Mini Book Expo For Bloggers

Sailor Girl [Eaglegrl's review]

Sailor Girl isn't quite shipshape for Eaglegrl:

Olson provides vivid descriptions of the lake and life on the ships. The storms, the calming water, the galley, the loading and unloading of freight. Life going from port to port, working hard, getting drunk, falling in lust, getting high. She discovers the upstairs/downstairs nature of ship life, meets great friends, and enemies.

I had high hopes for this book as i started it but after enjoying the first third or so i found myself rather disinterested by it. I ended up reading three other books before finally getting thru this one. I found a lot of the story-lines became tedious and i just wanted to shake Kate and say “What the hell are you doing?”. Instead of focusing on a few story-lines and expanding on them, i felt pulled in many directions while we learned about Kate’s sister, landlord, and best friend, the head cook’s home life, the pot-smoking teenager on the boat, her abusive boyfriend and his strange friends. I also would have been interested in hearing more about the upstairs/downstairs nature of life on the lakes. The fact that though their are definite classes aboard the ship, they are a family of sorts and those classes are strict, yet not.

My big question at the end of the book was...what was she really running from in Montreal?
* 2.5 stars *

Keep reading Eaglegrl's review... 

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More information

• Porcupine's Quill | Chapters.ca  | Amazon.com
• ISBN-10: 0889843015 
• ISBN-13: 978-0889843011

The Wood Engraver's Alphabet [avisannschild's review]

avisannschild carves out a different review than she expected for The Wood Engraver's Alphabet:

I’m embarrassed to admit that I misunderstood the blurb about this book on Mini Book Expo, so I was very surprised to realize this book contains no words past the three-page introduction, other than the names of the 26 plants illustrated.

Although I am, in some small way, a “student of the complexities of nature’s creations,”* as I have studied herbology, my main interest is in wild medicinal plants, so I wasn’t familiar with many of the plants illustrated here. And I don’t really know anything about wood engraving. Disclaimers aside, this is a beautiful book: I love the texture of the book’s cover (which I can’t help stroking every time I pick it up), and the woodcuts themselves are intricate and lovely. A few of them seem too small to do justice to the details of the engravings, but for the most part I felt like I could spend hours gazing at each of them, marvelling at Brender à Brandis’s skill and meditating on each plant.

*According to the blurb on the back of this book, “This collection is intended both for the student of the complexities of nature’s creations and the patron of the intricate art of wood engraving.”

Keep reading avisannschild's review...

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More information

• Extra Info: Excerpt
• Porcupine's Quill | Chapters.ca  | Amazon.com 
• ISBN-10: 0889843112 
• ISBN-13: 978-0889843110

Let That Bad Air Out: Buddy Bolden's Last Parade [Ruth's review]

According to Ruth, Let That Bad Air Out is a beautiful collection worth a thousand words about the life of a musician:

Art books published by The Porcupine's Quill never disappoint. Let That Bad Air Out: Buddy Bolden's Last Parade is another glowing example of the superb quality of the releases from this marvellous small-town Ontario press.

In a series of brilliantly rendered linocut relief prints, Berg tells the story of Buddy Bolden, a New Orleans jazz musician living from 1877 to 1931. Each crisp image masterfully succeeds in evoking a feeling of the fluidity of the music, the boisterousness of the community, and the darkness of the events surrounding the musician's demise. An introduction by Donald M. Marquis, author of In Search of Buddy Bolden: First Man of Jazz, and an afterword by renowned artist, George A. Walker, round out this collection.

Fans of the graphic novel genre and enthusiasts of linocut relief printmaking will surely be pleased with Let That Bad Air Out: Buddy Bolden's Last Parade. Highly recommended.
* 5 stars *

  

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More information

• Extra Info: First Page
• Porcupine's Quill | Chapters.ca  | Amazon.com
• ISBN-10: 0889842965
• ISBN-13: 978-0889842960

A Wood Engraver's Alphabet [Autumn's Review]

Autumn got herself a copy of A Wood Engraver's Alphabet and was immediately in love with the physicality of this tome. From her blog, Owl's Court, here's an excerpt:

The first thing that strikes you about A Wood Engraver’s Alphabet is that it is a beautifully made book. The texture of the cover and the paper delight both hands and eyes. The paper is a warm ecru colour and of very heavy weight, an excellent ground on which to display the prints. The play between dark and light in the prints themselves is fascinating. Brender à Brandis creates an incredible amount of visual texture and suggestion of different materials (wood, petal, stalk, leaf, ground cover, stamens) in his engravings. The end papers are a green between olive and moss, and the signatures are sewn, not glued.

