I’m into the home stretch for my 2012 Reading Challenges, faced with a thick stack of unread books for the month of December. If we get a couple of storm days this month, I may just make it!

November’s entries include a couple of tomes I would never have otherwise read but for Challenges, and I’m happy for the broadening of my reading horizons. There are several prize-winners in this month’s list as well. Enjoy!

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt (Fiction, Western, Noir)
I had somehow expected this picaresque novel which won Canada’s Governor-General’s Award and was short-listed for the Booker prize in 2011 to be more light-hearted than it is.
The tale is narrated by Eli Sisters who, along with his brother Charlie, have been hired by the Commodore to kill Hermann Warm, a gold miner in 1851 California. Eli, a surprisingly warm and likable outlaw, is struggling with the ethical issues in his life and is thinking about packing in the life of hired killer.
The book deserves more than this brief summary. Michael Christie writing for the National Post said “The overall effect is fresh, hilariously anti-heroic, often genuinely chilling, and relentlessly compelling (…) A mighty fine read.” I can’t say it better.
Read this if: you appreciate black comedy; you want a fresh take on a western novel; or you just want to see what all the fuss was about – it’s worth the short time it will take you to read this. 4½ stars

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The Beggar’s Garden
by Michael Christie (Fiction, Short Stories, Canadian)
This collection of short stories is set in the “riotous and hellish, but strangely contained, slum of [Vancouver’s] Downtown Eastside”. This area which includes part of Hastings Street is infamous across Canada. As one of Christie’s characters observes: “It was as if the country had been tipped up at one end and all the sorry b!@#$%$s had slid west, stopping only when they reached the sea, perhaps because the sea didn’t want them either.”
Told from various points of view – the grandfather who leaves food and clothing in dumpsters that he knows his drug-addicted grandson dives, an addict who has just spent his entire welfare cheque on a giant dope trip, a woman who runs a second-hand store, and so on – the stories all intrigued me. Short story collections always seem to have a few weaker pieces. I didn’t think this had any.
Read this if: you’re interested in knowing just how close any one of us is to being on the street; or you’d like some insight into the people in a Canadian city’s slum. 4 stars

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Holes by Louis Sachar (Fiction, Children’s Chapter)
Holes is the winner of multiple awards including the 1999 Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. It’s also the book upon which the movie of the same name is based.
Stanley Yelnats has been unjustly sent to a boys’ detention centre (in the desert), Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day, digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. Poor Stanley: his family doesn’t have a lot of money and he thought this might be the first time he got to a summer-type camp. Instead, he ends up playing Jacob Two-Two to the Boss’ Hooded Fang.
There’s a mystery told in flashback so the reader is always ahead of Stanley, but just, and there’s piecing together for the reader to do too. It’s actually quite a bit of fun. I’m finding some really good books by reading Newbery winners.
Read this if: you saw the movie Holes (c’mon, you have to read the book); you were a fan of Jacob Two-Two; or you like a mystery with some history, with a little good guy versus bad guy thrown in. 4 stars

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The Birth House by Ami McKay (Women’s Fiction, Canadian, Atlantic Canadian)
This 2007 debut novel by Canadian author Ami McKay (well, Canada claims her since she lives here now) is set in Nova Scotia on the shore of the Bay of Fundy, the bulk of the story taking place in the years 1916-1919.
The protagonist, Dora Rare, is befriended and mentored by the community’s midwife/herbalist. Over the course of her life, Dora’s home becomes the birth house – or the place where the women of the community go to have their babies, rather than making the sometimes dangerous trip into the nearest town where ‘modern’ male medicine suits their needs rather less.
The Birth House has been described as “an unforgettable tale of the struggles women have faced to control their own bodies and keep the best parts of tradition alive in the world of modern medicine.” While I’m all for that, the rabid superstition and novena cures of the training midwife detracted from the strength of the women’s positions, in my opinion.
Read this if: women’s issues are important to you and you want to know something of their evolution in rural North America; or you want an authentic picture of WWI era Nova Scotia (the description of the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion is particularly moving). 3½ stars

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Men at Arms by Evelyn Waugh (Literary Fiction, WWII)
Winner of the 1952 James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Britain’s oldest literary award, Men At Arms is the first part of Waugh’s The Sword of Honour Trilogy , his look at the Second World War. It follows Guy Crouchback, the nearly-forty-year-old son of an English aristocratic family who manages to get accepted to officers training in the early part of 1940, and is eventually posted to Dakar in Senegal West Africa. While there, he inadvertently poisons one of his fellow officers and is sent home in disgrace.
That’s about all the plot there is. But the book was interesting for its look at British officers’ instruction in WWII, in contrast with other reading I’ve done which focuses on the training of rank and file soldiers, and for the insight into the chaos that was the British Army in the early part of the war: “The brigade resumed its old duty of standing by for orders.” Waugh’s wickedly dry sense of humour is brilliant.
Read this if: you’re a fan of Downton Abbey – different war, but same country and class; or you love the subtle humour of traditional British writers. 3½ stars

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Three Junes by Julia Glass (Fiction)
If this hadn’t won the National Book Award in 2002, I’d tell you it was a women’s novel, and a mediocre one at that. I might still tell you that.
Three summers (1989, 1995, & 1999) in the life of a Scottish family, in Dumfries & in NYC. There are some expressive observations about death (“Everyone dies alone, no matter how many people there are in the room”); and life (“Time plays like an accordion in the way it can stretch out and compress itself in a thousand melodic ways”) but overall, I wasn’t satisfied with any of the character development, and there was little plot to speak of.
Read this if: you like cause-and-effect parent-and-children stories; or you like things tied up in a neat bundle. 3½ stars

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Memoirs by Pierre Elliott Trudeau (Non-fiction, Memoirs, Canadian)
Published in 1993, this set of former Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau’s memoirs briefly covers the first 49 years of his life including childhood, early world travels and entry into politics, and then concentrates on his time as Prime Minister from 1968-1984.
Anyone who is familiar with Trudeau’s time in office knows that humility was never his strong suit. But the man could lead – and here we gain insight into how he did that and how strong self-confidence (alright – arrogance) helped him to do it. You’ll want to have at least a basic understanding of the Canadian parliamentary system before reading this. A passing acquaintance with the political issues of the day such as Quebec’s push for sovereignty-association, and repatriation of the constitution would enrich your read but is not necessary.
Don’t expect in-depth political analysis: although this book weighs in at over two pounds when a similar sized volume might normally be a full half-pound lighter, the font is large, the text spaced, and there are a number of photographs throughout. And don’t expect any revelations about his personal life either. When in office, Trudeau scrupulously kept his family separate and apart from his political life. His memoirs’ contents mirror that.
Read this if: you loved him, or you hated him (Trudeau seemed to seldom leave anyone on the sidelines with regard to their feelings for him); you want a refresher on Canadian political history of the time (albeit from one point of view); or you want an introduction to one of Canada’s most widely-known and best-remembered leaders. 3½ stars

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Death At The President’s Lodging (aka Seven Suspects) by Michael Innes (Fiction, Vintage Mystery)
This is the first in Innes’ Inspector Appleby series and was published in 1936. I expected perhaps something akin to Agatha Christie but Innes is very different. Or perhaps I only think so because this particular mystery was set in an Oxford/Cambridge-based university and I have no understanding whatever of dons/underdons/proctors and so on and found it difficult to wade through all of those issues (which are pertinent to the crime). The mystery was solid but although I may read more Innes, given the number of untried mystery series out there, I doubt that it will be soon.
Read this if: you like a really ‘academic’ mystery, British, straight-up; or, like I did, you need an “I” author for an A-Z Reading Challenge. 3 stars

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The Stranger by Albert Camus (Literary Fiction, Translated, WWII)
The preface to my edition (Everyman’s Library) states: Albert Camus’ spare, laconic masterpiece about a Frenchman who murders an Arab in Algeria is famous for having diagnosed with a clarity almost scientific, that condition of reckless alienation and spiritual exhaustion which characterizes so much of twentieth-century life. Possessing both the force of a parable and the sentence-by-sentence excitement of a perfectly executed thriller, The Stranger is the work of one of the most engaged and intellectually alert of our century’s writers.” (…)(T)he earliest readers of The Stranger recognized the bleak, claustrophobic world portrayed in Camus’ novel. The bleakness, the banality and the sense of imprisonment were interpreted as an acute and accurate evocation of the feeling of the period. [WWII Occupied France].
It’s considered a modern classic and I’m glad that I’ve read it, although reading it was not in the least enjoyable.
Read this if: you enjoy existentialist thinking (this is considered by some – although not the author – to be an example of that movement in philosophy; you want to better understand the mental attitude of the general populace of occupied France faced with the daily drudgery of earning a living, finding food and fuel and living an uneasy coexistence with the Germans; or you need a short translated piece of fiction for a Reading Challenge. 2½ stars

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October found me busy on a “workcation” and doing a thorough housecleaning in preparation for company. I ‘m still concentrating on books that will help me complete Reading Challenges, so there’s an eclectic line-up here. If you have reviews of any of these books that you’d like me to link to, please let me know.

This month-end summary catches me up until the end of November. Whew!

THE DIVINE RYANS by Wayne Johnston (Literary Fiction, Canadian, Atlantic Canadian)
This won the first Thomas Head Raddell Award for the best Atlantic Canadian adult fiction in 1991. Set in St. John’s Newfoundland during the 1966-’67 hockey season, it centres on Draper Doyle Ryan, age 9, and the extended family in his home. They are known throughout St. John’s as the Divine Ryans because there were so many priests and nuns in the family. Our last family reunion, Uncle Reginald said, was known to the rest of the world as Vatican II.
His father died recently and Draper Doyle is seeing his ‘ghost’. Not to fear: the ghost is not the least bit supernatural, but rather psychological. Draper Doyle has “lost” a week of his life around his father’s death and funeral, and over this winter, in long talks with his Uncle Reginald, he (& we) discover the truth of what happened that week.
The Divine Ryans is a warm, funny and moving book about a boy’s coming to terms with his father’s death, and with his place in his family. I highly recommend it.
Read this if: just read it. 5 stars

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HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY by Richard Llewellyn (Literary Fiction, Historical)
The novel is set in Wales in the 1880s and 1890s, during the reign of Queen Victoria and tells the story of the Morgans, a respectable mining family, through the eyes of the youngest son, Huw.
His five brothers and his father are miners but Huw’s academic ability sets him apart from his elder brothers and enables him to consider a future away from this troubled industrial environment.
Oh, what a beautiful book! The countryside, the language, the characters. There is much tragedy, but there is much joy as well. The only complaint I have is the truncated ending- very unsatisfying, and keeps it from earning a perfect 5.
Right, you – read this one too. 4½ stars

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TWENTY-SIX by Leo McKay Jr. (Literary Fiction, Canadian, Atlantic Canadian)
On May 9, 1992, a methane explosion ripped through the Westray coal mine in Stellarton Nova Scotia, resulting in the death of all twenty-six men underground at the time.
Twenty-Six by Leo McKay Jr. Is closely based on that event, imagining the lives of the fictitious Burrows family, affected by that disaster: a troubled collection of violent, alcoholic, and underemployed working-class men, and the women who put up with them.
Renamed Eastlake & set a few years earlier than actual, the mine and the explosion are major components of the book, forming the background of the plot. But the story is about people: father Ennis, desperately wanting to connect with his sons, and messing up every interaction with them. Elder son Arvel is having marriage problems; younger son Ziv despairs of having a future in his home, Nova Scotia.
The reality of employment prospects and life in rural Nova Scotia is deftly portrayed.
This has been on my reading list for some time so when my local librarian suggested that I read it for One Book Nova Scotia; I readily put my name on the reserve list. I’m glad I did – and now I’m investigating their suggested list of ‘Read-a-likes’.
Read this if: you’re interested in what it’s like to live with limited education and prospects in rural/small-town Atlantic Canada; or you’d like an introduction to the WestRay mine disaster. 4 stars

I also recommend you watch the 80 minute NFB film Westray, which focuses on the aftermath and the official inquiry. As in life, so in the novel: “No matter what the inquiry finds in their hearings, no matter whether a criminal trial takes place, and no matter the outcome if one does. His son is dead. Nothing is going to make his death right. Nothing can justify it, explain it, nothing can make it hurt less. His son is dead.”

