ACB with Honora Lee

A lovely New Zealand book that explores a young girl's relationship with her Grandmother (who has dementia).  Beautiful story with amazing illustrations.  Great gift for young readers!!

The Hypnotist - Lars Kepler

I was actually really looking forward to this book.  I had heard many good things and its capacity to be a good page-turner made it a logical follow-up to Ann Patchett's amazing State of Wonder.  Or so I thought...  In the end, I came to realize that I've perhaps reached my Nordic crime fiction saturation point.  All these dark and gloomy heroes in dark and gloomy settings are getting a bit tiring.  In a nutshell, this book is about a hypnotist who finds out people's deep, dark secrets and this ticks them off (some more than others) and so the story begins/flashes back.  It's not a bad book, it's just didn't knock my socks off either.

Battle of the Network Ann(e)s

There are two Ann(e)s who I find to be "go to" authors: Anne Tyler and Ann Patchett.  So, this November, I was feeling particularly lucky to be reading both The Beginner's Goodbye (Tyler) and State of Wonder (Patchett).  So, who won this epic battle?  Ann Patchett, by a long shot!

The Beginner's Goodbye tells the story of a man who lost his wife in a tragic accident.  He begins seeing her soon after.  Ghost, hallucination, take your pick.  The story essentially shows him coming to grip with both her death and the failings of their relationship.  To me, it came across as a bit "twee" and was not up to some of my favorite Tyler works, such as Saint Maybe and Breathing Lessons. 2/5

State of Wonder is a far more interesting tale which explores issues related to medical ethics, culture, class, and friendship.  It begins with a pharmaceutical research finding out that her colleague and friend has died on a trip to South America.  She is tasked with bringing his body back, but perhaps more important to her boss and significant other, is finding out more about the medical research taking place in the small village that her friend had visited (he too had been sent to find out more about this research).  She goes on an epic journey that I loved and could not stop reading.  Highly recommended!!  5/5 Stars

Of note, State of Wonder was up to the incredibly difficult task of awesome holiday read!!  So do take it away or let it take you away :).

A little Iceland with that?

I recently found myself in the midst of an odd coincidence...  I somehow managed to read two Icelandic-themed novels back-to-back (this despite having never read a book set in Iceland before).

The first book was called The Tricking of Freya and although I'd had it on my to-read  list for quite some time, I was drawn to it recently because it was partially set in the Manitoba town of Gimli.  I recently had the opportunity to visit Gimli for my sister's wedding, so was keen to learn a bit more about this wee, beautiful community.  The Tricking of Freya describes the story of one girl's yearly visits from Connecticut to the shores of Gimli every summer from the time she is seven until she is fourteen.  She catches up with family while there, but her aunt's ultimate betrayal when the girl turns fourteen halts these visits.  It's not until she is thirty that she goes back and becomes intent on finding a cousin that she believes to exist (having been born to her aunt).  This journey takes from Gimli to Iceland, where things are ultimately resolved.

While the writing of this book was good and I really enjoyed the story, I did find the ending to be quite predictable.  If you can get past that, it is an enjoyable book.  3/5 stars.

I next picked up a "modern" re-telling of Jayne Eyre, called the Flight of Gemma Hardy.  It takes place primarily in Scotland, but we again find this heroine ultimately ending up in Iceland.

I particularly enjoyed the early parts of this book, where Gemma encountered much strife before she meets here "Mr. Rochester".  This book is a great adventure and would make a wonderful book to read while on holidays--either on a beach or curled up in front of a fire. 4/5 Stars.

Four More...

And here I find myself again with four books to review at once.  With that in mind, the goal of this blog post is succinct!!

The Cookbook Collector - Allegra Goodman.  This book was neither good, nor bad--it just was.  It tells the story of two sisters living in Berkeley/San Fransisco during the dotcom boom (and then bust).  As with many sisterly tales, the sisters are opposites in taste and manner.  One is a dotcom "genius", while the other is a somewhat flaky philosophy major.  The book follows the sisters' mutual relationships during this rather turbulent time.  3-stars.

