dog-eared soul

Flavour Flavia

2011-10-17T17:17:00.005-04:00

The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag
Alan Bradley
Anchor Canada

The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag is actually the second novel that I've read in the Flavia de Luce mystery series. What a joy this character is! Almost eleven, Flavia has already developed what my mother would characterize as a "unique" personality. Tortured by her older siblings (Daphne and Ophelia, aka Daffy and Feely), Flavia takes great pleasure in plotting their demise. She's well versed in the art of poisons and when she's not engaged in distilling and concocting, Flavia can usually be found flying about the English countryside with her best friend Gladys -- a shiny two-wheeler that was a hand-me-down from her deceased mother. Did I mention that Flavia also likes to solve murders in her spare time? As I said, she's quite a character.

There are so many great things to recommend this series that I hardly know where to start. The characters that inhabit these novels are all fantastically drawn and offer almost as much as Flavia herself. The mysteries are challenging and unlike other detective fiction I've been reading lately, I've been unable to guess the Whodunit half through the book. And finally, the writing itself is beautiful. If words on a page can manage to transport me to another time and another place in such a way that I want to stay in that new world, then I think the author has succeeded in drawing me in. I have tried to savour these novels because I like Flavia's world and I just don't want them to end. Four dastardly plots out of five.

Only the Shadow Knows ...

2011-10-13T18:15:00.000-04:00

The Book of Air and Shadows

Michael Gruber

Harper Collins

A couple of weeks ago I was having a discussion with a work colleague about what makes a good read. He and I have similar tastes in "Capital L " Literature and I totally trust his recommendations. It also got me to thinking. Maybe I've been watching too many Criminal Minds episodes lately, but I get the feeling that if one were to understand my preferences in books, one would be a few short steps from understanding my most inner self. Scary thought that.

So why the babble, you ask? Well, on paper, The Book of Air and Shadows seems like something that I would normally inhale. I mean, it's got all the right pieces:

It's highly intertextual (you know now I dig books about books)
The narrative comprises multiple points of view. It's not just one guy telling a story.
The timeline shifts between 17th century England and 21st century New York without any crazy time travelling devices or dream sequences.
It has gangsters and cryptology. Really, what more could a girl want?

Well, maybe just a little more. Jake Mishkin, an IP lawyer based in New York, finds himself in temporary custody of a manuscript fragment that refers to a work by William Shakespeare that has never before been seen. Aspiring film maker Albert Crosetti is in possession of an encrypted portion of that same manuscript which reveals the location of the new play. The two eventually connect and mayhem ensues. While this novel was just a little too smart in places for its own good, it would make a decent airplane read. Three cramped secretary hands out of five.

Vampires, Lycanthropes and Things That Go Bump in the Night

2011-09-07T08:34:00.001-04:00

Narcissus in Chains
Laurell K. Hamilton
Jove

Not that you'd know it from how infrequently I've been updating this blog, but I've actually been reading quite a bit lately. You might even say that I've been on a bender. In the last few weeks, I've managed to crank through nine Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels. At an average of about 300 pages per read, well, that's a lot of blood.

I'm not so sure what it is about these novels that keep drawing me in. In some ways, they are similar to the Kelley Armstrong books that I read over Christmas -- each series is classified as paranormal/horror and each deals with a world where vampires, werecreatures, witches, warlocks, faeries and other "magical" ilk live alongside you and me. The writing certainly isn't fabulous -- she's repeats text verbatim across the series and the storylines really aren't all that inventive. Part of my interest, I think, is the Scarecrow and Mrs. King effect. Remember that show? You so wanted the two main characters to hook up and they never quite got it right. Anita has that kind of relationship with a few gentlemen, uh, creatures in the series, so maybe that's the draw. In any event, I will probably keep reading for awhile yet. Hamilton started the series in the mid-90s, so I've got at least ten more books to go.

Two sociopaths out of five.

Up, Up, and Away

2011-07-27T22:15:00.000-04:00

Every Lost Country
Steven Heighton
Knopf Canada

It has been weeks since I finished this novel. I really would have gotten to it sooner, but work has been very hectic and I was more-or-less obsessed with the Tour de France. It's hard to write about a serious book when you're shouting crazily at the television. Oh, for those of you that have been following along, my guys came in 18th and 68th respectively. Go team!

Every Lost Country is a fictional story (based on a real event that occured in 2006) about a doctor/humanitarian who has signed up to provide medical support for a Canadian climbing expedition along the Tibet-Nepal border. One morning, while most of the climbers are making their way down from another camp, the doctor and his daugher are drawn into an international incident when they try to assist some Tibetans who are fleeing the Chinese authorities. Filming the incidint as part of the backstory for her documentary about the climb, a Chinese-Canadian woman is captured along with the doctor, his daughter and the hopeful refugees. Their treatment by the Chinese, their eventual escape, and their terrifying journey across the bone-chilling slopes of the Himalayas is gripping -- so much so that the book was impossible to put down until I had read the last page.

If an action-packed plot and elegant writing isn't enough to lure you in, the book is also compelling because it is a highly moral story that, at times, reminds me of a modern Everyman where characters are neither purely good nor purely evit. Think Conrad meets morality play -- same vivid characterizations and intellectually challenging situtions -- all woven into a beautiful narrative that catches the reader off guard. I'm not kidding -- you really do want to pick this up. Four and half prayer flags out of five.

Guilty Pleasures Be Damned!

2011-07-19T21:29:00.001-04:00

Guilty Pleasures
Laurell K. Hamilton
Jove

Well, if we're speaking of guilty pleasures, I don't know which to address first -- the book that is the subject of this week's entry or my sudden fixation with the two-wheeled warriors. Oh hell -- I'm watching the replay of today's Tour de France coverage as I type this, so I might as well start with the cyclists.

Holy smokes ... what a fascinating sport! I'm not a huge television watcher, but I've suddenly become best friends with both my couch and the remote. I even got up at 6:30 AM on Saturday so I could watch the race live. I've yet decide if I think the riders are brilliant tacticians, Machiavellian strategists, or barking mad. In any case, they are monsters and I just can't look away.

Okay, enough of that ... on to another guilty pleasure. I know I promised you some time ago that I would lay off the vampire novels. Well, I hate to renege on a deal, but I was at the airport, I couldn't find anything to read and the oh-not-so-bookish clerk pulled Guilty Pleasures off the shelf and mumbled something that sounded like "favourite author." Who am I to spurn a recommendation? Guilty Pleasures turned out to be relatively entertaining and a little unconventional. Anita Blake dabbles in the paranormal and is an accomplished animator who is paid to raise people from the dead. She works for a man who is more interested in money than ethics, so it's probably a good that that Anita is a woman of integrity. She also happens to be a survivor of a vampire attack and freelances for the St. Louis police department as a vampire tracker/slayer. I know, right? It doesn't get more outlandish, but I have to admit that it was kind of fun.

I liked this novel because it defies convention. Anita is not a perfect heroine. She doesn't fall for the smooth talking and incredibly handsome vampire, she hangs out with assholes and doesn't judge, and she is fierce in a way that only a survivor can understand. I'll be honest and tell you that I'm probably going to be reading another one of these novels if I'm stuck at an airport with nothing else to do. And I'm going to secretly revel in it. Three mindless zombies out of five. Did I mention that there were zombies? ...

Criminal Minds

2011-07-07T22:04:00.000-04:00

Crime Machine
Giles Blunt
Random House

Guess what? I have a new addiction. No, it's not any of the usual suspects (at my age, those would be meth, coke, booze or men.) And no, it's not even books or candy. Ready for it? Deep breath -- I've become addicted to the Tour de France. I know ... Just a few days ago I was telling all of you that I was going to get cracking and get back to blogging. Forget about writing ... I'm not even reading! I've plopped myself in front of the television every evening this week to watch the replay of a bunch of skinny dudes on bikes. Where has this been all my life?

So, when I haven't been either watching the spandex clad warriors or working like a maniac, I have managed to fit in a couple of chapters here and there This week I was kept company by Detective John Cardinal of the Algonquin Bay police force. What I really like about these novels (aside from the fact that I am familiar with a lot of locations) is the unpredictability and complexity of the plots. Whodunits are never fun when you have them figured out in the first few chapters and I've found that Blunt usually keeps me guessing until the very end.

In addition to the actual mystery in Crime Machine, the characters of John Cardinal and Lise Delorme are continuing to develop across the series. I was dead certain in the last novel that with the death of his wife, Cardinal would turn to his partner for a little romance. Blunt didn't really play it that way and I have found that very intriguing. I might just have to come back whenever Cardinal surfaces again to find out where he's at. I mean, he's no John Rebus, but he is interesting. Three watching the detectives out of five.

PS ... About this whole TdF thing ...they're not all skinny dudes. I quite like big Thor Hushovd. Legs like tree trunks and a happy, happy smile. I'm also cheering for the lone Canadian on tour. Go Ryder!

Where has the time gone?

2011-06-27T22:24:00.003-04:00

The Swan Thieves
Elizabeth Kostova
Little, Brown and Company

February? I haven't written a post since February? Holy schnitzel ... I guess it's time to get cracking!

Well, while I might not have been doing much blogging in the last few months, I have continued to read like a fiend. Off the top of my head, I can't say that I've picked upanything that has been particularly worth sharing. I'm still reading the odd Inspector Rebus novel and I must say that I've re-discovered a fondness for Sherlock Holmes. My work colleagues and I are always up to our hips in data and I'm finding that both Homes and Watson provide me with timely, yet relevant witticisms to inflict upon them. A few weeks ago, it was "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts." I'm pretty sure my coworkers hate me some days. Or at least hate my sense of humour.

Lately, my head has been choc-a-bloc full of art and ideas. I've just returned from Italy and am still reeling from all the unbelievable things that I saw. Amazing painting, sculpture, architecture, landscapes, food -- why does anyone ever leave? It confounds me. Anyway, while I was away, I picked up a copy of Elizabeth Kostova's The Swan Thieves. It couldn't have been more perfect! A beautiful, languorous novel about creativity, obsession, love, betrayal, passion and secrecy, Kostova takes her time developing the characters. It's almost as if the she is revealing their layers of detail one brush stroke at a time. Three impressionist readings out of five.

The Can Lit Project -- Mysterious Ways

2011-02-27T22:18:00.001-05:00

A Delicate Storm
Blackfly Season
By the Time You Read This
Giles Blunt
Seal Books

One of my goals at the beginning of the year was to try to read more Canadian Literature. How hard could that be, right? Our country has produced some amazingly talented writers over the last hundred years and there are thousands of great books just waiting to be explored. I could absolutely get lost forever in the novels of Martel, Atwood, Ross, Davies, Blais, Galloway, Laurence, Richler ... you get the idea.

My goal, however, was a little more specific. I wanted to read the books that I wouldn't find in the "Fiction and Literature" section of the bookstore. That is to say, I want to read books outside of the Canadian literary canon. In the past, I've made a pretty big dent in the Fantasy genre by consuming novels by Steven Erikson, Guy Gavriel Kay, Kelley Armstrong, and Charles deLint. A few weeks ago, I decided to look for something in the mystery genre. Enter Giles Blunt.

Set in Algonquin Bay, this series of novels focus on homicide detective John Cardinal and his sometimes partner Lise Delorme. John, like my boyfriend John Rebus, is a complicated man. He sensitive, single-minded, relentless, gentle, funny, caring, and very, very good at his job. Blunt's writing is sharp, fast-paced, yet surprisingly detailed. The best part is that his stories don't come across as formulaic which is why, I think, I was able to read three of his novels back-to-back without getting sick of the characters or the plots. Maybe that's why he's an award-winner. Three sliver daggers out of five.

Who doesn't like gifts?

2011-02-14T17:04:00.001-05:00

The Gift of Rain
Tan Twan Eng
Weinstein Books

While it is true that I can still spend hours wandering through the aisles at a bookstore, it is not quite the experience that it once was.  Not only are independent booksellers getting harder to find (I'm VERY lucky in that I live within driving distance of The Bookshelf in Guelph,) but the cookie-cutter approach to the big box stores is more than a little depressing. That said, I understand that it is the homogeneity of the business model that affords me such great discounts on the things I like to read. It is a bit of a pickle, isn't it?

So, sometimes to escape the uniform browsing experience and still get a make-me-happy-on-the-inside discount, I purchase books online. That, too, is fraught with issues in that I am now the recipient of all sorts of unwanted book recommendations.   "If you liked The Hunger Games, we think you'll love Twilight." Oh please. When it comes to reading novels, I like to go old school and rely on the advice of my friends and loved ones.  The Gift of Rain, was one such book. My friend Nigel recommended it toward the end of the summer. I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to reading it, but wow. We've found our second 2011 candidate for the DES book of the year.

The Gift of Rain is set in Malaysia and the bulk of the story takes place in and around the Second World War. The main character, Phillip Hutton, is a 16 year old boy of mixed parentage (British/Chinese), who never seems to fit in. One day, while the rest of his family is off London for an extended stay, Phillip meets a quiet, mysterious Japanese man. As it turns out, Endo-san is renting some ocean front property from Phillip's father and the two solitary, isolated figures develop a relationship. It doesn't take the reader long to figure out that Endo-san is a Japanese spy preparing the island for invasion. It takes Phillip a little longer and when his epiphany comes, it is much too late.

This is an epic story about love, betrayal, and loss and how each are just a matter of perspective.  Told using first-person narration and a series of flashbacks, this novel is incredibly beautiful and once you pick it up, you'll have trouble putting it down. Five zen moments out of five.

Is there a doctor in the house?

2011-02-02T20:52:00.000-05:00

Cutting for Stone
Abraham Verghese
Vintage Canada

Have you ever read one of those books that just seems to draw you so far into its world that you can't think about anything else? I had that experience a couple of weeks ago while reading Abraham Verghese's Cutting for Stone. I started it one night over supper at my local hangout. Halfway through the first pint, I was hooked. When the bartender asked if I wanted another, I declined and switched to water. I knew I was going to have a late night.

The story itself focuses on Marion Stone -- who, along with his conjoined twin, Shiva, was born in an Ethiopian mission hospital during the latter part of Haile Selassie's reign. The boys' mother, an Indian nun named Mary Joseph Praise, dies in childbirth. The boys' father, a British surgeon with questionable social skills and more baggage than a cargo hold, goes mad with grief and abandons the babies upon their mother's death. The newborns aren't unwanted for long as another mission doctor is immediately drawn to them and decides to become their substitute mother. She, in turn, shanghais a colleague to assist with their care and not surprisingly, the two of them fall in love. Oh -- and this all happens within the first few chapters. Is it any wonder that I couldn't put it down?

Weaving in and out of the narrative, and as influential as any character in the text, is the novel's setting. I learned more about Ethiopian and Eritrean history and culture from this story than from any news magazine or television piece. The Ethiopia of Verghese's novel is definitely somewhere that I'd want to visit. Whether it exists anymore is immaterial as I will definitely revisit the land through the pages of this novel. Cutting for Stone gets five Hippocratic Oaths out of five.

2011-01-23T17:48:00.001-05:00

Don't get it right, just get it written.

If the title of this post sounds familiar, it's because I stole it from James Thurber -- the famous American writer, cartoonist, and all-around wit. When we left off in November, I was contemplating the end of this blog. My posts (at least from my perspective) seemed to be getting stale and formulaic and I convinced myself that I wasn't enjoying the writing.

As it turns out, the hiatus was good for me. I discovered that I really missed talking to you guys and upon reflection, it wasn't the writing that was boring me. Rather, it was the fact that I was in a constant state of worry that my entries wouldn't be entertaining, well-received, or, quite frankly, any good. Sigh. Ego is a terrible thing, isn't it?

Anyway, I learned on the break that like my friend Byron, (yes, I still read poetry), if I don't write, I go a little nutty. I mean, let's face it, I am not currently engaged in a profession where being creative is a core competency of my role. And, while I am a great fan of "the arts," my attempts at painting might be mistaken for cave drawings from prehistoric France. As for music, well, it was a good thing I broke my arm in the tenth grade and had to give up my budding career as a tenor saxophonist. Did I mention that my parents issued earplugs to the entire neighbourhood? Um, yeah.

