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It’s almost summer, so that means having the time to finally get around to all those books you’ve been meaning to read! Why not try something written by a professor or two this time? I have to admit, I am partial to professors in the Fine Arts Faculty as many of them have taught me in various courses throughout my years at the University of Victoria (UVic). I find the writing professors also tend to have the most interesting books as their writing is more engaging than stale, more entertaining than academic.
Here are five books by four writing professors who have each written stand out books:
Disappearance in Damascus: A Story of Friendship and Survival in the Shadow of War by Deborah Campbell:
In 2007, Campbell traveled undercover to Damasucs to report on the aftermath of the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the following exodus of Iraqis into Syria. When in Damascus, Campbell meets and hires Ahlam, a refugee “fixer” (someone who provides Western media with trustworthy information and contacts). Ahlem had been kidnapped in Iraq while running a humanitarian centre and had fled Iraq to support her husband and two children. She also set up a makeshift school for displaced girls. Campbell soon becomes close friends with Ahlem, though one day Ahlem is seized from her house in front of Campbell. The book follows the ensuing months of Campbell trying to desperately find her while investigating the conflicts in the area. The prose is unflinching and incredible to read. This is definitely a book that will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading it.
Fatal Tide: When The Race Of A Lifetime Goes Wrong by David Leach:
I have to admit, I haven’t read this book yet, but I have read Leach’s other book, Chasing Utopia, which is a disarmingly funny but poignant book. Fatal Tide follows the Fundy Multi-Sport Race that took place on June 1, 2002 in Saint John, New Brunswick and the Bay of Fundy. The race consisted of 15km of trail running, 40km of mountain biking, and 12km of sea kayaking on the Bay of Fundy. Fatal Tide follows competitors as they fight against the elements and face their deepest fears as a storm is sweeping across the coast. The book also goes into the genetics and psychology of risk-taking, the rise of a reality-TV guru, the dark history of hypothermia, and the emotion and legal fallout that occurred with the first death of an adventure racer in North America.
Dog Flowers: A Memoir by Danielle Geller:
Geller’s memoir can be described as heart-wrenching. After her mother dies from alcohol withdrawal during a period of homelessness, Geller returns to Florida. With her background including training as a librarian and archivist, she collected her mother’s documents, diaries, and photographs into a single suitcase and embarks on the journey to her mother’s home: the Navajo reservation. Geller intertwines prose and archival documents to create a narrative of loss and inheritance that pays homage to the family we are given, the family we choose, our pasts, traditions, and heritage. The book is unsparing in its account of a dysfunctional family that grapples with addiction, trauma, mental illness, and abuse.
Never Shoot a Stampede Queen: A Rookie Reporter in the Cariboo by Mark Leiren-Young:
Having won the 2009 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, Leiren-Young recounts his first real job as a rookie reporter from Vancouver in WIlliams Lake, BC in 1985. As his first memoir, it’s a comic memoir of a city boy learning about life in a cowboy town while learning to love. He describes his adventures with beauty contest aspirants for the local rodeo, fellow reporters, management, the police, loggers, and the fire department in an episodic nature. With a mix of humor and compassion, he looks at small town Canadian life and learning how to love while there.
Free Magic Secrets Revealed by Mark Leiren-Young:
Yes, it’s another book by Leiren-Young. This one comes recommended from his fellow colleague, David Leach. This coming-of-age memoir is set in 1980, five years before his previous one, following seventeen-year-old Mark who is a “geeky bully-magnet” wanting to impress the girl he’s longed for since elementary school. The book follows his attempt to woo her with two friends, a stone magician and an ambitious young actor to chase fame and put on a stage show. It’s a coming of age story about creating art while attempting to maintain friendships in a world full of schemesters, big talkers, and promise-makers that don’t deliver.
These are just a few profs who have written books, though countless other professors have as well at UVic. The English and History departments are full of more academic leaning books that I’m sure are interesting, they just don’t appeal to me. Memoirs are where the details of people’s personal lives are revealed and I tend to be a little nosy; I’m curious about what the lives of my professors looked like before they started teaching.So, maybe a book or two caught your interest, but if not, there are plenty of other published staff within the Fine Arts Faculty as well!