The Informationist - Taylor Stevens.  This book was fine and is likely an appropriate beach/holiday read.  However, I have grown somewhat weary of seeing versions of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo character cropping up all over the show.  Give me something new!!!  2-stars.

The High Road - Terry Fallis.  I really enjoyed Fallis' previous novel "Best Laid Plans" and while "The High Road" isn't quite as good, I still rather liked hanging out with these characters.  From the unconventional Scottish politician Angus McClintock to his assistant Daniel Addision, these characters are all great.  Well worth picking up.  4-stars.

The Glass Room - Simon Mawer.  This was an interesting take on World War 2 and the Nazi Regime.  The house (which holds the glass room) is the focal point for this novel and we follow the home's story as its original builders are forced to flee due to the influx of Nazi troops.  Beyond just its original role as a domestic residence, the home becomes a home to Nazi experiments, and later to a physical therapy facility.  I liked the fact that Mawer found a way to breathe new life into the World War 2 genre.  4-stars.

Fatal Grace - Louise Penny

I have a new guilty pleasure in the form of Louise Penny.  I can't get enough of her mysteries.  I've mentioned to others that I really enjoy her main detective, Armand Gamache.  I suspect this is primarily because he is different from most other literary detectives.  He's a nice guy, who happens to be a really good detective (no dark, flawed personality lurking beneath the surface).  Like Penny's previous novel, this one is set in the small Quebecois village of Three Pines and is filled with the same quirky and engaging characters.  To sum up the story, an unwelcome and disliked newcomer (not without cause) to the village is murdered.  Gamache's team is assembled and descends upon the village.  The twists and turns associated with a mystery case ensue and my Saturday afternoon disappears.  A great piece of escapist fiction!

The Larnach's - Owen Marshall

I read this book in anticipation of a trip to Otago, where we plan to visit the Larnach Castle.  I was interested in knowing more about the family that lived there and this book fit the bill.  Unfortunately, I didn't love the rambling style (read like a journal entry).  And, while the characters initially appealed, they quickly grew quite tiring.  My issue with the characters however, can not be blamed on author Owen Marshall as this is an account (though thfictionalised) of real people.

Essentially, this tells the story of a young bride who marries the much older William Larnach and subsequently falls in love and pursues an affair with his son Dougie (with very severe consequences).  The two characters in many ways seem oblivious to the consequences of their actions, so I struggled to form a connection with either of them.  The book is told from the perspective of the bride Conny and Dougie, each of whom ultimately seem very self-involved.  I did initially appreciate the suffragist angle related to Conny, but even that could only take her character so far before she became distasteful.

I suppose that I'm happy that I did this read in advance of our trip, but don't know that I'd recommend the book to anyone else.

Latest and Greatest Reads

A quick run down of books I've read since our whirlwind trip back to Canada.  I've been fortunate to read some winners.

My Name is Mary Sutter

This is a book that deserves to be read in one or two sittings.  I had actually taken it back to Canada and found that I couldn't really get into it as I was reading it in fits and starts.  Once I had time to sink into it, I really enjoyed it.  Mary Sutter is a favorite in my "females who kick butt" category.  Taking place during the civil war, Mary is a midwife who pushes hard to become a surgeon.  The war provides an interesting backdrop for a woman on a relentless quest to fulfill her dream.

The Lightening Field 

An excellent Canadian debut by Heather Jessup.  I might never have discovered this book, but a fellow Kiwi-Canadian brought a copy along to her book club.  It turned out she had attended the same academic institution as Heather and was keen to read a book by her friend.  I'm glad she did as this book tells a fantastic tale of family trials, alongside the Canadian airplane the Arrow.  This plane is a legend in Canada as it was an engineering marvel that fell victim to budget cuts (allegedly--though there are other suspicions).  I loved learning more about the story of the Arrow and its dramatic fall.  

