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Book review - Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood.
Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
- Cat's Eye: More Than Just a Marble (zaraalexis.wordpress.com)
It's Monday....what am I reading?
I've got four books on the go right now which is a lot. But so far it's working for me.
- What to Eat by Marion Nestle. Nestle is a big-wheel nutritionist and from what I've read so far, sensible, straightforward, and no-nonsense. The book is rougly organzed by food group, starting with fruits and vegetables, then dairy (and non-dairy substitutes) and now I'm on the chapters on meat. The only quibble I have so far is the dietary-cholesterol-raises-blood-cholesterol story, which I'm not sure is still considered a given, at least based on what I've read in Gary Taubes' Good Calories, Bad Calories and the associated research. I would be in interested in Nestle's take on that book. While I'm only a third of the way through Nestle's 600 page book, I'd recommend it. I'm also planning to check out her newest book on feeding pets.
- Blankets by Craig Thompson.An at times heatbreaking graphic novel about a young man growing up in Wisconsin, his difficulties with his family, faith, and friends. I've been on the hold list at the library for ages for this novel and am reading it slowly, savouring it. Am about two-thirds of the way through this 600 page tome.
- The Good Guy by Dean Koontz. I picked this up specifically for a Seasonal Reading Challenge task and have never read anything by this author before. It's a crime/thriller novel and I am very much enjoying it. The premise is interesting, if somewhat implausible, but the characters are engaging. I'm listening to this on audio and the production is excellent.
- The Distant Hours by Kate Morton. I read Morton's The Forgotten Garden last year and very much enjoyed it. I've had this novel on my Kindle for some time, but just started reading it when I finished the paperback I had in my purse while I was downtown and needed something else to read. Also set in England, Kent to be precise, I'm not very far in but loving it already. I suspect I'll keep my Kindle in my bag while I'm attending TIFF, for all the lineup-and-waits, so this will be a good novel to have on the go over the next couple of weeks.
Take a deep breath.....and read!
The Goodreads Seasonal Reading Challenge Summer 2011 has come to a close. I hit a personal best for these 3-month challenges, reading (or listening to) 61 books and almost 19,000 pages. My list is here (I managed to read the books in bold type.)
Most of the tasks have been posted for the Fall Challenge, and I've made up my reading list. This varies over the challenge as new books come my way or I move some around, but I'm trying to read from my shelves this quarter so that I can continue with my book purge.
I'm starting off this challenge with a few items from the library:
Books:
What to Eat by Marion Nestle. I've been wanting to read this ever since it was published, but hadn't gotten around to it until it finally came up on my hold list at the library. It's 600+ pages of clear, straightforward, no-nonsense writing and I'm enjoying it.
The Idle Parent: Subtitled "Why Less Means More When Raising Kids". Recommended on the excellent blog Mental Multivitamin, I'm reading this mainly to feel better about our laid-back attitude to parenting, as it's too late to change much at this point.
The Young Man From Atlanta by Horton Foote. I borrowed this Pulitzer Prize winning play from the library for the summer challenge, but didn't get to that task. I'm hoping to find a place for it on my list when all the tasks have been posted.
Three graphic novels that I picked up after browsing at my local library branch. I like this genre because the story is told in fewer words but the artwork is typically engaging and tells a good part of the tale. The first two are by American writers and the third Japanese.
Audiobooks that I've downloaded from the public library onto my iPod:
The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande. I know about the essence of this book having read an article in the New Yorker (I think), but I'm looking forward to a longer description of this approach to reducing errors in different industries.
The Night Road by Kristin Hannah. I don't know this author and the book was published in March 2011, so I must have read a review of it somewhere and put it on my hold list.
Prisoner's Base (Nero Wolfe mystery) by Rex Stout. I like Nero Wolfe mysteries and they're good, quick listens.The narrator on all the ones I listened to in the past has been excellent.
The Good Guy by Dean Koontz. I chose this for a task where you have to read a book by an author who has a retired hurricane name. You "get out" of reading a second book if the book you read was written in the year the hurricane name was retired, in this case, 2007.
Books on the road
I scanned my Summer Reading Challenge reading list for potential candidates...books that either I own or can buy used, and that would be enjoyable to read while travelling. I already have a few on my Kindle:
- A Connecticul Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain (I'm about a third of the way in to this).
- Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington
- The Distant Hours by Kate Morton (I don't currently have this assigned to a Challenge Task)
Other books that I had on hold at the library that I thought would be suitable are:
- Ann of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. I decided to reread this during the recent Royal Visit, which included a stop at Green Gables in PEI.
- Friend of the Devil by Peter Robinson. It's the next up (for me) in the Inspector Banks series.
- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry in Values by Robert Pirsig. I read this long ago as a teen, but it's the group read for the challenge and I'd love to give it another read.
I managed to find these at The Handy Book Exchange, my local used bookstore just around the corner on Avenue Road. (They're dog friendly which means I can pop in for a look when I'm walking Wilson, and they give him treats while I'm there.) I'll take off the library holds on these three and plan to leave them in Sweden with a BookCrossing sticker once I've finished them.
There are also a few books that I own that I'll consider taking with me:
- Trader by Charles de Lint. I've never read any of his work before, and I picked this up some time ago at Value Village. I'm becoming more open to the fantasy genre so we'll see how this goes.
- Open Secrets by Alice Munroe. Another one that I read some time ago and would like to re-read, and then give away.
Six paperbacks and a Kindle? Maybe that's excessive. Maybe I'll have already devoured one or more of these before I go. Either way, I feel prepared!
Tide Road by Valerie Compton - A review.
Tide Road by Valerie Compton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The neutrality of facts?
From Chapter 2 of my current audiobook The Last Summer (Of You and Me) by Ann Brashares. Alice and Paul are lifelong friends.
[Alice] knew things she shouldn't have known. She knew things Paul had not told her, things he probably didn't know. Alice hated that, and faulted her mother for having ever told her. Her mother was too keen on information, too quick to belive in the neutrality of facts, just because they were true.
"It's the journalist in me" her mother claimed, managing to praise herself even in apology.
This jumped out at me as I was listening, so much that I rewound and transcribed the text.
I suspect that I have this tendency myself, to use facts in ways that might be gossipy or hurtful or in other ways that have the potential to break trust. The passage reminds mne that sometimes there is a burden placed on the receiver of such facts, that are so very often far from neutral.
WWW Wednesdays...and book giveaway!
Haven't participated in this recently, All you need to do is answer these three questions, and post your link over at Should Be Reading:
- What are you currently reading?
- What did you recently finish reading?
- What do you think you’ll read next?
Here goes!
Currently reading: I've got three four books currently ongoing:
- Richard III by William Shakespeare. Trying to get through this before my trip to Stratford on Thursday. I really need to buckle down and make a serious effort to get at least through the first two acts. Then Act III can be a surprise, LOL!
- The Likeness by Tana French. This is a big book, clocking in at just under 700 pages. It's the second police procedural by this author and is set outside of Dublin. An intriguing premise: a young woman is found dead, and she is the spitting image of a police officer who used to work undercover. The ID on the body is that of the undercover officer's "persona" and said officer ends up going back into character, pretending that the woman didn't actually die, and moving in with her housemates. Hard to put down!
- The Last Summer of You and Me by Ann Brashares. I've just started this audiobook and don't have much to say about it yet. It's the first adult novel by Brashares who wrote the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants and other YA titles.
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain. I'm reading this via DailyLit and am about 15% of the way in. There are funny bits interspersed with boring bits.
Recently finished:
- The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (audiobook). Excellent fantasy adventure, and that's high praise from me as I don't usually enjoy fantasy literature. I'm looking forward to the rest of the trilogy. Philip Pullman narrates the novels and there is a cast of other readers which makes the audiobook very enjoyable.
- Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. Beautfiful novel about a young woman who immigrates from Ireland in the late 50s. If any of my readers would like my copy, drop me a line and it's yours. First come, first served! Email, comment, Facebook, whatevs...
- The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman. Loved the format of this novel set at an international newspaper headquartered in Rome. Tells the story of the paper in chapters, each the story of an employee or reader of the paper. Chapters are interspersed with third person narratives about the history of the company. Funny, poignant, and well-deserving of the accolades it's received.
