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.

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.

Breaking the Time Barrier: The Race to Build the First Time Machine

I got this book with an Amazon gift certificate that I got as a Christmas present. It wasn't a book that I was looking for initially, but was a recommendation from Amazon based on previous book purchases.

As the title suggests, (I don't think this will be much of a spoiler) the book is about the idea of building a real life time machine. The author discusses the idea of breaking the time barrier as it had first appeared in literature, and brings forward various chapters as time goes on, that shows the scientific progress that would supposedly enable mankind to build a time machine.

Each chapter actually does have very good science written into it. The book discusses various aspects of physics that are both proven and theoretical.  But it is what the author does with this information that I find a bit hard to believe. She basically takes good science and then dives down a rabbit hole to show that building a time machine is possible.  Essentially, I think she takes good science, and turns it into science fiction. I think that it is fair to say that Ms. Randles is a true believer in the idea of time travel, as the last chapter will attest to.

If the idea of this book was to expose the reader to good science through wild speculation and hyperbole, then I think that it does the job well, but if the idea is to make the reader believe that time travel is just around the corner, then I think it may be quite a long time...

Flying Troutmans - Miriam Toews

I've read quite a few Miriam Toews books over the years and she is a good writer.  Her books have a quirky tone and even quirkier characters.

My latest read was the Flying Troutmans and while I liked it, I also found it had a frantic energy that didn't exactly make it a relaxing read.  I read somewhere that it bears similarities to Little Miss Sunshine and that is true to a point.  However, I think the end goal of getting Abigail Breslin to the beauty pageant gave Little Miss Sunshine more focus than that found in the Flying Troutsman, which seemed to go on tangent after tangent.  In this particular road trip, they were looking for someone, but I found that this goal was quite often lost amongst the text.   Worth picking up in a pinch, but if you're looking at Toews for the first time, try A Boy of Good Breeding instead.  

Still Point - Amy Sackville & Last Woman - John Benrose

Although the stories are quite different, these two books both suffered a similar flaw and one that can often be quite fatal: the whiny narrator(s) phenomenon.  While the stories themselves were compelling enough, I couldn't engage with the characters.

Still Point sounded so promising on paper.  It told the story of a "great" romance between an arctic explorer and his wife, while also exploring the relationship and ennui of one of the explorer's descendants (it was this woman I found unbearable).  It eventually gets to the point, but by that time I didn't really care.

The Last Woman explores a love triangle in the context of a First Nations land claim in Southern Ontario.  I think that if the book had focused more on the land claim, it would have been a better book.  Instead, I found myself saddled with three characters who lamented the past and all that they'd lost.

I can't fault the writing of either of these books.  Both were filled with lovely prose.  It is unfortunate then that both were undone by the depressing characters.  They did elude to a mental fragility to help explain the female characters' despair, but this still did not help me enjoy the books any further.

Midnight In Paris

I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but I actually enjoyed a Woody Allen movie! I know! I can't believe it either!

A couple months ago, Kristie and her book club read the book The Paris Wife by Paula McCain.  Some of the others in the book club started talking about the movie Midnight in Paris that was coming out in the near future.  As it turned out, when the time arrived, only one person from the book club wanted to go, so they decided to drag the husbands along.  I've got to say, that I went in there pretty much kicking and screaming, but as it turned out, I found it pretty good on the whole.

Without too many spoilers, the story is about Gil (Owen Wilson) and his fiancee, Inez (Rachel McAdams) who are on a vacation in Paris when they bump into a couple friends of Inez: Carol (Nina Arianda) and Paul (Michael Sheen).  Paul is an old professor of Inez that she use to have a crush on, and is, not to put too fine a point on it, a total prat! And Sheen plays the part really well.

Anyway, as the film goes on, in order to avoid mingling with Paul and Carol, Gil decides to take a walk around the city of Paris, a city that he adores and pines for whenever he is away.  On that night, at the stroke of midnight, Gil is inexplicably transported back in time to Paris of the 20s where he meets many of his idols: Hemingway, Picaso, Cole Porter, Gertrude Stein, Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and a host of others.  While on many of his blasts to the past, he begins to fall in love with  Adriana, (Marion Cotillard) a muse of Picaso, Hemingway, et al.  Without giving away the ending, lets just say, I like how it ended.

Like most Woody Allen movies, I had two issues with this one.  The first was the pairing of two people who's characters couldn't have lasted for five minutes together, much less long enough to be engaged.  The second was how Woody Allen does dialogue. Virtually all Allen movies have people stepping over each other's lines as they have pseudo-intellectual conversations about nothing in general, and the actor's seem to be encouraged to speak as if they every thought in their head has to exit through their mouth at the exact same moment.  There never seems to be any coherent thoughts that spew out of their mouths.

Despite these two flaws, like I've said a couple times, the movie is actually pretty good, and I'd recommend going to see it.

I give it 3/5 stars.