Still Life 

Loved this book and am so happy to know that I've got heaps of Louise Penny books ahead of me.  This is a mystery novel that takes place in a small Quebec hamlet, with all the quirks that go along with small town life.  The characters are vivid, the mystery well described, and with a great twist at the end.  Run, don't walk to the library and/or bookstore and get this book.  Perfect for a rainy weekend or a beachy holiday.

Denniston Road

I was talking to a co-worker about visiting the west coast of New Zealand's South Island and she asked if we'd visited the old coal mining town of Denniston (which I hadn't).  That got us on to the topic of this book and she kindly lent me a copy.  This is a fantastic history of life in a bleak New Zealand coal mining community.  Patrick's descriptions really made me feel like I was right there and I enjoyed reading the story from multiple viewpoints.  Worth a read to get a feel for New Zealand's mining history.

Round-Up of the Recent

Historical Fiction

Birth House - Ami McKay - 5 Stars

Virgin Cure - Ami McKay - 5 Stars

The Conductor - Sarah Quigley - 4 Stars

The Report - Jessica Frances Kane - 4 Stars

Crime Fiction

Containment - Vanda Symon - 4 Stars

Bound - Vanda Symon - 4 Stars

A Darker Domain - Val McDermind - 4 Stars

It's Not You It's Me or Is It? - Curiosity by Joan Thomas

In my two experiences of Joan Thomas books (Reading by Lightening and now, Curiosity), I always start out strong and think "wow, this is going to be a great book". Yet, somehow by the end, I'm always looking forward to being done.  I don't know if it's that they're too long, but I'm perplexed by this reaction as I don't shy away from long books (and at 400 pages, this is hardly a "chunkster").  The story itself follows the path of an early female archaeologist (Mary Anning) and how her social class and to some extent gender prevent her from achieving the success she's earned and deserves.  A related story explores her relationship with another scientist of the day: Henry de la Beche.  All in all, an interesting read but not a riveting one.

A friend of mine mentioned that Tracy Chevalier has also tackled Mary Anning--perhaps I'll have to give that book a try.

Books with Some Weight on Them: Fall of Giants and the Leopard

In Fall of Giants, Ken Follett crafts an amazing portrait of the US, Wales/England, France, and Russia both before and during the first world war.  He explores class structures and how the war begins to break these down.  It takes 800+ pages to do, but it goes quickly and is a journey well worth taking.

The Leopard by Jo Nesbo also falls into the "chunkster" category and while I enjoyed the mystery and the flawed character of Harry Hole, I thought that the length could have been reduced.  In particular, the writing at the beginning might have been a bit tighter.  Just a slightly lower BMI and this book could have gone from good to great.

Two Great Satires - Best Laid Plans and The Sisters Brothers

Terry Fallis writes a wonderfully funny political satire, while Patrick Dewitt takes on the old west.  Both are funny, clever, and well worth picking up!

No Great Mischief - Alistair MacLeod

A modern Canadian classic that I have finally tackled!  It describes the MacLeod clan from their early days in Cape Breton through to modern day Toronto.  The family's fierce loyalty to one another was the dominant theme and spoke to the character's actions and choices.  Definitely a good read, but I couldn't help comparing it to Galore.  In Galore, I found an even more intriguing family. 4/5 Stars.

The Kitchen House - Kathleen Grissom (continuing the colossal catch-up)

The Kitchen House describes the story of a white servant (Lavinia) on a plantation in the deep south of the US.  It explores her relationship with the black slaves and the white landowners, as well as her inability to fit comfortably within either society.  This book was well written and I made my way through it quite quickly.  I did find the character of Lavinia to be a bit weak at times, but this didn't detract too much from the book. It's still worth picking up!  4/5 stars

Four Mrs. Bradwells

Ugh...this book was a chore.  Should have been called Four Pretentious Women who complain A LOT!  There was a mystery in there somewhere, but lost within a whole bunch of complaining.  Was happy to finish.  1/5 Stars

Colossal Catch-Up - Part One

Very behind on my book reviews as of late, so a quick summary of what I've read and what I've liked/disliked.

