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2011 – A good reading year
It was a year for good reading, and the outpouring of new books — despite problems besetting the publishing and book selling communities — never let up in 2011.
While I enjoy a good novel, my reading preference has always been for non-fiction. I read heavily for research. I’ve been soaking up many books on French and Parisian history, as I hope to do a book some day on a particular episode in French history in which I’ve long had an interest.
But at year’s end, I’ll differentiate from reading for research and reading for pleasure. This posting is about reading for pleasure.
I find the Best Seller lists to be indifferent guides to my own choices. In the Globe and Mail’s year-end non-fiction and fiction best seller lists (25 each), I found only three books that I’d cared enough about to buy and read. I did better by the National Post with its best books of 2011.
Three I enjoyed from that (shorter) list were Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson (Simon and Schuster Canada) and two novels, The Paris Wife, by Paula McClain (Bond Street Books) and A Good Man by Guy Vanderhaeghe (McClelland and Stewart). My reviews of A Good Man and The Paris Wife are in my archives.
My choice for book of the year in the non-fiction department is In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson (Crown Publishers). This is a provocative and compelling account of the rise of Nazi Germany, as seen through the eyes of U.S. Ambassador William E. Dodd and his family — especially his daughter, Martha. As gripping as any thriller, it portrays the family’s encounters with high Nazi officials (Martha was introduced to Hitler at a lunch) and reveals the monstrous details of the German regime that were evident within months of Hitler’s taking power.
Dodd arrives in Berlin as a naive university professor, convinced from the student days he spent in Germany that the cultured nation he knew so well would never embrace the evil threats that accompanied Hitler’s rise to power. Mildly anti-Semitic himself, he is at first an apologist for Germany’s persecution of its Jews, but it is not long before he comes to realize “Mankind is in grave danger, but democratic governments seem to not know what to do.” Dodd is eased out of his ambassadorship, and returns to America disillusioned with both his own country and Germany.
I found a second book by Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City (Crown), equally enthralling. This is also a gem of narrative non-fiction writing, and tells the story of the architects behind the Chicago’s World’s Fair of 1893, and the monster who lurked unseen in that city at the same time, indulging in murders and depravity without apparent interference.
A fine book, The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival (Vintage Canada) by John Vaillant, won the $50,000 British Columbia prize for Canadian non-fiction in 2011.As readable as any novel, it deals with the fine balance between nature, wildlife, and man in Russian Siberia. Focused on the behavior of one particular man-eating tiger, it also describes the environmental desecration that brought on a frightful confrontation between the animal and the men who work the Russian taiga. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the tiger.
I enjoyed The Tiger almost as much as Vaillant’s earlier work, The Golden Spruce, about the destruction of the oldest and largest tree in B.C.’s Haida Gwaii islands. Both books carry strong environmental messages which resonate equally powerfully.
Another Canadian book that I enjoyed this year was Charles Foran’s Mordecai Richler biography, Mordecai: The Life and Times ((Alfred A. Knopf). It scored the hit trick in Canadian non-fiction prizes, and deservedly so.
Two books I read largely for research, both dealing with chunks of Paris history, also turned out to be enjoyable for their own sake. Anyone fascinated by that great city should read them: The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris (Simon & Schuster) by historian David McCullough, and Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris (W,W. Norton) by Graham Robb. McCullough recounts the effects of Paris on American expatriats there between 1830 and 1900. Robb describes delicious episodes from Paris history from the early 19th century to the Second World War.
Finally, a bit of fun reading I had in 2011. I enjoyed two books by Maureen Jennings: Season of Darkness (McClelland & Stewart) and one of her inimitable Murdoch Murder mysteries, Poor Tom is Cold (McClelland & Stewart). Don’t expect the pseudo-science fiction twists of TV’s Murdoch series, but you can expect a faithful remaking of 1890s Toronto in the Poor Tom book.
All in all, a good reading year. May 2012 be as strong!
