Laurie’s Book Reviews -- CBC


My Tuesday afternoon visits with Peter Brown at CBC’s RadioActive are a highlight of my week... always fun and, I hope, informative.  Here is an updated list of great books:


August 31st -- Award Winners New in Paperback


Today I’m recommending three of the greatest books published last Fall and now just released in paperback. These books would be great for Book Clubs as all three are worthy of much discussion:

  1. BulletThomas Trofimuk's WAITING FOR COLUMBUS - what can I say? One of my favorite novels of the year is now in paperback - is the stranger washed up on the beach really Christopher Columbus or a psychotic?

  2. BulletMichael Crummey's magical maritime folk tale GALORE wherein a mute & naked man is recovered from the belly of a whale - a family saga of Newfoundland spanning 200 years.

  3. BulletLinden MacIntyre's Giller Award winning novel THE BISHOP'S MAN takes a disturbing look at abuse inside the Catholic church - be not afraid - this is a wonderful novel!


August 24 -- A Gate at the Stairs, Lorrie Moore


Well, I’m back from my annual fishing trip in the Arctic and eager to talk about this week’s book -- A GATE AT THE STAIRS by American author Lorrie Moore.  Told through the eyes of 20 year-old Tassie Keltjin it is a wonderful coming of age novel that looks at race, class and terrorism.  Tassie is the daughter of a "gentleman" potato farmer and his odd and unloving wife who heads into town to go to school. As a part-time job she is hired by a wealthy & mysterious couple to babysit their newly adopted daughter.  While there is a comic touch to Tassie's narration, what she encounters changes her forever.




August 10 & 17 -- On Vacation... back soon!


August 3 -- Little Bee, Chris Cleave


The book this week is LITTLE BEE by British author Chris Cleave.  A clever marketing ploy by the publisher asks the reader not to tell anyone what this book is about and
I promise I won't give away the pivotal piece of the plot, but it is a fine read.  "Little Bee" is a refugee from Nigeria who has spent the last two years in detention in England. At 16 she is set free and the only connection she has is a journalist and his wife she met on the beach in Nigeria previously.  Many allusions to the horrors that befell her are made, as well as her tenuous relationship with the couple.  When she locates them many turns of events both tragic and laugh out loud funny occur but this is a book about globalization, belonging in a world that no longer exists and how people manage unspeakable acts they have no control over.





July 27 -- Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann


Today's book is called LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN by Colum McCann, a young Irish writer who won the National Book Award for this compelling novel. 
It all begins with a highwire artist crossing between the World Trade Towers 110 floors up in 1974 (McCann based this part of the novel on fact).  Below, spectators don't know what to make of it, is he a jumper or a daredevil?  This is a common thread that holds the multitude of stories taking place below. Two Irish brothers living in the Bronx, a group of mothers who lost their sons in Viet Nam,  a "family" of prostitutes whose children will carry the story... unbelievably gripping storytelling and stories that both make you laugh and cry. Even in the Big Apple, people's paths will cross inextricably and McCann does a superb job of making his characters come alive.




July 13 -- The Imperfectionists, Tom Rachman


This book is filled with gorgeous writing, jolts of insight and narrative surprises that feel both unexpected and inevitable. One finishes reading The Imperfectionists with the sense that Rachman not only knows his way around a newsroom,
but is also well acquainted with storytelling masters such as Anton Chekhov and William Trevor. Rachman makes a near-flawless debut. Here is a clip from Christopher Buckley’s recent cover story in The New York Times Book Review:


"This first novel by Tom Rachman, a London-born journalist who has lived and worked all over the world, is so good I had to read it twice simply to figure out how he pulled it off. I still haven’t answered that question, nor do I know how someone so young — Rachman turns out to be 35, though he looks even younger in his author photo — could have acquired such a precocious grasp of human foibles. The novel is alternately hilarious and heart-wrenching, and it’s assembled like a Rubik’s Cube."  CB



July 6 -- The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery


Today’s book is called THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG and it is truly a beauty. Written by
French author Muriel Barbery, it is the most philosophical, yet funny novel I have read for a long time. Two solitary characters share their lives - a fat and grumpy 54 year old concierge of an elegant Parisian apartment building is a secret autodidact who loves art, music, philosophy and literature and makes sure no one knows it.  Extremely intelligent 12 year-old Paloma Josse is our other character and with her lucid insights has decided life really is futile and will therefore kill herself on her thirteenth birthday.  When two solitary forces collide amazing things happen.  People have been urging me to read this international bestseller for years - wish I had listened earlier!







