Get A Spine

The Word Smithery

Where every prospect pleases, and only misspelling is vile ..............

For previous ideas and thoughts forged at the Smithery, click here

For time in the present tense, read on ...............:

"Without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future."

- Ray Bradbury (1920 - 2012) -
Science Fiction Writer / Futurist

"Consider what you have in the smallest chosen library.

A company of the wisest and wittiest that could be picked out of all civilized countries
in a thousand years have set in the best order the results of their learning and wisdom

They are themselves hid and inaccessible, solitary ... but their thought is here written out
in transparent words to us, the strangers of another age"

- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882) -
Essayist, Moralist, Poet

If there is one great trite truth about books, physically, is that they DO get dusty.

I have a lot of books, personally in my library ........ and of course professionally ( what would I be selling to others otherwise <sic>)

Undertaking one of those little exercises in encrustation management, attempting to drub the dust bunnies (and a right old "dust-up" it was!), I was struck by the stacks around me, and the stories they told ...........

Of love and hate, of wars, decisions, civilizations, both old and new.
Of "how to's" and "what fors", of criticisms, and criticisms of criticisms.
Of debates and results. Of philosophy, pure fantasy, and ripe speculation.
......... and, of course, pure entertainment and fun!

But what I was most struck with, is that all these tomes surrounding me represented the thoughts of a person .............. and time.

In our Twitter obsessed and Smart Phone challenged world, time is represented in minutes, seconds and hours - warp speed. Maybe days and weeks at most. But standing beside an 8 foot high bookcase loaded with books, your perspective changes quickly, as you see, standing there, somewhat compressed and maybe a bit battered around the edges, row upon row of P-E-O-P-L-E, maybe centuries old, maybe a few decades, but a myriad and army, waiting for you to interface with them ...............

Welcome to the Time Tunnel that is a real library, kiddies!

So many doomsayers predict the extinction of the book, preferring to play and be dazzled and flashed pictures at, by their shiny toys, in all shapes sizes and colours. They stare intently and almost desperately at their screens, 20 hours of most days, caring little about time, other than constantly saying they never have enough of it.

But I believe that books are here to stay, and will be here a hundred years from now, at least ................. and I'm not alone.

I recently heard of a project with exactly that intention, called "The Future Library".

The Future Library - Framtidsbiblioteket project is the vision and brainchild of Scottish artist Katie Paterson who launched the 100-year artwork in 2014. And it is enough to give the Smart Phone obsessed conniptions (as if they will REALLY care), because, horror of horrors, the artwork intends to PRINT A LIBRARY OF REAL BOOKS, a century from now ..........

A thousand trees have been planted in Nordmarka, a forest just outside Oslo, Norway, (Lat / Long coordinates 59°59'10.8"N 10°41'48.7"E), which will supply paper for a special anthology of books to be printed in one hundred years time. As Katie Paterson describes her artwork, which she will never see to its completion "Tending the forest and ensuring its preservation for the 100-year duration of the artwork finds, to me, a conceptual counterpoint in the invitation extended to each writer: to conceive and produce a work, in the hopes of finding a receptive reader in an unknown future."

Between now and then, one chosen writer every year will contribute a text to the project, consisting of only the physical manuscript itself, and the authors chosen title for the work. The writing may be fiction, non-fiction, poetry, a dissertation, one word, or many thousands of words, all at the discretion of the author involved. The only stipulation is that the work of the author be new and unpublished.

Each manuscript will be sealed in a box, and only the author knows whats in it. The writings will be held in trust, remaining unpublished until 2114.

Support for this 100-year long artwork has been given by the City of Oslo, who are working with the artist and the Future Library Trust created for the project, to ensure the protection of the forest and manuscripts, until 2114.

The manuscripts will be held in a specially designed room in the New Deichmanske Public Library opening in 2019 in Bjørvika, Oslo. Intended to be a space of contemplation, this room - designed by the artist - will be lined with wood from the forest. The authors’ names and titles of their works will be on display, but none of the manuscripts will be available for reading – until their publication in one century’s time.

So who, as an author, would have the courage and vision to create a writing, which will be placed in stasis, and then warped into the future, to emerge, new and fresh, 100 years from now? Who would believe their work, and their perspective of the world now, could be conveyed in an understandable manner to an audience, whose frames of reference, mores, language and understanding of the world may be totally incomprehensible to a person living in the 21st century?

Well you may ask .....................

The first to take up the mantle and the challenge, was famed Canadian Novelist, Poet and Activist Margaret Atwood who was chosen as the 2014 author for the Future Library. She handed over the inaugural manuscript in a special ceremony in the Future Library forest, on the 26th of May, 2015. Her piece is entitled ‘Scribbler Moon’.

At the ceremony, Margaret stated "I am very honoured, and also happy to be part of this endeavour. This project, at least, believes the human race will still be around in a hundred years! Future Library is bound to attract a lot of attention over the decades, as people follow the progress of the trees, note what takes up residence in and around them, and try to guess what the writers have put into their sealed boxes.”

British author and novelist Dave Mitchell was announced on May 27, 2015, as the second writer to be asked to contribute a work to the Future Library. The manuscript will be presented to the trust in a ceremony held in 2016.

Of his invitation, he said:

“Civilization, according to one of those handy Chinese proverbs, is the basking in the shade of trees planted a hundred years ago. Trees which the gardener knew would outlive him or her, but which he or she planted anyway, for the pleasure of people not yet born. I accepted the Future Library’s invitation to participate because I would like to plant such a tree. The project is a vote of confidence that, despite the catastrophist shadows under which we live, the future will still be a brightish place willing and able to complete an artistic endeavour begun by long-dead people a century ago. Imagine if the Future Library had been conceived in 1914, and a hundred authors from all over the world had written a hundred volumes between 1915 and today, unseen until now – what a human highway through time to be a part of. Contributing and belonging to a narrative arc longer than your own lifespan is good for your soul.”

Good words, well spoken - we await with anticipation, what future work is in the mind of Dave at the moment (or at least the title thereof!).

So the Future Library is today representing the hopes and dreams of tomorrow, people, but 100 years is a LONG time, history wise. It is especially true now with the constantly changing light speed world of decisions made in the ever present today by the mob, where believing in everything essentially means we believe in nothing.

Will it ever come full circle, to reveal its secret collection to the world, in the neat printed library stacks which characterize the classic library? Or will libraries even exist as physical entities by then? Only time will tell.

But isn't cleaning fun? ........................ you never know what dreams may come, wielding a feather duster ........................!

Far beyond this world I've known, far beyond my time
What kind of world am I going to find
Will it be real or just all in my mind
What am I, who am I, what will I be
Where am I going and what will I see

Closing Lyrics from "Suspension" by Kipp Lennon
Title Theme Song from the TV Show "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" (1979-1981)

Best! from a literarily warped mind (that has little to do with time)!

“There's no harm in hoping for the best, as long as you're prepared for the worst.”

- Steven King -
Author - "Different Seasons"

“Emergency Preparedness is not SOMEONE's responsibility, its EVERYONE's responsibility
After all, it wasn't raining when Noah built an Ark and look what happened there................!"

- Mark B. Szkolnicki -
Author - "What Would YOU Do If the Lights Went Out"

Well, hello again!

Black Holes are wonderful things and I'm sure many of you were wondering if I had been sucked into one, as by time warp standards, nearly three months have passed - an eternity to some, and for some, just interminable ........................but perhaps you missed my little ramblings - if so, read on!

As I mentioned in one of my other missives, being the owner of a book store is not really my day job .......... in fact, Emergency Preparedness is my day to day pastime, that pays the bills, having been involved in the rather dull job of being a Hazardous Material (read "Hazmat") Responder and Emergency Planner for over 32 years - my sojourn as a book store proprietor is merely the entry into a REALLY great and dangerous adventure!

But my calling called to me much more loudly than usual this Spring, as a long relatively dry winter, turned quickly into drought, and with drought and tinder dry conditions came ........... Forest Fire Season!

The entire Province of Alberta was under Fire Ban at one point this Spring. That included much of the Northern half of the province, which consists mostly of Boreal Forest, both coniferous and deciduous, surrounding many isolated Oil and Gas facilities, towns, hamlets and first nation reserves. Then there is the southern half of the province, which is much more inhabited and populated .................. us included.

Living out in the country can be a very quiet and relaxing experience, kids ............. but a forest, bush or grass fire is no respecter of people or property, especially when high winds can sweep the fire into your community in hours, and leave little left - book stores included!

So in the midst of Forest Fire risk, I was well occupied on two fronts - undertaking planning and risk assessment for clients, to mitigate their forest fire concerns, while at the same time preparing personally for potential impacts related to those same forest fires, which could be ignited by lightning, a poorly maintained off-road vehicle ....... or one single match!

Again, readers of my previous missives may have heard me mention, in passing, that I'm also an author, which is one way to stock a book store ............

My first book was exactly on this subject and is entitled "What would YOU Do If the Lights Went Out - a Personal Guide to Emergency Preparedness"

Paladin Environmental Publishing; first edition (November 1, 2007) Trade Paper - 256 pages
ISBN-10: 0-9782206-0-9

I was told somewhere in the deep dark reaches of Pre-History (IOW when I was a LOT younger), that the secret to good writing, as an author, is writing about what you know. In my case it actually started with writing about exactly what I didn't know ...................?

Personal emergency preparedness is a lot different than organizational emergency preparedness in a lot of ways - companies plan for emergencies and maintain equipment in a state of readiness at all times, focused on a few specific risks, usually with regulatory requirements to keep them focused on the job at hand.

In my case, professional HazMat responder that I was for years, it started with a flat tire .................. in pitch black conditions!

