BOOK REVIEWS

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Crowd of Sounds

The first poem in Crowd of Sounds, Adam Sol’s second poetry collection, presents in miniature the book’s thematic concerns. Entitled “The Calculus of a Man Striking Water in Relation to a Boat Striking Wood, and ... Read More »

November 25, 2003 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Poetry

Beyond This Dark House

By Guy Gavriel Kay

Canny readers can be forgiven for being suspicious of a slim collection of poetry from a successful mainstream novelist in mid-career. Such books are usually either vanity projects, efforts of a publisher to please (and ... Read More »

November 25, 2003 | Filed under: Poetry

While Canada Slept: How We Lost Our Place in the World

By Andrew Cohen

International affairs writer Andrew Cohen believes Canada’s presence on the world stage has dwindled dramatically since the decade or so following the Second World War. According to what he refers to as “the three principal ... Read More »

November 25, 2003 | Filed under: History

Napoleon’s Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History

By Penny LeCouteur and Jay Burreson

The story goes that during Napoleon’s Russian campaign tin buttons on the French soldiers’ uniforms disintegrated in the cold. The soldiers were too busy holding up their pants to fight. This is history from an ... Read More »

November 25, 2003 | Filed under: History

Diamond: A Memoir of 100 Days

By Dawn Rae Downton

In her second book, Diamond, Nova Scotia writer Dawn Rae Downton has paired two themes that are popular with memoirists: homecoming and bereavement. It is to her credit that much of this narrative feels fresh ... Read More »

November 25, 2003 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography

Public Power: The Fight for Publicly Owned Electricity

By Howard Hampton with Bill Reno

Among the many controversial policies of Ontario’s Conservative government, few drew as big a public backlash as plans to privatize Ontario Hydro. One of the leaders of a movement that eventually forced the government to ... Read More »

November 25, 2003 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs

The Jade Coast: The Ecology of the North Pacific Ocean

By Robert Butler

The Jade Coast stretches from northern California to southeast Alaska, and Robert Butler, in his roles as park naturalist, wildlife biologist, government scientist, and university professor, knows a lot about the region and the thousands ... Read More »

November 25, 2003 | Filed under: Science, Technology & Environment

The Story of Jane Doe: A Book About Rape

By Jane Doe

Jane Doe was asleep in her downtown Toronto apartment when a serial rapist climbed in over her balcony and made her his fifth victim. Although the police knew he was in the area and that ... Read More »

November 25, 2003 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs

Working Class Zero

By Rob Payne

One of the challenges facing the contemporary novelist is to capture the complexities and absurdities of modern life without boring the reader. Rob Payne manages to do this and make us laugh too. In Working ... Read More »

November 25, 2003 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Sea of Tranquility

By Lesley Choyce

Ragged Island, Lesley Choyce’s fictional community off the Nova Scotia mainland, has survived centuries of various economic catastrophes through the entrepreneurial inventiveness of its inhabitants. Recent ventures include Phonse Doucette’s shoot-’em-up junkyard and Moses Slaunwhite’s ... Read More »