laurie’s book company

Laurie’s Picks of Fiction

Fiction is by far my favourite genre and what I spend most of my time reading. There is nothing better than being transported to another world or time in history or to meet new characters. Here are a few of my favourite friends! For more information on my current reading list, go to our weekly book review pages.

Three of my current favourites are Colum McCann’s superb LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN, Patrick deWitt’s ultra clever THE SISTERS BROTHERS and this year’s Booker Prize Winning THE SENSE OF AN ENDING, by Julian Barnes.

Three of last year’s favourites and also great for book club discussions are Thomas Trofimuk's WAITING FOR COLUMBUS, Michael Crummey’s GALORE and Linden MacIntyre's Giller Award winning novel THE BISHOP'S MAN.

Written by Canadian Emma Donoghue, ROOM and is told through the eyes of 5 year-old Jack who lives with his Ma in an eleven square foot room. The reader comes to learn that Ma has been imprisoned for 7 years, nabbed off the street at 19 and forced to live in a garden shed. Horrific subject matter and yet a book that is both heartbreaking and somehow tenderly hopeful. No grisly details on Donoghue's part, just amazing writing that makes the book impossible to put down. The relationship mother and son have forged is amazing given the circumstances (he is SO adorable!) but what happens when they are suddenly faced with reality makes up most of the story. Unforgettable and nominated for the Booker, Giller, Governor General's and Roger's Trust Awards for fiction in 2010.

For 14 years, Legacy magazine was a love letter to Alberta’s arts, culture and heritage. Founding Legacy publisher and editor Barb Dacks launched the publication in the midst of a successful journalism career. The magazine wrapped up a year ago, but is pleased to now offer a commemorative coffee table book that selects favourite essays, photos and features.

I love all the works of Alissa York. This young Toronto author has written three books, all of them kind of eerie, yet rich and unforgettable. Her 1st book MERCY is about a small town in Manitoba and 2 priests separated by 50 years - butcher is a prominent character. Her 2nd novel EFFIGY was nominated for the Giller Award and is great! 19th century Mormon ranch where a 14 year old girl becomes the 4th wife of an older man purely for her taxidermy skills. And now is FAUNA - a story about human relationships with animals particularly in urban areas; this interesting story takes place in and around the Don Valley in Toronto.

Another favourite of mine is THE APE HOUSE by Sara Gruen, who wrote the wonderful book WATER FOR ELEPHANTS. Obviously an animal lover, Gruen moves from the circus to a Lab studying the language skills of a family of bonobo apes. When they are set free by a radical animal liberation group the events that unfold make us question our relationship with animals and each other. A fascinating read.

The late and oh-so-lamented Stieg Larssen's THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE is even better than his first international bestseller The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. The "girl" is Lisbeth Salander, the twenty something punked-out computer hacker who helped Mikael Blomquist solve a missing person case in book one. Now she returns, having swindled billions of kronor, traveled around the world, removed several piercings & tattoos, but still as introverted and fascinating as ever. In this ripping good yarn she is accused of killing two journalists about to expose a sex slave scandal in Sweden and only Mikael believes her innocence. Another great read!

A GATE AT THE STAIRS by American author Lorrie Moore is told through the eyes of 20 year-old Tassie Keltjin and 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.

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 survive unspeakable acts over which they have no control.

LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN is written 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.

THE IMPERFECTIONISTS, a first novel by Canadian-born Tom Rachman, is filled with gorgeous writing, jolts of insight and narrative surprises that feel both unexpected and inevitable. There is a clear 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.

THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG is truly a beauty. Written by French author Muriel Barbery, it is one of 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!

One of my VERY favourite 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 THOUSAND AUTUMNS OF JACOD 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! A terrific read!

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 deeply joined and yet 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.

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 thallucinate 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.

ILUSTRADO, by Miguel Syjuco (born in the Philippines and now living in Montreal) is a 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 very original read!

The wonderful FISHING FOR BACON by Michael Davie 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.

Sarah Blake’s fine new novel THE POSTMISTRESS is set 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 6th was 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!

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!

Ian McEwan -- of my favorite authors has a new novel out -- SOLAR. Author of such terrific works as Atonement, Saturday and

On Chesil Beach, McEwan 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!

THE WEED THAT STRINGS THE HANGMAN’S BAG by Alan Bradley 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.

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!

Nikolski

, by Quebec author Nicolas Dickner 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.

THE SWAN THIEVES, a 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, it 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!

Released in February 2010, 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 - learn that money isn't everything, and we can't escape our pasts or our family's tragedies. I liked it a lot.

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!

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.

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!

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 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?

The Bishop’s Man, written 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.

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 now available in paperback.

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 of 2009!

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.

