LITMIR.BIZ

When Don Gutteridge retired from academia in 1993, he intended to say my farewell by publishing a selection of the forty essays he had written over a long career. He gathered them together and gave them a title: The Myth Alive. However, other projects soon began competing for his time. He published two memoir novels in quick succession: Summer's Idyll (1993) and Winter's Descent (1995). Then as a last pedagogical hurrah, he wrote a small volume on teaching theory (Teaching English: 1999). Then it was back to novel writing with Bewilderment (2000) and finally fulltime work on the Marc Edwards mysteries (twelve titles). The Myth Alive was eventually forgotten. When he took it out for a belated look earlier this year, he found that the subject matter, though many years old, was still relevant today because it deals with questions of a literary/critical nature: how poems get made, the uses of history in literary works, the evolution of a Canadian mythology, the question of intention and so on. He trusts that they are as relevant today as when they were first written.

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An inspiring story set in the time of the Great Depression, Bewilderment: A Novel of the Great Depression follows the story of a coal delivery man, Gabriel «Gabe» Goodfellow, who wants to lighten the hearts of the people in homes he visits. Poverty is felt everywhere and people are hopeless. So, he thinks that there can be some joy and inspiration by arranging for the carnival to visit the town. His intentions are pure and altruistic, but then he has to deal with family problems. Things get complicated when manipulative and greedy local politicians get involved. Will Gabe achieve his goal and put smiles on the faces of his townsfolk or will his project be arrested before it even becomes a reality? The prose is sprinkled with succinct and vivid descriptions of the city and some of the elements that readers can easily visualize. While the story is set in the 1930s, it is filled with realism and humanity and today's readers can easily relate to its message and the characters. Bewilderment is hugely inspiring and entertaining. Gobi Jane for Readers' Favorite Don Gutteridge was born in Sarnia and raised in the nearby village of Point Edward. He taught High School English for seven years, later becoming a Professor in the Faculty of Education at Western University, where he is now Professor Emeritus. He is the author of seventy-one books: poetry, fiction and scholarly works in educational theory and practice. He has published twenty-two novels, including the twelve-volume Marc Edwards mystery series, and thirty-nine books of poetry, one of which, Coppermine, was short-listed for the 1973 Governor-General's Award. In 1970 he won the UWO President's Medal for the best periodical poem of that year, «Death at Quebec.» To listen to interviews with the author, go to: http://thereandthen.podbean.com. Don lives in London, Ontario.

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In a wonderful follow up to Summer's Idyll, the book that first introduced his readers to protagonist «Billy» or «Junior,» this second work, Winter's Descent continues this lovely story and will certainly keep readers enthralled from beginning to end. Following Billy and his life as he moves with his mother to the countryside of Ontario during the Second World War, the story is one that provides deeply personal historical detail that Gutteridge's fans have come to know and love. Billy is eleven now, and his father in fighting in the war. He attends a one-room schoolhouse, which serves as the main setting for this novel. With twenty-six students and an impressive teacher, Miss Neilson, the life of this boy and his friends from school S.S. No. 9 is one that any young reader, or any reader looking for a book that will lend them a great deal of nostalgia, will simply love! Author Don Gutteridge has again provided a story in which the reader will truly feel as if they have been picked up and placed in Ontario in 1945, no detailed is the work. For those who love a realistic and highly informative work of in a historical setting, this book is simply amazing. Tracey A. Fischer for Readers' Favorite Don Gutteridge was born in Sarnia and raised in the nearby village of Point Edward. He taught High School English for seven years, later becoming a Professor in the Faculty of Education at the Western University, where he is now Professor Emeritus. He is the author of seventy book. poetry, fiction and scholarly works in educational theory and practice. He has published twenty-two novels, including the twelve-volume Marc Edwards mystery series, and thinykive books of poetry, one of which, Copperrnine, was short-listed for the 1973 Governor-General's Award. In 1970 he on the UWO President's Medal for the best periodical poem of that year, «Death At Quebec.» To listen to interviews with the author, go to http://thereandthemn.podbean.com. Don currently lives in London, Ontario.

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Bus-Ride is a week in the lives of the people of a small Ontario town in March 1939, most notably in the life of Bill Underhill. Bill is the town’s star hockey player, scouted by the big leagues and certain of a pro career. Everyone is sure he will leave the village one day as the Leafs’ new centre, everyone but Bill. This is definitely a poet’s novel. What might have been another pedestrian boy-grows-to-manhood-unsubtle-autobiography becomes first-class fiction with Gutteridge’s skill and wit – not unlike Alden Nowlan’s Various Persons named Kevin O’Brien. The body of the book is written in a mordant style that has a delightful old-time quality, framed by two highly poetic counterpoints which supply both context and contention. Ironic detachment pervades incidents of hostile Canadian weather, adolescent miscouplings and locker-room bravado, and the feeling is that Gutteridge is very serious about his story but refuses to take seriously his character’s pretensions – much in the manner of the Victorian novelists, particularly Thackeray. The bus ride of the title is a highly vivid piece of writing that climaxes the novel and brings Bill to a decision we knew he must make. Bus-Ride is a mature piece of work by a writer deserving careful reading.

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Lily Fairchild is a novel about a remarkable woman, born in the backwoods of Lambton County, Ontario in 1840. Lily’s struggle to survive and grow and discover her place in the scheme of things is complicated not only by the ordinary travail of pioneer living but by the impact of historical events themselves: the railroads and their cutthroat competition, the Riel Rebellions, the First World War and the influenza pandemic of 1918. During her long life Lily witnesses the birth of a nation and the founding and rise of her home village of Point Edward. Lily Fairchild is part history and part fable, replete with historical personages and a bizarre gallery of local characters. It is ultimately a story of survival and loss, about aging and the changes it brings, and about the role of memory itself.<br /><br />Don Gutteridge is the author of seventy books: poetry, fiction and scholarly works in pedagogical theory and practice. He has published thirty-seven books of poetry and twenty-two novels, including the twelve-volume Marc Edwards mysteries. He is currently Professor Emeritus, the Faculty of Education, Western University. He lives in London, Ontario.

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