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Book Reviews in October 1993 Issue

On Common Ground Managing Human-Planet Relationships
by Ranjit Kumar, Barbara Murck,

216 pages $27.95 PT
ISBN: 0471640409
Balancing Act Environmental Issues in Forestry
by Hamish Kimmins,

252 pages $29.95 TP
ISBN: 0774804262
Lore Capturing Traditional Environmental Knowledge
by Martha Johnson,

DIANE Publishing Company
190 pages $40 TP
ISBN: 0788170465
North, South, & the Environmental Crisis
by Rodney White,

184 pages $50 TC
ISBN: 080205952X
Alberta's Petroleum Industry & the Conservation Board
by David H. Breen,

864 pages $39.95 TC
ISBN: 0888642458
Variations on a Planet
by Peter Brock,

96 pages $9.95 TP
ISBN: 0919001777
The Kluane National Park Hiking Guide
by Vivien Lougheed,

256 pages $20 TP
ISBN: 0921586604
Abuses and Improprieties of the Niagara Escarpment Commission A Regulatory Agency Experience and Review
220 pages $19.95
ISBN: 096947461X
Food, Sex, & Salmonella The Risks of Environmental Intimacy
by David Waltner-Toews,

152 pages $14.95 UN
ISBN: 1550210742
Book Review
Wills and Ways
by Brian Fawcett
The environmental mess won't be cleared up until the powerful pay attention to the problem solvers.
Read more...
Raw Material
by Farrant,

pages $12.95 PF
ISBN: 0889782628
Visible Light
by Carol Windley,

pages $12.95 PF
ISBN: 0889821240
Dancing at the Club Holocaust Stories New & Selected
by J. J. Steinfeld,

L P C/InBook
224 pages $14.95 TP
ISBN: 0921556306
Black Light
by Ron Shaw,

177 pages $12.95 TC
ISBN: 0921870175
Stories from Blood & Aphorisms
by T. Paleczny,

pages $16.95 CT
ISBN: 0969652011
Book Review
Nifty, Bulish, and Short
by John Oughton
Five new fiction collections cover the literary spectrum.
Read more...
Robber Bride
by Margaret Atwood,

pages $28.99 TC
ISBN: 077100821X
Book Review
Taking No Prisoners
by Joan Thomas
Margaret Atwood does here what she has always done brilliantly: she looks at the world and names things, putting them in their places with terrifying accuracy.
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Glitter Girls
by Sexton,

pages $27.95 TC
ISBN: 0771590083
Book Review
Social Climbing
by Jack Batten
Sexton concentrates on two aspects of her society ladies: on their organizational skills in putting together the charity balls and on their talents for gossip and backbiting.
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Stone Diaries
by C. Shields,

pages $26.5 PT
ISBN: 0394223624
Book Review
A Singular Life
by Anne Denoon
The book inevitably addresses, but mercifully does not belabour, the hoary question of whether, and how much, art (or memory, always artful) can intersect with objective reality.
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In a Glass House A Novel
by Nino Ricci,

352 pages $17.99 TP
ISBN: 0771074530
Book Review
Some Bark, No Bite
by Allan Casey
An impossible act to follow, perhaps, but the sequel is bound to be a bigger disappointment to Ricci fans than overinflated expectations can explain.
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Apology for Absence...
by John Newlove,

208 pages $12.95 TP
ISBN: 0889841624
Book Review
Poetic Presence
by Erin Moure
It is a major work, and its excellence makes me return to what's not there. Impossible to do justice to this book in a short review! What's so compelling?
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One Good Story
by Tom King,

pages $14.95 TP
ISBN: 0002240009
Book Review
Comical and Economical
by Kenneth Radu
Thomas King possesses an acute ear for dialogue and the speech rhythms of his characters. In a collection that includes several narratives built upon oral storytelling techniques, the convincing use of dialect and specific vernacular is an achievement.
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Faultlines Struggling for a Canadian Vision
by Jeffrey Simpson,

