New Books: NON-FICTION

IN OTHER WORLDS

By Margaret Atwood

In Other Worlds brings together Atwood’s three heretofore unpublished Ellmann Lectures from 2010: “Flying Rabbits,” which begins with her early  rabbit superhero creations, and goes on to speculate about masks, capes, weakling alter egos, and Things with Wings; “Burning Bushes,” which follows her into Victorian otherlands and beyond; and “Dire Cartographies,” which investigates Utopias and Dystopias.  In Other Worlds also includes some of Atwood’s key reviews and thoughts about the form. She elucidates the differences (as she sees them) between “science fiction” proper, and “speculative fiction,” as well as between “sword and sorcery/fantasy” and “slipstream fiction.”

 

ROOM FOR ALL OF US

By Adrienne Clarkson

In this exciting and revealing personal inquiry, former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson explores the immigrant experience through the people who have helped transform Canada.

The Canadians she befriends illustrate the changing idea of what it means to be Canadian and the kind of country we have created over the decades. Like her, many of the people who came here did not have a real choice: they often arrived friendless and with a sense of loss. Yet their struggles and successes have enriched Canada immeasurably.

 

THE MEASURE OF A MAN

By JJ Lee

Taking as its starting point a son’s decision to alter his late father’s last remaining suit for himself, this is a deeply moving and brilliantly crafted story of fathers and sons, of fitting in and standing out — and discovering what it means to be your own man.

With wit, bracing honesty, and great narrative verve, JJ takes us from the French Revolution to the Zoot Suit Riots, from the Japanese Salaryman to Mad Men, from Oscar Wilde in short pants to Marlon Brando in a T-shirt, and from the rareified rooms of Savile Row to a rundown shop in Chinatown. A book that will forever change the way you think about the maxim “the clothes make the man,” this is a universal story of love and forgiveness and breaking with the past.