Canada Eliminates the Penny!

This weekend marked the last time the Canadian Mint would print and distribute Canadian pennies. They are still legal tender but will not be handed back as change when you purchase items with cash. This is expected to save the Canadian government $11 million a year and should eventually make the penny a collector's items as they will eventually be melted down and the copper reclaimed by the Mint. The process by which businesses process transactions now is a bit confusing. Any purchases made with cash that end in a .01 or a .02 will be rounded down to the nearest dollar. Any purchases that end in a .03 or .04 will be rounded up to .05 and so on. Purchases made with a card will not be rounded in any way.

This means that businesses will most likely be off several cents every day until the penny is completely eliminated from circulation due to rounding. As well, this changes the concept of 99 cent stores. Will people eventually cease to say "penny for your thoughts" or "that's my two cents" as there will now be generations of people who grow up without the penny?

I never thought about how integrated something like the penny was in our lives but this is history happening before our eyes. Just as when the dollar bill was eliminated or the toonie was introduced, it's something people have to wrap their heads around. I for one, love that we're here at this crossroads, small as it may be. It forces people to think, to adapt and to possibly change. Change like this keeps up moving forward and doesn't allow us to stagnate.

If you want a more concise delivery, check out this video by Canadian YouTuber, CGPGrey.

Hatchet - Gary Paulsen

“When he sat alone in the darkness and cried and was done, all done with it, nothing had changed. His leg still hurt, it was still dark, he was still alone and the self-pity had accomplished nothing.”

My first encounter with this book was in grade five when it was read to our class. At the time I found it rather long, boring and too descriptive. This summer though, I happened upon a free copy and decided to see if I still felt the same way. I loved revisiting this story, especially since I had forgotten so much that had happened.

I don’t know why I love survival stories. Perhaps it’s because it allows for man to be stripped down to his base instincts, to do without. I’m always fascinated by what people can do with less. And there’s always the ever dependable basic conflict of man versus nature and the more interesting, man versus himself. In ”Hatchet”, Brian Robeson, a thirteen year old travelling by bush plane to visit his father, survives a plane crash, leaving him alone in a forest. Faced with starvation and threats from weather and wild animals, Brian must look inward and find the strength to survive and escape the forest.

“You are your most valuable asset. Don’t forget that. You are the best thing you have.”

As a child listening to the story, I couldn’t fully comprehend what it would be like to face survival in the forest alone but as an adult Brian’s situation seems far more tenuous. He has limited supplies and more importantly, limited knowledge about wilderness survival. His most important ally though is his hatchet, a gift from his mother before his flight. The hatchet plays a key role in Brian’s survival and helps supply everything from a shelter to a fire to food prep, satisfying the most basic of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. I’ve often wondered if I would be able to survive in the wilderness, alone and with no access to civilization. As a child I was enrolled in Junior Forest Wardens which is basically a Canadian version of Scouts and while we received wilderness training that was many years ago and only basic training at that. What Brian accomplishes is far more impressive. Not only does he manage to keep a level head he makes good use of his time and faces challenges with an open mind. Not only is Brian confronted with the self-doubt of rescue, he also literally faces death in the guise of the dead pilot still trapped in the plane. He is a physical obstacle in the way of precious supplies and the tracking beacon but is also a psychological a fear Brian must confront if he wishes to escape.

Approaching this as an adult of course I have a different view of the story. I appreciated how Paulsen didn’t shy away from the possibly scarier and more gruesome aspects of a plane crash. It didn’t treat its audience like a child, instead, allowing the reader to experience a full range of emotions when it came to Brian’s situation. As well, I liked that nature’s indifference is on full display here. People are used to being surrounded and comforted by fellow human beings/society/cities. In the forest there are no safety nets; if you fail you die.

“Patience, he thought. So much of this was patience - waiting, and thinking and doing things right. So much of all this, so much of all living was patience and thinking.”

If you like survival stories then this is one you might want to look at. Written for young adults, I enjoyed revisiting this book and would recommend this book as a library loan.

Fugitive Pieces - Anne Michaels

"The burst door. Wood ripped from hinges, cracking like ice under the shouts. Noises never heard before, torn from my father’s mouth. Then silence. My mother had been sewing a button on my shirt. She kept her buttons in a chipped saucer. I heard the rim of the saucer in circles on the floor. I heard the spray of buttons, little white teeth.”

