I have decided among my personal goals, to review every book I read this year. So in keeping with the newness of the year and that I've read 4 books only so far, here for review are:
1. The Unstrung Harp - Edward Gorey. Can I just say, if you are a writer or want to be one, run to your nearest second hand bookstore and start hunting for this book? It's perfect, and perfectly describes everything we go through as writers, from the way we do anything but put pen to paper, to the way we react when we see our book in the sale bins. Fabulous and funny. One of my favourite quotes:
"Mr Earbass belongs to the straying, rather than the sedentary, type of author. He is never to be found at his desk unless actually writing down a sentence. Before this happens he broods over it indefinitely while picking up and putting down again small, loose objects; walking diagonally across rooms, staring out windows, and so forth."
This also has the benefit of being accompanied by Gorey's wonderful pen and ink drawings.
This was a Library book so I have one completed already on my Library Challenge! Recommended, recommended, recommended!
2. Lifelode - Jo Walton. I couldn't figure out why I couldn't find this book anywhere, until I found it at the library and discovered it had been written expressly for Boskone, the Boston Science Fiction convention held every year. The New England Science Fiction Association are the publishers of this book, a limited hardcover edition of 800, of which Ottawa Public Library holds # 589. All this to say, it might be hard to find, but if you see it, grab it. For anyone who likes fantasy, this is a fantasy book quite unlike any other, sort of like every other book Jo Walton has written recently. It's fantasy, set in a medieval invented world, with a different kind of religion and making of the world, and the story is small: an ancestor comes back to her ancestral home and her actions threaten to destroy it. One of the particular beauties of this story is that it is set in the domestic domain: much of the magic comes from Taveth, who's lifelode (life path) is to keep the house of her lord. It is a path she has chosen willingly, as any does in the world of this book. Everyone has the right path that fulfills them, and one of the fun and interestng ways in which this is domestic fantasy, is that hardly anyone is doing what they were meant to do. They have given up their lifelode to do what is demanded of them by family, by relationships, by circumstances. The wonder of this fantasy tale is that so many people find a way to step into their right path anyway.
I really enjoyed this fantasy. The religion, the gods, the setting of the manor house, the way in which the harvest is depicted, the villagers helping the lord out in return for his protection, and most of all, the long look at the heart of the manor, which is the kitchen and all that goes on there. Taveth is the main heroine. Part of her magic is that she can see all the past and future of a person by the shadow selves that pop out around someone. Everyone in this world has a gift, and part of their growing up is learning about it as well as about what they are to do in the world. It sounds simple, and it's not. It's magic, and what life is about - happiness, love, choice, where guests are going to sleep, is there enough food, and making sure everyone is cared for. Even though Teveth can see the future selves, she can't prevent or even act to change the future because she doesn't know what leads to it.
Very fun, and a little bit different, and recommended.
This is part of the Library Challenge, and the Canadian Challenge 4.
3. Hypothermia - Arnaldur Indridason. Detective Erlendur investigates a suicide that isn't quite normal - just the slightest intuition that something is off. He also goes back over one more time two old missing person cases, because it's been over 20 years now, and the parents are dying in one case.
Hypothermia is a state that Canadians grow up being cautioned about from the earliest days in childhood: what the danger of extreme cold is, what the signs of freezing are, and when you should come in from the cold. Hypothermia is the state of slowly growing colder, of the body parts shutting down until you freeze to death. Hypothermia is also what almost killed Erlendur when he was lost in the blizzard when he was a boy. It still affects him today, the nearness of death and escaping when his brother didn't, and in this book we see Erlendur talk about what it has done to him, and why he couldn't stay in his marriage. It is fascinating and sad, and even if you have never experienced cold, you will have suffered loss at some point in your life and so this becomes a story about grief and loss, and how people never really recover from tragedy, though they do find ways to move on. In the end, I was most surprised to discover that I think Erlendur is a romantic, because he won't, he can't, give up on these cases. He is not a flowers-and -cards romantic, far from it! It's in his soul though, the ability to care and keep caring long after all hope is gone. This series, and the writing also, keep getting better and better. If I didn't already have my love Harry Hole, Erlendur would be a close competitor. I must have a thing for lonely police detectives who stand guard against the darkness of the world.
4. The Serpent Pool - Martin Edwards. This is the 4th Hannah Scarlett and Daniel Kind mystery novel. I have to admit up front that I found it disappointed me in one area, though overall it is good. The problem I have with this mystery is that Hannah's partner, Marc Amos, should be questioned when it turns out he has a link to an old case Hannah is investigating. Hannah decides she doesn't want to question him that night, and then the action takes over. Not only do I have a problem with Hannah's decision, but I found myself distracted, thinking that Hannah should at least go to her superior and let her know of her conflict-of-interest and have someone else assigned to questioning Marc, if not get herself removed from the case. She doesn't, and I don't like this, because wouldn't normally the first accusation be that she was hiding information about him from the investigation? Impeding it? Otherwise, it is quite an interesting mystery, with gruesome killings and the slow falling apart of Hannah's and Marc's relationship. Despite the flaw this is still a good mystery and given the high quality of the previous books, I hope it's a one-off. Recommended, with reservation.
This leads me to the last review for tonight, another mystery I read last year from a favourite author who also had a problem with her mystery, I thought.
5. The Murder Stone - Louise Penny. Normally I love Armand Gamache and the Quebec woods setting. The Murder Stone is no different - set in an historic hunting lodge deep in the Quebec woods, Armand and his wife Reine-Marie have gone to celebrate their wedding anniversary, as they do every year. Only this time a whole other family have also come at the same time, and when one of them turns up dead, and it's plainly not accidental or suicide, the Surete du Quebec must be called in. So far, so good. But stop me if I'm wrong, shouldn't Armand and his wife be investigated? This is a 'locked-room' mystery, where there is a known set of guests, hotel workers etc in the remote countryside. Even though Armand and his wife have no obvious links to the murdered victim, they should still be investigated and cleared. However, Armand is put in charge of the investigation! I really think he wouldn't be allowed to lead it. He should have been side-lined and worked from the inside (because he is Armand and Chief Inspector, he would never stand idly by, but get involved anyway) to find the killer. So once again, I am left wondering, is it me? do both of these mysteries seem to have a fairly large hole in the investigative process? Despite this, this was a very good mystery. I enjoyed the locked room feel, the setting of the hotel in the far woods, the closeness of nature (there is a violent thunderstorm the night of the murder), the mosquitos that torment his second in command Guy Beauvoir, and the writing is excellent. I really enjoyed this mystery over all, except for the blip. We find out more about Armand's father and see much more of Reine-Marie than normal, and I quite like her, and them together, also. Overall, this is still a wonderful mystery series, very well written. Highly recommended, with one reservation.
This counts for the Canada Challenge 4.
I hope you are enjoying your first books of the year, my Gentle Readers.
Friday, 14 January 2011
Monday, 10 January 2011
Some Challenges for 2011
So, the new year and looking ahead and resolutions are upon me. I find once again the lure of challenges too irresistable to resist. Here are some challenges I am signing up for this year:
2011 Ireland Reading Challenge - hosted by Carrie at Books and Movies.
Being the usual sucker hopeful optimist I am, I am aiming for Kiss The Blarney Stone (6 books). I have no idea what they will be at this time. How is that for faith??
British Books Challenge 2011 - hosted by The Bookette, this is an exciting challenge because so many of the books I read are British or about Britain.
Seeing as I am incurable as well as hopeful, I'm joining the Royal Family Level - 12 books by British authors in 2011. I might as well aim high, right?
Historical Fiction 2011 - so many of the books I read are historical, that thisshould will be easy. I hope.
I'm aiming high, Gentle Readers, since a Charles Dickens looms on my TRB pile, plus a host of mysteries from the past and..... so I'm signing on for Undoubtedly Obsessed, 15 books! Undoubtedly a little bit crazy, more like.
Carl's Sci-Fi Experience 2011 - this will be the third year I'm joining this reading experience.
