No comments about Access Montreal & Quebec City 5e (Access Montreal and Quebec City).

5 comments about Top 10 Vancouver & Victoria (EYEWITNESS TOP 10 TRAVEL GUIDE).

1. This Top Ten collection is really good for summarizing everything you need to know about a place, and if you do not stay too long it is not worth buying the bigger more detailed more expensive guide!!!
   Definetely worth the money...Took more than a week to arrive though.



2. Great book for the highlights of Vancouver, but don't buy it thinking it will have much about Victoria or Vancouver Island. Get the Frommer's book on Vancouver Island for that. Happy whale watching!



3. "Top Ten Vancouver" is in the familiar and very useful DK format, with lots of useful information in a compact format for the tourist. In just over 120 pages, "Top Ten" covers the most popular tourist attractions in Vancouver, such as Stanley Park, Canada Place, the Capilano Suspension Bridge, and a variety of museums and other parks. The guide includes pictures, details about each attraction, and maps showing how to get there.
   
   As noted, the focus is on the most popular destinations. The guide includes useful information on reaching the city and where to stay, eat, and shop. The information addresses cautions on crime and traffic. The traveler seeking more choices and details on accomodations should consult some of the most expansive guides such as Fedor's, Frommer's, or Lonely Planet. The compact size of this DK guide makes it perfect for roaming Vancouver. A limited amount of information is provided on the City of Victoria, on Vancouver Island across the Strait of Georgia and reachable by ferry.
   
   This guide is highly recommended for the traveler planning a vacation in Vancouver.



4. We just returned last night from Vancouver, where this handy little guide was in my pocket at all times. We had just a week in this delicious city, so the "best of the best" was a great concept. Map in the back was incomplete for the city that we explored, but in terms of the things not to miss, it was just perfect.



5. Good compact guide book. Has nice maps. The organization of the topics are a little odd. I wish there was more than a few pages on Victoria. Great if Vancouver is your main destination. Some of the "see page xx" references are not correct, the editor messed up on the cross referencing of topics.

No comments about Magic on the Rocks : Canoe Country Pictographs.

No comments about A Paddler's Guide to the Rivers of Ontario and Quebec (Paddler's Guide).

5 comments about City of Glass: Doug Coupland's Vancouver.

1. This is my homesick book, my security blanket, my Postcards from Home.

   For Vancouverites, it's a source of boosterist pride, a good chuckle at some in-jokes, and perhaps enlightenment on why things are as they are. For people who have moved away, it's a book of memories, recollections of a city of glass and the people who make it. For people who have never been there, it's the tourist guide that talks about things the Lonely Planet won't. It's like having Mr Coupland sitting next to you as you make your way through our city. It's probably as close to an autobiography as he's ever written. The mark of Vancouver is on him as it's on me, and on everyone else who was raised there.

   Yeah, I love my hometown.




2. Sure, it's only one person's view of Vancouver. But at least it's Douglas Coupland's view. In "City of Glass," the author of "All Families Are Psychotic" and "Generation X" strays from fiction to write about his home city. The result is a subdued love ode to Vancouver, peppered with photographs.
   
   Coupland describes Vancouver with many page-long vignettes, sort of like a patchwork quilt: he describes feng shui in Vancouver, Japanese teenagers, a harbour full of sulfur piles, American couples on "love boats," monstrous houses, and the quiet detachment that Vancouver feels from the Rest of Canada. (Which has its own entry -- really!)
   
   Coupland's fiction is generally distinguishable for its contemplative, cynically witty tones. But he drops all that for "City of Glass." Okay, there is a chunk of "Life After God" in the middle, blurry text and pics. And occasionally the transcripts of Coupland's memories remind one of his fiction, seeming sadder and darker.
   
   Most of the time, he sounds fond and reminiscent, as if reliving the memories that come with salmon and fleece. Not to mention funny, such as when describing the confusing disagreements about feng shui (" this space should flowwwwww" or "flow is to be avoided at all costs"). And the photographs are quite good as well, with Coupland taking pictures of the prosaic subjects of his book -- a sleepy-looking Japanese teen, a fleece vest, a boat floating out on a light-filled harbor, a skiier in mid-twist on a sunlit hillside.
   