So, that leaves me with my love of words. To satiate this desire, I went on a bit of a reading bender over the last couple of months and I'm not sure that I will be able to catch up. In the comments area of this entry, I'll post a list of the books that I did read and if you want me to do a retroactive review of any of them, just let me know.

Finally, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who reached out and asked me to come back. I honestly had no idea that so many of you regularly read this blog and use it to make your own book selections. Your kind (and sometimes pleading) words are very much appreciated. Thank you.

DES

2010-11-25T16:08:00.000-05:00

Four on the Floor

Black and Blue
Ian Rankin
Orion

I'm giving some serious thought to shutting down my blog. I haven't been feeling that creative lately and while I've been reading a tonne, I find that I don't have too much new or inspiring to say. You guys can only take so many "wow -- that book was awesome!" or "wow -- that booked totally sucked" reviews, right?

Maybe I just need to shake it up a bit and read something that really knocks my socks off. Ugh. So hard to know what to do. That said, I'm here now and I might as well get down to business and give you the skinny on Rankin's Black & Blue.

I would consider this novel to be Rankin's best that I've read so far. Rebus' professional life is a bit of a wreck -- he's been kicked out of his precinct and assigned a new home, he's under investigation for helping a colleague who is suspected of planting evidence, the media is hounding him about a wrongful conviction, and he's working four cases. Sigh. Yes, he's still the perfect man. Well, aside from the drinking. Since I'm over 40 now, I guess I'm not supposed to be that picky.

With so much going on in Black & Blue, you would almost expect the narrative to be somewhat choppy and episodic. Rankin defies expectation and writes a tight, dark, action-packed story that flows from location to location, case to case, emotion to emotion. Four hard-boiled detectives out of five.

2010-11-24T16:00:00.000-05:00

So many books, so little time

The Hunger Games
Catching Fire
The Mockingjay
Suzanne Collins
Scholastic

According to Dictionary.com, the word "addict" can be used to describe someone who habituates or abandons him/herself to something compulsively or obsessively. It can also be used in the context of physiological or psychological dependence on a substance or thing.  Is this definition ringing bells with anyone else? Apparently, I have a problem.
I came to this deep and penetrating insight late a couple of Fridays ago when I was downloading book two of the Hunger Game trilogy by Suzanne Collins. It was almost three o'clock in the morning and I had just whizzed through the first novel in the series. Even though I could barely keep my head off the pillow, I had to read on.   It was that good.

Set in post-apocalyptic America, the novel opens in District 12. We are introduced to a young woman named Katniss Everdeen. Katniss is an aloof girl -- mostly keeping her thoughts to herself and oblivious to her impact on others. Her world completely changes when the government comes to town to pick two "warriors" -- one boy and one girl -- as the District's tribute to the Hunger Games. "Required watching" for everyone in the country, the Hunger Games is a reality show where the tributes (two from each of the country's twelve districts) battle to the death. The tributes are plucked from their regions, made over into heroes (with compelling back stories, of course) and then set in an arena with instructions to kill or be killed. It is all quite gruesome, but happily packaged for TV. Katniss volunteers to be the tribute from District 12 when her younger sister is picked in the lottery. The baker's son, Peeta, is the other "winner" and the two teens head to the Capitol to take part in the games.

I loved the premise of these novels (as disturbing as it was) and can guarantee that I will be reading the entire trilogy again. Katniss is smart, resourceful, naive, and unrelenting.   Peeta is kind, focused, loving, and equally as unrelenting. They make a good team, but unfortunately, there can only ever be one winner, or can there? The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay get five fiery manticores out of five.

2010-11-14T20:14:00.001-05:00

Brains! Brains! (I promise this is not a zombie entry)

The Brain the Changes Itself
Norman Doidge
Penguin

Depending on how old you are, you might remember your biology teacher telling you that once you get through early childhood, your brain is pretty done changing and that it is very hard to teach the old dog new tricks. Well, researchh in the 20th century has disproven this theory and now neuroplasticity, the term for the brain's ability to re-map itself, is its own field of study.

The Brain that Changes Itself is a very consumable read in which Doidge, a researcher and psychiatrist, makes some enthusiastic claims about the capabilities of the human brain. He describes how stroke victims have managed to remap their brains to perform functions that had formerly been controlled by now "dead" sections of their brains. He chronicles how researchers have used simple devices to eliminate the pains (and itching!) in phantom limbs. And most importantly, he tells compelling stories about real people that makes hard-core science into a can't-put-it-down page-turner. Three point five neruoplasticity tongue twisters out of five.

2010-11-11T15:56:00.001-05:00

And Then There Were Two

The Graveyard Book
Neil Gaiman
Harper Collins

My friend Jill loaned me her copy of this book in August of 2009. I adore Neil Gaiman (have you read his blog?) and I had heard nothing but good things about his most recent novel. When I got home from Kemptville, I put the book on my beside table fully intending that it would be the next one on my list. And there it sat. Unread and unloved. Poor, wee book.

Flash forward to the fall of 2010. I was out for a birthday dinner with my mostly best friend and in addition to showering me with love and laughs and decent grub, he brought me gifts. Included in the red paper bag (he's a boy, they don't do pretty with friends) was my Christmas gift from 2009. And yes, it was a copy of the Graveyard book.

That decided it. As soon as I got home, I picked up Jill's copy -- still sitting on my nightstand -- and was immediately lost. The book opens with the mysterious murder of the protagonist's family. Somehow, the toddler (yes, I typed toddler) escapes and wanders into the graveyard that is up the street from him home. Understanding that the baby is still being pursued by his family's attackers, the graveyard occupants -- ghosts from across different centuries -- decide to bend the rules in this place of the dead and raise the baby themselves. The toddler, who is renamed Nobody Owens, grows up in a rather unconventional environment and goes on to do some rather extraordinary things.

Bod (well ... you can't be Nobody forever) is heroic, gentle, loving, funny, sad, kind, wise, naive, and beautiful. He's definitely worth getting to know and I'm glad that I read the book when I did. Thanks for sharing Jilly Bean. I get why you gave it to me when you -- I just wasn't ready.

Five beautiful fairy tales out of five. And oh yeah -- as for the the title of this post, please say hello to the next contender for the DES book of the year.

2010-10-18T16:22:00.000-04:00

Friends don't let friends blog drunk ...

Let Me In
John Ajvide Lindqvist
St. Martin's Press

Please accept my heartfelt apologies for my most recent post. I submitted it after having had a few (okay, nine) drinks and well, apparently my proof reading skills aren't exactly up to snuff when I've been into the brew. Honestly, I have no idea why I was so desperate to publish the review of that awful work of fiction, but, I'm sure there was a good reason at the time. One of my drinking companions did happen to suggest the word "vomitous" -- maybe I was just trying to go with the flow.

Moving on ... the subject for this entry is a book called Let Me In. I know I promised that I would lay off the vampire novels, but this one is actually worth reading. Set in a Stockholm suburb, the novel tells the story of Oskar and Eli. Oskar is a schoolboy with a lot of problems -- he's lies, he steals, and he keeps a scrapbook of serial killer newspaper clippings. Eli, his next door neighbour, is a little girl who only comes out at night, is impervious to cold, and has fangs. The two form an unusual, disturbing, and often touching relationship.

There is a great deal to recommend this novel. The writing was spare, the story compelling, and the end surprising. A word of warning, however, this book did manage to give me the creeps. Twice I had to stop reading and put it away for another day -- horror is not my thing. Three dripping fangs out of five.

2010-09-30T02:12:00.000-04:00

V for Vomitous? How about Vile?

The Paris Vendetta
Steve Berry
Ballantine

I travel a lot and, well, frankly, I'm nosy. When I'm in the lounge, at the gate, or even sitting on the plane I often take a good look around and see what people are reading. I run across quite of Nora Roberts -- either writing as herself for the women travellers and as J.D. Robb for the men. Sadly, I still see a lot of Dan Brown. (Did I tell you that when I joined a dating site I automatically closed matches where the "best book" read was The Davinci Code?) Lately, I have also noticed that a lot of people are carrying around novels by Steve Berry. They seemed like something that might interest me, so I picked one up.

OMG -- what a mistake. Let's just say The Paris Vendetta was not a work of literature. Former spy, Cotton Malone, gets pulled into a web of intrigue by one of his close friends and allies, some Dane name. Dane is looking to avenge the senseless of his son and Cotton agrees to help. The murderers, as it turns out, belong to The Paris Group, a collective of extremely wealthy individuals who are hatching a plan to manipulate the global stock markets to their advantage. Throw in a Corsican connection, Napoleon, and a little bit of conspiracy and voila! Yeah, it is a stupid as it sounds.

I'm not going to pollute the grading system that I have established on this blog by giving this book a rating. Maybe it suffered because it was what I read directly following The Power of One. Maybe it just sucked. I will leave it to you to decide -- if you go there, caveat emptor definitely applies.

2010-09-29T08:32:00.002-04:00

Heroes

The Power of One
Bryce Courtenay
McArthur & Co

It's hard to be believe, but I first read The Power of One over a decade ago. My then boyfriend and I were still in the early stages of our relationship and I was completely blown away by the fact that I had found a "reader". I remember asking him, all cow-eyed, of course, what book had most moved him in the last couple of years. He pulled out a worn copy of Courtenay's novel and told me to read.

The Power of One was then, and probably still is now, one of the best books that I have ever read. The story opens in the 1940s somewhere in rural South Africa. Our hero, who later names himself Peekay, is five years old and heading off to an Afrikaner boarding school for the first time. He's English and if you know anything about the history of the Boer War, you realize that poor little Peekay is in for a world of hurt.

What impressed me most about this novel was the fact that Courtenay made every character count. As Peekay grows up, he (and therefore the reader) learns an important lesson from every single person who inhabits this book. Even when the interaction only lasts a few pages, the characters still resonate. I have gone on to read other novels that this author has penned, and none have left me as breathless, as energized, as hopeful or as sad as The Power of One. Five welterweight champions of the world out of five.

2010-09-28T22:31:00.000-04:00

We have a Contender!

The Angel's Game
Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Doubleday Canada

So here's the thing -- I am way, waaaay behind on my blog. I got seriously sick a few weeks ago and since then, I haven't really had it in me to write. I have, however, been reading like a fiend and as a result, your inboxes, Facebook pages, and RSS feeds are about to be deluged. I have made it a goal to get caught up by week's end. That's about an entry a day ... we'll see it how it goes.

Okay -- so let's talk about The Angel's Game. David Martín, the story's hero, is a young writer who earns his way by churning out penny dreadfuls -- baroque tales of Barcelona's seedy, and somewhat mysterious underworld. While he longs to write something of more substance, he is under contract to a pair of unscrupulous publishers who keep him busy with the popular, serialized stories

David's future seems desolate and unrelenting. It all changes, however, when he gets a letter from the reclusive Andreas Corelli. Corelli promises David an extraordinary amount of money if David were to write him a book that creates a new myth -- one that can change the hearts and minds of all mankind. David accepts Corelli's terms and enters into a world of darkness, passion, paranoia, and mystery. It would seem that he has made a deal with the Devil.

I will be honest and tell you that I could not put this book down. The weather outside was cold and gloomy and it was just the excuse I needed to stay snuggled in bed (and later on the couch) reading. I've definitely found a candidate for the DES Book of the Year -- in fact, I think we have a front runner. The Angel's Game gets five soul-shivering passages out of five.

2010-09-12T23:48:00.001-04:00

Uh, Forgettable

I Remember You
Harriet Evans
Simon and Schuster

Can someone please explain to me why I feel like I have to finish a book even though it is absolute crap? What is it about my personality that prevents me from walking away? I can count on one hand the number of books that I have started and haven't finished. In fact, let me share the list with you:

Anna Karenina -- I tried to read this book when I was in Russia earlier this year, but reading about Moscow, when I was in St. Petersburg, didn't seem quite the thing. I might have finished it on the way home, but I needed room in my luggage for souvenirs (I only took one bag). Leaving it there, mostly unread, hurt me a little, but I take both comfort and secret delight in the fact that I ditched my copy on a nightstand in the Hotel Dostoevsky.
Ulysses -- Can you say Joyce at his most impenetrable? I attempted to read it one summer in university and gave up. I tried again in my early thirties and survived the experience. Gotta love the snotgreen sea.
Bridget Jones' Diary -- The only book that I have ever thrown away. I was in Tokyo at the time and desperate for anything English as I was having a horrible case of culture shock. Turns out I wasn't that desperate. I pitched the book after the first ten pages, left the hotel and found an English bookstore. What did I read instead? The first two books of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I was angling for a Godzilla novel, but couldn't find one in English.

Nice list, huh? Forty years of living and I have given up on only three novels. Ugh -- think of all the hours I have wasted reading bad, bad writing. I should have spared myself some head shaking and given up on I Remember You. It was terrible! So much so, in fact, that I'm not even going to bore you with the details. Minus one navel-gazing examples of badly written Chick Lit out of five.

2010-09-12T21:08:00.002-04:00

Moon Walker

The Boy in the Moon: A Father's Search for his Disabled Son
Ian Brown
Vintage Canada

The Boy in the Moon, a memoir by journalist and broadcaster Ian Brown, tells the story of Brown and his relationship with his son Walker, a severely disabled tween, who cannot talk, cannot thrive without the help of a feeding tube, is still in diapers and who has the intellectual capacity of a toddler. Walker belongs to an exclusive group -- only three hundred people in the entire world suffer from caridiofaciocutaneous syndrome -- a rare genetic condition that causes its suffers to self-abuse (Walker if left unattended would smash his head to a pulp) and often, but not always traps them and makes them unknowable inside their uncooperative bodies.

I picked this book up because I had heard a interview with the author on CBC radio. Always charming and articulate, Brown, on whom I will admit to having a slight intellectual crush, told his story without seeming like either a martyr or a cheerleader for the disabled. Physically caring for Walker sounded like hard business and Brown and his wife, writer Johanna Schneller, shifted their lives to accommodate the demands of their profoundly disabled son. Trying to find the meaning of Walker's life, sounded like even harder business, and after listening to him speak, I wanted to know how Brown's journey turned.

This is a magnificent book. It is beautiful and raw and it is so full of love that it makes my heart ache. Brown speaks so honestly about Walker, about how terrible and terrifying it can be, that the reader can't help but be drawn in. I am glad that I read this story. Thank you, Mr. Brown, for sharing Walker with all of us. Five beautiful boys out of five.

2010-09-06T21:37:00.000-04:00

Get UR Freak On - The Remix

SuperFreakonomics
Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Harper Collins

As it happens, one of the very first books that I reviewed on this blog was Levitt and Dubner's Freakonomics. I may have mentioned at the time that I'm not a huge consumer of non-fiction. I often set out to read things in the spirit of improving my business acumen, however, I find that when it comes right down to it, I'm a geek and my non-fiction tastes run to the zany and obscure.

Well, thank goodness for Levitt and Dubner. SuperFreakonomics is as entertaining and as thought-provoking as its predecessor. The economic dynamic duo provide intriguing answers to great unasked questions like "why is a prostitute like a department store Santa?" I know -- how could I resist?

What's more, the chapter that outlines the commonality between Al Gore and Mount Pinatubo seriously has me considering suggesting this book to Yann Martel as one of his recommendations to Stephen Harper (see my entry from January of this year.) The Stevils (as I have decided to call them) suggest a solution to the pollution created by the Alberta tar sands which I think is bloody brilliant. I can't believe that there hasn't already been a call to action and I might just be doing some follow up research of my own. Maybe this is why I don't read more non-fiction -- I get so caught up in it that my mind doesn't have room for anything else.

SuperFreak is definitely worth of few hours of your time. It is consumable, engaging, and not always altogether believable which makes it a lot of fun. Three funkadelic stars out of five.

2010-09-06T21:00:00.003-04:00

Milton, I'm so sorry ...

