Touring Nova Scotia - Shore Club in Hubbards

On Friday we went to the Shore Club. It is located in Hubbards, Nova Scotia and is considered 'the last of the GREAT Dance Halls!'. It was built in 1946 by Roy Harnish and continues to be a family run business today. It started out as a place for Lobster Dinners and then dance the night away and 60 years later, that tradition continues.

Inside the Shore Club

Every Saturday during the summer you can go and enjoy a traditional lobster supper. It draws crowds from all over. Then, you can stay and enjoy that nights band if you so choose.

The stairs leading into the Shore Club. (Unfortunately I couldn't get far enough back to get the whole effect.)

From the website:

For a taste of true Maritime tradition—great food and fun—The Shore Club in Hubbards has served up the best in Nova Scotia hospitality for more than 65 years.

Known for its fabulous Lobster Suppers and as Nova Scotia’s Last Great Dance Hall, The Shore Club dishes out scrumptious seafood and live entertainment that draws thousands of visitors and loyal patrons, who yearn for a hearty meal and fun dance floor music.

On the night we were there, it was the one karaoke show of the year. We knew the host, so it was the event we chose to attend and the first time I had been there. The place has a great atmosphere and a look to it that really captures the sea-faring coast and history of this province. There were nets on the ceiling and great artwork everywhere. If I had planned this post ahead of time I would have taken more pictures. Next time!

The Guy singing

If you view the history on the website, though, you will find that the Shore Club's history goes back even further. It involves a post that the Harnish family bought from the US frigate Chesapeake. The pot was 100 years old when it was cleaned up and used for the first lobster supper down on a beach in Hubbards. As the weather was constantly affecting things, though, the club was eventually built so they could move things inside. You can read an more in-depth history here.

All in all, a great taste of Nova Scotia History...

Red Sky at Night by Vernon Oickle

Red Sky at Night by Vernon Oickle

Completion Date: March 6, 2012
Reason for Reading: Fun!

Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning; red sky at night, sailor''s delight." Atlantic Canadian tradition holds that such warnings be taken seriously. And with good reason; lives often hang in the balance. Sailors aren't alone in seeing in the world a connectedness that is often lost in the modern world. In Atlantic Canada, thankfully such beliefs still play a role in everyday life. This is a collection of many of those age-old beliefs from the region's best and most eclectic compiler of folklore. 

We also get well known Atlantic Canadians to weigh in with some of their superstitions. Gemini award winning actor and writer and star of the hit comedy This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Cathy Jones recalls many of the “old sayings" from her childhood. Author Allan Lynch remembers home remedies administered by his parents, aunts and grandparents. Former NHLer Glen Murray talks about the superstitions of the game. And singer/songwriters Dave Gunning, Joel Plaskett, Terry Kelly and Rita MacNeil all admit to being just a little bit superstitious. From Nancy Regan, meteorologist Peter Coade, movie reviewer Richard Crouse, and Bluenose II Captain Philip Watson, they are all here.

This book was a lot of fun! It was a great representation of the culture of this area. I enjoyed the experience and sharing random quotes with others. My big beef, though, is the editing. It was terrible. There were typos, sentences that did not make sense, etc. This is a library copy and someone along the way crossed out words that shouldn't be there and added in others. So, I was a bit disappointed, but I am so happy to have read it and strongly recommend it to others.

Instead of rambling I am just going to share some of the things from the book.

One crow sorrow

Two crows joy

Three crows letter (or girl)

Four crows a boy

Five crows silver

Six crows gold

Seven crows a secret, yet to be told.

Eight crows for a wish.

Nine crows for a kiss.

Ten crows for a time of joyous bliss. 

(Page 19)

• It is also said that February  29 is the only time of the year when it is permitted for a woman to propose marriage to a man. It is bad luck for the man to say no. (Page 26)

I was born on a Wednesday and apparently the day of the week you are born determines the kind of person you are. That means:

Blue brings you good luck.

You tend to get along well with other people.

You do not like to argue.

(Page 27)

• It is unlucky to get dressed by putting on your shirt with the left arm first. This left first holds true for pants and shoes. Always start with the right side of your body to ensure that you have a good day. (Page 36)
• Put a hand in front of your month when sneezing. Your soul may escape otherwise. (Page 37)
• If your left ear itches, it is said that someone is saying something bad about you. Conversely, if the right ear itches, then it is believed that someone is saying something good about you. (Page 43)
• If you cannot make a good fire, you will not get a good husband. (Page 46)
• Two lovers will never agree after their marriage if both wipe their faces on the same towel. (Page 57)

Want to hear more? Pick-up a copy of the book and be prepared to be entertained!

What are some superstitions that you believe in or remember hearing about over and over again?


I didn't really think I was all that superstitious, but when my aunt got married they hung the rosary on the clothesline to improve the chance of no rain. (It started off the day raining but stopped for the wedding. According to this book it is more common in Cape Breton.) When we were kids we always used to say how stepping on a crack (in the side walk) would break your mothers back. And, how many people consider a penny that you pick up on the ground as lucky? Not to mention the saying the title of the book comes from: 'Red Sky at Night, sailors delight. Read sky in the morning, sailors take warning'. It is fun to think about!