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MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN by Salman Rushdie (Literary Fiction, Historical, Magical Realism)
Double winner in 1981 of the Man Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Midnight’s Children begins with the birth of the protagonist Saleem Sinai at midnight Aug 15th 1947 – when the country of India, as partitioned from Pakistan, was also “born”.
Rushdie’s entire story is based on magical realism: Saleem discovers that he has supernatural mental powers that allow him to converse with all of the other children born in that hour, and that they too have ‘gifts’ of varying degrees.
Now that Saleem is dying, he is relating his story to his companion Padma. That story follows closely the course of history in Modern India, and involves also the illegitimate son of the former British estate owner, who was born at the exact moment Saleem was.
I’m not a fan of magical realism but sometimes can enjoy it. Not this time. Rushdie embroidered the telling too much for me – going off on tangents and asides until Padma (and I) were saying: You’re talking funny again. Are you going to tell (the story) or not?
Add to that that to really ‘get’ this book, you need a familiarity with the political players and events of the time that I don’t possess. I found the story was presented in such a way that it was difficult to learn.
Read this if: you have studied the modern history of India and would like a fanciful account of its birth and early years. 3½ stars

THE CANADIAN FOOD GUIDE by Pierre and Janet Berton (Non-fiction, Food & Cooking)
I don’t think I’ve ever come across such an inaptly named book. Remember that “Canada’s Food Guide” with the “four basic food groups” that we studied in elementary school? Doesn’t this sound like that? Well, it’s not like that.
This slim volume is more a history of eating in Canada from the pioneer settlers until 1966 when this book was published. I found most interesting the comments on attitudes toward dining in the 1920s through the 1950s and the ‘modern’ take of forty years ago. Tastes and trends in food are always changing, especially in ‘immigrant countries’ such as Canada and the USA, and as a time capsule of the late 1960s, early 1970s, this is superb because it contains not only recipes but commentary. The recipes (which are not the bulk of the book) include such “old-time Canadian standbys” as butter tarts, lemon snow and apple crisp. Yum.
Read this if: you’re Canadian and you’re into cooking; you’re a history buff and would like to add an additional social perspective to your knowledge; or you’re looking for some “old-time” Canadian recipes. 3 stars

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THE MUSEUM OF DR. MOSES by Joyce Carol Oates (Fiction, Short Stories, Suspense)
This is only the second Oates I’ve read, the first being the more-or-less conventional We Were the Mulvaneys that did not prepare me in any way for this collection of short stories, which are billed “mystery and suspense”. The suspense I get; I’m not so sure about mystery. All of the stories have an element of the criminal or the macabre.
I found “Suicide Watch” to be the most memorable: told from the point of view of a businessman who has been called to visit his son in prison(?)/ psychiatric hospital(?) The businessman’s grandson & the child’s mother are missing, and the son isn’t talking. When he does open up to his father, he tells a chilling tale of mailing the boy’s body to his father – and then proclaims it all a test to see if his father would believe such a thing of him.
I’m checking my mail every day for parcels.
Read this if: you like short stories that can make your spine tingle; or you’re a Joyce Carol Oates fan. 3 stars

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A FISTFUL OF COLLARS by Spencer Quinn (Fiction, Mystery)
The fifth and latest entry in the wonderful Chet & Bernie series, featuring the PI team of Bernie Little and his canine partner Chet, who narrates the stories.
In this mystery, Chet & Bernie are hired to ‘babysit’ a well-known film star, known to go astray, while he is in town shooting a new movie. Nothing is ever as straight-forward as it seems, though, and the boys are soon digging up secrets from the past. For more plot details, see Shelleyrae’s full review at Book’d Out.
I love this series. You might think that a mystery narrated by a dog is too cutesie, but Quinn saves them from that with Chet’s professional attitude and zest for life. As he says: I started to cheer up, partly because Bernie told me to and partly because, well, how long can you stay down in the dumps?
Read this if: you enjoy a solid mystery that’s not overly cozy but still clean; you’re a dog-lover & a mystery fan; or you’re reading the series and want the latest installment of SoCal’s smartest PI team. 4 stars

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MOON OVER MANIFEST by Claire Vanderpoole (Fiction, YA, Historical)
This 2010 winner of the Newbery Medal is the heart-warming story of Abilene Tucker who is spending the summer of 1936 in Manifest Kansas learning from Miss Sadie (the Diviner) about Manifest in 1918.
(Note: Miss Sadie has no supernatural powers – just memories and a deep insight into people.)
Vanderpoole kept me on the edge of my chair waiting for the next 1918 installment in the alternating story. I had as much fun as Abilene matching up the people then with those in ‘current-day’ 1936.
There’s a good deal of sadness in the tale, but things do work out for Abilene in the end.
Although YA is not my preferred genre, I found this book enchanting – and would have loved it as a pre-teen. It should become a childhood classic. Recommended.
Read this if: you enjoy stories about small towns and how their histories are made; or you’re 11 years old and want to read a story you’ll remember for years. 4 stars

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JULIE OF THE WOLVES by Jean Craighead George (Fiction, YA)
This unusual story of a 13-year-old Eskimo girl who survives in the Canadian Artic by ‘joining’ a wolf pack won the 1973 Newbery Medal. Julie of the Wolves is set in Alaska in what seems to be the early 1970s. Miyax/Julie (they all had two names, Eskimo and English) leaves an arranged marriage and sets out with some food to walk to her pen pal’s house in San Francisco. On the way, she learns self-reliance through the traditional ways, and finds her father.
Although it’s complimentary to the traditional Eskimos and their way of life: The people at seal camp had not been as outdated and old-fashioned as she had been led to believe. No, on the contrary, they had been wise. They had adjusted to nature instead of to man-made gadgets, and obliquely critical of the effect of the ‘gussaks’ on the Eskimo culture and society, there still seemed to me to be a bit of colonialism in the author’s presentation of Julie. Perhaps it’s only that the perspective is 40 years old.
Read this if: you’re interested in a period look at traditional Eskimo culture; or you’ve read Farley Mowat’s Never Cry Wolf and want to try a fictional account of wolf life. 3 stars

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KILMENY OF THE ORCHARD by Lucy Maud Montgomery (Fiction, YA, Romance)
This is the story of a substitute teacher at a rural school in Prince Edward Island who meets and falls in love with a mute girl. Other than her dumbness, Kilmeny is perfection itself, unbelievably beautiful (even the hands that help her aunt with 1910 rural housework), incredibly musically talented, and intelligent.
GAH! Beauty makes one desirable, Europeans are lower-class, happy, happy, happy endings are guaranteed. Gag me.
1 star for the descriptions of PEI because as the author says: Prince Edward Island in the month of June is such a thing as you don’t often see except in happy dreams. I might add that June in Nova Scotia plays out much the same.
Read this if: you like sappy romances and are willing to suspend disbelief for both characters and plot; or you feel you must read everything by Lucy Maud Montgomery. (I chose this simply because the title filled the “K” requirement – amazingly difficult to come by – for my A-Z Double Whammy Reading Challenge.)

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THE EYRE AFFAIR by Jasper Fforde (Fiction, Mystery, Fantasy) DNF
This is the second time I’ve attempted to read Fforde’s Thursday Next’s series. The first in the run The Eyre Affair seemed a perfect fit for me right now since I’d read Jane Eyre earlier this year. But I just don’t get it.
I know lots of people love these books. Do you have any advice for me?

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Amazon links for CANADIAN readers:
The Divine Ryans
How Green Was My Valley
Twenty-Six
Midnight’s Children
Pierre & Janet Berton’s Canadian Food Guide
The Museum of Dr. Moses
A Fistful of Collars
Moon Over Manifest
Julie Of The Wolves
Kilmeny Of The Orchard

KINDLE editions:
Midnight’s Children
A Fistful of Collars (Chet and Bernie Mystery)
Moon Over Manifest
Julie of the Wolves
Kilmeny of the Orchard .99¢

I don’t remember much about September but maybe that’s because I had my head stuck in books. In addition to reading Stephen King’s latest (which tallies in at 849 pages) I read ten other books, all but one of which bring me closer to achieving completion of the 63 Reading Challenges I’m participating in this year. I have just one more month of reading to summarize and I’m caught up.

Enjoy this month’s extra links!

LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott (Fiction, Classics, YA)
This classic story of one year in the lives of the March sisters of New England during the American Civil War justly holds its place of honour in American literary tradition. This is really a Young Adult novel and I’m sure that each young (or older!) reader identifies with one of the sisters: the eldest, Meg who is maturing into a young women preparing for marriage; Jo, the impetuous tomboy & alter ego of the author; home-loving and painfully shy Beth; and the creative & somewhat spoiled baby, Amy; and events in the book involve all sisters in turn. Each chapter of Little Women contains a gentle moral, espousing a value such as honesty, industry or thriftiness with time and money.
I found this much easier to read than other 19th century novels, perhaps because it was targeting a young audience. My edition had several charming illustrated plates by Jessie Wilcox smith.
Read this if: you’d like to have a glimpse of the home-front during the American Civil War; you love a story that teaches old-fashioned morals; or you enjoy gentle old-fashioned adventures. 5 stars

Suggested reading companion to Little Women: March by Geraldine Brooks which follows the activities of the girls’ father, Mr. March during his enlistment. Note: March is not a YA novel.

