This second book by up-and-coming Canadian poet, Carmine Starnino suffers from terminal pretentiousness, limp conservatism and an unforgivable bout of bad ear. I saw Starnino read from his first book in Ottawa a few years ago, and was pleasantly struck by the sincerity and youthful energy in his albeit turgid poetry. At that point, I was hoping this young poet would be able to emerge from the overbearing weight of his obvious influences: David Solway and Eric Ormsby (two writers also based in Montreal), and find his own voice. Unfortunately, what we get here, is more simplistic, untruthful, poems about the writer's Italian origins, and heavy-handed formal poems that, while showing a keen interest in word-play, utimately come off as derivative, preachy, and well... boring. In "Credo" what we end up with is a young writer who is striving to write like a "master", sounding old and tired beyond his years. Let's hope that Starnino can rediscover some the vigour that I witnessed at his reading in Ottawa, and come up with something more imaginative and fresh than what is presented in this quite disposable collection.

At last a Canadian quotes book. Much needed. Problem is that most of the quotes (like 99%) are from the last 50 years, so if you want to use any of them they are not yet in the public domain. Thus, not a great resource for anyone who needs a quote for commercial purposes....

Not a lot here. A basic guide which wasn't really helpfull or full of insight.

This play, though filled with poignant messages about the state of Native Canadian societies, is very rough structurally. There are great uses of light, and the setting Ryga proposes is excellent, but the play itself is so rough and deliberate that it is a less-than-pleasant read. It was written in 1967, so though perhaps groundbreaking in its time, this play is not really one to read for enjoyment alone.

This is not a fascinating historical narrative of the early 17th century French Canadian pioneers. Rather it is a detailed and technical demographic analysis of the core population of about 3,380 French settlers of the St. Lawrence Valley prior to 1680.

As stated on the dustjacket "[this book] is of interest for students of Canadian, family, demographic, and migration history, as well as population genetics and several areas of sociology."

The book is densely populated with charts, graphs and tables with titles such as "Relative Importance of the Pioneers in Genetic Endowment of French-speaking Population of Quebec" and "Distribution of Single Male Immigrant Arrivals and Female Entries in Marriage Market before 1663, by 5-Year Period".

It is a dry treatise not particularly inviting or entertaining to the casual lay reader.

This book is important to Canada because it represents an authentic view of small-town life in the pre-WW1 era. The novel focuses on Canada's economic and political link with England and religious issues. It also features 2 romances, the highlight of the novel.

Unfortunately, this novel is neither 'lively' (as one early review stated) nor engaging by today's standards. Duncan's contrived view of the Murchisons and their world is difficult because one is constatly reminded that one is reading a novel. Duncan's characters act and do, they do not feel, think, or emote. The characters, plot, and setting are all contrivances that convey a subtly ironic, political message.

In sum, I doubt very many people would be will to read this book for enjoyment nowadays, although it is still of Canadian historical importance.

This book needed an editor. It takes a long time to say anything. The writer doesn't seem very clear what he thinks about any of the big questions so he settles for remaining aloof and sounding vaguely superior to other critics.

Shostak's illustrations for this book are evocative and demonstrate the variety of activities and landscapes experienced on the prairies. Bouchard's verse, however, is trite and shallow. In fact, much of it is repeated from his earlier book, If You're Not From the Prairie.... If you like Bouchard's writing, then don't buy this book - go for the earlier one. But if you want a book that shows the prairies to be a complex and evolving place instead of a nostalgic backwater, you'd be better off skipping Bouchard entirely and buying a book like Jo Bannatyne-Cuget's A Prairie Alphabet (illustrations by Yvette Moore).

Gay (male) Asian Canadians must face the same issues that their American and Australian counterparts do: being a double minority, only being courted by older white men, finding themselves attracted to other Asian men for the first time, etc. This book is a collection of fiction, political articles, drawings, and photographs of up & coming gay Asians, mostly from Toronto. Still, there's something that feels redundant about this book. The book is a quick read. Perhaps because it says nothing that "Q&A" or "Witness Aloud" haven't already said before and better. It has these photos inside but they will remind you of 1970s American gay liberation publications, except featuring Asian men. Further, you can't tell if the photos challenge racist myths or re-inforce them. Women are left out of the picture, as are South Asians and other people of color. Plus, they use the term "rice" unproblematically, almost admitting to non-Asian readers that they are just a dish to be eaten and forgotten. An American voice is included here, but it belongs to Justin Chin who always surprises me that he gets published when so many more gay Asian-Americans write more interesting stuff than his. This book is good for looking at gay East Asians in a comparative, global context. There is an interview with Richard Fung, who is always awesome in every way. And I must remember that people of color face different issues in Canada than they do here. Still, there is something unimpressive about this book.

I'm looking for a copy of the original Datsun shop manual. NOW THAT'S A REAL MANUAL.

Bought book to give quick reference material. book covers range of model years. Detailed troubleshooting procedures for unusual problems requires datsun shop manual.