I love this challenge because it gets me to read the sci-fi that I do buy the rest of the year and keep meaning to read. I wish there were time to read all the books I want to. In fact, I think I make this wish every day. Just tonight I was upstairs checking to see which Peter James mysteries I have (none on my TBR shelf apparently, but I do have two elsewhere in the house waiting to be read), and I realized that due to my slump in December, almost all the mysteries I expected to read are still waiting to be read. Sara Paretsky! Margaret Maron! Ruth Rendell! PD James! Jo Nesbo! Ann Cleeves! Peter Lovesey! Brian Freeman! It's like a who's who of mystery writing on my bookshelf waiting to be read, and all I need is a little a whole lot more time to read. And really, Carl says this is just an experience. A science fiction experience. Plus, it has a cool photo.
2011 100 + Reading Challenge - because I am going to get to 100 books.
Hosted by the indefatigable J-Kaye, who amazes me by hosting this and reading so much with three school-age children. This is my personal mountain to climb. I have never gotten to 100 books read in a year, and I failed spectacularly again last year, reaching the very same total I did the year before: 78 books in total read.
2011 Support Your Local Library Challenge - also by J-Kaye. I have 12 books out from the library currently, with another 14 waiting to be picked up by Friday. It isvery dangerous a great way to find new books, reading all your blogs, and now our library has gone 21st century and it is so easy to request books! one click and presto! Thus, the 26 books found in two weeks.
So I should be able to complete this challenge at the 25 books level. I might up it to 50 if I go all gung-ho and actually read all these books I've taken out.
Challenges Ongoing:
Canadian Book Challenge 4, which I have read some already (see my sidebar for the link). I read two more in December that I still have to review! I succeeded in this one last year, so I'm planning to succeed again. We do have some wonderful books in Canada, and I love this challenge for getting our books out there to be read, and also formaking encouraging and reminding me to make the time for them. Louise Penny, Vicki Delany, Tanya Huff, Charles de Lint, Guy Gavriel Kay, LR Wright, we have some wonderful writers here in Canada.
2011 Ireland Reading Challenge - hosted by Carrie at Books and Movies.
Being the usual British Books Challenge 2011 - hosted by The Bookette, this is an exciting challenge because so many of the books I read are British or about Britain.
Seeing as I am incurable as well as hopeful, I'm joining the Royal Family Level - 12 books by British authors in 2011. I might as well aim high, right?Historical Fiction 2011 - so many of the books I read are historical, that this
I'm aiming high, Gentle Readers, since a Charles Dickens looms on my TRB pile, plus a host of mysteries from the past and..... so I'm signing on for Undoubtedly Obsessed, 15 books! Undoubtedly a little bit crazy, more like. Carl's Sci-Fi Experience 2011 - this will be the third year I'm joining this reading experience.
I love this challenge because it gets me to read the sci-fi that I do buy the rest of the year and keep meaning to read. I wish there were time to read all the books I want to. In fact, I think I make this wish every day. Just tonight I was upstairs checking to see which Peter James mysteries I have (none on my TBR shelf apparently, but I do have two elsewhere in the house waiting to be read), and I realized that due to my slump in December, almost all the mysteries I expected to read are still waiting to be read. Sara Paretsky! Margaret Maron! Ruth Rendell! PD James! Jo Nesbo! Ann Cleeves! Peter Lovesey! Brian Freeman! It's like a who's who of mystery writing on my bookshelf waiting to be read, and all I need is a2011 100 + Reading Challenge - because I am going to get to 100 books.
Hosted by the indefatigable J-Kaye, who amazes me by hosting this and reading so much with three school-age children. This is my personal mountain to climb. I have never gotten to 100 books read in a year, and I failed spectacularly again last year, reaching the very same total I did the year before: 78 books in total read.2011 Support Your Local Library Challenge - also by J-Kaye. I have 12 books out from the library currently, with another 14 waiting to be picked up by Friday. It is
So I should be able to complete this challenge at the 25 books level. I might up it to 50 if I go all gung-ho and actually read all these books I've taken out.Challenges Ongoing:
Canadian Book Challenge 4, which I have read some already (see my sidebar for the link). I read two more in December that I still have to review! I succeeded in this one last year, so I'm planning to succeed again. We do have some wonderful books in Canada, and I love this challenge for getting our books out there to be read, and also for
Sunday, 9 January 2011
The new Sherlock Holmes
I just have to write about the new BBC series Sherlock. I recently came across this series, and instantly fell in love with it. Benedict Cumberbatch is perfect as a young Sherlock Holmes, and Martin Freeman is perfect as Dr Watson, updated as a war vet returned from Afghanistan. This isn't a Victorian setting, it's been updated to the 21st century, complete with computers, internet, jerky camera movements (thankfully not too jerky), as well as clever dialogue, twisted plotting and fabulous supporting cast. There is a much better review of the tv series over at Mystery Scene blog, a new to me mystery review site. I can't rate this series highly enough.
It is penned by one of the writers of the New Dr Who, Stephen Moffat, so that should tell you about the depth of characterization and darkness and emotional vulnerabilities all the characters reveal. He is the writer of one of my all-time Dr Who episodes, "Blink" from Season 3. But this is Sherlock Holmes, mystery icon and beloved around the world. How does he do it? Well, he revisions Sherlock as a younger man, much younger, just setting out, and still genius and incapable of being comfortable around most people. Arrogant, aware of his brilliance, and terribly attractive at the same time. Sherlock was always a draw for me, along the same lines as Spock from Star Trek, - intellectually brillliant and focused, but completely unaware or unwilling to give power to emotions and yet, surprisingly, capable of gentleness every once in a while, shockingly.
I was thrilled to receive the dvd of the first season for Christmas. There are only three episodes filmed for the first season, but they pack so much in each episode that they hold up extremely well to rewatching over and over. Which is good, since the new series isn't close to being ready yet. Now of course, I might have to go and reread some original Sherlock Holmes just to compare with the show.
Here is a link to an interview with Benedict just before the tv show aired last summer in the UK.
This is the BBC site for Sherlock Holmes.
And, just because it's fun, here is a link the the Blog of Dr John Watson. Sadly it too isn't very long, but it's funny. I think the producers should have "Dr Watson" writing to it while they are producing the new series. Nothing posted for when it will be out, so the BBC once again do a bang-up job of creating fabulous tv shows then making us wait a year for the next series (season).
Have fun, and let me know if you've seen this and what you thought. I've been saving the third episode, The Great Game, but I don't think I can hold out much longer.
I do have to admit that during A Study in Pink, the series opener, I did guess who the villain was, but I didn't guess why. In fact, I was shouting out at the tv, "the ------ did it!" over and over, to my husband's great amusement, as Sherlock and Watson couldn't see the danger before them.
A side note to anyone in and around London: my husband and I had great fun picking out streets we recognized, or that my husband thought he had been near when he worked in London many years ago. That they shot in and around London gave the show an immediate feel of reality, that Sherlock is placed in this time and place firmly, and it works - he's a sociopath for the modern day, a result of our society separating intelligence from emotion and the dangers inherent therein.
It is penned by one of the writers of the New Dr Who, Stephen Moffat, so that should tell you about the depth of characterization and darkness and emotional vulnerabilities all the characters reveal. He is the writer of one of my all-time Dr Who episodes, "Blink" from Season 3. But this is Sherlock Holmes, mystery icon and beloved around the world. How does he do it? Well, he revisions Sherlock as a younger man, much younger, just setting out, and still genius and incapable of being comfortable around most people. Arrogant, aware of his brilliance, and terribly attractive at the same time. Sherlock was always a draw for me, along the same lines as Spock from Star Trek, - intellectually brillliant and focused, but completely unaware or unwilling to give power to emotions and yet, surprisingly, capable of gentleness every once in a while, shockingly.
I was thrilled to receive the dvd of the first season for Christmas. There are only three episodes filmed for the first season, but they pack so much in each episode that they hold up extremely well to rewatching over and over. Which is good, since the new series isn't close to being ready yet. Now of course, I might have to go and reread some original Sherlock Holmes just to compare with the show.
Here is a link to an interview with Benedict just before the tv show aired last summer in the UK.
This is the BBC site for Sherlock Holmes.
And, just because it's fun, here is a link the the Blog of Dr John Watson. Sadly it too isn't very long, but it's funny. I think the producers should have "Dr Watson" writing to it while they are producing the new series. Nothing posted for when it will be out, so the BBC once again do a bang-up job of creating fabulous tv shows then making us wait a year for the next series (season).
