, in my opinion. A loose synopsis: in 1912 a baby is found on an ice pan off the coast of Newfoundland and is brought into a small community of fishermen and their families. She's a little different, but she gets along, finds love, marries, and so on. Late in the book, and thus later in her life, she has had children, and they range through their lives, until her granddaughter happens to extricate her past from the wisps of history, discovering who the baby was, and where she comes from.

That short summary does incredible violence to Clark's story. The descriptions of characters, environments and situations were arresting - I didn't really want the book to end. This was a really good book, one I'm glad to have read.

The Seeds of Time

Kay Kenyon's first novel is pretty darn impressive. Humans have come up with "Time Diving" technology, which allows them to travel through time and space, with certain constraints, of course. Naturally, the ability to use this technology must have a need associated, and that need is the search for biological speciments from other time/spaces to rejuvenate the Earth's biosphere, with has been utterly degraded by human depredation. Along with the dwindling life potential on the planet, social organization has evolved (or devolved, as it's pretty clear that the structures are not all that pleasant) such that "Sick" people are routinely rounded up and put in camps to live out their miserable days, accompanied by homosexuals and mentally challenged people - basically a eugenic echo of social engineering. A pretty miserable place.

The central character, Clio Finn has escaped the mess on Earth and is a "Dive pilot" - she is one of the few who are uniquely capable of maintaining consciousness (and the contents of their stomachs) as they dive through time/space.

Adventures abound, they find a planet in time that has an almost ideal source of plant life, loyalties are strained and realigned, tough decisions are made, the Laws of Time are toyed with... it's really quite a well done story, particularly in terms of a nuanced take on the old science-fiction standby of time travel.

A quick read, but an enjoyable one.

Heartbreaks Along the Road

Roch Carrier's book is a big book, with a lot going on inside. I suppose it could be best called a satire of life in Quebec, probably just before the Quiet Revolution. The principal foci are social, political, and religious life, which, when I think about it, constitutes life in general in that era. The omnipresent corruption of "the Right Party", led by "Le Chef" touches pretty much every one of the myriad characters in the fictional village of Saint-Toussaint-des-Saints. Come election time, everyone who votes for the Right Party gets a "strippa road" or some other petty favour; anyone who votes for or otherwise supports the "communist Opposition" can expect to be a pariah from the electoral largesse. Tragedy abounds, comedy lurks in the oddest of places (a deep-fried saint, among others), and all through the tale reverberates with the spirit of the era.

The story is not as bleak as Last Days of Montreal, but ranges further and is more subtle in its critique. This book took me longer to read than normal, and I'm glad for it. A very good book.

Richter 10

Arthur C Clarke collaborated with Mike McQuay to write this science fiction novel about human hubris and insignificance in the face of the awesome forces of nature.

Lewis Crane, the main character, is a child during the devasting 1994 LA earthquake in which his parents are killed when their house collapses and a leaking gas main is ignited. Fastforwarding, he is revealed to have become a rather brilliant, though naturally eccentric scientist, who has dedicated his career to the precise prediction of earthquakes. I won't do a spoiler by revealing his ultimate, hidden agenda.

Since the book is set in the relatively near future, the authors are free to hypothesize on the outcomes of various evolutions in technology, commercial and political spheres. The technology hypothesis is admirably understated, though perhaps an extreme extrapolation of consumerist/entertainment trends of 1995. As an example, imagine the ultimate reality TV, where the traffic accident you have just passed (or caused...) is broadcast live on the sides of buildings and on clouds. Imagine, also, brand names projected upon the Moon. Commercially, the book extrapolates the trend of mega-mergers of multinational corporations, and predicts (in 1995) the ascendency of the Chinese as an economic power. This I found interesting, as the Globe and Mail devoted a large portion of this Saturday's paper to analysis and description of the Chinese growth into a global economic powerhouse. Politically, the book's prognostication is an extension of the commercial/economic influence on the political sphere. The cynic in me finds the political economy of the book unsettling as it is again but an extrapolation of existing trends.

