:: The Old Freewheelin' Reader ::

:: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 ::

On Tuesday March 27 2003 all three Free-sites were collapsed into one. While Freelistenin' and The Freewheelin' Reader will continue to house their archived articles all three sites will now post on the revamped Freewheelin' Reader. I've decided that hosting three separate sites is kind of pointless. The web address for the new Freewheelin' Reader will remain unchanged from the old Freewheelin' address.
Enjoy.

tim 3:09 PM [+]

Subversive books for kids
Don't be so smug. The Paper Bag Princess is on the list, and for good reason.
tim 1:08 PM [+]

The Times Spring selections for kids.
tim 1:08 PM [+]

RIP
Noel Redding
The Bassist for the Jimi Hendrix Experience passed away earlier this week.
The Hendrix Experience was a truly influential band for me. I remember so clearly buying Are You Experienced from John Barban (he had an extra copy) back in high school. I bought it b/c I thought it was a best of compilation. Man, what a phenomenal first effort. I worshiped the Experience along with their contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and the Dead.
Redding will be sadly missed.
Read more.
tim 11:09 AM [+]

RIP
June Carter Cash
While I can't say I knew that much about June Carter Cash, or that I even liked her voice that much I know enough and respect her enough to say she came from a legendary musical family and did her part to continue that tradition both on her own and through her contributions with her husband Johnny Cash.
Read more
tim 2:45 AM [+]

A History of Our Compassion (or lack there of) Towards Animals
Awe for the Tiger, Love for the Lamb: A Chronicle of Sensibility to Animals reviewed.
tim 10:52 AM [+]

Margret Atwoods Oryx and Crake is gettig great reviews in the Econimist, the Globe and McLean's
tim 7:24 PM [+]

No time to read this now but I will. Hopefully.
tim 9:33 PM [+]

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-And-Rock-N-Roll Generation Saved Hollywood has been around for a while but it's still getting good reviews.
tim 9:27 PM [+]

The World's Earliest Battles
I just finished watching 8 Mile (it's shit) and in it Eminem settles many of his physical battles with stunning wordplay. Turns out this is nothing new. Before I go any further, I don't want it to ever be said that I didn't know what a battle was before seeing 8 Mile; I've been following hip hop since I was a kid, so I know more than you. Now, what was I saying? Oh yeah... Turns out that the Italians used to battle each other with lyrical swords too but, they used to publish clever but insulting pamphlets instead of spitting rhymes. It was a sign of their civility that they didn't turn things physcial.
This is one of the indicators used to determine that our world used to be a lot more violent than it is now. But if we've been violent for thousands of years, what's the reason for it? There's tonnes of theories but it seems as though social unrest plays a major role in determing the levels of violence in a community. Sounds like it makes sense doesn't it?
Read more from Elias' book.
tim 9:25 PM [+]

Hey, Tony wrote a book.
Alright, it's Bill Tonelli's book but it's about Italians and their contribution to literature.

tim 1:57 PM [+]

Slang Gets Its Due
Just when you thought 'bling-bling' was played out, the OED puts it in its' pages.
tim 11:36 AM [+]

JK Rowling is richer than the Queen of England.
Now that's rich.
In other news, did you know that Robson Walton was richer that Bill Gates? I didn't.
Read all about it.
tim 11:39 AM [+]

Shadow Without a Name
Ignacio Padilla's first English translation reviewed.
It sounds brilliant.
tim 11:21 PM [+]

The Orange Prize Short list has been announced
Carol Shields leads the list with Larry's Party.
Read More.
tim 10:59 PM [+]

Spent this Easter weekend in Ottawa visiting Steve-o and Kate. The drive down was long but that gave Adrienne and I time to finish The Beantrees (Barbara Kingsolver). On the way back we tried reading The White Bone (Barbara Gowdy ) which is really very good but we're not sure if it's a read aloud book. We've tried a couple of chapters (there short) but we'll have to see to be sure. Definitely we're both going to read it.
Played a lot of Gladiator Dictionary (Carl, who's b-day it was on Sat went undefeated I believe), 10 (which Kate helped us figure out the rule for when playing with two people) and Questions (from whose line is it anyway). The funnest time in Questions is the beginning when you're not sure if you've started or not.
I'll explain 10 and G.D. some other time - there a little more complicated.
Good times all around.
tim 10:46 AM [+]

W. E. B. DuBois' work, The Soul of Black Folks was published 100 years ago this month.
tim 7:11 AM [+]

The Pulitzer Pizes have been announced.
tim 11:53 AM [+]

If you believe in Chrles Taylor, then you might believe in his review of The Da Vinci Code.
tim 9:38 AM [+]

Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, has a new book out entitled Reefer Madness, and Other Tales from the American Underground
tim 2:55 PM [+]

Potter-mania Running Rampant
I honestly think Potter-mania may be maniacal enough to compete with Hulk-amania as the most frenzied mania of all time. Unfortunately with Hogan retiring soon and Rowling being whom she is I doubt we'll see a steel cage match-up any time soon.
Until then, read this article.
tim 12:00 PM [+]

What could you do if you wanted to read Lolita in Iran?
Azar Nafisi has done it and tries to explain why and how in her book Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
She sounds like an interesting woman.
Read more.
tim 9:38 AM [+]

I've recently completed 1984 and I must say it's a rather stunning book.
When you apply everything you're reading in the book to modern day life it can all be tacitly linked. Now of course you could develop the tendency to become paranoid or hypercritical but I think the basic tenants of the book - that government agencies are continuously attempting to mold our opinions and thoughts - are now or will be realistic issues.
i feel horrible for the main character, Winston. You really think he's going to be a hero. But, I guess the author sets him up as a patsy all along so readers should not be surprised.
All in all an excellent book.
I'm presently reading Fences and Windows.

