When I was growing up back in the cretaceous period, there were many words to describe homosexuals: queers, poofters and fags being common. Needless to say, these words were used in a derogatory manner – a kind of verbal put-down for the intolerant to assert their supposed superiority, or insecurities, against those who were different. …
THANK YOU JEEVES BY PG WODEHOUSE
THANK YOU, JEEVES BY PG WODEHOUSE, Herbert Jenkins, 1934 - Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves are ranked among the great comic duos in English literature. P.G. Wodehouse wrote thirty-five short stories and eleven novels featuring the two, beginning in 1917 with the short story ‘Extricating Young Gussie’ and finishing in 1974 with the novel …
A GAME OF THRONES BY GEORGE R R MARTIN
GAME OF THRONES BY GEORGE R.R. MARTIN, Bantam Spectra, 1996 – With the book already claiming ‘classic fantasy’ status and HBO making a hash of the series on television, I decided it was time to get acquainted with the ‘Game of Thrones’. It turns out to be one of those fantasies where the lure of …
FABLE BY ADRIENNE YOUNG
Fable by Adrienne Young, Wednesday Books, 2020 - Imagine this - a heroine, having just found true love and her place in a hostile world, finds herself betrayed, beaten, abducted, tied to the mast of a villain’s ship as his vessel heads out to sea. It’s the sort of thing you expect in the beginning/middle …
THE MYSTERY OF RIGHT AND WRONG BY WAYNE JOHNSTON
The Mystery of Right and Wrong by Wayne Johnston, Knopf Canada, 2021 - My first introduction to Wayne Johnston was his book ‘The Colony of Unrequited Dreams’, which I think is as good a book as has ever been written in Canada. ‘The Mystery of Right and Wrong’ is a much more difficult novel than …
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MEN IN BLACK (AND A WOMAN)
Isn’t that Super-Preen Court in ‘Murica something? As if striking down federal law related to abortion isn’t enough, they’ve overturned state legislation related to gun control and wiped out legislation aimed at saving the planet from climate change catastrophe. Talk about your men in black (and one woman). I can hardly wait for the justices …
NOSTALGIA
Have you ever participated in setting up or opening a ‘time capsule’? You know, you and/or a group of friends collect a number of things/articles that represent the ‘spirit of your time’, or a particular moment in the life of a group, and you put them in a box, which is then buried or put …
A BATTLE WON BY RUSSELL
A Battle Won by S. Thomas Russell, Berkley Books 2010 - How often do you open a book by an author you don’t know and find a dedication inside to someone you do know? It seems that S. Thomas Russell, like me, lives on Vancouver Island (I assume he must live in or near the …
THE COST OF WAR
With inflation running wild, prices skyrocketing, world-wide supply chains in disarray, climate calamities an every day occurrence, agricultural output sagging, investment markets in a tail-spin and Vlad (the impaler) Pootine’s war in the U-Crane still raging, the average person is feeling the financial squeeze. In fact, the only people with a reason to smile are …
BAN THOSE PLANES!
When you start comparing ‘apples and oranges’, most people view this as a sign that your argument is on shaky ground. Apparently most people doesn’t include a few elected Publicans in ‘Murica, especially when it comes to defending guns for everyone. House minority whipper Stevie (the Wonder) Scaldmeez says ‘Muricans didn’t ban planes when they …
Richard's Left Bank 