IN COLD BLOOD by Truman Capote (Non-fiction, Crime)
In November 1959, two young ex-convicts robbed and murdered the Clutter family of four in Holcomb Kansas. A 300-word article in the New York Times about the crime interested the young Truman Capote enough for him to travel to Kansas to investigate the murders. Capote talked to locals, family, and police, ultimately compiling 8,000 pages of notes. After the criminals were found, tried, and convicted, Capote conducted personal interviews with both Smith and Hickock. It’s these that add the psychological interest to the book, which is written as narrative non-fiction.
In comparison to modern real-live crime books, In Cold Blood which keeps the gore to a minimum and focuses more on the criminals’ minds, may not be as compelling to some as I found it. But it chilled me to the bone, and contains what I think is the most unnerving line I’ve read in non-fiction, as the killer tells Capote: “I didn’t want to harm the man. I thought he was a very nice gentleman. Soft-spoke. I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat.”
Read this if: you’re a fan of crime fiction; if you’re interested in how humans can sink without apparent reason to base behaviour; or you’d like to see how Capote wrote non-fiction. 4½ stars

THE APPRENTICESHIP OF DUDDY KRAVITZ by Mordecai Richler (Literary Fiction, Canadian)
This is one of those classics of Canadian literature that I’d been meaning to read since high school 40 years ago, and was always embarrassed to tell anyone that I had not.
Apprenticeship, published in 1959, is set in Montreal and in the Jewish summer resorts of the Laurentian Mountains. We follow Duddy Kravitz as a boy that, if you are a certain age, you might describe as a two-bit punk: he fought, stole from Kresge’s department store and split streetcar tickets so they could be used twice. But Duddy wants to “make” it so, in his teens and twenties, following his grandfather’s advice that “a man without land is nothing”, he wheedles and hustles his way through scheme after scheme to purchase land for development. Along the way, he finds out just what morals he will compromise for his dream.
I’ve come to this CanLit icon late in life: this is only my second Richler, but along with Barney’s Version, it has convinced me that I must read his entire canon.
Read this if: you are interested in how other people achieve their dreams; you want to know about the Jewish experience in Montreal, Canada in the 1940s and ’50s; or you want an introduction to Mordecai Richler. 4 stars

CROW LAKE by Mary Lawson (Literary Fiction, Canadian)
This book won the Amazon.ca (formerly Books in Canada) First Novel Award for its author in 2002. Set in the near north of Ontario, Crow Lake tells the story of four siblings who lose both parents in a tragic accident one summer day, and their struggle to stay together and to fulfill their parents’ dream of them attending university. This sounds like a women’s novel, but it isn’t. And it isn’t the least bit a horror novel as the cover might suggest. My favourite quote: Memories. I’m not in favour of them, by and large. Not that there aren’t some good ones, but on the whole I’d like to put them in an airtight cupboard and close the door.
Doesn’t that make you want to find out why?
Read this if: if you enjoy family dramas or stories about the constrictions of unspoken class systems; or simply if you have siblings. 4 stars

THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder (Literary Fiction, Classic)
This classic, dug out of basement storage in our central library at my request, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1928. The copy I read was actually printed then, so was quite fragile.
The setting of this book is Lima Peru 250 years ago. One fateful day a bridge made of willows which for ages has spanned a deep gorge near the city, breaks, and five people plunge to their deaths. Brother Juniper, a monk, witnesses the accident and determines to trace the life stories of the five to prove his belief that each of them in some way deserved this fate, and that such a catastrophe was God’s will.
Thankfully, I found that Brother Juniper’s purpose in researching the characters paled to the characters themselves and their intersecting lives. Not only a study of Peruvian society of the 18th century, but also an unmasking of societal attitudes of the 1920s.
As an aside: A new biography, Thornton Wilder: A Life by Penelope Niven was released October 30th, 2012.
Read this if: you love to see how lives intersect & the part circumstance plays in one’s destiny; or if you’re looking for a fairly short & not difficult-to-read classic to complete a reading challenge. 3½ stars

TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY in Search of America by John Steinbeck (Non-fiction, Travel)
In the fall of 1960, John Steinbeck set out with a well-stocked camper truck and his standard bred poodle named Charley, to travel across America. His route took him from New York up to Maine from where he turned east, eventually crossing the prairies to visit the California of his boyhood before heading back east and catching Texas on the way.
Travels with Charley is a fascinating look at the America of half a century ago and of Steinbeck’s perceptions and assimilations of it. Steinbeck himself admits these may not mirror any other person’s when he says: I cannot commend this as an account as an America that you will find [in 1960]. So much there is to see, but our morning eyes describe a different world than do our afternoon eyes(.)
At the beginning of the trip (and the book), the author gives the reader lots of personal details both about his adventure, the places he sees, and the people he meets. But as the book progresses, the story is recounted in greater generalities, and he drives hundreds of miles without talking to anyone.
This is understandable since as he says: This journey has been like a full dinner of many courses, set before a starving man. At first, he tries to eat all of everything, but as the meal progresses he finds he must forgo some things to keep his appetite and his taste buds functioning.
Steinbeck made the observation that When we get these [inter-state] thruways across the whole country, as we will and must, it will be possible to drive from New York to California without seeing a single thing. We should all be glad he captured some of life as it was before that happened.
Read this if: you’d like a taste of a simpler country; you’d like to discover a time-capsule of society in mid-twentieth century America; or you’re a Steinbeck fan and would like to get to know the author a bit better. 3½ stars

11/22/63 by Stephen King (Popular Fiction, Time-Travel, Science-Fiction)
When I was in high school, I read Stephen King’s Carrie which I had not realized until I had nearly finished it, is a classic horror novel. That put me off King, and I haven’t read another of his books in over 40 years.
But reassured by recent reviews & synopses that 11/22/63 is not a horror tale but, indeed, is one of my favourite genres–time travel–I tackled this chunkster.
As everyone must know by now, the story concerns a time ‘hole’ from the present back to 1958 Maine. The dying owner of the diner where the warp is located exacts a promise from our protagonist, Jake, to ‘go back’ and prevent Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating John F. Kennedy in November 1963. Does Jake succeed in his mission? I’ll leave it to you to find out.
Stephen King has described his own work as the “Big Mac and fries” of literature. There are so many applications of that metaphor : mass marketed, branded, appealing to the eye, easy to go down, only moderately nutritious, and certainly not something of which one should make a steady diet. But as a treat – this beats James Patterson, for sure.
Read this if: you’re a fan of Time and Again written by Jack Finney to whom King was going to dedicate his book until a new granddaughter was born; you love time-travel stories and haven’t yet read Finney (read him now); you like to speculate what the present would be like if major events of the past were altered; or you enjoy reading (or like me, reminiscing) about mid-twentieth century America. 3½ stars

THE ILLUSTRATED MAN by Ray Bradbury (Science Fiction)
I remember reading this in my teens and thinking it phenomenal, but my tastes have changed and I found it a little disappointing this time through.
The illustrated man of the title is covered in tattoos that come to life at night and reveal the stories herein. But the illustrated man is just a device to string together a collection of Bradbury’s (mostly) previously published short stories. Most of the stories are set on Mars or other space venues, or are in the future (including two ‘end of the world’ stories.)
The tales vary in quality and interest to me. The first one The Veldt is the one I particularly remembered from my first reading and is, in my opinion, the best of the bunch. It’s set in (what seems to be) the future, where a children’s playroom has interactive walls that provide atmospheric backdrop to their ‘play’. The Long Rain, the only story in this collection set on Venus, is also memorable from this reading, but the others all run together for me. It’s classic science-fiction, but it’s just not my genre.
Read this if: you’re a fan of short stories set in space; you’re a sci-fi fan who wants to cover the classics of the genre; or to celebrate Red Planet Day on November 29th. 3 stars

A JEST OF GOD by Margaret Laurence (Fiction, Canadian)
Another classic of Canadian literature and a huge disappointment for me as a fan of Margaret Laurence whose Stone Angel is one of my favourite books.
A Jest of God follows Rachel Cameron, a 34-year-old spinster school teacher in the small prairie town of Manawaka. Because it’s told in the first person from Rachel’s view, we are privy to Rachel’s thoughts. For most of the book there is a wide discrepancy between what Rachel is in her visible public life, how she deals with and appears to others, and what she really thinks and feels. Rachel’s life is dull – she lives with her mother and has no real friends. Then she meets an old high school classmate, visiting for the summer from the city, and begins an affair. That yields one of Laurence’s wonderful lines: “Some poisons have sweetness at the first taste, but they are willing to kill you just the same.”
Despite Laurence’s writing, I really had a hard time with this book. I didn’t like Rachel at all and wanted to slap her silly: she hated being misunderstood but never said what she thought. She mistook a physical affair based on lust for love, and became obsessed with Nick.
Read this if: you’ve seen the movie Rachel, Rachel and want to read the book upon which it was based; or you’re reading the entire Laurence canon, as I am. 3 stars

YELLOWTHREAD STREET by William Marshall (Fiction, Police)
“If you’re a tourist in bustling Hong Kong, don’t venture into the seedy dancehall district of Hong Bay. Detective Chief Inspector Harry Feiffer and the cops of Yellowthread Street Station can tell you why.”
Published in 1975 when Hong Kong was still British-owned and (evidently) British-policed, this first in the series introduces us to the station staff and a few of the area streets, and not much else. There is very little plot, rather just the meandering day by day occurrences and interactions of policing in the largely Chinese district. There are 16 books in this series, so someone likes it enough to follow up. For its glimpse of Hong Kong in an easily readable format, 2½ stars
Read this if: you’re interested in a laid-back look at policing in British-held Hong Kong; or you need a book with the color ‘yellow’ in the title for a Colour Reading Challenge, and a ‘Y’ book in an A-Z reading challenge. (BAM.)

THE MINOTAUR TAKES A CIGARETTE BREAK by Steven Sherrill (Fiction)
I picked this up for $2 on a sale table at Chapters but for the life of me, I don’t know why. Yes, it’s that Minotaur—the head of a bull on the body of a man—now living and working in small town America as a chef. I’ll give the author a couple of points for imagining the day to day difficulties of fitting into modern society, but I couldn’t discern a plot to the book. Others might feel differently – this book ranks surprisingly high on Amazon’s charts.
Read this if: you’re a real fan of Greek mythology and love new takes on old themes. 2 stars

BOOK DEPOSITORY has free world-wide delivery:

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Amazon links for CANADIAN readers:
Little Women
March
In Cold Blood
Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
Barney’s Version
Crow Lake
The Bridge Of San Luis Rey
Travels with Charley in Search of America
11/22/63
The Illustrated Man
A Jest of God
Yellowthread Street
The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break

KINDLE EDITIONS:
The Complete Little Women Series: Little Women, Good Wives, Little Men, Jo’s Boys (4 books in one) .99¢
In Cold Blood
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
Crow Lake
Travels with Charley in Search of America
11/22/63

August was a bonanza-beach-bonus month for me. I gave myself time to devour a total of 15 books, of which nine were mysteries, my comfort food of reading. In case you’re not as enthralled with that genre as I am, I divided my list into two parts.

This post brings me almost up to date with my reading record!

NON-MYSTERIES

Firmin by Sam Savage (Fiction)
Firmin is a rat born in the basement of a Scolley Square bookstore in Boston in the early 1960s. His mother is an alcoholic and eventually deserts the family. Driven by hunger, Firmin makes a diet of Zane Grey, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and Jane Eyre. Strangely, as Firmin eats, he takes in the words (and meanings), becoming an extremely literate rat.
Told from Firmin’s point of view, the book is by turns hilarious, tragic and hopeful. I really liked the story and loved the cover, with its bite-size medallion taken out of the side. Best cover of my year, I’m sure, and a great example of the need for print books.
Read this if: you love the classics, or books in general. Basically, if you’re reading this post, you should read Firmin. 4½ stars

Practical Jean by Trevor Cole (Fiction, Canadian)
Jean Horemarsh has just returned to living with her husband after three months spent caring for her mother as she died of cancer. After watching her mother die, Jean is convinced no one should have to suffer the indignities of aging and illness like her mother did—and she, Jean Horemarsh, will take it upon herself to give each of her friends one final, perfect moment . . . and then, one by one, kill them.
The 2011 winner of the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, Practical Jean is wickedly funny and thought-provoking.
Read this if: you appreciate irony, or a darker shade of humour.
4½ stars

Heading Home: On Starting a New Life in a Country Place by Lawrence Scanlan (Non-fiction, Memoir, Country Living, Canadian)

You may know that my husband and I exchanged big city living for life in rural Nova Scotia nine years ago, so I’m always interested in books/memoirs about moving to the country. Scanlan, who moved from the city of Kingston to the village of Camden East, Ontario (pop. 250) has written one of the best I’ve encountered.
The book’s twelve chapters, each devoted to one month, chronicle a year in the life of the village. Heading Home is a beautiful piece of narrative non-fiction, yet it is packed with extremely practical advice for anyone yearning to start over in a country place.
Read this if: you are contemplating country life – or if you just wonder what it’s like. 4½ stars