June 29 -- The One Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell


One of my VERY favorite authors -- David Mitchell -- has a new book out and it is wonderful!  Everything Mitchell has written is amazing, 5 books at only 41 years old, he's been called a genius and one of the most influential and promising novelists of our time.  The One Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is an historical novel that takes place in Japan in 1799 and features a devout young Dutchman, Jacob, who must stay in the East for 5 years to earn the hand of his wealthy fiance. Talk about culture clash!  Mitchell tries something new in every book and while this may seem more muted than some of his other books, it is as convoluted and surprising as everything he writes!


June 22 -- Medium Raw, Anthony Bourdain  


I just finished the highly enjoyable and somewhat irreverent new book by Anthony Bourdain, MEDIUM RAW;  A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook.  A follow-up to his bestseller KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL in which he blew the lid off the restaurant industry, Bourdain's personality shines through in all he does, whether it's eating seal eyeballs on his TV show "A Cook's Tour" or dissing Rachel Ray.  A somewhat mellower Tony shares his views on food, eating, why anyone would want to be a chef, other chefs, his addictions and his new found happiness with wife #2 and a baby girl.  Great stuff.



June 22 -- The Gophers in Farmer Burrows’ Field, Michael Boldt


I'd also love to mention a children's picture book by local author Michael Boldt, THE GOPHERS IN FARMER BURROW'S FIELD.  What a hoot!  When the gophers in Farmer Burrows field start "stacking" everything in his field - chickens, cows, eventually farm equipment much trouble ensues. Hilarious illustrations make this a wonderful & in some ways, quintessential Alberta children's story.



June 8th -- The Solitude of Prime Numbers, Paolo Giordano


Out of a mathematical conceit the Italian writer Paolo Giordano has drawn a mesmerizing portrait of a young man and woman whose injured natures draw them together over the years and inevitably pull them apart.
The Solitude of Prime Numbers is the story of Alice, crippled as a child in a ski fall and anorexic thereafter, and Mattia, a math prodigy whose guilt over the death of his mentally backward twin sister has led him repeatedly to scar or burn himself. They meet as teenagers, each isolated among their schoolmates, and from then on are both deeply joined and unable, variously, to hold to the joining.  Giordano remarkably and movingly portrays the hesitant groping toward warmth that works beneath the pair’s emotional disabilities. Winner of Italy’s most prestigious literary Prize, this debut novel is a fascinating read.



June 1st -- Off at the St Albert International Children’s Festival!


May 25th -- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest, Steig Larsson

   

Well, Lisbeth is back, finally!  But, alas, not for long... as Steig Larsson's  Millenium Trilogy wraps up with this third and final book, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest.  This is hands down one of the best trilogies in modern crime fiction. The first establishes a group of the most interesting characters, the second explores what has made them what they are, and the third completes the story in a thoroughly satisfying fashion and wraps things up. This last novel has not only brilliant characters and the high-suspense action of a top thriller but also compassion, humour, and insight into both the realities of politics and current world events.  A great book by a really top-notch writer. The mystery field (or any other genre for that matter) just doesn’t get any finer than this.



May 18th -- Tinkers, Paul Harding

Today I would like to discuss the 2010 Pulitzer Prize Winner for fiction, TINKERS, by Paul Harding.  This book is the reminiscences of one man’s life. The novel begins with him in bed dying of cancer and kidney failure, surrounded by his family. Then he begins to hallucinate and the walls fall from around him and he is taken back to his childhood in Maine and more.  Very well written, quite short and yet it draws the reader in.  Harding is a graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop which has given us such authors as Marilynn Robinson and Ann Patchett.  


May 11th -- Ilustrado, Miguel Syjuco

Great book today! It's called ILUSTRADO and it’s by Miguel Syjuco, born in the Philippines and now living in Montreal.

