Family Myths and Legends

The author of What's Bred in the Bone for years wrote a humorous, colorfully cantankerous column for a Canadian newspaper under the pseudonym Samuel Marchbanks. This hefty volume is a reissue of the three collections previously published in Canada, reedited and extensively annotated by the author. By and large it is a barrelfull of fun. Addressing topics both mundane and metaphysical, ""Marchbanks'' turns a jaundiced eye on Hollywood movies, stray dogs (but he dotes on kittens, respects goats), his country's climate and the antics of lawyers, but he reserves his most scathing remarks for the Canadian passion for politics. A few of his favorite topics show the mark of time; his running account of the vagaries of his furnace, for example. On the other hand, since Davies's notes give him another go at those topics, we get double the hilarity of the original versions. Readers will probably do best to browse through the collection; if they are tempted to skip one or two pieces, there are plenty of others to amuse or edify. With Marchbanks as goad, devil's advocate or eminence grise, this compendium is the perfect bedside companion. ( Julyp