Monday 27 November 2017

"The Tears of Dark Water" by Corban Addison

book club choice:
    First, I want to say how fabulous this cover is!   The intricate design on the top half reminds me of carvings you might see in a mosque.  Behind the deeper colour on the bottom half, there is a map of Africa.
   The sun is sparkling onto the sail on the sailboat.  I interpreted this brightness as the purity of 'good'. But as you move your eye down the picture, you see the dark side of evil.
   This contrast between the light and dark is so apparent in this novel.  Good and evil live side by side.  Evil acts come from pure intentions.  A very complex novel.
   This is a story of a father and son sailing around the world to cement their relationship and steer the son towards a better life.   
   They are captured by Somali pirates, led by a man who is desperate to gain money to free his sister from the bondage of her life in Somalia.
   Corban Addison did much research and explained, in detail, the complex negotiations that occur when an American is taken hostage.
    The extraordinary thing, for me, in this novel, is the way that Addison describes the motivation of every character, and there are many characters.  
  The role of the professional negotiator interested me, as well as the lawyer for the pirate.  This lawyer stopped at nothing to learn the motivation behind this crime.

  What did my book club think????
  Well, the book is long.  A hundred pages shorter would have been more effective. It wasn't necessary to name the brand of every piece of clothing, every car, and every piece of furniture.  And some people felt that the characters were stereotypes- the Somalis as well as the Americans.
  But there was intrigue and mystery. Some liked it a lot.
Corban Addison
  Our discussion leader today is a fan of this author and has read all four of his books:
A Walk Across the Sun
The Garden of Burning Sand
The Tears of Dark Water
A Harvest of Thorns
   Addison lives in Virginia and has degrees in law and engineering.  He has a deep interest in international human rights.  

Friday 24 November 2017

The Scotiabank Giller Prize Ceremonies, 2017

The Scotiabank Giller Prize promises "the best in Canadian literature".  The awards ceremony was televised this week.


The jury read 112 books, leading to a longlist of 12 and a short list of 5:
"Transit" by Rachel Cusk
"I Am A Truck" by Michelle Winters
"Son of A Trickster" by Eden Robinson
"Minds of Winter" by Ed O'Loughlin
"Bellevue Square" by Michael Redhill



   The winner was "Bellevue Square" and Lawrence Hill introduced it by saying, "It is a funny, twisted book. It will mess with your mind".

The novel is about a book store owner who has a doppelganger.
Quote:
"My doppelganger problems began one afternoon in early April".



When interviewed, Michael Redhill said:
 "It doesn't satisfy me as an artist to go someplace and tie everything up.  I want to leave the reader a little wrong-footed because it creates the opportunity to think about what you've been through as a reader.  I'd like to linger a little more".

I have been contemplating that word "wrong-footed".  That may 'satisfy' the author, but  I wonder if it would 'satisfy' me as a reader. I love a 'satisfying' ending and I'm not sure that I want it to be left 'wrong-footed'.

I love a celebration of books, but didn't find anything this year that interested me.  I have read 19 of the 25 previous winners.
                                                                                                                             

Monday 20 November 2017

Jane Austen spin offs

I have mixed feelings about spin offs.
I could not wade through the history of copyright laws to understand why this is legal, but it must be so.
Is it not theft?  Jane Austen put her heart into creating wonderful characters and then other authors take them to reconstruct a story!
But........

   Who can resist P.D. James writing about the characters in "Pride and Prejudice"?
   And, of course, she added her special touch- murder.  I am not a fan of mystery books-especially involving murder.  But, P.D. James is such a good writer and this book really drew me in.
   There is a murder in the woods on the estate of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth (Bennet).  And...George Wickham is involved.  I was impressed with the language, setting and plot development of the first half of the book.   Towards the end, there seemed to be long descriptions of circumstances leading up to the murder.  Perhaps this is necessary in all murder mystery novels.  The author was 91 when this book was published!  I enjoyed it.




   I had enjoyed reading Jane Austen's "Emma", so I was curious about "Perfect Happiness" by Rachel Billington. 
  It is a sequel to "Emma", beginning a year after Emma's marriage to Mr. George Knightley.  Emma's friends have married and some of them have babies. 
  I really loved this book!  So much fun to once again read about Emma's social circle.  And this author was able to keep the same sense of time and place.  It was awesome!



