New to me - this week's books

On my way to the BookCrossing meetup last night, I dropped by a used book store... surprise!

At Renaissance Books in New Westminster, BC, I found - mostly mysteries:

Surfeit of Lampreys by Ngaio Marsh
Nemesis by Jo Nesbø
The Art of Murder by José Carlos Somoza
The Summer Snow by Rebecca Pawel

and these - both history:

One Gal's Army by Sue Ward
She was in the Canadian Women's Army Corps in WW II.

The Last Great Sea: A Voyage through the Human and Natural History of the North Pacific Ocean by Terry Glavin

And at Seconds! the Burnaby/New Westminster BookCrossing Meetup, held at Waves on Columbia Street in New Westminster, I picked up:

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

I know Little Brother is on-line free, but let's face it, I still do prefer to hold a book in my hands. (Although again last night we BookCrossers were looking at e-readers. I still like the Kobo the best, available at Chapters/Indigo/Coles.)

Looking forward to reading all my 'new to me' books soon. I've already started the Ngaio Marsh mystery. This is one it seems I never read.

Books as Presents

So far, for seasonal presents, I've bought only two new books - if you don't count the ones I've got for myself (and I don't).

The first was Charlotte Gray's Gold Diggers: Striking it Rich in the Klondike (HarperCollins Canada, 2010). There was a nice review in the Yukon News by Michael Gates, 24 September 2010, or pick up a copy of the latest Canada's History magazine, Dec 2010-Jan 2010. (Yes, that's the one previously known as The Beaver. It's on newstands now.) I always enjoy Charlotte Gray's writing; I'm sure my friend will too.

The other was Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel, about a young boy who learns to live with, and care about, a baby chimp as his 'brother'. (Harper Collins Publishers Ltd., 2010). From 15 December, 2010 here's an interview at the author's blog, reprinted from A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust. I hope the young man who'd getting this book will enjoy it as I did, although his perspective on it will likely be a lot different than mine.

Winter Wonderland - The Blog Carolling Tradition

The FootnoteMaven's Blog Caroling Tradition.

I'm out carolling, carolling on this cold winter night with many of the ancestors and other rellies - the AXNERS, BROSTRÖMS, CARMICHAELS, DRUMMONDS, ERIKSSENS, GILCHRISTS, JOHANSONS, LÖFHOLMS, IRWINS, ROGERS, RYDBERGS, SAGGERS, SCOTTS, WHITES, and ZETTERBERGS and some I don't yet recognize. (Good thing I brought my netbook. Even while we're singing, I'm asking some questions and making notes.)

This special Carolling Night is now a GeneaBloggers tradition. Oh, dear, am I going to have to explain blogging to the great greats? (In antique Swedish or Gaelic??? Oh, my!) Even most of the 'old' songs we sing now aren't familiar to the family; this one was only written in the 1930s. But so far everyone is singing something and smiling, and admiring all the lights, so we're all good.

And, we'll share cocoa and Nanaimo bars later. Pretty sure the treats won't need any long explanations, but someone might want a recipe.

Right now we're singing one of my very favourite songs, "Winter Wonderland" by composer Felix Barnard and lyricist Richard B. Smith. While some of you know this has a bit of romance in it for me, snow where I live in the balmy southwest of British Columbia is an experience in itself, although there's tons on the mountains. Most days that's where I think it belongs, but I must admit once in a while it feels great to be out in the almost dark walking and singing while catching snowflakes in my mittens.

"When it snows, ain't it thrilling,
Though your nose gets a chilling
We'll frolic and play, the Eskimo way,
Walking in a winter wonderland." Full lyrics here.

Listen for us after the 15th of December when we'll be carolling at FootnoteMaven's place where she's hosting the FootnoteMaven Blog Caroling Tradition.

In the meantime, here's Cyndi Lauper singing "Winter Wonderland".

Cyndi Lauper, apparently performing on a Martha Stewart programme, uploaded by GilbertKiper at youtube.com, 15 Jun 2006.

Women's History Book Events coming up...

This should be a good week for reading and discussing women's history and women's issues.

There's the Women's History Network of BC (WHN/BC) conference this afternoon in Victoria to start. Mahinder Manhas will be there to discuss and read from her new book, Zhindagee, Selected stories of our first daughters, the history of Asian Indian first daughters in British Columbia, Canada from 1920-1950. I am really looking forward to hearing her. Manhas was one of the participants in the WHN/BC Women's History Fair in Vancouver this year and showed some of her photographs then. (To purchase the book, contact her through WHN/BC. Details on the website.)

On Monday evening, at the History Joy Kogawa House in Vancouver, there's the launch of the new book, Walk Myself Home, edited by Andrea Routley. This is an anthology of prose, poetry and non-fiction on the theme of violence against women. A number of authors will be there to read and discuss the book.

Then on Tuesday evening, early over dinner, Herstory Cafe is hosting a discussion of Jean Barman's book, Maria Mahoi of the Islands. That's at the Rhizome Cafe, one of my favourite Vancouver spots.