Have fun, and let me know if you've seen this and what you thought. I've been saving the third episode, The Great Game, but I don't think I can hold out much longer.
I do have to admit that during A Study in Pink, the series opener, I did guess who the villain was, but I didn't guess why. In fact, I was shouting out at the tv, "the ------ did it!" over and over, to my husband's great amusement, as Sherlock and Watson couldn't see the danger before them.
A side note to anyone in and around London: my husband and I had great fun picking out streets we recognized, or that my husband thought he had been near when he worked in London many years ago. That they shot in and around London gave the show an immediate feel of reality, that Sherlock is placed in this time and place firmly, and it works - he's a sociopath for the modern day, a result of our society separating intelligence from emotion and the dangers inherent therein.
Monday, 3 January 2011
The Writing Life and My Book of the Year
One of the ways in which I begin to relax is to cruise around the blog world checking in with whatever moves me. As I have been away from blogging for the past while, one of the first places I head to is Terri Windling's blog. Not only does she have art that is inspirational for me, but she takes lovely photos, and somehow her thoughts get me going into my own creativity. She also lists books she's reading on her sidebar, which every so often I go to see what I need to add to my ongoing, ever-growing list of Books to Watch Out For and Try to Find. Yesterday I pointed you to the December writer's desk series she had going. Today, I discovered again through her links Midori Snyder and Delia Sherman's blogs, both of whom are writers that I think are among the best fantasy writers in the world. Midori is on a writer hiatus write now, but earlier this year she had a link to a most hilarious article on the hurdles writers face in just sitting down to write - 'the voices against our work being of any account' hurdle. Writers among my Gentle Readers, do you recognize any of these voices? I did, and now I'm going to print out this article and frame it in my writing room.
I found Delia's blog through Terri linking to a review about Adrienne Martini's Sweater Quest: My Year of Knitting Dangerously, which I know some of you have been reading this year. Well, not only does this book sound interesting - and I can't knit! - but I discovered, even more valuable to me, a post about advice to a young would-be writer, that is perfect, here, on her Nov 27th post.. Down in the comments, Edward Gorey's The Unsung Harp is mentioned, as a perfect gift for writers. Darn if it isn't out of print, though here is the Amazon.ca write-up anyway so we would-be/promising/waiting to be published writers can start haunting online shops and used bookstores in our cities. I know I will be. It sounds perfect. Both the writer advice and the book are classic for us. And darn if I am not suddenly beginning to feel like I can face reading my first draft of my novel and see what can be saved. Thank you to these kind, generous writers who take the time to share their thoughts and inspiration with us.
Honourable Mentions for Book of the Year:
Each of the following were ones that not only seemed to be the best of their genre in the books that I read, but they did something more: they surpassed their genre and rewrote my general assumptions about what the genre could contain. I highly recommend all of these books.
The Speed of Dark - Elizabeth Moon - I first wrote about this book, here. I still feel myself catching my breath at Lou's decision all these months later. Breathtaking, brilliant, speculative, heart-breaking.
The Speed of Dark, which is brilliant at capturing the structure that a special mind like someone with autism needs to make sense of the world. Indeed, reading this book, made me wonder how much all of us who are 'normal', need schedules and rules in order to go about our day, too. And how much a little flexibility in our acceptance of others' differences could go a long way to make everyone feel comfortable in this world.
The Wrong Kind of Blood - Declan Hughes - I did not write about this book when I first read it in September, as it was a library book and I had a pile I was trying to read before returning. That's my excuse, but it's a sad one, because from the moment I opened this mystery, I felt a frisson of energy that hasn't left me since. This is noir, gritty mystery noir at it's best. Ed Loy returns home to bury his mother, and uncovers secrets from his own past in the process. It's got a lot of plot and the background of Ed is a bit mysterious, but it all works out in the end. Mostly though it's Ed's reactions to Dublin then and now, and how crime and payouts and politics are the bedrock of life in the Dublin he knows then and now. Very well done, and unlike anything I've read for quite some time. I am seeking out the rest of the series now.
The Court of the Air - Stephen Hunt - This is a complex steampunk fantasy mix that I wasn't sure I liked or understood while I read it, until I got to the final chapters and it all comes together stunningly. The steam men culture, the chilling court of the air, were all fabulous (in the best fantasy sense of the word) but what made the book have feeling were Molly and Oliver, the two orphans at the heart of this Victorian alternate world setting. Fascinating, a bit overwhelming at times, and once done, it has stayed with me and worked on me and now I find I am desperate to read the next one in the series. I understand steampunk better for having read this novel! and I really have to know what happens next.
Favourite Authors discovered: tie. so I've taken my own idea yesterday and an idea from raidergirl3's book review category for 2010, and decided these two authors deserve once again, a special mention from me:
Jo Nesbo
Martin Edwards
I really can't decide between these two - not because they are similar, not at all! But because since discovering them this year, I have devoured the books in their series.
Jo Nesbo:
You all know about my love affair with Harry Hole, which continues unabated, through despair, alcoholism, devious arch-criminals and Harry's own weaknesses. I have two sitting to be read for this new year, The Redeemer and The Snowman. Really, it's like Christmas the way it should have been, to have these books next to read!
Martin Edwards
The Lake District series: I enjoy the series of Daniel Kind and Hannah Scarlett so much. I think what I like best is the growing relationship between them, even as they try to continue their ongoing relationships with their current partners. It is fascinating to have a historian's perspective added to the mystery genre, not because it hasn't been done before, but because Daniel explores history as it affects people so of course the cold cases that Hannah opens fascinate him. Hannah is not an easy female character to like, yet I do. She is interesting and complex and intelligent, and through her persistence and luck we see cases resolved. At the heart of these mysteries are two things: the Lake District and relationships. The Lake District is beautiful, even as Wordsworth wrote about it almost two centuries ago, with nature ever present then and now as part of the scene of crimes, part of the witness to passions that explode. Relationships are what all crimes stem from, and one of the many interesting things about this series is that none of the crimes are similar or fall into a pattern. I'm reading The Serpent Pool right now (the last one published) - oh look! Oh joy! A new one is going to be published in April: The Hanging Woods. *happy sigh* now I can finish The Serpent Pool, knowing another one is around the corner. Thank you, Martin!
My Book of the Year: Jack the Giant-Killer by Charles de Lint
Imagine my surprise when I came across a reference to 'placing a sprig of rowan in a pocket' in a recent fantasy novel, and my thrill that I knew exactly what the writer was referencing because I finally read Jack The Giant Killer over 20 years after it was published! Sometimes books become classics in their field, and Jack the Giant Killer is one of those books for me and for urban fantasy. This won Canada's science fiction award in 1988, deservedly so. Even now, reading it so many years later, it brought a flash of magic to our dull city. I really wished, as I did when I first read Moonheart when it was published, that Ottawa could be a little more like how Charles imagines it in his urban fantasy novels. I enjoyed Jacky Rowan, and her best friend Kate Crackernuts, and the Unseelie Court are very frightening, as they ought to be. If a faerie tale could be called 'realistic', this would be one, and I love the melding of the real with the unreal. Here is the link to my original review. I like Jacky Rowan too, and I really wish Charles would write more stories featuring her and Kate too. It's my book of the year not just because it's witty, and clever, and wise in the ways of the heart, and full of love and wisdom too, but because it's fun, and magical, and full of bravery. It brought me back to a sense of myself when I was starting out on my own, and discovering the world of fantasy for the first time. Charles de Lint was my first love in contemporary fantasy writing (* note: not him, I've met him, lovely man and gorgeous wife Mary Ann) - it's his writing that I love. Jack the Giant Killer showed me what I love best in fantasy writing: fairy tales and magic and growing up all mixed up together in a bag of adventure and friendship and love.
I found Delia's blog through Terri linking to a review about Adrienne Martini's Sweater Quest: My Year of Knitting Dangerously, which I know some of you have been reading this year. Well, not only does this book sound interesting - and I can't knit! - but I discovered, even more valuable to me, a post about advice to a young would-be writer, that is perfect, here, on her Nov 27th post.. Down in the comments, Edward Gorey's The Unsung Harp is mentioned, as a perfect gift for writers. Darn if it isn't out of print, though here is the Amazon.ca write-up anyway so we would-be/promising/waiting to be published writers can start haunting online shops and used bookstores in our cities. I know I will be. It sounds perfect. Both the writer advice and the book are classic for us. And darn if I am not suddenly beginning to feel like I can face reading my first draft of my novel and see what can be saved. Thank you to these kind, generous writers who take the time to share their thoughts and inspiration with us.
