Bargain book bins always yield some gems.

originally $28.95, now $4.99, She wrote both the novel and stack on your reading table, you
which Rushdie claims is just more the screenplay for Compromising _ can almosi look forward to the in-
of the same ald Vonnegut: a Japa- Positions, a gem of a movie star-

BRAG that I don’t shop ({ go out to ‘purchase specific
iterns’”’).

But in the presence of a

stack or bin of books under a
Publishers’ Clearance sign, reliable
witnesses inform me i become
rooted to the spot, develop a
glazed expression and manifest an _
embarrassing tendency to droc!.

~ #E suppose I'll find you in Coles -
or the Sears book department,”
‘Her Nibs said fatalistically as | tag-

‘ged along to her appointment with,
. BOOK REVIEW

“ a Capilano Mall optometrist.

‘(tried to look sheepish, and
when she dragged me out of
Sears’ book section an hour later !
didn’t quite have three bags full,
but | did have these carefully
selected gems:

imaginary Homelands, Essays
and Criticism 1981-1991 by Salm-

“on Rushdie, (Granta/Penguin) orig- ..

- jnally $17.99, now $4.99. Rushdie,
: you may recall, has been in hiding

--since Feb..1989, when the Iranian

ye Ayatoliahs condemned his novel
‘The Satanic Verses as insuiting to
“ <Islam and called on the faithful at
large to slay the apostate scribbler
. on sight. ..
While the majority of Muslims .
no doubt regard this approach to
literary criticism as excessively $ sil-

John Moore

ly, it only takes one zealot to kill
you, and Rushdie remains in the
protective custody that has
destroyed his marriage and is driv-
ing him so crazy he’s been trying
to make peace with imams.

His own Siterary criticism is
perceptive, witty and non-lethal,
and the longer essays on Islam,
censorship, India, racism, etc. are

_ studded with valuable insights.

. Writers are inclined to whinge

. that’ they’re not taken seriously

enough; it’s a gripe this writer is

~ unlikely to make ever again.

_Among Rushdie’s reviews is a

erabby squib about Kurt Von-

negut’s Hocus-Pocus, (Putnam),

nese-owned, American
“privatized” prison run for profit,
more interference from the planet
Tralfamadore, whose structuze is

. distated by scraps of paper pulled

out of dumpsters and
wastebaskets, etc., but Vonnegut
has always seemed like the same
old Vonnegut; quirky, satirical,
bemused, self-deflating, which is
no doubt why he remains popular.

Anne Tyler's characters are just:
as weird, but her methed is op-
posite.

Instead of token sci-fi, she uses a
calculated realism to create char-
acters in domestic situations, (The
Accidentiai Tourist, Breathing
Lessons} so skewed, so eccentric
as to be stranger-than-fi iction.

Tyler delights in clinically
dysfunctional people who

' obstinately function (don’t we all),

and Saint Maybe (Knopf), original-
ly a mysterious bar-code but now
$4.99, promises more of the same.
Slightly less mental strain is in-
volved in Susan Issacs’ Magic
Hour, a murder mystery set in the
trendy Hamptons, but Issacs is
good at this suburban Agatha-
Christie-does- lunch mode.

We author excites the imagination

Once i ina Blue hoon, by Nicola Morgan, publ. by Oxford Uni-

: versity Press, $7.95

HE PLAYFUL and instructive relationship between |
. word:and picture is delightfully-evident in Nicola
ie Morgan’: s latest book, Cnce.in a Blue ‘Moon, suitable
for r preschool and. primary children.

wenty-eighit ‘colorful idiomatic .
expressions pepper the text in this
simple story of the independent

lightly eccentric ‘Aunt. Floydi ie”

on ‘her birthday
“Aunt Floydie ; and her endearing
and equally eccentric friends.
dance up a storm; get frogs in their
throats and end up in quite a
2” pickle: Arms and Jegs jail wildly;
kermit-esque frogs leap from the
Cauntess’ cavernous mouth; the
mustactied mayor sits, footin .:
mouth, ina big Mason j jar of dill
pickles.
. The pictures are easily recog-
zable and as full of action — or
as-full of beans — as the children
who will hang on every word.
: Children will also have heard .

. grandmotherly expressions like
“feeling blue,”’ being “as old as
-the hills’! and asa fiddle.” -.
Some expressions, however, ~
nay require’a bit more tactful ex-

janation on the part of parent

including ait palate
folk are place:

Seno Time AROUND

“ANTIQUES
Pratt Main in St, Vancouver

from McDonalds
Restourane at 29th St} -

Cail 879 2313.

porary and interactive — both
desirable traits.

_ But the best part about this’
book, and Morgan’s other books,
is that it fosters imagination. For
parents who think that imagination
is being stifled by modern
children’s toys and television,
Once in a Blue Moon is just the
kind of book to stem the tide.

Young readers and writers will

; begin to sense how colorful the.

- Eng‘ish lariguage can be and how
‘they can paint a picture with the.

~ pen as well as with the brush...

B. After the’ age of nine or so, when

“LOOKS AT BOOKS |

readers, ‘“‘Rat race’ may well

‘have to’ remain in the light, Wind

‘in the Willows vein of the accom-
panying illusteation. And “‘look-
ing like something the cat dragged
in” is certainly not a phrase any

_parent will want his/her child to
- yepeat very often to company.

But on the whole, these expres-

: sions make the book contem-

* Chebse any 4 dishes on our:

illustrations in books tend to thin

. ‘out, children who leve to read will
“be those who have learned how to

imagine. Morgan's book tickles .

+ ,that imagination into action.

Morgan lives in West Voncouve

” with her family and continues to’:

paint, despite her increasing fame
as.an author/illustrator. She has a
degree from the Emily Carr Col- -
lege of Art and Design and has »
taught community art classes. . -

‘Once in'a Blue Moon is her fifth :

book in seven years.
— by Graeme Thompson, a

. Mayne island freelance writer.

"Free Crab" |

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LUNCH or DINNER menu and receive a FREE CRABI

ring Raul julia and Susan Sarandon
(at your video store).

Magic Hour, from one of __
America’s superior writers of
socially acute thrillers, is $4.99,
originally $29.95.

By my count, you've saved
about %60, and with this short

evitable rainy weekend.

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