The Last Light of the Sun

Guy Gabriel Kay writes CBC Radio plays but his books are pure fantasy with the occasional poetry chapbook thrown in. The arrival of a new volume is always cause for rejoicing particularly since this writer is Canadian through and through with his roots in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Kay is one of those rare creatures these days, a fantasy writer who owes few debts to Tolkien. At the moment I’m actually behind by one book in my reading.

Kay’s Medieval Worlds are inhabited by fighting men, Norselike longboats, witches, seers, fairies, castles, and horsemen. His characters are well developed revealing their inner thoughts, their motivations and their weaknesses. These men and woman are a product of the harsh environments they inhabit. Some may be overly ambitious and cruel but few could be described as truly evil. Also though some exhibit special abilities the plots are driven by action and character, not magic.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Not being retired or unemployed I’ve read only 100 of the 600+ pages of this book and the last seven. May I confess that when I’m wrong, I’m wrong?

BEWARE OF PLOT SPOILER COMING UP

I was fully expecting that Joanne Rowling would kill off her hero in this her final opus in this series. This book is not literature for young children. Or rather I would hope that young children would find the subject matter disturbing. I still believe in the possibility of the innocence of youth or I’d like to. This being my first copy of Harry Potter I’ve read in hard cover binding I’m not accustomed to the sprained wrist syndrome.

I don’t expect posterity to declare Harry Potter great literature; in fact I think literary historians are going to asking, “What was all the fuss about?” Nevertheless I will admit to being attracted as a moth to a candle. It would seem that little has changed in English Grammar Schools since the time of Dickens and Sir Walter Scott. This book breaks the mould of the first three though as usual it begins with Harry at home at Number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging in Surrey; moves to the Burrow; and progresses from there. This time, however the triumvirate do not move immediately to Hogwarts.

Wesley McNair.doc

Wesley McNair is an American Poet who fits the mould of a poet who supports his avocation by earning a living as an academic. Unlike so many others he has retained his contact with the agrarian roots that spawned him. The Town of No & My Brother Running is set in his native Maine and his subject matter reflects that bucolic background. This is not to say that his poems lack wit or sophistication; but that they are evocative of country living. In large part I appreciate these poems because they evoke my own childhood memories of growing up in rural Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia.