Canadian author Rybezynski
writes thought-provoking prose

The Most Beautiful House In The World. Witold Rybczyn-

ski/Viking Penguin.

name of one of your favorite writers, but Witold Rybc-

i T'S EMBARRASSING not to be able to pronounce the

zynski makes me feel like I've got a mouthful of Krazy

Giue.

| first encountered him in a col-
lection of essays: Best Canadian
Essays 1990 (Fifth House, $15.95),
to which he contributed an ele-
gant, witty and informative piece,
part history, pait social commen-
tary, on the evolution of the Vic-
torian ‘front parlor’ into the con-
temporary ‘living area.’

Finding he was a professor of
architecture at McGill University
and author of a book called
Home, which promised more of
the same, | made a mental note
and promptly forgot about him
and it.

By serendipity or synchronicity,
a few days later | was poking
through the publishers’ clearance
shelves at Eaton’s Park Royal and
there they were; paperback copies
of Home by That-Guy-Whose-
Name-!-Can’t-Say, for $1.99. |
snagged one and found the prom-
ise of the essay made good a hun-
dredfold.

Home is more than just a book
about domestic architecture; it is a
critically incisive, funny cultural
history of our ideas of personal liv-
ing space and privacy from the
Middle Ages to the present.

I gravitate toward bookstores the
way some people can’t pass a
bakery, so while ambling through
Lynn Valley Centre mall recently, 1
inevitably found myself in the
Reader's Retreat, staring at a name
that rang a (silent) bell: Witold
Rybezynski.

Restanrant

John Moore
BOOK REVIEW

Hardcover copies of his jatest

hook, The Most Beautiful House in kee-craftsman builders is a

The World, were marked down
from $22.95 to just $9.99, A
bargain.

in this book, Rybezynski sticks
close to the hearth, the world of
private rather than public ar-
chitecture, and once more his
polymathic mind makes endlessly
illuminating connections between
subjects as diverse as Chinese
geomantic pseudo-science, “feng
shui,’’ the history of children’s
games, wooden boat building,
theories of what constitutes

“play’’ as well as what separates
architecture from mere building.

What really holds this book
together is its intimate focus. Some
years ago, Rybczynski bought
some land south of Montreal on
which ta build a shed wherein he
could build a boat. He and his
wife now live, (you guessed it), in
The Boathouse.

Banquet - Catering

Wednesday, July 24, 1991 — North Shore News — 29

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PHONE (604) 928-3185
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The evolution of that practical
shetter into permanent living space
is the axis for innumerable digres-
siuns that furnish the mind like
comfortably arranged chairs and * Daily Tours June 10 Oc
paintings compleie a room. . aly fours June 10 October

Rybezynski is that rare bird, an 6o cas Coy ea hproved
academic who can write lucid. GIKUM))
thought-provoking prose that is a * 5 hour cruise with hearty
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lournalists who can do likewise
are almost as rare (mea culpa), but
if you're really interested in
domestic architecture, scout the
remainder shelves at Smithbooks
and Coles for hardback copies of
House by Tracy Kidder. This story
of the upwardly-mobile New York
couple who can finally afford to
build their ‘dream house’ and
their relationship with their Yan-

dramatic and deftly-written cau-
tionary tale.

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