Art & Culture: The Rude Story of English by Tom Howell

February 25, 2014 admin 0

In author Tom Howell’s opinion, before he got to it, there were two main problems with the officially stated story of the English language. First, because of a development time that stretches over hundreds of years and many countries, there is no central hero. Two, previous histories had been too busy being polite to get down to the nitty gritty essential to doing the story justice. In The Rude Story of English (McClelland & Stewart) […]

Art & Culture: Sign Painters by Faythe Levine and Sam Macon

August 9, 2013 admin 1

I’m a graphic designer, so it’s easy for me to create a sign. With a computer and the right program, I can reproduce images and letters, over and over, with no loss of fidelity and no mistakes. Perfect every time. But in the old days (though really not that long ago) signs were actually painted by hand and though each letter may not have been computer perfect, the sign’s distinct personality was revealed in those […]

Non-Fiction: Making Habits, Breaking Habits: Why We Do Things, Why We Don’t, and How to Make Any Change Stick by Jeremy Dean

February 1, 2013 admin 0

Making Habits, Breaking Habits (DaCapo LifeLong) is a much better book than you’re expecting. The title puts one in mind of pop psychology and change for the sake of change — but really, nothing could be further from the truth. Author-psychologist Jeremy Dean is interested in the way we process things and why we love the things we love. He’s the founder of the popular PsyBlog, which sees over a million readers each month. Dean […]

Holiday Gift Guide: Florence: Art and Architecture and Venice: The Golden Centuries

November 7, 2012 admin 0

If various reports are to be believed, the recession is drawing to a close. Even so, money is tight, gifts are precious and travel is dear. That might mean a lot of the things, but to me it means that gorgeous, elegant and rich books about wonderful places are going to be among the top holiday time gifts this year. How could they not be? Even an expensive book is a tiny fraction of the […]

Holiday Gift Guide: 100 Grey Cups: This Is Our Game by Stephen Brunt

November 1, 2012 admin 0

100 Grey Cups (McClelland & Stewart) strikes me as the very portrait of a gift book. It’s good. Sure it is. But, more than that, it’s embracing. You get that even non-readers would love this book, provided they love the topic. 100 Grey Cups is gorgeous, well-designed, but also comprehensive, a balanced, interesting and maybe even a perfect look at that most esoteric of topics: the 100 times the top honor for football has been […]

Holiday Gift Guide: Illustration Now 4 and Illustration Now: Portraits edited by Julius Wiedermann

December 16, 2011 admin 0

Illustration Now 4 and Illustration Now: Portraits, both published by Taschen and edited by Julius Wiedermann, showcase some of the best and the brightest in contemporary illustration. Often as fascinating as the illustrations themselves is the variety of media with which they are produced. It’s interesting to note that 15 years ago — perhaps even 10 — it would not have been necessary to specify a piece of art as a “hand drawing.” But with […]

Holiday Gift Guide: Beer Quest West by Jon C. Stott

December 2, 2011 admin 0

Though it covers a relatively small region, it does so with amazing depth. If you’re looking for a gift for someone from or in Western Canada who has a passion for beer, Beer Quest West (Touchwood) will answer all the questions… and then some. According to author Jon C. Stott, Canada’s two westernmost provinces are home to more than 70 microbreweries. Compare this with the ten breweries that operated in the region in 1980. Of […]

Art & Culture: Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge by Mark Yarm

November 2, 2011 admin 0

Twenty years after Nirvana’s Nevermind and Pearl Jam’s debut, Ten, Blender senior editor, Mark Yarm, delivers Everybody Loves Our Town (Crown), the perfect remembrance/celebration/recollection of an era that some would say never was and others say never left us. After all, as Yarm tells us early on, even the grunge label itself is entirely subjective: We could argue forever … about what bands are grunge, because the label is entirely subjective. Are Alice in Chains […]

Biography: Nica’s Dream by David Kastin

September 27, 2011 admin 0

Nica’s Dream: The Life and Legend of the Jazz Baroness (Norton) is one of those books that you wouldn’t find credible if it were fiction. It has everything a good story requires. And more. A glamorous baroness from a famous family. She is a pilot, mother to five children and a former fighter in the French resistance. Then she hears jazz music and is entranced: terminally. The music — and the people who make it […]

SF/F: The Fecund’s Melancholy Daughter by Brent Hayward

August 11, 2011 admin 0

I have been consistently impressed by the books I’ve seen from upstart Toronto-based publisher CZP. Their playlist has developed into a sort of dark buffet of things you don’t imagine would get much airplay anywhere else — at least, not in full novel form. Thoughtful, convoluted works that push at the boundaries of genre and sometimes even literature. I’ll be the first to admit that not all of what I’ve read from them has been […]