The Great Karoo - Fred Stenson

War novels are not usually my thing. (*yawn*) I took this out from the library because it was a GG's nomination but I was ready to quit this before I even started. I finally picked it up to fill the gap after Atmospheric Disturbances, and then, surprisingly, I couldn't put it down. I can't say why exactly I loved this book, but I did. It was long, and slow, and all about war, set in South Africa during the second Boer War. But it was also a page-turner, and had a great plot, and was beautifully written and thoughtful. Definitely glad I read this one.

Atmospheric Disturbances: A Novel - Rivka Galchen

I definitely recommend this book, it was just so good! It is one of those rare books that brings such originality to the idea of what a novel should be that it made for a fresh and pleasurable read.

The middle-aged psychiatrist protagonist believes his wife has disappeared, and has been replaced by... a doppelganger. Conspiracies with dogs, doppelgangers, weather, and wacky mix of science and literature and psychology ensue, right up to this book's final confusion, I mean conclusion.

Creative, smart, funny, eccentric, complicated- sound like the perfect date? I can tell you I certainly enjoyed taking this one to bed for 3 nights in a row.

However, I'd be interested to hear what other people think of it, as a lot of reviewers on amazon really didn't like this book.

Shanghai Girls: A Novel - Lisa See

I didn't feel like with this book that Lisa See was very good at getting into her characters in terms of the time and place in which they were placed- I felt like her characters mannerisms and ways of speaking and thinking were far too modern for the 1930's era China that they were set in. But even so, she tells a good story that effectively draws the reader in and once I was hooked I found it an engaging read through to the end. I also have to give her credit for the open ending to the story, which I always find a frustrating but compelling finish to a book. She is a good story-teller, and her subject matter is always interesting, but most of all it made me want to pick up an Amy Tan book, whose subject matter is similar, but whose writing I find a little bit, well, better.

100 Books in 2010

I forgot this Blog existed and since it seems to have fallen into disuse, I am going to use it to track the 100 Juvenile books I plan to read in 2010. Please feel free to offer suggestions. I am doing this for two reasons: first, I want to make myself read 100 Juvie books form myjob. How can I advise people if I don't read the books myself; the second reason is to practise using social networking technologies. Since I am very 'old school' I cringe at public postings yet without actually using these technologies I become disadvantaged at my job. So I am hoping no one except me (& a very few of you) will read my posts. I can always edit them out if they become too cringable. Best of luck to me in accomplishing my goal.

Slam by Nick Hornsby

I am a Nick Hornsby fan as well. This book is a YA book so the intended audience is Teens. I really liked it. It is written from the point of view of a teenage father. Typical of Hornsby's books, the characters are not flat nor is the situation simplified. I liked this book. It is one of those books that suggests a rational outcome to a challenging situation without resorting to judgemental emotionalism.

The 100-Mile Diet- A Year of Local Eating

Co-authored by Alisa Smith & J.B. MacKinnon, a couple who decided to try a local-eating experiment for one year, limiting themselves to a 100-mile radius surrounding their Vancouver home. By now everyone's heard of the 100-mile diet, and these are the two who coined it. Overall it was a good read, both engaging and inspiring, it had some great facts about our current global food system, some new and some I'd heard before. It definitely argues some of the common disbeliefs: I can't do this if I live in a city (they did), or it's a diet designed only for their area (they polled lots of farmers in various areas and the consensus seemed to be that if agriculture is possible in your area, so is eating local).

A couple of minor beefs though: the running commentary about relationship discontent, as far as I can tell, has no contribution to the storyline and seems misplaced. (Or maybe it is the discontent in general, which Smith expresses and seems to blame on- though ultimately fails to connect to, thus the seeming irrelevance- our culture's disconnectedness with nature and mass consumerism.) And then there is the sometimes borderline melodrama- maybe it's a characteristic of (some) writers in general, to embellish or dramatize events for the sake of story, but when it's non-fiction, and you're reading about something familiar, it's both obvious and ridiculous. Example: it is common knowledge that the earthquakes of Vancouver Island, generally minor occurrences, will cause a devastating quake sometime in the next 200 years (which works out to be something like a 5% chance of it happening today). It's not as if people walk around waiting for the sky to fall on them, but according to this book they do, all that and more:

"It is both exciting and horrible to know that the earth beneath your feet is constantly shifting. My whole generation, I think, feels these tensions. No one I know seems able to settle into one calling or one place."

Maybe it's just me, but I find this kind of stuff annoying. If I met anyone in real life who walked around daily freaking out about the minor chance of major earthquakes, I probably wouldn't be rushing out to read their memoir. I mean, I had no idea that the discontentedness and inability to commit of people today had to do with.... earthquakes. Nothing to do with being constantly bombarded by 300 to 3000 advertisements every day telling us we should be discontented with our lot (and therefore, buy more). Nope. Not that. It's the earthquakes, fellas. Golly.

Anyway, ranting aside, despite being a little overdone in small moments (and much less so than 'Animal, Vegetable, Miracle', I might add) I still found it a good and worthwhile read, good food for thought, and worth recommending. Read it, and hopefully find ways to live it!

How To Be Good by Nick Hornby

Yep, another Nick Hornby book, but you just can't beat his fabulous writing. This book was still a pleasure to read despite the fact that I wasn't too fond of the story... A middle-aged woman is fed up with her cynical husband, unhappy with her life, and contemplating divorce. Meanwhile, the husband has a sort of spiritual experience and suddenly loses all of his pessimism and cynicism for life. Overnight, he has become everything the wife has wished for- he is good and kind and considerate- but is it really what she wants?

Anyway, too much mid-life cynicism and crisis for me to really connect with or enjoy (I can't say I'm a fan of reading about the nothing-to-do-but-accept-how-depressing-life-is storyline) but in spite of all of that, I found it enjoyable and the writing itself a pleasure to read. But probably wouldn't really recommend it.