First, the battery in the flashlight I had with me was dead, and I didn't have a spare. I had the tools to change the tire, only to find the spare was also flat ................. and at at a crucial moment, calling for road side assistance, the battery on my cell phone, after continuous use that day, also died in mid-sentence!

ARRRGGGGHHHH!

In the immortal words of the Genie in Aladdin ................. boy, did I feel sheepish!

I realized then a great trite truth that seems to permeate our society; namely, that we have it ingrained that preparing for emergencies is a job for governments, not individuals. Even professional and specialist that I am, I was also sucked into the idea that personally I needed to do nothing for myself ............... and I realized I need to change that.

So my odyssey as an author began ...................

Being an author starts with research, and what I discovered interested me - namely that there is huge amounts of information and advice on personal emergency preparedness out there buried practically everywhere, in that infinite universe called the Internet, for every personal situation imaginable.

However, there was ABSOLUTELY NO PLACE, on the Internet, or in print, that attempted to collect it all!

I also had to change my thought processes about emergencies as well, and broaden both my perspective and definition as to just what an emergency may be.

Most emergencies, from an organizational standpoint, are thought of in major terms, like a house fire, forest fire, flood, earthquake or other natural disaster. But has anyone ever considered how you prepare for such mundane things as a boat trip, car trip, or hike in the woods - seemingly innocuous pastimes, and run of the mill, supposedly, but what if something goes wrong?

What about travelling abroad to a foreign country? Or preparing for an emergency where a child, person with a disability, or a senior may be impacted? What do you do if you have to evacuate, and take a pet with you, or leave them in your home? What about hot days, and heat stress?

How about being stuck alone at the office, in a blizzard, with no food supplies? Or having a major emergency which knocks out all our modern services (Internet, SmartPhone, ATM machine, or credit machines, for more than a week?!?!?

We don't think we will ever live in isolation for more that a few minutes nowadays, with our phenomenal ability to span the globe, technology and communications wise, but it can happen - most emergency and government agencies actually encourage their citizens here in North America, to prepare to survive, using their own resources, for 72 hours, possibly more in isolated areas.

You can be prepared personally for emergencies, by following such simple steps, such as having a supply of spare batteries, keeping sufficient food for a week around the house, some non-perishable, and having a small supply of money around, or checking to see your insurance will actually cover such things as property damage related to floods (many insurance policies don't). Or ensuring your always have an emergency supply of critical medicines on hand, and know where you can obtain more on an emergency basis.

As an example, when we were preparing for potential forest fires near our home some advice from my book we actually considered practically included:

Consider keeping a clearing of at least 30 feet around your home, to allow access for fire fighting equipment in an emergency, or a greater distance, as required by local fire regulations in your area
Remove "ladder fuels" from around your home (eg. dense large brush, dead tree branches closer to the ground) which can link grasses and treetops in a fire situation. Consider pruning tree limbs on large trees so they are no lower than 6 to 10 feet above the ground
Maintain a "fuel break" around your home, to prevent fires from easily and quickly approaching your home. Driveways, sidewalks and gravel paths around the home can limit the movement of ground fires.
Mow grass regularly, to limit the amount of fuel in a ground fire
Remove leaf clutter from your roof, gutters or yard.
Dispose of any debris and cuttings in a proper manner, to limit supplies of fuel which may be ignited in a fire
Trim branches of trees which are overhanging your roof or chimney, to prevent fires from spreading from trees to flammable roof coverings (eg. wooden shingles).
Store stockpiles of firewood away from the home or any other buildings
If you have a permanent in ground sprinkler system, maintain it regularly, as it may assist in wetting down affected which may be impacted by a fire. Maintain household garden hoses in good condition, as they may be required in a fire related emergency
Don't keep stockpiles of flammable materials under decks, or by the side of a house
Consider using trellises which are made of non-flammable materials such as metal
Cover vent holes in the roof or under eaves with wire mesh no larger than 1/8", to prevent hot sparks and cinders from easily entering the attic or other parts of the home.

Not everything can be done in every situation, but a little pre-planning can go a long way, if an emergency can occur.

Some practical advice I've included even for regular travel:

check fuel levels prior to travel to ensure you do not run out unexpectedly
check fluid levels and tire pressures on a regular basis (rule of thumb - monthly), and undertake preventative maintenance as required by your vehicle service guide, to limit the possibility of unexpected breakdown
check local weather conditions for the day, and plan accordingly
keep at least half a tank of gas in your vehicle at all times
if severe weather is occurring or expected later in the day, ensure your emergency kit is present in your vehicle, and carry additional supplies appropriate for conditions, as required (eg. extra warm clothing in cold weather)
if you have a cellular phone carry it with you in the vehicle, for emergency purposes
if possible also carry a telephone directory or emergency number listings for your local area

NOTE:: 2007 was before the widespread advent of Smart Phones, so some of the advice may have been superseded - how times have changed! (but Smart Phone batteries still die, at the most inconvenient times ..........)

Read your owners manual and be familiar with your vehicle. Know things like storage locations for the spare tire and jack and how they are accessed, tow points on the vehicle (every vehicle is designed with tow points which allow a disabled vehicle to be moved without damage to the frame or plastic parts), and how to activate hazard lights to prevent other vehicles from colliding with you in the dark.

I quite enjoyed writing the book, including doing all the graphic design and cover art, and learned a lot in the process. I finished it in about three months, then the fun part of authoring began .................. namely, trying to get someone to publish it!

After thirteen rejection letters from major publishers (not my lucky number), including one publisher who said it would better be published as a serial in a newspaper (all 256 pages worth - obviously missing the point entirely), I was left with the conclusion that this authoring gig is not easy, unless you know someone, or are famous, or get noticed, so I decided to publish myself ("Paladin Environmental Publishing" is an off-shoot of Paladin Environmental, my consulting practice, at www.paladinenvironmental.com), and What Would YOU Do If the Lights Went Out? was born.

Strangely enough, Anne and I have copies available, at our favourite book store (I can't imagine why <wink>). I really need to get around to the second edition, as a lot has also changed, in this age of Social Media.

But we started off with a tale about fires in Alberta, and then moved on the emergency preparedness, authoring of books, and the trials and tribulations of getting published - you can't get more lateral in your thinking than that!

I'll leave you with a final profound thought, guys, me paraphrasing the late Leonard Nimoy:

"Live Long and Prosper, and May You Always be Prepared "
(or buy and read my book, damn it - a shameless plug brought to you by this author <wink>)

Sounds exactly like Leonard, doesn't it (or more like Bill Shatner <sic>), and Best as Always!

"Now and in time to be, Wherever green is worn,
All changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born"

- William Butler Yeats -
Excerpt from his poem "Easter, 1916"

"Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful, however transient
As beauty is God's handwriting - a wayside sacrament
Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every flower,
And thank God for it, as a cup of blessing"

- Ralph Waldo Emerson -

The first day of Spring was supposedly last Friday, but as I watched 10 more centimetres of heavy wet snow fall on the weekend, this second last weekend in March, I was starting to doubt whether actual Spring will ever arrive, as we seem to be in the grip of Terry Pratchett's WinterSmith at the moment.

Looking out my little virtual bookstores window, comparing this week to last, I realized that I had become very hopeful of Spring attempting to peer out tentatively last week ............ then WHAM this week!

C'est la Vie ......................

Spring is always an interesting time, as it shows us many things, which may have been hidden for months - both beauty and ugliness, creation and destruction, the dead and the alive.

IOW, a myriad of contrasts in any and all ways.

It is in fact a SEASON of contrasts, and contrasts is what I decided to talk about today, in the form of two books ............. surprise, surprise, you thought I was going to regale you with poetry, right?

For those who are interested (or those who haven't read any of my Wordsmith forged little missives previously), I live and work in Alberta - I'm sure many of you have heard, in passing, of that little province, centered in the mid-west of Canada, for sundry reasons other than our beautiful Rocky Mountains or scintillating clear lakes.

Yes, what you may have heard about the most, lately, is ...................

OIL (OR T-A-R) SANDS

Having worked both as a consultant for the same companies involved (yes, I'm not just a book proprietor), having seen various of the mine and upgrader sites in person, and being of an environmental bent myself, I know much about both sides of the argument related to this source of petroleum, both the good and the bad. It also seems to me, unless I'm myopic, that every celebrity in existence has also gone on record with SOME opinion about them, very little favorable, and whether they have seen the oil sands in person or not, they have been used as the source of global opinion of the masses, on the subject.

The question I want to pose today, though, is ..................... have you ever heard ANY celebrity describe them as "a Terrible Beauty?".

Yeats in his poem "Easter, 1916" coined that phrase .................. and one man decided, one day, to show that in a very creative way - and attempt to create a reflective dialogue on the subject!

Therein lies our first contrast - in the form of Beautiful Destruction, an artbook and photojournal by pilot and photographer Louis Helbig.

Rocky Mountain Books; first edition (Nov. 28 2014) Hardcover - 304 pages
ISBN-10: 1771600543 ISBN-13: 978-1771600545

Mr. Helbig decided to leave a career in the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs in 2006, to combine those two passions of his into a viable business opportunity - namely photo-reconnaissance and aerial photography, for many and varied clients both in the private and public sector. This includes photography of the Oil Sands - and what he saw fascinated him.

In a recent radio interview related to his book, on CBC Calgary in Canada, he stated "when we are faced with something we don't understand, we reach for some kind of cultural references to make some kind of sense to what we see - and in my case the book was eventually given the title "Beautiful Destruction"

"I think from the air, and being in Fort MacMurray, there's lots and lots of drama and contradictions that play themselves out, and, as an artist, its almost childsplay to respond to all of what you see, from the air and on the ground."

