Non-fiction

Bounty: The Greatest Sea Story of Them All by Geoff D’Eon

Spanning four centuries, this is a story of romance, risk, exotic travel, cruelty, lust, loyalty, jealousy, misadventure, hubris, heroism and death. Fully illustrated with paintings, photographs and artifacts, this book tells one of the greatest sea stories of them all.

Motherhood: The Mother of All Sexism by Marilyse Hamelin

When I first received this review copy in the mail, I wasn’t sure what to expect, or even if I would be interested in it, since neither my wife nor I am a parent. Nevertheless, I started reading it, and as usual, I got caught up in the subject and learned a few things along the way. Until I read this book, I have never fully understood why, when a child is sick, that it is the mother that needs to drop everything (including her work) and retrieve the child from daycare or school.… Continue reading

A Wholesome Horror: Poorhouses in Nova Scotia by Brenda Thompson

When I first saw the cover of this book, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing: poor houses existed in Canada? While I grew up in a household that used the warning of “being put in the poor house” I didn’t know that it was a real house (by the time I was born, federal unemployment insurance measures were in place). The fact that poor houses (and poor farms) even existed is due to laws passed in the time of Queen Elizabeth I in the sixteenth century.… Continue reading

Circle Around Monadnock: Time Travel With Horses by Francelia M. Clark

Francelia Clark and her friends, Pam Godin and Shelley Mozier, find and follow two of the oldest trails in the Monadnock region into history—on horseback. Over the course of 3 days, Francelia, Pam, and Shelley, wend their way around the mountain, discovering and documenting much of the early history.