Honourable Mentions for Book of the Year:
Each of the following were ones that not only seemed to be the best of their genre in the books that I read, but they did something more: they surpassed their genre and rewrote my general assumptions about what the genre could contain. I highly recommend all of these books.
The Speed of Dark - Elizabeth Moon - I first wrote about this book, here. I still feel myself catching my breath at Lou's decision all these months later. Breathtaking, brilliant, speculative, heart-breaking.
The Speed of Dark, which is brilliant at capturing the structure that a special mind like someone with autism needs to make sense of the world. Indeed, reading this book, made me wonder how much all of us who are 'normal', need schedules and rules in order to go about our day, too. And how much a little flexibility in our acceptance of others' differences could go a long way to make everyone feel comfortable in this world.
The Wrong Kind of Blood - Declan Hughes - I did not write about this book when I first read it in September, as it was a library book and I had a pile I was trying to read before returning. That's my excuse, but it's a sad one, because from the moment I opened this mystery, I felt a frisson of energy that hasn't left me since. This is noir, gritty mystery noir at it's best. Ed Loy returns home to bury his mother, and uncovers secrets from his own past in the process. It's got a lot of plot and the background of Ed is a bit mysterious, but it all works out in the end. Mostly though it's Ed's reactions to Dublin then and now, and how crime and payouts and politics are the bedrock of life in the Dublin he knows then and now. Very well done, and unlike anything I've read for quite some time. I am seeking out the rest of the series now.
The Court of the Air - Stephen Hunt - This is a complex steampunk fantasy mix that I wasn't sure I liked or understood while I read it, until I got to the final chapters and it all comes together stunningly. The steam men culture, the chilling court of the air, were all fabulous (in the best fantasy sense of the word) but what made the book have feeling were Molly and Oliver, the two orphans at the heart of this Victorian alternate world setting. Fascinating, a bit overwhelming at times, and once done, it has stayed with me and worked on me and now I find I am desperate to read the next one in the series. I understand steampunk better for having read this novel! and I really have to know what happens next.
Favourite Authors discovered: tie. so I've taken my own idea yesterday and an idea from raidergirl3's book review category for 2010, and decided these two authors deserve once again, a special mention from me:
Jo Nesbo
Martin Edwards
I really can't decide between these two - not because they are similar, not at all! But because since discovering them this year, I have devoured the books in their series.
Jo Nesbo:
You all know about my love affair with Harry Hole, which continues unabated, through despair, alcoholism, devious arch-criminals and Harry's own weaknesses. I have two sitting to be read for this new year, The Redeemer and The Snowman. Really, it's like Christmas the way it should have been, to have these books next to read!
Martin Edwards
The Lake District series: I enjoy the series of Daniel Kind and Hannah Scarlett so much. I think what I like best is the growing relationship between them, even as they try to continue their ongoing relationships with their current partners. It is fascinating to have a historian's perspective added to the mystery genre, not because it hasn't been done before, but because Daniel explores history as it affects people so of course the cold cases that Hannah opens fascinate him. Hannah is not an easy female character to like, yet I do. She is interesting and complex and intelligent, and through her persistence and luck we see cases resolved. At the heart of these mysteries are two things: the Lake District and relationships. The Lake District is beautiful, even as Wordsworth wrote about it almost two centuries ago, with nature ever present then and now as part of the scene of crimes, part of the witness to passions that explode. Relationships are what all crimes stem from, and one of the many interesting things about this series is that none of the crimes are similar or fall into a pattern. I'm reading The Serpent Pool right now (the last one published) - oh look! Oh joy! A new one is going to be published in April: The Hanging Woods. *happy sigh* now I can finish The Serpent Pool, knowing another one is around the corner. Thank you, Martin!
My Book of the Year: Jack the Giant-Killer by Charles de Lint
Imagine my surprise when I came across a reference to 'placing a sprig of rowan in a pocket' in a recent fantasy novel, and my thrill that I knew exactly what the writer was referencing because I finally read Jack The Giant Killer over 20 years after it was published! Sometimes books become classics in their field, and Jack the Giant Killer is one of those books for me and for urban fantasy. This won Canada's science fiction award in 1988, deservedly so. Even now, reading it so many years later, it brought a flash of magic to our dull city. I really wished, as I did when I first read Moonheart when it was published, that Ottawa could be a little more like how Charles imagines it in his urban fantasy novels. I enjoyed Jacky Rowan, and her best friend Kate Crackernuts, and the Unseelie Court are very frightening, as they ought to be. If a faerie tale could be called 'realistic', this would be one, and I love the melding of the real with the unreal. Here is the link to my original review. I like Jacky Rowan too, and I really wish Charles would write more stories featuring her and Kate too. It's my book of the year not just because it's witty, and clever, and wise in the ways of the heart, and full of love and wisdom too, but because it's fun, and magical, and full of bravery. It brought me back to a sense of myself when I was starting out on my own, and discovering the world of fantasy for the first time. Charles de Lint was my first love in contemporary fantasy writing (* note: not him, I've met him, lovely man and gorgeous wife Mary Ann) - it's his writing that I love. Jack the Giant Killer showed me what I love best in fantasy writing: fairy tales and magic and growing up all mixed up together in a bag of adventure and friendship and love.
Sunday, 2 January 2011
The "Where I've Been" Post
Happy 2011 to you all, Gentle Readers!!! I hope you had a merry holiday season, and time for reading.
Where have I been, you are wondering. How could I go the past month without posting, where is my year-end book special, and most of all, what happened to me during the Advent Calendar Tour?
It was a season I could never have predicted, my book-loving friends. It began with a slip on the ice three days after I wrote my last post. I fell twice, the second time falling backwards and hitting my head. I ended up with a very minor concussion, and it has been the stress from the fall, the memory of falling, that has been haunting me from the beginning of the holiday season. I was well looked after, friends and family took care of me and I was back at work a few days later, but the shock of the fall has reverbrated through my holidays. It threw me off, and I couldn't seem to settle down into thinking again. I was able to read, thankfully. And then family came.
This is the second year that family has unexpectedly come to stay and turned our holidays upside down. This turned into a very traumatic visit for me, family secrets and drama, and we are still recovering. So merry? Sometimes, when it was just us. It was a lovely holiday at times, and through it all I've been very happy that I am still here. I know how serious my fall could have been.
It does mean that I have thought long and hard about my blog, which hasn't been sadly neglected but definitely suffered from lack of regular posting this past year. I've wondered if I've run out of things to say about books, or if I need to say them publicly any more. I've come to the understanding with myself that of course, duh Susan! I love discussing books, reading your ideas about them, Gentle Readers, as well as talking about what I love (or don't) about what I'm reading. Books are my main passion in life. And this blog is nothing if not my own labour of love about my love of books. So, I do apologize for missing the Advent Blog Tour. Happy late holiday wishes to all of you (and I really hope you all had a much better holiday season over all!!) It's still the New Year, so I can squeeze in Happy New Year, blessings and happiness to each of you, my Gentle Readers, for this coming year. I am especially happy because the coming Chinese New Year is the Year of the Rabbit, and that's what I am.
Books of the year - not yet
I am going to do my book of the year in my next post (which Goddess willing will be tomorrow), mostly because I still haven't chosen my book of the year. I discovered two wonderful mystery series - Martin Edwards' Lake District series featuring Daniel Kind and Hannah Scarlett, and Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series, which I can't choose among either series for my favourite books because they are all so good. Maybe I should do mystery series of the year?
Other stand-outs are Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day - I loved this book, and it made me laugh out loud so many times. What a lovely magical whimsical fun book, delightful for the soul and the possibility that today, or any day, could be the day when everything changes. Persephone Books were reprinting this before the holidays, or I would have been able to give this as my present of the year to several people. Next year.....
Book of Lost Tales by John Connolly was not what I expected, a magical fairy tale book that lingers long after it is all over - highly recommended.