Swamplandia-Karen Russell.  When I picked this book up, I had just finished a series of mysteries and was ready for something different.  This definitely fit that category.  It reads almost like an Odyssey-type adventure that takes place in Florida's Swampland.   The main character (Ava) is a young girl who lives on a remote island in the Florida Swamps and has just lost her mother.  The family is known for its prowess in alligator wrestling.  Ava's sister has just taken off to follow a "ghost ship" and Ava takes off after her with the Birdman (a character of whom we are initially unsure).  Running parallel to Ava's story is the story of her brother's adventure on the mainland (having until recently lived in the Swamps all his life).  While I didn't like this book as much as I thought I would, it was a great change from my regular reading routine. 3/5 Stars

A Reliable Wife - Robert Goolrick.  This book was okay.  It tells the story of a woman who takes on a role as a "mail order" wife, but is really only interested in killing her husband to gain his fortune for her young lover.  There are twists and turns from there that make the book worth finishing, but the characters never really resonated with me.  3/5 Stars.

Waiting for Columbus - Thomas Trofimuk.  Loved this book!  Takes place in a psychiatric hospital and follows the daily life a patient who believes himself to be Christopher Columbus.  The genius of this book is we gradually see this illusion cracking through inconsistencies in the Columbus story.  For this reason, it would make a great re-read as well.  The characters are well described and on the whole, sympathetic.  5/5 Stars.

Year of Wonders - Geraldine Brooks.  Another great read!  This takes place during the time of the plague and describes the story of a small village that essentially quarantined themselves.  After it became apparent that they were being badly ravaged by the plague, the local Minister suggested that they could perhaps best serve God's will by quarantining themselves.  The book describes both the physical and psychological consequences of this decision in a gripping manner.  The appeal of this book can be largely attributed to the quality of the narration.  Anna is an intelligent and engaging character that draws us all into her story. 5/5 Stars.

The Ides of March

Politics is a dirty, stinking, putrid game of backstabbing, shady deals, lying and cheating. And that is from the people on the same team!

The Ides of March follows the campaign of democratic governor Mike Morris' (George Clooney) race for the presidency. The head of his campaign is Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who values loyalty over absolutely anything else, hence when his lieutenant in the campaign, Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) takes a meeting with, Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti), the campaign manager of a rival democratic hopeful...well, lets just say that the stinky results of a bowel movement really hit the rotary blades of a device designed to cool a room.

There are many ins and outs in this movie, tonnes of back room dealing, selling out friends, and just selling your soul...But it pretty much shows that politics is just as dirty as you would believe it to be.

I give Ides of March four stars out of five.

Moneyball

I went into this movie with a skeptical attitude. Generally, I don't care for movies about sports, but we had some discounted tickets to use up before expiry, and this was one of the only movies that was appealing. I've got to say that I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this movie. Don't get me wrong, it is still a movie about sports, and while I didn't LOVE it, I did like it.

The movie is about the Oakland A's which are a small market baseball team, which I didn't know. I knew of the Oakland A's, but I didn't know they were a small market team. The movie follows the A's through a rebuilding year after the loss of three of their best players to free agent status. Instead of going the tried and true route of using scouts to find players on the cheap, the general manager, Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) hires Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) as an assistant GM; Peter believes that the old method of finding ball players is the wrong way to go. He thinks that by using science rather than scouts, you can analyse player statistics scientifically, and put together a winning team.

Moneyball is based on a true story, and while Peter's strategies didn't work out for the Oakland A's, the same strategy did work for the Boston Red Sox who implemented the same strategy, two years later.

I thought the movie was pretty well acted, I really liked Phillip Seymore Hoffman as the manager, even though he had a smaller role.

