Once Upon a Bookshelf

There were a handful of movies that my dad introduced me to when I was quite young, and my love for these movies has only increased over the years. The Indiana Jones trilogy is definitely one of those, so when I saw this book, I knew I had to have it.

This handy little book is what every aspiring Indiana-Jones-like-archaeologist should own. It’s broken down into five chapters, and each chapter is broken down further into various sections that teach you everything you need to know - not limited to how to do an excavation, how to escape if you are accidentally entombed, and how to avoid the Wrath of God. Each section includes examples that Indy went through himself, to help you think about how they would be applied in “real life” situations. They even have illustrations showing you how to do important things you’re going to need to know on your expedition (like how to crack a bullwhip, how to pull yourself out of quicksand, how to throw a punch, etc).

While I did find this book highly amusing, I found that I couldn’t read more than a section or two at each sitting. The highlight of the book, though, was the book design itself. I love the paper the book was printed on, and the page layouts were quite fun. Drool-worthy even. I’ve scanned one of my favourite spreads:

Now, however, I am craving a revisit to the Indiana Jones trilogy… and am getting more and more excited for the upcoming Indy movie. Yay fun!

This is my second book for The Canadian Book Challenge.

It’s no secret that I think Rick Mercer is one of the coolest Canadians ever. Not only is he positively hilarious, but he actually makes me interested in Canadian politics. Plus, he has some of the most entertaining interviews on TV. Need I remind anyone of Mercer going skinny dipping with Bob Rae? Or Mercer and David Suzuki in a frozen lake at the OPP training facility? (I should probably mention the wind tunnel at Western, but it really wasn’t that exciting.) And even when I’m in my not-watching-any-TV-programs phases, I don’t miss the Rick Mercer Report. So, I knew I needed this book from the moment I heard about it.

The book consists of a number of Rick Mercer’s rants (that you would’ve seen if you watch the show), as well as a number of blog posts he’s made, and small excerpts from interviews he’s done on the show. While reading the book, I found I remembered a good number of the rants from the show and remembered reading a few of the blog entries, but a good portion of the book seemed new to me too. The rants translated well to paper, but as they are posted to his blog, that wasn’t a surprise to me.

The book is divided into different themes, including Getting What You Voted For, The Trials of Lord Black and Canada’s New Government, and each theme consists of a few different rants/blog entries/etc. It would work well if you were planning on jumping around from one theme to another. Each bit in each theme is in chronological order, so you can easily see how things have progressed over the past few years in regards to certain issues.

This book is definitely a must-have for any fans of the Rick Mercer Report.

Each chapter in this book focused on a different part of Canada. It told about the history of the place, as well as illustrating personal experiences Ferguson had in each of these places throughout his life. Parts of it brought tears to my eyes, others brought the biggest smile to my face. It was exciting to be able to say “Hey, I’ve been there!” about a place or two, but I think the best thing about this book is that it’s added to my list of places that I want to visit at some point in my life. (Dude, I so want to go polar bear watching!)

Have I ever mentioned that I have like the hugest literary crush on Will Ferguson? Because I totally do. Totally. And I have half of the stuff in his books underlined because they make me giggle to no end. I mean, really. With writing like his, how could I not sit there and giggle madly? Especially when there are passages like this:

More polar bears live in Canada than in the rest of the world combined, which raises the question, Why the hell did we choose the beaver as our national emblem? We could have had Nanuk of the North, Lord of the Arctic, as our symbol. Instead we get stuck with Squirrelly McTeeth. Sheesh.

That’s the thing about good Canadian writers and comedians and the like. The sense of humour. It’s dry, snuggly and there’s always something so indistinctly Canadian about it (even if you can’t put your finger exactly on what is so Canadian).

When I first saw this anthology in the bookstores, I had to grab it. I mean, it’s edited by Will Ferguson, how could it not be absolutely fabulous? (I am muchly of the belief that anything Will Ferguson touches is positively brilliant.) And oh, it was wonderful. It’s been sitting on my night table for the whole summer, while I have been savouring bits here and there whenever I felt the need for some scrumptious Canadian humour.

This anthology has selections from some of Canada’s best humour writers - some of which I had read and loved before, others of which I had never heard of; it covered everything from hockey (only to be expected), to daily life on the prairies, to everything in between.

My favourite bits were by Jack Knox, Richard J. Needham, Erika Ritter and, of course Will and Ian Ferguson. I am quite happy as this has given me more writers whose books I need to hunt down. (Like I really need that.)

I’m sure I’m like a number of other people around the web who have been eagerly anticipating this book for many months now. In fact, I was looking forward to it so much that I couldn’t wait until it was published here in North America to get my hands on it, and had it shipped here from the UK.

Like most people who had been awaiting this book, I stumbled upon Movies in Fifteen Minutes at Cleolinda Jones’ LJ Community, where she parodied a number of movies that I absolutely adored. That’s the thing with her parodies - you can tell that she loves the movies, and the way she writes about them is exactly what we are thinking while we’re watching the movie, without even realizing that we’re thinking it at the time.

As I mentioned, this book parodies movies - 10 blockbusters, to be exact, including (but not limited to) Titanic, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Lord of the Rings (yes, all three of the LotR trilogy).

It was a perfect book for reading on the bus, as it kept me awake and made me feel like my half hour bus ride was only about 5 minutes. I’m sure there were a number of people who turned to look at me when I would start giggling, but you can’t really help it at times.

This will be a book that I go back to time and again just to read certain parts of certain movies when I’m in the need of a good laugh.

Of course, she gets extra cool points because she mentions Horatio Hornblower in the Titanic one. Extra cool points there. (Not that I’m biased or anything. Nope. Not at all.)