The Darkest Room by Johan Theorin - a gripping mystery that really could not be put down, filled with echoes from earlier tragedies and people coping as best they can with loss and their own dark family secrets. Very very good, and one I did give for Christmas.
The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths was another standout book for me. A mystery featuring archaeologist Ruth Galloway, it bridges time and space in a haunting poetic mystery about loss and death and children. Another one given for Christmas (and read already by the recipient!).
One of the first books I read last year, Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason, never left me. It raised questions about immigration and race and crime within the family that set as it was in the midst of children, made this book much larger than its Icelandic setting would suggest. The best mysteries do this, I find, take the story of a crime or a mystery and cast it into the world so it becomes a comment on today's society, wherever we find ourselves. This is a writer who gets better and better with each Erlendur mystery.
The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar was so delightful and funny, I laughed out loud so often reading this hilarious account of two runaway Scottish fairies in New York City and the havoc they wreak on everyone and everything. Also the first book to give a true account of what it is like to have Crohn's Disease (which a friend and a family member suffer from). I'm beginning to think Martin Millar is one of those undiscovered writers that are like secrets in fantasy or historical communities. I loved his Lonely Werewolf Girl, and now I thoroughly recommend this book by him.
To Dream of the Dead by Phil Rickman is another in an ongoing series that I highly recommend. I love Merrily Watkins, the exorcist Anglican reverend, her daughter Jane, and the cast of characters in their village Borderlands setting along the edge of Wales. This is a place of supernatural events, hauntings and old myths and folk tales that have ancient bases in reality, and it's up to Merrily to uncover what is human in origin, and what is other-worldly. Whether places affect people, or people affect places, is one of those intriguing questions this series deals with in every book. To Dream of the Dead is about just that, how the dead echo through time and how their legacy of religion can still have meaning, if we let it. Against this is set the rising of the river running through Ledwardine, the village Merrily lives in, and the fear of nature unleashed. This mystery novel also uncovers some ancient roots of Ledwardine as well as more of the standing stones Jane discovered in earlier books in the series. This is a mystery series unlike any other out there, about people and place and the senses of mind that we know on some level exists, even if we don't understand why and can't explain it.
In the Shadow of the Glacier by Vicki Delany is the first in an ongoing Canadian mystery series that I discovered thanks to a book blogger late last year. It took me a little while to hunt this book down in my library, and I really enjoyed the setting in the Rockies. I've lived in Vernon in British Columbia twice, and the feel of living amongst the mountains of BC is perfectly captured in this book. I kept looking for Trafalgar on the map, even though it doesn't exist it feels like a real place! Molly Smith is the rookie cop who is promoted to the detective squad temporarily. I enjoyed the mystery and the Canadian context - a memorial to the America draft resistors to Vietnam War. Very Canadian! Very enjoyable and I'm off to find the next in the series, The Valley of the Lost.
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy was a terrific fairy tale retelling of Hansel and Gretel, set in Poland during WW2. This is the second book I've read using the horrors of war - of what people do, did, have done to one another under the guise of war, and retelling them in fairy tale settings to help understand these horrors. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen was the first one I read, last year. They both are true fairy tale retellings, scary and sad, filled with hope when all is lost, and the will to survive. It isn't pretty, but then true fairy tales, the really nasty ones like Hansel and Gretel, tell it like it really is, too. And we as children know this, as well as all children anywhere and everywhere. This may be the best way to begin to heal from this war, the first stirrings of healing tissue. We have to imagine our way through the horror so we can begin to understand, and then to forgive. The only way we can prevent this from happening is through forgiveness. It would be very interesting to know if the Germans or Russians are beginning to write any fairy tales too, to try to explain to themselves also what happened. In the meantime, both of these are worth seeking out, and when you are ready, to take a trip through the forest to meet the darkness that is part of our civilization.
Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton round out my books that made a deep impression on me this year. Who can forget a dragon society where the dead parents are eaten by their children, and the rules of courtship and marriage? And what a dragon blush really means? An original fantasy novel that brings dragons to life, in a wonderful Victorian society setting. Funny, too.
Reading Goals
So those are some of the books I read this year that have moved me and marked me. I will do a final round-up of what I read, tomorrow. I am too depressed that not only did I not get to 100 books read this year, but I didn't get to my 50 mysteries either as my reading in December fell to 3 books. However this just makes me more determined to succeed this year in both these goals!
Fairy Tales
To honour fairy tales and the place I want them to have in my house, I bought Maria Tatar's latest collection, The Annotated Brothers Grimm.
This volume is translated by Tatar, and includes over 150 illustrations from all kinds of editions over the years, and Tatar's annotations on the texts.
I bought this because I, for one, love fairy tales when they come illustrated and especially, when the text is child-friendly. I mean, we have one edition bought by a friend that is written in Victorian text, so it's wordy and unfamiliar in meaning to my kids. The idea of fairy tales isn't that they are old, but that they are accessible immediately to that wordless part of the brain that knows these stories already. With this book I hope to have my children move into the heart of the fairy tale world and be enriched by it, so the next time Rapunzel comes out as a Disney movie, I don't have to rush to find a copy of Rapunzel for my daughter to hear so she knows what Tangled is really about! This is our nighttime reading, which I had started in the autumn with the two youngest children, but had to stop when the Victorian retelling got hard on me just in the telling!
Happy 2011 to all you, my Gentle Readers. I wish for all of you, as well as myself, time to read during this coming year, as well as joy and beauty and creativity all through the year.
For those who are looking for inspiration, I can think of no better way than to go to Terri Windling's blog, where for the past month she has been posting some beautiful photos of the winter scenes they have in Doret, as well as - my favourite - photos of creative people's desks, from writers, sculptors, and painters. Some of my favourite writers, like Terri herself, Charles de Lint and Jane Yolen, are there.
Where have I been, you are wondering. How could I go the past month without posting, where is my year-end book special, and most of all, what happened to me during the Advent Calendar Tour?
It was a season I could never have predicted, my book-loving friends. It began with a slip on the ice three days after I wrote my last post. I fell twice, the second time falling backwards and hitting my head. I ended up with a very minor concussion, and it has been the stress from the fall, the memory of falling, that has been haunting me from the beginning of the holiday season. I was well looked after, friends and family took care of me and I was back at work a few days later, but the shock of the fall has reverbrated through my holidays. It threw me off, and I couldn't seem to settle down into thinking again. I was able to read, thankfully. And then family came.
This is the second year that family has unexpectedly come to stay and turned our holidays upside down. This turned into a very traumatic visit for me, family secrets and drama, and we are still recovering. So merry? Sometimes, when it was just us. It was a lovely holiday at times, and through it all I've been very happy that I am still here. I know how serious my fall could have been.
It does mean that I have thought long and hard about my blog, which hasn't been sadly neglected but definitely suffered from lack of regular posting this past year. I've wondered if I've run out of things to say about books, or if I need to say them publicly any more. I've come to the understanding with myself that of course, duh Susan! I love discussing books, reading your ideas about them, Gentle Readers, as well as talking about what I love (or don't) about what I'm reading. Books are my main passion in life. And this blog is nothing if not my own labour of love about my love of books. So, I do apologize for missing the Advent Blog Tour. Happy late holiday wishes to all of you (and I really hope you all had a much better holiday season over all!!) It's still the New Year, so I can squeeze in Happy New Year, blessings and happiness to each of you, my Gentle Readers, for this coming year. I am especially happy because the coming Chinese New Year is the Year of the Rabbit, and that's what I am.
Books of the year - not yet
I am going to do my book of the year in my next post (which Goddess willing will be tomorrow), mostly because I still haven't chosen my book of the year. I discovered two wonderful mystery series - Martin Edwards' Lake District series featuring Daniel Kind and Hannah Scarlett, and Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series, which I can't choose among either series for my favourite books because they are all so good. Maybe I should do mystery series of the year?
Other stand-outs are Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day - I loved this book, and it made me laugh out loud so many times. What a lovely magical whimsical fun book, delightful for the soul and the possibility that today, or any day, could be the day when everything changes. Persephone Books were reprinting this before the holidays, or I would have been able to give this as my present of the year to several people. Next year.....
Book of Lost Tales by John Connolly was not what I expected, a magical fairy tale book that lingers long after it is all over - highly recommended.
