by Brian Gilbertson

Tapestry welcomes new columnist Brian Gilbertson

 A Man Without a Country
by Kurt Vonnegut
Vonnegut is one of my favourite authors. I like what he says and how he says it. A Man Without a Country is not a work of fiction but a series of essays. Like the man himself, they are bright, capricious, audacious. Some have referred to this book as biographical, and from time totime, he talks about his life. But it is more than that. It is an expression of his beliefs, values and
concerns, particularly his disillusionment with his country and with humanity in general.At eighty-two I guess he is entitled to be grumpy. Thank heavens, he is also funny.
The Lincoln Lawyer
by Michael Connelly
I have stereotypes about crime novels. The hero (in North American books almost always male) may be a private investigator, in which case he is either highly intelligent and idiosyncratic, or he is cagy, on the edge of the law and generally dissolute. On the other hand, he may be a police officer in which case he is cagy, on the edge of the law and generally dissolute, or highly intelligent but idiosyncratic. A lawyer as hero breaks the mould (except of course for Perry Mason who was moderately intelligent but far too bland to be eccentric in any way). Connelly offers us Mickey Haller. He needs money, works out of the back seat of his car and has a connection with a ‘beautiful doll’. We are back into stereotypes. But it is a good tale, well told, fast paced, good dialogue, an interesting story. A nice light read.
The Book of Negroes
by Lawrence Hill
“I seem to have trouble dying.” What a great sentence to open a novel! Hill (a Canadian) wants us to know what it was like to be a slave in the latter half of the 18th century, so he tell us the life story of Aminata Diallo and works into that tale just about every experience you can imagine any slave enduring, from capture in Africa to working in support of abolition in England. This makes for a very comprehensive picture. It also makes for a very angry and unforgiving book. It is not a demanding read - no great rivetting or distracting literary techniques, just a well written, direct history. But part of me shies away from the inhumanity and the suffering of those times. It is too painful. On March 25th, 1807 the British parliament passed the act abolishing the slave trade. This year is the 200th anniversary of that event.

Three Day Road
by Joseph Boyden
This has received very positive reviews and everyone to whom I have spoken who has read it has been very positive, even some folk who don’t usually care much for ‘serious reading’. In the trenches of World War One there was a famous Canadian Indian sniper, Francis Pegahmagobow. This is a fictionalized
account of his life. It is also about the life of every native person of the time, with ramifications for today. Funny, sad, meaningful. Probably an ‘important Canadian book’.