A GEOGRAPHY OF BLOOD

Candace Savage. A GEOGRAPHY OF BLOOD: UNEARTHING MEMORY from a PRAIRIE LANDSCAPE. Greystone, 2012.

She is shocked by her own lack of knowledge. She uses the term "incomer" rather than settler or newcomer. She goes out from Eastend seeking stories. Wallace Stegner. Chimney Coulee. Trex centre. Fort Walsh. Cyprus Hills and surroundings. I made notes. I found several useful bits to apply to my WIP, Flying Backwards.

DANIEL MARTIN

 John Fowles. DANIEL MARTIN. Collins, 1977.

Re-read this old novel for about the 3rd or 4th time and wrote about it on my Substack newsletter, One Lonely Writer. The final scene ends here, at this Rembrandt self-portrait in Kenwood House, London. At 670 pages, I am counting this as equivalent to 3 novels read.

ELEVATOR PITCH

 Linwood Barclay. ELEVATOR PITCH. Penguin, Random House, Doubleday, 2019.

Found a good copy in a thrift store. I do not often choose this writer because I find his stories just too scary. This one, not too bad. 3 or 4 gory scenes, and a plot designed to make me never step into an elevator again, but...The plot kept me reading fast. Mother-daughter protagonists kept me cheering. The father/son conflicts were sadly believable. And the karma coming to a cruel politician, well, yes, bring it on.  

The ZOOKEEPER'S WIFE

 Diane Ackerman. The ZOOKEEPER'S WIFE: A War Story. Norton, 2007. 

Our book club selection for July. Not a title I would have chosen, but well worth a read. About Nazi occupation of Poland, as told from the perspective of Antonina, the wife of Jan Zabinski, keeper of the Warsaw Zoo. Excerpts from Antonina's diary made me wish I were reading it rather than snippets. But it is also true that reader needs the context supplied by the journalist writer's research into the people who come into the family's life, including those who caused such destruction of the animal and human lives. Jan is working with the Polish Resistance, the Underground, while Antonina looks after the children and the guests hiding in plain sight or not, amongst the regular staff working in the zoo. Details of the revolt and massacre in the Warsaw Ghetto. Glimpses into the horrendous uncertainty of those trying to survive under a murderous regime. I was happy to learn more of the Polish details and customs, of the good people like Antonina, a Catholic, helping out Jewish neighbours simply because it was the right thing to do. I could not help thinking of the people living under similar conditions today, in Gaza, in the USA, pursued by government forces, incarcerated without rights, shipped elsewhere to die.

LUNA

 Sharon Butala. LUNA. Harper, 1988.

Enjoyed reading this story of the lives of women in rural Saskatchewan at the end of the 20th century. Although the emphasis on community feels a bit romanticized, and the emphasis on the inability to make a living in agriculture is a bit dismal, the variety of reactions from the variety of women, of all ages, is enlightening. As is the unimaginative, often dismissive attitude of the men towards their wives and daughters and the assumption that only the man makes the decisions.

I did feel that the cramped format of the book was rushed and did not do the novel justice. It seemed to lack room to breathe or space to pause and take stock. The plot about an unplanned teen pregnancy made me even more glad to have matured after the invention of the pill although I do agree with one of the narrator's points, that even when we know, many important truths are not transmitted from one generation to the next in time, before it is too late. Another kind of cultural failure.

The descriptions of the natural setting are achingly beautiful. 

Found this copy in the bargain bins outside the Bookman.

Leonard Cohen: The Mystical Roots of Genius

 Harry Freedman. LEONARD COHEN: The MYSTICAL ROOTS of GENIUS. Bloomsbury, 2021.

A gift, found at the library books for sale section. Lovely close reading of several lyrics with an exploration of Biblical and specifically Jewish cultural sources, myths, legends, truths. Some I have already incorporated into my latest WIP. He translates Bonsecour (literally good help, succour) as consolation. Lovely. 

One or two hesitancies on my part. I felt that the writer, a Jewish Brit, has never been to Montreal and does not grasp the extreme Christian symbolism of the city and how it could easily make outsiders feel excluded, especially in the 1950s and 60s. Although he mentions the role Rumi played in Cohen's sources, he never makes the connection when discussing "there's a crack in everything" quote, an image Rumi also uses. Perhaps the Jewish source pre-dates Rumi. And his discussing the image of the snake with its own tail in its mouth, does not use the term ouroborous, ancient, paradox, image of infinity & interpreted by Jung as the basic mandala of alchemy.

I love hearing how Leonard is revered in Europe. THis book was to me a gift of divination.

Fahrenheit 451

 Ray Bradbury. Fahrenheit 451. 1951.

Book club choice for June, 2025. 75 years after it was first published. Sci-fi , dystopian but scary. I have written about my reaction on my Substack: One Lonely Writer. How Bradbury's FUTURE is NOW. The discussion was interesting. People found it difficult to get into. Because I knew it was about book-burning, I persevered, but figuring out that the firemen start fires and their hoses spew kerosene instead of water took a while. I loved the image of EMPTINESS with the pumping out of stomachs = marriages where conversation does not happen. It was also difficult to accept a protagonist being and becoming a killer. Just doing his job. Then, in self-defense, when the boss is about to kill him. The idea of hope, with the image of the phoenix, and the quote from Revelations. Also difficult to accept that the homeless camps will save humanity. Because the homeless living in the woods are the fired professors from Harvard. A very 1950s world where women live at home and none are in the camps destined to save the world.

The scary parts start with everyone wearing earbuds. THen, wall to wall surround TV, with the walls talking to the occupants. People talking about characters as if they are real. THe way CRIME has become entertainment. And the way our heads are filled with advertising jingles making us do or want something. Could have been more emphasis on how LOSS of FREEDOM to READ = the END of FREEDOM to THINK. Followed by the disappearing of anyone who questions. THe one big question: Are you HAPPY?