This week's book reviews, by Connie Forst, as submitted for publication in the Tofield Mercury.

Airman by Eoin Colfer

In the late nineteenth century, when Conor Broekhart discovers a conspiracy to overthrow the king, he is branded a traitor, imprisoned, and forced to mine for diamonds under brutal conditions while he plans a daring escape from Little Saltee prison by way of a flying machine that he must design, build, and, hardest of all, trust to carry him to safety.   
 

War Dances by Sherman Alexie

Sherman Alexie delivers a heart-breaking and hilarious collection of stories that explore the precarious balance between self-preservation and external responsibility in art, family and the world at large.   
          

A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve

Newlyweds Margaret and Patrick join a climbing expedition to Mount Kenya, and during their harrowing ascent, a horrific accident occurs. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Margaret struggles to understand what happened on the African mountain and how these events have transformed her and her marriage, perhaps forever.   
 

Fearful Symmetry: The fall and rise of Canada's founding values by Brian Lee Crowley

In the 1960s, Canada began a seismic shift away from the core politics and values upon which the country had been built. A nation of "makers" transformed itself into a nation of "takers". Crowley argues that the time has come for the pendulum to swing back. Thought-provoking, meticulously detailed and ultimately polarizing, "Fearful Symmetry" is required reading for anyone who is interested in where this country began, where it's been, and where it's going.  
 

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