This is a very literary mystery and family saga that swirls around the "lion of Fillipino literature" Crispin Salvador.  When his body is found in the Hudson river, his student Miguel Syjuco is sure it isn't suicide; he was writing his greatest and final novel. So Miguel travels to the Philippines (where he was born) to investigate.  Not only does he decide to write a biography of Crispin, it ends up covering four generations and becomes a history of the Philippines.  Very inventive, the novel includes e-mails, blogs, literary criticism, snippets of "novels" Salvador wrote, newspaper articles, and of course the biography.  A really original read!



May 4th -- Fishing for Bacon, Michael Davie

Now that the Alberta Reader's Choice Award voting is done, I can review in full the wonderful FISHING FOR BACON by Michael Davie.  This is a coming of age story with some of the greatest characters ever! Our hero is 18 year old Bacon Sobelowski who lives in Bellevue, a small Alberta town. He lives with his cynical Mother and his Grandma Magic Can (thus named because she uses an old Fanta can to smoke some local vegetation) and has just finished school. While trying to decide if he should continue school or work, he lives for an old Willy Nelson tune that says there's someone for everyone and he wants to find his love. He also loves to fish and there are some of the funniest fishing scenes ever in this book.  His "women" range from Sarah (violent and angry) to Karla (37 years old & married to our villain, Laszlo Maximillian Mursky) and Woodrat (she shortened her name from Katherine). There's also his newly found uncle from Korea, Mr. Kwon and his daughter Meryl Streep.  A most enjoyable read from this talented Calgary author.



April 27th -- The Postmistress, Sarah Blake


Sarah Blake’s fine new novel THE POSTMISTRESS is  in 1940 in London and the States during the Blitz. The main character, Frankie Bard, is the first woman to report from London home to the states through her radio shows and her listeners include two women in small town Massachusetts, one a postmistress, the other a new bride. Well written, and capturing the fears and tensions of the time, it is a great book on the power of reportage.






April 13 -- This & That...

Lot’s going on right now, so I would like to start by recommending Julie Powell's Cleaving: A story of marriage, meat and obsession (from the woman who gave us Julie & Julia) and Eating Animals by one of my favorite novelists, Jonathan Safran Foer, author of the terrific Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.  Also, a reminder that tickets for the April 30th Yann Martel event are on sale at Greenwoods.  And, another reminder, that people should go on-line and vote for the first-ever Alberta Reader's Choice Awards -- you can check our News & Views page for the full details regarding the 5 books short-listed to win the $10,000 prize.



April 6 -- Beatrice & Virgil, Yann Martel

Well April 6th is the official release date of Yann Martel's long-awaited novel Beatrice & Virgil.  And holy cow!  Is this guy smart or what? Kind of an autobiography, this is the story of Henry who wrote a very famous award-winning book that featured animals as main characters (Life of Pi?).  The new book he wants to publish is about the Holocaust and it is half fiction, half essay and he wants it to be a flip book. (Honestly, last time I spoke with Yann he said this was his next book...) When his agent, publisher and booksellers tell him it'll never work he and his wife move to an unnamed city where he works at a chocolate shop and a drama company, forgetting about writing for a while. Then he receives a fan letter from an eerie taxidermist who wants his help to finish a play - a play that features Beatrice who is a donkey and Virgil, a howler monkey.  Then it just gets crazy. A book about art and what it means, history and how we record it, the language and how we use it - this is a book one may have to read often!



March 30 -- War Dances, Sherman Alexie

I want to talk about Sherman Alexie, a native American writer who grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation outside of Couer d'Alene, Washington and whose stories reflect that upbringing. He is a poet, a screenwriter and a novelist and it's his last 2 novels that have made me a big fan.  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is narrated by Arnold Spirit, a 14 year-old native boy who leaves the "rez" to go to the rich white school in town with unexpected results - outcast from his own community and slowly accepted into his new one, he battles with the issues of self and community identity as only a 14 year old can. Very funny as well as tragic.  War Dances is his latest offering and won the Pen/Faulkner Award this year. It is a collage of poetry & short stories with Alexie's common themes - racism, guilt, the struggle for identity and dealing with one's past.  Alexie is an awesome writer and this is the kind of book you can pick up and read again and again.



