Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Bootlegger Blues by Drew Hayden Taylor

This book’s full title is Bootlegger Blues. It was a Winner of the Canadian Authors Association Award for Drama. In August of 2018, I was on a wonderful trip at Yellowknife, Northwest Territories to see the northern lights. When I was in a bookshop, I ask for a recommendation. The lady there suggested this book. The author, Drew Hayden Taylor has his own site here.

This is a short, comedic play that takes place on a reserve. I do not often read fiction, but her suggestion was just perfect for filling in some time on holidays. Both of my friends read and enjoyed it also. It has rather a simple plot, but that is probably why this comedy play works.

There is a good article about this play on Bix Books. There is another good review 49th Shelf. Drew Hayden Taylor has a video on YouTube.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

Leadership and The Rise of Great Powers by Yan Xuetong

This book’s title is Leadership and The Rise of Great Powers. It is written by a Professor of political science and dean of the Institute of International relations at Tsinghua University in Beijing. I certainly found it quite interesting. However, he, of course, felt that the US will fall in power and the China will be the superpower of the future. But he would have to say that being a professor in a Chinese University.

One thing I find interesting was that he called the US Antiestablishmentarianism. This is a political philosophy that views a nation's or society's power structure as corrupt, repressive, exploitative, or unjust. Apparently, he is not the only one to think this.

There is an interview with Yan Xuetong at the Princeton University Press site. There is a discussion on moral realism on the Oxford Academic site.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

The Wealthy Renter by Alex Avery

This book’s full title is The Wealthy Renter: How to Choose Housing That Will Make You Rich. I belong to Ellen Roseman’s Investment Club and Alex Avery was a speaker. He gave out copies of his book at that meeting. The book is available on Amazon.

There is an interesting debate on the subject of renting versa buying on Reddit. I have been renting since I moved back downtown in the 1960’s. I did for a while have a cottage. I have saved money for my retirement and now live off my dividends. Here is a recent article about Real Estate in Toronto.

I did do some needed renovations on the cottage after I bought it. Every year there was work to be done and I was lucky there was a local contractor who was willing to do a number of small jobs on the cottage in the winter time. I figure I did not make any money on the cottage. However, another way to look at it was the sale price covered the purchases price, renovations, maintenance, and other costs. So, I had use of a cottage for 10 years at little cost.

Since a new company bought out my rental building a few years back, they taken us to court every 2 years to get a higher rent increase. Extra increases are supposed to be for capital expenditures, but since the rules are so broad, a lot of maintenance work is included in the increases. On the other hand, legal increases in rent are low. These are the rules under rent control in Ontario. I do pay under market price in rent. I do like where I live. It is in a lovely neighbourhood with easy access to downtown.

Urgen Kuyee on Passionate Bibliophile writes about an interview with Alex Avery. Alexandra Bosanac on Lowest Rates does review of this book. There are also quite good reviews at Good Reads.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.