Book Review: What can I say about Laline Paull's novel, "The Bees" ? Amazing, immersive, unexpected, unique. I was totally blown away by this book, and that doesn't happen very often. The story follows the life of honey bee Flora 717, born into the lowest cast of the hive. Despite her humble beginnings, it quickly becomes apparent that she is no ordinary, run of the mill sanitation worker. Taking audacious risks and following forbidden dreams, Flora 717 finds a way to hold out unexpected hope for her colony imperiled by social upheaval and political intrigue. Nearly all of the characters in this story are anthropomorphic insects which might make you think it is a children's book similar to "The Rats of NIMH" or The Cricket in Times Square". Think again! Paull has written with an adult audience in mind (many YA readers will enjoy it as well). Lovely yet disturbing, sensual, violent and primal, and highly nuanced, this book is not a kiddie read by a...
Book Review: “Explosive revelations that expose our government’s complicity with the Chinese Communist Party in undermining Canada’s national security and democracy.” (Dr. Charles Burton) Sam Cooper’s best selling book “Wilful Blindness” is amazing – and chilling! It reads like crime fiction, but the story of huge international drug cartels, outlandish illegal profits and money laundering, high level government corruption, and an ultimate attack on the west by the CCP is investigative journalism at its best. Meticulously researched and documented, this report has leapt to prominence amid the furor surrounding election interference we have witnessed in the past few months. Cooper follows the work of Vancouver investigators who put their careers and lives on the line to expose the inner workings of organized crime wave that has become know as the “Vancouver Model”. Unimaginable wealth juxtaposed with heart-wrenching suffering – a walk around Vancouver’s Hastings and Mai...
Book Review: “You can’t have a democracy if citizens can’t propose new ideas and vigorously debate them… In 2024, the Trudeau government proposed Bill C-63, the Online Harms Act, which is perhaps the biggest threat to free expression in Canada in decades.” (Free Speech in Canada p.5, 18) Not only in Canada but throughout the western world, new hate speech laws are being enacted that are saddling citizens and journalists with huge fines and even jail time just for things they are saying and/or posting online. Sound scary? It should! Nothings shuts down free speech more effectively than the fear that you might be persecuted by the government if someone doesn’t like your ideas. It is one of the more unsettling developments of our time. “It's no coincidence that one of the first actions taken by authoritarian regimes is to limit the freedom of the press, which is the freedom to publish without government permission.” (Free Speech in Canada p.36) To understand this issue more...
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