Books of the Week

Well my fellow readers here we are again. Take a look at this weeks picks.

Bizarre Botany:
A few years ago I developed a taste for non-fiction and it has since become the most dominant form of books that I read. There are some fascinating reads out there in the non-fiction section, and "Orchid Fever: A Tale of Love, Lust and Lunacy" by Eric Hansen is one of the most fascinating that I've found so far. I just finished reading it this week. Hansen delves deep into the zany, passionate characters that inhbit the orchid world-most of whom would seem more at home in a novel than the real world. There's the infamous (though possibly maligned) orchid pirate Henry Azadehal, the orchid man Eric Nelson who spends his time rescuing wild orchids from road construction in the wilds of Minnesota and many more. What intrigued me about this book was the conservation aspect that has ensnared orchids worldwide. I would not call myself an enviromentalist, but the bureaucracy and red tape that basically does squat to protect these plants. With this coupled with the orchid people is worthy of a good screenplay. Did you know that it is next to impossible to take endangered species of orchids across borders, all in the interests of preserving them in their native habitat? The irony is that while you can't take orchids out-even for scientific study-there are no measures to protect them in the wild, so that these flowers are regularly plowed over in construction projects.
Reading this book left me itching to buy myself an archid. You know, to see what all the fuss is about.

Move Over Wonderland:
Pierre Burton's book "The Secret World of Og" is shockingly unknown by many, even in his native country where it has been lauded as a "Canadian classic". This is one that I'm just waiting for Ben to be old enough so that we can start reading it together. In my family growing up it was an adored favourite. The story goes that Mom bought it for Jaima when she was in Grade 1 and learning to read. The plan was to read it to her, but before she had the chance, Jaima got her hands on it and read the entire thing on her own! I guess that it was so good she just had to learn to read. It's the perfect book when you want to start a child on chapter books: great characters, exciting story and pictures on every page (Ben loves just looking at the pages of this one).
The story centers on four siblings who set out to rescue their baby brother after he mysteriously disappears from the playhouse. Accompanied by their stalwart pets they dicover a trapdoor that leads them to the Secret World of Og, a land covered by incredible mushrooms, and green inhabitants who love taking anything left out of doors in our own world, and who's only word is "Og"!
I just love the characters. There's the children;Penny the oldest and leader, dreamy Pam, Patsy who keeps snakes and frogs in her pockets, Peter who wants to be a garbageman, and the baby Paul who thinks he's a dog. The Ogs; the rascally Captain Hook as he calls himself and the Sheriff. The pets are great fun too, there's Yukon King, their tiny dog who's convinced that he's a mighty mastiff, and the cat Earless Osdick who thinks he's a dog. Throw them all together in this adventure and you get one wonderful story!
Maybe I have been burbling overly long about this one, but this book deserves to be read and better known by all. Happy reading everybody.