Laurie’s Book Reviews -- Global First News, 2008/2009

For more than 10 years now, I have my early morning coffee with the News First crew at Global TV as we discuss books for young and old alike.  Included here is a selection of my recent Global recommendations:

March  4th -- Hush Little Dragon and Over at the Castle, Bonnie Ashbury

February 25th -- Roadtripping, Conni Massing

              

February 18th -- God’s and Heroes, Robert Sabuda’s pop-up books

February 11th -- Gargoyle and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

February 4th -- away @ North Central Alberta Teachers’ Convention

January 28th -- 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; 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 21st --  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,

fleeing Jews, the Middle East and a whole lot of DIT. Great read.

January 14th -- 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 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 7th -- 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.

May 21

        Nokum is my Teacher, David Bouchard

May 14

        Ascension and The Cellist of Sarajevo, Steven galloway

May 7

        Dal & Rice, Wendy Davis

April 30

        Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, Dr Seuss & Life Lessons, Kermit the Frog

April 23

        The Arsonist's Guide to Writer's Homes in New England, Brock Cole

April 16

        The Very hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle

April 9

        The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, Kate Summerscale

March 12

        Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley

March 5

        The Cellist of Sarajevo, Stephen Galloway

February 26

        Away at teachers’ convention

February 19

        Secret of Lost Things, Sheridan Hay

February 12

        Valentine potpourri

February 5

        Away at teachers’ convention

January 29

        The Book of Negroes, Lawrence Hill

January 22

        People of the Book, Geraldine Brooks

January 15

        A Mercy, Tony Morrison

January 8 -- Best Sellers

        Scaredy Squirrel, Melanie Watt

        Through Black Spruce, Joseph Boyden

        Ascent of Money, Niall Ferguson

December 18 -- Christmas Children’s Books

          I See Santa Everywhere, Glen McCoy

        The Lump of Coal, Lemony Snicket

        Night Before Christmas (pop-up)

December 11 -- Some Great Children’s Books

       Dangerous Book for Boys

        Cosmic (pop-up)

        If You Love A Fairy Tale

December 4 -- More Great Pop-ups and a Beetle

        Brava Strega Nona, Tomie de Paola & Roberts Sabuda

       Tales of Beetle the Brad, JK Rowling

November 27 -- Sabuda Pops!

        ABC 3-D, Peter Pan by Sabuda

November 20 -- Back from the Gillers for MJ Vissanji

        A Place Within, MG Vassanji

November 13 -- At The Gillers!

November 6 -- For the birds

        Birdscapes pop-up and calendar

October 30 -- Halloween tricks & treats

        Bats in the Library

        Mister B Gone, Clive Barker

October 23 -- Cooking with...

        Friday Night Dinners, Bonnie Stern

        Complete Best of Bridge Cookbook

October 16 -- A personal favourite!

        Through Black Spruce, Joseph Boyden

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Steig Larsson

(Reviewed, October 9, 2008)

    The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Swedish author Steig Larsson is one of the

most clever and engrossing murder mysteries I have read in a long time.  Mikael

Blomquist has been found guilty of libeling a big-shot businessman and out of the

blue he is contacted by Henrik Vanger,  patriarch of one of Sweden's biggest

companies.  He asks Blomquist to write his autobiography but that is only a pretense.

What he really wants is him to look into the mysterious disappearance of his niece

almost 40 years earlier and if Blomquist will do this, he will give him the evidence he

needs to prove himself correct and restore his reputation.  The "girl with the dragon

tattoo" is Lisbeth Salander, a punked out 24 year-old hacker who helps Blomquist in his investigation.  This is a real page-turner that includes a murder mystery, family sagas,

love stories and corporate intrigue.

Gingerbread Friends, by Jan Brett and Swing, by Rufus Butler Seder

(Reviewed October 2, 2008)

     Gingerbread Friends is a beautifully illustrated picture book about a lonely

gingerbread baby who goes off in search of friends.  It includes a recipe for

gingerbread and a pop-out panoramic page at the end.

    Swing is a book of "scanimation" - you turn the pages to watch children playing

baseball, basketball, swimming and cart wheeling.  This book is quite amazing and a

lot fun for all ages.

The Great Karoo, by Fred Stenson

(Reviewed September 25, 2008)

    Fred Stenson's eighth novel, The Great Karoo, tells the story of Canadians who

signed up for the Canadian Mounted Rifles in 1899 to go to South Africa and aid the

British in their fight against the Boers.  Frank Adams signs up from Pincher Creek and befriends Jefferson Davis, the nephew of a Blood Indian Chief and Ovide Smith, a

reluctant soldier from Quebec.  Fred's attention to detail in both the setting and his characters make this a really enjoyable read, plus I learned a lot about the Boer War.  

If you want to read a really good western, try The Trade, Fred’s novel about the fur

trade in Western Canada.

The Gargoyle, by Andrew Davidson

(Reviewed, September 18, 2008)

    This first novel by a young author from Pinawa, Manitoba is sure to become an international bestseller. Already sold into several countries, it is both a terrifying and a captivating love story.

     The book is a long persuasion of her love as she tells him love stories over the ages, and here the storytelling is great.  There’s an Italian blacksmith whose wife dies of the plague, a proper Victorian debutante who marries a farmer, a beautiful Japanese girl known for her glassblowing skills and how she evades marriage to an evil warlord, and on and on.  There’s a little bit of everything in this novel – humor, lust, murder, and war but at its heart is a love story and a wonderful one at that.

(Reviewed, September 4, 2008)

    

    This astonishingly illustrated book is sure to fire the imagination of anyone who  it, young or old.  Imagine a place where stars turn into skiers, mountains become the seas, and books lead to a labyrinth of knowledge.  Every time you read it you will see a different story, so it makes it a delight to share with children.

       

laurie’s book company