A Recipe for Bees by Gail Anderson-Dergatz (Fiction, Canadian)
When Gail Anderson-Dargatz showed the manuscript of A Recipe for Bees to her divorced parents, it caused them to reconsider their sixteen-year separation. “My parents, Eric and Irene, are models for Karl and Augusta in many ways. I set out to show them how extraordinary their seemingly ordinary lives were.” She interviewed them during the writing of the book and as they read the work in progress, they began to talk about unresolved problems(…) Her parents were remarried on Christmas Day, 1998, some fifty years after their first marriage.
This is a lovely anecdote but it doesn’t really surprise me. A Recipe for Bees is a masterful examination of relationships, primarily the one between Augusta and her husband. At its heart are the life, death, and resurrection of an extraordinary marriage. With lots of beekeeping lore, this Giller Prize nominated (1998) story is as sweet as honey.
Read this if: you believe that the bonds of marriage should hold, for better or for worse. 4 stars

The Absolutist by John Boyne (Fiction, WWI)
“It is September 1919: twenty-one-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver a package of letters to the sister of Will Bancroft, the man he fought alongside during the Great War. But the letters are not the real reason for Tristan’s visit. He can no longer keep a secret and has finally found the courage to unburden himself of it.”
Most reviewers love this book. I’m more ‘meh’. The writing is superb and the story unfolds with just the right amount of tension from beginning to end. But I wasn’t blown away by the climax. I understand Will’s stand and determination to stick to it despite the consequences, and Tristan’s actions didn’t make any difference to the outcome. Maybe I’ve just read too many WWI novels recently.
Read this if: you enjoy WWI stories; you’re interested the relationships between soldiers during wartime; or if you approve of war in principle. 3½ stars

The Doll’s House by Rumer Godden (Children’s Chapter book)
The activities, sorrows, and joys of a family of dolls living in an old doll house are related from the dolls’ point of view.
It’s rather dated, but charming. Read this if: you ever played with a dollhouse – or wanted to (and who didn’t?) 3 stars

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MYSTERIES

The Dog Who Knew Too Much by Spencer Quinn
“Combining suspense and intrigue with a wonderfully humorous take on the link between man and beast, Spencer Quinn’s exceptional mystery series has captured widespread praise since its New York Times bestselling debut, Dog on It”. In the fourth entry in the series, The Dog Who Knew Too Much, canine Chet becomes the focus of dognappers, while his partner Bernie is looking for a boy who has gone missing from a wilderness camp in the high country. The Dog Who Knew Too Much is classic Spencer Quinn, offering page-turning entertainment that’s not just for dog-lovers.
I love this series featuring Bernie Little and his dog Chet who narrates the books. The mysteries are always suspenseful and solidly developed. But it’s Chet who makes this series. His love of life is exhilarating for me.
Read this if: you love dogs and mysteries – or if you just love dogs – or if you just like mysteries. (I really can’t be objective about Chet.) 4½ stars

Elegy for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear
The Maisie Dobbs series has been described by USA Today as ‘less whodunits than why-dunits, more P.D. James than Agatha Christie’ (USA Today) I’ve followed this series since Maisie debuted as a newly discharged WWI nurse in 1919, through Maisie’s growth during the 1920s. I particularly appreciate that Maisie’s life – her circumstances, her friendships, her personality with both strengths and flaws—has not remained static but has developed naturally as it might have in her time and place.

Set in 1933 London Elegy for Eddie, the ninth and latest Maisie Dobbs offering, has Maisie investigating the brutal killing of a street peddler from the working-class neighborhood of her childhood. It’s one of the best in a super series.
Read this: after you’ve read the rest of the series. Yes, each book in the series stands alone, but they’ll have greater impact if you’ve watched Maisie grow. If the period in Britain between the World Wars intrigues you, or you enjoy a strong but flawed female protagonist, you’ll particularly enjoy this series. 4 stars
.
A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear
In the eighth book in the Maisie Dobbs series, A Lesson in Secrets, Maisie is working for the Secret Service at a pacifist college in Cambridge. The Secret Service is particularly suspicious of what they see as the country’s biggest threat: communism, while basically ignoring the rise of fascism and Nazism.
This is a solid entry in this series, and one with a slightly different perspective for Maisie. 4 stars

Dead Man’s Folly by Agatha Christie
The ‘folly’ of the title is actually an architectural term defined as “an eccentric, generally non-functional structure erected to enhance a romantic landscape.” Of course, the play on words using the more commonly understood meaning of the word is intentional. In this classic Christie, Adriadne Oliver arranges a mock Murder Hunt for charity and calls in her friend Hercule Poirot when a real body is discovered. Although this was published in 1956, it has the feel of one of Christie’s slightly older stories: the classic country estate, the Lord & Lady, the house guests, and so on.
In addition to the word play of the title, there is the gentle mockery of Christie herself, on whom Ariadne Oliver is said to be based. So she sets up a murder and doesn’t know who the murderer is. Very well-done, excellently clued but still perplexing mystery.
Read this if: you’re looking for a classic English country whodunit set in the mid-twentieth century. 4 stars

The Tragedy of Z by Ellery Queen (Barnaby Ross)
This is the third in the Drury Lane series (the Tragedies of X,Y &Z). Drury Lane is a blind, retired stage actor and a good friend of (the fictional) Ellery Queen. This was published in 1933, is melodramatic but oh-so-elegant. The mystery is fairly clued, but very difficult. I don’t think I’ve ever solved a novel-length Ellery Queen. 3½ stars

At Bertram’s Hotel by Agatha Christie
Miss Jane Marple takes a two week holiday at Bertram’s Hotel, of which she has fond childhood memories. So! It’s 1965 and Bertram’s hasn’t changed since King Edward V’s time. And that, dear reader, is part of the mystery. Although the hotel seems charming at first, it takes on a sinister face. There’s a great cast of vintage Christie characters, but Jane Marple plays only a peripheral part in the whole investigation.
Read this if: you’d like to see Christie acknowledge the modern world encroaching on her country-house-cozy formula that was successful and more or less unchanged for decades. 3 stars

QBI by Ellery Queen
A 1955 collection of EQ’s short stories, titled Queen’s Bureau of Investigation. The only one I came close to solving was the first one and it was over before I realized I wasn’t reading a full-length novel. Very enjoyable quick read – and it fulfilled two of my reading challenges – the ‘Q’ title in A-Z Reading Challenge and the ‘1955’ in Read the First Years of your Life Challenge.
Read this if: you enjoy short mysteries such as those found in Ellery Queen or Alfred Hitchcock magazine; or want short, intelligent challenges. 3 stars

Mystery of the Cape Cod Tavern by Phoebe Atwood Taylor
This book, published in 1934 is only the second P.A. Taylor I’ve read (the other was the debut in the series). We meet a different middle-aged spinster narrator who stumbles into a murder and happens to have handyman Asey Mayo at hand. This is a closed room mystery in that the culprit has to be one of the Tavern’s (aka Inn) guests. Or does it? There are a lot of comings and goings and secret passages for a house under police observation. It’s that that weakens the enjoyability of this mystery. I can suspend my disbelief only so far.
Read this if: you’re a fan of this series, or of tart New England ways. 2½ stars

Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie
In the 1973 Postern of Fate, we find Tommy & Tuppence Beresford retired and having just bought a new-to-them old house. There is an old mystery (from WWII) connected with the house, but the point of the book (if there is one) seems to be to catalogue all the books that Christie read and loved as a child. The writing, quite uncharacteristic of Christie, sounds as if the author was a doddering old woman (well, she was 83) who was dictating a vague idea of a story. (But, where were her editors?!) The book meanders, repeats, meanders some more. It was maddening, and I finished it only because it fulfilled two of my more difficult reading challenges – Birth Year Reading Challenge, and Vintage Mysteries – Lethal Locations. (Who knew that the “Postern of Fate’ was a gate into Damascus?)
Read this if: you are a complete Christie freak and want to know all about her childhood reading, or must read all of her work. Otherwise – don’t read this. 1 star for the Christie connection

Links for my CANADIAN readers:
Firmin
Practical Jean
Heading Home
A Recipe for Bees
The Absolutist
The Dolls’ House
The Dog Who Knew Too Much
Elegy For Eddie
A Lesson in Secrets
Dead Man’s Folly
The Tragedy of Z
At Bertram’s Hotel
QBI
Mystery Of The Cape Cod Tavern
Postern Of Fate

KINDLE editions:
Firmin
Practical Jean
A Recipe for Bees
The Absolutist
The Dolls’ House
The Dog Who Knew Too Much
Elegy for Eddie:
A Lesson in Secrets
Dead Man’s Folly
At Bertram’s Hotel
Postern of Fate

AUDIOBOOKS:
The Absolutist
At Bertram’s Hotel: A BBC Full-Cast Radio Drama

Yes – I’m still behind, but I’m running to catch up before I take some time off later this month. (What have I been doing until now, you ask, if not taking time off? Well, I’ve been busy with non-bookish things – and reading, of course.)

It took me ten days to get through Jane Eyre, so my reading list for July is pretty slim, and since it’s been over two months since I read any of these, my comments are short, if not sweet.

419 by Will Ferguson
Even though this Giller Prize short-listed novel opens in western Canada, the story is international. For into what part of the globe have the email scams that originate in Nigeria not penetrated? Here’s my review. 4 stars

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
Widely reviewed, and winner of the 2011 Booker prize, this is hailed as a “novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting(.) The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning new chapter in Julian Barnes’s oeuvre.”. I dunno – maybe I expected too much. I couldn’t warm to the protagonist, and his discoveries just didn’t shake me. 3½ stars

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Too bad I missed this classic in my early teens – I would have loved it then: the romance, the period detail, the discovery of words. Now I think, “Attempted bigamy & gross deceit, and too many words.” 3½ stars

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesay
Modern retelling of Jane Eyre. Sure, the basic plot was determined for Livesay but I give her points for the Icelandic connection. And it didn’t take a week to read. If you like Jane Eyre, you’ll probably like this too. 3½ stars

An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd

The latest in the Bess Crawford mystery series, which I enjoy rather much. Bess is a nurse in WWI France, in this book dealing with (and falling temporary victim to) the Spanish flu. The period details seem spot on and the mystery was tight – a much better read than the authors’ previous outing in this series. 3½ stars

Falling Into Green by Cher Fischer
An ‘eco-mystery’, read on my Kindle. (How appropriate!) You can read my review here. 3 stars

Amazon links for For Canadian readers:
419
The Sense of an Ending
Jane Eyre
The Flight Of Gemma Hardy
An Unmarked Grave
Falling Into Green

Kindle editions:
The Sense of an Ending
Jane Eyre
The Flight of Gemma Hardy
An Unmarked Grave
Falling Into Green

I know, I know – I’m behind! It was a busy summer, and the longer I was away from blogging, the harder it was to break the silence. But please bear with me because my blog (besides being for your reading pleasure) is also my personal ‘books read’ record so I must post these.

I didn’t finish one book on my Kindle in June – I think I needed a break from it after my two week trip in May on which I read nothing but my Kindle. A couple of really good non-fiction titles topped my list in June, and I read some mystery titles to try to catch up on some reading challenges.

