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1. November TWB staff picks
2. November new music
3. November new books
4. New board game "Eve's Quest" and calendars

November 2005 TWB Staff Picks

The first five books are 25% off in the month of November:

Directed by Desire: The Collected Poems by June Jordan. Copper Canyon , $52.00.
Whose life has not been touched by the words of June Jordan? Whether by the poems from “Living Room” or “Famine” that bring a fierce eye to the inequities of global politics, or the delicate, burning love poems of “Passion” and “Haruko,” so many have had a tender moment of illumination brought to them by this most compassionate and impassioned of poets. For the first time, poems from across the body of her career join together in one book.

Sky Woman: Indigenous Women Who Have Shaped, Moved or Inspired Us, edited by Sandra Laronde. Theytus Books, $24.95.
Celebrating and remembering Indigenous women from North America and Pacific Asia , 40 writers and visual artists fill the sky with the “fierce respect and reverence for those whose names made history and for the millions whose names did not”.

Invasion of the Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel. Alyson Books, $19.50.
If you know Alison Bechdel's comic-strip Dykes, chances are you picked up your copy of the latest installment the day it came out! If you've never met Mo, Sparrow, Sydney and the gang - or if your life, like theirs, sometimes gets in the way of you getting the thing you want - now is the perfect opportunity. Who better to commiserate with about the Bush administration, Grand Theft Auto and the erasure of independent bookstores?

Giving an Account of Oneself by Judith Butler. Fordham University Press, $24.50.
Judith Butler continues in her work of developing complex, thoughtful answers to questions so simple that we often presume we know the answer. Her latest book, a collection of lectures, asks what it means to lead an ethical life under difficult social and political conditions, when the language in which we tell our stories has itself become dangerous ground.

Runaway by Alice Munro. Penguin, $22.00. New in paperback! Winner of the Giller Prize and the crowning achievement of a long and brilliant career, Munro's newest collection traverses the familiar landscape of daily lives that she has made her own. Her unfailing eye for telling gestures and complex emotions makes every story here as imaginatively satisfying as a novel.

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November new music:

Native Joy for Real by Joy Harjo. Mekko Productions, $21.00.
Multitalented Muskogee Cree poet/saxophonist/singer Joy Harjo has been performing spoken word with music so long it's hard to believe this is her first album as a singer-songwriter! With smart lyrics and upbeat tunes, this CD will get your feet - and your mind - moving.

Masala! Mehndi! Masti! 5 Explosive Years South Asian Style by Various.Awesome, $16.05.
Bringing together 20 South Asian musical artists from the annual Masala!Mehndi! Masti! Festival that takes place at Toronto 's Harbourfront Centre, this CD brings the power and excitement of five hot summers right to your living room. Classical performers, hip hop artists, pop singers and musical ensembles showcase the diverse stylings of the subcontinent.

November new books:

Negotiating Citizenship: Migrant Women in Canada & the Global System by Daiva K. Stasiulis & Abigail B. Bakan. University of Toronto Press, $27.50. With the global system moving towards limiting the freedom of its most vulnerable citizens, this book represents a timely and compelling study of the ways in which individuals create their own definitions of citizenship while battling exclusion and inequity.

Wasáse: Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom by Taiaiake Alfred. Broadview Press, $29.95.
In his highly anticipated new book, Kanienkeha (Mohawk) scholar and journalist Taiaiake offers his vision of Indigenous people living as Onkwehonwe, original people. He offers a route to meaningful change in the quest to transcend colonialism, providing activist strategies and original philosophies in strident, honest prose.

Beijing Betrayed: Women Worldwide Report that Governments Have Failed to Turn the Platform into Action, edited by June Zeitlin. WEDO, $17.95.
“The reports presented here are a testimony to women as agents of change and give us cause for celebration… [They] speak loudly: the women of the world don't need any more words from their governments - they want action, they want resources, and they want governments to protect and advance women's rights” (from the Introduction).

Black Queer Studies: A Critical Anthology, edited by E. Patrick Johnson & Mae G. Henderson. Duke University Press, $31.00.
Collecting diverse groundbreaking work on the questions of black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered identities, Johnson and Henderson create conversations across disciplinary boundaries that explore the body, the text, the classroom, and the world through the prism of race, class and sexuality, offering new idioms to both queer studies and black studies - and beyond.

Against the Wall, edited by Michael Sorkin. New Press, $24.95.
400 miles. 30 feet high. $3.4 billion. Against these figures that define the brute existence of the “security fence,” acclaimed writer and architect Michael Sorkin sets a diversity of voices exploring the local and global implications of the Wall. The collection includes Suad Amiry, Rebecca Solnit, Mike Davis and Slavoj Zizek, speaking out in essays, journal entries, photographs, maps and songs.

Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism by Patricia Hill Collins. Routledge, $23.95.
As influential and clear-sighted as ever, Patricia Hill Collins focuses her incisive intellect on the damage being done by distorted images of Black people in media and culture worldwide. She draws connections between these persistent negative stereotypes and the intimate and public lives of African Americans today.

Obesity Epidemic: Science, Morality & Ideology by Michael Gard & Jan Wright. Routledge, $53.50.
Gard and Wright identify the complex mix of ambiguous scientific “knowledge,” raced, gendered and classed moral agendas and ideological assumptions that construct the “obesity epidemic” in the popular media, and the hysteria produced by it. Essential reading for anyone concerned with health, body image and eating issues, and media awareness.

