Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 13, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba E editor. Morley Walker / 697-7307 email Mwalker Ltd it free press books sunday free press n Winnipeg. July 13. 1997 by briefly rioted Down by the River by Edna o Brien Farrar Straus amp Giroux 265 pages $32.50 political in its Bones poetic in its skin and wrenching by personal in its soul Down by the River is an almost perfectly realized modern tragedy from Irish novelist Edna of Brien. What makes this Book of Briens 21st, All the More remarkable is that is that its a fictionalized account of a True Story. And a contentious True Story at that full of Quicksand and ankle traps that a writer less savvy surely would have stumbled into. The Book is based on the 1992 Case of a pregnant Irish teenager who sought to leave Ireland because abortions were illegal in the predominantly roman Catholic country and she hoped to have one. Knigh t rid Der be 11 papers Reading in the dark by Seamus Deane random House Canada 246 pages $30 this novel has had enormous Success in the United kingdom and Ireland since it was published last year. Now published in the North America. Reading in the dark is a poignant haunting and at times horrifying exploration of family secrets and about the Cost such secrets exact upon the Trust among family members. For Deane who teaches at the University of notre Dame it is a Superb performance and is Likely to become a classic of modern fiction. Knight Ridder newspapers the Law society of upper Canada and Ontario a lawyers 1797-1997 by Christopher Moore University of Toronto press $45 yeah yeah. The stodgy title is pretty off putting foretelling a bloodless yarn that Only the most focused Legal mind could find satisfactory. But done to Rush to judgment. This is a heavy volume a literally and figuratively a that is nonetheless leavened by tangy stories of Legal history charmingly eccentric characters and the experiences of women and minorities seeking to take a place in the esteemed profession. Canadian press wonderful collection of mothers stories childbirth drama unfolds in her own voice childbirth stories from mennonite women collected and edited by Katherine Martens and Heidi harms University of Manitoba press. 246 pages $19 _ reviewed by Dora Dueck a Winnipeg writer and Mother every Mother interviewed in this wonderful collection of stories proves what every other Mother knows childbirth is interesting. Its dramatic. Its life changing. Women know All this but generally they be worn their childbirth stories very close to the womb. A it just Wasny to talked about Quot is a common refrain. Katherine Martens however got 44 women from the mennonite Community talking about it with 26 of those conversations published Here. As interviewer Martens is among the finest of midwives a intrusive non judgmental offering now and then exactly the right comment to assist the Story along. Her own quest for Healing from a difficult experience of giving birth in which her child died brings a Subtle and Lovely sense of symbiosis to the conversations. Co editor Heidi harms was the enthusiastic coach skilfully preserving the sound of spoken voice within the print text. The women in the Book fall into roughly three categories. Nine were born in the first two decades of this Century. They had Large families and knew Little about their bodies or the specifics of childbirth in Advance. They screamed if they Felt like it and endured having their hands tied or their emerging babies pushed Back to stall birth. In spite of Many hardships these women express a com Heidi harms in White Cap with her own Mother has co edited a collection of fascinating stories Pelling Wisdom and deep spirituality. As childbirth became increasingly medical Zed and its locale shifted to hospitals women lost a sense of presence at their own event. During the �?T50s, �?T60s and �?T70s, they were often anaesthetized discouraged from breastfeeding patronized As incompetent. Editor Martens sums up the experiences and subsequent anger of Many during that Era when she recalls a the humiliation of being treated like a child while attempting to give birth like a the younger women who speak illustrate another shift in the ethos of childbirth. They demand More of the experience have More information and Choice. Birth remains maddeningly unpredictable however and suspicions about female decisions in the matter still Lurk. The collection also includes inter views with women who have adopted children revealing with Radiant intensity that births deepest meaning is outside the physical actas Well As a woman who chose to Bear a child As a single person. All these various stories Are fascinating to read. Their Power lies in the inherent drama of childbirth their importance lies in their being told finally. Novel about memory a finely crafted incisive tale opium dreams by Margaret Gibson Mcclelland amp Stewart 