12 September 2014

University Professor Writes Roman à Clef Roman



Fasting Friar
Edward McCourt
Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1963
222 pages

This review now appears, revised and rewritten, in my new book:
The Dusty Bookcase:
A Journey Through Canada's
Forgotten, Neglected, and Suppressed Writing
Available at the very best bookstores and through


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08 September 2014

A Coupla Canadian Copycats


Carnival of Love [Mardi Gras Madness]
Anthony Scott
New York: Red Circle, 1949
Cover by Ray Johnson
Carnival of Love [Mardi Gras Madness]
Anthony Scott
Toronto: News Stand Library, 1950
Cover by Syd Dyke
The Glass Ladder
Paul W. Fairman
New York: Handi-Books, 1950
Cover artist unknown
The Glass Ladder
Paul W. Fairman
Toronto: Harlequin, 1951
Cover artist unknown

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06 September 2014

George-Étienne Cartier at 200



Such a young country. I'm still kind of a kid – really – and yet I remember Canada's centennial celebrations. So, it makes no sense – not really – that today, 6 September 1919, should mark the 200th birthday of George-Étienne Cartier. Yet it does.


A son of Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu, one hundred years after his birth, one hundred years ago today, saw the dedication of the most glorious monument in the Dominion.


The program for the unveiling, a two-hour affair, includes Benjamin Sulte's "La Statue de Cartier" and "The Statue of Cartier" by Gustavus William Wicksteed, both dating back to the 1885 installation of the statue on Parliament Hill. I think William-Athanse Baker's tribute to Cartier would've been more appropriate.

from George-Étienne Cartier
Benjamin Sulte
Montreal: G. Ducharme, 1919
Two hours. Imagine. Charles Joseph Doherty, Robert Borden's Minister of Justice spoke. What can we expect today from Peter Mackay?


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02 September 2014

Margaret Millar's Great Toronto Murder Mystery



The Iron Gates
Margaret Millar
New York: Dell, 1960
222 pages

This review now appears, revised and rewritten, in my new book:
The Dusty Bookcase:
A Journey Through Canada's
Forgotten, Neglected, and Suppressed Writing
Available at the very best bookstores and through


Related posts:

01 September 2014

Labour Day Verse for "All Good Workers"



The dedication in The Workshops and Other Poems, the only volume of verse by Florence Nightingale Horner Sherk (1857-1930), otherwise known as "Gay Page".  James Hardy Sherk (1887-1975), a lawyer, was the poet's only surviving child. 

from The Thunder Bay Historical Society: Eighth Annual Report (1917)
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