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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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"Big feet and a Mouth To Match"
Gifted to me by a friend who thought we'd have a lot in common, because, trappers, prospecting, what's the diff? Anyways...
This was surprisingly (to me) much easier to read than the cover would have led me to believe. Basically the childhood reminiscings of a trapper/guide/outdoorsman who grew up (and trapped) in and around White Rock and Vancouver.
A very droll way of looking at things, interesting characters, times, this would have made for an excellent kids book - a-la "The Great Brain" series - a favorite of mine when I was a certain age - were it not for a few (unnecessary) adult references.
Initially skeptical I soon found myself laughing out loud and managed to devour it in an afternoon. Once in a while it's a treat to read something light...
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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This took a while to read, not least because of weekends and everything else getting in the way...
Ordered Chronologically, with the first written in 1947, and every couple of years thereafter, these are an interesting read in that Marquez would later go on to win the Nobel Prize. And while always recognizably himself, it's not until the 60's that I start to see the stories coming together in a way that I appreciate, and so in this you're given the chance to see someone get better at their craft.
So, it took a while to read, as it progressed more and more worthwhile, but I should stop this hunting down of favorite authors and move on to others, my desk is cluttered with more (and more) books to be read, and I'm all out of time...
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Anything to avoid Lowry...
In any event, I quite like Marquez, and this collection of short stories - vignettes - did not disappoint.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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...and Malcolm Lowry sits half-read on a shelf. I appreciate him, but, for the moment, not to my taste.
SO - Ann Radcliffe - I'm pretty sure I've read "The Castle of Udolpho", this didn't disappoint.
A Gothic Romance, with the usual variety of Star-crossed lovers, Ruined Castles, Estates, Monasteries, Convents and Dungeons (albeit poorly used...), caves, the rumor of ghosts, kindly governesses, evil fathers and stepmothers, Bandetti, convenient coincidences, mistaken identities, and the wrath of God plays out in the passions of the players.
If she didn't invent the genre she certainly perfected it, the quality of prose is fine, only the events - the story, is just that, a diversion to entertain, and at no point does the reader believe it. But that's a matter of taste...
Read up on her here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Radcliffe
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This thick volume was a quick and engaging read. Written by Tappan Adney, a journalist sent to report back on the Klondike in the rush of 1897-1898, it's filled with first hand observations, names of creek, and various details in all departments of life in the Yukon and Dawson City.
Leaving via Victoria, through Juneau and Skagway, deciding in favour of Dyea, over the Chilkoot Pass and then the remaining 500+ miles to Dawson City via a boat of their own building, the whole comprises a rollicking adventure - the tens of thousands of gold seekers, many, if not most, completely unprepared for the trials that await, and - remarkably few misadventures.
The whole thing makes one want to hike (and metal detect) the Chilkoot Pass - of the tens of thousands that set forth, thousands turned back and left it all behind. And somewhere up and over the pass it all remains...
Anyways, arrive at Dawson, realize - that for 2 years - the population of Dawson was greater than the entirety of the Yukon is at present - then, rumors of other gold bearing creeks lured the miners off to other destinations, in Alaska (Nome), and other creeks.
So - lots to metal detect up there, which you wouldn't suspect, given how unpopulated the place is currently.
As for the Klondike gold, estimates (his, and others) that there were millions of ounces - tens of millions of dollars - taken from the goldfields in just a couple of short years - this, with gold at $17.00 per ounce (and all expenses roughly the same as now, if not greater!!!), a short window of work (4 months, although they could dig and work in the thawed underground to a small extent) and you have some idea. Add to this the fact that the bulk of the miners were American, and didn't wish to pay the Canadian Government the royalties they expected, and you would rightly guess immense fortunes made their way back over the border undeclared...
This has greatly inspired me, for there are fortunes and millions up there still...and I've rather mastered the art of misadventure...