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

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.

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. 

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.