Grizzlyville: Adventures in Bear Country, by Jake MacDonald (HarperCollins) This is not at all what I expected. And by that I mean it's really good. Not, as I feared, another misty-eyed boy meets bear, boy falls in love with bear, bear eats boy story. It is, at base, the story of MacDonald's lifelong mission to wrap his mind around these massive, enigmatic mammals (not just grizzlies, or brown bears as they are known, but the other two species native to North America as well: black bears and polar bears), and through the course of this personal journey, ends up likely learning more about his fellow man. Stirring road stories, occasionally horrifying bear-scare tales, enlightening animal science - and its all-too-common corresponding fiction - all sit comfortably down around the moonlit campfire of this endlessly interesting read. (Though you never get past the cold feeling that something may be watching from the woods...) Trust me, you don't how fascinated by bears you are until you read this.
The Curse of the Labrador Duck: My Obsessive Quest to the Edge of Extinction, by Glen Chilton (HarperCollins) When biologist Glen Chilton wants something, he
Hellbent for Cooking: The Heavy Metal Cookbook, by Annick Giroux (Bazillion Points Books) Move over Josée di Stasio, there's a new chef in town, and she is deliciously morbid. Meet Montrealer Annick "Morbid Chef" Giroux, an amateur cook and professional heavy metal fan who found an ingenious way of pairing what one could be excused for thinking are two incongruous loves - palatable food and not nearly as easily digestible music - in one very readable, very entertaining package. Hellbent for Cooking is a compendium of 101 different recipes from metal bands in 32 countries, complete with band bios and a tour-bus-load of cool photos. "I hope it wipes out the stupid myth that all metalheads are culinary degenerates who only eat junk food," writes Giroux. Indeed, check out Autopsy's Mummified Jalapeño Bacon Bombs, or GWAR's Candied Sweatbreads on a Bed of Seared Heart, or Bull Testicle Surprise from Master's Hammer. All the recipes are real, and all are relatively simple to make. Hellbent for Cooking, in a word, rocks. And to get your copy autographed, go to Katacombes one night when Giroux is DJing.
Unlikely Soldiers: How Two Canadians Fought the Secret War Against Nazi Occupation, by Jonathan F. Vance (HarperCollins) The almost unbelievable story of two small-town Canadians - rural Manitoba's Frank Pickersgill, an associate of Paris's Left Bank intelligentsia, and Guelph's Ken Macalister, a Rhodes scholar - who by happenstance found themselves working covert ops in the super-secret F Section of Britain's Special Operations Executive, otherwise known as The Firm. Pickersgill and Macalister were to be stationed behind enemy lines in occupied France, directing French Resistance operations. Their mission would come to an abrupt and miserable end in Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald. The author Vance is a history prof at the University of Western Ontario, and unsurprisingly Unlikely Soldiers is meticulously researched with a relentless dedication to detail. Though perhaps a tad too much to keep the story moving along as quickly as it should. That small quibble aside, Unlikely Soldiers is a fascinating untold story, and Vance deserves top honours for bringing it to light.
George Carlin: Last Words, by George Carlin with Tony Hendra (Simon & Schuster Canada) In iconic American comedian George Carlin's own words, as told to co-writer (and former National Lampoon editor) Tony Hendra over a period of more than 10 years. Carlin, following his death in June 2008 from a heart attack, remains famous for his mostly anti-establishment, sometimes antisocial and frequently anti-common sense approach to life, career and comedy, that last of which, of course, included a little bit called "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television." "Shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker and tits. Those are the heavy seven. Those are the ones that'll infect your soul, curve your spine and keep the country from winning the war." Carlin, who regularly declared his own wars on the government, employers, friends and family, and himself (he consumed pot, coke, hooch and pharmaceuticals like they had substantive nutritive properties), lets it all hang out here. His voice breathes off pages that take flight under your fingers, the quick and easy conversational style lending crazy acceleration to the tragicomic tale of Carlin's life right up until he checked himself into rehab in 2004. In its own way, a fitting ending.
Your comment will be read by our approval team and, if it is approved, will be posted on the website within 24 hours. It could also be published, along with your name, in the printed version of Hour magazine and on any of our partner websites. In order to present the highest quality of comments, Hour reserves the right to refuse certain submissions. Any plagiarism will entail the entire removal of the member’s profile. Hour is not responsible for the opinions expressed by the members.