The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard

Subtitled The Impact of Overconsumption on the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health-And How We Can Make It Better, this is an expansion on the 20 minute Internet movie of the same name. The book digs into the five facets of the linear economic system in use in North America. It’s amazing, it’s controversial and it’s has been haunting me all summer. I will be posting a full review of this. Watch the movie while you wait for it! 5 stars

UContent: The Information Professional’s Guide to User-Generated Content by Nicholas G. Tomaiuolo
An invaluable handbook for Information Professionals aka librarians. A goldmine of information for the rest of us. See my review. 4 stars

A Dog’s Journey by W. Bruce Cameron

This is a follow-up to A Dog’s Purpose which I read last year and loved so much. I highly anticipated the sequel but found it a little flat – I just couldn’t invest in C.J., or in the dog being a Chihuahua for a great deal of the book. I’m still glad I read it, though, and if you’re a dog lover, you’ll be glad you read it too. 4 stars

Manners for Women by Mrs. Humphrey
A reprint of the 1897 publication of the same name. Here are my thoughts on it. 3.5 stars

Lonesome Hero by Fred Stenson (Canadian author)
I’m sure I would have loved this when it was first published in 1973: my head was ‘there’ and the world was ‘there’, man. But the ‘there’ didn’t resonate with me now and just wanted to slap the young hero who is dragged to Europe (which turns out to be no further than England) and then dumped there by his girlfriend. For capturing a slice of 1970. 3.5 stars

Murder: A Crafty Business by Lila Philips (Nova Scotian author)
I love mysteries and Lila Philips is an author from Truro NS (the closest town to our village in Rural Nova Scotia). That I would read her book was a given. It’s a pretty standard cozy: the new owner of the town craft shop finds a body in the basement and has a vested interest in proving the police wrong. It was well-written and edited with decent plot but, ultimately, forgettable. 3.5 stars

Murder at Hazelmoor aka The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie
One of Christie’s stand-alone novels, it’s another standard cozy – a locked room mystery with a pretty obvious perpetrator. Although it wasn’t Christie’s best, I always enjoy the settings and her sleight-of-hand, even after I’m onto her. 3.5 stars

The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham
This is the first in Allingham’s long-running Albert Campion series, although in this book Campion has only a bit part, I wasn’t impressed by the mystery, and was distracted by all the implausible secret rooms and passageways. In addition, I thought the writing was ‘loose’. Since this was Allingham’s first published effort, I’ll make allowances and I won’t say that I’ll never read another of hers. I’m just not in a hurry to do so. 2.5 stars

One Lonely Night by Mickey Spillane
Oh, I wanted to like Mickey Spillane! Maybe it’s just his protagonist Mike Hammer who has skewed attitudes towards violence to women; maybe I’m just not a noir mystery fan after all. 2 stars

For Canadian readers:
The Story of Stuff
UContent
A Dog’s Journey
Manners for Women
Lonesome Hero
Murder: A Crafty Business
The Murder At Hazelmoor
The Crime at Black Dudley
One Lonely Night

Kindle editions:
The Story of Stuff
UContent
A Dog’s Journey
Lonesome Hero
One Lonely Night

A two-week ‘work-cation’ in Ontario, extra volunteer work, and regular runs to town for appointments kept me too busy in May to post to my blog (anybody miss me?) Here’s what I managed to get read, though.

1. The Colony of Unrequited Dreams: A Novel by Wayne Johnston

Fictional biography of Newfoundland’s famous premier, Joseph Smallwood. This is a tricky thing to do—using the facts of a person’s life and building a novel around them. I want to read a non-fiction biography of Smallwood and fix the “facts” in my mind soon.

I think the author did a great job of defining what drove Smallwood. Johnston’s prose goes down as smoothly as a spoonful of chocolate pudding.

This is one of the best books I’ve read this year. 5 stars

2. Notes to My Mother-in-Law by Phyllida Law

A sweet & short memoir of sorts, written in the titular notes by the author to her mother-in-law, who was hard of hearing and yet wanted the day’s news and arrangements. Both women sound like people I’d like to know, and Phyllida’s respect and affection for her mother-in-law are evident.

I found this a quick, charming read. 4½ stars

3. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Published in serial form in 1868 and now considered the first English language detective novel, the Moonstone sets up a closed room crime: the theft of the moonstone, a precious jewel stolen decades earlier from a Hindoo (sic) statue. Although all the clues were there for the reader to use, the solution seemed to me to be a little far-fetched.

Nonetheless, I found The Moonstone to be a witty and entertaining book. If you’re a dedicated mystery fan, you owe it to yourself to read this and appreciate the origins of the genre. 4 stars

4. African Love Stories: An Anthology, edited by Ama Ata Aidoo

By various authors and, as with any such collection, the mood and subject manner, as well as the style of writing varies greatly from tale to tale. And so did my reactions. Some stories were compelling, but some I could have willingly skipped. But all gave me a glimpse into modern African womanhood, an area with which I’m not very familiar.

Don’t let the title fool you – there’s not a traditional “love story” in the bunch. 4 stars

Thank you to Amy McKie at Amy Reads for this win.

5. Oxford Messed Up by Andrea Kayne Kaufman

Gloria Zimmerman, Rhodes Scholar from Chicago, and Henry Young, musician son of an Oxford don, find themselves next door neighbours (with a shared bath) in Oxford residence. Both have problems: Gloria is severely hampered by Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Henry is a chronic underachiever who consistently sabotages his chances of success in any endeavour. Through their shared affection for the music of Van Morrison, they become acquainted and gradually build a romance. How they help each other is a lesson in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and love.

This is a well-written, sharply funny-but-sometimes-not-so tale and should appeal especially to those who have loved ones (or even friends or acquaintances) with OCD. It certainly helped me to better understand that disease. 3½ stars

6. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

A monster at 720 pages, this also first appeared as a serial in the mid-nineteenth century. In many ways, it’s a traditional love story with a sort of mystery in the middle.

I found it wordy (typical of its time) and the effect of the prose on me was likely amplified by reading it on my Kindle. I also thought the love story over-idealized (And what of the strong-and-capable-but-ugly sister? She’s satisfied just to be the couple’s hanger-on for the rest of her life?) In addition, I thought one of the main mystery elements was left completely unresolved at the book’s end.

For what it was for its time, I rate it 3 stars.

7. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

YA novel for which I had read a review that intrigued me. A teenager who commits suicide has left a set of tapes to be listened to by 13 people in sequence. Each played some part in her decision to end her life. It brought back to me the terrible angst that teenagers suffer.

Great for kids who often don’t realize how their small actions can have great effects. 3 stars

8. Promise Me Eternity by Ian Fox

Free e-book from the author received for review. Meant to be a popular fiction type murder mystery with the successful doctor on the brink of a scientific breakthrough, the mobster and his gorgeous wife. English is not the author’s first language and that is evident in the stilted conversations and in the sentence structure that sounds like a ninth grade exercise in creative writing.

One star because he tied up all the plot ends. Sorry, Ian.

Have you read any of these books? Agree or disagree with my ratings?

For Canadian readers:
The Colony Of Unrequited Dreams
Notes To My Mother-In-Law
The Moonstone
African Love Stories
Oxford Messed Up
The Woman in White
Thirteen Reasons Why

Kindle editions:
Notes to my Mother-in-Law
The Moonstone – FREE
Oxford Messed Up
The Woman in White – FREE
Thirteen Reasons Why
Promise Me Eternity

Since a Suitable Boy took me two full weeks to read, I completed only six books in April. And I posted no reviews at all.

After some consideration, I’ve decided to ramp up my volunteer work for the remainder of the year. This means that likely the only reviews I’ll be posting on my blog from here on in are these ‘minis’ at the end of each month. (And I refuse to feel guilty anymore!)

And, since you won’t be seeing individual reviews at Exurbanis, if you’d like more of my thoughts on any of these books, please leave a comment on this post and I’ll reply there.

1. Gillespie and I by Jane Harris

Although this is alternately told from 1888 Glasgow and 1938 London, the main story is the earlier one. Harriet Baxter recalls two years in the lives of the Ned Gillespie family.

We know almost immediately that Harriet will prove to be an unreliable narrator and trying to see past her perspective to what really happened is lots of fun. 4½ stars

2. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

Set during an 18-month period in 1950-51 India, just a few years after Partition, it involves several families of the upper Hindu castes, and a Muslim family. The story was decent and the class perspective a different one than I had encountered in the past, but it was just plain too long.

At 1,349 pages in hardcover (1,488 in the paperback that I read), this is one of the longest English language novels ever written. Was it worth two weeks of my life? Meh, I don’t think so. 4 stars

3. The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen

A ten-year-old girl, devoutly religious and emotionally estranged from her father, is bullied at school – and then more. How she and her father react to the persecution that comes because of their religion, her father’s status as a factory ‘scab’ during a major strike in the town, and the psychological twistedness of the bully and his father, forms the core story.

I couldn’t stop turning the pages, but other readers may not feel the same. This book can be interpreted in many, many ways and I’m certain it will be the source of numberless discussions and widely varying reactions. 4 stars

4. Winnie and Gurley: The Best-Kept Family Secret by Robert G. Hewitt
When Hewitt published NO INSTRUCTIONS NEEDED: An American Boyhood in the 1950s, evidently several readers took him to task because he had not elaborated on the grandmother with whom he had spent so many childhood hours.

He was fortunate enough to inherit the ephemera and other materials that allowed him to trace the courtship and married life of his grandparents, and to discover a disturbing family secret.

Anyone who has tried tracing their family tree will be fascinated by this. 4 stars

5. The Mapping of Love and Death (Maisie Dobbs, Book 7) by Jacqueline Winspear

I love Maisie Dobbs. And, until this book, I’d loved all the stories in this mystery series. The book wasn’t bad, mind you, and provided lots of interesting details about the mapping of war.

But there were just a couple too many coincidences that advanced the solving of the mystery to suit me: Maisie’s friend just happened to try to match-make her at dinner with a man who just happened to know a guy who made films of the troops in WWI and who just happened to have filmed a cartography unit (and all this just happened to have come up in dinner conversation 14 years after the end of said war). The cartography unit caught on film just happened to be the one Maisie was looking for, and the villain just happened to be visiting the unit that day and was captured on celluloid trying to stop the film crew.

You get the picture. And I didn’t think the clues were fair enough to allow the reader to solve the case – unless one must consider that anyone and everyone introduced in the gathering of information might be more involved than that. I hadn’t noticed this element in previous Maisie books.

ANYWAY – I still love Maisie and I’m going to continue reading this series, hoping that this is just a blip in Winspear’s otherwise impeccable record. 3½ stars

6. A Place for Johnny Bill by Ruth Bishop Juline

I read this for the Books That Made Me Love Reading Challenge. Johnny Bill Mason is the eldest child in a family of migrant workers, following the crops around the southeastern US in the late 1950s.

I remember checking this out of our public library time after time after time. I must have been fascinated by the poverty of these people – people who had less money than my working-class family. And who were poor in more than finances: Johnny Bill’s greatest dream was to settle someplace so he could get some book-learning and have a dog. We didn’t have a dog, but I had a home and a school routine, and lots of books to read.

Unfortunately, A Place for Johnny Bill hasn’t stood the test of time or perspective for me. 3 stars

For Canadian readers:

Gillespie & I

A Suitable Boy

The Land Of Decoration

The Mapping Of Love And Death: A Maisie Dobbs Novel

Kindle editions:

Gillespie and I

The Land of Decoration

Winnie and Gurley: The Best-Kept Family Secret

The Mapping of Love and Death: A Maisie Dobbs Novel

I was busy this month with special volunteer work and so my reading list is relatively short. I did manage to read two full e-books on my Kindle, meaning I spent a little more time on the treadmill – and that’s a good thing!

How about you? Did you read anything exciting in March?

1. The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright
NYC in 1941, when a ten-year-old girl could go out by herself for a special Saturday. How could I not be charmed? And I have been, ever since first reading this as a child. Five stars over & over & over again. 5 stars

2. Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan

Winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize, it has so many winning elements: jazz, Paris, WWII. Edugyan captures the voice of the American musician protagonist perfectly, but the plot could be a touch stronger. Four stars for the story and a half star for the FABULOUS cover (at least on the edition I read). I’m sure it’s the best I’ll see all year. 4½ stars

3. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
I wanted to LOVE this the way I love baseball. I did greatly enjoy it, being reminded with every word of John Irving. But at the end, I said “That’s it?!” 4 stars.