Border Songs, by Jim Lynch, takes place on the Washington/B.C. border where the two small towns were once friendly. With increased security paranoia south of the border, life is changing for everyone. The main character is Brandon Vanderkool, a giant of a man who has dyslexia and is prone to building bird's nests and hollering out their songs at will. As a rookie border patrol his keen senses lead him to pot smugglers, royalty running from another country and indeed, a bomb-toting terrorist. The book's wonderful characters make it a most enjoyable read.

I love Nick Hornby’s books and in Slam he has written a great book for both young adults and adults alike. Our narrator is 18 year-old Sam and he likes skateboarding and Tony Hawk and he is telling us about how his life changed completely when he was 16. He gets a girlfriend who gets pregnant and it’s all about his reactions, his parents, and it is told so well , including nods to current phenomena like Ipods and JK Rowling. Loved it!

It’s not too often I sit down and devour a book in one reading... as I did with

The Cellist of Sarajevo, by Stephen Galloway, an

absolutely gripping war novel that focuses on four individuals trying to survive in war-torn Sarajevo. When a mortar attack kills 22 people waiting in line for bread, an unnamed cellist vows to play in the ruins every day for 22 days in a city where snipers and bombings are regular occurrences, this is no easy task. The other characters include Dragan (who has sent his wife and son away, believing that in isolation he is safe) and Keenan, who everyday forges his way through dangerous streets and alleys to collect water for his family. My favorite character is Arrow, a university-trained markswoman turned sniper whose job is to protect the cellist.

Rawi Hage’s first novel, DeNiro’s Game, was a critically acclaimed book nominated for both the Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award for fiction. Hage (once a cab driver in Montreal), won the Dublin /Impac Award in June 2008 (only the second Canadian to have done so

(Alistair MacLeod being the first) for DeNiro’s Game, a novel set in the war-torn streets of Beirut and looking at the lives of two young men and their aspirations for a new and better life. Already being touted as one of the best books of the fall season, Hage’s new book, Cockroach, is a gritty look at immigrant life in Montreal over the course of one very cold winter month. An interesting companion book to DeNiro’s Game, Cockroach looks at individuals who left their homelands for many different reasons hoping to find a new life elsewhere, but what will that life be like? This book is full of poverty and oppression and looks at the nature of prejudice. Hage’s language is astounding and his style is completely his own with prose that is unusual and often dream-like.

Salman Rushdie returns to form with The Enchantress of Florence, a historical novel rich in detail and fine prose which takes place in Renaissance Florence and during India’s cultural summit 100 years later. Connecting the two is the arrival in India of a mysterious stranger in a multi-colored coat, a magician of sorts whose talents see him in the court of Emperor Akbar demanding an audience as he carries a letter for him from Queen Elizabeth 1. From the beautiful gardens and grand courts of these eras filled with characters who are enchantresses, magicians, artists and philosophers, The Enchantress of Florence is indeed an epic that examines the differences between the East and West.

At last we have The Angel’s Game, the long awaited second novel to be translated from Carlos Ruiz Zafon bestselling Spanish author (Shadow of the Wind). Once again, the Cemetery of Forgotten Books is the springboard for a novel filled with intrigue, murder and love.

Winter Vault, by Anne Michaels, is on many bestseller lists. It's been 13 years since her first novel, Fugitive Pieces, came out so expectations are high. The story takes place in 1964 on the Upper Nile and involves a British engineer who is working on moving the ancient monument known as Abu-Simbel because the Aswan Dam is about to be built. His Canadian wife is a botanist whom he met when the St. Lawrence Seaway was in its early stages and both know what disruption progress causes. Not much of a plot, rather poetically (and sometimes frustratingly) written, it's definitely worth a read.

In Alan Bradley’s Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie we meet Flavia de Luce, an 11 year-old chemist who narrates this wonderful book. A body is found in the family’s cucumber patch and when her father is accused of the murder, Flavia sets out to solve the case. Written by a retired school teacher living in Kelowna, there will be a series of six books featuring the marvelous Flavia. Bradley has already completed The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag, the second book in the series of Flavia de Luce mysteries... and I can’t wait for more!

The Book of Negroes, by Lawrence Hill is a wonderful historical novel which won this year’s CBC’s Canada Reads competition, and I would say deservedly so. Follow Aminata Diallo from her home in Africa in 1745 to the slave plantations of the Southern states, up to Nova Scotia and eventually back home. Not only did I enjoy this remarkable story, but I learned a lot about the Loyalists of Nova Scotia.

People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks, is a terrific novel in which a book is the central character! Hannah Heath is a rare book expert called to Sarajevo to examine a recently found illuminated manuscript known as the Sarajevo Hagaddah. She finds four clues that link the history of the book as it was preserved and hidden by Christians, Muslims and Jews for over five centuries.