March 23 -- Solar, Ian McEwan

One of my favorite authors has a new novel out -- Solar by Ian McEwan.  The author of such terrific works as Atonement, Saturday and On Chesil Beach has released his 11th novel and it's a departure from his usual style.  Solar is a novel about global warming and it is a wonderful political satire.  It follows Michael Beard, a Nobel prize-winning scientist, over the decade that was the 2000's.  An overweight, balding, philandering anti-hero, Beard hasn't has a new idea in over 20 years when a freak accident gives him the opportunity to leave his 5th wife, invigorate his career and maybe save the world (?)  One not really given to anything "green" (he doesn't even like salad!) Beard takes on the role of advocating for solar energy, artificial photosynthesis, as the way to save the world while glutting himself with food, wine and women.  No one writes sentences like McEwan, and this book is no exception.  Taking on global warming as a humorous subject is a bit risky but he's done his homework and it will challenge the reader on many levels.  Possibly one of his best novels ever!


March 9th -- The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag, Alan Bradley

Today's book is The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag by Alan Bradley. This is a sequel to his first bestseller Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, which introduced us to Flavia de Luce, an 11-year old sleuth who is obsessed with chemistry, and poisons in particular.  Set in the English countryside in the early 1950's, Bradley uses this to portray a different time and his wonderful characters make this book hard to put down. This time Flavia gets embroiled in murder when a puppet master and his assistant come to town and she uncovers another mystery from five years earlier.  This is a great alternative to Alexander McCall Smith's No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.


March 2 -- Two Important Events

I want first to talk about the Henry Kreisel Lecture tonight at the Timms Center, set for 7:30 pm - free admission.  Sponsored by the Canadian Literature Center at the U of A, past lecturers have included Joseph Boyden and Wayne Johnston.  This year's speaker is Eden Robinson, a writer of Haisla and Heiltsuk heritage, she will be speaking about "The Sasquatch at Home:  Traditions, Protocols and Modern Storytelling".  She has published four books  -- Trap Lines, Monkey Beach, Contact Sports and Blood Sports -- all of them dark, gritty and compelling.


Next, I’d like to talk about the inaugural "Alberta Reader's Choice Award".  Similar to CBC’s Canada Reads, but with Alberta-published books, the ARC Award is sponsored in partnership by The Edmonton Public Library (EPL) and the Book Publishers Association of Alberta (BPAA). The ARC Award promotes the works of Alberta authors and publishers, and encourages the reading public to support literary works published in Alberta. The $10,000 prize, rivals that of other major national books awards in Canada, such as the Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, the Trillium Book Award for Poetry, and the Governor-General's Literary Award for Fiction. The final phase of the award process culminates in a public vote to determine the winner.  I am a juror for this first competition and recommend that everyone check out the ARC website for full details about the five short-listed novels and the voting process!



February 23 -- Road Tripping: On the Move with the Buffalo Gals, Conni Massing

Local author Conni Massing is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter and her latest book is one of the funniest books I've read in a while.  Road Tripping: On the Move with the Buffalo Gals is her memoir of a group of ten called the Buffalo Gals who over the last ten years have gone on a road trip through the lesser known parts of Alberta.  They begin at the Torrington Gopher Museum and set the tempo for beef and bacon (yup, everywhere they go, eating is high on the list of activities!) and in future years hit the Pyroghy Trail (complete with photos of the Mundare sausage, the Vegreville Easter Egg, and the St.Paul UFO Landing pad), the Intolerance Tour (Eckville, Caroline) and many more fascinating stops. Oh, and they're not all girls who hop into their van and reinvent the classic road trip.  Pure Alberta fun!



February 16 -- Nikolski, Nicolas Dickner

As one of the newer books on the 2010 Canada Reads list, many may not yet have read Nikolski
, by Quebec author Nicolas Dickner.  It cleaned up in Quebec in 2006 for all its major literary awards and was translated into English in 2008.  Nikolski is the story of 3 young people in the early 1990's who all leave their respective homes and pasts and end up in the same neighborhood on Montreal's Plateau.  Over the next decade their stories unfold (and some great stories, archaeology, fish lore and cyber-pirating, antique books and so much more) and they often run into each other but their possible shared history never becomes known to them, only maybe to the reader. Quirky and funny, this was a good read.



