Canoelit

 STORIES FROM THE BOW SEAT
 (The Wisdom & Waggery of Canoe Tripping)
 By Don Standfield & Liz Lundell
 Boston Mills Press, Erin, ON
 1999 156pp. $49.95
 ISBN 1-55046-188-5
 Every so often a canoeing book comes along where you say (or at least I do), "Now that's something I wish I had done." This is one.
 But saying and doing are a big step apart. I first heard about Stories from the Bow Seat eight years ago. It was worth the wait, as this lovingly original canoeing tome has arrived in great shape featuring superb pictures and incredible colour reproduction, justifying its hefty price.
 It's full of quips and quotes on canoeing and related activities ranging through Pierre Trudeau, Sig Olson, Bill Riviere, David Pelly, Mina Hubbard and Marcel Proust! Standfield's great pictures are mixed with a great archival collection of photos and artwork. It's a joy to skip through or settle down with. Some topics include; bannock, dumping (a canoe), portaging and the tea pot: eclectic and elegant, unique and unifying.
 There's even one page with a coffee cup ring on it - as if we would ever do that!
 One quibble. In a book so obviously rife with research and dedication to what people said and did, the photos are virtually absent of proper credits on either who took them (presumably Standfield?) or where they were taken. I would like to have more info on each photo - if only because they are so darned interesting.
 But it's a small piece of fluff on an otherwise glistening achievement.
 
 THREE SEASONS IN THE WIND
 (950 km by Canoe Down the Thelon River)
 By Michael and Kathleen Pitt
 1999 Trafford Publishing 145pp $22.95 ISBN 1-55212-229-8
 The Thelon River has become the Nahanni of the east. It's the river of choice for novice Barrenland travellers - and authors too.
 This self-published work is essentially the journal of a couple who paddled the river in 1993 over 37 days - not exactly three seasons. Each day is entered with both paddler's comments, hers in italics to differentiate. It's a readable account for we paddlers of a typical northern trip but it doesn't really contribute much to the genre.
 For example, they arrive at Hornby Point the famed site of the starvation cabin from 1927 but they can't find the cabin (which is 200 yards upstream). I don't think I'd admit that if I was writing a book about it.
 It's not a guide book either with little river running info and contains a few small black & white pictures. It has the self-published "look" to it, which these days means acceptable quality but not much more. Perhaps it's a good choice for the author's relatives and friends and a nice way for the pair to remember their wonderful summer on the Thelon.
 
 NORTH WITH FRANKLIN and ACROSS THE TOP OF THE WORLD
 
 North with Franklin -The Lost Journals of James Fitzjames.
 By John Wilson.
 Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1999.
 250 pp. ISBN 1-55041-4062
 
 
 Across the top of the world - The Quest for the Northwest Passage.
 By James P. Delgado.
 Douglas & McIntyre. 224 Pages $45
  ISBN 1-55054-734-8
 
 This pair of Arctic books arrived just before press time and I will freely admit that I haven't had the time to give them my fullest consideration.
 Even before examining them, their very content is something to remark on. The fact that the lure of Arctic adventure, much of it from the 19th century, still has strong market appeal as we head into the 21st century is amazing.
 Across the Top of the World is a lavishly illustrated volume with a great deal of artwork featuring the look and feel of the exploration era. James Delgado is an Arctic shipwreck authority and executive director of the Vancouver Maritime Museum. He has pieced together a superb history of man's attempt to cross the Northwest Passage from Frobisher in 1576 to the RCMP's boat the St. Roch in 1942.
 The book contains many of the incomparably dramatic paintings of British ships featuring those wonderfully romantic, cloud-swept vistas. Pertinent maps and pictures of original equipment such as Franklin's medicine chest made the book itself a treasure trove for the Arctic history lover. (There's even a photo of James Fitzjames - see below)
 The first thing you should know about North With Franklin is that it is a novel about the letters written to his wife by the captain of the H.M.S. Erebus, James Fitzjames. This work of historical reinterpretation is based on the few letters Fitzjames actually did send home.
 Such a literary device allows us an intimate look into the harsh and beautiful world of the 129 men on that ill-fated 1945 voyage. The Franklin saga is a giant puzzle for which the pieces have been gathered for 150 years. John Wilson reassembles them to put a personal touch to all those facts and figuring.
 With Wilson's help, Fitzjames is, naturally, a gifted letter writer and, as he lived until the very end, he allows us in on the many crucial moments of that three year journey. The death of Franklin in June 1847 is fascinating. It's a neat trick and a trip worth taking but pack an extra sweater.