"People were going up there to make lots of money, but despite its obvious importance, it seemed to me that it was getting hardly any real coverage, by our politicians and by our media, so I guess at the outset I was trying to find something hidden in plain sight .......... and it wasn't hard to find. All I had to do was fly over it."

"I looked for imagery that speaks to some of the drama, and I think when I first exhibited these photographs, what I found was people from all different points of view, people who were pro-industry, pro-environment or people of very mixed views would respond to the imagery, and stand in front of a very abstract piece. Then they would leave and come back a day or an hour later with a friend, their spouse or a girl friend, and they would very earnestly explain to that person what this or that image was about, and I realized as an artist at that point is that the thing had sort of slipped away from me, and now it was firmly planted in their imagination - and that's very powerful".

Many of the two hundred photos reproduced in the book are abstract in nature, with the fluidity of form mirroring the fluidity of the product being produced as well as the nature of the contrasts involved. Other pictures tell a story in miniature, which belies the awesome size of both the equipment and the scale of the operations being undertaken. The juxtaposition of contradictions in the natural and the unnatural being presented are striking - sometimes fascinating, sometimes surreal ............. and sometimes extremely disturbing!

What is in some ways the most interesting thing about this book is the essays that are included. Fifteen individuals from very diverse backgrounds, both for Oil Sands development and against, agreed to add their unique perspectives to the presentation, including activists, journalists, a doctor directly involved in the communities affected, native leaders, members of the Canadian Parliament, including Elizabeth May, leader of the Canadian Green Party, as well as a former head of Suncor Energy, one of the largest corporations involved in the Oil Sands.

All contributed significantly to the conversation. Each essay is unique, with many opposed to each other. All present the many toned voices echoed in the photos chosen for this photojournal. Which is as it should be.

As Mr. Helbig reiterated in the same interview linked above:

"I think the best place to address anything is with more questions ............... I very , very intentionally sought out different points of view, so as to not have it (the book) pigeon holed, as being anti or pro, and to try to create as much space as possible for people to think or imagine on their own terms and generate some type of respectful dialog"

Closing the book after a number of reads and views, I was left with much food for thought, musing about the state of the Oil Sands in Alberta .................. and how much it reflects, in microcosmic but staggering terms, the global tensions between the polarities of our stated concern for the environment, as opposed to our obsessive focus with development for economic purposes, sometimes at any cost, to provide jobs and livelihoods for the whole.

Louis Helbig is currently working on a second project called Sunken Villages, a photojournal about 15 Canadian and American communities that disappeared with the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1958. I'm sure it will be fascinating as well.

Alternately, perhaps not as thought provoking as Beautiful Destruction, in a deep sense, but equally beautiful and fascinating, in both vision, scope is SnowArt, a photojournal and art book, chronicling the work of Simon Beck.

I had never heard of Simon's work at all until the same weekend of our Spring storm this March, as he had never done any of his work in Canada before, until recently ......................... but what he does is amazing, unique ............................and transient!

You see, when Simon Beck works, his art is mostly the size of a football field ................ and is created in snow ............. with snowshoes!

Snowflake Pattern by Sinon Beck - Peyto Lake - Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada - February 2015

A graduate of Oxford , with a degree in Engineering from Oxford University he worked in an office for many years, until, like Helbig, he decided to leave his office job, and pursue his passion for outdoor and physical activities, becoming a cartographer based in the French Alps. One day, in December 2004, he decided to try to create a large snow drawing on a small frozen lake near his home. Impressed with his first effort, he waited for a new layer of snow, and tried a more complex pattern ..................... and Snow Art, as an art form, was born!

Publisher: S Editions; 1st edition (October 2014) Hardcover: 168 pages
ISBN-10: 2356401237 ISBN-13: 978-2356401236

Each of Beck's over 200 art patterns chronicled in the book was first meticulously laid out in miniature on graph paper, then a site was chosen, somewhere, where a large palette of pristine snow is present. He then uses his abundant skills as an orienteer, to determine how he will form the design.

An average design of this nature may require many hours or even several days to produce, and in the course of producing the design the artist, who is currently 56 years of age, may walk the equivalent of 20-40 kilometres in the process! Hence, his creations are both artistic creations and athletic endurance performances, molded by the varying and challenging conditions of the environment he is using as his palette.

It is my understanding, that he was very impressed with his first trip to Canada this year, in February 2015. He actually was not intending to stop here this trip but was invited by Parks Canada, to undertake some patterns near Banff and Lake Louise, to raise awareness of both our natural environment here in Canada and environmental awareness in general in the Canadian Rockie Mountains. He actually added the stop in Canada to a currently planned trip, which took him from his French Alps home to the US state of Utah, then Canada and then on to Japan.

His art is extremely transitory in nature, but beautiful in both its presentation, and complexity of execution, reflecting the extreme amount of personal energy and focus used to forge its form! As it may be swept away by the wind, or covered a day or week later, in a subsequent snowfall, it is wonderful to see an art book, which documents his highly detailed work, for posterity.

This is Simon Beck's first book, covering designs done in the last ten years ............ I suspect it will not be his last.

So, a study in contrasts today, one documenting the destructive nature of man, and one the creative, albeit transient, both in art.

It leaves us mired in the ages old question, however ............... which force is the stronger - creation or destruction?

Humans creating a work of art may require days, months or even years of intense focused effort, in its birth, and the vision of that product can last in our memories for lifetimes, or centuries. A work of nature can take centuries to reach maturity, inspiring painters, photographers, musicians and others to emulate or express its beauty in their own way.

Destruction, whether nature related, or human related, can destroy those same art forms in seconds or minutes. Our destruction of a natural setting may never return a place to its original form, ever.

I leave it to the reader to judge for yourself ................... but I am in awe of the forces involved in both - and others ability to capture those forces and tensions in these books!

So much for my much more feeble attempts at forging Art in words today, and Best!

I have little interest in Facebook or Twitter (a subject I will explore in future), but always am interested in any comments you may have - stimulating debate, discussion, new thoughts and ideas are always welcome at Mark@getaspine.biz

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer.
Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion
to reach for the stars to change the world."

- Harriet Tubman -

"Behind each of you is a torch.
Grab a torch and approach the flame. Dip it in and get fire.
This is important, because in this game, fire represents life. Once your fire is gone, so are you.

- Jeff Probst -
TV Reality Show "Survivor"

Every year in Canada, in early Spring, a group of 5 individuals gather, at the coldest time of the year, to bring all their personal skills and endurance to the fore, in a little game of "winner take all" and "survival of the strongest and most passionate" ............................. and no, we're not not talking about the Iditarod, as in long distance dog sled racing ...................... but good guess <sic>.

My friends, the name of the game is "Canada Reads".

Canada Reads, as background, is an annual competition organized and broadcast on CBC (the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). Some people term it "The Battle of the Books" but I would more term it "The Battle of the Minds".

Canada Reads has been around, annually, since 2002, on the CBC English network - a similar format show started annually on Radio-Canada, the CBC French affiliate in 2004, and is know as "Le Combat des livres".

The format for both programs is rather simple in concept, and has some elements which were pioneered in the well known reality TV genre, but have other elements that are rather unique.

In the fall of the previous year, similar to various book awards processes around the world, a "Long List" of 15 nominated books is developed first - in the case of Canada Reads, the list is based on the theme chosen for that year. Each of five "panelists" chosen for the competition, pick three books each that they want to champion, from titles suggested by the public. Through popular voting by the public, this list is then narrowed into a "Short List" of five books, one for each of the panelists, which will be debated over the course of four programs, broadcast on the CBC over four days - the debates were originally broadcast only on radio, but are now also broadcast on TV, via live streaming, and available via Podcast.

The debates are NOT undertaken by the authors themselves - during Canada Reads, the panelists, consisting of five well know Canadian personalities, each champion one of the five different books, extolling the merits of the title, but also bringing their unique perspectives, passion and special viewpoint to the fore, each day. Not all of them are who you would expect to read and champion the books in question - but as said, they all bring a unique perspective to the fray. And, like the reality TV format so well known from the past, through shows like the ubiquitous "Survivor,"at the end of each episode all the panelists cast votes, so that each day, one title is eliminated from the competition, until only one book remains. This book is then billed as the book that "All of Canada Should Read".

The debates, including the thought processes involved, are very strategic and fascinating to watch. As it is not the author promoting the book, many times it is the personality involved with the book who can make or break its success, determining whether the book makes it into the next round - as said before, it is the bibliophilic P-A-S-S-I-O-N of the champion, for the book, which is ultimate to its success (and, of course, the ability of that champion to convince the other panelists to vote for their book), as Canada Reads progresses.

The champions receive no remuneration for their participation, so really have no vested interest in the winning - the publisher of the winning Canada Reads title donates a portion of sales proceeds from the winning book to a charitable organization working in the field of literacy. A moderator oversees all the debates, to ensure all the champions receive equal time and opportunity to promote the success of their book.

So those are the rules of Canada Reads, in a nutshell ............... make sense ?!?!?! - then lets introduce you to Canada Reads - 2015 version.

The theme chosen for Canada Reads 2015 is "One Book to Break Barriers". IOW, what is one book that can changes perspectives, challenges stereotypes and illuminates important issues?

On December 24, 2014, the 2015 Long List for Canada Reads was announced - if your interested follow the link to see what titles each panelist chose.