pages $26.95 TC
ISBN: 0002157950
Book Review
Culture of Crankiness
by Clive Cocking
Surprisingly for a journalist, Simpson writes with a kind of meandering verbosity and repetitiveness that frequently leaves the reader asking: "What's the point?"
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Across the Bridge
by Mavis Gallant,

pages $8.95 PT
ISBN: 0771034598
Book Review
The Choice One Makes
by Rita Donovan
Mavis Gallant's stories receive international attention when published separately in major magazines, so it is always an event when they are gathered to form a new collection.
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Silenced Sextet Six Nineteenth-Century Canadian Women Novelists
by Carrie MacMillan, Lorraine McMullen, Elizabeth Waterston,

240 pages $55 TC
ISBN: 0773509453
Sounding Differences Conversations with Seventeen Canadian Women Writers
by Janice Williamson,

370 pages $50 TC
ISBN: 0802027628
Thresholds of Difference
by Emberley,

pages $50 CT
ISBN: 0802028500
Book Review
Vocals by Women
by Jinnean Barnard
Speaking women and silenced women: the three books under review here present new articulations of Canadian women's voices. The three texts can be distinguished respectively as the paid soprano, the harmonizing alto and the "one-noter."
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The Dixon Cornbelt League & Other Baseball Stories
by W. P. Kinsella,

pages $18.95 TC
ISBN: 0002240114
Book Review
Apart at the Seams
by Brian Fawcett
So long as Kinsella continues to butter up the marketplace with silly baseball stories fuelled by the exaggeration and sentimentality that characterize 'The Dixon Cornbelt League', he's betraying his real talent.
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Holder of the World
by Bharati Mokherjee,

pages $24.95 TC
ISBN: 0002238993
Book Review
Colonial Connections
by Eileen Manion
The novel illuminates the connections between distant parts of the British Empire in the 17th century and adds a whole new dimension to our perception of American colonial history.
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Away
by Jane Urquhart,

368 pages $21.95 TP
ISBN: 0670855049
Book Review
Magically Real
by Janet McNaughton
JANE URQUHART's 'Away' is a complex layering of ideas about emotions and emotions about ideas. If that sounds too intellectual, 'Away' is also one of those novels that moves in and takes over your life.
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Fresh Girls & Other Stories
by Evelyn Lau,

pages $20 TC
ISBN: 0002240157
The Golden Ghetto
168 pages $14.95
ISBN: 088878340X
Book Review
Erotic Out-Takes
by Diane Schoemperlen
Until recently the vast majority of literature dealing with sex was written by men, and women's sexual experiences, feelings, and fantasies were filtered through the male perspective.
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Interviews
The Plot of Your Life
by Stephen Stamp
For Joan Barfoot, you don't have to have blood on the snow to be a great writer.
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Prose/Poetry
A Watery Part of the World
by Linda Svendsen
In July I visit my mother and we drive directly from the bus station to a car wash, even though her Dodge shines. She likes the slow tracks engaging the wheels, the car in neutral, the thought of hot carnauba wax.
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Prose/Poetry
How Do You Write a Life?
by Mike Dormuth
For best results: Fold ingredients on a soft, shallow mattress with silk sheets. Add: sweet words, pants of desire, sighs of expectation. Do this with a soft touch until batter is heated.
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Prose/Poetry
Laundry and Movies
by Chantel Lavoie
Tangled women hang laundry on lines that join their houses.
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Profiles
A Flair for Fiction
by Malcolm Page
Linda Svendsen's intense, understated stories are making a lot of waves.
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Van de Graaff Days
by Ven Begamudre,

272 pages $14.95 PT
ISBN: 0889821267
Drowning in Darkness A Novel
by Peter Oliva,

179 pages $14.95 TP
ISBN: 0920953514
If I Knew I'd Tell You A Novel
by Carol Malyon,

