"The Fragrance of Sweet Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance" by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly exposes many insights about Montgomery's literary works. Most interestingly, Epperly connects home, self-awareness, and romance. Home is where you discover yourself. Not until this discovery can the heroine go beyond herself to recognize her male counterpart. The heroine establishes herself so she can find a hero equally self-aware. Epperly makes the point that although Montgomery subverts convention by having self-aware, independent women not marry until later in life, they do marry and thus conform to convention. Therefore, Epperly suggests that in the 1990s we may not see Montgomery as a feminist. However, I believe she is wrong. Montgomery is a feminist because her heroines are stongly aware of what they can do. Montgomery gives them choices of career, family, or both. Epperly gives an excellent analysis of Montgomery's work, although I do not agree with everything she posits. The book is thoughtful and interesting, providing insights for further investigation.

This is an invaluable resource for Canadian gardeners. It includes the CANADIAN zone guide (no more guessing from the American one), and tips for winter protection. An excellent guide. (I took a star off because it doesn't really get doiwn to the level of the "know-absolutely-nothing" gardener. It's close but not quite for "dummies".)

There is not much to say about this book, expect, breathetaking. This book, I feel, was a very good investment. It was one of the best I've read about Ottawa, and I'm a librarian! I read a lot!

I think this was originally released as The Further Adventures of Slugger McBatt; if so, this is another great opportunity to be entertained and moved by Kinsella. I've been reading his baseball books since I was a youngster, and they rarely fail to engross me, and redefine and confirm my love of baseball.

This book contains a very clear and concise explanation of all the key concepts in science, complete with sample questions throughout the chapters. Material is presented logically, and no time is wasted with extraneous details, it get's right to the point. There are 3 sample exams as well, and each has a detailed answer key, which is of key significance in helping one learn from their mistakes.

On December 6, 1917, two ships in the harbor at Halifax, Nova Scotia, collided. The resulting fire soon led to a massive explosion that destroyed the ships, much of the harbor, and a good part of the surrounding city. The scope and impact of the tragedy is almost unimaginable. And yet, according to author John Griffith Armstrong, the event is largely forgotten by Canadians and almost universally unknown to Americans. That's too bad -- not only for the sake of the people killed or wounded, but also for the lessons we can still learn from the event and its aftermath today. Armstrong's book shows us why.

As the author notes early in his book, the Halifax explosion, to the extent it's been studied by historians at all, is generally approached from a sociological viewpoint that concentrates on the event's impact on the people of Halifax. Armstrong's brief is different. He analyses the effect of the explosion and subsequent investigation on the Royal Canadian Navy.

In so doing, he's created a surprisingly interesting story that, while it gets a little bogged down in the minutia of inquiry transcripts quoted at length, nevertheless develops a number of themes that are still relevant today. For example: the tendency of military and political bureaucracies to obfuscate, shift blame, and throw others to the wolves in order to protect themselves (and the difficulties military and civilian bureaucracies have in communicating with, or even understanding, one another); the dangers that result from unclear divisions of responsibility; the ease with which opportunistic politicians can manipulate and enflame public opinion; and much more.

It's also very interesting to see the developing institutional ethos of the Royal Canadian Navy, which had existed as a nominally independent body for less than a decade at the time of the explosion.

On the whole, this book is a study of bureaucracy, legal proceedings, and institutional evolution that frankly may not appeal to a lot of people. But for students of disasters, institutions, the navy, or just an overlooked chapter in Canadian history, this title has a lot to recommend it.

This book is a collection not destined to become a classic - most of the poetry is enjoyable but only a few poems are inspired. One that is inspired is the title poem "Here's to High Heels': "Here's to all the others / who dance in high-heeled shoes / (not many of us left) / Betty Grable died today, " ...."Rent us a dance hall / with strenuous floor / over the garage / with red wire gas pumps / ...

The author's drawings which accompany the poems indicated a wickedly delightful sense of humor - "pianos I have known" is a personal favorite.

Much of the poetry is the tough, hard-life rural poetry one expects from Seven Buffaloes Press. But these are also the poems of an intelligent, artistic woman - at home with Miro as well. In short don't stereotype Patricia Elliot, she writes from a very broad base of experience and interessts.

Ever since the Canadian Rockies were 'opened up' for tourism in the late 1800's, artists have been drawn by the spectacular scenery; indeed, the Canadian Pacific Railway paid artists to paint this area in order to promte tourism and thus fill their hotels.

In this book Ms. Christensen presents many of the best paintings of the Canadian Rockies along with detailed instructions on how to hike to the site that the artist painted from. In addition, she includes biographical notes, exerpts from diaries, and photographs.

For the history enthusiast, this is a valuable insight into an often overlooked aspect of our past; for the artist who is also a hiker, it offers an opportunity to enter the mind of the artist as he/she was forced to generalize and simplify in order to create a piece of art; and for the art lover, it offers an introduction to some of the more famous paintings done in the southern Rockies.

Some of the artists presented are Carl Rungius, John Singer Sargent, A Y Jackson, the incredible Lawren Harris, Illingworth Kerr, A C Leighton, and Catherine Robb Whyte and Peter Whyte. The art works are oils, watercolours and woodcuts.

I really enjoy this multi-award-winning book! It is obviously written by someone who is enthusiastic about history, art and hiking, and it has become a treasured part of my own library, one that I find myself perusing again and again.

Historicallly accurate renderings of period colonial dress most often come from extant clothing of the period and are beneficial to study both for construction and fabric content. Mary Moyars Johnson and Judy Forbes have done an excellent job in detailing and explaining the every day usage of a variety of Colonial French clothing for re-enactors and historians looking for accurate historical descriptions. The patterns are easy to copy and enlarge and are explained in enough detail to encourage most seamstresses to duplicate a functional garment that is accurate to the period. Well done!

"Hotel Paradiso" caught my eye a while back, and I must confess that it had the misfortune of being buried in my "to-be-read" pile for quite a while. I wish I'd gone to it earlier than now.

Despite a somewhat slow start (the only real negative thing I can say about the book), "Hotel Paradiso" is a rather unique reading experience. David, our main narrative voice, has come to Pigeon Cay to get away from the rotten relationship and rat race that Montreal represents. In Pigeon Cay, he is running the only bank on the island in a world where drug running, back-room dealings, and white-collar crime walk hand in hand with racism, beatings, murders and voodoo.

The book, however, reads nearly lyrically. The passages where David describes the slow pace of the world around him are nearly meditative, and when the action begins, it garners your attention all the more for the sharp change of pacing. The myriad plots and deals and secrets of Pigeon Cay are a marvel to unravel, and definately a worthwhile reading endeavour.

Despite the slow beginning, I'd definately reccommend this one. And, as always, it's a pleasure to read strong writing from a Canadian author.

'Nathan