February 9 -- The Swan Thieves, Elizabeth Kostova

This second novel by American writer Elizabeth Kostova moves from the vampires of her first novel (The Historian, which searches across centuries
to solve the mystery of Vlad the Impaler) to the visual arts, both past and present.  Like her debut novel, The Swan Thieves crisscrosses centuries in an effort to solve a mystery -- well, in fact, several mysteries.  Why did Robert Oliver, a talented contemporary artist on the cusp of greatness, attempt to deface a famous Impressionist painting hanging in the National Gallery?  Why did he refuse to speak to his psychiatrist month after month?  What are the letters that he carries with him, reading and re-reading them?  And who is the dark-haired beauty with whom he is clearly obsessed?  The answers to these questions are gradually revealed in this finely written and hard-to-put down book.  A terrific read!


February 2nd -- Toby, A Man, Todd Babiak

Just released is Todd Babiak's fourth novel, Toby, A Man.  I laughed my head off in the beginning -- talk about metrosexuality gone crazy! Todd (Minushky, but now Menard) is
“Toby A Gentleman” who does etiquette columns on TV, and is very serious about handkerchiefs and bow ties while lecturing the Benjamin Disraeli club he founded.  He wears "darling lambskin gloves" while driving his Beemer, has a rich and adorable girlfriend and is generally really annoying. All that changes when he's fired, loses his car, his girlfriend and his Blackberry and is reduced to living in his parent's basement suite. When he thinks he can go no lower he "Inherits" Hugo, a two-year old with an unstable francophone mother (the book takes place in Montreal, not Edmonton).  With Todd's usual offbeat humor and charm we watch Toby learn how to grow up - learning that money isn't everything, and we can't escape our pasts or our family's tragedies.  I liked it a lot.


January 26 -- The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Schaffer

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society was written by Mary Ann Schaffer and her niece Annie Burrows (her niece finished it when Shaffer got ill, and sadly she passed away a year ago).  The book begins in 1946 and is made up of a series of letters. Author Juliet Ashton has just published a book about the "sunny" life of war under the nom de plume Izzy Bickerstaff but she wants to do more serious journalism.  When she receives her first letter from a Guernsey farmer who bought a used copy of one of her books and he tells her about the society and how it all started with a roasted pig, she invites members of the society to write to her.  And the letters flow in. Guernsey was occupied by the Germans for 5 years and their stories are often sad, often funny and they completely capture Juliet's imagination. A wonderful read that took me just one sitting to finish!



January 19th --  We Are All Made of Glue, Marina Lewycka

Here’s a very funny book.  We Are All Made of Glue was written by Marina Lewycka, a German novelist whose previous novel A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian was a national bestseller. This is the story of Georgie Sinclair, author of the on-line magazine "Adhesives in the Modern World". Newly separated from her husband Rip, her life is sent into further turmoil when her 81 year old neighbor she just met goes into the hospital and names her next of kin. Her crumbling yet beautiful old home is filled with garbage and cats, yet everyone wants to buy it.  Her venture takes her to Europe and fleeing Jews, the Middle East and a whole lot of DIT. Great read.


January 12th --  The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver

One of my favorite authors is Barbara Kingsolver whom I discovered through the pages of her wonderful 1988 novel The Bean Trees, which I loved!  It's the story of a feisty young woman trying to find her future when she's saddled with a baby girl she names "Turtle".  Wending their way across America in a 1955 VW Bug provides much fodder for great storytelling.  Later came The Poisonwood Bible, a book I find people either love or hate. Based in the Belgian Congo in 1959 it's a brutal look at religion & zealotry, the history of the Congo and one family whose lives are forever changed by their experience.  And now, brand new -- and her first novel in 9 years -- is The Lacuna, the story of Harrison Shepherd, born in the States, raised in Mexico by his wild mother. The book is based on Harrison’s "journals" which he wrote for decades and looks at politics and art in both countries of his heart. Great big beefy novel - good stuff!


