| Reviewed by Frank Young
Oh, I can hear you snickering already. What is this doing in a high-class arena such as this? We only discuss books of depth and meaning by authors for the most part no-body has ever heard of. I too said I would never read another Dan Brown book after The Davinci Code which I disliked not from any religious conviction but simply because it was very poorly researched with rather unbelievable characters. However, this book seemed to star not the Catholic Church but the Masonic Order. This intrigued me, a Freemason of fifty-two years standing. What dirt I wondered has he dug up on us? In addition, Where was I? Oh yes even though Mr. Brown still has unbelievable characters the story moves along at a good pace. Well, it’s mostly chase scenes with quite a bit of weird thrown in but I will say it keeps you guessing. About what you say? Seeing, as you don’t intend to read it anyway I will give you a hint. It’s about searching for what else? A Masonic secret to eternal knowledge that has been hidden for centuries by high-ranking members of the Masonic Order. Nonsense you say what secret could that be? Well if I told you that, I would have to kill you. |
since as I had already assured a number of friends the whole thing would be utter nonsense I felt duty bound to read it to make sure.
Reviewed by Collette Yvonne
In 2008, Time Magazine named Elizabeth Gilbert to its annual list of 100 Most Influential People, an extraordinary distinction for any writer let alone a woman who is occasionally described in the media as a chick-lit author.
From fiction to nonfiction, in whichever genre she chooses, Elizabeth Gilbert is a tough act to follow. After her success with Eat, Pray, Love, a mega-bestseller published in more than 30 languages, she found herself struggling to write a follow-up that might please her many hungry fans.
“How in the world does one go about writing a book that will satisfy millions?’ she writes in the introductory notes to her latest offering, Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage. According to Gilbert, she had but one option: to write the book she needed to write.
As a woman afraid to sign a legal contract, after the disaster of a first marriage, Gilbert’s preoccupations have to do with the question of how to reconcile her private misgivings about marriage with a very decided need to remarry: her common-law husband, a foreigner from Brazil named Felipe, faces permanent deportation from their chosen home in the USA, unless the two are prepared to make it legal in the eyes of the United States Department of Homeland Security.
Continuing the saga that she began with her memoir, Eat, Pray, Love, Gilbert relays the next chapters of her fascinating globetrotting lifestyle with a healthy portion of socio-historical commentary on the institution and mores of marriage. Just for some cross-disciplinary fun, she throws in some politics, religion and a few wedding-related tips and party tricks too.
Never one to be dull, Gilbert has done plenty of research and laid out the best titbits of her discoveries on the altar before us: What is this thing called marriage and why do we bother? Who benefits? Who is allowed? And just who invented all this knot-tying nonsense anyway? What about religion? And most important: will the Hmong women of northern Vietnam kiss and tell?
“Committed” is a fascinating second act written with Gilbert’s trademark wit, insight and sparkling personality: don’t leave home and get hitched without it.
What literary character did you most identify with as a child, and why?
Tom Sawyer was my kind-a-guy! He was smart, crafty, adventurous, not
wimpy, and he had fun-friends, like Huck and Becky. And… his jolly Aunt baked great pies if I remember correctly.
Can you share the premise of your current project?
“Growing Up” is what everyone—well almost everyone—does in time.
From the first butt-slap to the last coffin-covering shovel of dirt, we share many common factors, while displaying unique personal attributes inherent in our character and disposition.
Born-with-natures are then subjected to external Born-into-nurtures, not of our choosing, that for better-or-worse shape us. Some choke on their silver-spoon. Others thrive in what appears to be a deprived environment. Why so??
Does which side-of-the-tracks really determine destiny? This is the attempted premise of my present work.
Five Of A Kind—together since elementary school, portray similarities and differences that most “guys” can relate too. . . Or so I think 
Do you prefer fiction or non-fiction, and why?
Non-fiction, or true-to-life-fiction, hold all the elements of entertainment that move and satisfy my emotions. Sci-fi and fantasia seem too far beyond my pragmatic imagination.
Recite a favourite passage from a favourite book. Why does it resonate with you?
“…tho you speak with the tongue of an angel…have all power and wealth….without charity you are nothing…”
I guess it keeps me somewhat grounded in reality. While enjoying the fruits of science and labour, I disdain the social and economic disparity that prevails in our greed-motivated, ego-driven false economy. . .(Wow! What kind’a nut is me???)