I'd give Moneyball 4 out of 5 stars.

Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

I haven't read Mark Twain since being in junior high school. And now I know why.

I started reading this book with expectations that it would be wonderful; it is Mark Twain after all. But for about the first half of the book, there wasn't much plot, and the narrator simply explains, in painfully exquisite detail, what it is like within King Aurthur's court. Not story, just descriptions.

The story finally gets going about half way in, but pretty much peters out at the end with a quick wrap up rather than a well thought out narrative.

I may try out some of Mark Twain's better known literature in the future, but this one kind of left a bad taste in my mouth.

2/5

The Artist

!!!!

See what I did there? It's a silent movie, so I simply put some exclamation marks!

Huh? Huh?

5/5

Hugo

We saw this movie a little while ago, and I'm just getting to the review now.

First of all, this is NOT something you generally think of when you think of Scorsese directing. Shutter Island, Cape Fear...sure, Good Fellas, or The Aviator...ok. But this is something completely different, and utterly fantastic. It was both visually stunning and wonderfully acted...and I guess to his credit, well directed.

The story is about a Clock Maker's son, Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield), who is orphaned and is adopted by his drunkard of an uncle, who also works with clocks. Hugo is forced to ensure the clockworks at the railway station are always functioning, while is uncle is off getting drunk.

Before his death, Hugo and his father are working on a project to reconstruct a clockwork automaton that his father found in a museum. Unfortunately, his father died before they completed it and Hugo views it as a mission to complete the work in honour of his father.

In an effort to complete this quest, hugo must steal parts from a railway station shop keeper, Georges Méliès (Ben Kingsley). The same Georges Méliès who made the film: A Trip to the Moon, among many others. Through his interactions with Mr Méliès, he meets his young neice, Isabelle Méliès (Chloë Grace Moretz) and have various adventures as they try to evade capture by Station Inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) and also try to solve the mystery of the Automaton and its connection with Mr. Méliès.

This was a wonderful, feel good movie that was not treacly at all.

5/5

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

This was a really good movie! So here's the deal: During the Cold War, it is discovered that MI6 (you know the British version of the CIA) has a mole.

Hmmm...kind of a strange tangent here, but other than the head of MI6 just knowing about the mole, they really don't get into how he found out. Huh? Oh wait, I think they found out about the mole as a result of a spy being killed earlier, and as a result the head of MI6 and his second in command were sacked. At least I think his second in command, George Smiley (Gary Oldman) was sacked. Well, they actually didn't really say George Smiley was sacked, the head of MI6 simply said that "Smiley is coming with me." Which to me means that he was either sacked, or there was some strange homoerotic thing going on that they didn't delve too much further into during the movie...Not that there's anything wrong with that.  Ok, never mind, I remembered how they knew about the mole now.

So anyway, before dying, the head of MI6 tells his fears of the mole to the only one he trusts, George Smiley, that there is a mole in MI6. Oh wait...actually, he died before actually telling him that there was a mole, and it was George that found out about his suspicions afterwards while ransacking the apartment of the dead guy.

Ok, you know what? In this review, I'm only about 20 minutes into the movie and I'm already confused about the plot. Look, it is a really good movie, and although there aren't gratuitous explosions or car chases, there are a couple guns that were fired, and a really cool head shot at the end. Spoiler alert!

Oh and Colin Firth is in it!

4/5

Paul

I originally didn't want to see this movie as I thought the previews looked juvenile and crass. But what I found while watching the movie was...that it was juvenile and crass. But I still liked it!

Paul is an alien that is trying to get home...think ET, but voiced by the expletive loving Seth Rogan (There isn't that much swearing). On his journey to get back to his home, he bumps into Graeme Willy (Simon Peg) and Clive Gollings (Nick Frost). The three form a fast, if uneasy friendship, while being pursued by the G-man Agent Zoil, his boss The Big Guy (Sigourney Weaver), Two inept policemen, homophobic red necks, and a shot gun toting father of an unsuspecting hostage victim of the trio, Ruth Buggs (Kristen Wiig).

