Books

Mid-afternoon, under a hot sun, is no time to be casting fur and feathers at trout. It is, however, an excellent time to catch up on one's reading.
Lord Jim, by Joseph Conrad
I think the entire western world is aware of this novel on some level. I studied it in high school. Did you? This is my third read of it. Marvelous. That Marlow really goes around the block telling the tale. Jim though, was much more direct. After making the decision to let that treacherous blackguard Gentleman Brown go, he says, "Men act badly sometimes without being much worse than others." Bingo.

I loved the descriptions of Cornelius throughout the book. Descriptions of this character might as well be descriptions of specimans from Stein's collection of beetles. "That accomplished diplomatist and confidant of the Rajah, on leaving the fort to go back to his master, took into his boat Cornelius, whom he found slinking mutely amongst the people in the Courtyard"....
and.... "By-and-by Cornelius, in his week-day attire of a ragged dirty head, was made out vaguely, sidling up to the defences, hesitating, stopping to listen in a peering posture."

Lord Jim remains fresh today because the book is all about core issues - how we think we ought to live, and how we actually behave. If you haven't read it in a while, I think it is well worth revisiting.

Stanley Park a first novel by Timothy Taylor from 2001.

The main characters -
A chef, trained in France, obsessed with local ingredients, runs a money-losing but interesting restaurant in Vancouver. His father, the professor, engaged in 'participatory anthropology', living in a tent in the forest in Stanley Park. Dante, a pig of a guy who runs an enormous coffee shop empire (sound familiar?).

At the core of the novel is a story about two kids murdered in Stanley Park a long time ago, a story that somehow pulls the various threads of the book together. The Professor is living in the park, learning to use peanut butter and epoxy to trap starlings, and a fly fishing net to snare ducks. We see a community emerge in the park, a community of people who find their roots living there as latter-day hunter-gatherers. To the city people, the park residents are bums and crazies, but we come to see them instead as people who for one reason or another, have chosen to reject the city lifestyle. The narrative is convincing, as chef Jeremy gets drawn into the park life.

The chef is a financial fuck-up and it gets to the point where ruin is imminent. Dante is ready to form a partnership arrangement - and transform the restaurant into what market researchers have come up with as very hip and very popular. It is obvious enough that Jeremy has sold out to the devil (Dante haha).....but he has an interesting plan.

First of all, if you've spent any time in Vancouver, I think this is a must-read. It makes good arguments against the corporate monster, and for community, roots, local food, and the peculiar stories of individuals. It also has an intriguing story-line, and it is a tremendously fun read.

I enjoyed getting to know the various characters living in the park. Things aren't necessarily what they seem. Community is where you find it. When people are very different, when they have sets of values in stark conflict with our own - we are quick to label them mentally ill. While I was reading the book, I recalled hearing Utah Phillips talking about what he called 'The Traveling Nation'. He said something like, a hobo works and wanders, a bum drinks and wanders, a tramp dreams and wanders.

I give this novel a large pod of anchovies washed up on the beach when the tide went out. It's a very good book.