Reading is best done in…
…the early morning quiet. Out of bed. Sitting at a table/desk where, if possible, I can watch day brighten the East. . . while I lean back thinking: “Red-sky in the morning, sailors warning…” and so plan my day. Then I turn from the sun and continue reading—or writing—untill hunger beckons some time later. Life IS good!
A choice (or seven):
Robertson Davies or Pierre Berton? Pierre Berton, who I met in1997 at the Klondike Centenial, in Dawson City, Yukon. BIG party! Moose stew, grilled salmon, caribou steaks and story-telling by several early prospectors.
pen or keyboard? Keyboard, beginning with a “Commadore 64″! Age clue
meatloaf or fish? What on earth is meatloaf ??
thriller or war epic? Read All Quiet On The Western Front—my grandfather’s book—as an early teener. Being for the most part historically true, war stories fascinate me with their raw humanity. Which itself could be considered rather mysterious. Who has What they have—whether bravery or cowardice—and Why?
rural or urban? How about an urban-rural life? Or maybe a rural-urban life! I like people: urban. I enjoy quiet and space: rural. Work urban, live rural, toooo much commuting traffic. . . (Now it’s small-town-Lindsay. Not, “The City of Kawartha Lakes.”)
historic or current? Without historic (history) there would be little current. Currently, we have to know what went wrong in history, to correct it in the present for the future. I cannot think of a time I would rather have lived than right now!
What is your ideal writing environment?
VERY early morning quiet time. Wherever I can set up my lap-top: at home, afloat, on the road, it matters not. Pour a cup of hot black coffee to sip periodically, finishing it cold hours later. . . It doesn’t get better than that.
What literary character did you most identify with as a child, and why?
I’m not sure if I can remember a character that I felt was truly like myself, but I do remember those that I wanted to be like. In particular, I wanted to be like Dickon from The Secret Garden. Looking back I realize that he was impossibly
perfect, a great big honking Mary-Sue character, but I loved that he knew how to make things grow and could befriend animals, and that he was so giving and kind. Of course, I conveniently forgot that he had to be so handy out of necessity because he was poor, and that he was barely literate – class distinctions had a certain way of being glossed over in that book!
Can you recall the moment, the age and/or the circumstance, when you knew you wanted to write?
I remember wanting to be a writer or storyteller when I was very young – about four or five years of age. However, I also wanted to be all sorts of other things at that time: a singer, a chef, even – for a short period – a lumberjack! The desire to write poetry and stories was really present during my high school years, though when I went to university that was beaten out of me as I had to write essay upon essay about political theory. It’s only now as the university experience has worn off that I’ve rekindled the writing flame.
Do you more often choose exotic or familiar settings in your work?
When I wrote stories and poetry in high school, the characters and situations were all very closely based upon my own. Now though, I do want to experiment with something wider. In particular, I have an idea in my head (still very much in the germination stage) of people who can heal others with their hands – they can literally set broken bones and pull illness out of you like you would skim algae off a pool. What would having such a talent mean? What sort of dangers would it pose?
Recite a favourite passage from a favourite book…
This is a passage from Watership Down by Richard Adams, which I’ve loved since childhood. At the risk of providing spoilers for a book almost forty years old, this is part of the section where Fiver reveals the terrible secret surrounding Cowslip’s warren:
“Don’t you see? The farmer only sets so many snares at a time and if one rabbit dies, the others will live that much longer. You suggested that Hazel should tell them about our adventures, Blackberry, but it didn’t go down well, did it? Who wants to hear about brave deeds when he’s ashamed of his own, and who likes an open, honest tale from someone he’s deceiving? Do you want me to go on? I tell you, every single thing that’s happened fits like a bee in a foxglove. And kill them, you say, and help ourselves to the great burrow? We shall help ourselves to a roof of bones, hung with shining wires! Help ourselves to misery and death!”
Remember the premise of your earliest work…
The earliest thing I remember writing was a poem from when I was six or seven years old. It was about how I thought things were pretty and how when I heard birds sing my heart went “ding ding ding.” It ended up being published in my school’s newsletter for all to see. My aunt still keeps a copy of the darned thing on her fridge, and won’t let me forget it.
