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.