Too Close For Comfort : Canada's Future Within Fortress North America

Written by Maude Barlow.

I read this book from the recommendation from Dad. I must admit that it is a great expose of the neo-conservative and evangelical christian movement of the past 30 years and the impacts those movements have had on government, economics and social welfare. Being a bit more liberal minded myself, I found this book was the most frustrating book I have read in a long time.
To me the value of reading this book was the knowledge it provided. If people aren't aware of just how far business men, politicians and religious activists are willing to take things, then those people will surely get their way. Current events may suggest that the political tides are turning but this is a legacy that should not be forgotten.

Diamond Grill - by Fred Wah

Fred Wah is a western Canadian authour who has written a number of books. Diamond Grill is published by NeWest Press (Edmonton), which also published books by Thomas Wharton and Hiromi Goto- that may be where I first heard of Fred Wah because I like to look for books by Canadian authours, I think because I enjoy recognizing the familiar landscapes. Diamond Grill is the authour's memoir about working in his family's Chinese restaurant in the 1950's in Nelson, BC. It is really more of a collection of memories, each one ranging from a half-page to a couple of pages, gathered together to form a story. I read the book years ago and remember enjoying it and wanted to reread it being more familiar with Nelson now. There isn't much focus on the setting, as the novel is concerned more with the cafe's daily rhythms, the authour's memories of his father, the role of ancestry in identity, and the authour's feelings of not quite fitting in anywhere, feeling neither white enough nor Chinese enough but rather somewhere in the middle. This was the first book of Wah's that I read and I really enjoyed it; I believe (can't remember which) I've read others of his and found them also to be very good.

It was also fun to glean a few tidbits of life in Nelson in the 50's, such as that there were a half a dozen Chinese restaurants in town (where did they go?) and a Chinatown area on Lake Street; Wait's News got the first soft-serve ice cream machine in 1953, and there was once a Kootenay Tofu company sometime around the 60's or 70's (no longer in existence so far as I can tell and not associated with Silver King). A good, quick read!

This should be subtitled: Spamming the blog.

I went to a Children's Lit conference in Calgary last weekend so I am full of ideas.

Can I add them here or no?

Janet Stevens was a keynote speaker at that conf. ALL of her books are Fun. Should I do a list of fun picturebooks??

L. whoever

Ahh! Its what the kids are reading

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

This is a fun book - soon to be a movie - that is a big hit with teens and tweens. I read one article that said that tween boys love the Cullen vampires as much as teen girls do. Gotta love that! If youwant to stay young read this vampire teen romance! Ther are4 books inthe series and some online additions as well.

L. whoever

Social Commentary

I would have to recommend all of Shaun Tan's books if youare at all interested in Social Commentary:
http://www.shauntan.net/books.html

I bought the whole lot if anyone want to read them.
The Rabbits is about colonization.
The Arrival is a wordless book about the immigrant experience,
and Tales from Outer Suburbia (I wish I had tought of that title) is about the experience of being from outside the status quo culture. Our whole family experienced that when we moved to B'lodge.

I haven't read the others.
Very powerful means of expression.

L.

Good to a Fault by Marina Endicott

I have not read this book yet Still on the holds list. However, this book was a 2008 Giller Prize nominee.

L. whoever

Books By Marina Endicott:

Open Arms - 2001
Good to a Fault - 2008

Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

This was a recommended read by a few different friends- usually a good sign and in this case definitely so. A satisfying read it was, though the story itself is a bit hard to summarize, because the book is so mammoth. It is sort of a fictionalized version of the authour's life so far, and just to give you an idea, this is the author's bio:

"Gregory David Roberts, like the hero of his novel, spent many years as a fugitive. In 1978, after his divorce, losing custody of his daughter, and being convicted of a series of robberies committed to support his heroin habit, he was jailed in an Australian maximum security prison and sentenced to nineteen years. In 1980, he escaped over the prison's front wall, and for the next ten years eluded authorities, living in New Zealand, Asia, Africa, and Europe- but for most of that time in Bombay, where he established a free medical clinic for slum-dwellers, and worked as a counterfeiter, smuggler, gunrunner, and street soldier for the Bombay mafia. He was finally captured in Germany and served out his sentence there and in Australia, during which time he wrote Shantaram. He is now a full-time writer and lives in Bombay."

The authour on his website says, "The rule of thumb for Shantaram, and for the sequel, which I’m completing now in these months, is that the experiences are all real, taken from my own life and direct personal experience, but the characters and the dialogue and the narrative structure are all creations." At the very least, this book is an incredible read just for the fact that the plot is so unbelievably outrageous that you can't help but assume it's fiction, yet much of it (by his own account) is based on experience; it's fun to wonder what is fact and what is fiction. It's a mix of his philosophies, epiphanies, and impressions of Bombay, much of it dealing with the city's black market and organized crime. His writing style is very beautiful and descriptive and philisophical, enough to make you stop and think, but as the plot gathers momentum you may find that you get so swallowed up by it that you stop appreciating the finer points as you get swept along.

I forgot to mention one thing so I'm going to add a (windy) post-script here. The authour states that the theme of Shantaram is exhile- the exhile from his past life when he became an escaped convict. But to me the theme that stood out most was that of retribution versus rehabilitation, and the way that society treats its wrong-doers. The authour's experience with prison and with being labelled as a criminal gives him a point of view that I think many people who have been in his position may share- that the modern justice system is more about vengeance and punishment than it is about leading someone to the right path and helping them to live within society. What purpose does prison really serve, a place where people are beaten and humiliated, except to satisfy the righteous and the wronged? It doesn't teach people that what they've done is wrong, or hurtful, and certainly not in a way that allows them to re-enter society as more compassionate and humane people. If anything it makes their struggle harder, or their resentment stronger, neither of which helps society as a whole deal with its inevitable problem of wrong-doers. So many literary works throughout history follow the theme that vengeance leads only to sorrow. Shantaram brings a new interpretation to the age-old theme, told through the eyes of the criminal himself, and expresses a valuable viewpoint that I think so many of us have never personally encountered. Says a character in the book, "justice is not only the way we punish those who do wrong. It is also the way we try to save them."