A choice (or seven):
summer or winter? Summer. I happen to like not having to worry about icy sidewalks, slush or frostbite.
bus or train? Train – I live a five-minute walk away from a GO station and commute to work using it, so it’s a natural thing for me.
poetry or prose? It honestly depends. I read and write much more prose, but one of my favourite works is The Metamorphoses which in a sense almost defines epic poetry.
first or third? Are we talking bases, elements, places, books in a series? Perhaps threes: One of the all-time goofiest utterances in the I-Can’t-Believe-Christina-Said-That-Book is when I said that “I’ve always thought triangles are pretty darned neat!”
cruller or jelly filled? Cruller. I’ve always found the consistency of really smooth gooey things like custard or donut jelly to be disturbing. And don’t even get me started on Jell-O!
Leonard Cohen or K.D. Lang? To be honest, I don’t really listen to either, though if I had to make a choice it would be Leonard Cohen because I know more of his songs that other people have covered.
pen or pencil? Pen. I’m even brave enough to do fill in my crosswords and sudoku puzzles in pen!
What is the writer’s role in society?
I think the writer’s role in society is to record and provide a connection to, and context for, the past. However, writing things down for the future isn’t a completely foolproof endeavour – we assume that there will be those who understand our language in the future, although there are many examples of written or recorded languages that no one can now decipher. Even so, I still think that writing is the best hedge we have against the inevitability of time. Buildings crumble, cities rise and fall, and through it all we still have ancient gateways into another mindset through documents like the Dead Sea Scrolls. Who can imagine what people will think of us now in four hundred years?
Christina Vasilevski is the newest member on the WCDR Board, serving currently in the role of Secretary.
What literary character did you most identify with as a child, and why?
Heidi and her simple life on the mountain – an escape for me as I never lived in one home for more than six months at one stretch. That meant about fourteen schools which meant a lot of uniform changes. 
Can you recall the premise of your earliest work?
My earliest work generally helped me express what it was like to grow up in apartheid South Africa.
Do you read more than you write or vice versa?
Both equally; sometimes neither.
Right now, I have a novel, story, poem, in a bottom drawer that will never see the light of day yet I can’t throw it out. True or False? If true, what’s it about?
I’ve got stacks of children’s stories tucked away, some of which, like fashion trends, may be ‘in’ some day. But when that day comes I doubt if I’ll be enthused enough to resuscitate any of them.
Recite a favourite passage from a favourite book. Why is it special?
68th verse of the Tao Te Ching:
‘A good soldier is not violent, A good fighter is not angry, Good winners do not contend, Good employers serve their workers, The best leader follows the will of the people.’
This passage is special because it’s the way to love and peace.
A choice (or seven):
coffee or tea? Love them both.
iPod or stereo? Ditto
Europe or Asia? Ditto
salt or pepper? Ditto
fiction or non-fiction? Isn’t all fiction derived from non-fiction? Ditto.
pen or keyboard? Keyboard – my handwriting’s gone to pot.
phone or email? Both. However I can almost type faster than I can talk.
What would you do if writing was banned?
Listen to the woes of writers.
___________________
After many years of writing for various clients, professional ghostwriter, Lesley Marcovich, designed The Biography Workbook—a step-by-step, fill-in-the-gaps,
workbook to help others write their own life story… one sentence at a time.
When not busy conducting biography workshops in retirement homes, hospices, writer organizations, book clubs and private homes, Lesley keeps busy with her growing family and enjoys cooking, friends and dancing—all good fodder for an ongoing life story.
Reviewed by Gina Sikkema
Donna Dawson has done it again, tackling a frightening and black period in the history of modern mankind and pulling out of it the basest of human desires—that of revenge. 
In her story, the characters and events revolve around the realities that exist behind the curtain of ‘leadership’—the lies that try to validate war as just, the lies claiming that any means is acceptable to obtain the required end.
They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”
We have two choices—forgive and wait for God’s justice to be exacted or spend a lifetime under the bondage of vengeance. This novel captures the essence of human frailty, the overwhelming reality of the haunting desire to see our tormenters brought to justice by our own hands in our own time and the satisfaction that comes from delivering it as we believe it should be dealt out.