4. The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton
My first Chesterton, but not my last. I didn’t know Father Brown books were short story collections – or at least this one is. Naturally, some stories are better than others. I’m still undecided as to whether the stories are fairly clued. 4 stars overall.

5. The Return of Captain John Emmett by Elizabeth Speller
The first of what is promised to be a series featuring former WWI officer Lawrence Bartram. Solid mystery, great period detail. 4 stars

6. The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe
First in the series introducing Hazel Micaleff, in charge of a provincial police detachment 3 hours north of Toronto. I had trouble putting this down. I’m rating this four stars which is high praise for me for a serial killer novel. 4 stars

7. White River Junctions by Dave Norman
White River Junction, Vermont was once a bustling community built around the railroad. With the decline of railroad transport, it’s met the modern fate of countless towns across North America. Dave Norman lovingly reconstructs the town in words, through the buildings, the people and the stories in White River Junction. 4 stars

8. Walden; Or, Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau
E.B. White says in a follow-up essay to this book that “To reject the book because of the immaturity of the author and the bugs in the logic is to throw away a bottle of good wine because it contains bits of cork.” I think there was some must in the bottom of the wine bottle too. I won’t throw it away, E.B., but I’m not rating it a five, either. 3½ stars

9. Broken Music: A Mystery by Marjorie Eccles
Definitely a WWI mystery, which is why I picked it up. But it’s also a romance and suffers from the untouched physical and mental health of the love interests, and a resulting happy ending. 3½ stars

10. A Small Furry Prayer: Dog Rescue and the Meaning of Life by Steven Kotler
The title wasn’t fooling. Kotler and his wife are deeply involved in dog rescue. I was prepared to hear about the difficulties of moving to the country & a new lifestyle, of the struggles of finding homes for the dogs, of dogs being sick and of dogs dying, but I wasn’t looking for metaphysical speculation and “deep ecology”. 3 stars

For my Canadian readers:
The Saturdays
Half-Blood Blues
The Art of Fielding
The Innocence of Father Brown
The Calling: A Hazel Micallef Mystery
White River Junctions
Walden; Or, Life in the Woods
Broken Music: A Mystery
A Small Furry Prayer

Kindle versions:
The Art of Fielding
Vanity Fair’s How a Book is Born: The Making of The Art of Fielding
The Innocence of Father Brown FREE
The Calling
White River Junctions
Walden ; or Life in the Woods – Enhanced .99 cents
Broken Music: A Mystery
A Small Furry Prayer

I got bogged down in the middle of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden this month (it’ll be in March’s batch since it’s not yet finished), and trying to catch up with reviews for the books I read in January. Add to that a shortened month, and the result is that my reading list is a little thin for February.

I’m trying hard to get caught up in my reviews because I don’t want to be playing catch-up for the rest of the year.

Here’s what I managed to read this month:

1. My Financial Career and Other Follies by Stephen Leacock
This collection of Leacock’s short stories written between 1895 and 1943 is the first five star book I’ve read this year. I loved, loved, loved it. Watch for the review. In the meantime, here’s a little taste. (5 stars)

2. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Macbeth is one of the Shakespeare plays that I am most familiar with. I read it for the Reading Shakespeare challenge which may have fallen by the wayside. I’m waiting a few more days for Risa’s prompts for the review. (4½ stars)

3. The Secret River by Kate Grenville
Set in Australia in the early nineteenth century, this is the story of William and Sarah Thornhill, a fictionalized account of the author’s ancestors’ settlement. (4 stars) I’ll be reviewing this in tandem with:

4. Searching for the Secret River by Kate Grenville
The non-fiction account of Grenville’s research of her family tree and then the book The Secret River. A look into the birth of a novel.(4 stars)

5. Chickens, Mules and Two Old Fools by Victoria Twead
Subtitled “Tuck into a slice of Andalucían Life”. Non-fiction account of how two fifty-something Brits quit that rainy isle and retired to a mountain village in sunny Spain. Intelligent & amusing – plus luscious-sounding recipes! (4 stars)

6. Trixie Belden & The Red Trailer Mystery by Julie Campbell
This is another of the Books That Made Me Love Reading. It’s the second in this classic series that, while never achieving the cult status of Nancy Drew, had many, many loyal fans, of which I was one. (4 stars)

7. A Prairie Boy’s Winter by William Kurelek
Non-fiction illustrated memoir of winter on a Canadian prairie farm during the 1930s and 1940s. Kurelek is better known as an artist than a writer, and this book is really a narrative to explain a series of his paintings. (4 stars)

8. Seeing Trees by Nancy Ross Hugo & Robert Llewellyn
Subtitled ‘Discover the Extraordinary Secrets of Everyday Trees’, this non-fiction book “invites readers to watch trees with the care and sensitivity that birdwatchers watch birds.” Llewellyn’s photographs are breath-taking and the information is fascinating, but only one of the ten trees looked at in detail lives where I live. Four stars minus half a star for not being relevant to me. (3½ stars)

9. A Shortage of Bodies by Dr. Gary D. McKay
This is the first novel for McKay who has co-authored 14 books and parent/teacher education programs. I think he should have stayed with the non-fiction. I’ll explain in my review. (2½ stars)

Is there anything in particular in my list you’re looking forward to hearing about?

For Canadian readers:
My Financial Career and Other Follies
Macbeth
The Secret River
Searching For The Secret River
Chickens, Mules and Two Old Fools
Trixie Belden & The Red Trailer Mystery
A Prairie Boy’s Winter
Seeing Trees: Discover the Extraordinary Secrets of Everyday Trees
A Shortage of Bodies

Kindle editions:
My Financial Career and Other Follies
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Searching For The Secret River: The Story Behind the Bestselling Novel
Chickens, Mules and Two Old Fools
Trixie Belden & The Red Trailer Mystery
A Shortage of Bodies

Steven and continued our long-distance reading over the telephone throughout most of of the month of February. But as the month drew to a close, I detected a lack of interest on his part to giving his attention to books or conversation for more than a minute or two. Story time was becoming a chore to him (and to me).

I still call him every day, but our future progress through picture books may be very slow, if it exists at all. In February we read:

1. Do You Know Which Ones Will Grow? written and illustrated by Susan A. Shea

2. Chicka Chcka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, illustrated by Lois Ehlert

3. Madeline written and illustrated by Ludwig Bemelmans

4. There Were Monkeys in My Kitchen by Sheree Fitch, illustrated by Sydney Smith

5. Fuddles written and illustrated by Frans Vischer

6. One Winter Night by Jennifer Lloyd, illustrated by Lynn Ray

7. Curious George by Margret Rey, illustrated by H.A. Rey

Life was at full throttle with family and other issues for the first three weeks of January, so I did very little no blogging – but I still stole away in the evenings to read in bed. Here’s what I managed to finish – with reviews for most of them to come.

The Virgin Cure by Ami McKay
Set in 1860 Manhattan, this is the story of young Moth, who ends up in the clutches of a madam who grooms young girls to be bought as ‘the virgin cure’ for syphilis. Gritty and compelling. (4½ stars)

These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The last in the famous Little House series. I read this for my Books That Made Me Love Reading Challenge. It retains all its charm, and then some. (4½ stars)

The Homecoming of Samuel Lake by Jenny Wingfield
A summer in 1956 Arkansas is the setting for this story of preacher Samuel Lake & his wife Willadee and family. Their eldest is 11-year-old Swan who is the focus of the struggle between good and evil that defines the summer. (4 stars)

I Am Half-Sick of Shadow by Alan Bradley
The latest in the Flavia deLuce mystery series. I found this to be much better than the previous book which had been stretching the bounds of my “suspension of disbelief”. In Shadows, Flavia is her usual determined self, solving the murder of the lead actress of the film crew who has rented her father’s home for a movie shoot. (4 stars)

Griffin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence by Nick Bantock
An illustrated novel, Griffin and Sabine is a beautiful book. I don’t think I really give anything away by telling you that Sabine somehow “shares (Griffin’s) sight” and can see his paintings as he creates them. Sabine is also an artist and the artwork of the two adorns the postcards and envelopes that they exchange. (4 stars) See my review.

Sabine’s Notebook: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Continues by Nick Bantock
Once again, the story is told in strangely beautiful postcards and richly decorated letters that must actually be removed from their envelopes to read. But Sabine’s Notebook is also a sketchbook and a diary. (4 stars) Here’s my review.

The Golden Mean: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Concludes by Nick Bantock
The last in the trilogy. Told in the same epistolary manner as the first two. This set is a feast for the eyes and fun to read besides. (3½ stars) You can read my thoughts here.

Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917 by Sally M. Walker
Non-fiction middle-grade book about the horrendous explosion in Halifax in December 1917 that killed 2,000 people, injured many many more, and left a fifth of the city’s population homeless. Recommended for anyone of any age who wants to learn about that catastrophe – and why Nova Scotia sends a Balsam fir tree to Boston for their Common every Christmas. (4 stars)

Northwest Corner by John Burnham Schwarz
A sequel to Reservation Road which I did not read, although I don’t think that that compromised my enjoyment or understanding of this story in any way. It examines the continuing impact of a (solved) hit-and-run accident twelve years before – especially on the man who hit the boy, on his son, on the boy’s family. (3½ stars)

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
Read for the Reading Shakespeare event hosted by Risa at Breadcrumb Reads, this is not a play I would have chosen. Although I wasn’t crazy about the story (more in my review), I did enjoy the language and the poetry. (3½ stars)

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
I found this classic overlong and preachy, but still a powerful anti-slavery message. In its day, it was controversial and politically divisive. A good story hidden among the verbiage. (3½ stars)

The Antagonist by Lynn Coady
Another good story hidden – this time by the profanity throughout. The antagonist is actually the protagonist in this story of a man who, because of his physical size (6’4” at 14) attained a certain status among his acquaintances – and how it all came undone. I would have rated this book higher if the profanity had not been so ever present. Long-listed for the Scotia Bank Giller Prize in 2011. (3½ stars)

The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett
I read this for the Terry Pratchett Reading Challenge. This was Pratchett’s first children’s novel and also his first published (1971) novel, which Pratchett substantially rewrote and re-released in 1992. A fantasy of about extremely tiny peoples who inhabit—what else?—a carpet. (3½ stars)

Dove Creek by Paula Marie Coomer
I might be willing to believe that this seemed as disjointed as it did because I read it on my Kindle, but you’d have to make a pretty strong case. I’m not sure of the point or the plot of this novel which centers on a woman who, after her divorce, becomes a public health nurse on reservations in the west. Two stars for the info about the native lifestyle issues on the reservations But, otherwise – sorry, Paula – I think it’s a dud. (2 stars)

Links for Canadian readers:
The Virgin Cure
These Happy Golden Years
The Homecoming of Samuel Lake
I Am Half-Sick of Shadows
Griffin & Sabine
Sabine’s Notebook
The Golden Mean
Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917
Northwest Corner
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
The Antagonist
The Carpet People
Dove Creek

Kindle editions:
The Homecoming of Samuel Lake
I Am Half-Sick of Shadows: A Flavia de Luce Novel
Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917
Northwest Corner
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Uncle Tom’s Cabin FREE
Dove Creek

At the beginning of the year, our three-year-old grandson and his mom were living with us. That encouraged me to sign up for a couple of challenges that I would not have otherwise considered: the Picture Book Reading Challenge and the 3660 Minute Challenge for which I must read 10 minutes each day to a child.