The Amber Spyglass
Philip Pullman
Yearling

Okay, the final instalment of Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy was so bad, so confusing, and so utterly ridiculous that I'm flummoxed as to how to give it a review. I finished this book weeks ago -- more out of sheer stubbornness than anything else -- and still find that I have nothing to say.

Don't get me wrong -- my reasons for not liking this novel have nothing to do with the anti-religious overtones. I'm as much of a humanist as the next person and I didn't find the book offensive. I just thought it was stupid. And a little bit weird. Part of me thinks that the author was trying to invert/reinvent/problematize the theist world view that is expounded by Milton in Paradise Lost. Another part of me thinks that Pullman was trying to out-do Blake -- who himself tried to reinvigorate Milton in terms of Innocence and Experience. I think I must have fallen off the turnip truck a little too soon because the majority of this book sailed right over my head. It was a Whitbread award winner for goodness sake. What did I miss? Perhaps if one of you read it, and get it, you can explain it it me. Two Little Girls Lost out of five.

2010-08-25T22:41:00.000-04:00

Dear John

Mortal Causes
Ian Rankin
Orion

My dearest John,

What's up Buttercup? I've missed you! I know it has been forever since we have gotten together, but this week just isn't going to work for me. Thank you so much for the invitation -- I would love nothing better than to hang with you at the Fringe -- but client deliverables, home renovations, and some rather odd health challenges are all keeping me busy. Did I tell you that my new nickname is Ruby Splotches? Um, yeah. Let's just say I've had more attractive days.

But enough about me. I read in the paper that you've found yourself a new case. Are you sure you shouldn't get out of homicide? I actually resorted to calling Patience to track you down and she told me that you were having a "bit of trouble". I couldn't tell if she was talking about your relationship, or the fact that you asked her to leave the flat due to safety concerns. What the hell have you gotten yourself into now? The paper mentioned that the kid you found is an illegitimate son of that mobster Big Ger Cafferty. Didn't he just escape from jail? Is that why you and Patience cleared out? Ugh .. so many questions, so little time.

When I struck out with Patience, I tried Brian at the station and he said you'd been seconded to the SCS -- aren't they the "pricks" you were telling me about that deal with terrorism, organized crime, and all that "fun" policeman stuff? No wonder I worry about you so.

Okay, I guess I should sign off. Drop me a note to let me know how it all works out and when we can reschedule our date. I checked out the programme for this year's line up and there is a show that we must see. Robinson Crusoe the Lost Jedi Knight. Sounds bad enough to be fantastic, right? I heard it only got three stars, but who doesn't want to see Robinson Crusoe "Star Wars" style. Hah!

love you,

DES xo

2010-08-23T12:12:00.000-04:00

Lost in the Barrens

Late Nights on Air
Elizabeth Hay
McClelland

One of the weirder things about coming from the Great White North is the fact that most Canadians (something like 90% of the population) actually live within about 125 miles of the US border. Globally, we are known as a winter nation and sure -- we do have polar bears, tundra and the midnight sun. I would be willing to bet, however, that more Canadians have travelled to the Caribbean than to north of 60. And that is just so damn sad.

Set in Yellowknife in 1975, Late Nights on Air tells the stories of the staff at CFYK -- the local CBC radio station. Like most radio people, this particular bunch of characters have some definite quirks. Like the landscape in which it is set, the story is unhurried, stark, beautiful, surprising, unforgiving, and above all else, inevitable. This was definitely not the best book that I have read all year, but if you have ever been to a northern climate, you will recognize some truths in the writing.

My only criticism of Late Nights on Air is that it seemed, at times, to lack momentum. I can't decide if Hay's narrative technique was intentional (a loaded word, I know) or happenstance. Either way, it made for an interesting, if not urgent, read. Three wandering grizzlies out of five.

2010-08-10T08:39:00.000-04:00

Summer Lovin'

A Vintage Affair
Isabel Wolff
Harper Collins

Okay, haters, er, I mean loyal blog readers ... I have an admission to make that just might provoke images of the apocalypse. Prepare yourselves. Ready? I bought a Kindle a few weeks ago. An even bigger admission? I LOVE IT!!!

I never in a million years thought that I would become a fan of the e-reader. I'm a committed bibliophile, for goodness sake, and I have shelves, cupboards, cabinets and nightstands brimming with books that have already been loved or are waiting to be read. The smoothness of a cover between my fingers, the weight of a novel in my hand, or that delicious feeling that I get when I manage to read a 800 page tome without ever cracking the spine just thrill me. Utterly. The act of reading is as much a part of the experience as the words on the page. Or so I thought.

A Vintage Affair was my first e-read and I absolutely adored it. Set in Hempstead, Phoebe Swift, a former Sotheby's clothing specialist decides to open a vintage clothing store and in the process, works through some of her own baggage from the past. Dealing with the death of a close friend and a failed relationship, Phoebe throws herself into her work and forges new ties that help her face her past. This is a lovely story -- let's call it chick lit with substance -- and I highly recommend it as a solid summer read.

In fact, I had been curiously attracted to the cover of this novel a number of times in the bookstore, but refused to buy it because I didn't want to pay trade paper back prices for "chick lit." The Kindle edition was much cheaper and, well, I found the reading experience to be completely different, but curiously, no less enjoyable. I guess once you get lost in a good book the rest just falls away. A Vintage Affair gets three cupcake dresses out of five.

2010-08-05T22:53:00.003-04:00

Subtle? Are you kidding me?

The Subtle Knife
Philip Pullman
Yearling

Part of me wonders if Pullman (or his editors) had his tongue planted firmly in cheek when he came up with the title of this novel. There is nothing subtle about this book -- it is absolutely over-the-top and choc-a-bloc full of religious imagery and poetic allusion. Milton, Blake, Calvinistic and Catholic interpretations of doctrine/dogma -- oh yes, this book has it all. There must be a lot of brainy twelve year olds out there cause that's where I found this in the bookstore.

The Subtle Knife picks right up where The Golden Compass leaves off. Lyra is introduced to a new character, the aptly named Will, and together, the two of them travel to new worlds in search of Lyra's answers. While the narrative conforms to the conventions of the fantasy genre, there is so much more going on in this novel. Part me thinks that the other is writing a response, of sorts, to Milton's Paradise Lost. Angels figure prominently in this novel and it is clear that Lyra's father, the Lord Asriel, is the new Satan. Another part thinks that this is no more than a classic bildungsroman and the coming of age of both Lyra and Will is representative of how everyone must grow up.

While I can't say that I really enjoyed this novel as much as the first, it did make me think. And, I might add, has me seriously considering digging out my Milton textbook from university and turning the pages of Paradise Lost. The Subtle Knife gets two stardust nights out of five.

2010-07-28T21:31:00.000-04:00

Simply Lyra-cal

The Golden Compass
Philip Pullman
Knopf

A couple of months ago, my boss and I decided we needed a break from work and as often happens, we started to talk about books. I had recently sent home the Cassandra Clare novels for her daughters to read and in return, she shared some of her favourites with me. Near the top of her list was the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. Of course, I rushed right out and bought the first instalment and put it proudly on my shelf. "Oh yes," I said to myself, "this will definitely be my next read." Hah! Somewhere along the way I got distracted -- I think it was by Dostoevsky. Anyway, I rediscovered my purchase last week and here we are.

Let me start by saying that I can totally understand why the Catholic Church felt threatened enough to ban these books in their schools. The first novel in the series, The Golden Compass, tells the story of Lyra, a little girl who finds herself at the centre of an epic drama that spans dimensions. It has all the elements of classic fantasy -- talking creatures, magic, and a heroine who undertakes a journey of self-discovery. Revolutionary, right? Okay, not so much, but the obvious borrowing from the works of both William Blake and John Milton (and what the author has done with Paradise Lost, in particular) might just be enough to start people questioning. Well, that and the overt slams to organized religion.

Since reading this novel, I have actually completed the second in the series and am now on the third. As the stories progress, they become incredibly didactic. So much so, in fact, that I'm not even sure I will finish the third installment. That said, The Golden Compass gets four shimmering constellations out of five. Lyra is definitely a heroine to be admired.

2010-07-20T09:32:00.001-04:00

Cetaceous Sea Slime

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters
Quirk Books

If you cast your minds way back to December, you'll recall that I selected Pride and Prejudice and Zombies at the D-E-S Book of the Year. As I stated then, it definitely wasn't the best book that I had read in the past season, but it was one that I really, truly enjoyed. I loved the idea of taking something canonical and adding utter ridiculousness to it. The fact that it didn't really take away from Austen's story delighted me entirely and when I found out that Quirk was going to come out with another volume in the series, I thought "why the hell not?"

Sadly, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters is not as well done as its predecessor. In addition to pillaging Austen, the author borrows from the work of H.G. Wells, introduces elements of the Gothic novel that transforms Austen's mannered romance into something entirely different, and generally injects such an over-the-top weirdness to the novel that it was, at times, a bit distracting.

Don't get me wrong, the portrayal of Colonel Brandon as a visually abhorrent facially tentacled sea monster is vastly entertaining. The rampaging narwhals, the man-eating jelly fish and the ever-so-elusive fang beast all make for great, bizarre, fun. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but SS&SM isn't quite as, uh, subtle as PP&Z. Yes, I just referred to a book of manners about zombies and ninjas as subtle. Use that, dear reader, as a guide when deciding to embark on this particular voyage. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters gets three giant lobsters out of five.

2010-07-04T20:34:00.000-04:00

A different kind of Harlequin

The Golden City
John Twelve Hawks
Doubleday Canada

The Golden City is the last book of the Fourth Realm ttrilogy by the reclusive, off-the-grid writer John Twelve Hawks. Like The Dark River, it continues to explore the themes introduced in the first novel of the series, and also like The Dark River, it does not up to expectation.

To read the publisher's blurb, you would think that the novel will take the reader on a fast-paced, literary journey that is part techno- thriller, part philosophical treatise, and part fantasy. Unfortunately, the plot is predictable, the philosophy unclear, and the fantasy -- well, let's just say that Twelve Hawks was a little too Nora Roberts and not enough Neal Stephenson. Two tired Harlequin warriors out of five.

2010-06-28T22:50:00.000-04:00

Cougar Romance

Black Hills
Nora Roberts
Berkeley Mass Market

Let me start off by saying that the "Cougar" in the title of this post refers neither to me, nor to my dating habits. It does, however, refer to the major preoccupation of one of the leads in this story. Boys, you might as well stop reading now ... if you see the name Nora Roberts in the header, then undoubtedly I have fallen prey to the species known as the trashy romance. I promise to review something way more testosterone worthy next time around.

Okay, so back to the book. Black Hills is a love story set in one of the Dakotas. Cooper, an eleven year old city kid, is dumped at his grandparents house for the summer and he is totally miserable. His misses his friends, his apartment in New York, and his Yankee's season tickets. As it turns out, his only solace is his Gameboy -- the guilt gift purchased by his dad before sending Coop into exile. One day a couple of weeks into his visit, his Grandma and Grandpa take him over to the neighbours' for dinner. Coop meets 10-year old Lil and falls head over heels in love. They are destined for one another. Well, until he dumps her while she is away at college. Just like a man, isn't it?

Flash forward to today. Coop returns to the Dakota ranch to help his ailing grandpa with the family business. He and Lil have only occasionally run into each other over the years so the, uh, tension is rather high. Add to the fact that Lil suddenly becomes the focus of a crazed Sioux stalker, and well, we have lots of reasons for old feelings to resurface.

As far as romance novels go, this wasn't awful. I read it in a few hours and it was a good distraction from a rather crazy week. I'm not going to recommend it though -- she has written much better stuff with a lot more thoughts. Two crazed cougars out of five.

2010-06-12T18:31:00.002-04:00

In the Beginning …

Study in Scarlet
Arthur Conan Doyle
Penguin Books

Many moons ago (that is, the summer following my graduation from university,) I decided that I would spend my non-working time reading for pleasure. I’ll never forget that first book – Maugham’s Of Human Bondage – and how it felt to luxuriate over the words. That summer I also read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles (not to be confused with Tess of the D’Ubervilles – it was a busy summer, what I can say?) It was my first Sherlock Holmes mystery and I recall thinking that the writing was interesting enough to read more. For whatever reason, I never did. Until now.

A Study in Scarlet is actually the first Holmes novel and as such, introduces us to the backgrounds of the quirky detective and his trusty companion. What was most surprising was the structure of the novel. Holmes actually answers the question “whodunit?” halfway through the text. The rest of the novel tells the back story of Holmes’ suspect. And what a story it is! Mormons, wagon trains, murders, international travel – heck, there was even a mention of St. Petersburg! The perfect holiday read, A Study in Scarlet gets four watching the detectives out of five.

2010-06-12T18:24:00.001-04:00

Fool’s Gold

Fool
Christopher Moore
Harper

You have to love an author who is brave enough to eff with the classics. Moore’s Fool is an off-the-wall, non-re-telling of Shakespeare’s King Lear. Often zany and always funny, this tragic-comedy is narrated by Pocket, Lear’s Black Fool and erstwhile companion of the princess Cordelia.

The plot is complicated – Lear, an aged and sorrowful king, decides that it is time to divide his kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, etcetera) among his daughters. The allotment of the realm will be determined by the girls themselves. He has asked each of them to publicly declare their love for him and be judged by their words. Sycophants and flatterers to the bitter end, Regan and Goneril lie through their teeth and speak of their deep and abiding love for their father. Lear is well pleased. Cordelia determines to speak the truth and admits to a deep filial love and nothing more. Lear decides, the kingdom is divided in twain, and Cordelia is exiled.

Enter the Fool. A true jackanapes, Pocket incites civil war, hangs with Macbeth’s witches, gets visited by a ghost, kills a nasty steward, takes care of a Natural named Drool, and recounts the innumerable times where he had occasion to shag Goneril and Regan rotten. As if that weren’t quite enough, he also introduces the reader to a wonderfully inventive swear word. Ready for it? Fuckstockings! I’ll be saying that for weeks!

While I didn’t love this book as much as Moore’s Lamb, I did enjoy it immensely. The numerous references to the Bard’s other works kept it interesting and I think I counted at least six or seven – maybe more. Three rollicking bollocks out of five.

2010-06-12T18:14:00.001-04:00

Ditched Again

The Judas Strain
James Rollins
Harper

Last Thursday, I left hearth and home and headed overseas. One of my friends was getting married in Germany and that was all the excuse I needed to plan a bit of a jaunt. Of course, it wouldn’t be a holiday without a companion, so I invited Commander Pierce along for the ride. You remember him, right? Tall, dreamy, and oh-so-dedicated to the Sigma Force? Sigh. What is it they say about best laid plans?

Now that it is all over, I guess it’s okay to dish. Gray, as you know, just can’t seem to stay out of trouble. This time he and the gang were involved in some sort of bio-terrorism plot, so it was off to Southeast Asia to find the source (and hopefully cure) for this “new” disease. I say “new” because it turns out that there was a link between Gray’s case and the mysterious disappearance of most of Marco Polo’s returning fleet. Apparently, when Polo left China to return to Italy, he led a flotilla of sixteen ships. When he got home, there was only two left.

All that to say that I got ditched. It’s okay though. The wedding was beautiful and I think the bride and groom are the type of couple (unlike Gray and I) who will make it through anything. I’m now in St. Petersburg, sans Gray, and having a fantastic time. In fact, I’m at the Telegraph Pub enjoying a pint of maiden’s piss, er, I mean Harp, right now. Aside from the kitsch, nothing in the joint is in English and surprisingly, it hasn’t been a problem so far. The pub? Oh, it gets a three out of five stars.

2010-05-30T22:45:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday Daddio

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest
Quercus
Stieg Larsson

My dad's birthday was on Friday and I find that I miss him terribly. It will soon be a year since he passed away and not a day goes by that my heart doesn't ache for him. Losing a parent sucks no matter how old you are and I would give almost anything to have him back. Sigh. No one said life was fair.

