Help Generations help kids generationsfoundation.com 514-933-8585 NOVEMBER 2014 www.theseniortimes.com VOL. XXIX N O 2 GG AWARDS FINALIST Claire Holden Rothman Advisory service and accompaniment for people over 55 looking for a retirement home. MONTREAL, LAVAL, LAURENTIANS, LANAUDIÈRE, MONTÉRÉGIE 450-966-0001 Toll free 1-855-966-0001 We are here [email protected] / www.plusbelle-lavie.com for you 24/7 You are unique, as are our services. And it’s free! READ ALL ABOUT IT! This November we celebrate healthy reading We are not alone in doing so. This is the month the Jewish Public Library hosts international authors on a myriad of themes until Nov. 17, and Paragraphe Bookstore offers us the opportunity to hear from our local authors over breakfast at the Centre Sheraton at their annual Books and Breakfast series. Last issue, we profiled Terry Mosher, one of their speakers who helped launch the series and this month, we are featuring Claire Holden Rothman, who spoke on the same day, about her novel, My October. Here are some bookish folks for you to meet in this issue along with our columnists’ suggestions on healthy reading: Sun Youth wants your good reads ................ p. 4 Miranda Campbell on Hipsters................... p. 12 Flavor Guy’s Flavourite reads ...................... p. 15 On The Road revisited ................................... p. 17 Read up on Alzheimer’s ................................ p. 22 Laurie Betito tells all ...................................... p. 33 PS. My favourite this year was a book I hardly understood, which changed my worldview and opened my mind to space: A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking Save it for a vacation on the beach, as I did in discovering the ultimate Greek Island, again. 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Catherine W., Suite 700, Montreal 514-289-9796 www.carsleys.com 2 THE SENIOR TIMES November 2014 www.theseniortimes.com October crisis looms in new novel IRWIN BLOCK Concordia, where she wrote the first of a series of stories at university For many Quebecers, October workshops, published as Salad Days. denotes more than the glorious colours She followed up with Black Tulips. of our fall foliage. As for the genesis of this book, We remember the darkness of Rothman notes that just before starting October 1970, when a British diplomat on it she had read Gabrielle Roy’s was kidnapped, a Quebec cabinet Bonheur d’Occasion (The Tin Flute). minister was murdered, and armed “She was a Westmounter. She actually soldiers began patrolling our streets went down the hill to St. Henri and did after Prime Minister Pierre Elliott all of this research for the book, and I Trudeau invoked the War Measures did much of the same thing. Act suspending civil liberties. “My friend, Michael Rudder (a noted It was a time of terror and fear, actor living on Laporte St.) said, ‘Come especially when Pierre Laporte’s body on down, I’ll give you a tour.’” was discovered in the trunk of a car The book often references the in St. Hubert. But for then 12-year- geographical markers in Roy’s old Claire Holden Rothman, it meant masterpiece. cancelled classes at Westmount High. In nuancing the history of the FLQ “No math!” is how the author of My period, Rothman does something October (Penguin Canada) recalled that is just beginning to happen in her reaction when she and classmates the literary treatment of the period, as were trooped into the nearby Hillside in Louis Hamelin’s revealing October, Armoury during a bomb scare. 1970 (Arachnide Editions), translated Photo Barbara Moser Of course it wasn’t a lark, and the Claire Holden Rothman spoke about her novel My October at Books and Breakfast. by Wayne Grady. family of former Liberal cabinet “There’s a discomfort around the minister Victor Goldbloom – “very some Quebec nationalists view this Henri, including actual streets and such October crisis. People were killed, good friends of our family”, was advised period of bombs and terror as heroic, popular hangouts as the Green Spot people got hurt, people got abducted.” to leave town. They moved to Boston, the novel reminds us that romanticizing Café and a composite French private Amir Khadir, a Québec Solidaire because they were believed to be on the these events obscures its victims and boys high school on Sherbrooke