This book is Gerard Brender à Brandis’ love letter to the botanicals in his world.

Keep reading Autumn's review...

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More information

• Extra Info: Excerpt
• Porcupine's Quill | Chapters.ca  | Amazon.com
• Paperback: 64 pages 
• Publisher: Porcupine's Quill; 1 edition (September 1, 2008) 
• ISBN-10: 0889843112 
• ISBN-13: 978-0889843110

A Wood Engravers Alphabet [Josh's review]

A Wood Engravers Alphabet impresses Josh:

There are plenty of alphabet books out there, ones that have cars, fruit, clothes, kids, toys and animals. However, this isn't your child's alphabet book. A Wood Engraver's Alphabet Book is a beautifully crafted art book comprised of 26 wood cuts of both familiar and rare flowers and plants.
In his introduction Mr. Brandis talks with a love for his craft and an almost intimate feeling about his subjects.
* 3 stars *

Keep reading Josh's review... 

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More information

• Extra Info: Excerpt
• Porcupine's Quill | Chapters.ca  | Amazon.com 
• ISBN-10: 0889843112 
• ISBN-13: 978-0889843110

Flight of the Hummingbird [Nicole's review]

In her wonderfully titled blog, Librarians do it in the Stacks, Nicole is taken with the message of Flight of the Hummingbird:

This wonderful little book is an inspiration; one that, because of it's simple message and elegant illustrations, provides the understanding that all is not lost, that the damage caused to the environment can still be repaired. If the little hummingbird has the courage and endurance to fight the forest fire alone, drop by drop, even one person's willingness to do their part will change the face of our world for the better. And, if one person can make a change, others will follow.

The introduction by Wangari Maathai, as well as the wise words from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, make each individuals role in the fight to reclaim our environment seem so easy. It is my hope that this story will be widely read and that the image of the hummingbird will act as a reminder that every little bit counts. Our wish for a sustainable environment is indeed within our reach.

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More information

• Author Site: Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas 
• Book Animation: Flight of the Hummingbird
• Douglas & McIntyre  | Chapters.ca | Amazon.com
• ISBN-10: 1553653726 
• ISBN-13: 978-1553653721

Images from the Neocerebellum [PMT's review]

From dreams to words to wood cuts, Images from the Neocerebellum is recommended here in PMT's review:   

Just as Salvador Dali drew inspiration from Sigmund Freud’s studies on dream interpretation, artist George A. Walker embraces Carl Jung’s philosophy that dreams reflect one’s situation in life. By meticulously documenting his dreams in a bedside dream diary using a technique learned during his studies at the Ontario College of Art, Walker is able to later transcribe each dream sequence into a crisp black and white visual representation of his words. The end result is Images from the Cerebellum, an intriguing compendium of selected wood engravings released by The Porcupine’s Quill.

This prolific showcase of artwork spanning from 1991 to 2007 captures fragments of the emotion, mysticism, and surrealism portrayed in the dreams unleashed by the artist’s unfettered subconscious mind. To develop his collection, Walker laboriously engraves each composition on endcut Canadian maple block – a medium that affords the artist the flexibility to masterfully examine a broader spectrum of line, space, and texture than is typical of the wood cut process. Each completed image in the book is then flanked by a succinct written description that serves to establish the context of the dream for the viewer.

Walker’s work demonstrates not only his practiced ability to tap into his own dreams, but the precision and versatility of his artistic prowess. The thick graphic lines that swirl fluidly in many of his figure and landscape studies provoke a feeling of sensuality and weightlessness. On first glance, Lovers – January 2004 depicts the passion and intimacy between a woman and the artist. The viewer quickly learns upon closer examination that the man is alone with his dream in this hauntingly flat image. With similar deftness, the artist’s treatment of intricate details proves to be as successful in achieving a sense of empowerment, movement, and place in time in Algonquin Park – August 2005, Whaler – March 2003, Flying Dream – May 1999, and Drop of Water – August 1991 as his bold use of negative space is in evoking a sense of desolation, stillness, and trepidation in Eyes – February 2001 and Skinhead – March 2003.