On January 20, 2015, the 2015 Short List for Canada Reads was announced, as follows:

Ru, by Kim Thúy, translated by Sheila Fischman. It’s a fictional story inspired by the author’s experience as a refugee from Vietnam. In spare, luminous prose, Kim Thúy traces the woman's journey from childhood in an affluent Saigon neighbourhood to youth in a crowded Malaysian refugee camp and then to Quebec, where she struggles to fit in -- all aspects of the author's own life story.

Ru was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Man Asian Literary Prize. It won the Governor General's Award for French-language fiction in 2010, and the Prix du Grand Public Salon du livre de Montréal.

If you wish to hear a recent interview with the author, discussing the book, there is a podcast available for listening and download on the very fine CBC radio program "The Next Chapter" with Shelagh Rogers.

Defending this book will be Cameron Bailey, who is the Artistic Director of the world famous Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Previously, he was a Festival programmer for eleven years. Toronto Life has named him one of Toronto's 50 Most Influential People three years in a row. For many years, Bailey was a writer and broadcaster on film.

Random House Of Canada ISBN - 10: 0307359719 ISBN - 13: 9780307359711

The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King. This non-fiction book is neither a traditional nor an all-encompassing history of First Nations people in North America. Rather, it is a personal meditation on what it means to be "Indian." King explores the relationship between Natives and non-Natives since the fifteenth century and examines the way that popular culture has shaped our notion of indigenous identity, while also reflecting on his own complicated relationship with activism.

The Inconvenient Indian won the 2014 RBC Taylor Prize and was a finalist for the 2013 Hilary Wilson Writers' Trust Prize for Non-Fiction and the 2014 Burt Award for First Nations, Metis, and Inuit Literature.

Defending this book will be by Craig Kielburger who is best known as a Canadian columnist and social activist, who, at the age of 12 started campaigning for the rights of children. He is the co-founder, with his brother Mark Keilburger, of the Free the Children charity and Me to We, a social enterprise that donates half its annual profits to Free the Children, by selling socially conscious products and services. On February 20, 2007, he was named a Member of the Order of Canada.

Doubleday Canada ISBN - 10: 0385664222 ISBN - 13: 9780385664226

Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes

Intolerable, by Kamal Al-Solaylee, is a non-fictional account of his painful family history and personal journey. Part coming-out memoir, part contemporary Middle Eastern history and part cultural analysis, he describes growing up in the Middle East at a time of enormous political strife and religious intolerance, coming to terms with his identity as a gay man, escaping to get an education and finally building a life for himself in England and then here in Canada.

Al-Solaylee is an associate professor at the School of Journalism at Ryerson University, and is well known to Canadians for his journalism and cultural criticism, being the theatre critic at the Toronto Globe and Mail, for many years. Intolerable is his first book.

Defending this book will be actress Kristin Kreuk. She received a People's Choice Award for Favorite Sci-Fi / Fantasy TV Actress in in 2014 and again in January 2015 for her role as Detective Catherine Chandler in the CW TV drama, Beauty and The Beast. Born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Kreuk was cast in a starring role, as Laurel Yeung in the Canadian series Edgemont, while in high school. She went on to play the title character in the television movie Snow White and the lead role of Lana Lang in the Superman-inspired television series Smallville.

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd ISBN - 10: 1554688876 ISBN - 13: 9781554688876

When Everything
Feels like the
Movies

When Everything Feels like the Movies by Raziel Reid, is his debut novel and his first young adult novel. It is a coming-of-age story which explores growing up gay. Jude, a young teen who refuses to be anything other than his flamboyant, fashion-loving self, likes wearing his mother's high heels, imagining that the world around him is part of a film set, But he doesn't have it easy in high school, with its cliques and homophobes. His extravagant fantasies and irrepressible nature make Jude one of the most memorable teen characters in recent literature.

The novel won the 2014 Governor General's Award for English-language children's literature.

Defending this book will be broadcaster, blogger and author Elaine “Lainey” Lui, who is the co-host of Canadian Television Netork CTV's The Social and an etalk reporter. Her celebrity gossip blog, LaineyGossip.com, is followed by more than one million readers every month, making it a leading international celebrity gossip source. She is also an author, and her first book, Listen to the Squawking Chicken, debuted at #1 on the Toronto Globe and Mail bestseller list.

Arsenal Pulp Press ISBN - 10: 1551525747 ISBN - 13: 9781551525747

And the Birds Rained Down by Jocelyne Saucier, translated from French by Rhonda Mullins, is a fictional novel and meditation on aging. Tom and Charlie are living on their own in the woods, away from civilization. But when two women arrive one summer, all four are faced with challenging questions about growing up, growing old and finding purpose in life.

And the Birds Rained Down was a finalist for the 2013 Governor General's Literary Award for French to English Translation.

Defending this book will be musician Martha Wainright, the well known Canadian-American folk-rock singer-songwriter (how many hyphenations can one person have ?!?!?!?). Her family is prodigeously musical, as she is the daughter of father American folk singer and actor Loudon Wainwright III, mother Canadian folk singer-songwriter Kate McGarrigle, as well as being sister to musician and song writer Rufus Wainwright, her older brother.

Coach House Books ISBN - 10: 1552452689 ISBN - 13: 9781552452684

A preview of all the books, authors and defenders are available in a podcast here

Moderator / Host for Canada Reads 2015 will be Wab (Wabanakwut) Kinew who is a very gifted, talented individual, earning awards and acclaim undertaking careers variously as a Canadian Hip-Hop / Rap artist, radio / television host / broadcaster, and university administrator. As an award winning journalist, he has written extensively about issues affecting indigenous people in newspapers across Canada and, as an author, he will be publishing both a personal memoir and a children's book about notable personages in First Nations history with Penguin books this year.

Wab is also not unfamiliar with Canada Reads, as, in 2014, he successfully defended personably, with passion and grace, Joseph Boyden's aboriginal novel The Orenda, which became the Canada Reads 2014 winner. IOW, he K-N-O-W-S how this game of survival is played ..................

So panelists of many and various backgrounds, championing many and varied topics of books, reflecting both reality of life, and fiction which could be reality. All certainly break barriers, reflecting the reality of our times. On March 16 to 19, 2015, on your favourite media (including live streaming and on podcasts), a contest of titans will take place .................. and only one will survive, to reach the pinnacle of Canada Reads 2015!

So let the games begin, and Best!

IN THE PRESENT TENSE:

March 16, 2015 - Day One of Canada Reads is now over, and One Book has fallen ................. download or listen to the podcast of Day One here. A video replay of the live excitement is available for viewing here

March 17, 2015 - After a rather raucous, rowdy, positively choriastic and no holds barred session (and when was the last time you heard that said about a book debate ?!?!?!), Book Two bites the dust ......................download or listen to the podcast of Day Two here. A video replay of the roughhouse debate is available for viewing here

March 18, 2015 - The day heralded yet another round of passionate debate, where Book Three succumbed to more passionate opponents - download or listen to the podcast of Day Three here. A video replay of the players in action is available for viewing here

March 19, 2015 - CANADA READS CONCLUDES, with one of the most remarkable finishes in recent memory .............. Spoiler Alert - The conclusion was N-O-T what you will expect .........

Book Four was relegated to the sidelines, and the other became the book the panelists considered all Canada should read. Download or listen to the podcast of Day Four - The Finale here. A video replay of the players in action is available for viewing here

“There are two things to which we never grow accustomed -
the ravages of time, and the injustice of our fellow men"

- Talleyrand -

For the love of money is the root of all evil"

- The Bible - 1 Timothy VI, 10 -

A storm is brewing outside the window of our little virtual bookshop as I write this, which is expected to dump about 30 centimetres of snow over the next couple of days. Get A Spine is somewhat in repose at the moment, as February comes in like a lion (isn't that supposed to be March ?!?!?!)

Not that I'm complaining, as the proprietress of our little establishment (the lovely Anne) underwent a complete replacement of her right knee three weeks ago, as London Bridge was in serious need of repair, to prevent it from falling down. Lady and bouncing baby knee are doing well, and between bouts of physio she is occupying her time devouring, visually and voraciously, various miscellaneous, sundry tomes.

But when the activities of two become the activity of one, it always means many long hours in a day. After completing one of those said days, listening to our Edmonton Oilers hockey club go down to defeat yet again (a habit they've developed rather perpetually this season <sigh>), I was drowsing a bit on a sofa, in a semi comatose state, when I was greeted by news on the radio that author Harper Lee was publishing another novel ...................

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I bolted upright at the news, pinched myself to ensure I wasn't in a dream state (as if that would prove it <sic>), and then looked around, to ensure that I hadn't slipped into some weird radical time warp .....................

As our house was built in the year 2000, and I wasn't lying cold in the snow (a VERY sure sign of reality), it was obvious that it was indeed the year 2015, and I had heard correctly. But I was still extremely puzzled.

You see, for the uninitiated, Harper Lee had written a rather obscure little novel called "To Kill a Mockingbird" .................... and that was in 1960 ......................

A glance on the Internet confirmed that I did hear correctly, and it was indeed 55 years later - but therein lies a tale which may rival the original novel itself - but not in the way you expect!

To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the seminal American novels about racial injustice and loss of innocence in the Old South. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, in 1961, with the story being made into a film, in 1962, starring Gregory Peck. Interestingly enough, a play was also written by playwright Christopher Sergel, which debuted in 1990 in Monroeville, Alabama, Harper Lee's home town. It has played annually in May, in the town, ever since.

Cover of First Edition (J. P. Lippincott - 1960)

Originally titled "Atticus", the novel takes place during three years of the Great Depression (1933–35) in the fictional town of Maycomb, in Maycomb County, Alabama. The narrator of the story is six-year-old Scout Finch, who lives with her brother Jem and with her widowed father, Atticus Finch, who is a middle-aged lawyer with a marked moral conscience.