And so...to the question of spin offs.
There certainly is an appetite for them.
I found a website with 87 novels that have been inspired by Jane Austen.  Some of them are a stretch.."Bridget Jones' Diary". Also the movie "You've got Mail".
The most recent ones sound like a BIG stretch..........
  
This is the first book in the series "Jane Austen Takes the South" by a very prolific southern author using a pen name.
  Following "Pride and Prejudice and Cheese Grits" is "Emma Knightley and Chili-Slaw Dogs", and "Persuasion, Captain Wentworth and Cracklin' Cornbread".  Interested?


 Some people believe that you shouldn't mess with the classics.
And so, the question:  "What would Jane Austen say?"

Possibly she would be delighted that her characters have survived 200 years and are still strong, and are still inspiring writers.

Friday 17 November 2017

"Longbourn" by Jo Baker

    "Pride and Prejudice:  The Servants' Story"

"There could be no wearing of clothes without their laundering, just as surely as there could be no going without clothes, not in Hertfordshire anyway, and not in September.  Washday could not be avoided, but the weekly purification of the household's linen was nonetheless a dismal prospect for Sarah".

   This opening paragraph drew me in to a story about the servants at the home of the Bennets.  Mr. and Mrs. Hill care for the Bennet family, along with the housemaids Sarah and young Polly.  A new man servant was hired, James, and he is very important to the story for obvious and not obvious reasons.  The obvious reason is the love story between Sarah and James.  But there are twists to this story.
   With the background of the Bennet family, I was enthralled to read about the minor details of laundry, candle-making, butchering, cooking and baking, etc. etc.  The life of the servants followed the rhythms of the seasons and the needs of the growing Bennet family.
   This author was able to bring to life, what it was like to live in the early 1800's.  Her writing was spectacular with such detailed description.
  I was loving this book so much, until page 224.  James, a man of mystery, joined the army.  Then I was not so interested in the descriptive writing. The horrors of war did not seem to fit in this novel. In fact, I skimmed 36 pages.
  It never got back to any rhythm, as the story appeared disjointed with members of the Bennet family getting married, moving here and there. But what about the servants?  Isn't that the theme of this book? 
   Some years passed, "Mr. Hill was mouldering in his grave", when James reappeared- ON THE LAST PAGE!  He is with Sarah- is that a baby with them?  Sorry, the book is ended!

Monday 13 November 2017

"Hillbilly Elegy" by J.D. Vance

   This is a memoir of a man who identifies with the poor, working-class white Americans of Scots-Irish descent who have no college degree, living in the Appalachian Mountains.
   J.D. Vance was able to graduate from Yale Law School, and he wrote this book because he feels that he has accomplished something not really extraordinary but quite ordinary.  It just doesn't happen to kids that grew up like him. This is how he grew up: "Seeing people insult, scream, and sometimes physically fight, was just a part of our life.  After a while, you didn't even notice it".
   So he wrote this book to explain the challenges he experienced. He loves his neighbours, family, and friends, but he needs to avoid some to keep his sanity.  Some are murderers, abusers, addicts, but he sees them as "a ragtag band of hillbillies struggling to find their way.
        Subtitle:  a memoir of a family and culture in crisis.
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From Goodreads:
  "At times funny, disturbing, and deeply moving, this is a family history that is also a troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large portion of this country".
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I was surprised to see that this book is number 6 on the New York Times bestsellers list.
But perhaps other readers chose it for the same reason that I did.  It really helped me understand the change in the political scene in the U.S.A.

The title is so appropriate.  "Elegy" is a poem of serious reflection, a lament. This book is serious and sad.  It shows the condition of the white working class in U.S.A. It is a memoir, but also a history of this culture as well as a social analysis. A lot to accomplish in one book.
Fascinating and sad.

Friday 10 November 2017

Time for a change!

I was ready for a change!  Something completely different.  And here it is!  My friend had just finished reading this book and I latched onto it.