So, I'm wondering if it is any sort of coincidence that I picked this weekend to read the final installment Larsson's Millennium series. Honestly, this is crime writing at its best and almost everyone to whom I have introduced these novels have asked to borrow the second and third books.

In Hornet's Nest, Lisbeth Salander is recovering in the hospital from a gunshot wound to her head. Her treatment at the hands of the Swedish government is a secret that cannot get out and the Zalachenko club within the secret police conspire to make the story go away. Salander is charged with the attempted murder of her father (she did, after all, take an axe to his face,) and she must construct her defense from within her isolated hospital room with only her lawyer to help her. Well, that and maybe a little bit of outside help from Mikael Blomkvist.

I half expected this novel to be quite slow and plodding. Most of the action happened in the previous two books and the purpose of this volume was to tie up the loose ends. While I'm willing to admit that it could have been as a result of my mood, I devoured this story and read it in huge hungry chunks. If I'm sad that Salander and Mikael will no longer be a part of my life, I'm happy that in a few years, I can re-read these wonders and enjoy them all over again. If it were only so easy with real people. I miss you Dad. xok.

2010-05-24T21:55:00.002-04:00

To Russia with Love

The Last Watch
Sergei Lukyanenko
Doubleday Canada

In preparation for my trip to St. Petersburg, I thought that I should get in the mood by reading some Russian literature. The options are pretty impressive -- Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov -- you can't go wrong reading anything from that group. Once I got about a hundred pages or so into Anna Karenina, I decided that I might be better served if I were to read it when I am overseas. I'm going to have a lot of airport time and AK will be just the ticket.

Of course, that left me scrambling for another Russian to read. A quick trip to the bookstore and I was happy to learn that Sergei Lukyanenko actually published a follow up to the Night Watch series. In this episode, Anton is sent to Edinburgh to investigate the murder of a young Russian tourist. Normally, this kind of assignment would be beneath the notice of a Higher Other such as Anton. The tourist, however, was drained of all his blood and the Watches realize that they have a rogue Vampire on their hands.

Structured a little bit differently from the other novels in the series, The Last Watch again explores the relative notions of Good versus Evil. Anton is a cynic, a skeptic, a believer, and an optimist. If you're asking yourself how he can be all four at the same time, then you've just hit on one of the major themes of the novel. Three thinking wizards out of five.

2010-05-12T23:38:00.001-04:00

Location, location, location

A Reliable Wife
Robert Goolrick
Algonquin

When I travel, one of the things that I inevitably find the time to do is ... drum roll please ... go to a bookstore. Hah! I can tell I surprised no one with that comment. Would you find it more interesting if I told you that I always visit three "sections" on these jaunts? Yep -- I check out the bestseller wall and/or table, the "staff picks" section, and the "local reads" area. Of the three, my favourite is usually the staff picks. I especially like those stores where mini-reviews are hand-written on recipe cards and thumb-tacked to the shelves.

Every once in a while, however, I manage to find a gem in the local reads section of the store. That is exactly what happened on my last trip to Chicago. It was the title that caught my eye, but it was the fact that the story was set in early 1900s Wisconsin that grabbed my imagination.

Goolrick's The Reliable Wife is a beautiful story about love, hope, passion, and despair. Catherine Land, the novel's inscrutable heroine, answers an advertisement in the newspaper. A prosperous gentleman, Ralph Truitt, is looking for a reliable wife. Catherine responds by saying she is honest, simple, and the daughter of a missionary. In reality, she is scheming and complex and a high-priced whore. In fact, she is looking to marry Truitt and to leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow. Arsenic is her weapon of choice.

The story unfolds in a most unexpected way and Catherine ends up experiencing passion with a complex man who has secrets of his own. I really enjoyed this novel and would recommend it for a rainy weekend when you need to get lost in a book. Three private railcars out of five.

2010-05-09T22:10:00.002-04:00

The jokes I could make about beavers ...

Cherished
Elizabeth Thornton
Zebra Historical Romance

No disrespect to the author, but I am having a very difficult time finding anything relevant to say about this book. Part of the problem is that I'm in the midst of reading Anna Karenina and while I am only a few chapters in, it is already consuming most of the thinking space in my brain.  The other issue is that I have actually read this book before . The fact that it took me almost 100 pages to recognize the novel as a "been there, done that" doesn't say that much about me. Or about the writing.  How sad.

So, here's the plot ... Leon has loved Emily from the time they were both children.   A little bit older than his true love, he understood that it was not proper to have impure thoughts about one so young. To deal with his feelings, he was mean to her and took every opportunity he could to torture and tease. When Emily finally turned sixteen and had her coming-out ball, she witnessed Leon in the throes of passion with another woman and became quite distraught. He followed her, a scene ensued, and they ended up marrying. Agreeing with her guardian that Emily was too young to be a wife in the true sense, Leon took off to America to make his fortune in the fur trade.

Flash forward five years. Leon returns and takes Emily as his own.   There is danger afoot, however, and Leon decides to take his bride to America. After the requisite amount of drama, (which includes voyageurs, Metis, and a bizarre love triangle) the couple confess their love for each other and all is right with the world.  Is it any wonder that I forgot this book? One grizzled fur trader out of five.

2010-05-05T23:13:00.002-04:00

She wouldn't have a Willy or a Sam

Wolf Hall
Hilary Mantel
HarperCollins

Winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize, Wolf Hall is definitely the best novel that I have read in the past year. Told from the perspective of Thomas Cromwell (but curiously, not narrated in the first person), the book is almost written as a series of tableaux vivants that describe the comings and goings of all the major players at the Tudor court of Henry VIII.

The real story, however, focuses on the "upstart" Thomas Cromwell. The son of a blacksmith and sometime alehouse proprietor, Cromwell manages to escape his low birth and somehow become one of the most influential legislators and religious reformers of the 16th Century. Eventually rising to the position of Henry VIII's "right hand man," it is clear that Mantel's Cromwell has more in common with Machiavelli than just fluency in Italian. From the outset of this story, Cromwell is observing, guiding, and taking advantage wherever and whenever possible. He is the embodiment of Castiglione's courtier and Machiavelli's Prince. Sigh. The perfect man.

Despite the fact Cromwell is definitely the star of the show, Martel's other characterizations are equally interesting. She made me hate Thomas More, adore King Henry, and absolutely despise all of the scheming Boleyns. If you are at all interested in historical fiction, and willing to be surprised by a new twist on old territory, you should definitely read this book. Five burning heretics out of five.

2010-04-25T19:05:00.001-04:00

Not so Final Fantasy

Shadowrise
Tad Williams
DAW

Okay ... so non-hardcore fantasy fans can stop reading now. This entry is only for the geeks.

OMG -- Williams has done it again. Shadowrise is the third installment in what was supposed to have been the Shadowmarch trilogy. Like Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, however, dude has more plot than pages and the final book as been split into two. I'm not complaining and will happily add the fourth and final novel to my Christmas list.

Back to Shadowrise -- this book has it all. Magic, heroes, battles, swords, heroines, gods, poets, dwarves and lots and lots of mayhem. I think Williams might now be in the lead for my favourite fantasy write of all time. Yes -- it was that good. Five dashing princes out of five.

2010-04-06T21:18:00.000-04:00

Return of the Mack

The Black Book
Ian Rankin
Orion

Call me lame, but I hooked up with John a couple of weeks ago. He was on a "break" from his girlfriend and I figured, what the hell -- what could it hurt? Sure, he's a little disorganized, slightly misanthropic, and still has a more than questionable relationship with the bottle, but he's also funny, wickedly smart, and ever so manly. I like manly.

As usual, we didn't spend too much time together. He was working a case that was more personal than professional and it took up quite a bit of his time. Apparently, one of his constables was put in the hospital and for some reason John thought the attack was related to a fire that he investigated about five years ago. Turns out that the fire was an attempt to cover up a murder and you know my boy John ... can't leave a sudoku unsolved let alone a homicide.

On the upside, we did spend some good time together and he actually made me dinner one night. I'd give it a three out of five in terms of effort. On the downside, John has decided to get back together with his girlfriend. Frankly, I'm not sure what the attraction is between the two of them. They are always fighting and/or trying to avoid one other. The make up sex must be spectacular. I'll let you know if I see him again.

2010-04-04T21:32:00.000-04:00

Immortal Beloved

Tuck Everlasting
Natalie Babbitt
Square Fish

What would it be like to live forever? Would it be a curse or a blessing? This is just one of the questions posed by Babbitt's 1975 classic Tuck Everlasting.

When the story opens we are introduced to Winnie Foster, an eleven-year only child growing up in the late 1800s in America. It is the dog days of August and Winne is oppressed by both the languid heat and her over protective parents. School is still weeks away, she is bored and she is considering running away.

One morning with adventure in mind, she wanders into the wood that is on her property and comes across a beautiful young man who is sitting by a large tree and quenching his thirst in a spring. Long story short, the spring is essentially the fountain of youth and the young man, Jesse, and his family haven't aged since drinking from it over eighty years ago. To protect the secret, Winnie gets kidnapped by Jesse and his family. Eventually, Winne has a decision to make -- should she drink from the spring and live forever or should she continue to grow, become a young woman, have children and eventually die? That's a lot of thinking for one so young. I'll not tell you how the book ends.

Without a doubt, this is the best story that I have read all year and if I were in charge of such things, it would find its way into hands of every little girl in the country. Please please please read this. Five hot summer days out of five.

2010-04-04T21:12:00.000-04:00

The Surreal Life

Fall
Colin McAdam
Penguin

I finished reading Fall on a Sunday afternoon about three weeks ago. I tried to write about the book later that evening, but found that I didn't have the words. I still don't seem to have them. This is one of those novels that disturbs you on a fundamental level and once read, it is hard to get it out of your head.

The story opens at St. Ebury's -- a posh Ottawa boarding school. Noel and Julius are roommates attending their senior year. Noel is the son of a Canadian diplomat who is stationed in Australia. He is quiet, obsessive, and unbeknownst to the rest of the school, a violent sociopath. Julius is the son of the American ambassador to Canada. He's tall, beautiful, athletic, and is the type of boy the Noel wishes he could be. Fall, the character who lends the book one aspect of its title, is Julius' girlfriend and part of Noel's obsession.

I'm not sure why this book bothered me so much. Admittedly, the subject was a little disturbing and it is clear from the opening passages that something is, well, not quite right. Perhaps it was the narrative structure that threw me for a loop. Noel, Julius and Julius' driver all take turns telling portions of the story and it is Noel's narration that is the most clear. Or is it? It has been weeks since I read this book and it is still taking up space in a corner of my mind. The author either did a very good job, or something more is going on and I just need to figure out what it is. Three pensive stars out of five.

2010-03-07T21:40:00.000-05:00

Into Thin Air

The Smoke Thief
Shana Abé
Bantam

I'm sitting in front of the television trying to generate the enthusiasm to write this post. I've been to the gym, I've gone for a walk and I've even checked my work email all in the spirit of procrastination.

Okay ... I'll just spit it out. This book was terrible. I'm not sure who gave the author the idea to mix a regency style romance with dragon-lore, but she probably should have backed away. Here's the premise ... somewhere in the English countryside there is a closed society of almost-humans descended from a race of jewel-loving shape shifters who are, of course, dragons. No one is allowed to leave the tribe and when someone does try to escape they are hunted,returned and punished and/or killed.

The heroine of our story, Clarissa, is one such escapee. On her seventeenth birthday, she learns that she can shape shift (unusual in clan women) so she fakes her own death and moves to the city. Fast forward a decade. Now a notorious jewel-thief, Clarissa's clandestine activities attract the notice of the dragon mean and the hunt begins. The rest of the story is so predictable that I won't bore you with the details. I promise to never read anything by this author again. One golden dragon out of five.

2010-02-23T21:26:00.000-05:00

A Twofer. Fangtastic!

City of Ashes
City of Glass
Cassandra Clare
Simon & Schuster

Okay, so I'm going to cheat a little. I was on holiday a week or so ago and I started my vacation by reading the second installment of Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments trilogy. The flight to St. Lucia is rather long (not that I'm complaining -- I would totally go back), but had the plane gone down, I probably wouldn't have noticed. City of Ashes was as good, if not better than City of Bones and I was totally hooked. So much so, that I finished the novel before we disembarked.

As you might have noticed from the entries in the past week, I did a lot of other reading while on vacation. Is there anything better than a hammock, a palm tree, a good book, and an even better daiquiri? I think not. Stupidly, I had decided not to bring City of Glass along for the ride since it is only out in hardback. If you have read any of my earliest posts, you'll know that I have very specific rules about what constitutes good plane fare.

So, I waited. And wow -- City of Glass was totally worth it. Even though it is classified as young adult fiction, the Mortal Instruments series is much like the Harry Potter body of work in that it is consumable by all ages. I understand that the author is currently writing a "prequel" to the events in this series and as horrific as it sounds, I'm actually looking forward to it. The Mortal Instruments gets four singing swords out of five.

2010-02-21T22:14:00.000-05:00

Pay it Forward

Three Cups of Tea
Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin
Penguin

No matter how you look at it, Greg Mortensen is a hero. Here is a man who, while climbing down from K2, gets lost and ends up in some remote Pakistani mountain village. While there, he recovers from his mountaineering ordeal and decides to give back to the people who took him in by building a school.

He returns to the States and starts to raise the required funds. This is a dedicated man. While he doesn't really have a clue as to what to do and how to do it, he has the passion and determination to move it forward. At the end of the day, it takes him a couple of years to deliver on his promise -- he raises the money, navigates the hardships of getting something done in a country plagued by war, corruption, and poverty, and manages to mitigate the challenges of a harsh geography. He is a hero because he doesn't ever stop. He has built more schools, educated more kids, and expanded his program to include community ateliers. He has also taken his initiative into additional countries. Today, he is building schools in both Pakistan and Afghanistan and he is trying to bring peace through education.

Please read this book if for no other reason than to prove to yourself that one person can make a difference. This is activism at its best and Dr. Greg is definitely an inspiration.

2010-02-21T21:41:00.000-05:00

An Extraordinary Gentleman

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson
Premier Classics -- Knopf

A few weeks ago, I had one of those nights where no matter what I did, sleep would not come. Usually when I find myself in that situation, I turn on the radio and listen to whatever programming happens to be on the CBC. Unfortunately, that didn't work, so I got up, went downstairs, and randomly pulled out a movie. My pick was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. If you haven't seen it, it is a wonderfully crappy movie based on a comic that takes characters from Victorian literature and makes then into a sort of Justice League of the World.

My plan worked in that I was asleep about thirty minutes in, but it did get me to thinking. Of all the characters profiled in that movie, I had never read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. I figured they must be classics for a reason, so I set about remedying the situation.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is probably best known to modern-day readers for its interesting portrayal of a dual/split personality. Dr. Jekyll develops a potion that brings out his dark side and comments that it is only when he is Mr. Hyde, that he feels entirely free. His moral self is quite restricted and he slowly, almost inexorably, loses control to his baser side.

It is worth nothing that the other stories included with this novella were equally well-written and were as gripping as Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde. In fact, I enjoyed the stories so much, that I might actually go back and dig out a copy of Treasure Island. I haven't read that since I was a child and I have a feeling that I probably missed the boat. Pun intended. Three dastardly villains out of five.

2010-02-21T20:46:00.002-05:00

Any subject is good for opera if the composer feels it so intently he must sing it out.

Bel Canto
Ann Patchett
Harper Collins

Loosely inspired by a real-life 1996 hostage taking in Lima, Peru, Patchett's novel takes place in an unnamed South American city. A couple hundred diplomats, businessmen and foreign dignitaries have gathered to celebrate the birthday of a Japanese captain of industry. The Japanese businessman, Katsumi Hokosawa, has been lured to the party by the promise of an appearance by Roxanne Coss, one of the world's best sopranos.