On the other hand Ms. Dawson makes it clear that God is present in all situations—that He weeps as He walks beside His people in their time of fear and danger. The story makes it evident that He provides in all situations people who can offer the choice of reaching out for His redeeming love and protection, or rejecting it.
Two stories intricately woven to reveal two great truths.
What literary character did you most identify with as a child, and why?
When I was a child, I always identified with Sister Bear from the Berenstain Bear books. My mom would always read them to my sister and I and replace the cub’s names for our names. Sister always had some form of trouble on her mind and always learned a lesson. She loved her mother and father and brother (or in my case sister), and overcame obstacles. But that is a lie with my life. Now that I am older (19 equals older?) I realize that I was more like a young Imogene from Charles de Lint’s The Blue Girl.
Growing in a school environment that doesn’t accept differences easily, I was often alone and did my own thing. I always invited others to join me, if they wanted, but never forced anyone. I was always different, never falling into cliques and trends. I always wanted to be wild and loud and never let rules restrain my individuality. I had one real best friend and lots of imaginary ones. I also believed in fairies, magick, wizards and unicorns.
Can you recall the premise of your earliest ‘work’?
The premise of my earliest work was a story I wrote in kindergarten. It was about 11 pages of paper my mother stapled together. Originally written in my own massive font, Mum typed what I wanted it to say on her computer and then we cut and pasted it in. I drew the pictures, too. It was all about a trip to the zoo I took with my class, complete with descriptions of all the animals I saw. The only page I can clearly remember, and it humbles me to say, is one about the peacock ‘that had a tail like a piece of toast.’ I was…a strange child.
Do your characters tell you what to do, or vice versa?
My characters vary from both extremes. If they are an undeveloped or minor character, I often make a time-line for them and they follow it until their part is done, like an extra in a play. For my main or more developed characters, such as the infamous Darcious, I cannot bend them around my brain. My characters have minds of their own, which pierce my brain when I write and prevent me from letting them act out of character. For instance, an undeveloped character introduced in chapter 4 is planned to die in chapter 8 due to an attack from an enemy ‘rogue patrol’. Whereas Darcious, if he were planned to die, would be debated, edited, rewritten, debated, edited…”why would he die if he’s dealt with rogue patrols before? Are they special? Is he really dead or just stunned? Couldn’t they capture him? No, they’re assassins. But what if he faked death. They’re too smart to fall for that. Okay, I don’t want him to die.” I am going off on a tangent here, so to reiterate- minor characters obey me and my keyboard. Major characters give me ‘the look’, shake their heads and demand that I put thought into every action.
Recite a favourite passage from a favourite book; why is it special to you?
“He craved variety. But most of all, he craved bat.” This quote, from Kenneth Oppel’s Silverwing is spoken by a bat named Goth. This line not only introduces one of the most disturbing characters of all time, but one of my personal favourite characters and the manic antagonist for three magnificent books (including Sunwing and Firewing.) He brings back memories of the first ‘big kid’ book I read by myself. He kept the story exciting and, one could say, was the staple that bound me to a love for literature.
Reading takes me..
…to far off worlds that clasp me in tender contact until the last page, only ceasing its embrace for food and washroom breaks.
A choice (or seven):
Vancouver or Newfoundland? -Vancouver, for it is part of British Columbia, the most beautiful province, with its various mountains, forests, lakes and wildlife.
Sarnia or Tuktoyaktuk? -Sarnia, because I can pronounce it.
Thriller or Romance? -Thriller, because they draw you in more mentally than unidentifiable romances do. But what are really epic? Romance thrillers! Nothing more delightful than falling in love with the killer.
Bicycle or Canoe? -Bicycle, because I trust gravity and friction more than I trust water currents and Canadian waters. Mountain bikes though, so I can still get back to nature once in a while.
Notebook or Laptop? -Laptop, because it helps me through my condition and allows me to organize my thoughts more clearly. The only downfall is that is has cost me my distance vision over the years.
Fiction or Non-Fiction? -Fiction, because if I desired non-fiction I would just watch news on television. Fiction allows me to escape.
Margaret Laurence or Annabel Lyon? -Annabel Lyon, because she wrote The Golden Mean, one of the greatest books of all time in my opinion.