Literary Novels from my Stacks

Wendy, at Caribousmom, wrote a post a couple days ago about themed reading. She tends to collect literary prize winners and then they sit on her TBR pile. I always pay particular attention to the Canadian Award Winners. In November she is planning to read the Giller winners/nominess that she owns and in December the Governor General Awards. My reading tends to slow down near the end of the year, but should I be able to stick with it, I thought maybe I would join in. These are the books I have on my TBR pile that would fit:

Giller Awards:

(I only went with winners & the short list. If I included long-list we could be here for a while.)
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
The Piano Man's Daughter by Timothy Findley
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
The Cure for Death by Lightening by Gail Anderson-Dargatz
The Englishman's Boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe
Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo
A Recipe for Bees by Gail Anderson-Dargatz
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston
A Good House by Bonnie Burnard
Pilgrim by Timothy Findley
A Student of Weather by Elizabeth Hay
The Russlander by Sandra Birdsell
Martin Sloane by Michael Redhill
Stanley Park by Timothy Taylor
The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart
The Polished Hoe by Austen Clarke
The Navigator of New York by Wayne Johnston
The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by M.G. Vassanji
The Island Walkers by John Bemrose
The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald
The Time in Between by David Bergen
The Assassin's Song by M.G. Vassanji
Effigy by Alissa York
Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden
The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon
The Winter Vault by Anne Michaels

Governor General Awards:

Fiction:

(Winners and the Short List.)
The Origin of Species by Nino Ricci
Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje
The Englishman's Boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe
Nights Below Station Street by David Adam Richards
The Wars by Timothy Findley
The Little Shadows by Marina Endicott
Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen
The Last Highway by David Adams Richards
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy Findley

Non-fiction:

(These are just the winners. I will have to find the short lists because I know I own more...)
Christie Blatchford, Fifteen Days: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death from Inside the New Canadian Army
Karolyn Smardz Frost, I've Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad
Lt.-Gen. Roméo Dallaire, Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda
Pierre Berton, The Last Spike

A Day of Remembrance

For 45 minutes on Dec. 6, 1989 an enraged gunman roamed the corridors of Montreal's École Polytechnique and killed 14 women. Marc Lepine, 25, separated the men from the women and before opening fire on the classroom of female engineering students he screamed, "I hate feminists." Almost immediately, the Montreal Massacre became a galvanizing moment in which mourning turned into outrage about all violence against women.

December 6 is a day to remember the horrific events when a man took his anger out on 14 innocent women simply because of their sex. He was denied admittance into this school, but women were allowed. Every year at this time is a moment for Canadian citizens to reflect on the violence that has been inflicted on women over generations. It is important that the sacrifice of these 14 women and many others like them never be forgotten. They never did anything wrong. They were just living their life and were killed because of their gender. We must never forget that things like this happen all over the world every year.

* Geneviève Bergeron 21, civil engineering student.
* Hélène Colgan 23, mechanical engineering student.
* Nathalie Croteau 23, mechanical engineering student.
* Barbara Daigneault 22, mechanical engineering student.
* Anne-Marie Edward 21, chemical engineering student.
* Maud Haviernick, 29, materials engineering student.
* Maryse Laganière 25, budget clerk in the École Polytechnique's finance department.
* Maryse Leclair 23, materials engineering student.
* Anne-Marie Lemay 27, mechanical engineering student.
* Sonia Pelletier 23, mechanical engineering student.
* Michèle Richard 21, materials engineering student.
* Annie St-Arneault 23, mechanical engineering student.
* Annie Turcotte 21, materials engineering student.
* Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz 31, nursing student.

In 2011 it will 22 years since this horrific violence took place. They were all so young. Many younger than I am now. Just imagine what contributions they could have made to society if they had only been given a chance. Imagine what all women who are being killed, raped, beaten, and oppressed would be capable of if only given a chance.

Spitfire Women of World War II by Giles Whittell

Spitfire Women of World War II by Giles Whittell

Completion Date: February 26, 2011
Reason for Reading: Sassymonkey said I would like it, and I trust her!

The story of the unsung heroines who flew the newest, fastest, aeroplanes in World War II -- mostly in southern England where the RAF was desperately short of pilots. Why would the well-bred daughter of a New England factory-owner brave the U-boat blockades of the North Atlantic in the bitter winter of 1941? What made a South African diamond heiress give up her life of house parties and London balls to spend the war in a freezing barracks on the Solent? And why did young Margaret Frost start lying to her father during the Battle of Britain? They -- and scores of other women -- weren't allowed to fly in combat, but what they did was nearly as dangerous. Unarmed and without instruments or radios, they delivered planes for the Air Transport Auxiliary to the RAF bases from which male pilots flew into battle. At the mercy of the weather and any long-range enemy aircraft that pounced on them, fifteen of these women died, among them Amy Johnson, Britain's most famous flyer. But the survivors shared four unrepeatable years of life, adrenaline and love. The story of this 'tough bunch of babes' (in the words of one of them) has never been told properly before. The author has travelled to four continents to interview all the surviving women pilots, who came not just from the shires of England, but also from the U.S.A, Chile, Australia, Poland and Argentina. Paid GBP 6 a week, they flew up to 16 hours a day in 140 different types of aircraft, though most of them liked Spitfires the best.