January 5th --  The Case for Books, Robert Darnton

Is the age of the printed book coming to an end? If history is any guide, notes Harvard University Library director Robert Darnton, not any time soon. In this collection of previously published essays, an unashamed apology for the printed word, Darnton, an eloquent writer and one of the world's foremost historians of the book, offers a fascinating history of our literary past and a penetrating look at the disruptive forces shaping the future of publishing. Almost


December 8th --  The Golden Mean, Annabel Lyon

The Golden Mean was written by Annabel Lyon and nominated for all 3 of Canada’s major literary awards (Giller, GG and Writer's Trust - which she just won!)  This story is narrated by Aristotle, who is asked by Philip of Macedon to tutor his son Alexander (who becomes the "Great").  At first disappointed at not succeeding Plato at the Academy in Athens, he finds himself drawn to the strange boy who will later take over the known world.  At times sensuous, often violent, Lyon's prose keeps the reader absolutely enthralled and this period in history is brought vividly to life. Philosophical in nature, Lyon explores the concept of a warrior culture wrestling with intellectual matters: how best to conquer the world? With arms or brains?


December 1st -- The Bishop’s Man, Linden MacIntyre

The Bishop’s Man, by well-known Canadian journalist Linden MacIntyre, is this year's winner of the Giller Prize for best fiction book in Canada.  And what a fabulous read, especially for only a second novel!!!  Duncan MacAskill is a priest known as the "Exorcist" because the bishop calls him in when a priest "wanders" off track morally. Duncan not only deals with the priest but also with the victims left behind (pregnant women, assaulted boys, angry communities etc). This novel takes place in the Maritimes from the 1970's to the present and examines the many victims of the Catholic church and how widespread the abuse really was. MacAskill is a wonderful character, a priest, but also a man with his own past who is forced to look for answers when he returns to a parish close to his childhood home. The writing is fantastic and it's a great story.


November 24 -- On the road to Edson, Hinton and Jasper, with my first ever “Have Books Will Travel” adventure!


November  17 -- Gretzky’s Tears,  Stephen Brunt


In Gretzky’s Tears, Hockey, Canada & the Day Everything Changed, well-known sports journalist Stephen Brunt looks at implications, both short and long-term, of the infamous Gretzky trade.
With Gretzky traded to the Los Angeles Kings, hockey was meant to open up to the American public. How did that work out? Not so great according to Brunt although he maintains his tears at the press conference here were tears of joy for being chosen to spread hockey internationally.










November 10 -- Superfreakonomics, Steven Levitt


The highly anticipated sequel to the best-selling Freakonomics was released on October 20, 2009.  Steven Levitt, professor of economics at the University of Chicago, and author Stephen Dubner have teamed together to apply economic reasoning to a wide range of real-world questions.  As with the original Freakonomics book, SuperFreakonomics is largely based upon the research of Professor Levitt, who has tackled problems inside and outside the field of economics.







November 3 --  alas, whole family down with the flu!!


October 27 --  After the Falls, Catherine Gildiner


Too Close to the Falls by Catherine Gildiner is one of my favorite books. Published almost a decade ago,
it recalls Catherine's formative years growing up in Lewiston, a small town just across the border from Niagara Falls.  A precocious child born to parents in their forties, her doctor recommended she burn off her excessive energy by getting a job - she was four years old.  


In her delightful new memoir, After the Fall, the family moves to Buffalo and Catherine moves into her teenage years experiencing all that the 1960's threw at her. She is laugh out loud funny at times and in many ways the memoir is a tribute to her wonderful and eccentric parents who let her be herself. She read at Greenwood’s last week, and was simply wonderful!






October 20 -- Beyond Belfast, Will Ferguson


A delightful book, sure to make you laugh.  Will Ferguson is one of Canada's funniest writers.
His How to Be a Canadian is a true gem and his novel Happiness makes me grin just thinking about it (what if someone wrote a self-help book that actually worked?)  His travel books are wonderful (Beauty Tips From Moose Jaw & Hitching Rides with Buddha) and his brand new book is one of those. Beyond Belfast: a 560 Mile Walk Across Northern Ireland on Sore Feet sees Ferguson walking the Ulster Way.  Winding through small towns and boggy moors, he stops in IRA Pubs, eats blood sausage like never before and along the way searches for his own roots.  Irreverent, laugh out loud funny and full of history, it is a great read!