The conflict between groups of people, religions and races also has verisimilitude due to the drawing out of historical trends - although the rise of Africa as a world power, at this point, can be readily debated. I suppose it helped that most of the Middle East was turned into a sea of glass after the detonation of 30 multi-megaton nuclear bombs...

I can't neglect to mention the impacts of environmental degradation that are presented as merely a fact of life for the characters of the future - moonbathing is the last activity left for people to do outside unless they are protected by full clothing, hats, and powerful sunscreen.

This is a delightfully complex and wideranging book. Well worth reading.

A Hack a Day

The Hack a Day Web site/blog collects up all sorts of different hacks. Take a look, it's kind of interesting.

Canadian Stories of the Sea

This is a collection of stories and excerpts edited by Victor Suthren, whose credentials are impressive both as a historian and as a sailor. The book has eight logical sections, each with five or six stories. The first section, The First Peoples, presents First Nations' accounts and myths dealing with naval adventure. The Newcomers, the second section, covers the initial encounters of what would become Canada by the Norse and the Europeans. Blood on the Waters covers the early naval warfare in the region. Making a Living on the Sea holds stories of the fishing industry. Special Ships, the fifth chapter or section, has tales of the Bluenose, of an esoteric experiment by a Nova Scotian, and of the sinking of the Princess Sophia. Going It Alone comprises a few tales of solo maritime adventure in the spirit of Joshua Slocum. Dark Shadows: Modern War at Sea holds tales of Canadian naval trial by fire - the Atlantic Convoys and the like. Finally, chapter eight addresses "The Modern Sea: Harsh Workplace, Beckoning Playground," with stories from the boom, bust and evolution of fishing industries to the notion of going to sea for amusement.

These stories don't necessarily require an affinity for the sea to be appealing - they form an empathetic picture of a significant aspect of Canadian history.

Well worth reading for anyone with an interest in history, Canada, the sea or any combination of those.

Big Trouble

Dave Barry is a fairly amusing writer - he is based in Florida and has a syndicated column. In this instance, he's written a novel. Big Trouble is a rather warped crime tale, building on what may or may not be stereotypes about life in Miami. While it's pretty readable and amusing, I don't agree is the effusive praise heaped on this book. True enough, it has fun with the genre, but I wouldn't go to the extreme that Publishers Weekly did in calling it "[like] a Garry Trudeau send-up of hard-boiled crime novels."

The best thing I can say about this one is that it's conveniently sized for carrying about and reading on the bus.

The Gospel According to the Son

I finished this book of Norman Mailer's last night, and it is a quite a departure from my usual fare. Essentially, it's Jesus of Nazareth's autobiography. I can't really comment too much on the accuracy or reasonableness of the content as I am not particularly conversant in the Bible. The review exerpts on the book's cover and inside pages are quite glowing - although that may be partly because it's Norman Mailer.

In any case, it was interesting in the way that a museum exhibition on Biblical stuff is interested when it's aimed at the general public - not too wordy or elevated, but just fancy enough to get people to say "Ooooh," and "Neat" or whatever words are cool enough for them to use.

I couldn't even tell you if it's heretical or blasphemous. I can imagine some hard-core holy folk getting a little worked up, if only because religion is involved. This book questions the veracity of some of the Gospels, but on the other hand, doesn't really come down too hard on the Gospel-writers for it.

There's lot's to chew on here, and it's well worth reading.

Red Thunder

John Varley's book is pretty recent (2003), and thus somewhat relevant to the hullabaloo about going to Mars. Yep, that tried and true formula - mixed with the other tried and true formula about a gang of misfits coming up with a supremely elegant solution, with a dash of the impossible new technology that's as obvious as the nose on your face, so long as you look at it differently.

From that less than enthusiastic intro, it sounds like the book's not all that good. It's actually alright. It's a good read, at least - the characters develop well, the plot isn't too simplistic, and it touches enough current issues (for the U.S., anyway) including racism and commercialism, to achieve verisimilitude. In fact, the book is real enough (except for the impossible-by-today's-science technology) that it could be science-maybe-not-fiction.