Jakob Beer is seven when soldiers break into his home, killing his family while he hides behind a wall. Disoriented and afraid, he travels the forests of Poland at night until he comes upon Athos Ruossos at Biskupin, an archaeological site. Athos takes the boy in and brings him to the Greek island of Zakynthos where they endure the war together. Soon after, Athos decides the best thing for Jakob is to emigrate, to Canada specifically. There Jakob grows up, following in Athos' footsteps and falls in love with a woman quite unlike himself. But in the back of his mind he knows he still has to confront the traumatic memories of his past, lest they consume him.

Anne Michaels is primarily known as a poet and this is reflected in the book. Her diction and sentence structure flow like water and there are some choice quotes that will give you pause. It was a pleasure to devour her words as they created wonderfully vivid imagery, evoking joy and sadness. Some of her paragraphs contain an element of violence and gore but are written so beautifully that you can't help but admire them.

"When the prisoners were forced to dig up the mass graves, the dead entered them though their pores and were carried through their bloodstreams to their brains and hearts. And though their blood into another generation. Their arms were into death up to the elbows, but not only into death – into music, into a memory of the way a husband or son leaned over his dinner, a wife’s expression as she watched her child in the bath; into beliefs, mathematical formulas, dreams. As they felt another man’s and another’s blood-soaked hair though their fingers, the diggers begged forgiveness. And those lost lives made molecular passage into their hands."

While I appreciated Michaels' mastery of words, I felt somewhat lost in the story. The plot feels subservient to the diction and I think this is where Michaels' expertise as a poet does her a disservice. I never felt grounded as the story had a fragmented quality to it and at times I wasn't sure what was happening, a dealbreaker in my mind.

There's also a second narrative introduced quite late in the book, in a voice other than Jakob's. I didn't want to abandon him and pick up with another character only 100 pages from the end of the story. It was unnecessary, distracting and this second voice was too similar to Jakob's to have any impact on the reader in terms of seeing the book from a different perspective.

In the end, this book is about memory and loss and how we have to learn to let people go, how we can never go home again but learn to make a home for ourselves, to make other people our home.

Rating: 4/5

The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

"Ordinary, said Aunt Lydia, is what you are used to. This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary."

Offred is a handmaid, one of the most important jobs in the Republic of Gilead. She's recently been assigned to a Commander and his wife to provide a child. In this dystopian future, very few women are able to conceive and bear children and so, after a military coup and restructuring of society, fertile women are enslaved and passed around to continue the new hierarchy. Offred is only one of these women, caught in the middle of a regime change, still able to remember her old life, unsure of her future.

The story is told as a recollection of Offred's, leaving much of her backstory to the imagination of the reader. We don't get a detailed description of Offred but this lends itself to the story. Handmaids have their individuality trained out of them but Offred spends the whole book trying to hang onto hers.

I think if anyone either than Atwood had written the book it would have collapsed on itself or gotten lost in the plot. This isn't an action-filled book. Much of the conflict comes from internal paranoia on Offred's part, wondering if or when she's going to be caught. The suspense comes from the slow but taut reveal of the history of Gilead, without a glut of exposition to bog down the book.

The ending is abrupt and ambiguous, leaving Offred's fate in the hands of the readers but it only feels right that Atwood should leave us unsure of the end. After all, the most disturbing part of this book is how unbelievable it is and yet she describes, step by step how entirely plausible the creation Gilead and handmaid's are. Why shouldn't the reader be left feeling uncomfortable about the circumstances of the book? The dystopian view of the novel gives readers something to think about.

Rating: 5/5

The Lions of Al-Rassan - Guy Gavriel Kay

"It was just past midday, not long before the third summons to prayer, that Ammar ibn Khairan passed through the Gate of the Bells and entered the palace of Al-Fontina in Silvenes to kill the last of the khalifs of Al-Rassan."

Twenty years later the land of Al-Rassan has changed. City-state kingdoms have sprung up since the fall of the Khalifate. Life continues, along with murders, poisonings and pillaging. In the city of Fezana, Jehane, a Kindath doctor, is preparing to see patients; Ammar ibn Khairan is in town to oversee his pupil, Prince Almalik receive dignitaries; Rodrigo Belmonte, a captain in Valledo's army is riding to Fezana to collect the tribute paid each year to his king. All three are soon to be drawn into a plot involving two kingdoms, political intrigue and religious fanaticism.