The story is really a narrative in two parts.

In the first, Jem and Scout befriend a boy named Dill, who visits Maycomb to stay with his aunt each summer. The three children are terrified of, and at the same time fascinated by their neighbor, "Boo" Radley, who is a mysterious and reclusive to all, adults and children alike. After two summers spent with Dill, Scout and Jem find that someone is leaving them small gifts in a tree outside the Radley estate. Several times the mysterious Boo makes gestures of affection directly to the children, but, to their disappointment, he never appears in person.

Enter the law, as the second part begins, in the form of Judge Taylor in Maycomb County, who, one day, appoints Atticus to defend Tom Robinson, a black man who has been accused of raping a young white woman, Mayella Ewell. Although many of Maycomb's citizens disapprove, Atticus agrees to defend Tom to the best of his ability, in keeping with the spirit of the law.

Because of taunting from other children, parroting their parents sentiments, Scout is tempted to stand up for her father's honor, by fighting, even though he has told her not to. Typical of the place and time, Atticus himself eventually is confronted by a group of men, bent and intent on lynching Tom. This danger is averted by the children, when Scout, Jem, and Dill shame the mob into dispersing, by forcing them to view the situation from Atticus' and Tom's points of view.

While Atticus does not want Jem and Scout to be present at Tom Robinson's trial, they are there, invited to attend by Reverend Sykes. observing the proceedings, with Dill, from the "coloured balcony".

Atticus, the defending lawyer, establishes that the accusers - Mayella and her father, Bob Ewell, a known drunk and troublemaker in the community, are lying. It becomes clear during the trial that Mayella made sexual advances toward Tom. Despite significant evidence of Tom's innocence, the jury convicts him anyway.

Jem's faith in justice is further shaken, as is her fathers, when the hapless Tom is shot and killed, while trying to escape from prison. Despite Tom's conviction and subsequent death, Bob Ewell considers himself humiliated by the events of the trial, vowing revenge.

Ewell goes on a mad rampage, spitting in Atticus' face, attempting to break into the judge's home, going so far as to threaten Tom Robinson's widow. He even attacks the children, Jem and Scout, while they walk home on a dark night after a school Halloween pageant, breaking one of Jem's arms in the process. Amid the confusion and struggle, a mysterious man comes to the children's rescue, assisting Jem home. Scout later realizes that the mysterious man is Boo Radley.

As a result of the fight, Bob Ewell dies. Sheriff Tate originally believes Boo to be responsible, while Atticus believes Jem may have killed Ewall. Atticus eventually accepts the sheriff's story, after investigation, which indicates that Ewell simply fell on his own knife.

At the end of the story, Boo asks Scout to walk him home, where, after saying goodbye, he disappears yet again. While standing on the Radley porch, Scout imagines life from Boo's perspective, regretting that they, as children, had never repaid him for the gifts he had given them.

While dealing with many serious subjects of the time, including class distinctions, strictly defined gender roles in the south, racial segregation and inequality, while being criticized from various quarters due to its racial slurs, profanity, and frank discussion of rape, Mockingbird is also brilliantly written by Lee, with warmth, compassion and humour. As written, the themes of courage and loss of innocence appear constantly as metaphors throughout the novel, as well as a message of hope.

One of my favourite quotes comes from Atticus, when he defines the meaning of courage as "when you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what".

The metaphor of the Mockingbird in the title is centrally symbolic of the loss of innocence portrayed, as Atticus, giving his children air rifles for Christmas one year, imparts a gem of moral wisdom with the gift, saying that they can "shoot all the bluejays they want", but they must remember that "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird". Puzzling at that cryptic piece of sage advice, Scout asks for an explanation from one of their neighbours who tells her that mockingbirds never harm other living creatures. She points out that mockingbirds simply provide pleasure with their songs, saying, "They don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us".

Writer Edwin Bruell summarized that symbolism when he wrote in an article in The English Journal in December 1964 that "'To kill a mockingbird is to kill that which is innocent and harmless—like Tom Robinson."

One year after its publication To Kill a Mockingbird had been translated into ten languages. In the years since, it has sold more than 40 million copies, having been translated into more than 40 languages, never being out of print since its original publication. It has been cited as a major reason for the success of civil rights in the 1960s . Prominent Civil Rights leader Andrew Young once commented that part of the book's effectiveness is that it "inspires hope in the midst of chaos and confusion" by using racial epithets which actually and realistically portray the the times in which they were set.

Despite all the acclaim granted Harper Lee related to the novel, she never published another book ................ until now.

So therein lies the puzzle, and perhaps a real life story, which parallels in some ways the themes of her first novel.

Fifty-five years later, at age eighty-eight, it was announced on February 3, 2015 by HarperCollins Publishing, that Harper Lee had granted permission for them to publish Go Set A Watchman, her second novel. set for release July 14, 2015. It is also to be published in the UK and Commonwealth by William Heinemann, an imprint of Penguin Random House Inc.

Nelle Harper Lee (not "Nellie" - her actual first name being her grandmothers name spelled backwards and the name she was know by throughout her life) is the daughter of a lawyer, who was also a newspaper editor and member of the Alabama State Legislature. She was also neighbours to the family of a young Truman Persons (known much more famously as Truman Capote), whom she had a close friendship with, until it ended acrimoniously, later in life. Many analyses of her novel point out varying similarities between her life and the story - when questioned about this one time, however, she stated simply in American Decades that an author "should write about what he knows and write truthfully"

Since publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee has for years shunned the spotlight, granting almost no requests for interviews or public appearances, has accepted honorary degrees but declined to make speeches, and, with the exception of a few short essays, has formally published little else. In an article in The Daily Telegraph (Australia), dated July 31, 2011 a good friend of hers identified as Rev. Dr. Thomas Lane Butts indicated that Lee had told him why she never wrote again, "Two reasons: one, I wouldn't go through the pressure and publicity I went through with To Kill a Mockingbird for any amount of money. Second, I have said what I wanted to say and I will not say it again."

Based on the above, then, the circumstances of publishing, as reported, are as interesting as the reclusive authoress herself.

The manuscript for Go Set a Watchman was written before To Kill a Mockingbird, but is said to be set some 20 years later. A now adult Scout lives and works in New York City, but returns home to Maycomb and Alabama, to visit her father, Atticus, as well as many characters from the original novel. The novel is said to take place during the height of the American Civil Rights Movement.

The manuscript to Go Set a Watchman was thought to be lost, but was reported to have been discovered by Tonja Carter "personal friend and lawyer" to Harper Lee, while she was combing through a secure archive, located near the author's Alabama home in Monroeville in the fall of 2014. It was supposedly found by Carter, attached to an original manuscript of To Kill a Mockingbird.

But controversy swirls related to the announcement, as Harper Lee, who was described by her sister Alice in 2011, as being "mostly blind, deaf and in poor health", after a stroke which occurred four years previous, lives in an assisted living facility now. Her sister Alice, who died in November, 2014, aged 103, was for many years her lawyer, and was regarded to be her sisters protector, administrator of her financial interests and spokesperson. Now she is gone, and Harper Lee herself has no children.

Questions about Harper Lee’s health, as well as the extent to which she is capable of making personal decisions about her financial affairs on her own have been raised frequently, most specifically as a result of a rash of very recent legal cases.

Very reclusive throughout her life, Lee suddenly, in 2013, filed a lawsuit, in New York related to Samuel Pinkus, the son-in-law of the writer’s longtime agent, Eugene Winick, whom the lawsuit accused of duping her into signing over copyright for To Kill A Mockingbird. “Pinkus knew that Harper Lee was an elderly woman with physical infirmities that made it difficult for her to read and see,” the lawsuit alleged. The case was settled out of court.

A few months later, a second lawsuit was filed in Alabama, against Monroeville’s local museum, accusing the small, not-for-profit institution of exploiting Lee’s fame as well as the prestige of her Pulitzer-winning book, without offering compensation. That case raised eyebrows in Monroeville, citizens of which questioning the veracity of whether Nelle Lee even knew about the suit, leading to criticism locally of Tonja Carter. The museum fought back, condemning Lee’s lawsuit as “false” and “meritless”. The case also was settled out of court.

A third dispute also arose surrounding an unofficial biography of Lee written by a friend and neighbour, Marja Mills. A statement issued in Lee’s name from Carter’s law firm disowned the book, but Alice Lee later wrote apologetically to Mills that the statement had been written by the law office without her knowledge and taken to Harper Lee to sign. According to Alice's statement “Poor Nelle can’t see and can’t hear and will sign anything put before her by anyone in whom she has confidence”.

It has been reported in a recent article in The Guardian (UK) on February 3 that it is believed that Tonja Carter, who worked at the same local law firm as Alice, has been given power of attorney by the ailing author, and in all the reports and articles I have seen, is acting on behalf of Lee, as agent, lawyer and spokesperson, releasing press releases in her name, going so far as to even limiting access to Lee personally. I have read no reports where Lee has spoken to anyone, other than as related second hand, about this new development , and as to whether she acceded to any of this.

As a result, many questions have been raised as to who is actually making the decisions surrounding Nelle Harper Lee's affairs. Does she really know what is occurring, as it seems completely contrary to all her previous statements, personal letters, conversations quoted and ways of managing both her works and her affairs, especially when Alice Lee, her sister, was alive. For the interested, a personal summary of this controversy is presented in a blog written by Karen Spears Zacharias which is quite concise, with some sourcing of the statements referenced, but weak in sourcing some of the key statements she is quoting. However, there are also many other articles, related to this subject all over both print media and the internet. As always, everyone must judge for themselves the veracity of what is happening.