A brief biography with a self-portrait of George A. Walker and an essay, A Jungian Approach to Dreams and Dream Images, by Daryl Sharp, round out this collection in Images from the Cerebellum.

Enthusiasts of contemporary Canadian or surrealist art, as well as readers intrigued by the dreaming subconscious mind or the candid conscious insights and perceptions of an articulate Canadian artist will appreciate this recommended title.

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More information

• the real george walker fan club george walker fanclub
• Porcupine's Quill |  Chapters.ca   | Amazon.com
• ISBN-10: 0889842914 
• ISBN-13: 978-0889842915

Sailor Girl [J. Goto's review]

When it comes to Sailor Girl, J. Goto isn't quite on board:

The protagonist in Sheree-Lee Olson’s Sailor Girl is Kate, a twenty year old photographer. Kate is attracted to ruins. Rather than photograph the picturesque scenery on the family drives she takes with her parents, she snaps shots of buildings with crumbling foundations and smashed fences.
  “She couldn’t explain it. It felt    
   right. She had always liked ruined   
   things. Her father’s books, her
   mother’s old handbags, the musty smell
   of her grandmother’s house in
   Vancouver, where as a child she would
   beg to be allowed to look through the
   trunks in the basement. They were full
   of yellowing movie magazines, souvenir
   towels, tarnished hand mirrors. It was
   all junk, Gram said.”
Then she enters a world very much like the damaged goods she likes to photograph. When Kate’s parents tell her they won’t finance an education in art school so she can study photography, she leaves home and finds work as a porter on a freight ship that travels around the Great Lakes. Her goal is to earn money for school and take pictures of life aboard the ship. The hours are long, the work backbreaking. Kate finds herself immersed in a gritty, harsh life, filled with alcohol, sex and rough people.
The descriptions of the water and the rhythms of life on the boats are vividly portrayed. Sailor Girl is Kate’s coming of age story. She comes to terms with her relationships with parents and shipmates. I have to say I did not find Kate to be a character I can relate to. She remained attracted to alcohol and sex with abusive men throughout. The descriptions of Kate’s life and surroundings are noteworthy, but I found the book to be dreary and depressing.

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More information

• Porcupine's Quill | Chapters.ca  | Amazon.com
• ISBN-10: 0889843015 
• ISBN-13: 978-0889843011

Zero Gravity [Gillian's Review]

When I visited Vancouver for the first time I knew exactly how a city could charm the pants off a Torontonian. And that made me jealous. Gillian's review of Zero Gravity over on Easily Read, talks of people in transition on the weird coast...

English’s characters are runaways in one way or another; all have ghosts from their pasts to contend with. In “The Flying Woman,” Claire is reminded of a night that changed her life forty years earlier when a specter, taking the form of an elderly woman in a leotard, intrudes on her dance-fit class.

When not dealing with those freshly arrived to Vancouver, English looks to people on vacation. What is interesting about English’s writing is that, much like a child’s perspective, the viewpoint of a tourist can also be channeled to offer us a glimpse the world around us with a set of fresh eyes.

Keep reading Gillian's review...

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More information

• Porcupine's Quill |Chapters.ca| Amazon.com

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages 
• Publisher: Porcupine's Quill; First edition edition (September 1, 2006) 
• ISBN-10: 0889842795 
• ISBN-13: 978-0889842793

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A Wood Engraver's Alphabet [Gerard Brender a Brandis]

Courtesy of Porcupine's Quill

Wood engraver Gerard Brender a  Brandis has long been an avid gardener and botanist; his encyclopedic knowledge of the plant world animates the exquisite microcosm of A Wood Engraver's Alphabet. This collection is intended both for the student of the complexities of nature's creations and the patron of the intricate art of wood engraving. The images are presented in the form of an alphabet book but the simple, and sometimes elementary, appreciation of the alphabet format will not suffice here. The abundance of the botanical world, and the multitude of choice available to represent each letter, allows the mind of artist and reader alike to roam free. A short introduction by the artist illuminates the choices he has made and includes historical tidbits about the lexicon of flowers.