Kay has crafted an amazing story here with a rich plot that covers a lot of ground, both literally and physically. His world draws obvious parallels with medieval Spain as evidenced by the map included in the book. Religion also plays a strong hand, with the three main religions composed of Asharites, who worship the stars of Ashar, Jaddites who worship the sun-god Jad and Kindaths who worship the sister of the god, represented by the two moons. The allusions to Islam, Christianity and Judaism show Kay's obvious inspiration and allow the reader to gain an understanding of the conflicts and comforts of the three fairly easily.

The characters are richly described. As a doctor Jehane has sworn an oath to protect and heal others but at times this tenement is tested, most sorely after a village is raided by Asharites with many of the occupants put to the sword. As well, the reader gets to experience the conflicting emotions among the characters as they get to know one another despite religion and borders and duty to one's country. Kay really makes you care about them and their plight but there were times when I found myself rolling my eyes. When first introduced Rodrigo and Ammar seemed almost indistinguishable from one another. They are both smart and capable warriors and I felt Kay didn't do enough to develop them into two completely separate people. Ammar may be a poet and recite lines throughout the book but his dialogue, his attitude, his body language and tactician's mind all seemed very much in line with Rodrigo. And let's not forget about Jehane. She was consistently referred to as beautiful, almost to the point of distraction. Instead of using ambiguous terms, Kay could have described her hands for example. As a doctor her hands are extremely important, her tools for fighting infection and disease.

The story is action-packed but Kay plays the trickster when it comes to plot-points. There were several times throughout the novel where he misleads the reader, pulls at your heartstrings. It was cheeky the first time but after the third I was done with his maddening omission of pronouns and names. As well, while the story moved along at a quick pace, there were sections that were merely summarized which I believe would have benefited from an action scene. This is most evident at the end of the book where the climax of the plot is summarized instead of described in detail. By glossing over this Kay started to fall into "Lorna Doone" territory, something a book should never attempt to do.

Overall though, an extremely enjoyable read and a good introduction into Kay's writing. I will definitely be keeping this book in my library. I should also mention that Kay is one of ours, a home grown product of Canada!

Rating: 4/5

The Day the Falls Stood Still - Cathy Marie Buchanan

"The landscape below is otherworldly - a massive clot of white-blue ice extending from shore to shore, frozen mounds of accumulated spray nearly sixty feet in height, sections of cliff face transformed by stalactities of ice as thick as the trunk of any tree. Yet there are children sledding on thehillocks, adults milling about, a path crossing the ice from shore to shore, also shanties with hand-painted signs advertising beef tea and sandwiches, coffee and cake."

Bess Heath lives near the mighty Niagara Falls where her father works as director of the Nigara Power Company. But when she returns home from boarding school for the summer she realizes all is not well. Her father has lost his job and her sister has taken to hiding in her room. Bess' only consolation in a world turned upside down is an encounter with a handsome green-eyed man who helps her load her baggage onto the trolley home. She's intrigued and later comes to know him as Tom Cole but society and her family seem set against their relationship. Cathy Marie Buchanan uses Niagara Falls as a backdrop to introduce a story of love and family, demonstrating how place can affect every aspect of a person's life.

It's obvious that Buchanan has put a lot of time and effort into the story. The amount of research and the level of detail when it comes to describing the setting and historical background of the area is staggering. There is so much packed into this book, especially when it comes to the setting that the reader really needs to pay attention to keep from missing anything.

Bess is forced to grow up too early when her family loses their status and position in society. Her struggle with the added responsibilities of adulthood make her a believable character. She has hopes and fears like anyone else but here they are front and center as she tries to hold her family together while developing a relationship with Tom. She makes mistakes, shows jealousy and loses her temper, all aspects that serve to make her more relatable to readers.

Peppered throughout the book are newspaper articles, photos and drawings that add depth to the story and really bring the history of the falls to life. The articles were especially entertaining as they were a great format for delivering backstory without the need for exposition.