Up next:
- Needled to Death by Maggie Sefton. This is a book from the "Knitting Mystery" series. It'll go quickly after I finish The Likeness. Got this one from Value Village a few months ago.
- Alone in the Classroom by Elizabeth Hay. This novel's been getting some great buzz. Got it from the library.
- Black Rose by Nora Roberts. This is my next audiobook. It's the second in the "In the Garden" trilogy and a follow-up to Blue Dahlia that I read a couple of weeks ago. It's a romance novel with some gardening and genealogy thrown in to keep it moving forward. Can't beat a good romance in the summer!
View Where am I reading? 2011 Fiction in a larger map
It's Monday....what am I reading?
Well, I finished up last quarter's Seasonal Reading Challenge with my best score ever! So I'm on to a new reading list and heading full steam ahead. Last week I finished up a couple of Peter Robinson mysteries and The Silver Pigs on audio, just under the May 31st wire for the challenge. I already had a bunch of books checked out of the library for the new challenge and whipped off a few right away:
- The Sunday Wife
by Cassandra King. A middle-aged woman discovers who she is apart from her role as a minister's wife. Set in the South, I really enjoyed this novel.
- Lovers
by Vendela Vida. I didn't know what to expect from this and came away thoroughly satisfied. A middle-aged widow returns to a villiage in Turkey where she and her late husband spent their honeymoon. She meets a peculiar cast of characters and has insights into this stage of her life. Hard to put down.
- The Eternal Smile: Three Stories
by Gene Luen Yang. A collection of appealing graphic stories, light on text.
- Thrifty: Living the Frugal Life with Style by Marjorie Harris. I wanted to like this, and the sections with stories about Margaret Atwood are interesting, but there's not much new here for someone already actively pursing this kind of lifestyle.
- An Invisible Sign of My Own by Aimee Bender. An odd little book, one that I should have loved given the protagonists peculiar relationship with numbers (something like mine), but I had difficulty "getting" it. Loved her novel The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
though.
Currently on board are
- Blue Dahlia
by Nora Roberts. A guilty pleasure, Roberts' stories. I'm listening to this gardening-oriented book (first of a trilogy) on my iphone. Besides gardening, it's got love, lust, a ghost, children, a dog, and Southerners....all great subjects for a romance novel!
- An Experiment in Love
by Hilary Mantel. I picked up Wolf Hall when I was in England and found it in a seaside cafe, used, for a pound. I've had An Experiment in Love on hold for a while, so want to get this one read before it's due back at the library.
- A Connecticut Yankee At King Arthurs Court
by Mark Twain. My friend Kathleen is just about through War and Peace via DailyLit (the email-based service that sends you a short bit of a novel every day to help you get through the classics.) I read a couple of books this way years ago, but she's encouraged me to give it another go. I get the bits in my feed reader every morning. This book has 142 parts and I'm reading two a day do it will take me about 10 weeks to read.
Up next:
- Richard III by WIlliam Shakespeare. I'm heading to see the play at Stratford with some girlfriends in a couple of weeks and had better get this under my belt by then
- How Shakespeare Changed Everything
by Steven Marche. This is a quick read and has been widely (and well) reviewed, so it's in my bag.
- The Imperfectionists
by Tom Rachman. A debut novel that's getting raves.
- The Likeness
by Tana French. A great new-ish voice in the police procedural genre. Looking forward to this, her second book.
As always, you can check out the settings of my books on this google map Where Am I Reading 2011?
View Where am I reading? 2011 Fiction in a larger map
Monday Reading Round-up (and book giveaway!)
I missed last week's reading roundup, so I will herein confess that I did very little reading while on vacation. However, I got through two novels and got going on a third.
- I started and finished another YA novel, The Mysterious Benedict Society. It had been highly recommended when it first came out in 2008 and I found a copy in the checkout line at Winners just beore we left for England. (There is a reason why they keep those lines long.) It involves a group of four children who are selected through an interesting series of tests to helpa Mr. Benedict foil some nasty business that is going down. The children are interesting and the story moves quickly. It's the first of a series and I hope read the rest. I left it in the bookshelf at our inn in Folkestone with a handwritten Book Crossing ID in it.
