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Republic

Current Issue • August 2 to August 15, 2007  •  No 169

Reading list

New books at Magpie  

 If time allowed, these are the books we would be reading

By Kevin Potvin  

Rainbow’s End: The Crash of 1929, by Maury Klein, Oxford 2001, new for $9.99 at Magpie, 344 pp, softcover.

Selected chapter headings: The club and the street; The culture of greed; The winter of discontent, 1930.

In the dialogues in the press today, there are found (such as in this newspaper) shrill warnings of impending economic disaster alongside calm voices of reason that assure us that such dire warnings are a common feature of public debate and that there really isn’t anything new to worry about.

But the subject of this book, the great crash of 1929, reminds us that sometimes disasters do strike. The debates through the 1920s sound a lot like those today, and that time the pessimists were not only right, they guessed far short of how badly things would come apart.

Myths and Legends of the North American Indians, by Lewis Spence, CRW 2004, new for $9.99, at Magpie 320 pp, hardcover.

Selected chapter headings: The North and North-western Indians; Myths and legends of the Pawnees.

It couldn’t hurt to become at least vaguely familiar with some of the cultural idioms of this place most of us are very new to.

The stories are presented with no preface, no elaboration, and no judgment or assessment. But one feature that seems evidently to be present throughout are strong and repeated references to geographical features. I think it might be cool during this camping season to take this one along and try to feel what it’s like to be in communication with the mountains and forests.

Ghosts of 42nd Street: A History of America’s Most Infamous Block, by Anthony Bianco, William Morrow, 2004, new for $9.99 at Magpie, 370 pp, hardcover.

Selected chapter headings: Birth of the cool: Hipster 42nd street; Milking an ugly cow: Speculating on redevelopment; Midtown’s dead zone.

Imagine a street that has its own history that takes 350 or so pages to tell! Mind you, I can well imagine a book called The Ghosts of Commercial Drive.

Big Sur, by Jack Kerouac, Penquin1992, originally Farrar Syraus & Giroux, 1962, new for $21.00 at Magpie, 241 pp, softcover.

The preface to this classic: “My work comprises one vast book like Proust’s except that my remembrances are written on the run instead of afterwards in a sick bed. Because of the objections of my early publishers I was not allowed to use the same personae names in each work. . . . [All my books] are just chapters in the whole work which I intend to call The Duluoz Legend. In my old age I intend to collect all my work and re-insert my pantheon of uniform names, leave the long shelf full of books there, and die happy. The whole thing forms one enormous comedy, seen through the eyes of poor Ti Jean (me), otherwise known as Jack Duluoz, the world of raging action and folly and also of gentle sweetness seen through the keyhole of his eye.”

Nice, eh?

Some Like it Hot: Spicy Favorites from the World’s Hot Zones, by Clifford A Wright, Harvard 2005, new for $17.95 at Magpie, 453pp, hardcover.

Selected chapter headings: Searing soups; Blazing beef and incendiary lamb; Electrifying eggs.

It’s not for everyday and it’s not for everyone, but sometimes a good zap for dinner is what’s called for, and this book seems to have all the best recipes in that department. They look easy too. It would be handy to get familiar with the different peppers and chiles and to know how to use them.

All these books are available now at Magpie, 1319 Commercial Drive, 604-253-6666

Read more by this author

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The Republic of East Vancouver masthead

The Republic of East Vancouver supports no party, advocates for no cause, represents no group, serves no master, and considers problems with no preconceived notions. We hope to afflict the comfortable, both materially and intellectually, and comfort the afflicted—of both kinds as well, and we are trying to do both things at the same time.

Publisher, Editor

Kevin Potvin

Managing Editor

Kara Foreman

Copy Editor

Janis Harper

Website

Chris Lavigne

Advertising

Chris Richmond Kevin Potvin

Support

Dan Crawford, John Daigle, Jack Etkin, Janis Harper, Carl Johnson, Hilary Jones, Chris King, James Mecham, Albrecht Meyers, Peter Miller, James Pope

Contributors in this and recent issues

Bruce Alexander, Dan Adleman, Toby Alford, Kevin Annett, Santo Barbieri, Bob Broughton, Mike Bryan, Stephen Buckley, Matthew Burrows, Maria Calleja, Ron Carton, Chad Christie, Joshua Corber, Dan Crawford, Gail Davidson, Eric Doherty, Joe Donaldson, Lorena Jara Patty Ducharme, Shadia Drury, Taivo Evard, Reed Eurchuk, Farnaz Fassihi, Thomas Feakins, Anthony Fenton, Reza Fiyouyzat, Andrew Gordon Fleming, Ryan Fugger, Sasha Gagic, Matt Goody, Guy Hawkins, Spencer Herbert, John Irwin, Nick Istvaniffy, Junius, William Kay, Mike Keep, Kate Kennedy, Donald Kropp, Chris LaVigne, James Lindfield, Brian Lindgreen, Karen Litzke, Keith MacKenzie, Michael McLaughlin, Sonya McRae, Rafe Mair, Sonia Marino, Jennifer Matsui, Michael Millard, Isaebel Minty, Michael Nenonen, Wendy Nylund, Derrick O’Keefe, Stephen Osborne, Sean Orr, Evan Augustine Pederson III, Stephen Peplow, Kim Peterson, Kevin Potvin, Mary Rawson, Andrea Reimer, Erin Riley, Phil Rockstroh, Becky Scott, Jason Scott, Chris Shaw, Jeff Steudel, Alex Tegart, Scott Turner, Elbio Grosso Trentini, Patrick Vert, Chris Walker, Sean Wilkinson, Brad Zembic

 

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