Adam Gopnik begins his second lecture on winter (first, here) by asking whether we remember that Mary Shelley's Frankenstein plays out in the northern, Arctic reaches. I didn't remember that: did you? Nonetheless, I don't have any trouble conjuring up the images that he describes in opening his
Dominique Fabre's The Waitress Was New (2005) Trans. Jordan Stump Archipelago Books, 2008 It begins very simply. "The waitress was new here." Pierre is not new; he has been the barman for years and years and years. When he watches the new waitress approach, it's the perspective of a seasoned
Book-brained Who has not heard of The Life of Pi? But did you know that author Yann Martel vowed to send the Canadian prime minister books to read for the duration of his term in office. For those of you who aren't Canadian, that's Stephen Harper -- the prime
Michael Ondaatje's The Cat's Table McClelland & Stewart, 2011 You can learn a lot from reading novels. For instance, in reading this one, you could learn the following: How to spell Egypt (Ever Grasping Your Precious Tits); The way to a first-class breakfast on a cruise even if you're not
Guy Vanderhaeghe's A Good Man McClelland & Stewart, 2011 Sebastian Barry has said that a good historical novel is about "retrieving the present moment".* That is true of Guy Vanderhaeghe's A Good Man. From the beautiful but austere cover art of the frontier, to the detailed descriptions of fort and