The funeral as public relations
The attendance of 14,000 people — many of them police officers from across Canada and the United states — was a telling tribute to the valor of Toronto Police Sergeant Ryan Russell. Sgt. Russell died in a particularly meaningless way last week when he was run over by a man who had stolen a snow plow truck. The irrationality of this act defies all logic, which perhaps accounts for the immense media interest in the incident and in the funeral.
The Toronto Star today devotes its first four pages to the funeral. The eulogy by Sgt. Russell’s widow takes up a full page.
There is no doubting the dedication of the fallen officer, or the tragedy of the event. But I wonder if the practice of organizing huge funerals for officers who die on duty is calculated as much to bolster political support for the police as it is to pay tribute to fallen officers. Not to be crude about it, I have to ask the question : Are these massive outpourings orchestrated public relations exercises?
Interesting letter on this point in the Globe and Mail today. Nick Fillmore writes as follows:
I question whether it is the best course of action for thousands of police officers and other emergency workers to come from across Canada and parts of the U.S. to attend his (Sgt. Russell’s) funeral.This practice occurs across North America whenever a police officer is killed. With all due respect, it seems to me that the likely millions of dollars used to transport mourning officers to these funerals could be put to better use.
The police in Toronto have had a difficult year. Numerous cases of alleged brutality hang over the force in the wake of the G20 meeting in June. Police Chief Blair is apparently the only city official not being held to budget cuts for 2011. Yet crime is on the decline and experts warn that municipalities must begin to reign in police costs if other vital services are not to be devastated.
A LITTLE BIT OF COMMON SENSE, PLEASE
Two recent developments point up the need to stand fast for Canadian values in the face of persuasion and threats.
In Vancouver, the University of British Columbia has put the establishment of a hospice on hold because of complaints from Chinese immigrants living in the area. They say that accepting death in their midst is not part of their culture. They feel uncomfortable with the idea of a hospice down the road.
The University is wrong in bowing to this demand. It should instead explain that while Canada holds out a welcome hand to immigrants, our willingness to accommodate their cultural practices cannot extend to denial of our own.
In Ottawa, the National Archives cancelled the showing of a film critical of Iran after complaints and threats were received from several quarters, including the Embassy of Iran. The film, Iranium, is critical of Iran’s nuclear program. Another gutless concession to political correctness by people who should know batter. Fortunately, the Minister of Canadian Heritage — whose department funds the Archives — has overidden the cancellation and has ordered the showing of the film.
These events follow on a decision by Canada’s privately operated broadcast regulator to ban the playing by radio stations of a song containing a satiric reference to “faggots.” This on the complaint of ONE person.
Oh! Canada, let’s have a little bit of common sense!
WHEN JUNK SCIENCE GOES PUBLIC
If you’ve ever wondered how “junk science” passes for credible research, here may be the answer.
The current issue of The Scientist features the 10 biggest scientific retractions of 2010 – cases where scientific papers were found to have been based on faulty data or where research results had been fabricated. Over the past 10 years, the magazine says, no fewer than 788 scientific papers have had to be called back for these or similar reasons.
The biggest retractions of 2010 included The Lancet’s pulling of the now discredited writings of Andrew Wakefield that falsely suggested a link between immunization and autism, and a paper on the effects of chemotherapy on breast cancer where a Duke University researcher apparently invented the data. Nobel Laureate Linda Buck retracted two papers from prominent journals because she was “unable to reproduce [the] key findings” of previous experiments.
So we can’t believe everything we read, even in the science journals.
Mavericks in our midst
I’m at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary for the opening event of this year’s meeting of the Writers’ Union of Canada. The Glenbow is a magnificent repository of Western regional culture. It has over a million artifacts and 28,000 works of art.
The attraction this evening is Mavericks, which we’re told is the first ever museum exhibition based on a book.