As she finishes her last piece, the lights go out. When power is restored, the room has been taken over by a group of young guerrillas. They have come to kidnap the country's president only to belatedly realize that he has not attended the party. To make a long, beautiful story short, the guerrillas release most of the hostages, but they keep the men and Roxane Coss. Over the next few months, relationships develop between the captors and the hostages and even among the hostages themselves. Roxane falls for the gentle, opera-loving Hokosawa and he, who has a wife and children back in Japan, lets it happen.

I'm not going to tell you more about this book as I don't want to spoil it for those of you who decide to read it for yourselves. Like the operas it sometimes describes, the book is lyrical, lovely, emotional, and consuming. Four soaring arias out of five.

2010-02-20T22:01:00.001-05:00

Angels from the Realms of Gory

City of Bones
Cassandra Clare
Simon & Schuster

A few months ago, I wrote a fairly scathing review of the last three books in the Twilight series. Aside from the dismal writing, my main issue with Meyer's work was the fact that the main character, Bella Swan, was flat, uninteresting, and almost always defined by her relationship with her vampire boyfriend.  While the dangerous relationship had definite appeal, Bella was horrifically dull and I was glad when I turned the last page.

Not so with City of Bones. I desperately wanted this book to continue. Set in present-day New York, the novel introduces us to Clary, a bright, beautiful, artistic girl who likes to go clubbing with her BFF, Simon. One night while they are out dancing, Clary's world changes forever when she sees the Nephilim -- or Shadowhunters -- who are protecting the city from the threats of vampires, werewolves and faeries.  The thing is, humans aren't supposed to be able to see these creatures and that is our first hint that Clary isn't as normal as she seems.

This book was a fantastic read -- there's teenage angst, unrequited love, jealousy, horror, blood and gore, and definitely lots of intrigue. Like all good fantasy novels, it also explores some pretty serious themes such as racism, homophobia, class inequality, and social justice. If you liked Twilight, I would suggest that you give this one a whirl.  The characters are more fully drawn, the writing is a hundred times better, and you might just fall in love with an bad-boy named Jace. Four shining swords out of five.

2010-02-12T22:31:00.000-05:00

Flash in the Paan

Flashman
George MacDonald Fraser
Harper Collins

OMG. I am soooooo behind on this blog. Since finishing Flashman almost two weeks ago, I have managed to read quite a number of books. So many, in fact, that my head is absolutely cluttered with thoughts and I'm having some difficulty recalling what it was, exactly, that I hated about this novel.

Let me see ... oh yeah, the N word. Fraser uses it quite liberally and it sort of got on my nerves. Set in Victorian England, the novel's eponymous hero, Harry Flashman, is kicked out of Rugby for public drunkenness and convinces his father to buy him his colours. Once in the army, he is sent to India and then on to Afghanistan where he gets into heaps of trouble. He's a complete cad, a total coward, and aside from his handsome frame and knack for languages, has no redeeming qualities. Because there is an entire series dedicated to Flashman, I thought, mistakenly, that the writing would be good and the character intriguing. Not so on either count. This is one example of Grit Lit that I should have left on shelf. One begruding dueling pistol out of five.

2010-01-29T21:23:00.002-05:00

Bueller ... Bueller?

What is Stephen Harper Reading?
Yann Martel
Random House

Dear Mr. Harper,

So what is it with that Yann Martel guy, anyway? I mean, where does he get off sending you a book every couple of weeks and telling you what you should, as the prime minister of our great nation, be reading? Not that you probably have the cycles anyway ... I hear that you're a pretty busy guy these days, what with proroguing parliament and all. Oh, yeah, running away from the Afghan detainee controversy must also take up a great deal of your time. When would you find the hours to sit and read something that could expand your mind?

That said, you have to admit that he writes you some pretty amazing letters. His observations on great literary works and how you could directly apply some of the ideas to your day-to-day job is both thought-provoking and thoughtful. I especially like his idea of stillness. That, in itself, is worth thinking about.

Well, it's a shame that you haven't been able to respond more fully to any of his notes. Your aides seem to do a hit-and-miss job of monitoring your mail. I think at last count he had sent you seventy or so books, but only a few thank you notes had made it his way. What I'd like to know is what you're going to do with your library when you eventually have to give up office. Will you take it with you? I hope so. I wouldn't want all of those words to go to waste.

Yours very sincerely,

The Dog-Eared Soul

2010-01-04T23:00:00.005-05:00

Strange Meeting

The Cellist of Sarajevo
Steven Galloway
Knopf Canada

Reading this book made me very sad. One day, during the siege of Sarajevo, a mortar shell lands in a market and kills twenty two people. A cellist, who witnesses this tragedy from his upstairs window, mourns the city's loss by playing Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor every day for twenty two days in the middle of the street. His performance is heard by everyone including Arrow, the sniper who is sent to protect him, Dragan, the baker, who dodges bullets on his way to work, and Kenan, the father who risks his life to get water for his family and neighbours.

The novel, which weaves the narratives of each of these characters into a gritty and gripping tale of war, reminds the reader about the power of art. People come from all over the city to hear the cellist play and in his music they hear beauty, hope and humanity. Contrast this with the hopelessness and nameless of the war. Notably, the author avoids using "descriptive" terms such as Bosnian, Serb or even Muslim. It's just the "us" of the city's inhabitants against the "them" of the hills. The cellist is positioned as one of "us" and the enemy sniper, who is sent to kill him, is one of "them." The sniper blurs the line, however, when he fails to make the hit and instead closes his eyes to soak up the beauty of the music. Arrow kills him anyway. War is so awful.

Suffice it to say that while I found this to be a difficult read (and by "difficult" I mean emotional) it is definitely Wilfred Owen worthy. Four achingly beautiful adagios out of five.

2010-01-02T20:22:00.003-05:00

Tall, Dark and Handsome

Sandstorm
James Rollins
HarperCollins

I've got a new boyfriend -- his name is Painter Crowe and he works for some US governmental special forces agency (DARPA). He's a lean, mean fighting machine, speaks a whole bunch of languages, and best of all, is a total brainiac. My boy holds a doctorate. I know ... how did I ever find such a paragon?

Well, to be honest, my dad introduced us. He met Painter earlier in the year and raved about him. Unfortunately, I was a little distracted with my friend John Rebus -- you know, the guy with the commitment issues? Anyway, Painter and I met up shortly before New Year's Eve and for me, it was love at first sight. We didn't have much time -- he jetted off the to UK to investigate some mysterious explosion at the British Museum and now I understand he's somewhere in the Middle East. Oman, I think. Anyway, I hope to hear from him when he gets home. I know, I know -- I have to stop dating international men of mystery -- it's almost becoming routine. Our night out, however, was pretty exciting and he was such a good kisser. At least 3.5 out of five. I let you know when/if we happen to hook up again.

2009-12-28T22:42:00.001-05:00

Three Cheers for the Gruesomes ...

Would it surprise you to learn that I had a very difficult time justifying my pick for the D-E-S book of the year? It's true. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was not the "best" book that I had read all year. It wasn't the funniest, the most touching, nor was it the most thought provoking. It was, however, the most entertaining and as such, worked its way to the top of my gift list.

That said, as good as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was, it was not the only book that I shared with my friends. For the boys in my life, I chose Andrew Davidson's The Gargoyle. Narrated by a drug-addled narcissist , The Gargoyle is a "male" version of The Time Traveler's Wife. It is a love story that transcends time and place and takes the reader through the depths of hell in a way that will remind you of Dante. In short, it is a good tale and I would highly recommend it for a wintry afternoon.

Happy reading! I wish you and your loved ones all the best for a joyful and prosperous 2010. May your inner light guide your way.

2009-12-27T21:11:00.005-05:00

Renaissance Men

The Book of Unholy Mischief
Elle Newmark
Atria Books

It would seem that I am in a bit of a rut. It might be payback for all the fantastic books that I read earlier in the year, but my last few selections have left me a little underwhelmed.  Then again, maybe it's not the books -- I've been trying to re-connect with my inner Pollyanna and the glad game has proven to be a bit of a challenge. Could it be that I'm not in the mood to read these days? Hmmm ...

So, The Book of Unholy Mischief is sort of like a 15th century DaVinci Code. The hero of the narrative is Luciano -- a street urchin turned kitchen boy who comes to be a chef's apprentice in the kitchen of the Venetian doge.   At the centre of the novel are the Gnostic Gospels -- a series of books that are wanted by powerful men for a variety of reasons. The Church wants them so they can maintain their power and combat the idea of the "god within." Other people believe the books hold the secrets of alchemy and eternal life.  Luciano's maestro is one of the guardians of this knowledge and, well, you can predict the rest.

On the upside, the author did provide the reader with some rich descriptions of early renaissance Venice.  Now if only there had been a more imaginative plot... One bud of garlic out of five.

2009-12-13T22:54:00.000-05:00

Is that you, Obi-Wan?

Long Way Round
Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman
Sphere

Well, let me start out by saying that I think our friend Ewan should probably stick to acting. Writing, as evidenced by this travelogue, is definitely not his forte. If you were to ask me for three adjectives that best describe this work, I'd probably pick "insipid," "navel-gazing," and "poorly-written." So much for international bestseller.

For those of you who don't know the back story, a few years ago, Ewan McGregor and a fellow motorcycle-nut, Charley Boorman, decided that they would like to take the trip of a lifetime and bike their way from London to New York. They were going to take the "long way round" by crossing Europe, into Kazakhstan, across Mongolia, and eventually through Siberia where they would then catch a plane to Alaska and cross North America to New York. The journey took about three and a half months and their adventures were documented by both themselves and by a film crew for reality-type series.

The book alternates between narrators and I think that is part of the reason why I didn't really enjoy it. While I've never ridden across a continent on a motorcycle, I have done my fair share of road tripping and I understand what it is like to be cooped up with the same person (or people) for days on end. At one point in the story, McGregor mentions that the experience was sometimes isolating -- they were on the same journey, but not doing it together. That's how I felt about the book -- they were writing about the same series of events, but they weren't narrating the same story. One muddy pannier out of five.

2009-12-13T22:15:00.003-05:00

We are time's subjects, and time bids be gone

Wow -- why does it seem that every year goes by faster and faster? I'd like to think that there is some super-cool scientific explanation, but if one exists, I couldn't find it. Part of me understands that it is just a matter of perception, but if time is whizzing past now, what will it be like when I'm older? Ugh ... I can't even bear to think of it.

So, back to the the purpose of this week's entry. It is with great pleasure that I introduce the nominees for the D-E-S Book of the Year. Once again, it's a bit of a mixed bag. I tried to expand my reading boundaries this year and the book list reflects those choices. Quite frankly, any of the selections is a more than decent read and more than one has made it to the distribution list in terms of this year's gifts.

And the nominees are:

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery
The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins
The Gargoyle, Andrew Davidson
Sarah's Key, Tatiana de Rosnay
Middlemarch, George Eliot
Anathem, Neal Stephenson

2009-12-10T22:49:00.004-05:00

I Know You Are, But What am I?

The Know-it-All

A.J. Jacobs

Simon and Schuster

Part memoir, part compendium of obscure and admittedly, often interesting fact, The Know-it-All is the written record of A.J. Jacobs' journey through the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Yep, that's right kids -- the man read the whole damn thing. In his "spare" time. Um, yeah. And you people thought I was nerdy.

I'm not going to lie to you. I actually enjoyed this book a great deal. Jacobs managed to find a good balance between presenting some of the quirkier bits of the EB and sharing some of the quirkier bits of his private life. Over the course of the year that it took him to finish this immense task, Jacobs and his wife were also trying to get pregnant. I hardly think that a thirty-two tome oeuvre was always the best aphrodisiac, but he was sure able to educate his wife on the testicle size of elephants and the sexual habits of the bandicoot. The poor woman.

While there are parts of this book that are only skim worthy, if you like words, puzzles, trivia and history, The Know-it-All is a fine read. I definitely admire Jacobs' determination -- I'm not sure that I could have finished. Three pairs of reading glasses out of five.

2009-11-29T23:04:00.000-05:00

That Girl!

The Girl Who Played with Fire
Stieg Larsson
Quercus

Much has been made of Larsson's Millennium series and it got me to thinking ... is The Girl Who Played with Fire really part of a trilogy, or had the author lived, is it the second instalment in a much bigger series? TGWPWF doesn't really exhibit the standard "book two" characteristics -- there isn't the expected lull in the action, a large number of new characters are introduced, and foreshadowing for events outside of the novel is almost completely absent. In fact, I would argue that the lack of a story arc from Larsson's first novel to this one categorically excludes it from trilogy eligibility. But what the hell do I know? I just read this shit.

TGWPWF was, for me, a better read than The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Wild-child and hacker extraordinaire, Lisbeth Salander, is in a whole heap of trouble. Wanted by the Swedish police for the murders of three people, Salander goes into hiding unitl she can figure out a way to dispense of her troubles. Helping her, of course, is the intrepid Mikael Blomqvist -- her former lover, editor of an investigative news magazine and one of her only friends. There are more plot twists in this novel than a pretzel has bends. Larsson could have wrapped up a bit sooner, but generally, it was a good read. It makes me a little sad that Lisbeth Salander has only one book left. She's one of the more interesting characters that I've read in awhile and definitely series worthy material. Three scandalous body piercings out of five.

2009-11-22T20:38:00.004-05:00

I'm Swede on You

Benny and Shrimp

Katarina Mazetti

Penguin

I'm not usually prone to words like "heartwarming" and "charming," yet I can't think of anything better to describe this novel. Benny and Shrimp are an unlikely pair that meet on a bench in a cemetery. Benny is "visiting" with his mother and Shrimp (whose real name is Desiree) is contemplating the grave of her recently deceased husband. One day, the couple exchange smiles and it is as if Cupid has sent arrows straight into their hearts. That's the good news. The bad news is that despite their obvious passion, they really aren't that compatible.

Benny is a farmer on the outskirts of town. His life is tied to the rhythm of his cows and he is looking for a traditional Swedish helpmate -- someone who can help him fix the tractor, warm his bed, and make fantastic meatballs. Shrimp, on the other hand, lives a more cerebral life. She likes abstract art, thoughtful discussions about Lacan, and is the head of the children's section at the local library. They are both in their late thirties and not expecting to be seized by love. But they are and it surprising and funny and beautiful.

I'm not going to tell you how this story turns out. It's actually worth the read. Leaf fans be on the lookout for a reference to our team -- I think the author might have had a crush on Sundin. Three quirky moo cows out of five.

2009-11-08T20:36:00.008-05:00

French Twist

Sarah's Key

Tatiana de Rosnay

St. Martin's Press

I've been putting off writing this entry for almost a week now. While I readily admit to innumerable flaws, procrastination usually isn't one of them and I've been giving some serious thought as to why the content for this post has been so elusive.

Let me start by saying that I really, really got absorbed by this story. I started it last Saturday night when I grabbed it off the shelf and stuffed it in my purse. I was heading out to my local Chinese buffet and, like always, wanted a book to act as my companion. As I opened the cover, I was immediately transported to Paris. It is 1942 and I am witness to a Jewish family being roused from their beds, torn from their apartment in Le Marais, and marched to Vel d'Hiv. Led by the French police, it was one of the worst round ups of the war. The families were first sent to internment camps outside of Paris and then to Auschwitz. Very few survived.

I turn the page to start the next chapter and I'm suddenly in present day Paris, in the same apartment in Le Marais, watching a modern French family discuss the renovations they will make to their grandmother's home now that she has moved to a care facility. As the story progresses, the mother, an American who is never quite accepted by her French relatives, starts to dig into the building's "history" and learns that her in-laws took possession of the rooms in late July 1942. The chapters alternate between heroines -- a little Jewish girl and an American in Paris -- and I am lost. I finished the book on Sunday and am thinking of it still. Sarah's Key gets five stars. Please read it.

2009-11-07T22:27:00.008-05:00

Paranormal Activity?

Born of Fire
Sherrilyn Kenyon
St. Martin's Press

Question: When is a bad vampire romance novel not a bad vampire romance novel? Answer: When it is a bad "paranormal" romance novel. Okay, I admit it ... I made slight error in judgement when I picked this one off the shelf. All I can say in my defense is that I was lured into thinking that I might actually enjoy it when I read the words "alternate universe," illicit scandal," and "assassin." The main character's name was "Syn" for goodness sake -- how could I go wrong?