St. member of the National Assembly, FLQ hit list. clouds objective truth. Her own history is one of growing up scrapped a plan to table a motion Years later, and after seeing Carl Judging from the result, it is ideal in Westmount, daughter of lawyer Mel in recognition of convicted FLQ Leblanc’s documentary L’Otage (The territory for Rothman, who grew up Rothman, a former justice of the Quebec kidnapper Paul Rose after his death. A Hostage), Rothman saw possibilities in Westmount – a convenient symbol Appeals Courts, and Joan Rothman, party spokesman said it would “open for a novel that would deepen our of Anglo privilege – graduated Law at active schoolboard commissioner and up old wounds.” understanding of the politics and McGill, and practiced as a lawyer before Westmount councilor. “Do we call these people terrorists or history, and humanize that period and turning to her first love, the word. After Vanier College, and a B.A. political activists?” she asks. its aftermath through a fictional family, She taught literature at McGill and in philosophy and B.C.L. degrees at “Bringing this into art, talking about back then and 31 years later. Marianopolis College and worked McGill, where she sang in the Gilbert this, getting people to talk about this The result is My October, her as a prize-winning French-English and Sullivan Society, Rothman began and tell their stories from that period – fascinating character-driven and translator. Her first book, The Heart practicing law, but then dropped it that’s what this story is all about.” beautifully crafted novel about Specialist (Soho Press), was long- to focus on translation and creative Québécois author Luc Lévesque, his listed for the Giller Prize in 2008, and writing. Claire Holden Rothman spoke Anglo wife Hannah, and their 14 year- My October was long-listed for the “I had my first child, and I didn’t want at the first Books & Breakfast old son Hugo. They live in St. Henri and Giller and is short-listed for this year’s to be a lawyer and a mom, and trying series sponsored by Paragraphe the marriage is crumbling, Lévesque is Governor General’s Award for fiction. to write at the same time when I had to Books and The Senior Times. The confronted with a mid-life crisis, Hugo As Rothman sees it, My October asks pour 120 per cent of myself into a legal series continues Nov. 9 with Bruce faces identity and coming-of-age issues, basic questions: practice. I wanted to write stories.” Cockburn, Roch Carrier and Jean- and much of it reflects a changing “Who gets to tell the story of a life? Her first book of stories coincided Claude Germain. Nov. 16, writers Quebec society, with October 1970 and Who gets to tell the story of a family, of with the birth of her second son in Kim Thuy, Daniel Levitin, and that turbulent period as a recurring a nation? What are the consequences 1990. She lives in Westmount with her Chantal Hébert will discuss their back story. There is a gun. of silencing ourselves or others? Who husband, actor and playwright Arthur books. Tickets can be purchased at It is a terrific read, and deftly gets to decide what’s true, what’s false, Holden. Paragraphe Bookstore, 2220 McGill juxtaposes our recent history, French/ what’s worthy of being remembered “As soon as I quit law I became a College, with a credit card at 514- English inter-marriage, selective and passed on as history?” CEGEP teacher.” 845-5811, or at the Westmount Public memory, identity, and family. While Much of the action takes place in St. She had her M.A. in English from Library. www.theseniortimes.com November 2014 THE SENIOR TIMES 3 Centris No. 24084844 The Sun Youth Book Store Here at Sun Youth Nicolas Carpentier SIMPLE ELEGANCE IN “THE ARISTOCRAT” 21 Lakeshore, Pte Claire, 2bdrms, 2 baths, fireplace, elevators, garage, views of water. Sun Youth is known for providing Mobility impairment accessible $429,000 essentials to those in need. With its emergency food, clothing and Josie Beddia 514-880-3117 accessory banks, the organization [email protected] is always there on the frontline to answer the basic needs of its beneficiaries. These initiatives are made possible thanks to donations Upper Canada Playhouse from the public and companies. Lights, Camera...Christmas! Dec. 7, $89, Morrisburg, Ont. Donations to Sun Youth are as diverse as the people who donate.