Man on a white Horse?

Consider the Lilies by Iain Crichton Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The title almost put me off but was hooked soon enough. Aside from the feisty old lady who rules her old farm house, it is about the Scottish clearances - and the exodus to NS and other parts of Canada. It is about an old lady notified by a man on a white horse she is about to be kicked out of her farmhouse. It is very poetic with rural images that last and has elements of Brian Moore's "Lonely passion of Judith Hearne" and Margaret Laurence's "The Stone Angel".

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Nobody laughs at Dad's Jokes (in 1850's?)

The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dad's jokes are still 'dad' jokes.

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Charles Dickens in Halifax (did he meet up with Haliburton in the Gov't house?)

Life of Charles Dickens by John Forster My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a detailed book and gives little insights in Charles Dickens' mind from the point of view of a close friend and later executor of Dickens' will. I like this book because it gives an additional insight into Dickens first trip to North America when he stopped in Halifax NS, and after a choppy sea crossing and having his ship run aground on the mudbanks off NS, was immediately greeted with fanfare by the local politicians in Halifax and was taken to the Government Building where he was paraded as a celebrity, which he didn't care for so much. View all my reviews