Happy New Year from New Zealand

I am thoroughly enjoying my Kiwi vacation, and the books I’m reading while here, but rather than a book post, I thought I would ring in the new year with some gratuitous photos from my trip so far.

Hahei beach, on the Coromandel Peninsula. We didn’t actually stay at this beach, but walked up the hill and over to the famous Cathedral Cove – but I don’t have as stunning a photo of Cathedral Cove. The water was as gorgeous as it looks (not quite warm, but refreshing, and warm enough!).

We took a boat trip from the town of Whitianga on the Coromandel, and were so excited to see a pod of dolphins!!

Castlepoint, about a two-hour drive from Wellington where my sister & her family are living.  We walked to the top of the cliff for some stunning views, but the water was much too cold here to venture in.

Here’s wishing you all many good books and enjoyable hours of reading in 2012!

The Bishop’s Man by Linden MacIntyre

I bought this back in November from a used bookstore in Waterloo and the owner commented that he couldn’t keep it in the store – even hardcover copies were flying off the shelves. It caught my attention a couple years ago when it won the Giller Prize, and I decided it was finally time to read it (along with everyone in Waterloo, apparently).

Set in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, The Bishop’s Man tells the story of a 50-year-old priest, Father Duncan MacAskill. For years, he has worked not in a parish church but at a university, and he has been called on by the bishop to ‘take care of’ those touchy situations that the church would prefer to sweep under the rug (i.e., sexual abuse of boys). I expected the book to be about this part of his life, but really it was a minor component. It was relevant to the story, but it didn’t form the main plot elements. Those came from Father Duncan’s new assignment to a little parish in Cape Breton, near the little community where he grew up. He becomes entwined in the lives of the locals, and this leads to him confronting some things from his past, particularly from a brief but formative time spent in the Honduras, and especially because of a tragedy that strikes the community.

I found this to be slow going at times, and there was a lot of shifting between present and past, which was sometimes disorienting. But what happened at the end took me by surprise, in a way that made the whole story much more powerful than I expected.

The sense of place was also strong, and important for the story. Reading it so far from Canada – on a holiday trip to New Zealand, and as my sister & I were traveling to some of the most tropical, vacation-y parts of the country – made me very aware of how tied the story was to its setting.

It has been a week now since I’ve read the book, and in reflecting on it, I think this is one that will benefit from a re-read. Not immediately, but in a few years or so this will be one to come back to.

This is 7/13 for me in the Canadian Book Challenge.

The Witch of Babylon by D.J. McIntosh

Finally the fall is over, I am well into my extended Christmas vacation, and I am back into books!

It took me about a week to get back to feeling like I could sink my teeth into a book. I caught up on several back issues of the New Yorker that had been languishing in a pile through the fall (I can tell you, it is odd to read the Halloween & Thanksgiving issues when you’re surrounded by Christmas). Then I turned to The Witch of Babylon by Canadian writer D.J. McIntosh.

Set in 2003, The Witch of Babylon has a murder, a treasure hunt, and lots of suspense. Our hero John Madison is in his early thirties and is just getting over the death of his older brother Samuel, who, at forty years older than Madison, was more like a father than a brother. (The explanation for this was somewhat convoluted, yet believable.) Not only is Samuel dead, but he died in a car accident when Madison was driving. Add survivor’s guilt to the facts that 1) there is some suspicion that Madison was responsible for the ‘accident’ and 2) Samuel’s contacts played a key role in getting clients for Madison’s work as an art dealer, and we have a hero who is really down on his luck.

Then a close friend is found dead and Madison is a suspect. The friend (Hal, I think, though it’s been a while since I read it and the library’s e-book has been erased from my iPad) had known that he was in trouble and left Madison some clues to figure out what was behind this all.

(This is where I start to get foggy on the details. As I said, this was the first book I sank my teeth into, and so I don’t think I was quite as focused on it… there were parts that I read without really taking them in, and characters that I couldn’t quite place in the story… and since I was reading an e-book borrowed from the library, it was hard to flip back to re-acquaint myself with the story.)

Hal was in possession of some precious Babylonian artifact that had been taken from Baghdad when it was being bombed and looted. The people who were behind Hal’s murder were on the hunt for this artifact, and thought Madison knew more about it than he did, so they were threatening him, and so we end up on a big chase and hunt. It reminded me of The DaVinci Code – but better written.

This was a very satisfying read (even if I can’t quite remember it). It is McIntosh’s debut novel and I will definitely read her next.

This is 6/13 for me in the Canadian Book Challenge.

Merry Christmas, everyone! (I am visiting my sister in New Zealand, so it’s now Boxing Day, but WordPress thinks I’m posting on the 25th, so Happy Christmas!)