The Behaviour of Moths - Poppy Adams

I have an aversion to moths...their flitting about makes me nervous.  And they always want in the house!  As part of my aversion therapy, I thought to read this book ;).  While the moths didn't bug me (pun unintended) and their descriptions were somewhat interesting, the story itself was just okay.  It tells the tale of a recluse sister (Ginny) who has stayed behind on the family estate for years and studied moths.  Her sister returns home at one stage and this creates a great deal of distress for Ginny.  The family's history is revealed through Ginny's eyes and this sets the stage for what will happen between the two sisters.  A quick read, but I didn't come away loving this book.  Perhaps my aversion to moths was present in my subconscious...

How I Became a Famous Novelist - Steve Hely

My second venture into reading on a Kindle...it's possible I'm still reading too quickly as compared with a print novel, so must do another trial.

To the book itself...  I thought that this book was cute, but very forgettable.  This is unfortunate given that it's now been about three weeks since I finished it.  I will say that I felt a bit like I was reading something akin to chick lit and that made me a shade nervous.  However, that does mean it was a nice light read.  In a nutshell, the main character seeks to write a bestselling novel as revenge against his ex-girlfriend (now getting married to someone else).  He uses a unique technique to do this, however.  He analyzes the bestsellers list, notes the common components and pulls them all together into his book.  The rest of the book follows his subsequent misadventures.

A light read and not a bad read...good enough for summer vacation.

Rupture - Simon Lelic

It's been a while since I've read this now, so my memory could be a bit hazy...  That said, I do remember thinking that this book was quite average.  It kept me interested enough, but certainly didn't compel me to pick it up either.

It tells the story of a police investigator looking into a school shooting.  In particular, it examines the role that bullying and the lack of response from authority figures played in the shooting.  Lelic also draws parallel comparisons between the school shooting and the young female investigator's experience on the police force, which I thought was a bit contrived.  I am starting to wonder if this type of book has limited appeal for me--I also was in the very small minority who did not like We Need to Talk about Kevin.

Essentially, not a bad book but also not a great book.

Cool Water - Diane Warren

This book won the Canadian Governor General's award last year.  Not surprisingly then, it is a very well written book.  As I've attested to before, I tend to prefer plot-driven, rather than character-driven books and for me this is where Cool Water fell down.  The book did not have the forward momentum that keeps me riveted to the page.  This was possibly compounded by the fact that I was taking a break from the amazing, but dense Emperor of All Maladies; I think I was looking for something to just pull me along.

Despite my critiques, the characters are very interesting--from a despondent bank manager to a lonely farmer to a scattered farm wife (etc.).  For those who love character-driven literature, this is worth picking up.

Let the Great World Spin

This book was very well written; however, it read much more like short stories, which never resonate entirely with me.   It takes place during the earlier 1970's in New York, during the time that Philippe Petit was doing his tightrope act across the twin towers (one of the mechanisms the author uses to die the stories together).  Essentially though, McCann tells a number of stories that are connected via the characters' relationships to someone who meets an untimely demise at the beginning of the book.  Not surprisingly, some stories are better than others.  The tale told from the perspective of a prostitute was actually among my favorites...the character was just so real.  I will say that McCann is adept at capturing different characters' voices.  This book is worth a go for those who do like the short story genre.

3/5 stars

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife

Title: Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife
Author: Mary Roach
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

ISBN-10: 9780393329124
ISBN-13: 978-0393329124

After reading my first book by Mary Roach: Stiff, I was expecting a lot from this book.  Being the skeptic that I am, I had heard about this book through a couple different skeptical blogs and podcasts.  After hearing various reviews, I was anxious to dive into it.

In some ways the book followed the format of Stiff.  In this book Mary Roach relays various different encounters throughout the book in which she looks for evidence into life after death.  She delves into reincarnation, hauntings, mediums, ghost hunters, and near death experiences, along with a few other diversions.  Each encounter she writes about would delve into the subject's back story providing an interesting portait of the people she is writing about.

I have to say however, that I found Stiff much more interesting than Spook.  I think it might be due to the fact that I didn't really learn very much from Spook, whereas I learned a great deal from Stiff.  Don't get me wrong, I liked the book, and find Mary Roach to be a wonderfully talented and amusing author.  I just didn't gain a whole lot from this particular book.  If I had to give it a rating between one to five (and that is what I have to do on this blog), I'd give it a 3 out of 5.  As Kristie likes to say about many movies she watches: It was entertaining but forgettable.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simonson

Others have described this book as "cute" or "charming" and I can't disagree.  It definitely is those things.  While an enjoyable enough read, I don't think it's something that will stick with me.  It tells the story of the intercultural romance between a retired major and a shopkeeper of Pakistani descent.  It goes through the typical building of the romance (albeit made more interesting with quirky characters), the typical obstacle to true love, and then [spoiler alert] ultimate fruition of the characters' romantic goals.  Reading this book won't change your life, but it isn't a bad way to spend a few evenings.  Simonson draws a compelling portrait of a rural English community, allowing you to enter an alternate reality for a few hours (unless of course you live in rural England).

