Monthly Archives: April 2013

Lawrence, David (DH). Studies in Classic American Literature. Penguin, London 1971 (first published 1923). NF; 06/12. I lost my copy of this somewhere over the years, along with a lot of other beloved books which I still dream of discovering … Continue reading →

Penny, Louise. A Trick of the Light. Minotaur New York, 2011. F; 07/12 A Canadian Agatha Christie, Ms. Penny “just keeps getting better and better” says the bibliophile lady at Talewind Books in Sechelt. Well, she’s good, but I don’t … Continue reading →

Woloshin, Stephen; Schwartz, Lisa and Welch, Gilbert. Know Your Chances: Understanding Health Statistics. University of California Press, Berkeley. 2008. NF; 07/12 This feeling of ambivalence is getting familiar. I feel about this book as I did about Hadler’s Rethinking Aging,and … Continue reading →

DeWitt, Patrick. The Sisters Brothers. Anansi, Toronto 2011. F; 07/12 It’s hard not to like a story where bad guys are really good: humane and understandable in their evil-doing. Jesse James, Bonnie and Clyde, and possibly Humbert Humbert, and now … Continue reading →

Lam, Vincent. The Headmaster’s Wager. Doubleday Canada 2012. F; 07/12. I don’t think I’ve reviewed Lam’s first book Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, but I loved it. The doctor/author thing obscures my response a bit through the jealousy I’ve already discussed. … Continue reading →

Mate, Gabor. In the Realm of the Hungry Ghosts. Knopf Canada 2008. NF; 08/06 Dr. Gabor Mate (pronounced ma-TAY) is a Vancouver GP who was, when I was in university in the late 1960s, a campus radical. Only the near-elderly … Continue reading →

Franzen, Jonathan. Farther Away. HarperCollins (Canadian Edition; 2012). Essays; 08/12. This is a quite mixed eclectic bunch of personal essays and book reviews by one of my favorite authors of fiction. Franzen is at his best for me writing fiction, … Continue reading →

Miller, Henry. The Air-Conditioned Nightmare. New Directions, New   York. 1945. Travelogue. 8/12 Similar to my recollection of DH Lawrence’s criticism, I remember reading Miller when I was 20 and hippie-hitchhiking in Europe. Wasting my time. My companions would eyeball me … Continue reading →

Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. Penguin London. First published 1719. F; 9/12. I can see and feel (almost smell) the cellophane-glossy 1950s children’s abridged illustrated edition Mum or Dad used to read to us. I see the adventure pictures of Friday, … Continue reading →

Wallace, David Foster. Infinite Jest. Back Bay Books (Little, Brown) New York Boston London 1996. F; 12/12. This one is unique in my experience. This review will be lengthy and chaotic, sorry… The book feels like a very North American … Continue reading →