The Darkest Room by Johan Theorin - a gripping mystery that really could not be put down, filled with echoes from earlier tragedies and people coping as best they can with loss and their own dark family secrets. Very very good, and one I did give for Christmas.
The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths was another standout book for me. A mystery featuring archaeologist Ruth Galloway, it bridges time and space in a haunting poetic mystery about loss and death and children. Another one given for Christmas (and read already by the recipient!).
One of the first books I read last year, Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason, never left me. It raised questions about immigration and race and crime within the family that set as it was in the midst of children, made this book much larger than its Icelandic setting would suggest. The best mysteries do this, I find, take the story of a crime or a mystery and cast it into the world so it becomes a comment on today's society, wherever we find ourselves. This is a writer who gets better and better with each Erlendur mystery.
The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar was so delightful and funny, I laughed out loud so often reading this hilarious account of two runaway Scottish fairies in New York City and the havoc they wreak on everyone and everything. Also the first book to give a true account of what it is like to have Crohn's Disease (which a friend and a family member suffer from). I'm beginning to think Martin Millar is one of those undiscovered writers that are like secrets in fantasy or historical communities. I loved his Lonely Werewolf Girl, and now I thoroughly recommend this book by him.
To Dream of the Dead by Phil Rickman is another in an ongoing series that I highly recommend. I love Merrily Watkins, the exorcist Anglican reverend, her daughter Jane, and the cast of characters in their village Borderlands setting along the edge of Wales. This is a place of supernatural events, hauntings and old myths and folk tales that have ancient bases in reality, and it's up to Merrily to uncover what is human in origin, and what is other-worldly. Whether places affect people, or people affect places, is one of those intriguing questions this series deals with in every book. To Dream of the Dead is about just that, how the dead echo through time and how their legacy of religion can still have meaning, if we let it. Against this is set the rising of the river running through Ledwardine, the village Merrily lives in, and the fear of nature unleashed. This mystery novel also uncovers some ancient roots of Ledwardine as well as more of the standing stones Jane discovered in earlier books in the series. This is a mystery series unlike any other out there, about people and place and the senses of mind that we know on some level exists, even if we don't understand why and can't explain it.
In the Shadow of the Glacier by Vicki Delany is the first in an ongoing Canadian mystery series that I discovered thanks to a book blogger late last year. It took me a little while to hunt this book down in my library, and I really enjoyed the setting in the Rockies. I've lived in Vernon in British Columbia twice, and the feel of living amongst the mountains of BC is perfectly captured in this book. I kept looking for Trafalgar on the map, even though it doesn't exist it feels like a real place! Molly Smith is the rookie cop who is promoted to the detective squad temporarily. I enjoyed the mystery and the Canadian context - a memorial to the America draft resistors to Vietnam War. Very Canadian! Very enjoyable and I'm off to find the next in the series, The Valley of the Lost.
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy was a terrific fairy tale retelling of Hansel and Gretel, set in Poland during WW2. This is the second book I've read using the horrors of war - of what people do, did, have done to one another under the guise of war, and retelling them in fairy tale settings to help understand these horrors. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen was the first one I read, last year. They both are true fairy tale retellings, scary and sad, filled with hope when all is lost, and the will to survive. It isn't pretty, but then true fairy tales, the really nasty ones like Hansel and Gretel, tell it like it really is, too. And we as children know this, as well as all children anywhere and everywhere. This may be the best way to begin to heal from this war, the first stirrings of healing tissue. We have to imagine our way through the horror so we can begin to understand, and then to forgive. The only way we can prevent this from happening is through forgiveness. It would be very interesting to know if the Germans or Russians are beginning to write any fairy tales too, to try to explain to themselves also what happened. In the meantime, both of these are worth seeking out, and when you are ready, to take a trip through the forest to meet the darkness that is part of our civilization.
Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton round out my books that made a deep impression on me this year. Who can forget a dragon society where the dead parents are eaten by their children, and the rules of courtship and marriage? And what a dragon blush really means? An original fantasy novel that brings dragons to life, in a wonderful Victorian society setting. Funny, too.
Reading Goals
So those are some of the books I read this year that have moved me and marked me. I will do a final round-up of what I read, tomorrow. I am too depressed that not only did I not get to 100 books read this year, but I didn't get to my 50 mysteries either as my reading in December fell to 3 books. However this just makes me more determined to succeed this year in both these goals!
Fairy Tales
To honour fairy tales and the place I want them to have in my house, I bought Maria Tatar's latest collection, The Annotated Brothers Grimm.
This volume is translated by Tatar, and includes over 150 illustrations from all kinds of editions over the years, and Tatar's annotations on the texts.
Happy 2011 to all you, my Gentle Readers. I wish for all of you, as well as myself, time to read during this coming year, as well as joy and beauty and creativity all through the year.
For those who are looking for inspiration, I can think of no better way than to go to Terri Windling's blog, where for the past month she has been posting some beautiful photos of the winter scenes they have in Doret, as well as - my favourite - photos of creative people's desks, from writers, sculptors, and painters. Some of my favourite writers, like Terri herself, Charles de Lint and Jane Yolen, are there.
Saturday, 27 November 2010
I Dare You - and the Advent Calendar Tour 2010
So by now you all know about my weakness for book lists, and books of the year reviews. How my TBR mountain grows because of books you love, dear Gentle Readers, as well as the recommendations from Locus, Book Awards, The Guardian, and a whole host of other book information places. Well, today, I went to the Guardian to see what was new on the book site, and they have put up a list of books chosen as 'book of the year' by a selection of writers. *big sigh* I've added 11 books to my TBR pile. I should say I sigh happily, but still.....no matter how many books I read, there are so many more to be read out there. We are spoiled in this age, by having far more books being published than we can ever hope to read. So I dare you, dare you, Gentle Reader, to go the Books of Year article here and read through it all, and not find at least one book that you would like to read. Go ahead. And then if you like, come back here and let me know if you were seduced - and by what, of course.
Now because you are like me and love book lists, and from my previous posts we ALL want to know what other people are reading/want to read/have read/long to get, you all are wondering what titles I found, that I picked out as ones I'd love to get my hands on. In the spirit of "if you missed it the first time, maybe you'll find it interesting this time" and "if we are going to be poor because we spend too much money on books, let's be poor together and have a wealth of wonder instead", here is my list:
It's only a small list of books:
-Ghost Light, Joseph O'Connor. This looked interesting enough that I added it to to my Amazon wish list as well as the book of 'books to get' (yes, it's an actual book!) I carry around with me. Going to Amazon let me see his other books, to which I then added:
-Star of The Sea, his earlier prize-winning novel about the 1847 potato famine and the journey in a ship from Ireland to North America that winter. Since some of my family fled Ireland that same year, arriving here in Canada, I really want to read this novel. It's out of print now. So on my growing "books to look for in second-hand bookstores", I've added this title.
-Heartstone - CJ Sansom. I have the first two books to read still in this series, but this came with such a high review that I had to add it. Dissolution is on my immediate to be read pile. I'm warring between it and Raven Black by Ann Cleeves, which my friend Lee in Texas is waiting impatiently for me to read so we can talk about it. She really liked Raven Black. I told her about Martin Edwards and now she's read and enjoyed the first one, The Coffin Trail. I then sent her Louise Penny's Still Life for her birthday. She has since sent me Janet Neel's Death's Bright Angel because it's set in York and I wanted to find more books set there. So I told her about this series (by CJ Sansom) and Susanna Gregory's Thomas Chaloner series, plus Ariana Franklin's series which she hadn't heard about. We're not competitive at all on how many series we can recommend that we like, are we?
- Freedom - Jonathan Frazen. I'm of two minds about this book, since I tend to find books everyone likes, usually not as good as I'd like. I'm not sure if I'm so afraid of being disappointed because of the hype that I'm avoiding it, or afraid that once again my dislike of 'literary' novels is getting the better of me here. Maybe in the new year.....
-Ghosts of Belfast/alt title The Twelve - Stuart Neville. Since discovering that some of my ancestors are from Ireland, I've begun seeking out books on Ireland. This led me to Declan Hughes' wonderful The Wrong Kind of Blood noir mystery earlier this year (which I still have to review), and now I add this book to my growing books about Ireland I want to read. It's a thriller, and I'm hoping I can find it here.
