junior fiction - tally: 2
out of bounds - seven stories of conflict and hope by beverley naidoo
an excellent collection of stories set in south africa during the apartheid years. each story is told from a child's perspective in a different decade, allowing much of south africa's history of racial segregation to be explored. what's more, the children are black, white, and indian - a very wonderfully humane way to tell a story without coming squarely down on a white-is-evil-and-black-is-good mantra. these are children who are often in conflict with their suroundings, as well as their elder's attitudes. a great read for modern children who never lived through the headlines of apartheid and are baffled by the spectacle of nelson mandela's funeral
the fire-eaters by david almond
what a fine writer this david almond is. he wrote 'my name is mina', and so when this book came up during our history studies, i just had to read it alongside fierce.
set during the heavy apprehension of the cuban missile crisis, the story has fear hit home (his father may be seriously ill) and school (nasty teachers enforcing corporal punishment quickly and randomly). it's a well drafted theme that deserves a wider audience than junior fiction. which is pretty much how i felt about 'my name is mina' - this author is too good to be missing from the young adult section.
YA - tally: 5
a group of one by rachna gilmore
read alongside fierce for his history studies. a girl discovers her deeper roots in india when her grandmother - an activitist in gandhi's time - visits the family for the first time. very canadian in it's approach, it does a pretty good job of demonstrating the minefield that is the reaction to second generation immigrants - too right leaning cause an us-versus-them attitude, and too left leaning causes overcompensation bia white liberal guilt. how's a gal supposed to belong when either side keeps emphasizing their 'other' nature?
pirate cinema by cory doctorow
before this book, i loved cory doctorow - his work, what he stands for, how he conducts himself in the blogging and business world...
but this is trite. the writing comes off as childish, even moronic. is this because the book's voice is a teenager? the overuse of superlatives (epic, genius, magisterial) drove me crazy. that, and the squeezing in of british slang. it was over the top.
and the plot was a little too perfect. an easy and comfy squat? skips full of delicacies? a buddy with an endless supply of electronics when you need him
emotions are conveyed through a character taking a breath, or swallowing numerous times. never deeper than that. in fact everything is surface -characters as well as scenes. the women around him are labelled as 'brilliant' without back-up plot points. 'epic' feeds from the skip materialize without the use of butter and spices (things you cannot find in the garbage). begging for change is an easy afternoon and all the tramps get along...
lastly, i think he might be trying to rip off marcus zusak with his multipronged titles at each chapters. surely doctorow's read him. it didn't feel like imitate, it felt like: steal.
black out by robison wells
really exciting for the first two-thirds: teens with a wide range of super powers (some useful, some not - think the sidekicks at 'skyhigh' - i mean, the ability to kill plant life or blow hot breath is not exactly 'A' material)
i always enjoy the theme of teens as alien/other - capturing the awkwardness and isolation of high school culture. now a virus has broken out that infects only teens (giving them their powers) and the army quarantines them all. but is the army planning on neutralizing them, or using their powers to fight the war of terrorism? this is what really drives the momentum of the book. once it becomes clear who's the bad guy - it's a boring race to the inevitable finish line.
habibi by naomi shihab nye
beautifully written - a slow moving story punctuated with hiaku-like prose. an secular arab family moves back to palestine to reconnect with their family and finds their desire for peace between jews and arab is shared by their matriarch: the grandmother.
divergent by veronica roth
hmm. i usually enjoy teen dystopian novels because of the obvious parallels to the alien universe of highschool with it's numerous cliches, hierarchy and power strangleholds. so the concept of joining your tribe at 16 initially appealled to me. but then the heroine does the exact thing every teen would want: abandons their parents, manners, and the tiresome practice of putting others' needs in front of you - and embraces the thrills and selfishness of a tatooed and body-pierced tribe.
everything about the book seemed designed to translate easily to a movie, starting with the initial choosing ceremony where teens individually come forward to cut the palm of their hand with a knife, and then drip their blood into one of 5 symbolic vessels. huh? cutting open your palm? the author pretty much gives away the direction of the novel when she opens with an action that would be feared and/or intellectually challenged by any tribe that wasn't the protagonist's choice of 'dauntless'
and yet, for a plot that requires children to launch into adulthood at 16, the topic of sex is so mysterious and worrisome that it's actually a vivid fear for the main character, along with shooting her family, drowning, and being pecked to death by crows.