Jackie Cochrane

I am so happy that I FINALLY read this book! I have to admit I had intended to review it before now when it was still fresh, but inspiration never seemed to strike. It is mainly because I had a problem with my eReader. I loved it when I bought it, but I will never read a non-fiction book on it again. As I am writing my review, I am always flipping around through the book to find little facts and I love an index. This is not something that is as important with fiction books, so I never considered it. The index for this book is really just a list of topics with no page numbers and no way to jump back to where it is discussed. It bothers me immensely, to the point where I am going to be buying a couple books in a bit and I am actually considering buying a paperback copy of this one. I should have in the first place...

Amy Johnson

Now that I have that out of the way, I loved this book. Non-fiction is actually my first love. Specifically Canadian or British history set during the World Wars. Add in a women angle and I am there with bells on! Obviously I read other things, but these are the types of books I will buy with no hesitation. This book also gets points because I actually have always had this quiet little dream of learning how to fly a plane. It probably will never happen because I have a hard enough time driving a car, but it is still there in the back of my mind. To read about these women who had such a chance was fascinating for me! Who knows, if I had lived back then I may have learned. These women may not have been flying in combat, but they were just as at risk. Many of them were improperly trained to fly the planes they were assigned to operate.

Women Pilots

The thing I liked about this book is that the author tried to put a face to every pilot. It could have been overwhelming keeping all the names straight, but I actually found it fascinating. Some of the pilots, like Amy Johnson, received more pages than others, but for the most part she made sure to give a character sketch of all the women. Some were also still alive at the time that this book was written so she could go and visit them and hear their stories firsthand. This story-telling aspect made its way to the pages, so it made the book very readable. World War II opened up many opportunities for women that had not existed before the war, but they still had to fight for every chance. It was a huge deal when they were allowed to fly Spitfires. They had previously been considered too powerful for women, but the rule was loosened a bit.

Dorothy Furey

There was so much to learn by reading this book. I was engrossed from the very beginning. Normally non-fiction books take me a bit longer to read, but this one I found almost a page-turner by the end. When I finished it, I ended up staying up really late to see how everything played out. This is a book I will definitely want to visit with again! The pictures included are just some of the women involved in the book.

Jackie Sorour

Maureen Dunlop

This was a very famous photo

The Outlander by Gil Adamson

In 1903 a mysterious, desperate young woman flees alone across the west, one quick step ahead of the law. She has just become a widow by her own hand.

Gil Adamson's extraordinary novel opens in heart-pounding mid-flight and propels the reader through a gripping road trip with a twist -- the steely outlaw in this story is a grief-struck nineteen-year-old woman. As the young widow encounters characters of all stripes -- unsavoury, wheedling, greedy, lascivious, self-reliant, and occasionally generous and trustworthy -- Adamson weds her brilliant literary style to the gripping, moving, picaresque tale of one woman's deliberate journey into the wild.

When Gil Adamson published her first two books, a volume of poetry (Primitive; 1991) and a collection of stories (Help Me, Jacques Cousteau; 1995), readers immediately recognized a unique and unusually compelling voice, one that partnered the random and the surreal with a finely tuned technical brilliance. The Outlander more than fulfills the promise of that voice.

Description from Amazon.ca

My Thoughts:

I finished this book on Saturday. As I am writing this review up, it is Sunday. If only I could do this all the time I would probably have more readers and better reviews! Unfortunately, it takes me forever to get around to review writing this year. I am still writing reviews from months ago and I doubt I will review everything that I read this year. I have to review some books, though, and this is one of the priorities. I try to read a fair amount of Canadian literature. Some I love, while some is just okay. This book falls in the love category! It's crazy popular at my library right now because it was shortlisted for the Canada Reads, but it was so worth the wait! Gil Adamson is going on to my Canadian Authors That I Love List, that's for sure!

When the novel begins we have a 19-year-old girl on the run. We are not told why or what, but we understand that something horrible has happened. She is dressed in her widows black and is so frightened that she does not even plan ahead to bring any money with her. It is only as the novel progresses that we learn anything about her. Then, you have to figure out what the lies are and what the truth is as she begins to tell her tale to the people that she meets along the way. You soon know, though, that a life on the run in Canada's wilderness is not the life she was raised for. She was raised in a good home with at least a couple servants that did all the domestic work for her and she never was taught how to survive in the wilderness on her own. You learn and adapt, though, and it is amazing how much she grows during the course of the novel.

