Category Archives: Uncategorized

James, Henry. The Golden Bowl. Scribner, New York (Methuen, London) 1904. F; 12/21. O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive! – Walter Scott, Marmion (1808) Henry James was one of the nicest old ladies … Continue reading →

January 2022 I think this is the first restaurant in Sechelt I’ve found with what I’d call serious-quality food. It’s a cozy little place in the abbreviated strip mall approached via the Highway just south of Claytons supermarket. A very … Continue reading →

December 2021 This relatively unassuming place has been on Burrard Street just uphill on the downtown side of the bridge for less than a year, braving the murderous consequences of the pandemic which have closed a lot of places with … Continue reading →

Harden, K Paige. The Genetic Lottery. Princeton, 2021, Princeton NJ. NF; 10/21. I think this book is popular because (and one of the reasons I liked it is) it hands both the right and the left a bit of a … Continue reading →

Obreht, Tea. The Tiger’s Wife. Random House, New York, 2011. F; 9/21. Not long ago I was on a walk with my seven-year-old granddaughter and her dad, and she favoured me with one of those moments where you later wish … Continue reading →

October 2021 I’m a long way from being an outdoorsy huntin shootin kinda guy, but one way to spend time with my sons in their 30s is to travel to remote locations and try to keep up with them as … Continue reading →

Timimi, Sami. Insane Medicine. Independent publication 2021. NF; 9/21. This is a surprisingly radical but for me wise and helpful look at modern psychiatry. Dr. Timimi is a UK child psychiatrist who will definitely be seen by the psychiatry and … Continue reading →

Kafka, Franz. The Castle. Translation from German by Mark Harman, Schocken, New York, 1998. Original publication as Das Schloss, 1926. F; 7/21. The first time I read any Kafka was in a university European Literature in Translation course as an … Continue reading →

Hoffman, David E. The Dead Hand. Anchor, New York, 2009. NF; 5/21. This is a heavily researched study of the Cold War and analysis of the former Soviet Union’s covert development and maintenance not only of a huge nuclear arsenal … Continue reading →

Peterson, Jordan. Beyond Order: 12 More Rules For Life. Random House Canada, Toronto, 2021. NF; 3/21. Peterson is at it again, here with I think a sadder and maybe not-much wiser version of his 12 Rules For Life (which I … Continue reading →