graphic novels - tally: 1
walking dead - compendium two by robert kirkman et al
had to get this monster of a book in order to read the latest intallments over library owns. i wish this series would just finish already, but now they've encountered a real community with 200+ people and farms and everything so it looks like they are digging their heels in. (not to mention the sideways promotion of the tv series - which is nothing that the books)
novels - tally: 9
the time machine by hg wells
this is supposedly the beginning of science fiction and - after you get used to the archaic language and his use of the main character postulating theories before the reader has a chance to formulate his own - it's actually quite a gripping story. i was on the edge of my seat at times.
i read this alongside fierce as we did this novel as a literature study. there were many times that fierce was supposed to create his own scifi situations, but his scenarios always seem to involve the rich gaining control of the army and moving to a deserted island. this may just be a reflection of how little scifi he's read in the past.
where'd you go, bernadette by maria semple
infinitely enjoyable. i was hooked by page 12 with the chatty yet passive aggressive emails, the forced-enthusiam newsletters, and the pointless school memos. what a great plot device/thread. what a great story being told between the lines. and as the minions lines up behind the queen bee type-A mom, the satisfaction only grows when her world -literally - crumbles and she gets her well deserved come uppence.
but then a surprising thing happened - people learned from their mistakes, people grew and matured and changed. even (gasp)the queen bee. and suddenly this light satire has something serious to say as well.
the pretty one by lucinda rosenfeld
at first i was distracted - trying to see which sister i was. or maybe which sister, my sisters were. but when i turned that last page, i could finally see what i horrid, useless, shallow book this was.
the main character is NOT likable, at all. she is selfish, petty, and jealous. when she hears that her oldest sister's husband lost his job a few weeks ago, her immediate reaction is not compassion and worry for her sister's family - no, it's vanity that she's the last to know; in fact the first thing out of her mouth is a recriminating: 'why didn't you tell me earlier?'
when she's presented with the oppertunity to sleep with her oldest sister's husband, one of her reasons for saying no is that her sister would then believe that she was envious of her sister's life and simply wanted to be just like her... that her sister would get evidence and satisfaction that her life was coveted??! i'm flabbergasted. she manages to see this ultimate betrayal to her sister in a light that makes a new self-centered record.
the semi-omniscent narrator sems to have access to 3 sisters thoughts, but not the mother. what a different book it could have been if we'd been given insight to their family history from her. OR - have just the middle sister (the focus is on her most of the book anyhow) be the sore narrator and have her discover her sisters' problems, move past her petty assumptions and grow as a character. there was NONE of that here.
lastly, if this author has sisters, does she realize the story/truth she is telling the whole world? imagine thinking your family dysfunction is a common one... i'm not saying there are families WITHOUT dysfunction (there aren't), but normalizing your own to the point of writing about it
and not having any character change or grow is navel gazing and/or revenge on your existing family.
wolf hall by hilary mantel
a marathon of a book.
upon finishing it, i feel both relieved it's over, and proud i made it through
that said, the content is so dense, and my grasp of the politics of king henry VIII's court is so tenuous, that i often felt out of my depth. yes, i better understand the papacy and it's underlinings as a power source rather than a religious one. yes, i see the political alliances (and debts) of marriages within european powers. yes, i better understand the era's superstition - mired in the plague and other easy deaths. but these were things i did know, however casually. new information was harder to process... the king, in his need to be exalted, has no real friends? the construction of the church of england was more a money grab than a new marriage for henry VIII?
oryx and crake by margaret atwood
compelling enough for me to get through it in 2 days, this book is devastating in its plausibility. the genetics manipulation for food and medical science, the financial impetus behind diseases that keeps you alive long enough to take all your money, the wariness of blanketed porn...
i think atwood nails the hidden aggression in men's relationships - there's so much going on underneath the words of jimmy and crake. so often you see the complexity of relationships between women; this was a refreshing take.
her female character is diaphenous: in many ways a true reflection of how men project their ideas of 'woman' onto women.
but i truly hated the ambiguous ending. tell me what happened. it's a cop out not to.
old filth by jane gardam
the first of a trilogy, this book has been on my TBR list for ages. i truly enjoyed reading it - the setting of the sun on the british empire, the winding down and death of a 'raj orphan'. there were little vignettes at the start, middle, and end of the book that were very shakesperarean in tone and setting, and framed the story well. old filth is both a man that everyone thinks he knows and a man forgotten.
ru by kim thuy
thin, poetic book about a vietnamese immigrant adjusting first to life in canada, and then to an autitic son. it's hard to encapusulate it because it wasn't a true narrative - more like out-of-order journal entries. i learned tidbits about vietnamese culture, the war that unleashed the communists on the south, and the boat people. but i didn't come away with a specific theme or thought.