To be fair to the novel, there were parts that I enjoyed (and no, I'm not talking about the sex scenes.) There was a "character" in the book named Vik, who was a robot wicked sense of humour. The fact that a robot could have wicked sense of humour really intrigued me and I very much liked this instance of Kenyon's imagination. The storyline was also relatively interesting and had the novel been better written, I think it could have been quite something. One fizzling blaster out of five.

2009-11-03T20:35:00.013-05:00

Moving, Harrowing, Insightful and all that Other Stuff

What They Wanted
Donna Morrissey
Penguin Canada

The bulk of my day today was spent in waiting rooms. Last week's craziness left me a little under the weather and I ended up heading to my local clinic to see if I could get something to shake a nasty bug. Stuck in a room full of wailing children, disgruntled immunization candidates, and more sniffles that you could shake a stick at, I decided to block out the world by getting into a good book. Already in a contemplative mood, I was ready for harrowing, insightful and moving. And boy -- did I get it.

Morrissey's novel was gut wrenching. Spanning the course of twenty years, it tells the story of a Newfoundland family that is literally and figuratively pulled from the sea. The story opens with the ruin of the fisheries and the patriarch of the family having to leave the sea and take up residence (and occupation) on the land. A generation later, his daughter and son take it one step further and leave Newfoundland to work the oil fields of Alberta. They are as much in search of themselves as they are in search of a livelihood.

There was so much feeling poured into the writing of this novel that it is no wonder that I was overwhelmed when I first picked it up. I definitely want to know what happens to this family -- I can only hope that Morrissey writes more. Four intractable clouds out of five.

2009-11-02T21:25:00.008-05:00

Back Stories

My Horizontal Life -- A Collection of One Night Stands

Chelsea Handler

Bloomsbury

Life has been rather hectic lately and lots has been going both personally and professionally. Last week found me on a bit of a road trip and as always, I brought along a good book for the journey. "Good" in this particular case, was a novel by Donna Morrissey -- a Newfoundland author whose writing is described as moving, harrowing, gripping and insightful. Well, I got about fifty pages in, started to cry and decided that maybe I wasn't quite in the mood for moving, harrowing, gripping and insightful. Luckily, one of my coworkers rescued me and gave me something else to read. It couldn't have been more different!

My Horizontal Life is about as shallow and uncomplicated as they come. The author, Chelsea Handler, is a stand-up comedian known for her love of the drink, her sense of adventure, and her slightly slutty ways. The book is a series of vignettes about the ups and downs of being a party-seeking twenty something who has very little responsibility and a very, uh, interesting relationship with her family. There were definitely some laugh out loud moments in this memoir and its fluffiness was exactly what I needed to lighten my mood. Two moderately dirty martinis out of five.

2009-10-21T22:03:00.004-04:00

The Mystery Project

Cover Her Face
P.D. James
Randomhouse

Have you ever wondered what makes a novel a "classic"? I suppose it wouldn't surprise anyone to learn that I think about that particular question a great deal. And I'm not alone. Most of the major publishers have some kind of "best of" product line and a quick search of "classic literature" on the Internet returns thousands of hits. While I could easily find scads of "must reads," I had a much more challenging time unearthing a list of standard criteria that qualifies a novel as a classic. So, faithful readers, I have decided to ask you. In your opinion, what are the characteristics of a classic novel and why. In a future post, I'll consolidate the feedback and report back to you on what everyone has to say. Who knows, maybe we will end up with a publishable DES book list.

As for this week's selection, Cover Her Face, by British author P.D. James, would, I think, qualify as a classic. Written in 1964, the novel tells the story of Sally Jupp -- an unwed mother, social climber, and frankly, a bit of a schemer. Sally, a parlourmaid, is found murdered in her room the morning after she announces her engagement to the son of her employer. Everyone has a motive and it is left up to the famed Inspector Dalgliesh to puzzle it all out.

This book kept me guessing until the very end. Well-written and surprisingly contemporary, James' writing is spare, precise, and very engaging. Three watching the detectives out of five.

2009-10-08T22:41:00.006-04:00

One of my Better Blonde Moments

The Gargoyle
Andrew Davidson
Vintage Canada

A few weeks ago, I made a quick trip over to Port Huron to hang out with my best girl, Amy. It was a perfect day -- the weather was gorgeous, the drive was uneventful, and I got there early enough to check out a Target and buy a couple of books.

It was The Gargoyle's cover art that drew me in -- at first glance, it looked like it had been burnt in a fire and I picked it up to take a closer look. Upon reading the publisher's blurb, I discovered that the novel was about a man's descent into hell, his battle with his addictions, and the relationship he develops with a psych patient who is convinced that they were married in the fourteenth century. It sounded like a bit of a mixed bag -- but interesting -- so I thought I would give it a whirl. When I got home, I stuck The Gargoyle on my TBR shelf and didn't give it a second thought.

Flash forward a few weeks. The DES is at the drugstore buying Nyquil for a wicked cold and found herself in the book section. On the shelf is a novel with beautiful cover art of a girl with a pair of wings tattooed on her back. A sacred heart is emblazoned in the middle of the cover and I was so struck with it's beauty that I decided I had to read it. Yeah -- it was the Gargoyle. Same book, different cover. Sigh. Sometimes I'm not so smart.

Happily, it turned out to be a fantastic read and well worth the extra copy. In fact, I think it just might be in the running for the D-E-S book of the year. It was that good. Four smiling grotesques out of five.

2009-09-29T20:59:00.012-04:00

The Art of War

The Savage Detectives
Roberto Bolaño
Picador

For almost a month now, I have been reading the same book -- Roberto Bolaño's The Savage Detectives. You would think that after having spent so much time with this novel, I'd have something interesting to say. Well, while I hate to disappoint, I'm afraid that this one is beyond me. Believe it or not, I actually had an easier time reading Joyce's Ulysses.

From a "plot" perspective, the story is about two Latin American poets hanging out in Mexico (and elsewhere around the world) during the mid to late seventies. Both men seem to be in pursuit of some intellectual ideal and are trying to establish a poetic movement called "visceral realism". Ulises Lima and Arturo Belano, the somewhat absent main characters, are inexplicably charismatic and are a constant jumble of writings, thoughts and big ideas.

In some ways, I think this novel was brilliant. There were at least twenty narrators who collectively manage to tell the "story". The middle section of the books is a series of interviews with characters who talk about Ulises and Arturo -- you never actually hear from them directly. The first and third sections of the book are narrated by a slightly naive, very ardent law student turned poet, Juan Garcia Madero. He is so passionate, so utterly exploding with emotion that it made the novel, in parts, a joy to read. Three decadent libertines out of five.

2009-09-05T11:52:00.006-04:00

MizUnderstood

Emma's Table
Philip Galanes
Harper

Imagine my revulsion when, a few pages into the novel, I realized that the author had ripped the "heroine" right out of the headlines. Emma Sutton is a sixty something convicted felon who, having done her time for tax evasion, is trying to get her groove back. The face (although no longer head) of her home design empire, Emma's got a regular spot on Oprah, a line of housewares at Target, and a beautifully decorated apartment with a spectacular view of Central Park. Um, yeah. I must have been having a serious blonde moment when I pulled this one from the table. I mean, really -- do I seem like a Martha Stewart girl to you?

Much to my surprise, this book is actually a winner. While a good portion of the narrative directly relates to Emma and her realization that she needs to change, there are a number of subplots that involve other characters that are equally engaging. By the end of the novel, Galanes masterfully combines all of the storylines into a single climactic scene and contrary to my expectation, not everything gets wrapped up like a parcel under a tree. Galanes characters are all flawed in some way, but every single one of them also has some redemptive qualities that manage to shine through their frailties. At the end of the day, this book was a heart-warming read and not nearly as saccharine as the cover implies. Three frosted cupcakes out of five.

2009-08-30T19:11:00.008-04:00

Single Schmingle

How to be Single
Liz Tuccillo
Washington Square Press

So the best thing that I can say about this book is that the cover art let me use purple font as part of this post. Um, yeah. It was that bad.

How to be Single is about a late thirty-something New Yorker, Julie, who decides she's tired of being asked why she is single. She's sexy, and pretty, and has a big-brain and a great job, and the people in her life (excluding her other single girlfriends) can't understand why she can't find a man. Frustrated, Julie buys an around the world ticket and sets off on a trans-global adventure to find out how women in other cultures can be single, happy, and fulfilled.

Julie first goes to France where she learns that a woman must have, above all else, pride. She then goes to Italy. I'm not really clear what she learned there, but she spent a lot of time being wooed by a Frenchman who had followed her from Paris. In Australia she learns that she must love herself. In Bali, she learns to fall in love (with the married Frenchman whose apparently not-so-proud wife hauls her pregant self around the world to bring him back.) In China, Julie learns that the grass is always greener on the other side; Asian men want Western women and Asian girls want Western guys. She also goes to Brazil, to Iceland and then home to America. You get the idea. Once back in the land of the brave, home of the free, Julie decides that relationships just happen and maybe, just maybe, there's a miracle out there for her. Oh barf. One Jimmy Choo out of five.

2009-08-30T18:01:00.005-04:00

It is the nature of truth to struggle to the light

The Moonstone
Wilkie Collins
Penguin Canada

It took me almost four weeks to make it through this novel. Not because it was too long or too boring -- but because it was too good. When I first started the book, I decided to play along to see if I could figure out the "whodunit." Maybe I'm not too smart, or maybe Collins' is just a fantastic writer because this story kept me guessing until the very end.

Considered by some to be the first example of detective fiction in the English language, The Moonstone is a story about a famous yellow diamond that is said to carry a terrible Indian curse. Collins uses multiple narrators (all of whom are wholly unreliable) to spin the tale and he introduces his readers to the various types that are now standard in early mystery novels -- the bungling local policeman, the savvy gentleman amateur investigator, the mythic professional from Scotland Yard, the manor house as scene-of-the-crime, a plethora of suspects and the infamous red herring.

From a social perspective, the novel also had a lot to offer. Collins was quite liberal for his day and he had very forward-thinking views on class, race, and religion. His characterization of Miss Clack (a poor relation to one of the main characters and a tract-distributing zealot) had me in stitches. The novel was choc-a-bloc full of humour and pathos and probably should have been included on my Victorian lit syllabus when I was studying at university. Oh -- so many books, so little time. Three and one half candles in the drawing room with Professor Plum.

2009-08-08T21:50:00.006-04:00

Incredible Hulks

Rapscallion
James McGee
Harper Collins

One of the last "conventional" books that I bought for my dad before he passed away was McGee's Rapscallion. For those of you who have been with me for awhile, you will recognize the author from an earlier post when I reviewed The Resurrectionist. I'll be honest ... the writing hasn't really improved and the characters are no further developed. That's the bad news. The good news is that Rapscallion had both an interesting plot and enough of an historical bent to keep me engaged. I daresay I actually learned something.

Did you know, for example, that during the Napoleonic wars, Britain used hulks (ships that are afloat, but incapable of going to sea) moored on the Thames as prisons? It's true! The living conditions on these ships were abominable and it was not uncommon for the mortality rate aboard the vessels to hover around 30%. It is said that on a warm day, the smell coming off of these ships was enough to pollute the air from bank to bank. Gross.

Unfortunately, while mildly entertaining and somewhat educational, Rapscallion was unable to distract me from missing my dad. In fact, I think it made me miss him more. In the last couple of weeks before he died, we had started to read this one together. It had been a long time since I had read aloud to anyone and we had only gotten a few chapters in before it became too much of an effort for him. Sigh. This one gets one sad and lonely star out of five.

2009-08-06T02:56:00.008-04:00

Ooooh ... Candy!

The Sugar Queen
Sarah Addison Allen
Bantam

When I saw this book at the grocery store (yes, the grocery store!) I knew that I had to have it. I was getting ready to go up to my girlfriend's cottage for the weekend and I usually take at least a couple of books as, uh, well, cover. (It is so much easier being a little bit anti-social when you have a book to help you hide.) Anyway, as soon as I read the blurb on the back, I absolutely knew it was going to end up in my cart. Magic realism and a candy addicted, winter-loving heroine?! Whoa! How could I resist?

Josey is southern belle trapped in a bad situation. Her father, an incorrigible philanderer, passed away when she was nine and left her with a mother who didn't really love her. Bound by duty, Josey sticks it out at home yearning for an acceptance that she'll never receive. Her one joy (aside from the daily sightings of the gorgeously delicious mailman) is the secret stash of candy and travel magazines that she has hidden in her closet. One day, she's opens the door to access her cache and finds herself face-to-face with Della Lee -- a skankily beautiful, down-on-her-luck kind of girl who is a sometimes waitress, sometimes prostitute in the little town in which they both live. Della blackmails Josey into letting her stay and the story that develops out of this relationship becomes the basis for the entire novel.

Love, relationships, self-confidence, facing your fears, -- there isn't much that The Sugar Queen doesn't tackle and it is all handled with a dash of southern grace and charm. This novel is definitely a bildungsroman with a peppermint twist and I would encourage any fan of the "chick lit" genre to give it a whirl. Three tasty lemon drops out of five.

2009-08-04T19:00:00.003-04:00

On the Road Again

The Shell Seekers
Rosamunde Pilcher
St. Martin's Press

Last Wednesday marked the first day of my "official" summer vacation. It was a bit of a rocky start -- my flight to Calgary got turned back over the Ontario/Manitoba border and the delay cost me my connection to Whitehorse. Six hours after my originally scheduled flight, I was put on a plane to Vancouver and eventually rolled into the Yukon a mere seven or so hours late. The downside to the ordeal was that I think I will soon be enrolling in some anger management classes. The upside was that it gave me the opportunity to read a couple of books.

The Shell Seekers is a lovely story set in the early to mid-eighties about a Englishwoman, Penelope Keeling, and her three grown children, Nancy, Olivia and Noel. The novel opens with Penelope returning to her home after a brief stint in the hospital following a heart attack. As most people do after a traumatic event, she takes stock of her life and reminisces over things past.

What I enjoyed most about this novel was how Pilcher uses beautiful language to paint vivid portraits of the main characters. Penelope and her children weren't always likeable, but they were so real that they could have stepped off the pages and sat down at my kitchen table for a cup of tea. Like most family chronologies, (think The Thornbirds) there was a lot of melodrama within the pages. There was also, however, enough of a story to keep me hooked and awake on a trans-Canada flight. Two point five stars out of five.

2009-07-19T20:36:00.009-04:00

You Don't Know Me

The Shack
Wm. Paul Young
Windblown Media

I was in Minneapolis a few weeks ago having dinner with colleagues and I asked them what they were reading. Both had recently finished The Shack and both mentioned that while the subject matter was quite heavy, they thought the novel to be very uplifting. At the time, I felt like I was in need of some uplifting, so when I got back to the airport, I sought out a copy.

What a mistake! For those of you who haven't heard of it, The Shack is the story of middle-aged man trying to understand how God could let his six year old daughter be abducted and murdered. To work through his anger and his grief, the man returns to the "shack" -- the last known place of his daughter's whereabouts -- to confront God and ask his questions. I probably should have stopped reading once I figured out that God was a black woman named Papa. I kid you not.

When I read the online reviews for this novel, it became evident that the story either really spoke to its audience, or it failed miserably. For me, it certainly didn't answer any questions about why evil exists or even why bad things happen to good people. Then again, maybe I didn't like it because of my "good" Lutheran upbringing. There are some serious doctrinal issues with this text that even I could spot. I think if I'm looking for clear messages about salvation and redemption, I'll stick with my Bible. One faded star out of five.

2009-07-15T22:13:00.000-04:00

Who ... Me?