For those that need a reminder, life in Canada's west is not ideal. During 1903 it would have been largely uninhabited and barren. When she decides to run out into the wilds, she runs the risk of dying of exposure and never running into another human being. Even now, there are large sections of the country that are not suitable for large-scale civilization, so it wouldn't be impossible for this story to be taking place now instead of a little over a hundred years before. What I am leading up to saying is that this is not a happy novel. It has happy moments, but life is hard and Adamson make sure you know it. There are moments where you honestly think nothing else horrible could happen to the main character, but it is never unbelievable. Coupled with some great secondary characters, Adamson has herself a winner here.

I strongly recommend this book! It's hard to review it, though, because you are supposed to discover the story as you go along. Even telling you her name, I think, is a spoiler! So, I am going to leave it at this and hope that you will be curious enough to discover what happened for yourself.

This, That, and The Other Thing....

I really need to come up with better titles for my posts! I probably have even used that one before, but I can't remember and I am too lazy to check.

So, my throat is still putting up a fuss, but I think I have allergies and not a cold. I love the fall, don't get me wrong, but something just drives my sinuses crazy! And, I know this, but the sore throat sort of threw me off and made me think I was getting a cold! I am actually happy to have allergies. Weird, I know, but who wants a cold at this time of the year? I want to read and read and probably clean, but I mean, who wants to clean? I just informed my DH via text-message that I have too many books. I am kind of curious what the reply will be. I do have too many books, but not overall, just to read... I feel like I should be making a big dent in Mount TBR, but I don't think it is working out so well.

Tonight I finished up a book in the Extraordinary Canadian series that Penguin Books has. I love the whole idea behind this series and have been pre-ordering the books. Two arrived in the mail this week. One on Big Bear and the other on Lester B. Pearson. Now I have to wait until March of next year for more! So, I figured I should, you know, read the ones I have already! So, I read David Adams Richards book on Lord Beaverbrook. The review will be up on Historical Tapestry once Michelle Moran's week is completed. I really think I am the biggest fangirl when it comes to this series. It is a perfect way for me to catch up with some figures from Canadian history that I am not necessarily familiar with. Yeah, I have issues, but you know that, right? And, the books are going to look so awesome all lined up in a row on my shelf... Once I have them all, of course, because you know that I will have to have them all! This is also my fourth book for that Canadian Challenge I supposedly belong to, but since I haven't actually reviewed anything yet, I am sure most people forgot I even belonged! Oh, wait, that was the fifth. Man, I am behind!

Also, don't forget to head over to Historical Tapestry for Michelle Moran week. I know people read my blog, but I haven't seen you comment (slackers), and you are missing out on a chance to win a FREE BOOK! So, go over there and comment! I supposedly comment on your blogs and I don't get free books for doing so! You do! (haha, well, maybe). Today I posted a review of The Heretic Queen, which I loved and consider one of my favourite reads of the year!

I think after I finish this I am going to review a book... So, expect another post from me today!

The Girl in Saskatoon by Sharon Butala

Canadian history and interest has always been a subject of mine that I pay a lot of attention to, so when I saw this book, I found myself curious about just who "The Girl in Saskatoon" was. It was a topic that hit national airwaves when it happened, but it was several years ago, so I had no memory of ever hearing about it before. I am on the east coast, though, so I imagine if you were on the west it is still a topic that gets mentioned from time to time and people still remember what they were doing when they found out.

In 1961, a country singer named Johnny Cash chose a beautiful young woman named Alexandra Wiwcharuk to be his “Girl in Saskatoon” and sang to her in front of a hometown crowd. A few months later she would be found brutally murdered on the banks of the Saskatchewan River. As Sharon Butala notes, “An entire city came to a stop.” Her high school friend Alex had dreamed of becoming a glamorous stewardess; she had been crowned a beauty queen in local pageants; she was about to graduate as a nurse. Her brutal killing became a touchstone moment for Saskatoon residents: years later, people could still remember exactly what they were doing when they heard the news. Why was Alex’s murder so haunting? And why did Sharon Butala return some 40 years later to reconstruct Alex’s life and search for answers?

Some said they never forgot because the victim was so lovely and innocent; others said it because the killing was so brutal (although her skull was fractured, Alex died of asphyxiation from being buried alive); still others maintained the death never left them because the killer was never found. Butala faces down the graphic horror of these events to create a stunning and lyrical portrait of a world where life appeared so much simpler, when young country girls such as Alex came to the city and dreamed their dreams of love and marriage, when life seemed filled with endless potential. The Girl in Saskatoon is, at once, an in-depth investigation of an unsolved murder, a nostalgic coming-of-age story, an intimate quest for roots, and a meditation on the nature of good and evil and the true meaning of a life. Written in Butala’s spare but eloquent style and set against the prairie landscape that inspires all her work, this unforgettable story will appeal to fans of her bestselling book The Perfection of the Morning, as well as to true-crime readers.