The book is Mavericks: An Incorrigible History of Alberta (Penguin Canada) by the Calgary novelist Aritha van Herk. She’s tracked down some of the most colorful and influential figures that have made this idiosyncratic province — for better or for worse — what it is today.
The Glenbow has cleverly designed exhibits depicting many of the characters in the book and the forces that they grappled with in building Alberta.
My favorite mavericks include Bob Edwards, the legendary editor of the Calgary Eye Opener that went out of business with his death in the early 1920s. Bob liked a drink. He once said, “Everyone has their favorite bird. Mine is the bat.”
His preferred target was the Canadian Pacific Railway. After reporting a series of train wrecks, he published a picture of the railway’s president under the heading, “Another CPR Wreck.”
Another favorite of mine from the Maverick cast of characters is Sam Steele, the Northwest Mountie who fired one of the last shots in the Northwest Rebellion, helped police the building of the CPR, kept law and order in the Yukon, and led a Canadian cavalry contingent in the Boer War.
A placard on Steele carries his famous quote reminding his troops that there is no countrry in the world that is superior to Canada. His remark reflected the jingoistic nationalism of the time. I often think it also expressed a sentiment that is even more valid today.
Speaking of the Boer War, I was delighted that Ms van Herk shared the stage with Fred Stenson, author of another wonderful book, The Great Karoo (Doubleday Canada). It’s the story of a group of Alberta cowhands who see duty in the South African war.
Stinson brilliantly captures both the horse-wise culture of the cowhands and the incredible arrogance and incompetence of their British commanders. I’m halfway through and enjoying every page.
A distinguished First Nations elder rounded out last night’s panel.
Today, we’re talking about such writerly issues as the ways in which the Internet is impacting the reading, writing and selling of books. More on this later.
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My new book, Scott Joplin and the Age of Ragtime (McFarland) explores Joplin’s life and that of other musicians, writers and artists who brought profound changes to modern culture in the Ragtime Era, the years between the 1890s and World War I. Check it out here or here.
What makes great kid lit?
I’ve just spent several fascinating hours reviewing more than 30 submissions to the Writers’ Union of Canada annual children’s story writing competition.
The winner gets $1,500 and the top three entries will be submitted to publishers.
As a first-round judge, my job was to pick out five or more entries worthy of further consideration by a final judging panel.
I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of all the stories. I was faced with difficult choices which reminded me again of what a crap shoot it is for a writer to get her work published.
I ended up selecting seven stories — five fiction, one poem and one non-fiction work, for the next round of judging.
I don’t think I’m giving anything away by mentioning some of the plot lines.
There was a well-told tale of the long necked women of Burma, the usual barnyard creatures piece, one on the flight of the Silver Dart at Baddeck, Nova Scotia, and a piece that brought me tears of reminisence about a boy who is taken by his father every year to cut down a Christmas tree. After his father dies. he continues the tradition with his children.
The stories got me to thinking about what makes a good children’s story. For one thing, they have to be imaginative enough that a parent doesn’t mind reading them over and over again.
This was certainly true of the great kid lit that I remember reading to my children. Anything by Dr. Seuss, especially The Cat in the Hat, and the classic, The Man Who Wouldn’t Wash His Dishes, by Phyllis Krasilovsky.
This poor guy lets his dishes pile up night after night until he finally puts them out in the rain. They all get washed, and thereafter he resolves to do his dishes faithfully every night. My daughter Brenda loved this book and I read it to her time after time.
Thinking back to my own childhood, I recall one unhappy example: Alice in Wonderland. It gave me nightmares, and I don’t think I ever finished it. Today, of course, there’s Harry Potter.
The Canadian author Marie-Louise Gay, who has won major awards for her children’s stories, says kid lit has to be able to appeal to “incredibly brilliant, curious and observant people.”
English author Fiona Smith, at The Crafty Writer, says it’s not hard to tell a good children’s story:
Is it fun to read? Is the plot well constructed with a good beginning, middle and end? Are the characters engaging and realistic? Does the plot line deal with emotional issues without being too soppy? Does it dare to be daring?