The movie, despite being a mashup of ET and Every Which Way But Loose actually works really well.

4/5

The Descendants

As many will already know, The Descendants is one of the top Oscar picks for this year. Which kind of tells you what a lousy crop of good movies there was this year. Either that, or Academy is over represented by middle aged women who have the hots for George Clooney.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie and I thought Clooney's performance was wonderful. I also thought that Shailene Woodley's performance was really well acted too. The bottom line however is that this wasn't that great of a movie.  It was ok, but I don't think that it was Oscar worthy

The story is about Matt King (George Clooney),one of the descendants of King Kamehameha, who's wife is in a coma from a boating accident. While in the coma, Matt finds out from his daughter Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) that his wife has been having an affair behind his back. The movie plot revolves around how Matt and his family deal with the fallout of the affair and how it affects the rest of the family's relationships.

There is also a subplot about how the King family is to deal with a large portion of Hawaiian land that they own, which kind of felt tacked on. While I enjoyed the movie, I really don't think that it was deserving of an Oscar nod. But I will say that the performance of Nick Krause as Sid was hilarious! He deserved an Oscar, but for the movie itself....meh.

3/5

Holiday Who Dunnit

It's a good thing that I didn't make regular blog entries a New Year's Resolution as I would have failed miserably and early.  The theme of my reads over the Christmas break was mystery/thriller.  Because it's been so long...a quick synopsis of each will have to suffice.

Enjoyed The Water Rat of Wanchai by Ian Hamilton.  This is billed as Canada's answer to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and that's likely about right.  It's a fast paced read with an anti-heroine.  Recommended.

I was really looking forward to Alone in the Classroom as I was a huge fan of Elizabeth Hay's earlier works Late Nights on Air and a Student of Weather.  However, Alone in the Classroom didn't rise to those levels (for me).  It started out with an intriguing mystery, but then just devolved and never provided the satisfying conclusion I sought.

Once again I was seeking literary comfort in a book by an author I'd read and enjoyed before.  I picked up Guily Plea by Richard Rotenberg.  While not quite as strong as his earlier Old City Hall...it was still a real page turner and I enjoyed reuniting with many of his earlier characters.  My only real criticism was that it was a bit predictable.

And finally, I ready Stronger than Death by Manda Scott.  A satisfying medical mystery with compelling characters.  Worth picking up, but as with the last two--not as good as Scott's Hen's Teeth.

All  in all, these books did what I needed on holiday--keep me turning the pages.

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time

Longitude is one of the books I purchased for my Kindle, but actually started reading the hard copy.

Kristie and I were on our Christmas holiday, and I had finished my book before she had finished hers; I was going to read The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary after her. So while we were up at the cabin, I noticed that one of the books that they had on the shelf was Longitude; so I started reading. Wow! What a great book!

Dava Sobel takes a really could have been a dry story, and makes it incredibly interesting.

As the first word in the title suggests, the book is about how mariners managed to calculate longitude while they were on the high seas. The hero of the story, because there are heros and villains in the story, is John Harrison (My new hero). John wanted to create a special time piece that would help sailors keep proper time while out at sea. Up until this point (the late 1700's), clocks and watches were very unreliable as they often gained or lost time due to various issues such as temperature, friction, etc. But John had a vision of creating the perfect time piece.

Like I mentioned before, the hero was John, but there are many other characters that help weave this story into no only a good non-fiction book, but what could have been a story out of Hollywood: Villians (Maskelyne), Side kicks (William Harrison, Issac Newton, Edmond Halley), and Conspirators (The Board of Longitude).

I think that this book could actually easily be retooled to be a screenplay, and even a wonderful movie. Even if you're not interested in Longitude or any type of science, I think you will find this book a delight to read.

5/5