   It was just what I needed.  I was able to forget about all the seriousness of life and delve into the fantastic- fanciful, non-sensical, unbelievable, absurd!
  Under the title, is a summary of the book: "A road trip with the Pope and the Dalai Lama".
  Just look at this cover.  The 'vestments' of each are hung on the sides of the window and they have escaped into the outside world. And the title is perfect! Being famous may have lost of perks, but being ordinary has lots more!  Just the opportunity to enjoy nature (through that open window) without an entourage.
  The Pope's cousin, Paolo, and Paolo's ex-wife, Rosa, organized this 'escape' at the Pope's request.  What fun!  The two spiritual leaders, who have been stifled by tradition and responsibilities, are like two little boys having an adventure!
  However, there is a lot of 'spiritual talk' in the book.  Paolo and Rosa had lots of questions for these men, and kept calling them by their title most of the time.  So they couldn't completely leave behind their roles in life, but what an interesting concept.
Roland Merullo
  I got caught up in some of the interesting comments, such as, "Worrying is a form of control- a desperate attempt to bend reality to fit an imagined picture in our minds".
  There are bits of Catholic theology and Buddhist philosophy in the midst of this imaginative story. How wonderful if the religions of the world could learn and share from each other.

  Roland Merullo has written a variety of unusual books.  I have read "Golfing with God", and "A Little Love Story", but "The Delight of Being Ordinary" is my favourite.


Monday 6 November 2017

"My Secret Sister" by Helen Edwards and Jenny Lee Smith

   I bought this book a couple of years ago, because it was "Heather's Pick" at Chapters book store.  I thought that I would enjoy this biography because I lean towards books about women surmounting difficult situations.  And there are great challenges in this book.
   However, I kept avoiding it because of the cover.  Actually, the cover does reflect the heart of the story.  So, why did I keep avoiding it?  I cannot answer that.   
  The information under the title tells the story- "Twins separated at birth.  One sister abused, one loved. A powerful true story".
   Helen and Jenny Lee were born in England in 1948.
I believe that the mother, who gave away one twin and kept the other was not mentally stable.  She married a man with uncontrollable anger.  He was abusive to both the mother and her daughter, Helen.  Helen grew up with an adored older brother who tried to protect her.  But she did not know about other siblings.
   Jenny Lee was adopted and believed that her adoptive parents were her birth parents.  She knew nothing about siblings.  Her father died when she was 12 and she discovered her adoption a few years later.  At that point, she became determined to search out her birth family. Twice her biological mother, Mercia, refused to see her.  But one day she arrived at Mercia's door with her husband and three children so Mercia let her in. That was the only time she saw her biological mother.
Jenny and Helen in 2012
  Then, in 2001, Jenny Lee began a successful search for her twin sister, Helen, and the two have been inseparable ever since.
 Together they searched out all the convoluted details of their family, found another sister who did not want contact, discovered who the father was for each child, and pieced together Mercia's distorted life.

Update on the twins:
Helen became a nurse, then trained as a psychotherapist and hypnotherapist.  She is now retired, has a husband and two children.
Jenny Lee was a professional golfer in Europe.  She has a husband and three children and breeds dogs.

   This book is very well written, alternating between Helen and Jenny Lee.  I wondered at the consistency of the writing, but then I discovered the secret on the title page- a ghost writer (Jacqui Buttriss).  A most interesting biography.

Wednesday 1 November 2017

book covers

   I am fascinated with the covers of books.  I think that  a really good book cover 'invites' you into the book.  It should give you the 'flavour' of the book.  I am often convinced to read a book because of the cover.
  I read "Blindness" many years ago completely because of the cover. I saw it at a book store, bought it and read it immediately. The cover told me that the novel was about serious visual confusion.  But it was also about social and moral blindness with religious symbolism.  A fascinating novel! I am grateful that the cover pulled me in!




   This month, I read "Orphan Train" for the third time.  Just look at this cover!  The hinges and the door knob show that this little girl is behind the door and that is significant. She is powerless! Her facial expression is so poignant, as well as the hair, the dress.
   I love everything about this cover.  The colours and shading, as well as the reflections on the window all help to set the mood.
  I also read this book because of the cover.  I was choosing books for the retirement home when I found this book in the large-print section of the library.  I knew that I had to read it.  And what a delight it was!
  

   I would never have chosen to read "Orphan Train" if it had this cover.  This cover focuses on the train and not the child.  The train was filled with children and the personal story of one of the orphans on the train is at the heart of this book.  
   This cover does not 'invite me in' and does not go to the heart of the story.