Shelf Source: Brian Busby

When You Finish a Book That Moves You, What's Your First Instinct?

The first instinct is to share it with others. This is the raison d'être of the Dusty Bookcase. For decades, I collected obscure, largely unrecognized Canadian literature, along with seemingly forgotten once internationally popular Canadian works — novelists Gilbert Parker and Ralph Connor are two prime examples — but I never read them. In 2009, on the tenth anniversary of the death of Irish-Canadian writer Brian Moore, I decided to do just that, beginning with the seven early pulp novels he'd chosen to disown. I just went on from there.

Has A Book Ever Inspired You To Build Or Change Something on Your Site?

I chose Blogger for the Dusty Bookcase because it was relatively simple and clean. Nothing has encouraged me to change much, though I will admit that the posts have become longer over time and feature more images.

What's A Book You've Recommended The Most, And What Does That Say About You?

I don't know that there is a book I've recommended above all others. For the most part, I've tried to match reader with title. Interested in Victorian gothic? May Agnes Fleming's The Midnight Queen (1876) is just for you. Post-war crime thriller? I recommend 1954's Hot Freeze by Douglas Sanderson. Black humour? Well, that would be Miranda (1960) by Nova Scotia's own Jan Hilliard. If you're interested in the Great War, you can do no worse than Peregrine Acland's All Else is Folly (1929), a highly autobiographical novel that was praised by Ford Madox Ford, Bertrand Russell, and Frank Harris.

In 2014, I succeeded in my efforts to return All Else is Folly to print, which is I suppose a recommendation. I've also brought back nineteen post-war Canadian noir novels since the blog began in my role as Series Editor of the Véhicule Press Ricochet Books imprint. Hot Freeze was one of these.

How Do You Decide Which Books Deserve a Place on Your Site Versus Staying Private?

There's no book that doesn't belong. From the start, I've described the Dusty Bookcase as "a journey through Canada's forgotten, neglected and suppressed writing." I share my thoughts, even if that writing is something I feel isn't worth the read. What I don't share are new books read, as they don't fit in with the aforementioned raison d'être.

What's Something You Believe About Reading Most Would Disagree With?

I don't know that most would disagree, but know that a great number would take issue with my reading old books. I'm thinking particularly of fragile post-war pulp novels that risk coming apart in one's hands. As a child I collected comic books, sought out issues older than myself, and read them from cover to cover, ads included. I took good care. I now see those same issues sealed in plastic cases with CGC grades when I browse the shops. Comics are meant to be read. Books are meant to be read. Read them and enjoy the experience. I'll add that there is something about holding and reading a book that looks to have been read many times before.

If You Could Design a Library That Reflected Your Site's Ethos, What Would It Look Like?

As focus is Canadian literature of the past, I think a High Victorian Gothic structure would be appropriate. I encourage anyone unfamiliar to gaze upon its majesty that is Canada's Library of Parliament.

What's A Genre Or Type Of Book You Used To Dismiss But Now Love?

As with music, I discount no genre. That said, there are several I'd not paid much attention. Before embarking on my "journey" I was not a great reader of mysteries, thrillers, and crime novels; gothic romances were entirely off to the side. The blog drew me into each and made me a great admirer of Margaret Millar, Kenneth Millar (Ross Macdonald), Martin Brett (Douglas Sanderson), and May Agnes Fleming.

How Has Having a Personal Website Changed the Way You Read?

It changed my reading only in that I now focus primarily on Canadians, usually forgotten Canadians, to the exclusion of most foreign writers. No slight, it is just that I have only so much time (as have or haven't we all).

What's A Book You Wish More People Would Read, And Why?

Judith Merril's Shadow on the Hearth (1950).

The novel begins with a portrait of family at breakfast, then destroys that comfortable domesticity with the detonation of a nuclear bomb in a New York harbour. On one level, it is a cautionary tale about nuclear proliferation; on a deeper level it serves as a warning, a relatively early warning, of the way governments and individuals use crises to bend the public to their will.