3/5 Stars

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake - Aimee Bender

Admittedly, I was lured into this book by the title.  However, after I judged the book by its title, I looked into the premise and it sounded really interesting.  Essentially, the main character is able to taste people's emotions through the food that they've prepared.  Sounds interesting, right?  The problem is that the book didn't really pursue this concept.  In fact, it didn't really seem to go anywhere at all.  It vaguely followed the main character as she moved from childhood to early adulthood.  Despite the lack of focus, it was easy enough to read and entertaining enough.  Just don't expect a great plot.

3/5 Stars.

Little Face - Sophie Hannah

This book was okay and I certainly enjoyed it more than the aforementioned Liars and Saints.  I put it into the category "it is what it is".  In essence, it's a fairly good crime drama that keeps you on your toes.  It tells the story of a mother who returns home only to find her daughter has been replaced with a baby that she doesn't know.  The story is then devoted to solving the mystery through the eyes of two characters: the mother and the police detective.  It was a well written and well paced book.  The only fault is that the characters themselves didn't seem overly well developed.  Nonetheless, a good one to pick up for a plane ride or beach read.

3 out of 5 stars.

Turn of the Screw - Henry James

I heard a little bit more about this book last year and so was keen to get my hands on it.  I was curious about a classic that was also classified in the thriller or horror genre.  I tend to be quite grounded, so wasn't sure that this book would completely freak me out.  It didn't, but was still a very well written and interesting story.  It tells the tale of a governess who goes to care for two children in a fairly remote locale.  Eerie events begin to happen soon after her arrival and the reader is left to determine what is actually going on.  James definitely leaves room for interpretation.  I won't go into too much more detail as to the plot as I don't want to give too much away.  I'll close by saying that while I wasn't blown away by this book, it was an interesting read that I don't regret trying.

I should also point out that this was the first book I read on a Kindle, so do wonder if that coloured the experience.  I'm keen to try another e-book, so I can sort out whether or not I like reading that format.  Not convinced yet!

3/5 Stars

Freedom - Jonathan Franzen

For me, this book falls into the "oddly compelling" category.  I pushed through 500+ pages, despite the fact that 90% of it was filled with and dominated by unlikeable characters.  Nonetheless, the story was interesting and Franzen is an evocative writer.  I am perplexed, however, by the number of annual top-ten lists on which this book has appeared.  While interesting, I didn't find it amazing and I certainly preferred Franzen's earlier work, "The Corrections".  "Freedom" essentially follows one family over 30+ years, with frequent reflections on the meaning and limits of liberty, particularly in contemporary America.  Given that others have ascribed greatness to this book, it is perhaps worth picking up--maybe I just missed something.

3/5 Stars.

Random Acts of Heroic Love - Danny Scheinmann

I wanted to like this more, even expected to like it  more.  While it falls outside my usual taste (it's primarily a romance), the reviews had been outstanding.  This book follows two seemingly unrelated storylines (although you know that they will come together in the end).  The crux of the two stories relates to two men's complete and utter commitment to their significant others.  In one story, a young man loses his girlfriend in a horrific bus crash in South America and Scheinmann explores the extreme grief that he feels.  In another story, set in and around World War One, a soldier hikes from Siberia to Poland to find his "beloved".  I actually preferred the second story as it was more hopeful, while the other was a descent into darkness.  As mentioned, these two stories do come together; in my opinion, rather predictably.

This review sounds quite critical, but I should point out that  Scheinmann is a beautiful writer, and his use of language does pull you into these two men's stories.  It just wasn't my kind of story (glad it was a library book and not a purchase).  Interestingly, peppered throughout the text were various quotes about love (often related to love in the animal kingdom) and it is these that I found most interesting.  If you like romance, pick it up, otherwise...

3/5 Stars.

A Light and Engaging Read - East of the Sun by Julia Gregson

I thought that beginning a blog about the books I’ve read was a great way for me to keep track of what I’ve read, as well as sharing my reading disasters and joys with others.

So with that in mind, here’s my first entry.  I just finished reading East of the Sun by Julia Gregson.  On the whole, this book was entertaining and easy to read (a pleasure as I’d just made my way through a much denser text).  It tells the story of three girls who are headed to India for varying reasons.  Their friendship grows on the cruise and blossoms further while they are in Bombay.  The writer uses a familiar technique to relay the story, using the voices of multiple characters.  On the whole, this strategy works quite well and really helped me to see how the characters evolved throughout the book.  In particular, I found one character (Tor) to be quite abominable for the first third of the book, but as you watched her evolve, she became much more likeable and was arguably my favorite character by the time the book ended.  It also enables readers to explore in depth the girls’ differing experiences, to see how acculturating to India depends on your status and reason for being there in the first place.  The plot was quite predictable, but this didn’t really matter as long as you simply immersed yourself in the girls’ new lives.  If you’re heading out on vacation and need something quite easy to read, consider picking this one up—I'm sure it will engage you.

3/5 Stars