As a moralist, I find the circumstances of this book announcement both intriguing and potentially disturbing - is social injustice, prejudice against a minority (in this case, an aged person, who is famous and potentially being taken advantage of) and a blatant loss of innocence, being played out before our eyes in our so called "more enlightened and connected" 21st century? Is Nelle Harper Lee the Mockingbird in this light? And is Go Set a Watchman the storied drama here, or one being played out in real life?

I have a very vested interest in answering those questions sometime, as I am an author myself - but that is a discussion for another time ................

All for now, from a very thoughtful today (and potentially more innocent than I thought)

P.S. After completing research for this particular Word Smithery piece, being a lover of quotes, I want to say I was quite taken by and want to share a quote with you, which Nelle Harper Lee wrote in a letter to Oprah Winfrey in 2006, and which was published in Winfrey's magazine "O", the Oprah Magazine, in July, 2006:

"Now, 75 years later in an abundant society where people have laptops, cellphones, iPods and minds like empty rooms,
I still plod along with books.”

- Nelle Harper Lee -

All I have to say is "Good for you, Nelle! Your a woman after my own heart" and Best!

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“You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.”

- Brigham Young -

“Go in peace my daughter. And remember that, in a world of ordinary mortals, you are a Wonder Woman.”

- Queen Hippolyte -

A Happy New Year to you all! I'm sure your all replete with turkey and treats at the moment (and, as with me, have the extra indications on your weigh scale to prove it!)

So what to talk about, now that the Word Forge is back at proper temperature, despite the bone chilling temperature outside (-32 C by my thermometer today - BRRRRRRR)?

Well, you may ask ..........................

Before immersing myself in books, I must admit, in a moment of guilty pleasure, that I was an avid comic book reader - it is a passion that remained with me far after I learned to devour many and sundry miscellaneous tomes. I collected many comics series from DC and Marvel comics in my teenage and subsequent years, chronicling the heroic deeds of superheroes and super-heroines alike, including that stalwart Amazonian champion of freedom, known as "Wonder Woman".

Diana, daughter of the Greek based mythological Queen Hippolyte of the Amazons, is not new , having appeared in comics as far back as the wartime years of World War II, thus being FAR older a character than even I am (and much more remarkably preserved, all important attributes being taken into consideration).

But who is she, really, and where did she come from? The story is rather more remarkable than you probably believe.

Being avid radio listeners, relaxing on the Sunday morning before Christmas, I had the good fortune to tune in to the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) program "The Sunday Edition" with Michael Enright, which has some remarkable interviews and topical discussions.

And there was Wonder Woman ............................

The discussion was about a new book recently written by Jill Lepore, called The Secret History of Wonder Woman.

Knopf Publishing (Random House of Canada)
ISBN: 978-0-385-35404-2 Pages: 432

If you are interested, a podcast of the interview itself is available here.

At first glance what is most remarkable about this book is that Ms. Lepore, the author, is a professor of history at Harvard University, hardly the first person you would think of to write a book about a heroine of the comics gender.

The second remarkable thing is the non-fictional elements which created the essence of the character in the first place!

As related by Lepore, Wonder Woman was created from the mind of William Moulton Marston, who had little to do initially with comics of any kind, but is very interesting in his own right.

Trained as a psychologist and lawyer, he graduated from Harvard. His career started in the realm of academia, undertaking pure research.

He is known as the creator of the systolic blood pressure test, and is credited with turning this test into a working monitoring device, which was an important component in helping to create the first polygraph (read "lie detector") device, invented by John Augustus Larson. Convinced, based on the course of his associated psychological researches that women were more honest and reliable than men, he became a staunch champion of women's causes throughout his lifetime.

In the interim period between academic and comic writer, Marston worked as a writer of both research papers and news articles, many focusing on the mental and emotional differences between men and woman, which formed the framework of his subsequent personal, cultural and sociological views. These included his relationship with acknowledged legal wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston, a lawyer and also a psychologist, and Olive Byrne, ostensibly a live-in assistant to the couple, but actually a love partner to both, in a secret polygamous, polyamory relationship, which very much reflected his views, and produced four children, some of which which Lepore indicates were in later life acknowledged by Elizabeth to be Olives' , but were indicated to be solely Williams and Elizabeths' for most of the family's life.

In an interview with Family Circle magazine on October 25, 1940, entitled "Don't Laugh at the Comics", Marston indicated that he saw "great educational potential" in comic books. A subsequent follow-up article published two years later, was noted by Max Gaines, a pioneer comics writer and publisher of the time, who hired Marsdon as a consultant to All-American Publications, one of the two companies that would later merge, and appear as the much more well known DC Comics.

At the time, nearly all the the wartime superheroes were men, heroic in their patriotic zeal, and adept with fists or firepower. Marston had a unique idea for a new kind of superheroe; one who would not triumph violently, but with love. Discussing it with his wife, her response was "Fine ................ but make HER a woman ......"

So, thus, Wonder Woman was born.

According to Lepore, Marston took Margaret Sanger as the ideal role model for Wonder Woman, as suggested by Olive Byrne. A suffragist and feminist, far before the phrase existed, Sanger was a reproductive rights activist, nurse, and sex educator in the 1910's, popularizing the term "Birth Control" and opening up the first birth control clinic in the United States in 1916. Sanger, based on her research, considered sexuality as a powerful, liberating force, but was opposed to excessive sexual indulgence. She took part in labour actions and campaigned for the rights of woman in all forms, for her entire life.

As an interesting sidenote in the book, Lapore indicated how Marston heard about Sanger - it seems Olive Byrne was a niece of Ethel Byrne, who was Margaret Sangers younger sister, and co-activist for the same cause!

So Wonder Woman was forged, with love, from the fires of both war and feminism, and continued in that vein, making her debut in All Star Comics #8, in December 1941, and six months later in her own title Wonder Woman #1, written by Marston and illustrated by artist Harry Peters, until Marston's death of cancer in 1947. Interestingly, except for four months in 2006, the series has been in print ever since.

While morphing throughout the years, and losing much of Marston's original philosophic views, Wonder Woman has been the role model of generations of young women, combining as Marston put it "all the strength of a Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman". She was remarkably portrayed with earnestness and grace by actress Lynda Carter, from 1975-79. To honor her portrayal, DC Comics, in 1985, named her as one of the honorees in the company's 50th anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great , for her work on the Wonder Woman series.

Personally, my now forty something step daughter (who is a wonder of a woman herself) was a BIG fan of Wonder Woman in her formative years, and the character was the inspiration of many other young girls, not for the way men portrayed her physically, but very much for her independent, individual nature as much as her very modern, feminist views - Gloria Steinam, noted feminist and then editor, actually put Wonder Woman on the cover of Ms. Magazine in 1972, and indicated her as a role model, when she originally read her exploits in the comics, as a teenager in the 1940's. (NOTE: Wonder Woman again made the cover of Ms. Magazine, forty years later, as a tribute, in fall of 2012).

In my estimation (for what that is worth), The Secret History of Wonder Woman is a very engaging read for the interested of you, with many twists and turns, and not what you would expect of a mere comic book super-heroine - but come to think of it, what is mere, about a fictional character that has inspired so many to be far more than they thought they could be, in all ways ................

All for now, from this superhero (or at least a legend in my own mind)

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“Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind. ”

- Mary Ellen Chase -

“The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.”

- George Carlin -

The Christmas season is now in full swing, and Christmas, the day, is just around the corner.

In our household, as in many others, that means that a lot of pre-Christmas traditions are also in full swing - preparing Christmas treats, decorating trees, listening to Christmas music, watching Christmas movies .............. and of course Christmas readings!

The latter tradition started about eight years ago in our family, when I obtained a very old copy of Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol"for my personal collection. It is a beautifully illustrated limited edition, published jointly by William Heinemann in the UK and Lippincott in the US , with laid in watercolour panels by late 19th / early 20th century artist Arthur Rackham. It is published in board covers, on rag paper, conveying both the sense of age, and the nature of the spooky tale it relates.

Dickens tale of trial and epiphany, through the medium of the Christmas season, is well suited to readings, as it is broken into 5 staves, each of which can be read in 1 - 1 1/2 hours, of an evening or afternoon. Evenings are especially fun, as the prose and the atmosphere are conducive for painting, in words, the time worn picture of miser Ebeneezer Scrooge's journey of reflection on his life, in the land of the spirits, and the ultimate change in his demeanor, when he realizes his redemption in the end.

The tale of Scrooge is very well know in our media saturated world, including no less that 20 film versions (if items like "An American Christmas Carol", "A Muppet Christmas Carol" and "Mickey's (Mickey Mouses') Christmas Carol are included). There are also numerous TV and radio versions as well. For the interested, an extremely well done audio reading also exists, performed by well known actor Patrick Stewart, where he played 40 roles in a one man performance. It was originally recorded in 1988, available on CD, but has also been done in live performance since.

However, what is lesser known is that this was NOT Dicken's only Christmas tale ................

Dicken's, over the years, wrote no less than FIVE Christmas related stories, in the same vein, including the seminal "A Christmas Carol".

The other stories are:

"The Chimes"
"The Cricket on the Hearth"
"The Battle of Life"
"The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain - A Fancy for Christmas Time"

All of the stories have a similar theme, taking place in that season around Christmas. Most have a supernatural element attached. But other than that, the themes are markedly different.

"The Chimes" was the second of Dickens Christmas stories, written in Genoa, Italy, in 1844, while on a working holiday, one year after A Christmas Carol was published.

According to Dicken's, it was intended to be "a great blow for the poor". In a letter to John Forester he wrote "Thank God!, I have finished The Chimes. This moment I take my pen up again today, only to say that much, and to add that I have had what women call "a real good cry".

