Footnotes to a Conversation, April 21, 2025
“Always laugh when you can, it is cheap medicine.” – Lord Byron
Books, Books, Books
I read 3 excellent books this week – one about France and two mysteries.
Stealing Stanley by Christopher Courtin offers an outrageous plot (steal the Stanley Cup), entertaining characters, and lots of fun and laughter – all set in Victoria, BC, and written by a local author. It’s definitely worth reading, although it may be tricky to track down if you don’t live in BC. [Christopher Courtin]
The Museum Detective by Maha Khan Phillips is set in Karachi, Pakistan, where the police invite a woman archaeologist to view and research a mummy, discovered by chance at the site of a drug heist. There’s so much to learn about politics and societal norms in a country I know next to nothing about. The characters are likable and well developed, and the plot contains unexpected twists and turns from the first page to the last. [Penguin Random House]
The French Ingredient: Making a Life in Paris One Lesson at a Time by Jane Bertch is a memoir documenting her transition from an American banker to entrepreneurial owner of a cooking school in Paris. She’s a careful observer of people and their behaviour, showcasing the differences between French and American customs, culture, and behaviour. [Jane Bertch]
Tax Evasion – 1,900 Years Ago
From an antiquity’s fraud, it’s just a hop, skip, and a jump to a 1,900-year-old papyrus recording a tax evasion scheme involving the bogus sale and then manumission of enslaved persons. [CBC]
Bucket List
Amanda Kendle loves making lists, but she absolutely loathes bucket lists as “they tend to focus you on travelling just to tick off an item, rather than focusing on the broader experience. Most of the best travel experiences you have - chatting with a local shop-owner who tells you a fascinating snippet of local history, or having a Google Translate-facilitated conversation with a grandma who takes you home to taste her jam or pirogi or homemade Schnapps - are not the kind of activities you would ever think to list on a bucket list. I worry that those focused on list-ticking forget to take the time and space to deviate from plans and just enjoy what their trip puts in front of them.” [Thoughtful Travel]
Footnotes to a Conversation is a weekly Monday feature covering an assortment of topics that I’ve come across in the preceding week – books, art, travel, food, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I also post occasional articles on other dates, including frequent book reviews and travel tales.
If you share my love of nature, check out EcoFriendly West, an online publication encouraging environmental initiatives in Western Canada, and Nature Companion, a free nature app for Canada’s four western provinces.