   "City of Glass" isn't exactly going to make you race to Vancouver, but it will make you appreciate the little hidden facets of the city -- and perhaps make you notice the ones in your own.



3. I've lived in Vancouver for two years and visited it regularly for several years previously. I bought this book when I was still new to the city, hoping for a companion to the city with at least a little bit of content. I was attracted by the title and cover art, as I like the glassy Vancouver skyline and thought maybe the author appreciates the same things about the atmosphere of Vancouver that I do.
   
   Unfortunately, this is one of those books where the amount of content fit for an article in, say, the Georgia Straight or the Seattle Weekly, is blown up to the size (and price) of a book. The pages are mostly white space, with one or two paragraphs of large text in the middle that touch very briefly and vaguely upon some random topic, as if the author jotted this all down one night and didn't put much thought into it.
   
   The book also contains photographs which, rather than being an insider's look at Vancouver, could be photographs of any city out of any tourist magazine--the typical closeups of food on a plate at a nameless restaurant, or a house that could exist anywhere in North America.
   
   Because the text of this book is the length of an article, only blown up to look like a book, you could walk into a bookstore or library and read it pretty quickly (five or ten minutes). The only reason to purchase it would be if you absolutely must own every single book by Douglas Coupland, or every single book about Vancouver.
   
   I learned nothing from this book that I didn't already know about Vancouver after visiting it a few times, and it left me wanting to read a book about Vancouver that might tell me something I don't know.



4. Vancouver is great city (at least for a few dry months) and deserve a good book for the visitors. This book meets my needs and is not the typical guide book with maps and names and addresses. But for those who try to get a sense of the pulse of the city, it's character and quirks, I would recommend.
   
   After reading others', suspect that my copy (recently bought) has the insert that others don't. "My Hotel Year" was a wonderful read, and for those who remember the 60's bohemian Haight Ashbury, there is an echo DC evoked at the human level here that still resonates. "Van" is "San Fran" was, with more flowers and no jobs, at least the kinds you can build wealth. Ob-La-Di! Ob-La-Da!



5. A humorous, personal portrait of a gorgeous and quirky city. Coupland's narration is funny and dead on. The photos are generally quite good and go a long way toward capturing the mood of the place. He also plugs a lot of little known facts -- like about Greenpeace -- that Yankies like myself were not aware of.
   
   I hope he does a follow up book.

No comments about eat.shop montreal: The Indispensable Guide to Inspired, Locally Owned Eating and Shopping Establishments (eat.shop guides).

No comments about British Columbia and Alberta, Canada.

2 comments about Canadian Summer (Thehilda Van Stockum Family Collection).

1. Canadian Summer is a book that makes you count your blessings. Hilda VanStockum has become our family's favorite author. Her writing is magical. She draws you into the story so you feel as if you are a part of it.

   Because of a job transfer and limited resources, the Mitchell family was forced to move to a rustic cabin in the mountains. The cabin was far from a town and they had no transportation. VanStockum makes us love the Mitchell family. We can feel their humiliation as they come into church, the first morning in a new town, all bedraggled or dirty for various reasons.

   This book is a glimpse into family life with all of its ups and downs. When the book is finished you will feel a loss, but then you will appreciate the relatively easy life we all live due to modern conveniences.




2. Canadian Summer is about the Mitchells' first, well, Canadian Summer. They rent a cabin, go exploring, fall off a boat, go exploring, meet the Jolicoers, go exploring, meet Mr. Magic, go exploring, get lost, go exploring, lose their dog, go exploring, help Peter with his wounded leg, go exploring, stop a forest fire, go exploring, throw a party, go exploring, get a new house, go exploring, and did I forget to mention that they went exploring?

3 comments about AAA Road Atlas 2008 (Aaa North American Road Atlas).

1. These are good books.
   But maps are too condensed to be used when driving



2. Why did they make the print so small? I just passed through NYC and paid two extra bridge tolls because I couldn't read this while driving.



3. As I don't have a collection of maps that covers all of North American, I have always found this atlas a useful resource for studying "the lay of the land" for places far from home--and that has helped me to know which other (more detailed) maps I might need to acquire before leaving on a trip.

No comments about Zagat Montreal 2008/09 (Zagat Survey: Montreal) (Zagat Survey: Best of Montreal).