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Stieg Larsson

Penguin Canada

I’ve been having a tough time trying to find the motivation to write this post. My dad died last week and things just don’t feel quite right. If I were a betting man, I’d say that I’m either going to be reading a tonne over the next few months, or not at all. Whether I will ever feel like writing again … well, that remains to be seen. I guess you will just have to check back every once in awhile to see if I’m still in the game.

So, while we’re here, let’s talk about this week’s book – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I totally picked this novel because of the title (how could I not?) and I have to say that I was pretty impressed. While not exactly a thriller, this book was dark in a way that I totally didn’t expect. The basic plot is simple, but interesting – a forty-something journalist gets hired by a captain of industry to solve the 40 year-old mystery surrounding the disappearance/murder of his favourite niece. The journalist’s cover story is that he is writing a family biography and as such, needs access to everyone and everything related to the clan. The family is, of course, crazier than a troop of baboons and meaner than a pack of hungry jackals. The journalist’s crack researcher – the girl with the dragon tattoo – has a few issues of her own and when the two of them hook up, weird things start to happen.

Considering how crap things have been for me over the past couple of weeks, I’ve got to give Larsson his due. This book managed to both distract and entertain me. Larsson passed away a few years ago, but he actually produced a trilogy that involves both the journalist and the girl. I was intrigued enough by these characters to want to get to know them better. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo gets three Swedish berries out of five.

2009-06-21T21:26:00.008-04:00

And I don't even like potatoes!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Dial Press
Mary Ann Shaffer
Annie Barrows

To Juliet Ashton from DES, March 2nd, 1947

Dearest Juliet,

It was with great interest that I read the latest correspondence between you and the members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I have to say that when you told me you were packing up your flat in London to "investigate" the possibility of writing a book about the Guernsey Occupation, I thought you were a bit mad. We've all been so broken by the events of the last six years that I honestly felt you should just move on to other, less painful things. Your columns during the war were fantastic, of course, and just what we needed to lift our spirits. When you shared the islanders' letters with me, however, I can completely understand what has drawn you to that corner of the world. Their stories are just so poignant. I rush to the mailbox every day to see if you've sent me more letters. I'm hoping you do something lovely for these generous people.

Now, not to switch topics too abruptly, but I was speaking with a mutual friend the other day and he seems quite put out by the fact that you've forsaken him for a "bunch of farmers and old women". In fact, just the other day I saw that viper Beatrice Worthington hanging off his arm at the club. They were getting awfully close if you ask me. He's such a catch, Juliet, are you sure you know what you're doing? You haven't met someone else have you? Surely you'd tell me. You would tell me, wouldn't you?

I must dash. Charles and I are off to see a new play this evening and I have yet to find something to wear. I lost the better part of my wardrobe when our apartment block was bombed and I still haven't persuaded Charles to fund a new one. Sigh. Oh, apparently the show we're seeing is getting rave reviews -- five stars, I heard. I'll tell you more in my next missive.

All my love,

DES

2009-06-19T22:28:00.013-04:00

L'Élégance du hérisson

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Muriel Barbery

Europa Editions

I don't know if I loved this book because it made me feel somewhat educated and slightly cultured, or because it made me feel entirely dull-witted and slow. I definitely had moments of both while reading this text and I am sorely pressed to say which captured me more.

Set in an elegant Parisian apartment, the novel intertwines the narratives of two of the building's residents -- Renée Michel, the building's dumpy, slow, and stereotypical French concierge, and Paloma Josse, a twelve-year old girl, whose understanding of the absurdities of life would put Ionesco to shame. Both characters go to great lengths to hide themselves from the outer world. Renée portrays herself as others expect her to be and she lives a clandestine life full of philosophy, music, art, culture and custom. Paloma hides by retreating into herself, rarely speaking, but keeping a journal of profound thoughts and movements. If I were still an academic, I think I would be tempted to construct a semester-long course around this novel. You could easily spend weeks discussing the ideas that each character presents.

What made this novel especially beautiful was the author's use and range of language. Even in translation, I was caught by Barbery's lush descriptions and gorgeous phrasing. She can find the rightness in quoting a lyric from Eminem as easily as she can find it in a passage from Tolstoy. The book was just so full of Beauty that I felt like I was breathing fresh air through my eyes. Five heartfelt sighs out of five.

2009-06-07T20:09:00.006-04:00

I Need Brains ... In a Good Way

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Quirk Books
Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

What do you get when you take a classic piece of English literature and add zombies, Shaolin-trained country misses, and the occasional honour-killing? Well, aside from the fact that it sounds like a perfect script for the next Bruce Campbell project, you get a fantastic read that makes you think about first impressions, class warfare (pun intended) and the topsy-turvy nature of relationships.

I loved this novel! I'm not exactly sure how Grahame-Smith managed to insert both zombies and ninjas into the text and still preserve that early Regency feel, but he did. His grotesque version of this story somehow enhances Austen's original work and his subtle addition of some off-colour humour about balls (um, of the dance variety) actually made me laugh out loud. Four decaying unmentionables out of five.

2009-05-31T22:06:00.004-04:00

Somebody, please save me ...

New Moon
Eclipse
Breaking Dawn
Stephenie Meyer
Little Brown

Okay, I'll admit it. I caved. All of my friends kept going on, and on, and on about the Twilight series. "Give it another chance," they said. "It's sooo good." Um, yeah ... so good that it has taken me more than two weeks to find the motivation to write this post. Good? Are you people insane? I love a schmaltzy romance as well as the next girl, but the blatant anti-feminism almost pushed me over the edge.

For those of you smart enough not to pick up this series, let me give you a quick run down of the plot.

Girl meets boy.
Boy turns out to be a vampire and mires girl in all sorts of danger.
Boy leaves girl (he wants to do the "right" thing) and girl loses her mind with grief and becomes a shell of her old self.
With the help of her best friend (who turns out to be a werewolf), girls starts to piece her life back together.
Boy gets into trouble and girl goes to save him which invites more trouble.
Best friend and boy (sworn enemies because of the whole vampire/werewolf thing) compete for love of girl.
Boy wins.
Boy marries girl.
Girl gets pregnant and the half-human, half-vampire foetus almost kills her.
To save her life, boy turns girl into a vampire right after she gives birth.
Girl becomes even more beautiful.
Incubus baby drinks blood and eats food.
Best friend imprints on baby girl and complicates the life of his pack.
Boy, girl and best friend fend off threat from evil, old vampires.
Everyone is saved and lives happily ever after. Oh barf.

I'm willing to give Meyer points for creative use of mythologies. She leverages just enough vampire and Native American lore to make part of the book intriguing to those of us interested in the fantastic. I cannot, however, get over the fact that every story line was resolved and presented to the reader with a pretty little bow. Yes, fairy tales are possible. I just want one where the heroine defines herself and isn't defined by her love of her man or the functions of her body. The entire series gets one drop of blood out of five.

2009-05-16T23:52:00.008-04:00

Three Cheers for the Glad Game!

The Prometheus Deception
Robert Ludlum
St. Martins Press

While it is not my normal practice to use this blog as a forum for complaint (it is, after all, a book review site), let me just say that this last year has been pretty hard on me. My dad got sick, I had a terrible car accident, I was homeless for a couple of months, one of my dearest friends passed away unexpectedly, my aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer, and my dad has gotten sicker and won't be getting better. If you add the everyday crap to the pile (the occasional bad work days, the on again/off again relationship with my best friend and my growing hate for the 401 around Milton) I should be laid out on a couch somewhere undergoing intensive bouts of psychotherapy. But I'm not. And why is that, you ask? It's because I've found my inner Pollyanna and I'm constantly playing the Glad Game.

Take, for example, the subject of this week's post. I started to "read" the Prometheus Deception with my dad when we went for a drive to distract him from the pain. He's to the point in his illness where he can no longer comfortably read a conventional novel, so I picked up an audio book to see if that would do the trick. It did and he has spent lots of happy hours listening to one of his favourite authors. The fact that I became so engaged in this particular story was an added bonus -- see how this Glad Game works?

Now, about the novel ... Nick Bryson is a retired spook who had spent his entire adult life working for an ultra-clandestine organization called the "Directorate". After a significant period of adjustment, he has finally settled into his new life as a university history professor when he is suddenly pulled back into the game. Someone is trying to establish a global, supra-governmental organization that would threaten the privacy and security of civilization as we know it. It is up to Nick to track the shadowy leaders and bring them down. This novel was choc-a-bloc full of dangerous exploits, exotic locales, beautiful women and terrifying men. I was addicted to the story and could hardly wait for Nick to figure it all out. 2.5 action heroes out of 5.

2009-04-30T21:35:00.008-04:00

Nick and Nora's Murder and Martinis

The Thin Man
Dashiell Hammett
Knopf Doubleday

Who knew murder could be so glamorous? Taking a break from their business empire, Nick and Nora Charles decide to spend Christmas in New York. Between going to shows, flirting, lounging in speakeasies, and drinking martinis in bed, the two beautiful people manage to find some time to help the police solve the murder of the secretary of one of Nick's former colleagues. Suspects in the case include the colleague's former wife, her new gold-digging husband, their odd children, and the secretary's gangster boyfriend. Yeah -- I know -- it's no wonder that they needed the drinks.

Like the Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man is very sophisticated read. I don't find Hammett's writing quite as hard-boiled as Chandler and in some respects, this novel reads almost like a Restoration comedy of manners. No matter how you look at it, however, Nick and Nora are a couple worth knowing. Three prohibition dodgers out of five.

2009-04-20T09:55:00.006-04:00

The Tide that Binds

What I Was
Meg Rosoff
Doubleday Canada

Set in an English backwater boarding school during the early 60s, What I Was tells the story of 16-year old Hilary --a boy who has already mastered the art of disaffection. Having been expelled from two schools previously, H ends up at St. Oswald's and quickly settles into the same old routine of bad food, worse dorms and the torturous attentions of upper classmen. Just living in such a dour and dismal place proves to be an exercise of Sisyphean proportions. It all changes, however, the moment H meets Finn -- a boy of almost unbearable beauty who lives in a cabin at the edge of the sea.

H is taken with the young man on a number of levels. In fact, it is almost as if Finn is the mirror of what H desires to be --independent, confident, capable, smart and elusive. It has been quite some time since I have read a book that so captures the feelings first love -- the excitement, anxiety, fear and absolute yearning for someone other than yourself. As the friendship between the two characters grows, Rosoff takes her readers to an almost magical place where anything is possible. The real world eventually intrudes, however, and H's idyll collapses like a wave crashing against the sand.

What I Was is a lovely story in all ways. The author's prose was passionate, intimate and at times, left me breathless -- so much so that I want to visit the land, sea and sky that she has beautifully described. The fact the the story eluded my expectations was an unanticipated bonus. Three and a half wheeling seabirds out of five.

2009-04-16T21:57:00.005-04:00

Romancing the Stoned, er ... Stone

Tribute
Nora Roberts
Jove Books

This past weekend found me up in the MoFo hanging with the parentals for the Easter holiday. I haven't been sleeping well in the last little while so my mom decided that it wouldn't hurt if I "borrowed" one of her sleeping pills. Note to self -- never read a romance novel after taking someone else's medication. The dreams are a little weird.

I am going to go on record and state that I actually liked this novel. If you recall from a few posts ago, Ms. Roberts had definitely let me down with her last series -- her trilogy was too long, too poorly written and the characters were uninteresting. Tribute has managed to restore my faith in her romance-writing prowess. This novel had a good plot, a mystery that kept me guessing, a hot graphic-novelist hero with an uber-cute dog, and an approachable, not-too-perfect heroine. All the right things to keep me entertained. Now if I could only figure out how to sleep. Sigh. Two point five superheros out of five.

2009-04-12T21:36:00.004-04:00

Reading America

Run

Ann Patchett

Harper Perennial

One of the coolest things about my job is that I get to travel. Oh sure, sometimes it's a total drag, but if I'm honest with myself, I have admit that there are way more ups than downs. Take this past week, for example. When I left Toronto on Monday morning, we were in the middle of a freak snow storm. Tuesday morning found me running outside in shorts and tank top, watching the sun come up over the hills in LA. Who could complain about that?

Another benefit of being on the road is that I get to try on cities. Some, like Chicago, have the comfortable feeling of favourite sweater. I know I could live there and not feel out of place. Others, like Miami, are way more exotic ... kind of like eating a spicy new dish -- looks interesting, but you're not always sure that you're going to like it. Like travelling, reading can also let you try out new places. This week's novel, Run, is set in Boston and the city just pops out of the pages of this book.

Set over a period of 24 hours, this book is about family -- the ones you're born with and the ones you choose. It is about obligation -- both perceived and real and how that sense of duty nurtures and destroys. The book is also about love -- the kind that stretches beyond death and fills your soul with joy and sorrow. And finally, it is about secrets -- the unsaid truths that shape our thoughts and actions in unanticipated, sometimes unpredictable ways. In a nutshell, this book is about our own families. Read it if you dare. Three unhurried walks along the Freedom Trail out of five.

2009-04-05T20:32:00.008-04:00

It's in the genes, baby, it's in the genes.

The Time Traveler's Wife

Audrey Niffenegger

Vintage Canada

I haven't actually been to the bookstore in a couple of months. My TBR queue is a little out of control from the wondrous giftage I received over the holidays and to be honest, I am desperately trying to save money. What the hell was I thinking in becoming a homeowner? The world is a cruel, cruel place when it forces you to choose between blinds for the windows or books for the shelves.

While I'm not exactly sure when I picked up this novel, I can tell you that I found it on the Chapters table of "great reads." From the publisher's blurb on the back, I knew it was the kind of book that I wanted to save for when I needed to lose myself for a little while. My timing, it seems, was perfect because once I started to read this novel, my everyday world faded away and I could think of nothing but the story of Henry and Clare.

Henry, as the book's title suggest, has a genetic disease that causes him to travel backward and forward through time. When he travels, he cannot take anything with him (he arrives naked and nauseous), he cannot "change" history, and he cannot control the length of his stay. What he can do, is visit the the older/younger version of himself. Can you even imagine what it would be like to drop in on yourself as a seven year old? Very cool. What makes the story so compelling is how it is told from both the perspective of Henry as well his wife Clare. Each chapter is time and date stamped with Henry and Clare's "ages" and often, each character narrates a portion of the text. I cannot begin to describe how intricately beautiful this love story is. I can guarantee you, however, that it will become a classic. Five weary travelers out of five.

2009-03-26T22:14:00.007-04:00

Killing Me Softly

The Lovely Bones

Alice Sebold

Little Brown & Company

Over the years, I've known a lot of people who have read and recommended this book. To be candid, I was suspicious of its seemingly universal appeal and thought of it in the same way that I would an Oprah's pick -- it might be good for the "masses", but surely I wouldn't find it interesting. It wasn't until my boss tossed it on my desk that I gave it any consideration at all. I am so glad I did.

The Lovely Bones opens with the teenage narrator, Susie Salmon, telling you that she has been murdered by Mr. Harvey -- her neighbour from down the street. As Susie watches her family from a curiously godless heaven, her loved ones slowly start to disintegrate and then regenerate themselves in a post-Susie world. While the subject matter is a tough (Susie is, after all, killed by a serial murderer who never gets caught), the novel is uplifting in the sense that each of the characters end up in a place that feels "right" to the reader. Don't get me wrong -- it's not all sweetness and light -- but it did feel real and maybe that's the appeal of the novel. Three very friendly ghosts out of five.

2009-03-22T23:00:00.002-04:00

Wizards of Oz

A Fraction of the Whole
Steve Toltz
Anchor Canada

Sorry that I have been away from you guys for awhile. Once again, my personal life has gotten in the way and left me with very little time to write. I have, however, managed to read a line or two and if you count trashy romances, I've knocked back three books in the past two weeks! Um, yeah. I'm definitely not bragging.

So, let's talk about the subject of this week's entry -- Steve Toltz's A Fraction of the Whole. I don't even know where to start -- this was one funny, if slightly acidic, book. The novel recounts the story of Jasper Dean, his misanthropic father Martin Dean, and his notoriously famous uncle, Terry Dean. This family definitely puts the "fun" in dysfunctional and parts of the novel had me snorting with laughter. Toltz's prose was also starkly beautiful at times, so much so that he moved me to tears. Think John Irving with a dash of Augusten Burroughs and a smidgen of Immanuel Kant. Yup -- it is that complex.