Great children’s literature can be controversial as well as entertaining. Deborah Ellis, the Canadian who has written widely for children about the Middle East, got into hot water with her Three Wishes. In it, she tells the stories of Israeli and Palestinian children buffeted by war and strife.
Young readers deserve to be exposed to this taste of reality.
On the fun side, I’m looking forward to the October release of Spike Jonezs’ movie, Where the Wild Things Are. It’s based on that great book by Maurice Sandak. Max, a disobedient little boy sent to bed without his supper, creates his own world — a forest inhabited by ferocious wild creatures that crown Max as their ruler.
A small confession: My interest in children’s stories has been stimulated by the fact that I’m writing a Young Adult book (for readers over 12) on the exploits of one Edward Mallandaine. He’s the B.C. boy in the famous picture of the driving of the Last Spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Who was he, where did he come from, and what happened to him?
You’ll have to read the book!
Crime, the author, and the law
A couple of things have got me thinking about authors and crime, and how the two fit together so naturally in a literary sense.
A promo on TV this week for a showing of In Cold Blood, Truman Capote’s remarkable book about the slaying of a Kansas farm family, reminded me of the power of this genre of story telling. Capote’s book, as you’ll know, is regarded as having created a new literary style, the non-fiction novel.
I re-read the book recently and found it even more compelling than on my first go-round. The movie, which I’ve never seen, probably tells the tale in an even more harrowing fashion. It was filmed using the actual crime scenes – the house where the murders occurred, the store when the two killers bought their weapons, even some of the people who served on the jury are cast in their real life roles.
The other event that got me on this topic was the passage by the Saskatchewan legislature of its new law to prevent criminals from benefitting financially from their crimes, either by writing books, or selling memorabilia.
It’s aimed at diverting any profits Colin Thatcher might earn from his book, Final Appeal: Anatomy of a Frame, to be published by ECW Press, Toronto.
Thatcher stands convicted of arranging the murder of his ex-wife JoAnne Wilson. He served 22 years before being paroled in 2006. He still maintains his innocence, which accounts for the title of his book.
The Saskatchewan law, the Profits of Criminal Notoriety Act, sailed through the Legislature in just eight days. Its stated purpose “is to prevent persons convicted of, or charged with, a designated crime from financially exploiting the notoriety of their crimes.” Proceeds would be diverted to victims of crime.
Jack Davidson, ECW publisher, thinks the law may not apply to Thatcher’s book because it refers specifically to “the recounting of a crime.” Thatcher’s book deals not directly with the crime but with his legal struggle after his arrest.
I haven’t been able to find anything about the Thatcher book on the ECW web site. Surprising — you’d think they’d post a statement on the issue.
The Saskatchewan law is the latest in a long series of “Son of Sam” laws, dating back to a New York state law of the 1970s after the “Son of Sam” murders committed by David Burkowitz. The U.S. Supreme Court found that law unconstitutional in 1991 on the grounds that it was “overinclusive.”
New York, and other states, have since passed more specific laws designed to meet First Amendment tests.
Ask the men and women who write about crime — either fiction or non-fiction – and I’m sure you’ll get a mixed reaction to these laws.
(I think it’s a bit ironic that Canada’s legendary hangman, Arthur Ellis, is memoralized by having his name on the awards given out by the Crime Writers of Canada.)
Most people will probably agree that the idea of a convicted criminal profiting from his crimes offends the moral standards of society.
But well-meaning measures too often have unintended consequences. They can be used to reach out and take in a far wider range of cases than lawmakers ever intended. For that reason, I’m against laws of this type.
The Canadian Side of Automotive History
Neil Reynolds has a marvellous column in The Globe and Mail on the Canadian part in the history of General Motors. It helps one realize how much this country’s past has been bound up in making cars. Read it here.