From the Author
`Working on this series of engravings reminded me that the Victorians delighted in employing flowers to send messages, having an established lexicon of meanings for many common flowers. One might send foxgloves to express a suspicion of insincerity, snapdragons to underscore offence at another's presumptiveness (and don't the tight-lipped snapdragons in my engraving have an offended air about them?), and pansies to confirm ``You occupy my thoughts.'' And some plants have a unique significance for each of us, associations with events or people in our own lives.' (Gerard Brender a Brandis )

About the Author

A member of the Society of Wood Engravers (England), Gerard Brender a  Brandis has produced hundreds of drawings, wood engravings and watercolours of flowering plants, many of which were studied in his own garden. These images have appeared in books, including Wood, Ink and Paper, At Water's Edge and Portraits of Flowers (all published by The Porcupine's Quill) as well as in his own handmade editions. His work is represented in the collections of the Royal Botanical Gardens (Hamilton, Ontario), the Missouri Botanic Garden, the Arnold Arboretum and the Hunt Botanical Library. His garden and his studio are located in Stratford, Ontario. 

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• Extra Info: Excerpt
• Porcupine's Quill | Chapters.ca  | Amazon.com

Product Details

• 6 copies available This book is CLAIMED
• Paperback: 64 pages 
• Publisher: Porcupine's Quill; 1 edition (September 1, 2008) 
• ISBN-10: 0889843112 
• ISBN-13: 978-0889843110

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Sailor Girl [Laurie's review]

When it comes to Sailor Girl, the pleasure is all Laurie's:   

The publisher... has created a sensory experience, as this is one of the most beautiful books I've had the pleasure of reading and holding. The text includes photographs and is printed on thick, textured paper. The inside covers are printed with color maps of the Great Lakes region.  A pleasure to hold and a pleasure to read.

Keep reading Laurie's review... 

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More information

• Porcupine's Quill | Chapters.ca  | Amazon.com
• ISBN-10: 0889843015 
• ISBN-13: 978-0889843011

Images from the Neocerebellum [Melanie's Review]

Another Images From The Neocerebellum review (Hang tight kids, there were 5 books given out). This one is from Mealine, from Goober (on Vox):

George Walker began recording the waking memories of his nightly dreams in a dream diary after taking a course at the Ontario College of the Arts. Using the dream diary as his starting point, George Walker makes wood engravings of the images or interpretations of his dreams.

The prints in the book along with the diary excerpts are a powerful glimpse into the human psyche. Walker states in the intro he believes "dreams are the bones of the psyche."

Many of the wood engraving images seem familiar with almost a deja vu sense. No matter how different people are, you can see the similarities in the dreams that we all share.

See Melanie's review on her site, Goobers on Vox

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More information

• the real george walker fan club george walker fanclub
• Porcupine's Quill |  Chapters.ca   | Amazon.com

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages 
• Publisher: Porcupine's Quill; 1 edition (May 1, 2007) 
• ISBN-10: 0889842914 
• ISBN-13: 978-0889842915

Images from the Neocerebellum [Book Patrol's Review]

The other day I dreamed that I was programming an old Game Boy Color to run a game I had made myself. It starred a certain bird that was popular on a TV show and it was bright yellow. When I woke up, I was really excited that I had dreamed in colour and I made a drawing of it. Recording your dreams is the subject of Images from the Neocerebellum which  Book Patrol reviewed:

Walker's introduction offers a brief historical overview of artists' who have created work to explore their unconscious dream state and how the practice of wood engraving, the act of carving lines out of wood, is a conducive means of exploring one's unconscious. The tree is, after all, as Walker reminds us, a ripe metaphor for the human condition with a presence both above and below ground.

Keep reading Book Patrol's review...