And what am I reading this weekend in sunny (I hope!) Victoria? Well, I'm re-reading Maria Mahoi, of course, but also a dystopian science fiction book, The Olive Readers, by Christine Aziz. It's not new - this was published in 2005 as the winner in a 'How to Get Published' competition (See Pan Macmillan for more about the book). It's had mixed reviews, I think, but so far, for me, it's very good. And, coming over to Vancouver Island I finished a novel mystery, The Face on the Wall by Jane Langton - one of her Homer Kelly books. (And I know just the person who'll want to read this next!)

And, of course, I'm hoping there will be time for bookstore hopping in sunny Sidney on Vancouver Island - Sidney's the Booktown of Canada!

Herstory Cafe Book Club - Maria Mahoi - Dec 7 2010

Maria Mahoi of the Islands, by Jean Barman. Book Cover. (Vancouver, BC: Transmontanus, New Star Books, 2004).

Another book event coming up December 7th, 2010 - with the Herstory Cafe Book Club at the Rhizome Cafe, 317 Broadway in Vancouver. Note the time - 5 to 6:30 pm.

Food and drink available at the Rhizome (and it's great! I recommend the macaroni and cheese or the perogis, and the ginger beer.)

Read Maria Mahoi of the Islands by Jean Barman ahead of time and discuss it in a friendly atmosphere. Born to a Hawaiian father and a First Nations mother, Maria (pronounced Ma-rye-ah) lived her entire life on the Gulf Island of British Columbia's southwest coast. This book is widely available at local libraries.

Discussion Questions:

1. Jean Barman explains how "hybridity": the intermingling of racial backgrounds - was an integral part of Maria Mahoi's lifestory. How is hybridity important to Maria, her descendents and to the history of BC and of Canada?

2. Several times throughout the book, the author notes that being of hybrid descent was "tougher" for boys/men than girls/women. How did Maria, George Fisher, and the Douglas and Fisher children deal differently with their racial histories?

3. Jean Barman notes that every life has an important history to tell, and that all of us are "agents of change". What does Maria's life story tell us about larger themes in Canadian history? In the history of women? Why is it so important to remember and honour her life?

4. Discuss the survival skills Maria developed throughout her life. How did she and her family survive despite living so close to the economic and social margins?

This Weekend's Reads - lots more history

What's to read this weekend?

The Man Game by Lee Henderson - The publisher, Penguin, describes the book thus: "On a recent Vancouver Sunday afternoon, a young man stumbles upon a secret sport invented more than a century before, at the birth of his city. Thus begins The Man Game, Lee Henderson’s epic tale of loved requited and not, that crosses the contemporary and historical in an extravagant, anarchistic retelling of the early days of a pioneer town on the edge of the known world." ("Loved" ?? Oh, never mind...)

Several of my friends loved this book - one not! I'll keep an open mind, I hope.

From The Ampersand, and animator Isaac King, here's a graphic look at 'How to play the Man Game'.

The Nature of Gold: An Environmental History of the Klondike Gold Rush by Kathryn Morse. I'm surprised in a way that I haven't read this already, but I'm looking forward to learning more about Morse's research and her views on 'the Klondike' since this gold rush in the 1890s is a touchstone in Canadian history, particularly in my home city, Vancouver. The Nature of Gold had good reviews when it was first published in 2003. Here's one by Duane Smith of Fort Lewis College, Colorado in the Oregon Historical Quarterly, Summer 2004, 105:2.

And my 'bus book' for the next couple of days? On Potato Mountain: A Chilcotin Mystery by Bruce Fraser - murder and mayhem in British Columbia's Cariboo country. Sounds interesting - and 10% of the books proceeds go to the Access Pro Bono Society of BC which provides free legal clinics around the province. Here's an article about this new book and its author from the Williams Lake Tribune, 24 September 2010.

Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris. just published in paperback, would have been my 'bus book' but I couldn't wait that long. Harper Connelly, the main character, as a child was struck by lightening. From then on, she could sense the dead around her, and 'see' their last moments as they did.

Good read - although there are an awful lot of coincidences - and much worse, now I feel this must be the last in this Harper Connelly mystery series. What a shame! (It must be the fault of those pesky vampires. Garlic anyone?)

One thing though is that apparently a Harper Connelly series will air on CBS next year.

This weekend's reading...

A Sarah Utter button from my collection. So true! www.buyolympia.com

Saving for this weekend's reading -

The Beauty of the Beasts by Ralph Helfer (Tales of Hollywood's Wild Animal Stars).
The Cavalier in the Yellow Doublet by Arturo Perez-Reverte (one of my very favourite writers).
Dead Girls are Easy by Terri Garey

and

A Thoroughly Wicked Woman by Betty Keller (Halfmoon Bay, BC, Canada: Caitlin Press, 2010). This is based on the murder of Thomas Jackson in Vancouver in 1905. His wife, Theresa, his mother in law, Esther Jones, even their two boarders were suspected. Betty Keller is a well known author from British Columbia's Sunshine Coast.

Tonight I'm reading the latest Room Magazine - the Past and Present Issue.

And my 'bus book' this week has been a re-read, Glyphs and Gallows: The Rock Art of Clo-oose and the Wreck of the John Bright by Peter Johnson (Surrey, BC, Canada: Heritage House Publishing Ltd., 1999). A good read - even second time round.