Book Buzz

A JOURNEY THROUGH THE REALM OF VANISHING CULTURES

WADE DAVIS

Ethnobotanist and anthropologist Davis has traveled the world for 25 years to study the myriad ways indigenous people live in physical and spiritual intimacy with the natural world. Though listed as a book of photographs, LIGHT is much more. The pictures are amazing but the writing is a synthesis of many of the cultures he has explored. A beautiful, stunning book that is ultimately somber and sorrowful for it is describing “vanishing cultures.” Davis wrote that genocide, the deliberate and systematic extermination of a racial,  or cultural group is abhorred in modern times but ethoncide the systematic destruction of an ethnic culture in many ways is accepted. While discussing Andean culture of South America he wrote how nutritionally important the coco leaf contributing large quantities calcium and other minerals that were not traditionally found in their diet. Gems like this are found throught the book. Much of what he writes is the spirituality of the culture. Davis reflects on the effects of colonialism in these areas and laments the uncertain fate of groups like the Penan of Borneo, the nomads of Kenya and the Inuit in Canada is Russia.

An excellent read and an excellent collection of photographs.

MARGARET ATWOOD

one word: DISAPPOINTING. Much to my surprise and dismay. I love Atwood’s writing. What got me with this book is that it did not live up to it’s hype. The hype being that FLOOD starts off where Oryx and Crake left off. I kept waiting for that to happen. It does around page 350. Before that she is exploring the life of a couple of characters before the apocalypse. All very interesting. All superbly written. I am likely the only one in all of Canada who was left embittered by this novel. Be for warned. I wish I had been. I could have enjoyed it more.

MARGARET ATWOOD

Since Atwood’s newest novel starts where ORYX ends, I thought I would refreshen my mind by reading this excellent saga. Wow what a book. No punches held. Not post- apocalypse, this novel tackles the devastation from before and during as well as post. Snowman is the last human left alive after an engineered virus designed by Crake is dispatched to the populous.  Crake spared Snowman to take care of his new species: a humanoid creation made by splicing different DNA.

It is a dark look at our future. It reminds me of the song (first line ) I Can Ride My Bike with No Handlebars. Starts off as simple braging but graduates into a megalomaniac ready to destroy the world.

I can hardly wait to read The YEAR of the FLOOD.

ROB HARASYMCHUK

Dingo parents his sister and his special needs brother since the death of their parents. But in many ways this loss had happened years ago: the father had withdrawen into alcohol, the mother, depression and mental illness. His need to support his family leads him into temptation and activities outside of what is legal. What starts as a drama turns into a thriller when Dingo last heist is a farm chemicals plant. Set in Saskatchewan and Saskatoon Dingo is a good read.

INDRA SINHA

ANIMAL’S tells the tragic story of the Bhopal incident of 1984 and it’s people who twenty years later are still fighting for justice and reparation from the Kampani (Union Carbide). Animal has never known a world that has not been filled with poison. His parent were both killed the night of the gas leak “drowning in their own blood.” His spine was was twisted so that he is forced to walk on all fours, his ass higher than his head. He was raised by Ma Franci,a French nun, who’s mind was distorted that night of poison so she forgot all languages except her mother tongue, French. 

There are places where the book drags but it is still an excellent read with an excellent theme. A must read.

SAM METCALFE

A zookeeper learning about love and life as well as taking care of the animals that he is studying. As so many books come down to a major theme is family. Its worth a read.

ELIZABETH HAY

Late Nights starts when a man hears a voice on the radio and falls in love. Set in 1970s Yellowknife, it centres around the loves, rivalries, and affairs of a small and unlikely group who work at the local CBC radio station. One summer they embark on a canoe trip that takes them into the arctic wilderness, following in the footsteps of the legendary Englishman John Hornby, who starved to death in the Barrens in 1927. The wilderness becomes a very engaging character. It makes me think of Atwood’s Survival. Excellent read.

NALO HOPKINSON

 Brown Girl is a fascinating combination of Caribbean voodoo and speculative fiction. It takes place in inner city Toronto after the wealthy have given up on and fled the inner city.  The core has no government, law enforcement, sewage or services of any kind. Survivors have gone back to bartering and surviving the best they can. The top dogs of human society prey on those less fortunate. 

Mamie is a healer who uses both herbs and spirits to heal. She is desperately instructing her grand-daughter Ti-Jeanne so she can take over when Mamie is no longer able to continue with her healing work.

This was one of the books for CBC’s Canada Reads 08. Well worth the time. 

NIKKI TATE  Dear Nikki  Loved Trouble on Tarragon Island. I had no idea that it was an issue book. For some reason I had thought it would be a mystery and for youth of a bit younger age than what it was. I loved the writer’s group and the various forms of writing that were accepted. Using the letters to the editor as a way to voice different opinions was great. I’m looking forward to reading more of your books. Now that I’m not a  teacher-librarian I have not been reading as many books for young adults as I read before. But I have read some interesting books. (see http://bevd.edublogs.org/ ) While reading your great book I frequently thought of my sister Linda who is a vibrant, spirited sixty and has been a Nana for 4 years now. From Saskatchewan, Linda found home and community in the woods, issues and people of the Vancouver and Islands area.  For a long time Linda thought she would never become a grandparent. Her youngest son who loves kids (Zane Micah Wilcox a rising star on the Saskatoon pottery scene) decided not to have children with his spouse. Her eldest son, a curmudgeon at 18, was never interested in kids but with his spouse decided to have one child. Linda has been an ecstatic granny ever since.  Linda has been an active environmentalist for decades, participating in many civil disobedience protests. With a peace group in Helena, Montana (she lived there with a husband for a few years) she did a protest that had all the women lying nude in the snow spelling PEACE with their bodies. The photo was made into posters and t-shirts. She wasn’t a granny at the time but I don’t doubt that there would have grannies in the group. There was one summer that Linda was mad at Zane for having sat around the whole summer. She complained to us, “He could have done something useful like go up to Clayoquot Sound and get arrested.” We laughed thinking that there are not many mothers who would be wishing that there twenty something sons were going out getting arrested! Micah says that he misses you and hopes that you will once again come and visit. Certainly if you are ever out this way again you are most welcome! BRIAN