237 Page $20 reviewed by Sharon Chisvin a Winnipeg freelance writer this is a finely crafted novel about memory its Complex layers and the Power it holds Over individual lives. In its succinct and eloquently written prose it offers an incisive look into the pull of family life love and obligation. Poet Maggie Glass returns to Toronto to help care for her ailing father Many years after fleeing from both. As her father deteriorates Maggie takes aside his carefully preserved photo albums to try to piece together and understand the life he Seldom spoke of. At the same time her father Timothy is also flipping through the pages of his photo albums. He does so As he lies in a coma. The album is in his head and the photos the highlights of his life his memories. In this unique Way author Margaret Gibson gracefully moves the narrative Back and Forth relating the Story of Maggie and her father and the shared history and hurts that connect them. The photos allow glimpses into Timothy a childhood and youth his Stern upbringing his courting of his childhood sweetheart and his devastating and life changing experiences As a wartime the photographs shimmer with regrets and disappointments with isolated moments of Joy and great Pride. They also serve to defy time. Opium dreams is the Toronto based Gibson a first novel. She is however an award winning Short Story writer and has managed the transition to this longer form of storytelling with great ease and proficiency. As a result opium dreams is a Beautiful Book to read no matter How disturbing its subject matter. While it is a melancholy Story about the end of life and the events that spin out of control to shape it it serves also As a haunting testimony to the Power of love and the ties that bind. Latest in Kate Henry series a fresh often funny Book by Lindor Reynolds a free press columnist bestsellers based on sales at Mcnally Robinson booksellers As of july 7 hardcovers mass Market 1 its just Prairie Ron Richardson. Photography. $34.00 2. Special delivery. Danielle steel. Fiction. $22.95 3 Boom. Bust and Echo How to profit from the coming demographic shift. David foot with Daniel Stoffman. Business. $29.95 4. Simple abundance. Sarah ban breath Nach. Inspiration. $22.95 5. Into thin air. Jon Krakauer. Memoir. $33.95 6. The partner John Grisham. Fiction. $34.95 7. Lady of Avalon Marion Zimmer Bradley. Fantasy. $32.99 8. Eight weeks to optimum health. Andrew Weil. Health. $32.00 9. Martha Stewart just desserts Jerry Oppenheimer. Biography. $31.00 10. Fall on your Knees. Anne Marie Macdonald. Canadian fiction. $29.95 1 the deep end of the Ocean Jacquelyn Mitchard. Fiction. $9.99 2. Women who run with the wolves Clarissa Pinkola Estes. Women a studies. $9.99 3. The runaway jury John Grisham. Fiction. $10.99 4 the fourth estate. Jeffrey Archer. Fiction. $9.50 5. Menoch the Devil Anne Rice. Fiction. $9.99 6. Invasion of privacy Perri of Shaugh Nessy. Fiction. $8.99 7 malice Danielle steel. Fiction. $8.99 8 Contact Carl Sagan. Science fiction. $8.99 9. The rules Ellen fein. Relationships. $6.99 10. The lost world Michael Crichton. Fiction. $9.99 books for Young people Trade paperback 1. Canoeing Manitoba a Rivers John Buchanan. Outdoors. $14.95 a 2 summer of my amazing Luck. Miriam Toews. Canadian fiction. $16.95 a 3. Songs in Ordinary time Mary Mcgarry Morris. Fiction. $17.99 4. The heart of a woman Maya Angelou. Memoir. $15.95 5. She s come undone Wally Lamb. Fiction. $19.00 6. A Fine balance Rohinton mistry. Canadian fiction. $19.99 7. Stones from the River Ursula Hegi. Fiction. $18.00 8. Fugitive pieces Ann Michaels. Canadian fiction. $19.99 9. A fourth course of Chicken soup for the soul Jack. Canfield. Inspiration. $19.95 10. The rapture of Canaan Sheri Reynolds. Fiction. $17.00 1. Slinky Matinki Lynley Dodd. Picture Book. $6.99 2 Mega morphs 1 andante s gift k a. Applegate. Series fiction. Ages 8-11. $4.99 3. Love you forever Robert Munsch. Canadian pict rebook. $4,95 4 of you re not from the Prairie David Bouchard and Henry Ripplinger. Canadian pict rebook. $19.95 5 goodnight Moon Margaret Wise Brown. Boar Book. $9.25 6. The dark Garden Margaret Buffie. Canadian teen novel. $4.95 a 7 goosebumps 57 my Best Friend is invisible. . Stine. Series fiction. Ages 8-11. $4.99 8. The Only House Teresa Toten. Cana Dian teen novel. $4.95 9 guess How much i love you Sam Mcbratney. Boar Book. 8.99 10 Promise song Linda Holeman. Canadian teen novel. $8.95� a Manitoba authors Alison cordons rate Henry series is an acquired taste. Once you be developed a liking for baseball writer Henry you la find her irresistible. Gordon a latest adventure featuring Henry and her detective main squeeze Andy Munro is Prairie hardball hardcover Mcclelland amp Stewart. Its a fresh often funny Book that examines a part of Canadian history with which Many readers will be unfamiliar. Henry a taciturn Mother once played for the Racine Belles in the All american