Shark On Line

by Carla Allen

This book tells the history of the Yarmouth Shark Scramble, the story of it's biggest shark catch and the urban legend that resulted from one of the author's photos of that shark, other shark catch and fishing stories and anecdotes, shark research findings, and shark attack stories from all over the world. There is information about conservation efforts as well as about the practice of finning and attempts and achievements toward ending it.

This book intrigued me from the first page and kept my interest right to the end. It's definitely a good choice for anyone interested in sharks or fishing (and I am not particularly), and I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of teenage boys would enjoy it. I found several errors in grammar/proofreading and continuity, but the author's writing style is clear and easy to follow.

Visit the book website at www.sharkonline.ca



Disclaimer: I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Christmas Stories to Warm Your Heart

by Karen Conrad

A collection of sweet stories set mostly in southwest Nova Scotia that teach the gospel and gentle lessons of kindness and faith.

I was particularly interested in reading this book since the author is a former neighbor of mine. There were a few editing mistakes, but the stories are interesting.

Contact Karen to purchase her book.

The Incredible Journey

by Sheila Burnford

John thinks the animals are safe at home and the housekeeper thinks John took them with him. All the while, the two dogs and one cat are on a 250-mile walk through the northern Ontario wilderness in which they face many difficulties and dangers.

Astonishingly, I had never read this Canadian classic, nor have I seen the well-known movie. My daughter started reading it, but had only read one chapter when I began. She is an animal lover and hates any kind of violence toward animals, so I advised her not to read it now because the animals do get hurt by bears, porcupine, hunger and exhaustion. I am not at all an animal lover, but I really enjoyed this story. I thought it was written for children, but according to Wikipedia, it wasn't specifically.

..About Me

by Dewey Comeau

This is the autobiography of a Yarmouth, NS resident who has cerebral palsy. The book has some photographs and a number of spelling and grammatical mistakes, but was okay reading.

The Black Joke

by Farley Mowatt

Two Newfoundland boys attempt to take their father's schooner back from the rum-runners who stole it. This is a great adventure story for boys.

From this moment on

by Shania Twain

This Canadian girl was born into a poor family in the northern Ontario town of Timmins. She had a difficult childhood in which violence was common and enough food to eat was rare. In spite of it, she became the world's best-selling country singer. She describes a lot of what goes on behind the scenes and shares her desperate grief when her parents died when she was 21 and then when her marriage ended 21 years later.

While I'm not a big country fan, I found Shania's story very interesting and I even listened to a few of the songs she mentioned in the book. I did find one mistake: on page 202, she talks about hunting "Ontario forest foul" instead of fowl. She also says 3 or 4 times that she has been a vegetarian for 18 years; once would probably have been enough. I don't mean to be picky though; it was a pretty good book.

Edited to add: In the interest of full disclosure, I should say that there is some pretty crude language and bad situations in this book that some may find offensive.

Best recipes ever

from Canadian Living and CBC 

fresh, fun & tasty tested-till-perfect recipes from the show

This book has a nice layout and lots of nice recipes. I made several and there were more that I'd wanted to try, but it was a library book and I had to return it, so I found the website which has all the recipes (at least all the ones I checked): Best Recipes Ever. The instructions were clear and easy to follow and the recipes turned out well. I made Chunky Chili Con Carne, Lean-but-Lucious Chocolate Brownies and No-Bake Lime Cheesecake Squares and I plan to make Creme Brulee as well.

Trapped

A Cape Breton fisherman's abduction to Nigeria 


by Leif Morrison

Leif, a Cape Breton fisherman, was offered a job helping transport a large boat to Nigeria. Accepting the job was his biggest mistake ever; shortly after leaving Sydney, he realized that the captain was crazy. When they finally reached Nigeria after a harrowing voyage, he found himself a virtual prisoner with no way of contacting his family or getting home. He finally succeeded in contacting the Canadian embassy and, with their help, managed to escape the country after several frightening mishaps.

This is an intriguing story and I enjoyed reading it, but whoever proofread/edited it was not qualified for the job. I found many grammatical errors throughout the book--as many as four on one page.

The floor of heaven

A true tale of the last frontier and the Yukon gold rush 

by Howard Blum 

The true story of three men in Alaska and the Yukon and the beginning of the gold rush. Siringo is a cowboy turned detective, Carmack lives with the natives for a while and then discovers gold in Klondike, and Soapy Smith is a con man who aims to be king -- of somewhere.

This is a pretty long book but a great combination of history and adventure. Recommended.

Canada's National Parks

A Celebration

A large coffee table book of beautiful photography of scenery, plants and animals from all of Canada's national parks. At the end of the book, there is a short profile of each park.

I love national parks and this book is so nice it has even made me, for the first time, want to visit the arctic.

Still Life

There's an art to catching a killer

by Louise Penny

In a quiet village in Quebec, an older woman is found dead in the woods. Was it a hunting accident or was it murder? The chief inspector comes from Montreal and watches the residents carefully for someone to give themselves away.

This book definitely kept my interest; however, I couldn't quite figure out what was the point of Agent Nichol's bungling things up, her nasty attitude, or her weird father. I really liked the fact that the story happens in Canada, in an area that I very much enjoyed when I drove through it a couple of years ago.

Plants for Atlantic Gardens

: handsome and hard-working perennials, shrubs and trees

by Jodi DeLong

This is a great encyclopedia of plants that will do well in Atlantic Canadian gardens. Many great plants are featured with plenty of useful information for how to grow them and nice photos.