I have to point out, I am not much of a true crime reader. I imagine I might have overlooked this book if I didn't find it very interesting that Johnny Cash sang a song to her. It was very good marketing to put that little tidbit on the back cover. I am glad I read the book, though. It was totally new to me, as far as I can remember, so I learned a lot. It is not just a book about the murder, but about Saskatchewan and how it has changed in the last forty or so years. I have never been that far west, but I still found the evolution of the town interesting. It was also one woman's obsession with a young woman that she knew of in high school, but was never really friends with, just found herself later in life wanting to get the info out there about her brutal murder. It would be wonderful if the book sparked people's memories and the murderer was found, because the case remains open, and no one ever found out what happened to the girl in Saskatoon.

So, this was not the best book I have ever read, but it was a worthwhile read. I think true crime fans would enjoy it, I only read it because of the Canadian connection and curiousity. Alexandra Wiwcharuk, 'The Girl in Saskatoon", led an interesting life. It was just like most other people's when you get right to the bottom of it, but for some reason she was murdered on the banks of the Saskatchewan River and her murderer was never found. Her steps have been retraced until moments before her murder, but then things get hazy and no one knows what happened. There are lots of theories, of course, but none of them ever really revealed a convincing suspect. It is a shame, really. Soon it will be fifty years since she was murdered, it has already been 47, and the case is just as much a mystery. With all our technology, we cannot close this case for a grieving family and town.

There is a lot more going on in this book, but it is Sharon Butala's take on things. She could very much be in the right with her opinions, but at the same time, she could just be writing things as she calls them. Especially when she looks at the police and how they handled this case. I don't want to take one person's word for it, so I will let those who want to read it see the opinions for themselves and make their own decisions.

To see more about this book, click here. My thanks to Harper Collins for sending me an Advanced Reading Copy of this book!

This is also a book for the Themed Reading Challenge.

A Day of Remembrance

For 45 minutes on Dec. 6, 1989 an enraged gunman roamed the corridors of Montreal's École Polytechnique and killed 14 women. Marc Lepine, 25, separated the men from the women and before opening fire on the classroom of female engineering students he screamed, "I hate feminists." Almost immediately, the Montreal Massacre became a galvanizing moment in which mourning turned into outrage about all violence against women.

Today acknowledges a National Day of Remembrance and Action of Violence Against Women.

I was only five when this happened, but it is not something that Canadians have forgotten. The gunman killed women because they were women. It was a hate crime that tore 14 women from their families and changed lives forever. On this day, we remember those women and the lasting impact that their loss made on violence against women in Canada.

* Geneviève Bergeron 21, civil engineering student.
* Hélène Colgan 23, mechanical engineering student.
* Nathalie Croteau 23, mechanical engineering student.
* Barbara Daigneault 22, mechanical engineering student.
* Anne-Marie Edward 21, chemical engineering student.
* Maud Haviernick, 29, materials engineering student.
* Maryse Laganière 25, budget clerk in the École Polytechnique's finance department.
* Maryse Leclair 23, materials engineering student.
* Anne-Marie Lemay 27, mechanical engineering student.
* Sonia Pelletier 23, mechanical engineering student.
* Michèle Richard 21, materials engineering student.
* Annie St-Arneault 23, mechanical engineering student.
* Annie Turcotte 21, materials engineering student.
* Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz 31, nursing student.

The Staircase Letters: An Extraordinary Friendship at the End of Life by Arthur Motyer with Elma Gerwin and Carol Shields

Completion Date: September 2007
Pages: 160
Publication Year: 2007 (Random House Canada)
Received from Random House in 2007.

Reason for Reading: I chose to read this book mostly for the fact that Carol Shields had something to do with it, and she is one of my favourite Canadian authors, who sadly passed away.

Full of the magic of everyday life in the shadow of death–chickens must be cooked for dinner parties, and grandson’s questions about God must be answered!–The Staircase Letters is a moving and profound story of friendship and facing the end of life.

When Elma Gerwin found out in 2001 at the age of 61 that she had cancer, she reached out to two coasts and to two old friends. One was Arthur Motyer, novelist and teacher, and Elma’s university professor from forty years before, and the other was acclaimed novelist Carol Shields, who was facing her own battle with cancer.

Years later, Arthur is the only survivor. Still contemplating how Elma’s and Carol’s correspondence affected him, he has gracefully brought the letters together and interspersed them with literary references and poetry. As both women’s illnesses progress, they compare notes on the ups and downs of living with cancer–the joy when Elma is told one area is cancer-free, followed quickly by the terrible news that the cancer has spread; the delight in having family near, while the thought of saying goodbye seems impossible. The advice they give each other–from how to approach treatments to how to get to sleep at night–is heartfelt, warm and often leavened with humour.

As Carol and Elma contemplate what happiness is and how one makes a “good death,” 74-year-old Arthur, feeling inadequate in the face of such fundamental questions, discovers that he is exactly where he should be. In The Staircase Letters, the reader catches a rare and touching glimpse of the lives of three extraordinary people–two facing death and one left behind.