- I then picked up Vita Sackville-West's The Edwardians which I loved. The story follows a family of nobles, in which the father has died and the mother is waiting for the son to marry and take over the estate. His sister, eighteen, is also expected to "come out" and behave as women did in those days. The most interesting part of the book to me was not the plot (although it was good) but the description of how life was changing during that time (1901-1910) in terms of societal morés: the role of women, relationships between nobility and their servants, the advent of the motorcar, the rise of socialism, and feelings about the monarchy. This is the first writing by Sackville-West that I've read, and I'll be sure to read more.
- Peter Robinson's The Summer That Never Was came next. The thirteenth Inspector Banks novel, it was as good as I expected. Robinson is one of my favorite mystery writers and this was no disappointment. I hope to read the next three in the series as part of my GoodReads challenge this quarter.
When I got home, I grabbed Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville on my Kindle and breezed through that novella. I had heard reference to Bartleby in a number of different places and decided it was time to actually read the piece. The story of a law office and a clerk who, when asked to perform a task, says "I would prefer not to." And the conseqences on the office of this piece of work action!
I didn't really listen to audiobooks while I was away, but it was great on the plane trips there and back. I finished up Under the Net by Iris Murdoch and then listened to Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. Loved the Murdoch, and as it turned out, had already read the Atkinson, but listened to it anyway as I had forgotten much of the plot. It's the first of the Jackson Brodie series of mysteries and I definitely plan to listen to more (which, hopeffully will actually be new to me!)
At present, I'm re-reading Fifth Business by Roberston Davies. I think I must have read it thirty or more years ago, and that I was too young to appreciate it for more than the simple plot. I am absolutely loving it and will be diving into the other two books in the Deptford trilogy. I'm also listening to Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down which is hilarious and moving, like much of his wonderful fictioin. I'm nearly finished both of these and so will soon by moving on to my to-read pile, which includes:
- Does this Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat by Peter Walsh. (This *could* solve two problems in one...)
- Tide Road
by Valerie Compton. A freebie from a Goodreads giveaway.
- Giants of Jazz by Studs Terkel. Bought this for Michael a few months ago.
- Yoga for People Who Can't Be Bothered to Do It
by Geoff Dyer.
- The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
by Jacqueline Kelly, another YA novel.
So. The giveaway.
I would love to pass on my copy of The Edwardians. If you are interested, either leave me a note in the comments or send me an email (janet (at) berkman (dot) ca). I'll draw for the lucky winner and contact you for mailing/delivery info.
Seen Reading
Have you heard about Julie Wilson's (aka Book Madam) Literary Voyeurs project? She (and a number of helpers) document sightings of books and the people reading them in public. Public transit seems to be a popular source of material, as are bookstores, coffee shops, and restaurants. While it started in Toronto, there are contributors from all over the world. The fomat is what you seen below.
I'm not a formal contributor, but enjoy the "sport". A couple of sightings from the past week:
- Location: Toronto: 61A bus southbound on Avenue Road
Time of Day: 3:30 pm
Reader: Young, Asian woman, long dark hair, wearing white polo tee, khaki shorts, running shoes, and carrying a backpack.
Book: The Gargoyle. Heavily studded with pink post-it flags, before and after the page she's reading.
Author: Andrew Davidson
Publisher: Vintage Canada
The following were a couple.
- Location: North York. Doctor's office waiting room
Time of Day: 12:15 pm
Reader: Older woman, grey hair, stylish plastic-frame glasses, bright pink top, black slacks, hose, and flats.
Book: Barney's Version (paperback). Almost finished.
Author: Mordecai Richler
Publisher: Vintage Canada - Location: North York. Doctor's office waiting room
Time of Day: 12:15 pm
Reader: Older gent, blue plaid long-sleeved shirt, khaki pants, brown belt, white running shoes, brownish-grey hair and wire-framed glasses.
Book: The Best Laid Plans (a couple of chapters in).
Author: Terry Fallis
Publisher: McClelland and Stewart
I struck up a conversation with the gentleman while his wife was seeing the doctor. He was laughing out loud while reading and I caught his eye. He told me that his brother out in Vancouver had recommended it to him and he was really enjoying it. He asked me about the sequel (The High Road) and I told him that it was just as good as the first one, and by the time he'd finished The Best Laid Plans, he'd be desperate for more!
TTFN.