160 pages $14.5 TC
ISBN: 1551280035
Minus Time A Novel
by Catherine Bush,

352 pages $24.95 TC
ISBN: 1562828819
First Novels
First Novels - The Right Stuff
by Gary Draper
Despite some longueurs, this is a gentle novel with vivid settings, a charming central character, and just the right ending.
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Official Kids' Book of Baseball
by G. P. Jordan,

pages $12.95 TP
ISBN: 0394223950
The Ferryboat Ride
by Robert Perry, Greta Guzek,

32 pages $15.95 CT
ISBN: 0889711550
The Snoring Log Mystery Wilderness Adventures of a Young Naturalist
by Todd Lee, Jim Brennan,

96 pages $10.95 TP
ISBN: 0919591760
The Fabulous Chocolate Chip Cookie Machine
by Michelle Illiatovitch, Jackie Garlick,

24 pages $7.95 CT
ISBN: 0920259464
The Bead Pot
by Thelma Poirier, Nona Foster,

40 pages $9.95 TC
ISBN: 092182730X
Come to Your Senses
by Milan Tytla, Chum McLeod,

96 pages $9.95 TP
ISBN: 1550372920
First Novels
Children's Books - All at Once
by Robert Priest
I remember with awe the day my partner brought home two great piles of oddly shaped hardcovers from the local library. Quickly I learned picture-books are great connectors.
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Diana My Autobiography
by Kevin Major,

144 pages $12.95 MM
ISBN: 038525413X
Daniel's Story
by Carol Matas,

144 pages $16.95 TC
ISBN: 0590469207
The Prism Moon
by Martine Bates,

168 pages $9.95 TP
ISBN: 0889950954
Skateway to Freedom
by Ann Alma,

160 pages $5.95 TP
ISBN: 0920501893
Suspicion Island
by Jeni Mayer,

176 pages $7 CT
ISBN: 1895449006
Laws of Emotion
by Alison Lohans,

208 pages $9.95 CT
ISBN: 1895449073
Yoseio No Tsuki (The Hunter's Moon)
by O. R. Meringu, Akemi Itsuji,

271 pages $0 TC
ISBN: 406207463X
First Novels
Books for Young Adults - Roads to Maturity
by Pat Barclay
For each protagonist in this group of novels for young adults, facing up to a challenge is as necessary as breathing. Coming to grips with a challenge means passing another milestone along the road to maturity. It's a matter of life and death.
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Field Notes
Field Notes - A Woodcock Legacy
by George Galt
You don't have to read far into George Woodcock's voluminous writings - more than 100 titles to date - to discover that wherever his powerful intellect roams it is accompanied by a highly developed sense of moral purpose.
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Field Notes
Field Notes - My Day with Maud
by Gloria Hildebrant
Like pilgrims of another age, they come on foot seeking proximity, but on this summer's day in Norval, there is neither cafe nor tavern nor church to offer rest to the weary followers of Maud.
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George Fetherling
Last Words - Words for Women
by Alec McEwen
Although a woman may suffer no stigma nowadays if she lives unmarried with a man, the choice of a word to describe that relationship may indicate some degree of disapproval.
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Pierre
by Marie-Claire Blais,

208 pages $12.95 TC
ISBN: 2890523624
Brief Reviews
Brief Reviews - Fiction
by Keith Nickson
Blais's compelling first-person narrative puts the reader deep inside Pierre's twisted personality. He's a garrulous 16-year-old American, full of venom for the middle-class ways of his parents and sisters.
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In a Gilded Cage American Heiresses Who Married British Aristocrats
by Marian Fowler,

Saint Martin's Press, Incorporated
352 pages $24.95 TC
ISBN: 0312112890
Brief Reviews
Brief Reviews - Non-fiction
by Laura Paquet
Fowler has a great deal of fun comparing the excesses of the American new rich with the dignified, stodgy lifestyles of their old-money compatriots. She skilfully portrays a small, tightly knit society where all the players knew each other.
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Thank Your Mother for the Rabbits
by John Mills,