girls professional baseball league. They were wartime entertainment and they were Good players. Twenty league members Are gathering in Saskatchewan for induction into the Hall of Fame. Many of the Belles received threatening letters before the reunion a and one elderly woman is killed after the party. Henry she unofficially and Munro work to find the killer before any More Grey haired sluggers Are silenced. Considerably less successful is Anna porters latest the boo fair murders Little Brown and company. It is unlikely that Porter publisher and cpx of Toronto a key Porter books would have thought this Book accept m its a by mystery Able had anyone else written it. Hero Marsha Hillier is at the Frankfurt International Book fair seemingly a gathering of the most pretentious people on Earth when a High powered literary agent is killed. Hillier is a suspect along with most of her crowd. There a a silly sub plot featuring a famed Romance novelist and her horrid Niece. Some of this might be interesting if it weren to for porters writing. On one Page for example she describes a Man As Quot flicking the tuft of Grey hair off his forehead a the same Man who two pages earlier had a flicked the near White co lick out of his Wasny to there an editor in the House the Book is crowded confused and by the end you really done to care whodunit. Douglas Kennedy a the big picture hardcover hyperion is a great yarn that will no doubt make a great movie. Ben Bradford is a successful and very unhappy Manhatten lawyer. In rapid order his perfect world is shattered and he a forced to disappear and recreate himself. He does so More easily than might be technically believable and establishes a life As a Montana photographer. The Book is Well paced and the fear that the former Ben Bradford will be unmasked grows steadily. The ending is a touch precious but the getting there is great. Sandra Brown writer of blockbuster thrillers has done it again with fat tuesday hardcover Warner books. New Orleans cop Burke Basile has watched his world splinter As his marriage ends his partner is shot with Basileos gun and the entire Legal system seems tainted. He gets in touch with his feelings Tough Guy style by vowing revenge on oily and evil defence attorney Pinkie Duvall. He decides to Kidnap Duvall a Beautiful wife a woman he assumes is As spoiled and corrupt As her husband. Brown sometimes gets a Little Floral in detailing Romance and she a definitely got the violins out during a portion of the Book set in the Louisiana swamps. Still its action packed emotional and Well characterized a a great summertime read. Riding the technology Tiger Riding the Tiger by Alistair Davidson Harvey Gell Man and Mary Chung Harper Collins 320 pages $32_ reviewed by Joanne Reid a Winnipeg computer writer this Book is a must read for anyone whose business demands that they know what a happening around them. Its also a excellent Book for anyone with a corporate Job or who w ants to have a corporate Job. The Book is written on Many Levels and the introduction offers information on How to read the Book depending upon your particular needs. The Trio of authors bring exception Al knowledge to Riding the Tiger. Davidson and Chung Are partners in Toronto based alacrity inc., a management software development company and longtime experts in business strategies. Montreal based Gellman senior vice president of the Chi group is in a class by himself. He received the very first Phi in computer science Ever Given in Canada. It was from the University of Toronto in 1951. The title Riding the Tiger is a metaphor for the situation business managers find themselves in today. They must ride the Tiger of technology. If they fall off the Tiger will eat them. If they stay on the Tiger they will outdistanced everyone around them. And according to the authors to survive in business you have to ride the Tiger. Not trying has the same effect As falling off. You re doomed. The Good news is that Riding the Tiger gives managers everything they need to know to stay on the Tiger. This Book is not about whether to use a macintosh or an ism compatible or which software is Best. These Are simply details and the authors suggest that it is a waste of time to stall at the level of which program to use. Software and hardware should not guide the Way you run your business. They Are just tools that facilitate the Way your business integrates its information technology. If you re afraid of computers consider this a computers Are bad for people who can to then consider Reading this Book. Its perfect for opening your mind to the possibilities of the future. On the night table Jim Silver University of Winnipeg political science professor a i recently read Jane Urquart a historical novel away. About an Irish family in Ontario. In a now Reading Che. A really Good biography of South american revolutionary Che Guevera by Jon Lee Anderson. I read a wide variety of ;