The ending kind of fizzled, though, but that's a common complaint of mine - the book rolls along fine, then it seems that we get up to a page marker, and all the pieces drop into place, and all the loose threads are allocated a paragraph, and the book's done with enough room for the advertising page at the end.

A nice, 400 page, one-day read.

Where Nests the Water Hen

This book by Gabrielle Roy (translated by Harry Binsse) is a bit different from the books I normally read - it's CanLit! It's a pretty evocative recounting of a family's pioneer life in frontier Manitoba. There are two tropes: the first is the building and commissioning of a schoolhouse by the Tousignants, and the second is the intersection of the roving priest with their life and that of their sparsely populated community. A third subtext is the emigration of the children (so many of them!) from the Water Hen district to be doctors and so on further south.

Apparently the translation is quite good - I haven't read the original language version, and do not claim to be in a position to judge the translation even if I had read it. The story is a little slow-moving, but complete in its progress. The book conveys a sense of the land and time the characters occupy, making it feel almost like a nostalgic golden time of hope, and simplicity.

I liked the book, and I did chuckle at the character who felt that if the Water Hen district population kept increasing at one per year (as babies were brought into the world regularly) soon he would have to decamp and move to a more remote area without so many people (before the children began leaving, there may have been 15 or 20 people at most in the immediate area, and 30 or 40 if you went out a few miles.)

Guanya Pau

Here's a book I never would have expected to read. Joseph J. Walters wrote "Guanya Pau" in 1891. It's interesting - written by a Liberian studying in the US. I'm not quite sure what to make of this book, though. Guanya (an African princess) rebels against her arranged marriage to a polygamist - and in so doing, against entrenched oppressive traditions - and becomes a prototypical feminist/women's rights activist. Her whole flight from the situation is filled with references to the inequality of men and women, and I think while Walters may have been focussed on the African experience, the common themes with women's rights movements are strong. I'm not going to spoil the book completely, but it's not a happy ending.

The part that set my teeth on edge just a little bit was the strident gospel hallelujahs that are sprinkled through the book - for example, the author writes that his African brothers and sisters will be able to rise for the benighted inequality of their lives so long as they rejoice in the light of God... standard missionary fare. It is not the overarching premise of the book - the passages where the author excuses his exuberant digressions into praise for the Almighty disjoint the story a bit. It's not a huge problem, but it seems that the author had a little trouble either keeping two theses separated, or in incorporating two streams of argument into a single one.

I can't say it's the most thrilling book I've ever read, but it's interesting, particularly for the point of view and arguments made in the context of the time when the author wrote it.

The Face

My good friend Ozayr recently lent me Dean Koontz's "The Face" to read. It's a murder mystery, but with an enjoyable swirl of the supernatural that makes it an ideal book for right around Hallowe'en - the body count, which rises rapidly, helps too in this regard. In short, a rather pointless movie star of the first order has a 10 year old (or so) boy who lives in the star's superlatively ostentatious mansion. Security is headed up by an ex-cop, whose mission is to ensure the safety of said star. The villain is an anarchist who has an affinity for chaos, yet is remarkably organized, well-connected, and scarily clever. The supernatural twist consists of an acquaintance of the security chief who is balanced on a metaphysical knife-edge between life and death, and has a role as guardian angel.

The story is very well done - the book actually finishes well, something that bothers me about a lot of other books. Koontz draws some interesting inspirations from reality, particularly in using the stereotypical (or real, for all I know) realm of movie stardom to rapidly fill out characters; as well as fairly perceptively identifying little things that can turn neighbour against neighbour.

A great read, just fluffy enough to be fun, and smart enough not to be boring.

The True History of the Kelly Gang

Well, here's a problem when you either a) have a lousy memory or b) just don't keep track of what you've read.

I picked up Peter Carey's "True History of the Kelly Gang" from the local library a while ago with my last batch of books. As I flipped through it, it looked awfully familiar. Turns out I read it a couple of years ago. I think I actually have this book somewhere in my collection. I hate it when that happens, but what can you do.