A Mercy, likely Tony Morrison’s best novel since Beloved, is set at the end of the 17th century and the founding of America. At the heart of the novel are four women brought together by Jacob Vaark, a farm owner. Told in their different voices, the novel looks at the indenture of aboriginals, blacks and Europeans to forge a new country and what their hopes and dreams are. Freedom and mercy can mean different things to different people.

Good to A Fault, by Marina Endicott, was rightly short-lilsted for the 2008 Giller Prize. When Clare Purdy slams her car into another that carries six homeless people, her life changes drastically. When the mother of the family is diagnosed with cancer Clare takes in the rest and suddenly her lonely life is full of children, noise and happiness. This wonderful book examines our motives for being good and for helping others. Endicott currently teaches at the University of Alberta.

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.

Through Black Spruce is only Joseph Boyden's second novel and his first was one of my all-time favorites, Three Day Road, which followed the fate of two young aboriginal men who become scouts and snipers during WW1. Through Black Spruce takes place in the present in a Cree community on James Bay. The story moves back and forth between the narrative of Will Bird (currently in a coma) as he recalls his life to his nieces Annie & Suzanne. This is not only a great story that keeps you turning the pages but the voices reflect the ways of aboriginal storytelling. Through Black Spruce was winner of the 2008 Giller Prize.

The Great Karoo, Fred Stenson’s eighth novel, 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. 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 Flying Troutmans, by Miriam Toews is sure to please anyone who enjoyed A Complicated Kindness, winner of the Governor General’s Award for Fiction in 1994. That was the story of a 15 year-old Mennonite girl’s view of life when her mother and sister disappear. Toews has a wonderful grasp of characters and the Troutmans are no exception. Anyone who has had the road trip experience will laugh out loud at the Troutman’s adventures – emergency stops for basketball, car breakdowns, seedy motels, “quiet contests”, and kids bickering like they are five are all included. Their family history slowly unfolds and the reader begins to understand why the characters are the way they are, their pasts and their futures. Look for some award nominations for this delightful novel.

Home, written by bestselling author Marilyn Robinson

and a “companion novel” to her Pulitzer Prize winning Gilead. Set in the early 1960’s in Gilead, Iowa, Robinson revisits the characters in Gilead but from another point of view. She beautifully examines the return of a prodigal son and the very definition of home. Her writing is exquisite and her characters fully wrought. Home won the 2009 Orange prize for the best novel written by a woman.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a wondrous family saga covering many generations and includes alchemy and magic. It requires you to pay close attention, but is an unforgettable read.

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving is one of my favourite books by Irving followed closely by The World According to Garp and many others by this Dickens-like author whose compelling and quirky tales have become classics.

Fifth Business by CanLit icon Robertson Davies was my introduction to this wonderful author whose Jungian yarns lead me to read everything by him, and on his advice also the works of the mythologist Joseph Campbell.

Famous Last Words is probably my favorite book by Timothy Findley, the first of many of his I was to read. The Wars is one of the finest novels ever written on WW1 and what I love about “Tiff” is that all his books are different – murder mysteries, horror stories, family sagas, plays, he wrote them all.

Wayne Johnston’s The Colony of Unrequited Dreams stands in my mind as a true Canadian classic in which Johnston explores the history of Newfoundland as witnessed during the rise of Joey Smallwood.

The Birth of Venus by British author Sarah Durant is a rip-roaring adventure with the culture and beauty of Medici era Florence as its backdrop. It is also a page turning mystery that had me up all night until I finished!

Three Day Road is Joseph Boyden’s first novel and certainly one of my favorites. Two aboriginal Canadians go off to WW1 to scout and snipe and try to survive. Their story is both a gut-wrenching war story and a slow canoe ride that eloquently traces their native roots.

The Law of Dreams by Peter Behrens won the Governor General’s Award for fiction in 2007 and deservedly so. This historical saga begins during the Irish potato famine and follows its main character on a harrowing journey through Europe that eventually leads him to Canada.

The Icefields by Edmonton author Thomas Wharton is a wonderful read with the history of Jasper as its background. Originally Wharton’s master thesis, this novel was one of the 2008 picks for “Canada Reads” on CBC Radio.

The Gargoyle by Winnipeg author Andrew Davidson was released in August 2008 and is garnering international acclaim. A love story at heart, gargoyle is a wonderful weave Dante’s “Inferno” into a modern day story of sex and drugs and rock and roll and redemption.

And some of my other favorite authors:

✦ David Adams Richards,
✦ Richard Ford,
✦ Isabelle Allende,
✦ Rudy Wiebe,
✦ Alberto Manguel,
✦ Helen Humphreys,
✦ Fred Stenson,
✦ Alistair Macleod

laurie’s book company

laurie’s picks: fiction