272 pages $14.95 TP
ISBN: 0889841608
Brief Reviews
Brief Reviews - Non-fiction
by Donna Dunlop
The title of this book was one of his father's phrases, and through that loophole of whimsy the author seems to have escaped more than once.
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Peacekeeper The Road to Sarajevo
by Lewis Mackenzie, Lewis MacKenzie,

pages $7.99 MM
ISBN: 0006380492
Brief Reviews
Brief Reviews - Non-fiction
by Desmond Morton
MacKenzie writes with pride of the international team of peacekeepers who shared his ordeal and accepted his risk-taking style. The light in this dark book is the courage of men and women in soldiers' uniforms, doing their humanitarian best.
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Brink Reality Canadian Documentary
by Peter Steven,

pages $19.95 PT
ISBN: 0921284683
Brief Reviews
Brief Reviews - Non-fiction
by Maggie Helwig
Anyone interested in the political implications of documentary will find useful material here; those looking for more examination of documentary aesthetic - or even the politics of documentary aesthetic -may be a hit disappointed.
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Post-National Arguments The Politics of the Anglophone-Canadian Novel Since 1967
by Frank Davey,

277 pages $45 TC
ISBN: 0802027857
Brief Reviews
Brief Reviews - Non-fiction
by Daniel Jones
Davey's argument is compelling, but frustrating. He refuses to make clear his own politics. He uses the rhetoric of Marxism and nationalism (the book is dedicated to Robin Mathews), but clearly embraces neither.
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Canadian Political Babble A Cynic's Dictionary of Political Jargon
by David Olive,

pages $18.95 TC
ISBN: 0471640786
Brief Reviews
Brief Reviews - Non-fiction
by Allan Levine
Olive's dictionary is a lot of fun. It should provide the press gallery and political junkies everywhere with hours of entertainment.
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Report on the 2nd Half of the Twentieth Century
by Ken Norris,

96 pages $1.5 TP
ISBN: 0916696057
The Unsaid
by Phil Hall,

pages $10.95 TP
ISBN: 0919626602
The Intimate Alphabet
by Kathleen McHale,

pages $10.95 PF
ISBN: 0920953492
Got No Flag at All
by Michael Holmes,

80 pages $12 TP
ISBN: 1550221620
Riding the Northern Range Poems from the Last Best West
by Ted Stone,

pages $12.95 TC
ISBN: 1551050552
Brief Reviews
Brief Reviews - Poetry
by Maurice Mierau
Why is it that the apparently "lowbrow" writers get to use hackneyed forms, cliche-ridden language, and shop-worn subjects, and still produce good work sometimes?
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Imperfect Moments
by Candis Graham,

176 pages $14.95 TP
ISBN: 0919591477
Brief Reviews
Brief Reviews - Fiction
by Kathleen Byrne
Graham is unquestionably sincere, but sincerity alone does not produce art; and where, as here, the combative element jostles with the imaginative, it is regrettably the imaginative that loses out.
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A Vuelo de Pajaro Miniantologia Personal
by Jorge Etcheverry,

pages $0 TC
ISBN: 1894019482
Brief Reviews
Brief Reviews - Fiction
by Virginia Beaton
Few of the authors work within the confines of exposition and plot, and unless the reader is drawn in by the sweep of language and the occasional outbursts of violence, eroticism, or lyricism, such work can mystify.
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Affair with the Moon
by David Gilmour,

pages $18.5 TC
ISBN: 0394223608
Brief Reviews
Brief Reviews - Fiction
by John Doyle
Anyone with any knowledge of the Toronto arts and media community will probably find resemblances between some characters and real people, but the resemblances are as vague and superficial as the book's meaning.
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At Large
At Large - Incorrect Again
by Michael Coren
Damn it, I want to be a contemporary novelist. I want to be one of those clever young people who write a first novel and present it to a grateful and artistically esurient world.
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Douglas Fetherling
Douglas Fetherling
by Douglas Fetherling
When colleagues gather together a book (or sometimes, a special issue of a journal) to honour a writer or scholar on retirement or on a particularly important birthday, the object that results is called a Festschrift.
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First Novel Award
Student Writing Awards
You kept those stories and poems coming, from every corner of the country and most of its universities and community colleges, and year three of the contest was just as successful as the first two.
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