But Laura and Steven left suddenly mid-month as an urgent family matter called them back to Vancouver. That left me with only 130 minutes of reading time logged with Steven – and a keening for him in my heart.

So I decided to have a story-time with Steven by phone every day, rain or shine (a new term he learned reading Madeline). His mom puts the headphones on him and he lies on his bed or the floor while we talk – because it isn’t just about reading, is it? It’s about asking questions, learning new things, and finding out what your child is thinking. Our times have ranged from 10-20 minutes and most days he’s fully engaged even though he can’t see the pictures in the books.

I’m pleased with the ongoing contact I’m maintaining with my grandson and hope that soon he looks forward to Gram’s story-time every day.

Here’s what we read together in January before he left, with links to reviews for all:

1. Dog in Boots written by Greg Gormley and illustrated by Robert Angaramo

2. The Market Square Dog written by James Herriot and illustrated by Ruth Brown

3. Giraffe and Bird written and illustrated by Rebecca Bender

4. I Want My Hat Back written and illustrated by Jon Klassen

5. Coyote Sings to the Moon written Thomas King and illustrated by Johnny Wales

December was an incredibly slow reading month – I was so busy wrapping up my year lists and signing up & organizing for next year’s challenges that my actual reading fell by the wayside. Here’s the meagre accounting:

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Neffenegger
I had balked at reading this because I unintentionally saw the movie last year (and didn’t really like it) and hesitate to read books after seeing the movie adaptations. It was better than I thought it would be but I can’t really objectively judge because I knew how it would end. (See? I shouldn’t have seen the movie first.)

How to Be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway
This was a very kind gift from Jen at Crazy for Books after I tried to enter her giveaway a year late(!) It’s the story of Shoko, a Japanese woman who married an American serviceman in the 1950s, and her efforts to become accepted in the American society in which she found herself. Since Shoko was trying so hard to be assimilated, she didn’t share much of her history and culture with her daughter, Sue, who has to take on a reconciliatory mission to Japan for her ailing mother. Although I wasn’t as enthralled by the book as Jen was, and found the redemption issues overly simplified and too easily solved, I did enjoy exploring the mother-daughter relationship, and considering how attempts to ‘fit in’ affect immigrants.

Snakewoman of Little Egypt by Robert Hellenga
As he turns 40, anthropology professor Jackson Jones can’t decide whether he should go back to Africa where he did his fieldwork, or settle down at the university where he is. At the same time, Sunny, who grew up in a snake handling church in southern Illinois, rents a garage apartment from Jackson. She’s just been released from jail where she served five years for shooting, but not killing, her husband after he forced her at gunpoint to put her arm in a box of rattlesnakes. Of course, Sunny & Jackson commence a relationship.

I didn’t find Sunny’s metamorphosis or her relationship with Jackson plausible, nor could I warm to Sunny, Jackson, or Sunny’s ex-husband, Earl. My overall reaction: ‘meh’.
I received this as part of the Early Reviewers page at LibraryThing.com and I’m sorry I can’t give it a higher rating

The Goat Woman of Largo Bay by Gillian Royes
Shelf Awareness billed this as a ‘mystery’, but it’s about as much of a mystery as Alexander McCall Smith’s Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency. The protagonist, Shadrack Myers, tends bar at a failing former hotel in Jamaica run by aging American ex-pat Eric Keller. This story revolves around a mysterious woman who comes to inhabit the island just off-shore, that is owned by Eric. There’s some shady island politics thrown in, but Jamaica didn’t come to life for me the way Botswana did in Smith’s novels. The whole book seemed to me lack cohesiveness (not to mention a plot). My overall reaction: ‘huh?”

I spent about a quarter of my reading time this month making my way through two volumes of poetry: Dante’s Inferno and Seth Steinzor’s To Join the Lost. Consequently, my total book count is a little low. There were a couple of four star reads, but nothing absolutely outstanding.

1. The Book of Lies: A Novel by Mary Horlock
Genre: Fiction, 20th Century Historical Fiction
Set on Guernsey in the Channel Islands in 1985 and, in memories and flashback, during the German occupation of the Islands during WWII. Told from the point of view of a teenaged girl who is hiding her involvement with the death of a school mate. A well-told story with lots of new-to-me information.

2. The Spare Room: A Novel by Helen Garner
Genre: Fiction
This novel by Australian author Garner, is based on her personal experience of helping a friend with cancer through the last months of her life, spent living in Garner’s titular spare room. Because it feels like non-fiction, some of the emotions seemed too personal for print. A book to make you think about death, friendship, and emotional honesty.

3. To Join the Lost by Seth Steinzor
Genre: Poetry
A modern envisioning of Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, by a Jewish-agnostic-Buddhist. See my review here.

4. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
Genre: Fiction
Much-hyped novel set in the Amazon as drug company employee goes looking for a missing research doctor. Not what I expected: it was a little far-fetched, but the writing is beautiful.

5. Grey Mask by Patricia Wentworth
Genre: Vintage Mystery
The very first Miss Maud Silver mystery, written in and set in 1928. Decent mystery, interesting to see Miss Silver in the early days before the character was fully developed.

6. The Inferno (The Divine Comedy, Volume 1, Hell) by Dante Alighieri
Genre: Poetry, Classic
Approached through lots and lots of footnotes (how else can you read a 14th century Italian poet?) I felt I couldn’t really judge the poetry because of the translation issue. Dante imagined a place of eternal torments based on the teachings of his church, and peopled it with 14th century Florentines and ancient Greeks. Judgemental, narrow in historical approach and doctrinally cringe-worthy.

7. The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
Genre: Women’s fiction, 20th century historical fiction
Set in England 1992 and 1942, this was promising but fell so short of delivering. Chock-full of contrived and unbelievable coincidences and mysteries. Not at all up to the standard of The House at Riverton which I enjoyed so much. Even the final ‘reveal’, which is always brilliant in a Morton novel, couldn’t save it.

8. The Bishop Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine
Genre: Vintage mystery
Philo Vance mystery #4 but the first available to me in the Nova Scotia library system. Published in 1928. I know Vance is supposed to be a ‘dandy’ but the book seemed to me to be a vehicle for Van Dine to show off his knowledge of mathematics. Mystery was okay, time & setting (NYC) were delightful.

For my Canadian readers:
The Book Of Lies
The Spare Room
To Join the Lost
State Of Wonder
Grey Mask
The Divine Comedy: Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso
Distant Hours
The Bishop Murder Case (a Philo Vance mystery)

Kindle Editions:
The Book of Lies
State of Wonder
Grey Mask: A Miss Silver Mystery (Book One)
Dant’s Divine Comedy (all three books) for .99 cents
The Distant Hours
The Bishop Murder Case: A Philo Vance Story

I’ve been kept busy with family matters over the last couple of months and really fallen behind in getting book reviews posted. I hope to get back on track soon but in the meantime, here’s a brief summary of my month’s reading.

1. Altamont Augie by Richard Barager
My pick for my book of the month. In the late sixties, supporters of the war in Vietnam and anti-war protestors clashed violently and began to form the “New Right” and the ”New Left” in America. This is a provocative and thought-provoking look at the issues of that decade around which the last century pivoted for that country. Here’s my full review.

2. Linnea in Monet’s Garden by Christine Bjork
Linnea is a young European girl who takes a trip to Paris to learn about Monet’s water-lily paintings. Lovely illustrations and solid art history background info. For grades 3 – 6.

3. Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie
A 1937 Hercule Poirot mystery. The dumb witness is the dog, whose ball was thought to have tripped his mistress and caused a non-fatal tumble down the stairs. Before Poirot receives her letter expressing her doubt as to the accidental nature of the fall, the said mistress has died. Classic Christie.

4. I, the Divine: A Novel in First Chapters by Rabih Alameddine
Every chapter in this fictional memoir of a young woman raised in Beirut is Chapter 1. Interesting presentation and great insight into life in Lebanon.

5. A Cold Day in Paradise by Steve Hamilton
First in the Alex McKnight series set in Paradise, Michigan. Likable protagonist, decent mystery and appealing setting in upstate Michigan, near Sault Saint Marie. Deservedly won the 1999 Edgar award for Best First Novel by an American Author.

6. From This Wicked Patch of Dust by Sergio Troncoso
Semi-autobiographical novel set in an American border town, where Mexican immigrants strive to teach their four children to forsake the drugs and gangs of their neighborhood. “Spanning four decades, this is a story of a family’s struggle to become American and yet not be pulled apart by a maelstrom of cultural forces.”

7. Vaclav & Lena by Haley Tanner
Vaclav & Lena, children of Russian immigrants, meet in an ESL class in Brighton Beach and become fast friends. Together, they plan Vaclav’s great magic act, but then Lena disappears.

8. Cape Cod Mystery by Phoebe Atwood Taylor
First published in 1931, this is Taylor’s first novel and introduces the “Codfish Sherlock”, handyman Asey Mayo, who became a series character appearing in 24 books. Fun, easy to read, and full of Cape Cod flavor.

9. A Small Death in the Great Glen by A.D. Scott
Verra Scottish mystery, set in the 1956 Highlands and featuring staff of a small-town weekly newspaper. This would have been difficult to get through unless I’d had some exposure to Scottish dialect and pronunciation. At times, I was frustrated by the slow plot development, but by the end of the book I felt as if I was leaving a group of friends.

10. The Reservoir by John Milliken Thompson
Set in 1885 Richmond, Virginia and based on an actual crime, this novel delves into the trial of a man for the death of a young woman whose body was found in the local reservoir. I felt it couldn’t decide whether to be fiction (with perhaps a plot?) or true-crime reporting. Interesting for the details of nineteenth century sexual mores.

11. A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd
A bitter truth is that favourite authors don’t always deliver to the high expectations we have for them. This Bess Crawford adventure followed her to WWI France for the first time, but the mystery seemed contrived.

12. Hotel Bosphorus by Esmahan Aykol
First in the Kati Hirschel mystery series, set in Istanbul, Turkey, it suffers in translation and contains gratuitous sex scenes.

Links for my Canadian readers:
Altamont Augie
Linnea in Monet’s Garden
Dumb Witness: A Hercule Poirot Mystery
I The Divine
A Cold Day in Paradise
From This Wicked Patch of Dust
Vaclav & Lena
Cape Cod Mystery
A Small Death in the Great Glen: A Novel
The Reservoir
A Bitter Truth: A Bess Crawford Mystery
Hotel Bosphorus

Kindle editions:
Altamont Augie
Dumb Witness: Hercule Poirot Investigates
A Cold Day in Paradise (Alex McKnight Mysteries)
Vaclav & Lena: A Novel
A Small Death in the Great Glen
The Reservoir
A Bitter Truth: A Bess Crawford Mystery
Hotel Bosphorus (Kati Hirschel Murder Mystery)

It was a busy, busy month and my list of books read includes a couple of slim volumes, and one book with loads of photos. Again this month, like last, nothing reached and grabbed me even though much of what I read was very enjoyable. What was the best book you read in September?

1. Henrietta’s War by Joyce Dennys

From 1939 to 1942, Dennys wrote a series of weekly columns in the form of endearing letters purportedly written to a friend at the front in France at the beginning of WWII. From the Devon countryside, she writes of news of the home front, the refugees from London, and her family. Warm, engaging, humourous and touching. I was sorry when the book ended, and think I must pick up the second volume that covers the remainder of the war.

2. The Guide: A Novel by R. K. Narayan

A released convict takes refuge for a few nights in an abandoned temple and is mistaken by a peasant for a holy man. Gradually he takes on the role. Sly humour and a look at peasant life in modern India.