One Book, Two Book, Three Book, Four… and Five

This fall has been a slow reading season, and therefore also a slow blogging season… but when I saw this meme pop up in the last week or so on some of the blogs I read, I figured it would be a good way to ease back into things.

1. The book I’m currently reading:

I’ve been wanting to read this for a while, and I’m loving it. I’m not going through it very quickly, but I’m really enjoying the reflective and perceptive writing, and the plot is moving just enough that it keeps me turning the pages even though it’s only a few pages at a time.

2. The last book I finished:

If I had seen this cover, I would not have picked up the book! But it was available from the library as a download to my iPad, so I loaded it up the other week for a cross-country trip. It was a very forgettable book, but a good distraction on the plane, and not at all mentally taxing. Just what I needed.

3. The next book I want to read:

I have no idea. I’ve started and not finished more books in the last two months than in the past several years. So I’m afraid that if I identify any one book, I’ll just end up starting it and not finishing it… but maybe it will be:

4. The last book I bought:

For some reason I expected Westwood to be a thin book, but it isn’t! I just discovered Stella Gibbons this year, and loved Cold Comfort Farm, and I love the premise of Westwood and the reviews I’ve read this year from other bloggers. I love the cover too.

5. The last book I was given:

A kind co-worker gave me this Penguin Mini Modern Classic a few months ago. William Trevor is one of his favourite short story writers, but I’ve not read anything by him. Short stories aren’t really my thing, but this is sitting prettily on my side table, waiting for the mood to strike.

 

A not-so-bookish September

I’ve been quiet here for the last few weeks.

September is usually hectic since the university is busy with the start of a new year, but this September has brought a completely new set of challenges at work which are consuming all my time and mental energy. There are at least four reviews that I’ve been meaning to write since Labour Day, but I just don’t have it in me. Even more telling of how stressful the last week or so has been – I’ve hardly been able to focus on reading. I think I’ve only read 60 pages or so in the last week, and that is less than I would typically read on any given day! So, things are not normal, but will hopefully get back to normal soon, and then I can get back to reading and reflecting on what I’ve read.

The Hound of the Baskervilles

After a so-so week of reading, I wanted something comforting and satisfying – a “bookish hug,” to borrow from Frances of Nonsuch Book. So, as she did, I turned to Sherlock Holmes.

This was just the ticket. A well-written, satisfying mystery. Just enough of Sherlock Holmes’s amusing eccentricities, a good dose of Watson’s observations and descriptions, and an appropriately sinister villain who is caught just in the nick of time.

I read A Study in Scarlet a few weeks ago, knowing that I would want to read The Hound of the Baskervilles for the Art of the Novella challenge, and feeling like I needed to get caught up with the Sherlock Holmes story. It’s been a long time since I’ve read Sherlock Holmes, and I’m glad I went back to start at the beginning. Sherlock feels like a minor character in The Hound of the Baskervilles, since he’s not around through most of the middle of the story, and so I think the ‘Sherlockian’ aspects would be lost on someone for whom this was their introduction. After these two books, I definitely want to get caught up on my Sherlock Holmes!

This was my third book for the Art of the Novella reading challenge, so I’ve made it to Fascinated, which was my goal! Yay! I’m on to #4, with 5 and 6 waiting in the wings… so I might just get all the way to Captivated. Stay tuned…

Last Week in Books

Three books last week, none quite enthralling enough to get their own post.

First, Fred Vargas’ latest Adamsberg mystery, An Uncertain Place. I really enjoy this series – there is something appealing about the quirky, odd cleverness of the crimes and how Adamsberg solves them. But this one just didn’t satisfy. Maybe it was my mood this week, maybe it was the vampire theme (I’m really not into vampires)… all I know is several times I felt like putting the book down and giving up, and towards the end I was skimming awfully quickly just so I could get to the end and move on. I’m not even going to try to summarize the plot. If you like Fred Vargas then you’ll probably read this regardless of my plot description. If you’ve never read her books, don’t start with this one unless you find the vampire theme intriguing.

Next up, The House at Riverton by Kate Morton. I put this on hold at the library after a blogger (sorry, I can’t recall who!) compared it favourably with Downton Abbey. It’s an accurate comparison and this was an enjoyable escapist read – I even found space in my bike bags for the enormous hardcover copy so that I could read it on my lunch break at work (which means that for once, I actually took a lunch break!). But… nothing spectacularly memorable about it. It would have been perfect airplane reading, so I have put holds on the e-book versions of Kate Morton’s other books, in the hopes that I may be lucky enough for them to arrive in my inbox just in time for my fall travels.

And lastly, I motored through Mockingjay on the weekend, to finish off Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy. Two unfortunate (to me) facts about this series: 1) The Hunger Games was definitely the strongest book in the series, and 2) the three books are so tightly connected that they are really three parts of one story, not three separate books. Which meant that it was all downhill after the first book, but that one was so good that I had to keep reading in order to find out how everything would end!