The book's okay - the translation of accent and dialect into print is a bit of a struggle at first and takes some getting used to. Ned Kelly is a legendary hero of 19th century Australia, dirt poor, and on the run from authorities, and attempting to win his mother's release from prison. Once Kelly began his flight from the authorities, he sustained himself and his gang for twenty months of a manhunt by using his bushwhacking skills and robbing banks.

I'm not going to spoil the ending, but I will say that there's a town in New South Wales with an enormous statue of Ned Kelly - it has to be 50 feet tall at least - standing in his homemade armour.

Numbers in the Dark (and other stories)

Italo Calvino's "Numbers in the Dark (and other stories)" is a collection of short stories written between 1943 and 1984, collected from published stories as well as unpublished (and some uncompleted) manuscripts. Calvino's writing is typically interesting, and this collection of stories is no exception. Some are only a page and a half long, and those I found to be a lot of fun. They are from early in his writing career, and are really surreal - delightfully so. Progressing through the book, and thus the chronology of Calvino's writing, the surrealism is increasingly suffused with political and social commentary. The stories are all very readable - at least, to me.

I'm not going to get overly drawn out - Googling for the title of the collection brings up a pretty good review from someone who's clearly much better equipped to analyze and comment on the collection. Suffice to say, I really liked it.

Lord of the Isles

David Drake's "Lord of the Isles" is an 'epic fantasy,' and overall is a pretty good read, although I wouldn't say it's particularly innovative - country boy get swept up in forces of the universe, fights bad guys, other people's special tendencies come out, country boy saves the day, and most of the people live happily ever after.

I did like the treatment of "evil" - which is a human term, and the multiple thousand year old wizardess takes pains to make that clear - as an elemental force, typically in balance with "good", although various wizards or whatever occasionally try to mess things up by messing with a natural ebb and flow of the dark side. Naturally, at the climax of the book (I guess this is a spoiler), the country boy is faced with the temptation of "evil" and chooses the path of light, good, and apple pie. Saves the girl and the sorceress while he's at it, too. Well done, Garric.

Let's see. Reasonably well written, managed to fit a whole story into a single book - but if Piers Anthony's calling this "One of the finest epic fantasies of the decade" as is indicated on the cover, the entire genre must be getting a little tired.

The Postman

David Brin's "The Postman" (you have to scroll down the linked page a bit) is better than what I've heard about the movie by the same name. No, I haven't seen the movie. Short summary, free of spoilers: Gordon Krantz is trying to survive 16 years after an apocalyptic cataclysm involving nuclear arms, pestilence, famine, a three-year nuclear winter. Needless to say, America (not much mention of the rest of the world, but presumably it's all messed up too) has imploded into a tribal sort of existence. Actually, "America" doesn't really exist anymore. It's just a bunch of people trying to survive. That is, until good ol' Gordon becomes a postman. It's entirely by accident - after being robbed by a band of ne-er do wells, he stumbles across the remains of a postie in a rusted out Jeep - with the accoutrements (nice jacket but for a couple of bullet holes), a hat, and, yes, a sack of mail. For his own reasons, Gordon picks up the mail and appoints himself some rounds. Sleet, hail, nuclear winter... GO USPS!

Actually, he falls into it by accident - he's mooching food and shelter at a small enclave, and they twig onto the postman gear, and bingo bango bongo, he's the first employee, inspector, and CEO of the Restored United States of America Postal Service. Neat, because people get all funny and give him food and shelter when he comes around. But, it's never so simple. He made up the Restored U.S.A bit, and then has to run with it. Along his route, he meets people that really feed off the idea, and then the book has the chance to explore several themes all at once, including the nature of leadership, the folly of aggression versus cooperation, technophilia versus technophobia, feminism, individualism and it's variants, Mountain Man anti-governmentalism, "Man" in a state of nature (Hi there Hobbes! Rousseau's out for a bit!) and the need for hope as well as the unending responsibility faced by reluctant yet worthy leaders.

Whew.

Worth reading. I've been lucky with the books so far. I'm probably due for a stinker.