- Whoops! Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay - John Lanchester.
- Enough is Enough - Fintan O'Toole
thoughts on both books: I am amazed at how countries that were seemingly doing very well suddenly are facing bankruptcy. I'm even more amazed that the lessons about inflated mortgage schemes and property investments that caused such disasters in the 1980's, and 1990's, are recurring again. Did no one pay attention to any of the lessons from before? Apparently not. I am puzzled and saddened also, and deeply worried, for the people affected - Greece, Spain, England, USA, and now Ireland - where did all the money go? And why? I don't like thinking that we aren't secure, and yet, earlier this week, the public service union I belong to held a vote on whether to accept the government's offer for our contract. On the table? This, for the largest public union of workers in Canada? Our severance pay. Since when does the government decide that paying out the measley severance pay to clerks if they leave service, is responsible for the sudden 'biggest debt carried by the Canadian government ever " - 1 billion dollars? Something isn't right, something doesn't smell right, and I want to try to understand why, when the world has so much, there doesn't seem to be enough to go around at all now.
- Human Chain - Seamus Heaney. Poems about loss, death, which becomes a meditation on life - irresistible, especially as I go through my second year of being diabetic and glimpsing, as my kidneys started to fail this summer, that the second half of my life isn't going to be the way the first half was.
- And The Land Stay Still - James Roberston. If you can resist what Ian Rankin says about this book, good for you. Any time my favourite mystery writer says a book shouldn't be ignored and it's about Scotland (where some more of my ancestors are from) and a novel, I'm right there. I miss my yearly new Rebus - it's really hitting home this year that there will be no more of him - and while I know I have The Complaints in my Christmas box (isn't it surprising how buying books for myself for Christmas is one of my true delights?), and am truly looking forward to reading about Malcolm Fox - I miss Rebus and Siobhan and gritty Scottish noir. I'm thinking of rereading the entire series next year. In the meantime, a novel about Scotland sounds like it might just do to tide me over. Oh dear. I just went to look to see if it's over here in Canada. It's not. He does have an earlier book which looks just as interesting:
- The Testament of Gideon Mack. It's available here. A Scottish Minister who confronts the Devil. This one was nominated for The Booker. His first book is also available,
- The Fanatic. Look, it's about witches and witchhunts, ghosts and ghost tours, and historical Scotland, set in Edinburgh. Oh dear dear. Somehow they just slipped onto my wishlist. Don't they sound like they'd make excellent Christmas reading? And I can catch up on this interesting Scottish author while I wait for And The Land Lies Still to make its way across the ocean.
- poetry by Jackie Kay. Poems that make you laugh and weep? I'm so there!
- Of Mutability - Jo Shapcott. Poems about transformation, and mutability? I think I am moving into reading more poetry as a way to capture the intensity of my moments and minutes, because somehow time is going by faster without my being aware of it slipping by. I don't feel old, or even middle-aged yet, though I am aware that being present in my life is a choice I am conscious I have to make as an adult, when as a child it simply is that way.
Is it Christmas so soon?
Speaking about time, how is that we are now less than a month away from Christmas? Reading over my books read for this year, I realize I still have to read over 10 mysteries to make my 50 mysteries read I promised myself this year. So that's quite a challenge for the upcoming month! I won't be doing my best books read this year until the end of the year, since I have so many good ones just in the 10 I am waiting to read. It's kind of fun, really, to know I must spend the next month reading in order to make one of my goals. The 100 books a year I have sadly laid to rest, but not for long. Starting Jan 1, I will be back at this personal challenge again! I do plan on catching up on my book reviews for this year, over the next month, since there are so many good books I read that I haven't let you know how I felt about, this year. And I do want to tell you about Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, The Mystery of Edwin Drood (I have a Charles Dickens post planned), and The Good Fairies of New York, plus the afore-mentioned The Wrong Kind of Blood, and so many others. It has been a wonderful year for finding good books to read. How about you?
I am joining the Advent Calendar tour again. I am very excited, and have a couple of ideas already. I am looking forward to seeing what all you, dear Readers, are doing and celebrating this upcoming holiday season, as we go around the world via our book blogs. I will be doing my entry on December 24, the last day of the tour. This starts in three days! Get ready!
In my corner of the world we have been getting snow flurries in between some sun. We have snow on the ground, finally. It feels like winter. Now to do the impossible: read 12 mystery books between now and Dec 31. Hmm, sounds like the Twelve Days of Christmas, doesn't it? "On the first day of Christmas, I let myself read: Raven Black, by Ann Cleeves. On the second day of Christmas, I open up: Dissolution, by CJ Ransom. On the third day of Christmas......" Only in the life of a book fanatic!! What are you reading over the holidays? Before? Do you even try to read during the month of December?
Happy reading, everyone!
Now because you are like me and love book lists, and from my previous posts we ALL want to know what other people are reading/want to read/have read/long to get, you all are wondering what titles I found, that I picked out as ones I'd love to get my hands on. In the spirit of "if you missed it the first time, maybe you'll find it interesting this time" and "if we are going to be poor because we spend too much money on books, let's be poor together and have a wealth of wonder instead", here is my list:
It's only a small list of books:
-Ghost Light, Joseph O'Connor. This looked interesting enough that I added it to to my Amazon wish list as well as the book of 'books to get' (yes, it's an actual book!) I carry around with me. Going to Amazon let me see his other books, to which I then added:
-Star of The Sea, his earlier prize-winning novel about the 1847 potato famine and the journey in a ship from Ireland to North America that winter. Since some of my family fled Ireland that same year, arriving here in Canada, I really want to read this novel. It's out of print now. So on my growing "books to look for in second-hand bookstores", I've added this title.
-Heartstone - CJ Sansom. I have the first two books to read still in this series, but this came with such a high review that I had to add it. Dissolution is on my immediate to be read pile. I'm warring between it and Raven Black by Ann Cleeves, which my friend Lee in Texas is waiting impatiently for me to read so we can talk about it. She really liked Raven Black. I told her about Martin Edwards and now she's read and enjoyed the first one, The Coffin Trail. I then sent her Louise Penny's Still Life for her birthday. She has since sent me Janet Neel's Death's Bright Angel because it's set in York and I wanted to find more books set there. So I told her about this series (by CJ Sansom) and Susanna Gregory's Thomas Chaloner series, plus Ariana Franklin's series which she hadn't heard about. We're not competitive at all on how many series we can recommend that we like, are we?
- Freedom - Jonathan Frazen. I'm of two minds about this book, since I tend to find books everyone likes, usually not as good as I'd like. I'm not sure if I'm so afraid of being disappointed because of the hype that I'm avoiding it, or afraid that once again my dislike of 'literary' novels is getting the better of me here. Maybe in the new year.....
-Ghosts of Belfast/alt title The Twelve - Stuart Neville. Since discovering that some of my ancestors are from Ireland, I've begun seeking out books on Ireland. This led me to Declan Hughes' wonderful The Wrong Kind of Blood noir mystery earlier this year (which I still have to review), and now I add this book to my growing books about Ireland I want to read. It's a thriller, and I'm hoping I can find it here.
- Whoops! Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay - John Lanchester.
- Enough is Enough - Fintan O'Toole
thoughts on both books: I am amazed at how countries that were seemingly doing very well suddenly are facing bankruptcy. I'm even more amazed that the lessons about inflated mortgage schemes and property investments that caused such disasters in the 1980's, and 1990's, are recurring again. Did no one pay attention to any of the lessons from before? Apparently not. I am puzzled and saddened also, and deeply worried, for the people affected - Greece, Spain, England, USA, and now Ireland - where did all the money go? And why? I don't like thinking that we aren't secure, and yet, earlier this week, the public service union I belong to held a vote on whether to accept the government's offer for our contract. On the table? This, for the largest public union of workers in Canada? Our severance pay. Since when does the government decide that paying out the measley severance pay to clerks if they leave service, is responsible for the sudden 'biggest debt carried by the Canadian government ever " - 1 billion dollars? Something isn't right, something doesn't smell right, and I want to try to understand why, when the world has so much, there doesn't seem to be enough to go around at all now.
- Human Chain - Seamus Heaney. Poems about loss, death, which becomes a meditation on life - irresistible, especially as I go through my second year of being diabetic and glimpsing, as my kidneys started to fail this summer, that the second half of my life isn't going to be the way the first half was.