I was very surprised by this book. Carol Shields passed away a while ago now, so I did not really think that there would be any more books pertaining to her. At least not right away. I actually did not even pay attention to the premise of the book or who the other people involved with it were, I just wanted something new from Carol Shields. I read Carol Shields for the first time in my last year of high school. If I remember correctly, there was a sale on books by Canadian authors at a local bookstore, and the books were about half off, so I bought a few authors that I have never read before. Carol Shields was one such author. That year I remember reading for sure The Stone Diaries, Larry's Party, and Unless. I have since read all of her novels and poetry.

In The Staircase Letters, Arthur Motyer has published emails from himself, Elma Gerwin, and Carol Shields. Elma and Carol were both very sick, and would soon write their last emails. Arthur was relatively healthy and would outlive both of them. He never actually met Carol before. Elma was one of his students from years gone by, and it was her that brought Carol into the conversations. The book is really rather short, but in the pages, Arthur shows what Carol and Elma thought about death, what was important for them to discuss as they neared the end, and he wrote around it to fill in the details. He told his thoughts on a subject that he really did not fully understand because he was not going through it, and he also filled the reader in on who these people were. I had never heard of Elma Gerwin before, but she seems like she was a very interesting person.

I think if Carol Shields had to 'come back from the dead' to have a new book, then this was a good attempt. I am glad that I took a chance on this book. There is another book by Carol Shields that came out recently. It is a book of letters, I think, but I did not buy it when it came out, and I did not write the title down, so for some reason I cannot track down the book! One of these days it will come to me!

To learn more about this book, head on over to Random House.

Rambling on Reading

When people talk about their favourite singers or their favourite actors, I can always chime in because there are people that I enjoy, but I do not have the close connection to the entertainment world that other people do. I know my movie stars, I know a lot of good musicians names and I can sing their songs, but I do not have the strong connection that many people I know have. I also like sports, but it is the same deal. Sometimes I feel left out, like maybe I am missing something. I hate those questions, if you could have dinner with five people living or dead, who would they be, because I never know what to say. That is not to say that I do not have people that I am very interested in. I have done countless projects and essays on famous feminists, and if I really like a person I generally know a lot about them.

My reason for writing this post is to tell a story. One of the people that I have always been interested in is Alexander Graham Bell. I am not even sure why, to be honest. I am not a big phone user, never really have been, but there is something about his life that has always really interested me. I remember watching a video on his life back in elementary school, and I can still recall a lot of the scenes. I actually would not mind tracking it down and watching it again. Someone really should do a movie about him, I think. So, Alexander Graham Bell has always interested me. Not just him, but his wife, she was a really interesting woman. It was not a subject that I had spent a lot of time with in the last few years, though. I tend to like too many periods in history, and I forget about some of them to pursue others. Then, Charlotte Gray came out with her new book: The Passionate Life and Inventive Mind of Alexander Graham Bell. As soon as I heard about it, I knew I was going to have to read it. I just did not get a chance to get it or read it until recently.

Last night I needed something 'different' to read. I searched the ranks of my books searching for the book in my treasures that would be what I needed, and I finally felt it was time to read Gray's book. She is supposed to be a good author, I have looked at several of her books over the years, but when I was in university I had so much reading to do for school, that I did not get a lot of time to read non-fiction. Now that I have graduated, I notice that non-fiction is becoming a major 'genre' for me. So, late last night, way too late to be starting a new book, I crawled under the covers and visited with Alexander Graham Bell. What happened was I read too much and was up way later than I intended, but I already know that Gray's book is going to be a winner for me. I fully intend to read more from her. I will of course be back with a 'real' review, soon, but for now, these are my ramblings on Alexander Graham Bell.

Hope everyone haves a good weekend! It is looking like we might get another storm this weekend, which is pretty normal for good ole' Canada, but Noel was pretty windy and it really tore up the area. Things that did not fall during the first storm might fall during this one, so I am of course thrilled to be without power AGAIN! So, we will see what the storm brings, but if I vanish that is why!

Always Fresh: The Untold Story of Tim Hortons by the Man Who Created a Canadian Empire by Ron Joyce

Date Completed: May 2007
Publication Year: 2006
Pages: 233
Purchased in 2007

It’s as Canadian as hockey and beer, and almost every town has at least one. Many know that it was hockey legend Tim Horton who opened the first Tim Hortons restaurant in Hamilton, but few know the inside story of Ron Joyce, the former cop who, after the death of Horton, grew the company into a colossal North American enterprise that now earns over a billion dollars a year.