The Hunger Games books are not my usual cup of tea; they’re young adult, dystopian fiction. North American as we know it no longer exists, blah blah, divided into thirteen districts run by the Capitol, blah, each year the districts have to hold a ‘reaping’ where a teenage boy and girl are randomly chosen to represent their district in the Hunger Games – not blah! The Hunger Games are reality tv, kind of like Survivor, but instead of being voted off, the teens (“tributes”) have to kill each other until only one is left. Now that’s a page-turner of a plot! However, I didn’t much care for the dystopian parts of the series, and that’s pretty much all Mockingjay was.

The Water Rat of Wanchai by Ian Hamilton

What a book!

It has been over a week since I read it, and I’ve struggled to write about it because all I really want to say is, “Read it! It’s like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, only better!”

I put this on hold at the library on the basis of a rave review in the G&M, but I had my doubts about whether it would live up to the review. Mostly, I’ll admit, because of the title. “The Water Rat of Wanchai” didn’t mean anything to me, and if anything, made me think of some mysteries I have read that took place in India or Thailand and just didn’t resonate with me.

But I gave it a chance, and am I ever glad I did! Again, it’s like Stieg Larsson, but better. It’s just as engrossing, the lead female character is just as impressive but a bit more normal, it’s shorter, and the writing is better.

Ava Lee is a Chinese-Canadian forensic accountant. She lives in Toronto and jets around the world tracking down stolen or embezzled funds for Chinese clients. The money in this case took her to Seattle, Hong Kong, Thailand, the British Virgin Islands, and Guyana (and now I never want to go to Guyana). Ava is smart, strong, and confident. And yet, she isn’t invincible – the plot was so well-done that just when you think Ava is two steps ahead, you find out she’s one step behind, and more than once, I really wasn’t sure how it was all going to work out.

I learned a lot from this book, but it never felt pedantic (again, better than Stieg Larsson). I particularly enjoyed the cultural insights, especially when they pertained to Ava’s very entertaining mother. And the insights into the world of fish processing were also interesting, not dull like you might expect.

There are several more books planned in the series, and the second, The Disciple of Las Vegas, is already out! I added myself to the library’s holds list before I finished The Water Rat of Wanchai, and I am definitely looking forward to more Ava Lee.

This is 5/13 for me in the 5th Annual Canadian Book Challenge.

Lady Susan by Jane Austen

This novella was the perfect summer reading: funny and light-hearted, with just enough of Austen’s trademark wit and keen observation of social norms that I didn’t feel like it was completely escapist. Also, I love epistolary fiction, and the letters that made up this novella were just the right length for me to dip in & out of over the past few busy days.

Lady Susan is not at all a likeable heroine, but I did find her fascinating. She is incredibly manipulative and selfish. In the letters between her and her friend Mrs Vernon, it’s all about how hard done by they are, but how they have plans to make it all right by weaving stories and twisting circumstances. If she has any redeeming quality, it’s her ability to put the past behind her and not dwell on things that didn’t turn out the way she had hoped – although it does seem like she’s just moving on because she’s selfish, not because she is forgiving or learning from her experiences or anything so edifying as that.

In the letters written by Lady’s Susan’s sister-in-law Mrs Johnson, we see the respectable lady’s opinion of Susan’s behaviour. Of course, Mrs Johnson’s perspective is the one that feels ‘right’ to the reader. She’s not as conniving or self-centred, but in the end, every woman in the story is concerned with the same thing: orchestrating the right marriage (for herself, her daughter, or her niece, as the case may be). The respectability of the end goal comes from the means used to achieve it.

This light little book has therefore left me feeling very reflective about ends and means, respectability and transparency. A charming and thought-provoking novella – definitely a winner!

This is my second book in the Art of the Novella Reading Challenge. I am pretty sure it will be the highlight, but we shall see.

A Simple Heart by Gustave Flaubert

I wanted to like this novella. The first sentence intrigued me:

“Madame Aubain’s servant Félicité was the envy of the ladies of Pont-l’Évêque for half a century.”

As did this sentence that begins part II:

“She had had her love-story like another.”

But it went downhill from there, as far as I’m concerned. This is the kind of story that, when I try to write about it, reminds me that there is a reason I was not an English major. I don’t know what to say and I feel like I’m missing something. Is there supposed to be some kind of symbolism or something with the parrot? Or is it just a parrot?

Needless to say, I did not like this as much as I thought I would, and I can’t find anything else to say about it. But I’m glad I read it. And I think that part of the beauty of a novella is that even if you don’t love it, you can still finish it and not feel like you’ve wasted time doing so.

This is my first book in the August Art of the Novella Reading Challenge. Now on to the next one!