AltWeeklies Wire
'Reality Hunger' by David Shieldsnew
Is the novel dead? Well, not exactly. But in his new book, David Shields sets out to prove it’s no longer relevant.
The Georgia Straight |
Jennifer Croll |
04-12-2010 |
Nonfiction
Tags: David Shields, Reality Hunger
Books Explore the Games Behind the Olympic Gamesnew
This penetrating analysis by Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, a Toronto sociologist and activist, remains a classic for how thoroughly it exposes the secrecy, elitism, hypocrisy, corruption, and lack of accountability of what she calls the “Olympic industry”.
The Georgia Straight |
Charlie Smith |
02-16-2010 |
Nonfiction
'Ad Nauseam' Questions Happy Consumerismnew
For anyone who's read much about consumerism, there's not a lot of new ground covered here -- unsurprising, perhaps, since many of the book's articles date back to the mid '90s. The theme throughout is this: what makes advertising so powerful is its slippery method of using suggestive imagery instead of intellectual argument to associate products with positive emotions.
The Georgia Straight |
Jennifer Croll |
09-11-2009 |
Nonfiction
The Stories in 'Woman From Shanghai' Survey Mao's Prison Systemnew
Woman From Shanghai: Tales of Survival from a Chinese Labor Camp is Xianhui Yang's first book translated into English and a record of the extremities endured by Mao Zedong's prisoners at Jiabiangou.
The Georgia Straight |
David Chau |
08-31-2009 |
Nonfiction
Eduardo Galeano's 'Mirrors' Rewrites Human Historynew
It's hard to think of another living author who would have the nerve to consider writing a book like Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone. But for Uruguay's Eduardo Galeano, this collection of vignettes, covering the breadth of human history, was a natural fit.
The Georgia Straight |
Derrick O'Keefe |
07-27-2009 |
Nonfiction
'Crazy for the Storm' is a Wild-Hearted Story of Risk and Survivalnew
How to capture the spirit of a father and son’s relationship? Norman Ollestad, the son in this equation, does it grippingly and gorgeously in Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival.
The Georgia Straight |
Patty Jones |
07-27-2009 |
Nonfiction
'Columbine' Seeks to Explain the Inexplicablenew
Columbine is a marvel of structure, empathy, and insight, flickering between the run-up to that horrible day in Littleton and its complex, agonizing aftermath.
The Georgia Straight |
Brian Lynch |
06-08-2009 |
Nonfiction
'The Lost City of Z' Maps an Amazon Mysterynew
As David Grann describes him in The Lost City of Z, British explorer Percy Fawcett was the last of the Victorian era's hard-bitten adventurers, a man who waded "into uncharted realms with little more than a machete, a compass, and an almost divine sense of purpose."
The Georgia Straight |
Brian Lynch |
03-23-2009 |
Nonfiction
Inside Bush's Brainnew
The word tragedy in the title of Jacob Weisberg's new book takes on more than one meaning as you make your way through this brisk, eye-opening psychological study of George W. Bush.
The Georgia Straight |
Brian Lynch |
03-21-2008 |
Nonfiction
Zarah Ghahramani Fearlessly Chronicles Her Time in Tehran's Worst Jailnew
In 2001, Ghahramani was grabbed off the streets of her native Tehran and taken to the city's notorious Evin prison, where countless political prisoners-together with prostitutes, thieves, murderers, and the criminally insane have been held without trial, and beaten, tortured, and killed.
The Georgia Straight |
Jillian Hull |
03-17-2008 |
Nonfiction
Tim Flannery Moves From Global Warming to Animalsnew
For Chasing Kangaroos, the Australian professor and paleontologist dives into a marsupial milieu, and its relatively narrow focus may put off recent Flannery converts.
The Georgia Straight |
Alexander Varty |
01-04-2008 |
Nonfiction
A Master Pares Down the Craft of Cookingnew
Michael Ruhlman gives us the goods on everything from stock to omelettes to tools to salt in his tautly tasty new kitchen tome.
The Georgia Straight |
Angela Murrills |
01-04-2008 |
Nonfiction
Pulitzer-winner Richard Rhodes Examines the Russiansnew
Rhodes sifts the half-century between World War II and the dissolution of the USSR to understand the hysteria that brought the supergiants (and the rest of us) to the brink of Armageddon. The result is a meticulously researched, compelling examination of the 20th century's dread-wracked second half.
The Georgia Straight |
John Burns |
11-12-2007 |
Nonfiction
'The Bone Sharps': A Study of Conflictnew
Based on the true story of Charles Sternberg, the visionary fossil collector who found his El Dorado among the Drumheller hoodoos, The Bone Sharps is both a historical novel, rich in period detail, and a poignant meditation on dreams.
The Georgia Straight |
Alexander Varty |
11-02-2007 |
Nonfiction
Don't Be a Wussnew
Howard Dully never wimps out. The eloquent, non-self-pitying narrator of this fascinating, disturbing memoir is one of the youngest lobotomy recipients on record.
The Georgia Straight |
Patty Jones |
11-02-2007 |
Nonfiction