Like A Christmas Carol, the book is divided into parts, four in number. Unlike A Christmas Carol's "Staves", The Chimes parts are named "Quarters", after the quarter chimes of a striking clock.

The "chimes" referred to in the title are old bells in the church on whose steps Toby "Trotty" Veck plies his trade.

Trotty is a poor elderly "ticket-porter" ("casual messenger" in English parlance). One New Years Eve, we find him filled with gloom at the reports of crime and immorality in the newspaper he is reading, and wondering whether the working classes are simply wicked by nature. His daughter Meg arrives to cheer him up, in the form of a special meal, with the announcement that she is planning to finally marry her long-time fiancé, Richard, the next day. We find their tenuous happiness soon shattered by the the arrival of the pompous Alderman Cute, and his cronies, stepping out of the church while Trotty is finishing his meal. They, with their political pontificating directed at the trio, make Trotty, Meg and Richard feel they hardly have a right to exist, let alone marry.

In the course of the story, Trotty encounters other examples of the downtrodden being trammeled by the rich and powerful, making him very distressed. In the middle of it all, one night, the bells seem to call Trotty.

Going to the church, he finds the tower door unlocked. Climbing to the bellchamber, he discovers the spirits of the bells complete with their goblin attendants, who reprimand him for losing faith in man's destiny to improve. He is told that he fell from the tower during his climb and is now dead, and Meg's life without him must now be an object lesson for him. There follows a series of visions which he is forced to watch, helpless to interfere with the subsequently troubled lives of Meg, Richard, and others of his acquaintance, in future years.

Trotty breaks down completely, when he sees Meg poised to jump into the river, to end her life. He cries that he has learned his lesson, begging the Chimes to save her, whereupon he finds himself able to touch her, preventing her from jumping.

The story ends with Trotty awakening as if from a dream, in the present, at home, , as the bells ring in the New Year of the day. Meg and Richard have indeed chosen to wed, and all of their friends have spontaneously chosen to provide a wedding feast and celebration.

"The Cricket on the Hearth" is the third of Dickens Christmas stories. Written in 1845, Dickens described in this story his intention to "make the cricket a little household god - silent in the wrong and sorrow of the tale, and loud again when all went well and happy". In other correspondance, he actually said in 1846, that "The Cricket is a most tremendous success. It has beaten my two other Carols out of the field, and is going still, like wildfire."

The Cricket is a three part tale, written in three "Chirps". The story is domestic in nature, with no social criticism or topical themes, focusing instead on simple fantasy in a domestic setting, for the hero's redemption.

John Peerybingle, is a carrier (read "itinerant courier"), who is slow, steady, upright, honest, happy. He is proud of his beautiful young wife Dot, whom he adores, and his baby boy. Their home is wonderfully peaceful, with a cricket that chirps on the hearth, acting as a guardian angel to the family.

Then, one day, a mysterious elderly stranger appears, asking to take up lodging at Peerybingle's house, for a few days ..................

Also central to the story and the Peerybingle's lives is Caleb Plummer, a poor toymaker employed by the miser Mr. Tackleton, who is a toy merchant. Caleb has a blind daughter Bertha, and had a son Edward, who travelled to South America and is thought to be dead. Caleb tries not to worry his daughter, so he spins wonderful tales to her, in her blindness, describing wonderful fantasies to her, about their lives, to hide the reality of their miserable state.

Tackleton in the story is on the eve of marrying Edward's former sweetheart, May Fielding, who is a dear friend to Dot, but who does not love Tackleton. Unfortunately, Tackleton also notices a clandestine scene, one day, wherein Dot embraces the mysterious lodger, who, in disguise, is actually a much younger man than he seems. Tackleton tells John Peerybingle that his wife Dot is cheating on him, which devastates John, who is brought into the circle of unhappiness as well, as he loves his wife dearly. He is so distraught, that he decides to relieve his wife of their marriage contract, thinking she does not love him anymore.

So much unhappiness ensues in all domestic quarters, including with the cricket and other spirits of the house ............ until all is revealed!

The mysterious lodger is revealed to be Edward, who has returned home in disguise, having enlisted Dot's aid in trying to set things right, so he can marry his true love. Dot shows that she has indeed been faithful to John. Edward marries May hours before she is scheduled to marry Tackleton. You would think that Tackleton's miserly heart would turn to ice, in honour of the disastrous personal events, but even he is melted by the festive cheer, surrendering May to her true love. So everything is right and merry in the end!

"The Battle of Life", his fourth Christmas novel, as Dicken's first put it "is simmering over a slow fire" when he wrote a correspondant in July, 1846. He was in Lausanne, Switzerland, at the time, with his family around him, working on his novel "Dombey and Son". He indicated initially that "an odd shadowy undefined idea is at work within me, that I could connect a great battlefield with my little Christmas Story". Thus was born The Battle of Life, which was actually completed before Dombey and Son.

The Battle of Life was also written in Three Parts, imaginatively named "Part the First", "Part the Second", and "Part the Third" (Imagine That!). It is the only one of his five Christmas novels that has no supernatural elements involved, and that only has a peripheral connection with Christmas.

The setting is an English village that stands on the site of an historic battle. Dr Jeddler, a good-natured widower has two daughters, Grace the elder and Marion, the younger, who live happily together, in the English village with their two servants, Clemency Newcome and Ben Britain

Marion, the younger sister, is betrothed to Albert Heathfield, Jeddler's ward, who is leaving the village for a time. He entrusts Marion to Grace's care and makes a promise to return to win Marion's hand, after completing his studies.

Enter Michael Warden, a man who is without moral principles or a sense of responsibility. The servant Clemency spies Marion one night in what seems to be a clandestine rendezvous with Warden, and she thinks that Warden is about to seduce the younger sister into an elopement.

On the day that Albert is to return, her fears seem to be true. It seems that Marion has indeed run off. Her supposed elopement causes much grief to both her father and her sister. Six years pass.

After nursing heartbreak related to Marion, Albert marries Grace. She bears him a daughter, also called Marion. On the birthday of Marion, Grace announces to Albert that her sister Marion will be arriving, surprisingly, and has made a promise to explain her so-called "elopement" to him in person.

Marion indeed appears that evening, by sunset, explaining her disappearance to the parties involved. It turns out that Marion had not "eloped" but had instead been living at her aunt Martha's place for the preceding years, so as to allow Albert to fall in love with Grace. Tears are shed and happiness and forgiveness reign, as the missing sister is reunited with the rest of the family.

The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain, the only "ghostly" titled story of the lot (usually presented simply under the title of "The Haunted Man"), is the last of Dicken's Christmas stories.

Written in 1848, at a time when Dickens output of stories was slim, it was immediately a hit. According to Dicken's, writing to his friend Thomas Beard on December 19, 1848 "The Haunted Man this minute (having been published this morning) has sold 18,000!"

Written in three Chapters (the only story which actually references Chapters), it tells the story of Professor Redlaw, a teacher of Chemistry. He is haunted by a spirit, which is more like a twin of himself "an awful likeness ......... with his features, and his bright eyes, and his grizzled hair, and dressed in the gloomy shadow of his dress..."

Redlaw is given to much brooding over his life, which he considers is liberally sprinkled with grief, including past wrongs done him by others. The ghost in its appearance offers him a "Gift" - It proposes to allow Redlaw to totally forget any sorrow, wrong, or trouble he has known, cancelling any remembrance of its occurrence.

Redlaw is hesitant at first, but finally agrees. Before the spirit vanishes, however, it ominously intones that "The gift that I have given you, you shall give again, go where you will ....... you will henceforth destroy its like in all you approach."

As a consequence of the ghost's intervention, Redlaw continues without memories of the painful incidents from his past. As a result he experiences a universal anger and bitterness that he cannot explain, spreading it, like a contagion to almost everyone around him, making them as wrathful and unhappy as Redlaw himself.

The only one who is able to avoid the bitterness is Milly Swidger, one of his servants, who is one of the allegorical "absolutely good women" who frequent appear in many of Dickens's stories. She supplies a narrative within the story which sums up the moral of the tale "It is important to remember past sorrows and wrongs, so that you can then forgive those responsible and, in doing so, unburden your soul and mature as a human being".

Finally realizing the error of his bargain, including the harm it is causing to all those around him, Redlaw calls to the ghost to take back the "Gift" it had bestowed. The novel concludes with everyone back to normal including Redlaw, who is a changed, more humble and loving man, in the Spirit of the Christmas season.

Many editions of both the separate Dickens stories and collected Christmas works exist in print, but my favourite edition of the collected works is one published by Easton Press.

Easton Press has been known for decades for publishing reasonably priced leather bound editions of various works. The leather bound edition of "Great Christmas Stories", collecting all of Dickens Christmas stories in one volume, was published in 1967. It is particularly nice, being a reprint of an earlier edition published in 1939, with illustrations by Reginald Birch. I've noted various reasonably priced copies in circulation for sale on Abebooks, Amazon and in various used book stores across the world, which would make a particularly nice gift, for those of your loved ones that favour Dickensian prose.

All for now (or for some, who will say "Finally, THE END")

“Happy Christmas to All, and to all a Good Night ”

- Clement Clarke Moore -
"Twas the Night Before Christmas"

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'As far as I'm concerned, if you want to find out about the last day of WWII or the roots of the Indian Mutiny, get thee to a books catalogue.’

- Zadle Smith -

'I would sooner read a time-table, or a catalogue than nothing at all. They are much more entertaining than half the novels that are written.’
- W. Somerset Maugham -

Winter is setting in again in our neck of the printed woods, which is always a time of sadness, for the nature lovers amongst us, including not only said proprietors of our little establishment but also our little feline minders of the store.