- And The Land Stay Still - James Roberston. If you can resist what Ian Rankin says about this book, good for you. Any time my favourite mystery writer says a book shouldn't be ignored and it's about Scotland (where some more of my ancestors are from) and a novel, I'm right there. I miss my yearly new Rebus - it's really hitting home this year that there will be no more of him - and while I know I have The Complaints in my Christmas box (isn't it surprising how buying books for myself for Christmas is one of my true delights?), and am truly looking forward to reading about Malcolm Fox - I miss Rebus and Siobhan and gritty Scottish noir. I'm thinking of rereading the entire series next year. In the meantime, a novel about Scotland sounds like it might just do to tide me over. Oh dear. I just went to look to see if it's over here in Canada. It's not. He does have an earlier book which looks just as interesting:
- The Testament of Gideon Mack. It's available here. A Scottish Minister who confronts the Devil. This one was nominated for The Booker. His first book is also available,
- The Fanatic. Look, it's about witches and witchhunts, ghosts and ghost tours, and historical Scotland, set in Edinburgh. Oh dear dear. Somehow they just slipped onto my wishlist. Don't they sound like they'd make excellent Christmas reading? And I can catch up on this interesting Scottish author while I wait for And The Land Lies Still to make its way across the ocean.
- poetry by Jackie Kay. Poems that make you laugh and weep? I'm so there!
- Of Mutability - Jo Shapcott. Poems about transformation, and mutability? I think I am moving into reading more poetry as a way to capture the intensity of my moments and minutes, because somehow time is going by faster without my being aware of it slipping by. I don't feel old, or even middle-aged yet, though I am aware that being present in my life is a choice I am conscious I have to make as an adult, when as a child it simply is that way.
Is it Christmas so soon?
Speaking about time, how is that we are now less than a month away from Christmas? Reading over my books read for this year, I realize I still have to read over 10 mysteries to make my 50 mysteries read I promised myself this year. So that's quite a challenge for the upcoming month! I won't be doing my best books read this year until the end of the year, since I have so many good ones just in the 10 I am waiting to read. It's kind of fun, really, to know I must spend the next month reading in order to make one of my goals. The 100 books a year I have sadly laid to rest, but not for long. Starting Jan 1, I will be back at this personal challenge again! I do plan on catching up on my book reviews for this year, over the next month, since there are so many good books I read that I haven't let you know how I felt about, this year. And I do want to tell you about Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, The Mystery of Edwin Drood (I have a Charles Dickens post planned), and The Good Fairies of New York, plus the afore-mentioned The Wrong Kind of Blood, and so many others. It has been a wonderful year for finding good books to read. How about you?
I am joining the Advent Calendar tour again. I am very excited, and have a couple of ideas already. I am looking forward to seeing what all you, dear Readers, are doing and celebrating this upcoming holiday season, as we go around the world via our book blogs. I will be doing my entry on December 24, the last day of the tour. This starts in three days! Get ready!
In my corner of the world we have been getting snow flurries in between some sun. We have snow on the ground, finally. It feels like winter. Now to do the impossible: read 12 mystery books between now and Dec 31. Hmm, sounds like the Twelve Days of Christmas, doesn't it? "On the first day of Christmas, I let myself read: Raven Black, by Ann Cleeves. On the second day of Christmas, I open up: Dissolution, by CJ Ransom. On the third day of Christmas......" Only in the life of a book fanatic!! What are you reading over the holidays? Before? Do you even try to read during the month of December?
Happy reading, everyone!
Monday, 8 November 2010
Who says readers don't converse in public?
Remember that post I had a few weeks back, from Chris at Book-a-Rama's post, who spotted the U.S. article about 'people who have their nose stuck in a book are considered anti-social and the stigma attached?' Well, unexpectedly, I have the perfect answer to that outdated stupid idea:
This morning, yes, this first dark Monday morning after the clocks were moved back one hour, the sun was just rising as my bus stopped at the major transfer station near our home, and people rushed on to the bus. Morning is not a time I talk very much. A gentleman took the seat beside me. He had a book in his hand, Bk 12 of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series. He noticed me staring at the book (he hadn't opened it yet) so I said, "I'm sorry, I was looking at the book because I read up to book 9 in this series, and I didn't realize Bk 12 was out now." And for the next ten minutes as our bus raced along the river drive into the heart of Ottawa, we discussed Robert Jordan, Isaac Asimov, Tanya Huff (he's read Enchanted Emporium, which I have sitting on my shelf to be read), Trudi Canavan (very good series he says, I haven't read it yet though I've had it from the library), and I mentioned Robin Hobb and Connie Willis, two of my favourite writers. My stop came first, and so I said goodbye, and as I jumped off the bus, I thought to myself, "I have no idea who you are, fellow bookworm, but that was a lovely conversation about books."
Now I do have to caution you, my Gentle Readers, that most of the time I don't talk to strangers! and especially not to strange men! but sometimes, books break down that wall of silence we all cast around ourselves as we make our way to and from work. This was a most unlooked for experience, as usually I have my nose in my book and I really am not looking to talk first thing in the morning. And truly, I was not looking for any conversation this morning, I just didn't want him to feel awkward with someone staring at the book he was holding.
So thank you, fellow bus-rider and bookreader, for an enjoyable conversation about books. And as for that stigma about reading books? What stigma? I feel so much privilege in being part of a society that welcomes anyone and everyone who delights in the written word.
It's still dark far too early in the afternoon now! I want that hour of daylight back!
I know I still have to do my roundup of books read for Carl's RIP 5 challenge. I did get my 10 books read, including - just finished yesterday - Phil Rickman's To Dream of the Dead, wonderfully atmospheric and moody and perfect for this time of year. So reviews coming shortly. We have just finished the annual two-birthdays-family visit-Hallowe'en rush at this time of year, on top of which everyone was sick with the cold virus going around Ottawa, so I am just now catching my breath. I hope you all had fun with the challenge, I've tried to visit as many of you, my Gentle Readers, as I could lately.
This morning, yes, this first dark Monday morning after the clocks were moved back one hour, the sun was just rising as my bus stopped at the major transfer station near our home, and people rushed on to the bus. Morning is not a time I talk very much. A gentleman took the seat beside me. He had a book in his hand, Bk 12 of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series. He noticed me staring at the book (he hadn't opened it yet) so I said, "I'm sorry, I was looking at the book because I read up to book 9 in this series, and I didn't realize Bk 12 was out now." And for the next ten minutes as our bus raced along the river drive into the heart of Ottawa, we discussed Robert Jordan, Isaac Asimov, Tanya Huff (he's read Enchanted Emporium, which I have sitting on my shelf to be read), Trudi Canavan (very good series he says, I haven't read it yet though I've had it from the library), and I mentioned Robin Hobb and Connie Willis, two of my favourite writers. My stop came first, and so I said goodbye, and as I jumped off the bus, I thought to myself, "I have no idea who you are, fellow bookworm, but that was a lovely conversation about books."
Now I do have to caution you, my Gentle Readers, that most of the time I don't talk to strangers! and especially not to strange men! but sometimes, books break down that wall of silence we all cast around ourselves as we make our way to and from work. This was a most unlooked for experience, as usually I have my nose in my book and I really am not looking to talk first thing in the morning. And truly, I was not looking for any conversation this morning, I just didn't want him to feel awkward with someone staring at the book he was holding.
So thank you, fellow bus-rider and bookreader, for an enjoyable conversation about books. And as for that stigma about reading books? What stigma? I feel so much privilege in being part of a society that welcomes anyone and everyone who delights in the written word.
It's still dark far too early in the afternoon now! I want that hour of daylight back!
I know I still have to do my roundup of books read for Carl's RIP 5 challenge. I did get my 10 books read, including - just finished yesterday - Phil Rickman's To Dream of the Dead, wonderfully atmospheric and moody and perfect for this time of year. So reviews coming shortly. We have just finished the annual two-birthdays-family visit-Hallowe'en rush at this time of year, on top of which everyone was sick with the cold virus going around Ottawa, so I am just now catching my breath. I hope you all had fun with the challenge, I've tried to visit as many of you, my Gentle Readers, as I could lately.
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