I felt a bit mislead by the title though as I assumed the story would take place during the time the falls froze. Instead the story is set more than half a century later, only referencing the event in an article. I also thought the ending tied up too quickly. I wanted Bess' life expanded in order to create more of a contrast to the tense scene just before.

I should add that Cathy offered me a copy of her book, thank you! I had a great time reading it.

Rating: 4/5

Mount Appetite - Bill Gaston

"She can quiet a man like this. He wants only entertainment. He lacks eyes to see what's in the fire: faces hideous or godlike or mirroring any possible mood. He can't hear the tiny marimba of pebbles in waves, or the silence that is their aching measure. Can't parse the accents of smoke, or smell the beach as a charnel ground of clams, the non-stop enormity of this." p31

"Mount Appetite" by Bill Gaston is a collection of stories, tied together by the protagonists' search for something unseen or unknowable. Readers will meet a faith healer who lives in a trailer with a donation box outside; a professional taste-tester who's dying and can't stand his neighbours carrots; a graduate who researches fish, stays with her unfertilized charges while suspecting her husband of infidelity; a brother encounters tragedy on a baseball field.

Gaston's style has a natural, organic flow. This easily lends itself to the description of the landscape, an important aspect of his stories. The stories are diverse, the voices varied, giving the book a freshness that short story collections often lack. He pulls the reader in, almost drowns them in waves of original diction, never letting go until the last page. Each story is a universe, cupped in the hand.

There are so many great lines within this collection "her mouth shaped like a complaint", "fingers tooling in flesh and oil", "The dutiful tides of Indian Arm, the rich, fish-rank croaks of gulls and herons, the smell of shattered cedar, the sacred light in a dewdrop reflecting the sun, the mysterious light in a dewdrop reflecting the moon."

The only frustrating aspect of Gaston's writing is what feels like a lack of resolution. "The Angel's Share" involves Evelyn, a young woman running from the death of her father. While the story has an otherworldly west coast feel to it, the ending feels incomplete. We only dip into the relationship between Evelyn and her father whereas a full swig would have been more helpful in understanding her character. This truncation, this lack of closure occurs in several other stories and is frustrating as the rest of Gaston's works are entirely satisfying.

Rating: 3.5/5

The Shipping News - Annie Proulx

"At thirty-six, bereft, brimming with grief and thwarted love, Quoyle steered away to Newfoundland, the rock that had generated his ancestors, a place he had never been nor thought to go."

The Good: Quoyle lives the life of a sad cliche. His family doesn't like him, his wife has affairs behind his back and he's socially awkward. His only thought is for his children, Bunny and Sunshine. When a situation causes them to move from Mockingburg, New York to Newfoundland, Canada, home of Quoyle's ancestors, he finds himself in over his head. Proulx is a master manipulator in this story as she forces the reader to sympathize with Quoyle's situation. He's dumped into a new setting, new country with only his children and Aunt Agnis to keep him company.

The descriptive detail in this book is fresh and full. "In the bay they saw a scallop dagger halfway to the narrows, a wake like the hem of a slip showing behind it." I feasted on this line because I loved it so much and you can look forward to this richness throughout the story.

Proulx makes Newfoundland come to life. This is likely due to the fact that she splits her time between there and Wyoming. This may not be the kind of Newfoundland you know though. It has this wild and dark, mythical side to it that you may have heard as a stereotype about the province. Incidentally when this book came out, there was some controversy about Proulx`s portrayal of Newfoundlanders. Some people from the province thought readers would assume these stereotypes were true. I would say the novel does nothing to dispel the stereotypical view of `The Rock` and its inhabitants but you have to remember this is Fiction. This is clearly stated on the back of the book.

Watch for the chapter titles. Each relates to a type of knot and informs the reader on the content of the section. Chapter One is entitled "Quoyle", 'a Flemish flake is a spiral coil of one layer only. It is made on deck, so that it may be walked on if necessary.' This gives you an idea of Quoyle`s character even before you start reading.

Something that deserves mention is the book won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in 1994.

The Bad:Proulx's writing style is unlike anything I've read before. Her syntax is fragmented and her removal of pronouns interrupts the fluidity of the story. For some this may be difficult to get around.

As well, a suspension of disbelief is required as various coincidences and other `unbelievabilities` pop up throughout the book and would be difficult to take otherwise. This includes the strange characters with quirky names like Billy Pretty, Tert Card and Beaufield Nutbeem.