the year of the flood by margaret atwood
another one devoured - over 3 days this time as i had a busier weekend :)
this one was focused on 2 women and, again, atwood nails the complexities of jealousy and vulnerability among female friends.
she weaves the oryx and crake story in and out and it makes you want to re-read her first book to see if characters interpret events differently (i say they do). in many ways it was a better book (since i'd already bought into the dystopia and wanted more) and had a nice religious theme with the god's gardeners. but it also was infinitely sadder - with women front and centre, we are continually reminded of their vulnerability to sadist and/or sexual abuse - both before and after the apocalypse.
the beauty of humanity movement - a novel by camilla gibb
yes, i guess she had to put 'a novel' otherwise this would look like a buddhist or self help tome. as such, the title was displeasing to me and i put off reading the book for as long as i could before bookclub.
with such a biais to start, i easily found myself not liking it. it was as if the author ate a delicious bowl of pho, became interested in making it at home, learned more and more about vietnamese cuisine, and eventually visited the country as a foodie tourist... the vietnam war and subsequent persecusion under the communist regine was fortuitous plot extender.
beyond the idea of being so focused on your own misery, you become blind to the equal misfortunes of your fellow man - i didn't see any solid theme. like i said, it read more like a travel/cuisine guide. (and it iritated me that money was rarely spoken of. you can SAY you need beef and all these spices to make the pho, but where does the initial cash investment come from? when hung has his pots stolen, how does he procure another one? if they are so badly in need of money that lan sells hung's papers, how did she feed herself when hung turned his back on her?)
yup, i didn't like this one bit.
non-fiction and memoirs - tally: 5
behind the beautiful forevers - life, death, and hope in a mumbai undercity by katherine boo
i've read many (fictional) stories about the (non-fictional) poverty of india - but this one was different; this one is real.
i am in awe of this author/reporter's ability to take in all the events, conflicts, and personalities of one mumbai slum and turn it into not only a cohesive narrative, but an mesmerizing tale. or maybe it's the fact that these are REAL people made the hopes and despairs so much more urgent than 'a fine balance'
what's more is she's white! she required an interpreter just to communicate with this community - and then spent thousands of patient hours in observation and investigation. i've found a 'best of 2014' ery early this year.
cold hard truth on men, women & money by kevin o'leary
alot of preaching to the converted here. luckily, i've already followed a bulk of his advice - pay down consumer debt, lose your mortgage, buy used cars, don't lend money to family; give it. a couple of things were new: the money drain of a cottage (costs about 10K a year to maintain one), a dog (about 20k over the 15+ years of ownership), a pool (not only the inital cost, but another 10% to maintain it yearly). he makes a good case for selling your home and renting, as well as living in a walkable neighborhood and losing the car since it cost 8k yearly to maintain one once you factor in initial cost, gas, insurance, and repairs...
i liked his secyion about approaching university with value in mind and thinking of what you want to DO, rather than what you want to BE.
note to self: 30 women on hardship, humiliation, heartbreak and overcoming it all edited by andrea buchanan
note to self: stop whinging about badly i was treated - blow by blow. better yet, stop dwelling on it!
yup. this book had a few belly button gazers that inisted on telling you the full details of who did what to them, and how they intrepreted it and then reacted and why THAT person's reaction to their action was ridiculous, and what they did, ad nauseum...
i mean, there's a women here whose husband had an affair with her best friend and then she ends up with the best friend's cockhold husband
is everyone hanging out without me? (and other concerns) by mindy kaling
i read this one. often, when it's a comedy book, i'll get the audiobook instead. this one i read.
in comedy, delivery is everything. the written word just doesn't do it justice. i laughed out loud 2, maybe 3 times. but mostly it was a breezy, easy to read account of how this girl from 'the office' got to where she is. in that aspect - it was interesting: she's the writer for 'the office' and had a hit off-broadway show she wrote and starred in. it'snice to know that plain people who seem to make it big out of nowhere actually have a long path that took them there.
life itself by roger ebert
i love this man. his humility and humanity are beautifully captured in this meandering memoir of a regular man who happened to find himself in and/or beside the spotlight of fame.
he starts the book with a summary and it's tone continues throughout the book - he's never mean, resentful or cynical. he freely admits it was a series of happy accidents that led him to his career in journalism, his launch as a movie critic (in print and on tv), and his success as a blogger. with his cancer and loss of lower jaw after 3 painful and unsuccesful attempts at reconstruction, he could easily be a miserable so-and-so. but no, he is grateful for his life and the flood of memories that this new silence has brought.
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