Hypocrite in a pouffy white dress - by Susan Jane Gilman

This is one I fall back on a lot, it always puts me in a good mood and I recommend it whenever I can.

"Based on the belief that there's more to women's lives than just getting a date, Gilman's stories tell of struggling to get a life and a clue - and engaging in some spectacularly demented behaviour along the way. Gilman's memoir is so engaging it reads like the very best fiction. At turns heartbreaking, insightful, and screamingly funny, it uniquely chronicles a generation - and heralds a talented writer of note."

Gilman's writing style is fantastic, her stories are hilarious, and I think it's impossible not to identify a little bit with her awkward stories of trying to fit in.

Erich Fromm

As part of my ongoing interest in the social sciences I have turned towards studying the individual - namely psychology. Erich Fromm was what you'd call a second generation psychologist, that being he came after Freud and Jung and built upon their ideas while taking things in a different direction. Most of his works are best described as social psychology dealing with the relationship between the individual and society. I'm currently reading "Escape From Freedom." Here's the synopsis from the back cover :

If a man cannot live with freedom, he will probably turn fascist.
This concise statement reflects the essential idea in ESCAPE FROM FREEDOM, Erich Fromm's most famous and very likely his most important book. Using the fundamentals of psychoanalysis as probing agents, Dr. Fromm reveals the illness of contemporary civilization as seen by its willingness to submit to totalitarian rule. While the rise of democracy set certain men free in a political sense, it has simultaneously given birth to a society in which the individual feels isolated, dehumanized and alienated.
This situation has frequently resulted in blind devotion to a Leader, abject submission to an all-powerful State and barbarous policies of aggression and mass murder.

If you are interested in this sort of thing he has written quite a few books which have some very powerful messages. Of note:
"To have or To Be?"
"The Art of Loving"
"The Sane Society"
"Escape From Freedom"

an introduction

Hello all,

I meant to put up a welcome post to introduce you all to the new blog but before I could get to it we'd already had our first book posting up! It seems a good sign and a strong start. I thought about starting this blog back when we started the cook blog, but I wasn't sure if it would be overkill to start up two new blogs at once, so I thought we'd see how the cook blog fared. But I've found that some of the most reliable reads are those that come from the suggestions of friends and I wanted a place where we could collect all those great book suggestions so that hopefully none of us will be left aimless when looking for a good read.

Please feel free to post any and every kind of book, and add your comments to any existing book posts to help us all to determine what we'll be reading next! If you'd like to invite other friends to join, you can go to the blog settings and click on the 'admissions' tab. Then just enter the email addresses and they will be sent an invite.

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

I'm sure this is a well-read book, especially with the movie coming out (already out?), but I thought I'd post it anyway, feel free to give your own thoughts!

The story of two Afghan boys of different backgrounds growing up as best friends in the same household. Amir's father is a respected and wealthy businessman and Hassan's father is his servant. Growing up under his father's shadow, Amir's confusion and hurt from his father's ambivalence towards him is acted out through his sometimes less-than-fair treatment of his fiercely loyal friend, Hassan, and ultimately leads to the demise of their relationship. Years later, Amir is compelled to return to his homeland to make amends with his past and to at last redeem himself and his loyalty to Hassan. Backdropped by the events in Afghanistan over the past 30 years which transformed the country to a place of turmoil and violence, the novel offers a vivid portrayal of what has become the way of life in Afghanistan. However the political and historical events are not discussed in great detail, leaving the reader compelled to learn more. Although the book's pace may be somewhat slow at first, the reader is rewarded with a twisting plot and a tale that is ultimately dramatic, emotional, tragic, and beautiful.

Border Passage: From Cairo to America- One Woman's Journey - Leila Ahmed

I read this book awhile ago but really enjoyed it so I thought I'd post it. It was really interesting to get insight on a culture and country that I know so little about- those being the Arab culture and Egypt. The memoir of the author, and Egyptian-American feminist and Women's Studies professor, is truly an opus of insight on discrimination by race, gender, religion, politics, and class and how our experiences and familial, cultural, religious, and educational environment shape our reality and our attitudes. This non-western, female perspective on colonialism, politics, religion, the rise of the Arab identity, and the attitudes of westerners towards non-western cultures is both shocking and humbling in its acuity and depth. It was truly wonderful to read such intelligent and well-thought out views on such a broad range of topics- a dense read that is at the same time so very engaging and readable.

Obasan - Joy Kogawa

I picked this book up from the used book store, the guy working there thought I was buying for school because it is a popular book used in Canadian schools so it's easily already been read. It's a short novel and an easy read. The story is about a Japanese Canadian family and their experiences in Canada during the second world war. The story is told from the point of view of the daughter and weaves through present and past experiences to explore the story of the family I believe it is historically accurate as well. One thing I really liked about this book was the style of writing, in so many ways it feels like poetry. The way she describes things is beautiful, this is a sentence that I loved as soon as I read it:

"The laughter in my arms is quiet as the moon, quiet as snow falling, quiet as the white light from the from the stars." (p 170)

Anyways, the book is a nice read. If you are interested let me know and I'll mail it to you.