What would you do if you didn’t write?
I would probably take more focus on my culinary skills, working in a kitchen and learning new recipes. Cooking is like writing because it opens up inspiration, creativity and secret worlds. However, instead of using words and visualization, it uses tastes and blends and worlds of flavour.
Click on any of the links below to read the Seven Questions…
New This Week: Noelle Bickle, Carin Makuz
Seven Questions with Cheryl Andrews
Seven Questions with Noelle Bickle
Seven Questions with Janet Boccone
Seven Questions with Lucy Brennan
Seven Questions with Karen Cole
Seven Questions with Kevin Craig
Seven Questions with Rose Cronin
Seven Questions with James Dewar
Seven Questions with David Drane
Seven Questions with Marjorie Ludlow Green
Seven Questions with Dorothea Helms
Seven Questions with Rich Helms
Seven Questions with Sherry Hinman
Seven Questions with Nienke Hinton
Seven Questions with Barb Hunt
Seven Questions with Dawn James
Seven Questions with Allyson Latta
Seven Questions with Carin Makuz
Seven Questions with Lesley Ann Marcovich
Seven Questions with Mary McIntyre
Seven Questions with Annette McLeod
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Seven Questions with Roger Morrison
Seven Questions with Heather O’Connor
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Seven Questions with Sue Reynolds
Seven Questions with Greer Roberts
Seven Questions with Ingrid Ruthig
Seven Questions with Erin Thomas
Seven Questions with Christina Vasilevski
Seven Questions with Ruth Walker
Seven Questions with Jennifer Wood
What literary character did you most identify with as a child, and why?
Without a doubt, Tom Sawyer. He was just like me, always into something that
would get me and whom ever happened to be with me into some kind of trouble. One of my first short stories, River Adventure, is very close to the story of three of us running away to take a raft trip on the local river. Unfortunately the part we wanted to use the raft on was too narrow, too shallow and flowed the wrong way. But we did build the raft almost half a mile from the river. I have no idea how we planned to get it to the river.
Can you recall the premise of your earliest ‘work’?
The first piece that I can actually call “work” in the sense of written work was a paper to the Government of The Northwest Territories for the development of an integrated medical, veterinarian and industrial laboratory service. That was in 1973. It got read but was considered “too expensive.”
Do you have any advice for young writers?
First read and my choice is the classics but also modern novels and short stories. Stay away from magazines that have more pictures than words.
Then write but not doing “text messages”. Try writing a real letter to someone like your grandmother or an aunt or uncle, even a cousin but a cousin would think you are weird because you would be using real words. Write about what you know and write often.
Reading is…
Robert Service, Edgar Alan Poe, Dante, The Bible
Right now, my biggest writing challenge is…
Focus. I’m working on too many things in too many genres. I should probably take a week and just concentrate on one creative project and get it done.
A choice (or seven):
pretzels or cheesies? Cheesies, the crunchy ones
rain or shine? Rain
legal pad or notebook? Legal pad
fiction or non-fiction? Reading, non-fiction. Writing, fiction or at least fictionalized versions of real events.
laughter or tears? Laughter, always there must be laughter
wine or water? Wine depending on what goes in the water
pen or keyboard? Keyboard
Why write?
I can’t imagine not writing. It’s part of who I am. I love it and fortunately some other people enjoy reading what I have written.
Reviewed by Barbara Ponomareff
It is always exciting to discover a new poetic voice for oneself. Anne Compton is an award-winning poet from the Atlantic coast. Her latest collection asking
questions indoors and out (2009) traces her journey by working through her grief at the deaths of family members, conjuring up lost worlds of childhood, noting the changing values in her small community and registering the uncertainties of love.
In one possible take on her title, Anne Compton’s finely observant eye is turned both inward and outward, as much on the self as on the healing aspects of nature. Her language is both fresh and direct, nostalgic without being sentimental, full of startling metaphors and surprising juxtapositions. She presents us with a series of deeply-felt elegies, saturated with sorrow and regret and, at times, with an empowering and salutary anger at the world as she finds it.
It speaks for her work that I find myself coming back to it many times and that I intend to explore her second collection, the ” Processional” which won the Govenor General’s Literary Award for Poetry in 2005.