October 13 -- Double Header, Deborah Willis & Shandi Mitchell


What a week!  With Wordfest on in Calgary now and LitFest next weekend, there are authors storming the city!  Tonight, 7pm at Greenwoods' I am hosting a doubleheader reading with Deborah Willis, a Calgary born author now working as a bookseller in Victoria whose first book has received rave reviews from Alice Munro, Joseph Boyden and Steven Galloway.  It is called Vanishing & Other Stories and is a powerful read about absences in our lives -- physical & emotional -- and what we do to deal with them.  Shandi Mitchell is a director & screenwriter (The Hanging Garden & Beefcake) whose first novel Under This Unbroken Sky looks at Ukrainian immigrants on the prairies in the 1930's.  It is very bleak and also very beautifully written.



October 6 -- The “new classics” Phenomenon


In honor of the 20th READ-IN WEEK here in Edmonton, I'd like to talk about a few kid's books. First, the phenomena of "New Classics".  First was a Peter Pan sequel 2 years ago, 
last year a sequel to Anne of Green Gables" and also a brand new "Jacob Two-Two" just came out, and I spent the weekend in the Hundred Acre Wood. Yes, after 80 years the Pooh Properties Trust has allowed a sequel - Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, by David Benedictus & illustrated by Mark Burgess.  Very true to the original and a joy to have more Pooh!  Suggestions for read-in week:  Scaredy Squirrel, Skippyjon Jones & Library Lion.  Read slowly, use different voices, not just for kids. Read aloud to anyone, anywhere this week!






September 30 -- Babylon Rolling, Amanda Boyden


I finally read Amanda Boyden's book (the great Joseph's wife) called Babylon Rolling and, oh my, the girl can write. It takes place in New Orleans a year before Katrina and focuses on five individuals who all live on Orchid Street.  From 15 year old Fearious to the grande old dame of the street who watches everybody, it's about racism and a homage to the city that Boyden obviously loves.

Really fine read ow available in paperback.



September 23 -- The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown


OK, let's talk about Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol".  

A great read? Sure.  Pretty much a ripping yarn where kidnapping, ancient objects, hidden chambers and

Masonic rituals keep you turning the page. Fans will be happy. Win any awards? I think not.













September 17 --  Galore, Michael Crummey


Michael Crummey's Galore is a wonderful,

magical novel about Newfoundland. Full of

wonderful characters including a naked mute

man who is found in the belly of a whale, and

folklore and legends from the Rock, this

multi-generational family saga is one of my

favorite books so far this year!









September 8 -- The Guinea Pig Diaries: My life as An Experiment, AJ Jacobs


I felt the need for a little humor in my life and who better than A.J. Jacobs, editor at large at Esquire magazine and author of two previous books. In the first he read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica and wrote the highly amusing Know It All.  Then he decided to follow every rule in the Bible and wrote The Year of Living Biblically".  


His latest offering is The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment.  Believing we cannot fully understand something unless it's experienced, Jacobs shares his adventures including practicing "Radical Honesty", pretending he's a gorgeous young woman internet dating, going to the Oscars in disguise and outsourcing his life to a company in Bangalore, India.  His ever-patient wife even talks him into one month of his giving in to her every whim - foot massages, chick flicks, etc. Let's say his idea of marriage changes.  Great stuff!



September 1 -- Waiting for Columbus, Thomas Trofimuk


Thomas Trofimuk's new novel, Waiting for Columbus, is a marvelous book that draws the reader in from the first page and does not reveal all its truth until the last words.  An unidentified man is found in the Straits of
Gibraltar and is admitted to the Sevilla Institute for the Mentally Ill because he swears he is Christopher Columbus.  He begins rolling out stories about the great explorer and Nurse Consuela is assigned to listen to them.  As she and the reader become embroiled in his world she also becomes attracted to the gentle and intelligent man who is clearly suffering.  And what stories and characters there are!  Trofimuk blends the 15th century with the 21st and so characters in Columbus's world have cell phones, listen to Mozart and meet at Starbucks for coffee.  Queen Isabella is one of the greatest characters in the book, a spunky, outspoken and frustrated queen.  This novel has moments of great sadness, laugh out loud hilarity and in the end it's about the human spirit overcoming great odds.




 


laurie’s book company

weekly book reviews -- CBC & Global