Deprived of unhappiness

the long version

In this, his tenth book of essays, the irrepressible Sam Pickering wanders from the thickets of the old family farm in Nova Scotia, to a middle school athletic field, to his office as an involved English professor. He examines the flowers and the trees and tells stories about people named Googoo and Loppie. He watches a daughter play soccer and a son row. He attends funerals, remembers the past, and imagines the future. And around him, the everyday world blossoms. Pickering writes to delight and sometimes to teach. And he is opinionated, especially when exposing "foolishness in low places." But this book is primarily about living, living within a family and with Everyman's hopes and fears.