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More information

• the real george walker fan club george walker fanclub
• Porcupine's Quill |  Chapters.ca   | Amazon.com

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages 
• Publisher: Porcupine's Quill; 1 edition (May 1, 2007) 
• ISBN-10: 0889842914 
• ISBN-13: 978-0889842915

Off the Wall [Tony Urquhart & Michael Phillips]

Courtesy of Porcupine's Quill

A series of 113 drawings which served as studies for artist Tony Urquhart's ubiquitous box sculptures -- strange, surreal, almost absurd objects. These preliminary sketches provide a unique window into the mind and process of the artist. Captions for the drawings are provided by Michael Phillips who has approached them as if coming on a batch of drawings without prior knowledge of their intent. He has tried to divine something of the artist's purpose in designing these objects, and to speculate on the end of various projects. Off the Wall -- amusing, irreverent, nonsensical -- is exactly that!

In order to facilitate the construction of his box sculptures Urquhart required working drawings, idea drawings and even drawings of the stands upon which the sculptures would sit. These works were not intended as ends in themselves, but nonetheless they are as complete, interesting and exciting as the artist could render. Urquhart explains that one of his `artistic heros' is Leonardo da Vinci -- whose idea drawings for flying machines, military catapults and siege cannons have never been surpassed.

About the Authors

Michael B. Phillips enjoyed a diplomatic career as Canadian Ambassador to a number of countries. He was also Minister for Public Affairs in London and Consul General in New York. His own artistic life was limited to the execution of wall drawings using indelible crayon. Phillips is retired and lives in Ireland. 

Tony Urquhart is recognized as one of Canada's pioneering abstract artists. His work has been featured in important private and public collections around the world. He was professor of Fine Arts at the University of Waterloo for many years and now divides his time between Ireland and Stratford, Ontario.

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• Porcupine's Quill | Chapters.ca  | Amazon.com

Product Details

• 5 copies available This book is CLAIMED.
• Paperback: 224 pages 
• Publisher: Porcupine's Quill; 1 edition (July 1, 2008) 
• ISBN-10: 0889843023 
• ISBN-13: 978-0889843028

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Sailor Girl [Sheree-Lee Olson]

Courtesy of Porcupine's Quill

Sailor Girl is both coming-of-age tale and love poem to the natural world. Set on the cargo boats of Canada's Great Lakes in the summer of 1981, it follows the literal and figurative journey of Kate McLeod, a rebellious photography student looking to earn money for school. Using tight, salty dialogue and gripping description, the book renders a sharp-edged portrait of life literally lived on the edges of society. 

It is also a love story, in which a middle-class girl finds a deep connection with the unruly young men and toughminded women of the lakes. Life on the water is both brutally physical and socially restrictive, and Kate kicks against the rules, both written and unwritten. A female riff on such classics as Two Years Before the Mast and Malcolm Lowry's Ultramarine, Sailor Girl is also a uniquely Canadian story, one that distills a vanishing part of our heritage. 

About the Author

Sheree-Lee Olson was born in Picton on the shores of Lake Ontario and grew up across Canada and in Europe. After earning degrees in visual art, philosophy and journalism, she joined the Globe and Mail as an editor in 1985. She has published fiction and poetry in numerous literary magazines, as well as contributing personal essays to the Globe. She lives in Toronto with her partner and two sons. 

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• Porcupine's Quill | Chapters.ca  | Amazon.com

Product Details

• 5 copies available This book is CLAIMED
• Paperback: 288 pages 
• Publisher: Porcupine's Quill; 1 edition (June 1, 2008) 
• ISBN-10: 0889843015 
• ISBN-13: 978-0889843011

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Images from the Neocerebellum [George A. Walker]

Courtesy of Porcupine's Quill

For over twenty years George A. Walker has compulsively maintained a visual dream diary of images remembered from his resonant sleep. Inspired by Carl Jung's theories of dreaming and the dream's relation to the unconscious Walker began to explore the dioramas encountered in his enchantment, distilling them into single black and white images in an effort to capture unconscious moments in time. Many of these same images have subsequently been transferred onto end-grain wood blocks and hand printed in limited letterpress editions. As Walker claims, "dreams are the bones of the psyche, which is where all our understanding of self begins and ends."