tim 9:30 AM [+]

The Threatening Storm reviewed by Jack F. Matlcok Jr, seems to offer some great insight into the political rationale for going to war again with Iraq. Author Kenneth M. Pollack has a wealth of experience, including direct involvement in the first Gulf War.
Nobody's asking you to agree with him but I think it's important to get past the 'only in it for the oil' mentality.
Read the review.
tim 9:26 AM [+]

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.
School's been keeping me busy.
I will update soon.

tim 11:09 PM [+]

a charming little interview with Allistair McLeod.
tim 11:35 AM [+]

I first heard about Pigs at the Trough on the CBC. Now Arianna Huffingtons latest work is reviewed in Esquire.
tim 12:03 PM [+]

Carol Shields' latest effort, Unless has been long-listed for the Orange Prize.
tim 11:17 AM [+]

The Battle For God
Bush v Saddam on a religious, as opposed to a financial level.
tim 4:00 PM [+]

A Box of Matches reviewed
tim 3:59 PM [+]

This review is brought to you (w/o permission) from the Globe and Mail

Democracy and The News, by Herbert J. Gans, Oxford University Press, 168 pages, $39.50
With an attack on Iraq seeming more inevitable each day, the longstanding question of how much we can trust the news is once again topical. Gans is a professor of sociology at Columbia University -- and the author of the 1979 bestseller Deciding What's News -- so naturally he concentrates on the American media. Here he examines how the role of the journalist has declined at the same time audiences have been shrinking. He makes the case that there's an assembly-line style of production of news with the result being too much focus on public officials such as the American president. This may explain why we'll be seeing more Dubya soon.

tim 11:25 AM [+]

Jarheads
A war story reviewed.
tim 11:06 AM [+]

Sharon's biography
tim 8:45 AM [+]

A new Elvis biography excellently reviewed.
tim 8:42 AM [+]

Just picked up Naomi Klein's new book, Fences and Windows
Hopefully I'll get it read on March Break.
tim 12:07 PM [+]

All Things Allen
The Times has a very impressive collection of Allen Ginsberg related articles and, most impressively, a reading of his from 1977.
This might sound small but I own a copy of the Howl book he's holding in the picture - it was given to me by Adrienne, when I fancied myself a Beat poet in training. Their philosophy, as much as I understand it, has shaped me to this day. If you haven't read Howl, you must.

tim 10:39 PM [+]

The Time of Our Singing - Reviewed
tim 5:34 PM [+]

A review of a book about the survival rituals of birds and animals.


tim 5:12 PM [+]

I read a couple of really great reviews in the Globe this weekend. The first was a review of a few fairly recent Chomsky books - including his smash hit 9-11. The other review was regarding the righteous gentiles who risked their lives to save Jews across Europe during WWII. Both reviews are well worth reading, as I imagine are the books.
Me, I'm still on 1984.

tim 6:33 PM [+]

Nick Hornby Has a New Book
I've only read High Fidelity but I've always thought he was the kind of writer who would not be a critical favorite. And yet, the critics seem to be attracted to him. I don't think he's a particularly good writer but I like what he writes about. Maybe that's what others like too. His new book, Songbook, is a collection of essays regarding his favorite excuse for writing - music.
tim 11:07 PM [+]

The classics are making a comback...b/c the big publsihers say so. Remember, no matter how cheap Chapters or whoever else sells them for, they're always cheaper at a used book store.
tim 10:59 PM [+]

Who Killed MLK
There's a new book that shoots from the hip with a few new theories. It's complex that's for sure but unless someone confesses I don't see how anyone will ever prove it wasn't Ray.
Read the review.
tim 10:34 PM [+]

Recent Purchase
Douglas Coupland's Postcard of Canada
it's a charming little coffee table book that is currently on sale at Chapter's and is well worth picking up.

tim 5:30 PM [+]

Hitler Was Gay
Don't look so surpired...so was honest Abe Lincoln
Read more.
tim 5:17 PM [+]

The Fiction Issue
What do you get when you cross an architecture magazine with up and coming writers? Metropolis's first Fiction Issue.

tim 11:21 PM [+]

AbeBooks a major success
AbeBooks is a CDN company that links book sellers with buyers. Wondering how this type of business could be successful? How bout $53,760 for a Salinger original?
Read more about it.
tim 5:26 PM [+]

The Most Heartwrenching Book in CDN History
Romeo Dallaire's first book Shake Hands With the Devil will be out this fall. It promises to be a recounting of his time spent in Rwanda as well as the personal and professional torment he has endured since that time.
tim 5:43 PM [+]

The New Harry Potter Book
It's more than 5 months away from being released but it's already on the top of the best seller lists.
Read More.
tim 12:15 PM [+]

Read all about how amazingly fat Americans and presumably CDN's are.
tim 11:41 PM [+]

Asperger Syndrome examined
I've read various reviews of this book by Lawrence Osborne and it sounds great.
Read the review.
tim 2:38 PM [+]

Book Clubs for Fun and Profit
Just kidding. I can't think of anyone but Oprah that could make money on Book Clubs.
What us average slubs can do though it make them into events where we learn more about literature and ourselves.
The Star has tips.
Enjoy.
tim 2:35 PM [+]

Just in case you haven't heard enough about Yan Martel, here's a recent review of the Life of Pi.
tim 3:57 PM [+]

A new book on the mystery that is Miles Davis.
tim 2:58 PM [+]