3. The Barn by Randy Leffingwell

Traces the evolution of the American barn from early beginnings with Northern European influences through technological changes, fads, and changes to barns as settlement spread westward. Scores of photos. Beautiful to look at, fascinating to read.

4. One Good Dog by Susan Wilson

Adam March, a powerful executive & millionaire has a come-apart at work and loses his job, his socialite wife and princess daughter. While performing his mandatory community service at a homeless men’s shelter, his path crosses that of Chance, a pit-bull struggling to leave the fight circuit. In alternating chapters with narration of Adam’s story, Chance tells his tale in his own words, which lifts this book above standard Grisham/Steel fare.

5. The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht

Set in war-torn Yugoslavia, The Tiger’s Wife follows a young doctor who, while on a mercy mission to immunize orphans, hears of the death of her beloved grandfather. Oddly enough he died in a village close by the orphanage and she retrieves his belongings, while unraveling the story of his childhood. It was then that a tiger escaped from a zoo during World War II bombings and wandered deep into the woods, settling just outside his peasant village. It terrorized the town, the devil incarnate to everyone, except for her grandfather and ‘the tiger’s wife’. Lots of imagery, fables, almost magical realism.

6. A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley

The third in Bradley Flavia deLuce series, and highly and widely lauded. I love Flavia and really enjoyed getting more of the flavor of her relationship with her father in this book, but I thought the mystery was convoluted and, in places, contrived. I’m swimming against the current in this opinion, so make your own decision. Besides, Flavia is fun to read even when the mystery isn’t up to par.

7. Following Josh by Dave Norman

Author Dave Norman meets an old high-school friend in Seoul and travels with him across China, Mongolia & Russia by train. This is the story of that trip – and of Dave and Josh’s dramatically changed relationship. This book is being released today, October 1st.

8. Alone in the Classroom by Elizabeth Hay

The latest by the renowned Canadian author, Alone in the Classroom spans several decades – from a Saskatchewan classroom of the 1930s to the present. The narrator uncovers the story of her father’s sister, her Aunt Connie, and of her mother and her family. Although it contained much beautiful writing (as I expect of Hay), overall the book seemed disjointed and unresolved, and disappointed me.

9. The Edge of Ruin by Irene Fleming

First in the Emily Weiss mystery series. Set in 1909 during the very early days of moving picture making, it’s a clever look at the history of the time when screenplays were dashed off in an evening and given to the actors the morning of the shoot. But the murderer was too obvious and Emily just too perfectly competent. Although the setting is interesting, I doubt I’ll be spending any more time on this series.

10. One Night at the Call Center by Chetan Bhagat

Set in a Delhi call center in modern India, and a best-seller in that country where it was originally released. One of those unfortunate times when I kept reading because I know someone (who? I can’t remember!) recommended it to me and so it must get better, but when I finished it, thought “Why did I waste x hours of my life on that?”

Links for my Canadian readers:

One Night at the Call Center

I just discovered Pop Culture Nerd and her My Life As a Book series of annual posts. Each year the sentences change, and everyone’s invited to fill in the blanks using only the titles of the books they’ve read that year.

Here’s my first try – enjoy!

MY LIFE AS A BOOK

One time at summer camp I was Building the Pauson House (Frank Lloyd Wright & Rose Pauson) My review here.

Weekends at my house are Family Matters (Rohinton Mistry)

My neighbor is An Expert in Murder (Nicola Upson) My review here.

My boss is An Impartial Witness (Charles Todd)

My ex was The Man in the Queue (Josephine Tey) My review here.

My super-hero secret identity is The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence) My review here.

You would not like me when I’m angry because I Wrecker (Summer Wood) My review here.

I would win a gold medal in Unfinished Business (Lee Kravitz) My review here.

I’d pay good money for The House at Riverton (Kate Morton)

If I were president I would be Drawing the Line (Judith Cutler)

When I do not have good books, A Murder is Announced (Agatha Christie)

Loud talkers at the movies should be All Quiet on the Western Front (Erich Maria Remarque)

“Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue” seems to describe the baker’s dozen books I read in August. A real mix with some very good reads but nothing that totally grabbed me and received a five star rating.

1. The Clockwork Universe: Isaac Newton, the Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern World by Edward Dolnick
Genre: Non-fiction, History
Dolnick has written a compelling, extremely readable history of the birth of modern science, including calculus, which explains the world around us. Fascinating.

2. The Winter of Our Disconnect: How Three Totally Wired Teenagers (and a Mother Who Slept with Her iPhone)Pulled the Plug on Their Technology and Lived to Tell the Tale by Susan Maushart
Genre: Non-fiction, memoir
Maushart, the mother of 3 teenagers, instituted a ‘screen-free’ home for 6 months. Full of interesting statistics and anecdotes about her family’s time without television, iPod, iPhone, Internet, Gameboy et al

3. Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay
Novel: Fiction, Canadian
Novel set in 1975 and 1976 Yellowknife (capital of North-West Territories, Canada). It’s the story of a group of people who operate the radio station there, and their canoe trip into the wilds of The Barrens, following the route of doomed explorer John Hornby.

4. A Good Hard Look by Ann Napolitano
Genre: Fiction
Fictionalized account of the last years of author Flannery O’Connor’s life in the town of Milledgeville Georgia. Well-written, seamless plot and great insights.

5. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
Genre: Fiction, women’s light
Originally published in 1938. This light-hearted romp, an hour by hour account of Miss Pettigrew’s magical 24 hours was turned into a charming movie starring Frances McDormand and Amy Adams. Delightful.

6. Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico
Genre: Fiction, Women’s light
Another happy-go-lucky oldie, originally published in 1957. Quaint English charwoman Ada Harris falls in love with a Dior dress and decides to go to Paris to buy one.

7. Beautiful Joe – An Autobiography of a Dog by Marshall Saunders
Genre: Fiction, Animal stories
Written in 1893 and winner of a contest sponsored by the ASPCA, this story, told from the point of view of a dog, is a treatise about the evils of animal abuse. Meant originally for school children, it became a best-seller and contributed to worldwide awareness of animal cruelty. Read on my Kindle.

8. Snares of Guilt by Lesley Horton
Genre: Fiction, Police procedural
Book #1 of the Detective Inspector Handford series. A police procedural rather than a mystery as we know in the first chapter who the murderer is. Solid plot, likable but flawed protagonists.

9. Soul Clothes by Regina D. Jemison
Genre: Poetry
A win from LibraryThing, this slim volume of poetry by Michigan lawyer Jemison touches on faith, relationships & life. My review is here.

10. The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
Genre: Literary fiction
One of McCullers’ best known works, this centers around one weekend in the life of twelve-year-old Frankie aka Jasmine aka Frances as she prepares for her brother’s wedding.

11. Crossroads Road by Jeff Kay
Genre: Fiction
A win from the author. A novel that tells the story of a dysfunctional family whose overbearing matriarch wins $24 million and offers each of her children $2m and a new home – in her subdivision, Crossroads Road. Review coming. Read on my Kindle.

12. Valley of the Lost by Vicki Delaney
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Second in the Constable Molly Smith/Seargent John Winters mystery series. A disappointment: the plot seemed contrived and far-fetched, and the writing seemed not to have seen either a proof reader or an editor.

13. The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers
Genre: Literary fiction
Another of McCullers most famous – a novella about the said café and its owner. Odd.

Kindle versions:

Beautiful Joe An Autobiography of a Dog FREE

Crossroads Road

Links for my Canadian readers:

The Clockwork Universe

The Winter of Our Disconnect

Late Nights on Air

A Good Hard Look

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris

Beautiful Joe

Snares of Guilt

The Member of the Wedding

Valley of the Lost

The Ballad of the Sad Cafe: and Other Stories

Amazon Kindle 3G

Another road trip to Ontario in July helped me up the number of books read for the month – and I read a lot of GOOD ones! I hope you get some ideas for your TBR list.

I’m really behind in my blogging because of the road trip and a really bad cold that laid me low before we left, but I do hope to publish detailed reviews of all or most of these titles throughout this month.

1. A Dog’s Purpose: A Novel for Humans by W. Bruce Cameron

Just released in paperback. A wonderful story told by the dog in question: Toby, Bailey, Ellie, Buddy – well, you’ll see….

It made me laugh out loud and sob uncontrollably. It’s my pick for my book of the month – which says something given the quality of the others I read. If you’ve ever loved a dog, you will love this book. My review is here.

2. The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence
It’s been several years since I read this Canadian classic and it has held up even better than I could imagine. Told by elderly Hagar Shipley, it’s her story – of love and loss, and the tragedy of not communicating. See my review.

3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Set in WWII Germany, the story of a young girl and her best friend, the boy down the street. If you love to own books, you’ll appreciate this. In a twist that makes it stand out from other books in this genre, the story is narrated by Death.

4. Room by Emma Donoghue
A gripping story told by five-year-old Jack, of his life in “Room” with his Ma who was kidnapped before his birth and has been held for seven years in this one-room prison. Not nearly as dark as it sounds. Jack will warm your heart. You can read more about what I thought.

5. To Fetch a Thief by Spencer Quinn
The third in the Chet & Bernie mystery series, of which I am a huge fan (as you may know). In this story, the intrepid detectives track a stolen circus elephant across the California desert. Chet is, as ever, endearing.

6. The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
My third reading of another Canadian classic by wordsmith Shields. Described as a family album set to a novel, this account of 90-something Daisy Goodwill’s life is rich and real.

7. The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasmussen
The gentle story of two elderly sisters, Twiss and Milly, who live alone in the house where they grew up in Spring Green, Wis. Ultimately, it’s a portrayal of sacrifices made for family – and the roads that lead from them.

8. Unfinished Business: One Man’s Extraordinary Year of Trying to Do the Right Things by Lee Kravitz
After losing his job, Lee Kravitz—a man who always worked too hard and too much—took stock of his life and decided to spend an entire year making amends and reconnecting with the people and parts of himself he had neglected. Much to ruminate about here as Kravitz reaches out to family & old friends, caught up on commitments he meant to keep but didn’t, and looks at roads not taken. My review is here.

9. Diary Of A Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield
Originally published in 1931 and surely the basis for Bridget Jones’s Diary and like books. Wry, clever, and, ultimately, more sophisticated than current versions.

10. Gator Aide by Jessica Speart
First in the Rachel Porter mystery series. Novice U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent Porter is called to attend the murder investigation of a stripper because the victim’s pet alligator was found dead at the scene. Rachel’s likable, if a little less-than-mellow in her attitude toward equality with the good ol’ boys.

11. Nancy’s Wedding Feast and Other Tasty Tales by James O. St. Clair & Yvonne C. LeVert
Historical narratives from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, accompanied by recipes that complete the tales, to give the full flavour of Cape Breton’s rich and varied cultural palate. An interesting foray into the history & culture of the island.
This a stop on my Atlantic Canada Literary Road Trip.

12. The Magnificent Spinster by May Sarton
I didn’t finish this so won’t rate it, but did read 260 pages of it, so feel it should count. In response to my request for reader feedback, I received a lovely email which has encouraged me to pick this up at another time, and give it another try.

Links for my Canadian readers:

A Dog’s Purpose

The Stone Angel

The Book Thief

Room

To Fetch a Thief: A Chet and Bernie Mystery

The Stone Diaries

The Bird Sisters

Unfinished Business: One Man’s Extraordinary Year of Trying to Do the Right Things

The Diary of a Provincial Lady

Bridget Jones’s Diary

Gator Aide

Nancy’s Wedding Feast and Other Tasty Tales

The Magnificent Spinster