Always Fresh is Joyce’s own story in a blend of memoir and business book, as he looks back at how the franchise became a sacred cultural tradition. Joyce takes us back to 1964, from the first almost-failed Tim Hortons Donut Shop in Hamilton, to his full partnership with the eponymous hockey player and the tough years of franchise expansion. Recalling the tragic death of Tim Horton in 1974, and relating the little-known chapter on Joyce’s attempt to sell the chain and his subsequent legal battles with Tim’s widow, Lori, here Joyce sets the record straight. With great candour, he reveals the strategy behind the chain’s phenomenal expansion, including the introduction of Timbits; how Tim Hortons'coffee has become a number one seller, despite intense competition; an inside look at Donut University; and just why it is that every day tens of thousands of Canadians line up for Tim Hortons products. Joyce also gives the inside scoop on menu items that didn’t quite work out, the company’s launch of drive-thrus, why the franchises have done so well in small towns, his decision to sell the company to Dave Thomas of Wendy’s, and gives his take on Tim Hortons’ much-anticipated IPO. This book provides an insider’s look at an empire, its successes and failures, and the determined passion and character of the man who created it.

This is one of those books that Canadians should buy because there will always be people that have not read it, and you can come up with random trivia from it to make you look really smart. That is what I have been doing since I read this book. I had heard about it a couple times since it came out, but I had never remembered to look for it. Last month, I was ordering books and for some reason it popped into my head, so I ordered it and read it soon after. First off, let me just point out one thing. Tim Hortons is the largest coffee shop chain in Canada. While Ron Joyce owns it no longer, it was thanks to him, and a wonderful team, that the business has flourished as well as it has. Ron Joyce has a 9th grade education. I think that goes to show you that with hard work and determination, dreams do come true.

Tim Hortons started out as a donut shop, but nowadays it is one of the main places for people to go to pick up a cup of coffee. "Double-double" (two creams and two sugars) is even in the dictionary. There are very few places that you can go to in this large nation that does not have a Tim Hortons, or at least have one near it. (The North is a little iffy, but not impossible). It is named after a hockey player, Tim Horton, who used to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs as well as some American teams. He died in a car crash, though, while Tims was just gaining popularity, so while it was him that started it, it was Ron Joyce that built it to what it is today. I have to admit, I never even thought about who Tim Horton was for years, they do a good job keeping the restaurant separate from the man. According to the book, when the company first started, though, Tim Horton as a hockey player was a major draw, but that changed over the years. (Now, it is back. If you read the video screens they have at Tims it tells about him a bit).

I really enjoyed learning how timbits came into existence and when the first time people everywhere "Roll up the Rim to Win". Ron Joyce talks about the struggles to make the company what it is today, and he talks about his regrets for selling out to Wendy's when he was ready to move on to another aspect of his life. I do think he went on about that a bit much, to be honest. I will admit I was sad to hear that Tims was no longer Canadian owned, but they have at least kept it a part of Canada. The bakery is also not fresh anymore, something I noticed years ago. The product is shipped in frozen, and while the donuts still taste fine, there is a difference. Also, Ron Joyce speaks to the fact that there is no magical reason why Tims coffee is so addictive, it has been tested several times and it actually has less caffeine than other coffee places.

Overall, I learned a lot from this book. I have been using it to make me look smart, as everytime I go to Tims with someone I tell them a random fact. I think I will be keeping this close by for a reread in the future, want to keep my smarts about me. And now, if you will excuse me, I am in the mood now for Tims.

The Invasion of Canda by Pierre Berton

Books Completed: 71
Completion Date: May 2007
Publication Year: 2001
Pages: 368
Purchased in 2007

To America's leaders in 1812, an invasion of Canada seemed to be "a mere matter of marching," as Thomas Jefferson confidently predicted. How could a nation of 8 million fail to subdue a struggling colony of 300,000? Yet, when the campaign of 1812 ended, the only Americans left on Canadian soil were prisoners of war. Three American armies had been forced to surrender, and the British were in control of all of Michigan Territory and much of Indiana and Ohio.

In this remarkable account of the war's first year and the events that led up to it, Pierre Berton transforms history into an engrossing narrative that reads like a fast-paced novel. Drawing on personal memoirs and diaries as well as official dispatches, the author has been able to get inside the characters of the men who fought the war — the common soldiers as well as the generals, the bureaucrats and the profiteers, the traitors and the loyalists.

Berton believes that if there had been no war, most of Ontario would probably be American today; and if the war had been lost by the British, all of Canada would now be part of the United States. But the War of 1812, or more properly the myth of the war, served to give the new settlers a sense of community and set them on a different course from that of their neighbours.

As many people know, I went to Ontario for my grad present to myself. While there, I found that my Canadian history was not as up to speed as it once was. I was at the memorial to the Battle of Queenston Heights, and I found that I remembered learning about it, but I could not remember what the details of the battle were. The war is referred to the War of 1812, the last time that war was battled on Canadian land, but it actually extended from 1812 to 1814. This book covers the first years of the battle.