Why is it that the black and white image is so compelling? The human eye consists of rods and cones that process the reflected light of our world. These signals are then translated into colour and form for processing by the brain. The rods, however, are considered one of the most primitive organs in the eye and are sensitive only to black and white. These rods are the first component of the eye to be activated at birth and this explains why infants respond readily to high contrast black and white images. It could be said, then, that human beings are 'hard-wired' to read black and white artwork. It is this instinctive physical attraction that drives Walker's exploration of the high contrasts intrinsic to wood engraving prints. 

The neocerebellum is the part of the cerebellum that controls visual-spacial, procedural learning and the preparation of complex movements such as would be required in the engraving of lines on a wood block. Many psychologists believe the cerebellum is where our dreams originate. Since the cerebellum is in control of the emotions and self-awareness it is one key to understanding how the brain organizes its unconscious self.   

About the Author

George A. Walker (Canadian, b. 1960) is an award-winning wood engraver, book artist, teacher, author, and illustrator who has been creating artwork and books and publishing at his private press since 1984. Walker's popular courses in book arts and printmaking at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, where he is Associate Professor, have been running continuously since 1985. For over twenty years Walker has exhibited his wood engravings and limited edition books internationally, often with two associations he belongs to: The Loving Society of Letterpress (and The Binders of Infinite Love) and the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild (CBBAG). Among many book projects Walker has illustrated two hand-printed books written by author Neil Gaiman. Walker also is the illustrator of the first Canadian edition of Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass books (Cheshire Cat Press). George A. Walker was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Art for his contribution to the cultural area of Book Arts. 

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More information

• the real george walker fan club george walker fanclub
• Porcupine's Quill |  Chapters.ca   | Amazon.com

Product Details

• 5 copies available  This book is CLAIMED
• Paperback: 168 pages 
• Publisher: Porcupine's Quill; 1 edition (May 1, 2007) 
• ISBN-10: 0889842914 
• ISBN-13: 978-0889842915

Shipping within Canada & US sponsored by Porcupine's Quill

The Inverted Line [George A. Walker]

Courtesy of Porcupine's Quill

Printmaker George A. Walker has assembled into one volume a collection of wood engravings that he has made during his career as an artist. 

`Is the work any good? Yes, of course it is. Of course, too, if you go for rough trade in wood engraving, you end where you began: some of this does look like beginner's work. But Walker does things with engraving I've not seen anyone else do: look at Raguwl, Angel of Vengeance. His images of people in cars are startlingly expressive: he can draw -- look at The Printer's hand and the break of light around him; has Walker bodged the ear here to prove he can't draw (so there!)? But he can and does. His small images have power and sometimes even humour and tenderness, even though he presents himself as an obsessive, the Mad Hatter of wood engraving.' (Simon Brett Newsletter of the Society of Wood Engravers )

About the Author

George A. Walker (Canadian, b. 1960) is an award-winning wood engraver, book artist, teacher, author, and illustrator who has been creating artwork and books and publishing at his private press since 1984. Walker's popular courses in book arts and printmaking at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, where he is Associate Professor, have been running continuously since 1985. For over twenty years Walker has exhibited his wood engravings and limited edition books internationally, often with two associations he belongs to: The Loving Society of Letterpress (and The Binders of Infinite Love) and the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild (CBBAG). Among many book projects Walker has illustrated two hand-printed books written by author Neil Gaiman. Walker also is the illustrator of the first Canadian edition of Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass books (Cheshire Cat Press). George A. Walker was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Art for his contribution to the cultural area of Book Arts.

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• Porcupine's Quill |Chapters.ca| Amazon.com

Product Details

• 3 copies available This book is CLAIMED
• Paperback: 176 pages 
• Publisher: Porcupine's Quill (April 1, 2000) 
• ISBN-10: 0889842140 
• ISBN-13: 978-0889842144

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Zero Gravity [Sharon English]

  Zero Gravity by Sharon English

Courtesy of Porcupine's Quill

 In this remarkable new anthology of stories, mostly set in Vancouver, Sharon English provokes, shocks, amuses, and finally satisfies the reader with her insights and her character studies. In lucid detail, she captures the lives of a series of slightly skewed protagonists. Using a blend of descriptive detail, convincing dialogue, and social comment, she creates scenes and characters that linger in the mind long after one has finished each story. Corporate inanity, coastal weather, personal foibles and neuroses -- all are evoked with wit and verbal dexterity.