IMAGES FROM THE LIKENESS HOUSE

 Dan Savard. IMAGES FROM THE LIKENESS HOUSE. RBCM, 2010.

Fascinating images of Indigenous people and buildings from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in BC and Alaska. This book was an award-winner at the time of publication. Now, it seems to show us a visual record of how much we have learned in the ensuing dozen years. Where this book is organized around the white photographers who took the photographs, today to this reader anyway, a more Indigenous-centred or geographic grouping would be more respectful of the subjects. Especially because so many of the photos were used as advertising for the studios. No mention is made of consent from the subjects or shared profits. 

I was most interested to find a brief info about James Teit, a Scot living in Spences Bridge who worked with Franz Boas and others. Sometime I used to hear the term "Teit people" and I was always curious as to whom the name referred.

SERVING LIFE 25: ONE GUARD'S STORY

Neil D. Maclean. SERVING LIFE 25: ONE GUARD'S STORY. TellWell Talent, 2017.

I borrowed this book on Saturday and I finished reading it this morning, Monday. This is indicative of how interested I was in the content. I have no experience working in a maximum security institution like the one described here, Kent, in CSC's Pacific Region. 

It is interesting. The writer's personality really comes through. He is not shy about offering his personal opinions. I have no problem accepting his POV as credible, and the inevitable sad conclusion that "the system" can best be described as one of "mutual contempt" among inmates, staff, and management, which, IMHO, means a failure of leadership.

However, as a former English teacher, every sentence I read was grating, and proof positive that excellent professional editors, for both copy and structure, are a necessary pre-requisite for any self-published book.

DELIVERANCE

 James Dickey. DELIVERANCE. Dell, 1970. 

This is a fascinating action-adventure story about what it means to be a man in a modern world. 

I haven't seen the movie, and I've carried the paperback with me for 50 years but never read it. Then I found a different copy, larger print, in the building library, and read it in a few days. Paddling a canoe is one of the few physical activities I have actually tried, so the trip planning and canoe manning and whitewater running scenes were all somewhat familiar. The ignorance of the gung-ho men not knowing what the river would offer is foreshadowing. The fish-out-of-water city guys trying to line up support in the small towns populated by "farmers missing fingers" sets up another, a class conflict. Then one canoe is attacked by locals intent upon harm and all hell breaks loose. When Lewis, the only man with actual survival skills, is injured, things go from bad to worse. That's when Ed, the narrator, is forced to "man-up" and do what has to be done to get the survivors home. Reality versus morality. And practicality wins, buttressed by shame that the secret of a sexual assault may leak out. Big themes, with conflict on so many levels. Great read.

A SECRET SISTERHOOD

Emily Midorikawa & Emma Claire Sweeney. A SECRET SISTERHOOD: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot and Virginia Woolf. Houghton Mifflin, 2017. 

An interesting four essays, well-researched and documented, about female friends each writer cultivated. I am least convinced of the picture drawn of Katherine Mansfield. She sounds mean-spirited and back-stabbing to me. Although the dangers of a small literary community where friends and rivals review each other.s work is still relevant. 

NEON PREY

John Sandford. NEON PREY. Putnam, 2019.

Why do I read these stories of American law enforcement, serial killers, home invasion, rape, murder, and cannibalism? Maybe it's the idealism. A world where multi-agencies cooperate, only bad guys get killed (except for the odd unfortunate victim), and everyone goes home to a good lay or a happy family. O say can you see ... The setting moves from Minnesota to New Orleans to California to Las Vegas. Maybe that's what the neon refers to.

THE MAID

 Nita Prose. THE MAID. Viking, 2022. 

Reading this for the U of M Book Club. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

THE MEASURE OF A MAN

Sidney Poitier. THE MEASURE OF A MAN: A SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY. Harper, 2000.

My finding this book is another example of what I think of as “thrift store divination”, when something that is so “me” seems to be waiting for me on the shelf and jumps into my basket. In this case, during our long hot summer, stopping for the night in Greenwood, I visited a favourite old-fashioned variety thrift store. It was such a hot day that the owners had turned the lights off to try to keep the aisles cooler but they turned them on when I asked to visit the bookshelves. The cover photo of a recently-deceased beloved actor was enough. The subtitle “a spiritual autobiography”, and the promise of hearing him discuss the relationship between his iconic movies and his personal values were gravy. Reading also about how he developed his skills as an actor was a bonus. All great stuff. I confess the later chapters lagged a bit for me as he gets into abstractions about Nature, evil, balance, man’s place in the galaxies. But that’s just me.