36 ~ Wednesday, December 2, 1992 - North Shore News Xmas Round-up No. 1 Cookbooks corner the Christmas gift market ECESSION BE damned; North Vancouver publishers Whitecap Books seem to be having a banner year in defiance of economic gloom. Not only have they published Peggy Trendelt-Whittaker’s local environmental activist manual, In Our Own Backyard (yes, that was a shameless plug for a fellow col- umnist), but their fall/winter list has something for just abcut everyone who doesn’t know what to get What’s-his-or-her-name for Christmas. Any bookseller will tell you that the biggest selling genre in the trade isn’t mysteries, sci-fi or westerns; it’s cookbooks. Contrary to popular belief. The Joy of Cooking outsells the Bible. Jon Gregerson’s The Good Earth is no mere recipe collection: in- stead it’s ‘‘Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Food But Didn‘t Know Who to Ask.” For a rnere $14.95, you get a priceless compendium of research into the history and uses-of the vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, spices and herbs that you may have thought grew on bushes with cellophane leaves. lt says something about you or the author when the most riveting words you've read all year are about the history of the eggplant. We may be a foog-vriented hedonistic cuiture, but for intellec- tual stimulation we look increas- ingly to the natural world, not as predators, but as observers. Why Seals Blow Their Noses, by Diane Swanson, with illustrations by Douglas Penhalc, is a wacky collection of natural fact, fiction and fable that hits every base from Burzowing Owls to Werewolves. Practical fact, as in what to do when you front-end a bear on the trail, is balanced with fascinating legend (like why bears have shcrt tails) at every turn. Bruce bee and Graeme Ellis’ Guardians of the Whaies may be stival of Lights * 18,000 twinkling lights transform 5 acres into a holiday magic land. 2 John Moore BOOK REVIEW more expensive ($34.95) but it’s worth it, for you and the kids. [ reaily hate to get political in this space, but watching baby killer whales born into captivity at the Vancouver Aquarium only to die a few months later is becoming an incidence of reaily negative de- ja vu for everyone who has young offspring or nephews and nieces they have to keep explaining it to. As this book reveals, it you want to see whales, they're there, vir- tually in your heaving green liquid front yard; you only have to go such a little way to see them as they truly are that it is little short of criminal to incarcerate large ocean-going intelligent mammals in what amounts to a chlorinated puddle for the canvenience of a few thousand tourists. This is a fascinating account of the lives of whales and the dedicated researchers who probe the mysteries of their submarine existence. Bruce Obee also has his hand in The Coastal Birder’s journal ($12.95). if you think bird-watching is less exciting than whale-watching, you've never talked to a sericus “bdirder.’’ This 12-month journal for your observations is packed with ornithological trivia and enlivened by Douglas Penhale’s excellent illustrations. Animal-rights activists don’t like rodeos, but a glance at Rossmond Norbury’s superb black and white documentary photographs of life Behind the Chutes ($19.95) sug- gests that the life of a rodeo cowboy consists mostly of being tossed off large animals and stomped by them. This is an intimate look behind the scenes of a myth that endures. Like the bullfight, rodeo traces its ancestry back 5,000 years, to the beautifully bedecked bull- jumpers of ancient Mincan Crete. More than a sport, more than a business; it’s a way of life that ap- peals to our most ancient dreams of glory. If you can’t cross a few people off your Christm=s list out of this lot, maybe you should shop for nev, more interesting friends, Reflections’ author to speak NORTH SHORE author Brock Tully has spent the fast two years touring the U.S. and Canada speaking about his popular book series Reflections. Tomorrow night he’ll be in North Vancouver at the Sereni- ty Shop at 228 Lonsdale. * This year enjoy the 'Blue Courtyard! and 'Golden Tunnels.‘ * Families $7.00, Adults $3.50, Tully's inspirational series has sold well over 190,000 copies. The Dec. 3 free workshop will be based on excerpts from alf six Reflections books. Tully is promising a lively multi-media Presentation beginning at 7 p December 4 to January 3 5:00 to 9:30 p.m. Closed Christmas Day Seniors & Youth $1.75. New Year's Eve til Midnight 266-7194 VanDusen Botanical Garden Corner of Oak and 37th Avenue welcomes NICK BANTOCK Best-selling author of 'Griffin & Sabine! to The Book Company, Park Royal Shopping Centre Saturday, December 5th 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Mr. Bantock will be signing copies of his new book SABINE'S NOTEBOOK We are what you read Park Royal Shopping Centre (North), West Vancouver Phone: (604) 922-5125 @ Fax (604) 922-5171 Sunday ail kids meals Monday Seniors’ discounts Tuesday Pasta night 5425 Wednesday 8" pizza $42 (Item 1-20) Hot Wings 25° ea. Thursdesy sibbor dinne: 5G Come in and meet the new owners, Cory and Cheryl Saint-Galloway