Suspect: Alphabet City 10, edited by John Knechtel. MIT Press, $21.50.
Mixing essays, film stills, dialogues, fiction, memoirs and graphic art, Suspect is an exhibition in a book - in fact, it's based on an event that took place at the Drake Hotel earlier this year. It captures the sense of a “moment” - one that is both artistic, as the responses reflect and intersect with each other, and political, as a fragmented but persuasive picture develops of the suspicious and suspect lives we lead after 9/11.

Recovering Our Ancestors' Gardens: Indigenous Recipes & Guide to Diet & Fitness by Devon Abbott Mihesuah. University of Nebraska Press, $32.50.
Choctaw scholar Mihesuah combines essays and recipes to argue for an answer to the poor health of many native communities caused by the depredations of colonialism. Health advice, photographs and meals that draw on the traditional foods and medicines of the continent make this the most mouthwatering academic book of the year!

With a Rough Tongue: Femmes Write Porn, edited by Amber Dawn & Trish Kelly. Arsenal Pulp Press, $21.95.
Curl up for a night of unrestrained raunch from some of Canada 's finest queer femmes (including TWB's own May Lui!). Memories and fantasies get together between the covers and total hotness ensues…

Loose End by Ivan E. Coyote. Arsenal Pulp Press, $17.95. Having remembered her childhood and gone on the road, Ivan E. Coyote finds a new stalking ground: the urban life of Vancouver 's East End . Whether you're looking for a guide to the wild side or a rip-roaring yarn, “Loose End” is the place to find yourself.

Ripe: The Truth About Growing Older & The Beauty of Getting On With Your Life by Janet Champ & Charlotte Moore. Beyond Words, $26.95. Do you love your white hair and wrinkles and hot flashes? Are Ursula Franklin and Toni Morrison your idols? This is the book for you. Celebrating the riches of ripeness in pictures and words, it offers stories, advice - and even blank pages to add your own inspirational stories of becoming.

Standing Together: Women Speak Out about Violence & Abuse, edited by Linda Goyette. Brindle & Glass, $24.95. Perhaps the most damaging effect of violence is to make the survivor feel alone in her experience. The women of Alberta speak out here to offer testimony of the frequency and range of violence against women - and the indomitable spirit that enabled them to survive, and reach out to others through this collection.

Strong At the Heart: How it Feels to Heal from Sexual Abuse by Carole Lehman. Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, $25.25. In telling their stories, the young men and women in this book model the courage and self-compassion that she describes as essential for survival. Focusing on healing as a process that brings rewards as well as pain, Lehman offers constructive advice and real hope to those entering the journey of recovery.

Disabled Women's Guide to Pregnancy & Birth by Judith Rogers. Demos, $32.45. A book so important that it should have existed long ago! Rogers, a disabled mother of two, asks all the pertinent questions from conception to genetics to the birthing process, and provides informed answers drawn from real-life experiences. An excellent guide not only for disabled women and their partners, but also for health professionals.

drop dead cute: The New Generation of Women Artists in Japan by Ivan Vartanian. Chronicle Books, $33.95. Gentle mages of gruesome death. Pastel nightmares of strange bodies. Abstract paintings in candy colours. These images will disturb and delight - and alter your perception of Japanese art and culture.

Revenge of the Paste Eaters: Memoirs of a Misfit by Cheryl Peck. 5 Spot, $17.95. For everyone who ever wanted the icing and not the cake, this is the book that will make you laugh until lemonade comes out of your nose. Round, proud & gay in America 's heartland, Cheryl Peck tells stories of family drama and her own laziness that are the perfect entertainment for the holiday season…

Singing Home the Bones by Gregory Scofield. Polestar, $18.95. What Scofield's “Love Medicine & One Song” did for love poetry, “Singing Home the Bones” does for elegy. Structured as a series of conversations with the absent and the dead, the book is a startlingly honest poetic meditation on the burdens of family, self, love and race as they write themselves on the poet's body. If this doesn't get nominated for the Griffin Prize, I will eat my copy in a fit of pique - it's that accomplished and essential.

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. Knopf, $33.95. It's difficult to sum up this book by thinker, writer and American icon Joan Didion. For several decades, she has been a ruthless investigator of her own life as well as the amorality of politics from Johnson to Bush Jr. In her latest work, she considers the events of late 2003, when her only daughter fell ill - to be followed by the death of her husband of forty years only days later. A meditation on grief, the institutionalisation of sickness and death, and the process of recovery, this book can be hard to read but is never less than incredible.

Suki's Kimono by Chieri Uegaki & Stephane Jorisch Story of a young Japanese girl who insists on wearing a kimono which was a gift from her grandmother on her first day back to school.

Eve's Quest, Shaking the Tree Productions. $27.95 Finally! A brand-new trivia game that celebrates women! Categories include: Mother, Sister, Diva, Woman & Goddess. For ages 14+. Something fun for everyone - includes charades, drawings, singing, intuition challenges and trivia, proving that girls got game and can have serious fun! Even better, it's Canadian-made! For more information visit www.evesquest.com.

Calendars!

Mau 2006 Calendar by Mothers Beyond Borders: Mothers Acting Up 2006 $19.50

Next 1000 Years 2006 Calendar by Nikki McClure $20.95

Yoshitomo Nara 2006 Calendar $ 19.95

Colors from Palestine 2006 Wall Calendar $15.99

Power of Women: The Jane Evershed 2006 Calendar $18.99

Freedom for Political Prisoners 2006 Calendar by Certain Days $15.00

World in Your Kitchen Calendar 2006 featuring 12 delicious vegetarian recipes from various continents around the world $16.95