I have, of course, heard of Pierre Berton I actually own some of his books already, but this was the first time I read a full book by him. I found it interesting to read. Berton is very readable, but he offers his opinion on the events as they play out. It is helpful to read another author in order to see other opinions on the battle, but Berton writes an interesting account. For those that are unaware of what the War of 1812 was, I will provide a brief overview:

Basically it is a war between the British and the newly formed Americas. Britain was also involved in war with France at the time, so most of the war took place on what would become Canada in about 50 years time. This war decided the borders of the U.S. and Canada, because if Canada had lost, we would have very easily have lost a large amount of our landmass to the Americans. The war plays out interestingly, with some very bad moves by the U.S. and some very amazing victories by the Canadians. The Battle for Queenston Heights was one of the most famous battles because the U.S. crossed near Niagara Falls where no one thought it would be possible, so they almost caught the British off-guard. It is one of the most talked about battles of the entire war.

It was an interesting read with lots of names to keep track of. I plan to read the sequel, Flames Across the Border soon because that is a year that was hardly covered in history in school, so I should learn new things. Anyone interested in reading Pierre Berton should read this book.

4/5

Children of My Heart by Gabrielle Roy

Books Completed: 33
Completion Date: February 28, 2007
Publication Year: 2000 (Reprint)
Pages: 176
Received from Random House in 2007
First Canadian Read Completed

Set in the prairies in the 1930s, and rich with the author’s own memories of her time there as a young woman, this is a powerful story of an impressionable and passionate young teacher and the pupils, from impoverished immigrant families, whose lives she touches. Children of My Heart bears unforgettable testimony to the healing power love exerts on the wounds of loneliness and poverty.

I am rather embarassed to say that this is the first time I have ever read Gabrielle Roy. At the beginning of the year I said that I was going to read all the books for the Canadian Reads for 2007, but I have not been making much progress. Then, at the end of February, I got this in the mail and I read it in a matter of hours. So, that is one of the books down, now to find time to read the others!

It is interesting to read historical fiction books of sorts about Canada. This book takes place in the Praires, the other side of the country than where I live, in the 1930s. It is an interesting look at a young teacher who has decided to be a teacher. The book is broken into small section and each section represents one of the early years of her teaching career. It is interesting that in the course of this book she does not make it out of her teens, but yet she teaches for a few years before it is over. It just shows you how different things were not even a hundred years than now. Most people are in their thirties before they have their careers all planned out.

The Praires are suffering in the '30's. Many of the children in her classes do not have very much money or are immigrants from other countries. She very realistically shows how hard it is to be a stranger in a new land, but she also shows how important it was for these parents to have a better future for their children. Education, no matter how little, was everything because parents wanted their children to at least have a better understanding of the world around them. With the early sections, most of the activity takes place in the classroom, but in the last section the teacher finds herself in a different situation with a student. She is not all that much older than him, and he is a considerable amount taller than her. In different situations it might have been a crush, but that would be unappropriate in this setting. Watching the teacher deal with this situation, though, showed me just how young she really was!

It is a very short piece of work, but I thought it was very well-written. I really like to read about my own country, and I do not read enough Candian authors anymore. I used to read a lot more, but reading tastes change I guess.

My special thanks to McClelland and Stewart (a division of Random House) for sending me this book!

4/5

This is the first time I have read this author, but I hope to read more!

Authors Gender:
Male: 6
Female: 27

Thoughts on a Sunday...

I am nearing the home stretch with This is my Country, What's Yours?, having just over a hundred pages left. I am just finishing up Chapter Nine, which was a chapter dedicated to Newfoundland, then only two chapters and I am done! It has been a very interesting read, I must say, and I will be writing a full review in the next few days.

Sometime this week, I plan to be moving on to a more local book of history, that book being The Acadians by James Laxer.

An evocative and beautifully written history of some of Canada’s earliest settlers, and their search for a definitive home.

In 1604, a small group of migrants fled political turmoil and famine in France to start a new colony on Canada’s east coast. Their roughly demarcated territory included what are now Canada’s Maritime provinces, land that was fought over by the British and French empires until the Acadians were finally expelled in 1755. Their diaspora persists to this day.

The Acadians is the definitive history of a little-known part of the North American past, and the quintessential story of a people in search of their identity. In the absence of a state, what defines an Acadian is elusive and while today’s Acadian community centred in New Brunswick is more confident than ever, it is entering a contentious debate about its future.

James Laxer’s compelling book brilliantly explores one of Canada’s oldest and most distinct cultural groups, and shows how their complex, often tragic history reflects the larger problems facing Canada and the world today.

So, I will be interested to read that. I have read other books on them in the past, and of course, we learned about them in school since pretty much the day I started, so not a topic I am unfamiliar with.

It is almost time for me to get the new Nicholas Sparks book. He is the author that I hate to admit I read because he is so different than anything else I enjoy, but I read him. That means that I have to read True Believerand At First Sight in preparation for Dear John. Some of his books I like better than others.

I have also been giving some thought to a Chunkster Challenge following the posting of my Thirteen big books in my TBR pile. One of these days, I am going to have to read them. So, if I challenged myself to read one a month next year, that would get rid of them all. I know some other bloggers have been contemplating a challenge of that sort as well. I will have to think about it.