While I can totally appreciate why this novel was short-listed for the 2008 Booker, it boggles the mind that this is actually Toltz's debut work. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next. Four not-so-happy Schopenhauers out of five.

2009-03-01T21:05:00.008-05:00

Just Friends

Strip Jack
Ian Rankin
Orion

Even though I've been crazy busy over the past few weeks, I managed to find some time to hook up with my old friend John Rebus. OMG ... it's so not what you're thinking. He's dating someone else at the moment (her name is Patience -- could that be more fitting?) and while I don't think they are going to last forever, she seems happy enough to put up with both his job and his lack of commitment. He doesn't seem any happier though. I wonder how long it will take for him to notice?

Anyway, even though it's against protocol, John also told me about the new case that he's working. It's an interesting one ... he and the team were doing a raid on a local brothel and someone tipped off the press. Not so unusual, except one of the patrons was a high-profile MP. As it turns out, the raid was only the beginning of the MP's trouble -- before the scandal could die down, his socialite wife turned up dead. John barely had time to talk to me -- he's heads down working all of his leads.

In fact, between the job and his new girl, I'm not sure when we will next meet. Maybe in a couple of months when things are a bit less zany for the two of us. We'll probably go to another restaurant though -- the location for this week's encounter only got three stars. The food was decent, but the place seemed a bit tired and formulaic.

2009-02-16T18:50:00.007-05:00

Hurtin' My Head

Anathem
Neal Stephenson
William Morrow

A few days ago, one of my friends sent me the email equivalent of a chain letter in which he listed 25 random things about himself. In an ideal world, the recipients of his note were supposed to respond in kind, but since I don't exactly go for that kind of thing, I didn't reply. I did, however, spend at least a few minutes thinking about the types of things that I might write.

When I tried to come up with my favourite book of all time, I got stumped. It appears that I have a favourite song, a favourite colour, and a favourite city, but I can't seem to settle on just one "favourite" book. What about a favourite author? Well, that objective seems a little more reasonable and I think I've come up with a top ten.

The D-E-S Top Ten Authors, Poets and/or Playwrights (in no particular order):
Paulo Coelho
George R R Martin
Neal Stephenson
Robertson Davies
Geoffrey Chaucer
William Shakespeare
Edmund Spenser
James Joyce
Jane Austen
Margaret Laurence

Number three on this list, Neal Stephenson, writes super brainy, math-based fiction, and I think his latest offering, Anathem, has just made my top five books of all time. The story is narrated by a young monk, Fraa Erasmus, who wrestles with concepts of space, time, quantum physics, logic, and multiple realities. I'm not going to lie to you ... this was not an easy read. Once you start it however, be prepared to get lost in the 900 plus pages. It is totally worth it. Five almost Socratic dialogues out of five.

2009-01-27T22:25:00.007-05:00

Booker or Bummer?

The Gathering
Anne Enright
Black Cat

I finished reading The Gathering a couple of days ago. I'm inclined to believe that it is one of those books that you have to think about for awhile before you can actually presume to analyse it. I can tell you right now that I could think about it for the next year and still not know what to write. It was one of those books that hurt to read.

The Gathering is narrated by Veronica, a thirty something housewife, who has just learned that her brother Liam has committed suicide by filling his pockets and walking into the sea. She goes off to England to retrieve his body and bring it back to Dublin for a traditional Irish wake. The story jumps back and forth through time in a decidedly stream-of-consciousness kind of way and we learn that Liam and Veronica shared a terrible secret that may (or may not) have led to Liam's death.

The secrets, sins, vices, and failings of the entire Hegarty clan are laid bare for all to see. In fact, the most compelling part of this novel is how Enright describes a family that is no more or no less dysfunctional than any other. There is a universality in her characters and the defiant vulnerability of the protagonists (both Veronica and the imagined ghost of Liam) is heart-breaking and achingly beautiful. Three and a half drams of whiskey out of five.

2009-01-22T22:05:00.008-05:00

Fiends, Animals and Fucktards

You Suck
Christopher Moore
William Morrow

Over the past few months, I have spent a great deal of time in my car. The downside is that I don't particularly enjoy driving -- especially by myself. The upside is that I have recently discovered audio books. Thanks to both my kick ass sound system and my local library, the road is no longer a sad and lonely place.

Last week, I listened to You Suck by Christopher Moore. The book opens with the hero, C. Thomas Flood (aka Tommy) discovering that his girlfriend Jody has recently turned him into one of the undead. Like all good fledgling vampires, Tommy goes out and recruits a minion -- Abby Normal -- a sixteen year old goth girl who looks like a broken marionette. Abby is completely infatuated with "vampire" culture and lives for the day when Lord Flood will complete her transformation into a creature of the night.

Maybe it would have been a different experience had I read the novel instead of having listened to it, but the best parts of the narration were the "excerpts" from Abby's journal. When she called someone a fucktard for the first time I almost drove off the road I laughed so hard. Like all Moore books, You Suck was a hilarious. Three stoner stock boys out of five.

2009-01-18T19:15:00.005-05:00

Ordinary People

Middlemarch
George Eliot
Penguin Classics

The problem with reviewing a "classic" novel is that everything relevant, interesting, or even slightly thought-provoking has already been written. Virgina Woolf once said that Middlemarch is a "magnificent book which, with all its imperfections, is one of the few English novels written for grown-up people." Um, yeah. Given enough time, I'm sure I would have come up with that line. Really.

Middlemarch, which was originally produced/written as a serialized novel, reads very much like the script of a daytime soap opera. The plot focuses on the stories/character development of three main families -- the Brookes, the Vinceys, and the Lydgates. The novel is set in a fictional Midlands town during the early 1830s, and like a modern-day soap, the different narratives intertwine and add all sorts of complication to the characters' lives. Also like a daytime soap, the novel explores contemporary social themes -- in this case, religion, class mobility, political reform, the status of women, the nature of marriage, love vs. passion, and individuality (self-interest) vs. the social good. Middlemarch is a big book about big ideas. The fact that it is also a delightful read is just a bonus.

And, while I don't normally talk about the author, I'm going to make an exception in this case. George Eliot, or Mary Ann Evans as she was also known, was an extraordinary woman. Shunned by "polite" society because she lived unmarried with her partner, George Henry Lewes, she was one of England's leading Victorian writers and intellectuals. Even though women were publishing at the time, she took a male pen name to ensure that her novels were taken seriously. At the heart of most of her writing was the belief that it is the mundane and ordinary that prove to be the most interesting. Middlemarch is a brilliant example of this belief. Four extraordinary ordinaries out of five.

2009-01-06T21:37:00.001-05:00

Jane Eyre -- A Poem, by the D-E-S

Jane Eyre

Charlotte Brontë

Penguin Classics

Plain Jane, good and kind,
Met a man who knew her mind.
Loved him well despite his lie,
Became so sad she thought she'd die.

Plain Jane, a girl devout,
Left her man and ventured out
Into a world -- unknown and vast
Her soul adrift, her strength surpassed.

Plain Jane, a family found,
Joy and gladness all around.
But for the man she longed inside.
Buried deep, not cast aside.

Jane ... Jane, without a word,
His mind to hers, the call was heard.
To her Rochester she ran
Their souls entwined, their lives began.

----------------

Hey gang. I thought I'd mix it up a bit in terms of the reviews. I called my mom and read Jane Eyre to her over the phone (duh, the poem, not the novel ) and she gave me the green light to post the entry. The whole exercise seemed so Grade 5 that I figured I should pretend like it was homework.

Anyway, she said she'd happily take all criticism with regard to how poorly it is written and I cheerfully promised to pass it along. Oh -- and for the curious, Jane Eyre the novel gets 5 brooding heroes out of 5. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it.

2009-01-03T22:44:00.004-05:00

Postcolonial or Post 9-11?

The Inheritance of Loss
Kiran Desai
Penguin

When I was in grad school, postcolonial criticism was all the rage and as part of a number of courses, I had to read the likes of Said, Spivak and Foucault. While my brain is no longer capable of understanding and/or internalizing such big ideas, some of those lectures must have stuck because as soon as I picked up this novel words such as alternity, hybridity, otherness, imperialism and ethnocentrism immediately came to mind.

And it's true -- the novel, which is set in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas during the 80s, deals with all of these themes and how British and American culture, in particular, have altered the characters' perceptions of themselves. In addition to the collision of cultures, the story also examines the conflict between past versus present desires, the efficacy of terrorism, the gluttony of consumerism, and the cult of the individual. The more I read, the more I wondered if, despite the overt references to other examples of post-colonial literature, the novel was an expression of a post 9-11 sensibility? Is this even a legitimized critical approach? I would think so, but since I've given up academe, I'll have to leave it to the experts.

As for a rating, The Inheritance of Loss won the 2006 Man Booker prize so who am I to give it a score? I can say that it was lyrical, wise, beautiful and sad. In other words, a very good read.

2009-01-02T00:50:00.003-05:00

May I have the envelope, please?

The D-E-S book of the year award for 2008 goes to (pause for drum roll and fumbling with a waxed seal ...) Diane Setterfield for her novel The Thirteenth Tale.

I absolutely adored this book and recommend saving it for one of those cold, rainy nights where you can curl up by the fire with a blanket, a glass of wine, and have the weather provide the soundtrack to the story. Don't plan on going to bed early though -- once you start this one, you might find it hard to put down. A few of my friends have written to complain of lost sleep and unproductive workdays. Do yourself a favour and start it on a Friday. Or better yet, take it up to the cottage and save it for a dark and stormy night. Enjoy.

2009-01-01T15:24:00.012-05:00

I AM the Wolfman

Tooth & Nail

Ian Rankin

Orion Books

I read in the introduction to the novel that the original title of this book was Wolfman. It made me wonder how people come up with both titles and cover art. Does the publisher make the decision? Does the author have any creative control? And in the case of this particular novel, what do hydro lines and what looks suspiciously like starlings, have to do with a serial killer that bites his victims on the belly post-mortem? Maybe it's like a Warhol album cover for the Velvet Underground -- conceptual and far beyond my level of understanding.

Enough musings -- on to the meat of this post. Tooth & Nail is the third installment in the Inspector Rebus crime series by Ian Rankin. In this "episode", John finds himself shipped off to London to assist in the investigation of a particularly gruesome series of murders. As you would expect, nobody is terribly keen to have to listen to the "import" and as such, he seems more a fish out of water than ever. I particularly enjoyed the way Rankin used language in this novel to highlight Rebus' alienation. When Rebus' first gets to London, his accent and idiom are so thick that no one can understand him. We are meant to feel a little sorry for the rumpled old bloke. And I did.

I imagine we'll see Inspector Rebus at least a couple of more times over the course of the new year. For 2009, I'm going to try to branch out a little and read selections from outside my comfort zone. As for Tooth & Nail, this crime novel gets three hoolit cheers out of five. Fangtastic!

2008-12-28T20:30:00.008-05:00

Four Reading Birds

My Sister's Keeper

Jodi Picoult

Washington Square Press

Another Christmas has come and gone (well, not quite -- technically this is just day four of twelve) and I have already made a dent in the new additions to my to-be-read pile. While I haven't yet opened up all of my gifts, so far I've received three books and a gift card. The best part, of course, is that I had yet to read and/or buy any of them. I'm so giddy I can hardly sit still. Well, until I get absorbed into the pages -- then you need a crowbar pry me from my seat.

First up was Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper. I had heard a lot about this book and had even picked it up a few times at the bookstore before getting distracted by something else. As it turns out, I should have kept it in my basket. This was an amazing read.

Set somewhere in New England, the novel tells the story of Anna and Kate. Kate is a sixteen year old girl who, at the age of two, was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. Anna, her thirteen year old sister, is a genetic match who was essentially bred by her parents to act as a donor of cells, marrow and tissue. The books opens with Anna visiting a lawyer's office to become emancipated from her parents -- they want her to donate a kidney to her dying sister and she has finally had enough and wants to be able to decide what to do with her own body. I was hooked from the opening word.

Putting aside the interesting moral issues that the book raises (which I will admit rescued it from being just another schmaltzy melodrama), I was very much engaged by the narrative technique used by the author. Each chapter in the novel is narrated by a different character in media-res. There are a couple of flashback chapters that fill us in on the back-stories of the various characters, but essentially, the reader lives the drama with the protagonists. Except for Kate. We don't hear from her until the very end of the novel. I'm not going to tell you how it turns out. I will say, however, that I was surprised and genuinely sad. Three point five breaking hearts out of five.

2008-12-28T17:47:00.005-05:00

Always a Bridesmaid ...

The Prairie Bridesmaid

Daria Salomon

Key Porter Books

Okay -- so I now have a new rule when going to the bookstore. Do not buy books based on the on-air musings of your favourite radio host. It doesn't matter that you have a slight crush on him, that you totally dig the groovy music that he plays, or that he actually smells fantastic (I know this for a fact -- he once sat next to me in the Atrium and I was sure that I was in olfactory heaven.) Matt "Slivertongue" Galloway cannot be trusted -- he can make anything sound good. Even a poorly-written, angst-filled piece of crap.

The Prairie Bridesmaid is a novel about Anna -- an unhappy, almost thirty-something who decides that she's got a lot of bad in her life -- her job as a high-school English teacher is completely unrewarding, she's in a soul-sucking relationship, and she smokes and drinks far more than is good for her. While she is trying to sort out these woes, she's also dealing with a bunch of other dramas -- namely, an ailing grandma, a flighty-sister, and a wedding-from-hell.

Is this ringing any bells with you? Yup ... substitute New York for Winterpeg and you have every other chick-lit novel that you ever read. Sure, Salomon was witty, sardonic and more than just a little bit cynical. She just wasn't as good as the hype. One tattered crinoline out of five.

2008-12-14T10:18:00.012-05:00

Bloody Awful

The Pagan Stone
Nora Roberts
Jove

Have you ever read a book that is just so terrible that you don't have the words to describe it? Um, er, ah ... oh forget it -- I give up. This book totally sucked.

I have to admit to feeling a little betrayed. Normally I can count on Ms. Roberts to take me away for at least a couple of hours of good clean fun. Her "family-based" romances are usually quite engaging and in the past, I've often found myself wistfully enjoying her unrealistic, yet slightly addictive, version of boy meets girl.

I don't know if it was the combination of romance and poorly-written fantasy that irritated me, or if the goddess of the romance market was just off her game. In any case, do not pick up this book. In fact, give the whole series a miss. It started out on solid footing and with a hundred or so more pages, could have beeen wrapped up beautifully in one tidy (and enjoyable) volume. Minus two pebbles out of five.

2008-12-04T22:24:00.002-05:00

Soul Reading

Hey kids! Isn't it amazing how quickly the year passes? It seems like just the other week that I was wracking my brain trying to figure out how to come up with a shortlist for the 2007 D-E-S Book of the Year.

Well, this year's exercise hasn't been any easier. I read so many fantastic books in the past twelve months that it really is a difficult task to come up with a top five. Because of you, dear reader, I expanded my horizons and read outside my comfort zone. I flirted with mysterious men, I fell in love with circus performers, and I opened my mind to theories (economic and otherwise) that I thought I'd never understand. Thank you ever so much.

So, without further ado, I am pleased to announce this year's six nominees for the D-E-S Book of the Year:

Water For Elephants - Sara Gruen
The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield
The Professor and the Madman - Simon Winchester
Lonely Werewolf Girl - Martin Millar
The Maltese Falcon - Dashiell Hammett
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

As always, I'll make the official announcement sometime after Christmas day. This isn't like Canada Reads, so please feel free share your favourites via the comments/feedback link. I'm hoping that at least one of you makes a suggestion or two that will influence future posts in this space.

Have a warm, safe and happy holiday season. Wishing each of you peace and joy for 2009.