I <3 Books

Farley Mowat

Brilliant, funny, and thought-provoking. The philosophy outlined in this book articulates exactly the ideas about human's place in the natural world that I have been developing for some time. Mowat articulates them with more humour and cut than I ever good, but it was a lot of fun reading someone whose ideas I share. The book read more like a novel than any scientific text, but more is learned about wolves and ecosystem balance than could be from many non-fiction books. The facts in the book have been called into question over the years, and it's generally accepted that much is embellished. I think a lot of memoirs do that, I think everyone understands that. Mowat's book is not a scientific study of wolves, it is a statement of his beliefs. And, what he believes cannot be called into question as embellished or not factual.

He is sent to the wilderness to study wolves and to figure out how many need to be killed to restore the caribou population. The only reason anyone wants the caribou restored is that they are popular with hunters. Over Mowat's observations, it becomes sharply clear that the wolves are not responsible for caribou reductions, the hunters are. Furthermore, he finds wolves to be social, playful, highly intelligent family-based (not pack based) animals that are nothing like their bloodthirsty reputation makes them out to be.

In the following decades Mowat's ideas on wolves have come to be seen as correct. He was well ahead of the curve, and now years later, conservation efforts are doing some good for wolves (or at the very least, massive wolf culls have fallen out of favour). Mowat's ideas on ecological balance and species interdependency (wolves depend on caribou; caribou depend on wolves) were also decades ahead of common thinking. As the second Mowat book I've read, it was as excellent as his reputation led me to believe it would be. More reading of Mowat to come.

Hunting wolves is still legal in Ontario, and this book (like few others) compels to reader to action. Awareness (in me) has been raised, and wolf welfare, long an interest of mine, has become something a bit more.

Joseph Boyden

Giller prize winner. Always good. Giller prize winners are always good. Bloodletting was good, excellent in fact (they're making it into a movie). TBS wouldn't be great as a movie. Bishop's Man: hopefully good.

Will Bird. Will Bird was a real person, a war hero, Canadian. Connection? Don't know.

The book is absolutely engrossing, beautifully written. Haunting, like the woods, like the wilderness. The scene in which Will comes across a sun-bleached, ancient, intact, huge whale skeleton on the beach is more beautiful than a photograph. What a thing to come across. What a sign of isolation. No one's been there to disturb it. No one.

The book reveals a lot about native life and guilt. There is so much the characters cope with. Uncertainty about their role in the world, rage at the white man, anger at themselves, and guilt for continuing it. There so many steps toward breaking the cycle, and so many steps back.

The book documents a miserable life. There's little romance in it, and little nobility. So much is lost, and so much is trying to be clung to. But there is so little left. Alcohol, drugs, violence, unemployment, poverty, and recklessness, and yet there is a pride. An uncertain pride, but a pride nonetheless. Why would anyone live up there? Bleak, barren, hostile, boring. Beautiful, wild, natural, real. Who knows.