White and cold is a necessary part of at least six months of our lives up in Canada, but it also means we have to switch modes for awhile .............. IOW, instead of tending gardens and enjoying long lazy summer evenings, its time to cross country ski, or to hunker down on a dark winter evening, beside a roaring fire, a glass of fine wine in hand ..................... and read a catalogue!

?!?!?!?!?!

I don't know how many of you reading this remember catalogues, especially Christmas catalogues, from your favourite department store. We had the Timothy Eaton Company (colloquially known as "T. Eaton Company" or simply "Eatons"), growing up, and I remember with fondness the excitement we had when the Eaton's Christmas Catalogue (known as "The Dream Book") arrived - hundreds of pages of gifts for the whole family, in living colour (including the latest toys and games, of course!) Those catalogues were dog-eared and well thumbed, by the time that the run-up to Christmas was complete, and we never got all the presents we dreamed about - but those catalogues were sources of constant fascination for days and weeks ...............

The T. Eaton Company has long since departed the Canadian scene, and most of the browsing has become electronic in nature but there are still catalogues out there, put together with loving care and detail ............... and some of them are immensely entertaining - and about B-O-O-K-S!

We ran across Adrian Harrington Rare Books, when I first purchased from them an exquisitely preserved leather volume of the Arthurian legends, as retold by Author and Illustrator Howard Pyle. The book is one of four he wrote about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, and just happened to be in their inventory at the time.

Adrian Harrington is based in London England, located on fashionable Kensington Church Street, in the heart of the antique district. I've never patronized the establishment in person .................. but I always enjoy their catalogues, ever since I was first introduced to them!

They are becoming fewer and fewer, as the cost of physical delivery has become crushing. But they are also available for PDF download on-line ( http://www.harringtonbooks.co.uk/catalogs.php) and are definitely worth the read.

I'm sure that your probably wondering by now, what is so special about a rather dry dissertation about books present in their inventory ................... well, its really about THE WAY they are described, and the depth and breadth of the subjects they cover .............

A few cases in point:

BULGAKOV, Mikhail. The Master and Margarita.
London, Collins, Harvill. 1967 [33128 ]

First Glenny translation, considered to be better than the preceding Ginsburg translation. 8vo.
Publisher’s green cloth titled in gilt. Near Fine in like dustjacket. Slight edgewear.
One of the greatest novels of the Twentieth century; the Devil comes to Moscow accompanied by an irresistably beautiful
vampire maid, a fanged henchman or two, and a bipedal gun toting black cat by the name of Behemoth...
much hilarity ensues. A must for anyone with even a shred of sympathy for the devil.

or this:

CHILDERS, Erskine. The Riddle of the Sands.
London, Smith Elders & Co. 1903 [39724 ]

FIRST EDITION: 8vo. Publisher’s decorated black cloth, titles in white to the spine, slightly rubbed.
Professional restoration to spine. Decorated boards sharp and clean. Internally very clean. Inscribed by
Childers to recto front flyleaf. Illustrated with fold out maps and charts. A scarce book in very good
condition.

A most handsome copy of the first edition of a book contentiously described as the first modern
espionage novel, vying for the title with Kipling’s Kim, published two years earlier. Originally written after
he returned injured from action in South Africa and first published in 1903. The novel of encroaching
conflict with Germany was highly influential and is actually credited with the founding of British naval
bases at Invergordon and Scapa Flow; newly regarded as strategically important after examination of the
scenarios in Childer’s novel.

Childers was of course a staunch advocate of Irish Home Rule and was found guilty of possessing a firearm in
contravention of the Irish Emergency Powers Resolution and sentenced to death by firing squad in 1922. His characteristically
humourous last words to the firing squad were ‘Take a step or two closer lads, it’ll be easier that way.’

Author, soldier and intelligence officer :1 , British Government: nil.

or this little piece of history:

SALE, Lady Florentia. Lady Sale's Journal. A Journal of the Disasters in
Afghanistan 1841-2.
London: John Murray. 1843 [42686 ]

<abbreviated below, as it is a long description>

Publisher's salmon coloured embossed cloth, titled and decorated in gilt to
spine and front board (with a rather impressive image of Lady Sale on an
elephant, an experience from which it is unlikely the elephant recovered).

Lady Florentia Sale, wife of Sir Robert Henry Sale, she who
was otherwise known as 'The Grenadier in Petticoats', and was an all-round,
copper bottomed, cast-iron, weapons grade member of the British aristocracy,
with every attendant eccentricity, peculiarity and idiosyncrasy, plus a few
extras apparently.

Part of the disastrous and ill-fated retreat from Kabul during the First Afghan
War of 1841-2, Lady Sale was not only one of the few survivors of the
hellish, frozen procession through the Khurd Kabul Pass towards Jallalabad,
but she was also one of the few to emerge with any credit. The British
military progression through the region being one catastrophe of arrogance
and tunnel vision after another, it was inevitable that the Afghan tribes would
kick back, and they did.

The retreat from Kabul cost something like 16500 lives, mostly camp
followers and civilians, with 4500 military personnel dying in the passes. The
44th Regiment of Foot, bringing up the rearguard, made a last stand outside
the village of Gandamak on the 13th of January 1842. Reduced to 40 men,
very little ammunition and a handful of working muskets they were
surrounded and offered terms of surrender...the response to this was a
sergeant bellowing "Not bloody likely!"

....................

You should probably ascribe the refusal of the 44th to surrender to British
military heroism, but I also like to think that for at least some of them, the
idea of going down fighting was preferable to being re-united with Lady Sale.

By all accounts she was aggressive, haughty and constantly haranguing
everyone within a forty foot radius about how they weren't doing their jobs
properly (it appears in hindsight, she was dead right), until according to
legend it was considered preferable to be sniped at by ghazis from the rocks
rather than be in her sights. She seems to have been afraid of...well, nothing at
all, and to have possessed the grit, determination and ability to motivate that
was actually required of the male leadership at the time.

.....................

She seems to have endangered herself almost constantly both before and after
being taken captive and was unfailingly generous in her praise for the bravery
and resourcefulness of the other women, and indeed even the Afghan
tribesmen they were being harried by.

........................

I can't help thinking there's some lesson regarding learning from history
buried in here somewhere. A handsome and attractive copy of a truly
fascinating and scarce account.

And Finally, one of my all time favourites:

CAULFIELD, James. Portraits, Memoirs and Characters of Remarkable
Persons, from the Reign of Edward The Third, to the Revolution. in 3 Volumes
[with] Portraits, Memoirs [etc.] from the Revolution in 1688 to the Reign of
George II
London: R.S. Kirbay and Young and Whitely. 1813, 1819-20 [42820 ]

<abbreviated below, as it is a long description>

Originally published in parts in 1790 and 1795, this uniform complete collection is the most
wondrous collection of weirdos, maniacs, smugglers, pirates, highwaymen,
murderers, bawds, cross dressers, conspirators, coiners, hedge witches, prophets
and of course booksellers that you could ever wish to own.

Merely opening at random introduces the unwary reader to the previously inconceivable
existence of such personages as Bick, the mimic trumpeter, who became famous for
frequenting taverns and mimicking the sounds of musical instruments with
uncanny accuracy, presumably until people gave him money to go away.

There are the usual portraits of highwaymen, Dick Turpin amongst them, executioners
(apparently a bit like the figure skaters of their day, with people comparing
technique, artistic interpretation, costume and approximately how many attempts
they needed to complete that complicated maneuver); Guido Fawkes; A juggler and
slight of hand man, who attempted to introduce a measure of political
culpability to Britain and unfortunately failed, Jack Sheppard; without
whom no portrait volume was allowed to leave the printer, John Pixley, notorious
rum-runner and quite the dandy, and Stephen McDaniel; "one of those detestable
villains that no epithet is vile enough to brand their infamy..." so presumably
either a lawyer or a Member of Parliament.

Booksellers feature prominently amongst these denizens of society's fringe territories,
hand in hand with smugglers and cross dressers; which makes perfect sense to me, having
attended the Chelsea Book Fair on numerous occasions.

An indispensable set, and quite simply one of the most fascinating collections of oddity ever.
Quite splendid.

I sometimes wonder if I would have made that collection, being a strange duck of a bookseller myself .................

But I think you get the idea in way of prose, humour and very informative background - amazingly entertaining reading, and thought provoking as well - without reading the book, it makes me REALLY want to read it (if I could afford a copy of course!).

I must get to Adrian Harrington Books some time in future - for you who have more ready access, I thing it would be a real treat - and helping to support independent booksellers of all grades, in this day and age of a dying breed never hurts either ...............

But it proves that catalogues DO NOT have to be dry reading .............. and can be an EXCELLENT way to while away a dark cold winter evening.

Try it some time - you may like it and Best!

PAST TENSE NOTE: Subsequent to this piece, Adrian Harrington Books was kind enough, in December, 2014, to send us a Christmas card, indicating that, as of January, 2015, they will be moving to Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, incorporating with the long established Hall's Bookshop. The new address for their shop is:

20-22 Chapel Place
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Kent, TN1 1YQ
tel: +44 (0) 1892 527 531

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Or, if you want to go back ......................
Welcome to Get a Spine	Referendum Reflections (Literally)	Catalogues as a Recreational Sport	Christmas Dickensian Style	The Wonder of Women (and some Men too!)
Deja Vu - Again ?!?!?!	Survivor Bibliophile	Beautiful Destruction ....... and Creation!	When to Build an Ark .......... and Write About It!	Time Tunnels and Hardcovers, O My

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