BETTY

 David A. Robertson. BETTY: THE HELEN BETTY OSBORNE STORY. Portage and Main Press. 

Graphic novel retelling the day Helen Betty Osborne was murdered in The Pas, Manitoba, in the early 1970s. 

When We Were Alone

 David A. Robertson. WHEN WE WERE ALONE. Illustrations by Julie Flett. 

Children's book, explaining, grandmother to child, why children in residential schools were forced to look, dress, and behave in certain ways, and how the children resisted "when they were alone". 

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

Henry David Thoreau. CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE. 1848. In THE ANNOTATED WALDEN, Potter, 1970. Philip Van Doren Stern, Ed.

I've carried this volume with me for 50 years, always intending to read it, especially the "Civil Disobedience" essay. Now, after an angry and abusive trucker convoy occupied my capital, Ottawa, it felt as if time were running out. 

Thoreau explains why he is hesitant to pay property taxes to a government which condones slavery and funds a war against a sovereign neighbour, Mexico. (The editor suggests that, after the first incident, Thoreau's aunt paid his taxes in advance, in order to keep him out of trouble, out of jail.)

He refuses to pay to support a church of which he is not a member. He has no problem paying the road tax because he uses the road. 

He explains why he does not respect the legal arguments that the Constitution which permits slavery to continue is more right than the New Testament.

He dreams of a future in which individual rights are respected and people with different opinions will be able to live in peace side by side.

SH*T ROUGH DRAFTS

Paul Laudiero. SH*T ROUGH DRAFTS: Pop Culture's Favorite Books, Movies, and TV Shows As They Might Have Been. Chronicle, 2014.

Amusing. And a fast read.

HOME

 Harlan Coben. Home. 

This is my first Coben. Did not really work for me. Not impressed with the protagonists. 

TEACHING THE DOG TO READ

Jonathan Carroll. TEACHING THE DOG TO READ. Subterranean, 2015. 

A novella about the origins of dreams, love, reincarnation, and the possibility of insertion into this sphere during times of crisis.

THE LITTLE PRINCE

Antoine de Saint-Exupery. THE LITTLE PRINCE. Farshore, 2017.

Re-read this classic. It is somewhat dated but the main idea for me is: that the use of imagination (or hallucination) during times of crisis is a survival skill. 

It inspired one of my favourite haikus last year: 

Side by side 

On the thrift store shelf

The Prince and The Little Prince.