The Ugly: Please note, this novel is not for everyone. The climax of the story occurs at the very beginning of the story and settles into a slow denouement. This is completely contrary to the normal story arc. This a quiet, steady book about family and the idea of home. It is not, I repeat, not a page turner. That being said, I enjoyed the stillness and contemplative quality that rose out of the book. For those who like stories about how a person can change and the influence of the land on the mind, this book is for you.

The Siren Years - Charles Ritchie

"We know the history of conquered races, the eternal resentment and the eventual revolt. Better to let this generation go through hell and beat the buggers."

Charles Ritchie was a diplomat who acted as Ambassador to the United States and then the United Kingdom. He lived through the London bombings and managed to paint a picture of public opinion that was contrary to Allied propaganda. Something to consider is what Ritchie says about his own book. "Thinking over what I have written. What a pack of lies intimate journals are, particularly if one tries too hard to be truthful."

The Good: Reading personal diaries can be as exciting as watching grass grow but Ritchie's writing is engaging, descriptive and informative. In another life he would have made a good journalist.The book was popular when published and even won the Governor General's Award for non-fiction in 1974.

Here's a sample of his delicious prose. "A week of air raids. Our ears have grown sharp for the sounds of danger - the humming menace that sweeps the sky, the long whistle like an indrawn breath as the bomb falls. We are as continually alive to danger as animals in the jungle."

One alarming fact was how prescient Ritchie was in terms of the post-war world. Ten months after it began, May 1940 he wrote "they tell us that the greatest battle in history is beginning. London is sultry with the rumour of it. The possibility of defeat appears in whispers and averted glances."

This idea of defeat and how public opinion evolved over the course of the war were most interesting parts for me.

February 23, 1941: "It is being dinned into my mind with persistence that after all we may be going to lost this war. No one admits the possibility publicly but you could hardly expect us to do that."

May 2, 1941: "We are in danger of losing the war. As for england she will be outflanked on a world scale and left like the Maginot line, a graveyard of equipment and static armies with nothing to defend except herself."

In three months Ritchie went from 'may' to 'are' and you can be sure that his opinion was in keeping with popular opinion. I know the propaganda machine made it look like the Allies couldn't be anything but triumphant so it's nice to see the real thoughts of the people. Ritchie doesn't go so far as to elaborate on his feelings but you can detect undertones of alarm in his words.

It was also interesting to see Ritchie interacting and working with famous historical figures like Mike Pearson and Vincent Massey. This is where his biting wit really comes into play. He described Mackenzie King as a "fat, little conjurer with his flickering, shifty eyes" and said Harry Truman "looks like a sparrowy, little, old, small-town, American housewife who could shut the door very firmly in the face of traveling salesmen and tramps."

The Bad: I was really looking for more of the big events of the war to be included in this diary. In fact, it's one of the main reasons I decided to read the book. We do get a good descriptions of the bombings and Ritchie evens manages to sneak into France during D-Day Operations. The problem is we only get hints of the aftermath, we only really see Allied camps and the country from the seat of a vehicle. This is understandable as Ritchie wasn't a soldier but he doesn't even write about the end of the war. Surely this event would have merited a mention.

The Ugly: I had some issues with Ritchie's opinion of Americans, despite the fact this is a personal diary. "All the same I feel that I never shall forgive the Americans for not being in this war." I understand the frustration and anger at the American's isolationist policies but at times he goes too far.

"The attack on Pearl Harbour has caused very human sardonic satisfaction to everyone I have happened to see today. This will take the Americans by the scruff of the neck and bounce them into the war." While this was the incident that brought America into the war, the fact that Ritchie was so callous about the incident was off putting. Thousands of people lost their lives in that attack, a fact he seems to ignore.

I also thought Ritchie's opinion of his girlfriends painted him to be something of a jerk. "She has more sense and feeling than one would give her credit for at first. What is shocking about her is the contrast between her romantic looks and her flat commonplace mind. Like many completely uninhibited bores she wins in the end by sheer persistence."

"The ballerina leaves today with the ballet company on tour. I am looking forward to early and varied infidelities during her absence."

