Here’s what I read last month. Hover over image for title and author. And as always, if you have suggestions for me for further reads, please leave them in the comments.

A collection of ‘rants’ from the Rick Mercer Report (a weekly, Canadian faux news show, similar to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart…yet different). Watching the rants on TV is far better, IMHO, though I did enjoy reading his preface about how the show has enabled him to travel all over Canada and meet all sorts of people—and how he gets annoyed with folks from one part of the country who slam folks from other parts without ever having set foot there themselves. Having lived in much of Canada, and travelled to every province (though I have yet to hit the northern territories) I have a lot of sympathy with this view! I should mention that Daegan (almost 7) has started watching the show with me, and while much of it goes over his head, he is getting a wonderful introduction to Canadian geography, politics, lifestyles…and humour. The bits where Mercer goes and tries different activities (everything from ice-skiing with giant kites, to tagging bears in Algonquin park, to training to be an astronaut, to immersing himself in freezing water to study hypothermia…and way, way more) are very funny and accessible to even the youngest viewer.

I read this one for my book club. It was a fairly engaging story, set in France and Algeria in the 1850s, and based on a true story. France has invaded and conquered northern Algeria, but there is trouble brewing in the south: the religious leaders, claiming God on their side, may incite an uprising against the French. So the French military gets the idea to have a magician perform in Algeria—the magic would appear as though a gift from God to folks unfamiliar with sleight of hand tricks, and thus divide and quell the potential uprising until France has sufficient troops to take over southern Algeria. The magician’s wife, however, is ethically disturbed by this—especially when she travels to Africa and sees the different culture/religion/way of life, and how it will be destroyed by the French. The book has an odd style, however, in that everything is presented ‘from the outside’—you get very little insight into what the characters are thinking or where their motivation for certain actions comes from.

Debbie Travis of The Painted House fame offers reflections on raising her two boys, along with reminiscing about her own childhood in northern England. I found this book very funny and engaging—she spins a good yarn (or twelve). But one part of the book left me wondering how much of it was the truth. She mentions waking her son up, and hustling him out the door for school…only to arrive on a strangely empty and quiet street. She had just flown back to Montreal from L.A., and realized she was still on L.A. time! The problem with this, of course, is that the time zones go the other way around. If she was still on L.A. time, thinking it was, say, 8am, it would have been 3 hours later, not earlier, in Montreal. So it shouldn’t have been the quiet of 5am, it should have been the hustle and bustle off 11am. Still, a light and funny read, and her description of her own childhood is worth the read alone.

There was some interesting information in this one, like how many babies in the US are now born to women over 35 (1 in 7); the advantages (financial, emotional) of later motherhood, and the “truth” about fertility: most women at 40 can procreate without medical assistance; most women cannot do so at age 43. And while the author did make an effort to talk to women from a wide range of lifestyles (married, single, adoptive parents, gay), her sample was very small (just over 100 interviews). Her implied attitude towards folks who choose to have families earlier I found insulting at times: saying older mothers don’t “have to settle” in unsatisfying relationships implies younger mothers do, older mothers being “more emotionally together/mature” implies younger mothers aren’t, etc. I recall another passage in which she talks of a professional mom who had a child just before 40 and did not alter her career. The child was in daycare 12 hours per day, and Mom claimed “she loved motherhood” and wanted to have another. I am all for people working or not outside the home as best works for your family, but come on: a young child in daycare 12 hours per day means you rarely see your child during the week while he/she is awake! And surprise, surprise, the author chose to have a child later in life, and adopted another. The book read too much like a defence of the author’s particular life choices—and again, power to her if that works for her family—than an objective look at why women choose to have children when they do.

I really enjoyed this book, about a young woman who worked with owls at a university and how she hand-raised Wesley the barn owl—who had damage to a wing and would not be able to fend for himself in the wild—in her own home. Wesley’s actions are fascinating, as he imprinted on her and not wild owls, so he has a mix of human and bird behaviours. His love of splashing in the bathwater—something no wild barn owl has ever been seen doing—was hilarious, and there are lots of pictures throughout. She also talks about what she learned about life, spirituality and herself in the 19 years she and Wesley had together until his death from old age. Highly recommended.

I must admit, I have rather gone off reading books by so-called “parenting experts,” for a number of reasons. But I enjoyed the overall message of this one: grow up, be an adult, and keep your cool—even when, in fact especially when, your kids are losing theirs. When we talk about "losing it” with our kids, the author says, what we really mean is that we have (temporarily) lost our adulthood. I found this idea very helpful. The other parenting book I recommend is Barbara Coloroso’s Kids are Worth It.

I got this book mainly for its bibliography—the primary bibliography of nonsense stories, poems, etc. for children is HUGE—but I ended up reading it and finding it fascinating. Many of my favourite authors were discussed, like Lewis Carroll, Dr. Seuss and Dennis Lee. I am going to be working through various suggested readings with the boys over the next few months/years, as this sort of writing appeals to the funny bones in all of us. The chapters ‘Nonsense and Philosophy’, ‘Sesame Street as Theatre of the Absurd’, and Nonsense and the Didactic Tradition: Nonsense that Moralizes, Nonsense that Mocks’ were very enjoyable to this lay reader, and as I said, the bibliography is amazing! Highly recommended.