An odd bit of synchronicity. I picked up a few unusual board games* at the discount/remainder store downtown (in the former Shoppers’ Drug Mart building) a couple of weeks back, and was mulling over their instructions, wondering why they seemed … Continue reading →
Continue readingTag: books
Chadwick's Blog & Commentary: The Art of Worldly Wisdom
Published in 1637, The Art of Worldly Wisdom is a collection of 300 aphorisms about life, behaviour, politics, morality, faith, philosophy and society. One comment, on Amazon.ca called it, somewhat unfairly to Machiavelli, “Machiavelli with a soul.” I have been … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: More Machiavellian Misquotes
Machiavelli today is known to many by sayings that aren’t actually his; pseudo-quotations or mis-attributed sayings that appear on slovenly, un-moderated, un-verified websites that do an enormous disservice to everyone by their very existence. These sites seem to feed one … Continue reading →
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: WWII and the idea that stories have a story behind them.
I found the book The Journey that Saved Curious George by Louise Borden at the library, and borrowed it thinking it would be a good way of encouraging the children to think about stories as having authors and authors as having their own stories. It also opened up a way of talking
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Rereading the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
There are many books weighing down my bookshelves into soft, drooping curves, but not many of them have the privilege of tenure. Only a handful have travelled with me for more than a couple of decades; a small selection of … Continue reading →
Continue readingArt Threat: 1984 is blacked out in a graphic tribute to George Orwell
Penguin Books is releasing new editions of George Orwell’s best known books on January 21 to commemorate the inaugural “Orwell Day” — an annual event to celebrate the author and his influence on media and modern discourse. Designed by David Pearson, each book has a unique, typography-focused layout. It is
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Is Tar Baby the new N-Word?
As far back as I can recall, the term “tar baby” was a metaphor in common political parlance for a “sticky situation.” It has no racial meaning in that context, any more than saying “honey trap” or “sticky wicket.” Both … Continue reading →
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books I Want to Read in 2013
Today I thought I’d participate in the Top Ten Tuesday meme, hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Today’s topic is the top ten books I’d like to read in 2013. Paved With Good Intentions by Nikolas Barry-Shaw and Dru Oja Jay. A friend lent me this book, so I need
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Happy New Year!
Happy New Year. 2012 is almost over. 2013 looms a few hours away. I wish you all the best of times in the upcoming year. What a year it’s been. For council, we flailed around in the tar-baby issues of the … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: The Bedside Library
When the books stacked beside the bed get tall enough to hold not only a cup of tea at easy reach, but a plate of toast with no threat of falling, then perhaps it’s time to cull the pile and put aside those … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: A Council Christmas Carol – Part 2
STAVE TWO (continued from Part 1). THE FIRST OF THE THREE SPIRITS. I awoke in the dark, late Friday night. Winter days are so short that sometimes it seems a mere moment passes between sunrise and sunset. The day had whizzed by, … Continue reading →
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: Book Review: The Goodbye Baby: A Diary about Adoption
The Goodbye Baby: A Diary About Adoption by Elaine Pinkerton, was sent to me by a publicist. My review of the book The Aventures of Baylard Bear by Lucinda Sue Crosby had caught his attention and he wondered if I would be willing to look at another book on adoption. I said yes. Elaine Pinkerton
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: The Municipal Machiavelli is online
I’ve spent much of the past few days putting online my book in which I assess and rewrite Niccolo Machiavelli’s famous (or infamous) work, The Prince, in a WordPress format. I wrote this book earlier this year, but was unable to find a publisher … Continue reading →
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: More Christmas books
For three years now, we’ve made it a tradition to sing Christmas carols every evening of advent. Some nights we read Christmas stories, and sometimes we watch Christmas movies as well, but always Christmas carols. As a result my children have learned some of the Christmas carols they would not have
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Mayans, the ecological crisis and the end of the world: a little sanity please
It seems like a lot of people are going to extremes with regards to the Mayan predictions – and I mean the skeptics as well as the fanatics. Some are dismissive of the Mayans altogether, while others are taking a very literal and grossly overly simplistic view, and thinking the
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: Tears for Nanertak – a children’s book about climate change
I received in the mail an absolutely stunning hard covered picture book to review. It is called Tears for Nanertak and it is written and illustrated by Skip Hofstrand. As I look through it I can imagine myself wandering the halls of an art gallery admiring an arctic exhibit. The
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Lost Worlds, Lost Words
Moidered. It sounds like something from the Three Stooges. Or maybe something Tony Soprano would say.”I moidered him.” But it actually means “crazed,” according to Samuel Johnson in his famous dictionary of 1755. It’s long since left the stage of English usage. … Continue reading →
Continue readingCanadian Progressive: The Revolution Starts At Home: Confronting Intimate Violence Within Activist Communities
By South End Press Publisher: South End Press Pages: 368 ISBN: 978-0-89608-794-1 Format: Paperback original Release Date: 2011-05-01 Synopsis: The extent of the violence affecting our communities is staggering. Nearly one in three women in the United States will experience intimate violence in her lifetime. And while intimate violence affects relationships across the sexuality
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: Romance and Rape in Historical Fiction
How would you write a romantic novel about a historical time-period where the most likely relationship would be at best bordering on rape? Could you write a romantic novel about the love a slave owner felt for his slave mistress? What about the Biblical Abraham’s relationship with Hagar, or Dinah’s relationship with
Continue readingAnother Step to Take: Review: Cooking without Measuring by Rachel Wizenfeld
Several years ago I went through a phase where I obsessively borrowed cookbooks from the library. I poured over them never to ever attempt to follow them. I couldn’t follow them. I was trying to eat seasonally with food from local farms, and I avoid white flour and sugar. Very,
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