Rating: 3.5/5

The Stone Diaries - Carol Shields

The Good: This book follows the life of Daisy Goodwill, from her miraculous birth to her quiet death. The events in between define her life and show her living according to the desires of others.

I was particularly taken with the form. Despite following the traditional linear structure, Shields divides the book into sections of Daisy's life like "Birth" and "Marriage". It was interesting to see her grow from a young child into an old woman, with each section concentrating on the theme of the chapter title and how past events affected her present.

Part of Shield's genius is how she makes you care about Daisy, a seemingly ordinary character with not much of a personality. But things happen to and around Daisy that make you take a second look. The story of an unrealized life is always somewhat heartbreaking and Shields manages to communicate this as a quiet dignified tragedy.

I had two favourite sections, one being "Work" where the story is communicated in letters. It's very difficult to maintain plot and reader interest with a letters in a novel but Shields is a master craftswoman. I also really enjoyed the period where Daisy was in her writing phase for the paper.

Shields also manages to populate the world with a plethora of interesting minor characters. They don't just hold up scenery, they have their own stories to tell. One thing to watch for is the family tree and the photographs. It's interesting how much trouble Shields goes to to convince the reader this is a true story.

The Bad: My main problem was with Daisy as character. Despite the fact she was the main character, we don't see the book entirely from her perspective. The story itself is very ordinary as is Daisy. While Shields makes us care about her, the most interesting things in Daisy's life are what happens to others around her.

This book was typically "Canadian" about 'small lives lived in the small'. I don't always mind this but it can be detrimental to Canadian novels as it reinforces stereotypes about Canada and authors seem to find it difficult to break out of this mold. (I can't tell you how many stories I've read set in Canada that take place in a small town where nothing much every happens). At times I thought Daisy's life was so tedious I would have to walk away for a while before picking up the book again.

The Ugly: Shields plays around with point of view which can be highly confusing if you're not paying attention. While it was nice to jump into other character's heads, I found it distracting and felt it detracted from the plot.

I won't lie to you, this is a difficult book to read because it doesn't contain a driving plot. But it's lyrical and intimate and if you're looking for a challenge then I definitely recommend it.

This book was part of my By the Decades Challenge.

Rating: 4/5

The Film Club - David Gilmour

The Good: David Gilmour lets his son 16 year old Jesse drop out of school. The catch to this agreement is Jesse has to watch three movies a week with his dad. But Jesse doesn't get to pick the movies. This is what intrigued me on the book jacket because I love movies. It doesn't hurt that Gilmour was CBC's tv movie critic through most of the 90s. I was also drawn to the fact this was a memoir about a father and son relationship. I've always wondered what father's and sons discuss when they actually have conversations. I don't know about you but my dad and brother tend to keep talking to a minimum and when they have to yay or nay things with a sort of grunt or nod of the head.

I liked how goofy and comical and true Gilmour was in how he dealt with life. I really felt for how he handled the situation with Jesse and his various problems. It brings to light the dilemmas parents face when raising their children. Different choices lead to different outcomes and not always with the intended result. The most interesting parts for me were the conversations over the movies. I learned that a lot of male conversation has a lot to do with what's not said. It's called 'withholding' and doesn't just apply to men.

The Bad: I was really expecting more. The book felt short, almost truncated. I think the main reason for this was Jesse was 16 at the beginning and several years passed within the book but fairly large chunks of time were skipped over. I know Gilmour most likely highlighted the interesting and important parts of those years but I wonder about what was left out. I wonder about what movies were left out.

The Ugly: I thought this would really be my kind of book. What could be better than a father and son bonding over movies? I was especially looking forward to the movie discussion. But when it came down to it, the discussion was short and most of the films discussed were what I would call 'art house' films. They weren't mainstream and I'd never heard of quite a few. I had no way of identifying with David or Jesse when discussed these books. Although, I do agree with what they said about Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's", having just watched it over the weekend.

Granted, they did discuss movies like "Psycho", "On the Waterfront" and "The Shining". I think my main problem with this book is that I expected more from the movie side when the book is marketed and written as a memoir. Only a few movies watched over these years are actually mentioned in the book. My expectations were blown out of proportion, making the book feel like a letdown. While it's a nice little book about a father and son, it doesn't necessarily break new ground in any area.

Rating: 3/5