The Tinsmith

Tim Bowling is a favourite Canadian author whose father was a Frazer
River salmon fisherman in Ladner, BC. Lacking an aptitude for his
father's dying profession he moved to Edmonton, Alberta a province
without a coastline. Naturally he writes often about fishing but this
time round he has chosen the Battle of Antietam during the American
Civil War as the setting for his novel about an army surgeon.

Equally at home in poetry or prose I have yet to read a book of his I
didn't like. Although the subject of this book is rather grisly it is no
exception. One is engaged from the first pages feeling the exhaustion of
the surgeon at his desperate business days on end without rest. Part II
returns us to Bowling's home turf on the Fraser.

The doctor's life is intertwined with that of a white slave he met
during the war. The progeny of inter-racial couplings are often white in
colour but to racists the taint of their African heritage is obvious.
The book is not a polemic against slavery but the author's sentiments
are obvious. To the salmon fishermen of the Fraser any competition is
frowned upon, the hint that that competitor may be black condemns him.

All Souls

All Souls: A Family Story from Southie
Michael Patrick MacDonald

One maintains fond memories of home, even if it was one of the worst slums in America. Growing up in a stable farming community in rural Nova Scotia I have no grasp of what it would mean to  be robbed on the way to the store or fear to go out at night. To be white in a black slum and victimized because one was different. My first real exposure to such concepts was reading Lethem’s Fortress of Solitude. The relief that came from moving into an Irish-American Neighbourhood. To be incensed when racial integration saw those same Blacks forcibly bussed into your neighbourhood.

Poverty, substandard housing, single-parent families, lack of education, alcoholism, drugs, ill-health, malnutrition, crime, gangs; beatings, rape, murder, gang warfare, robbery. Growing up with these as an everyday experience would certainly influence one’s perspective and value system. That such conditions exist offends my sensibilities. MacDonald writes of shoplifting, grifting, thieving as a means of survival not as criminal activity.

Have you ever gotten the feeling while you were reading a book, this starts to feel like something I’ve read before. When I searched back through my Library database I finally came to the realization that I read this book in paperback when it came out in 1999. Can I be forgiven for forgetting after a decade and a half? It was a good read then and it still is. Just don’t expect happy endings.

A March of Kings

An entire entitled generation has grown up having been taught that self-expression trumpeted learning the disciplines of spelling and grammar. Compound this with the shorthand and jargon of texting and instant messaging and one has an entire generation that wonder what grammarians such as myself are carping about. Book two is an improvement over Book one of this series but it still contains many glaring clunkers. When the aim is to create a suspension of disbelief awkward speech patterns and expressions jank the reader away from the fantasy world and back to reality. Although the storyline is moderately interesting the execution is lacking. I won’t be investing in books 3-10.

A Quest of Heroes

A Quest of Heroes
Book # 1 in the Sorcerer's Ring
by Morgan Rice

I begin to feel I sound like a broken record. In this age of e-Books
doesn't anyone edit their text? This author has apparently written at
least 22 books, surely by now she could afford an editor. This is a
decent fantasy novel marred by awkward constructions, missing or doubled
words, and homonym errors as in flower/flour. In this electronic age we
have become lulled into accepting text errors in newspapers and other
print media but when one starts encountering them at the rate of one per
page in a book it detracts from the reading experience. In spite of this
caveat this is an engaging read. I have book two queued up and ready to
read. One can only hope it is an improvement. A ten-book series seems
quite a challenge. Whether or not I read beyond book two is dependent on
the quality of the editing in that book.

Forever Mine

This young adult novel was offered free. I wasn't long in discovering
that it is aimed at a female audience. In a giddy high school romance
novel girls rate their guy's kissing abilities, their arousal states,
and even the size of their 'equipment'. Girls it would seem are as
guilty of sleeping around as the guys. Much of it reads like the
giggling gossip that goes on in a girl's locker room or on their cell
phones. A lot of the storyline is fueled by raging youthful hormones,
anxieties, and jealousies. The book confronts two serious issues. The
problems lying and deception can get you into and can a male and female
have a close relationship that is not sexual in nature. I generally
finished reading what I've started sooner or later but this one seemed
heavy going. If this is your thing go for it. Is it necessary to use
profanity to seem hip these days?