I had tea with an old friend the other day, Erica Burton, who informed me that her late husband’s book had just been published. It’s been in the works for years.
I grew up knowing the Burton family. It’s a third generation friendship; Ted’s father and my grandfather were schoolmates at boarding school in England a century ago or more, then coincidentally found themselves homesteading in the same township in Saskatchewan years later, and it was Ed Burton who signed my grandfather up for the RAF when WWI broke out. My parents were nudged together by Ted’s parents. And Ted and Erica’s three children and my brother and I often found ourselves playing or getting into mischief of some sort together throughout our childhood.
So, I had been eagerly anticipating the conclusion of Ted’s memoirs, begun in Journal of a Country Lawyer.
The Burtons moved away from Kenora to live in Thunder Bay while I was in university. The only time I got together with Ted as an adult was when I hosted the Kenora launch his first collection of memoirs. As I read Shaking the Feather Boa, I found myself wishing he was still around, wishing that I’d got to know him better while I was an adult. I would have enjoyed talking to him more about some of the experiences he had and some of the philosophical points of view he brings out in this new collection.
Where his first book was full of stories about interesting events in his career as a defense lawyer, crown attorney and later district attorney, Shaking the Feather Boa is more general in scope, full of anecdotes from his childhood through to his retirement. It is a collection of memories of events that manufactured a life, of happenings that pushed him to the edge of change. Through these reminisces, readers can see the influence of circumstance on a life, how people, places, and events conspire to provide one with the tools and experience to make the decisions (or form the circumstances) that create an individual.
It’s interesting to read what Ted thinks those events were in his life and how he feels they conspired to change or strengthen him. And from another point of view, it is interesting to see how some of those stories he tells may have helped him do the job he ended up doing in a far more effective manner.
Even if you didn’t know Ted Burton, you will find his memoirs engaging. His was a life lived on the threshold of many opening and shutting doors – aviation history, the Great Depression, the old lumber camps, First Nation/White relations, and the lives of those caught up in crime as both victims and offenders. Here was a man who believed in experiencing the fullness of what life had to offer, and in using that experience to help improve the lives of those he met!
There is something so wonderful about being able to watch a book come to life from the first of the author’s scratchings to the finished, hot off the press, glossy covered end-result of hours, and hours, AND HOURS! of work. On the evening of July 13th, I was at the launch of such a project: Gloria Hunter-Alcock’s Nurse at the Top of the World.
Gloria is a wonderful story-teller, and this memoir of her years spent in Canada’s high Arctic as a public health nurse in the service of Indian Affairs will have you laughing, shaking your head and marvelling at a way of life now lost forever. The book is full of tales of hardship, innovation and friendship – essential experiences of a life well lived. Pick it up. Gauranteed you won’t be putting it back down easily!
I often avoid reading the current best-selling authors. I’ve never read John Grisham, just as a for example. I’m so afraid that all the hype is just that – a bunch of froth that will suffocate me before I get to the good stuff beyond.
The other day I needed something to entertain me while I ate my meal in the lunch room. I saw a Sidney Sheldon novel in my markdown section and nabbed it. So many of my customers have raved about his novels!
I should have known better….
The plot was good. I admit that his story ideas have all the makings of a rivetting tale. But – *oh* – the writing. I made it past grade six a very long time ago, Mr. Sheldon.
I guess there are a lot of people out there who either haven’t yet mastered reading at a higher level or who just don’t want to think very hard (or at all) while they read. I respect the former for indulging a good habit – especially if they improve their skills while doing so. And I respect the needs of the latter – sometimes it’s important to just . . . relax. What surprises me is that there are enough people in these categories that writers like Sheldon have ridden the best-seller crest time and time again, selling hundreds of thousands if not millions of copies of their books over a lifetime. This rather depresses me, both as a reader and a writer. Sheldon and his ilk should stick to screen writing where the visual can fill out the scant and often simplistic prose….
(Then again, it is a best-seller list, not a best-writing one…)
I like to veg out with a good book as much as the next person. At the same time, I prefer something more edifying – something that tickles my intellect and inspires my imagination. To some degree, I guess I view reading in the same way some people view a good run in the cool morning air. It takes me away from my day to day, exercises my grey cells in a pleasant way, and improves my mental fitness.
This week is Children’s week at ECB. We have a large selection of titles for young readers at the shop, covering a wide range of reading levels, subject matter and periods (from the 1800s to the present). I am still busy describing and scanning for the website – the best way to see what we have is to visit the shop, of course! – but I decided to feature a few this week anyway. Check out the home page!
Each day one of these books is also marked down by a minimum of 20%. The deal is only good for the day, and often quantities are limited – snooze and you lose, as they say!
Feel welcome to Contact Us if you have any questions about books you find on the site (descriptions/content), or if you are having any problems ordering. I’m always happy to help!
Everyone who really knows me, knows that I have (away too) many books.
I’ve been wondering what to do about the situation for some time now. I was checking out someone a Twitter friend suggested following and stumbled into her blog depicting how other collectors had arranged their collections. Nice libraries, eh? ~Sigh~
Today I decided to do something I’ve never done before. I entered a photograph in the BA High Life travel photo contest.
If you like it, please drop into the site and vote for it (you need to register at the site to vote). There are lots of beautiful photos there to enjoy, too!
Just thought I’d give everyone a heads up on this year’s Common Ground, an annual story-telling event that brings back the memories of earlier days in the Lake of the Woods Region. The price is a steal for a day full of history AND lunch! If you aren’t chained to your workplace, do take Common Ground in!
Just yesterday I posted a photo of one of my Armchair Traveller Magnetic Bookmark line to my ArtFire site. It was of the lonely phonebooth in Strath Oykel, Ross, Scotland. I bemoaned the fact that these iconic British forms of archetecture are now being removed from the landscape forever!
But maybe not…
Apparently, there are others who share my sentiment, and who have found a creative use for them. And it’s a use that really jives with my bookish sense of the world, too! See & read more!!
I’ve decided to try something a little different at ECB online. Starting today, I’ll be featuring a genre every week. Each day, three new books from that genre will go up on the front page, one of which will be at a discount of 20% – but just for one day!
For those of you who aren’t up to visiting the site each day, follow the action at Twitter – CdnBookLady. Become a fan of the blog through Networked Blogs: to receive a notice on your Faccebook Page when the blog is updated.
This week’s featured genre is Gardening. It’s time to start planning and preparing for the gardening season here in the ‘north’ (North is a relative term, I realise). There is a good selection of gardening books on the shelves at ECB – lots of tips, how-to, when-to, what-to and landscaping ideas for both full- and part-time gardening enthusiasts.
Maybe you’d like to skip the hype and peruse those Gardening books right now? Please do!
The Burtons moved away from Kenora to live in Thunder Bay while I was in university. The only time I got together with Ted as an adult was when I hosted the Kenora launch his first collection of memoirs. As I read Shaking the Feather Boa, I found myself wishing he was still around, wishing that I’d got to know him better while I was an adult. I would have enjoyed talking to him more about some of the experiences he had and some of the philosophical points of view he brings out in this new collection.
