The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

I almost gave up on this book. I desperately wanted to enjoy it, as it had been given to me by a dear friend who cited it as one of her favourites. But lord it was hard. At first.

Perhaps it was the translation, perhaps it was the comparison made on the jacket cover to Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose – a book which I found highly disappointing and ultimately pointless, perhaps it was the cover itself – with the little cutout window and the baroque font, which made me feel that something was off in this book. The language, although nicely descriptive of 1940’s Barcelona, felt suspiciously of the purple persuasion. The dialogue felt stilted.

Had The Shadow of the Wind not been recommended by someone whose taste and whose intelligence I respect, I would have given up 100 pages into the novel. And at nearly 500 pages, I knew it was going to be a considerable time commitment.

But I must love my friend dearly, because I persevered, and finished the book last night. And I am glad that I did, not only because I can now look my friend in the face if she asks how I enjoyed one of her favourite books, but also because somewhere around page 150-175, I began to enjoy it.

I began to develop a fondness for the characters of Daniel, his father, and their friend Fermin, as they found themselves drawn deeper into the mysteries surrounding an old book. Set against the political and historical backdrop of war-torn Spain, The Shadow of the Wind ultimately won me over, allowed me to suspend my disbelief and get swept up in the intrigue and the dangers surrounding their quest.

I did have some additional quibbles with the novel, even after my initial resistance had been overcome, primarily with the lengthy side stories voiced by other characters. Some of these were so long that I had forgotten what was going on in the main story by the time we had returned to it. Many of these side stories were printed in italics as well, and 20 pages of that shit is hard to read in bed at night.

Ultimately though, The Shadow of the Wind, is an ambitious novel, not without faults, but certainly not without its charms either. If you enjoy somewhat gothic historical fiction, you will most likely enjoy this book. And if you don’t, you may just end up surprising yourself.

Confections of a Closet Master Baker

Some time ago, Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies, a good blogging friend of mine and regular ReTorte reader, had a giveaway for Confections of a Closet Master Baker by Gesine Bullock-Prado, and guess who won? Go me!

This book was well-reviewed by not only Natashya but one other food blogger whose name I cannot recall right now, but I was really excited about getting to read it, and finally, I did.

Gesine started out as a Hollywood movie executive, and it took me a while to figure out exactly whom she was related to; turns out she is Sandra Bullock's younger sister (um, yeah, the last name should have been a dead give-away but I am slow, I admit!) and for a while she ran Sandra's movie production company. But she was miserable and hated it, and her mind was always on baking and dreamy confections. So, one day after having enough of the Hollywood lifestyle, Gesine and her husband relocated to Vermont and opened a little bakery.

Interwoven with Gesine's tale of starting up the bakery and all that involved and stories of how life has been for her since the opening, are lovely vignettes of Gesine's childhood spent partially in her mother's homeland of Germany, and poignant stories about the women in Gesine's life who helped shape her passion for pastry. Including a collection of her favourite recipes, this book is a wonderful homage to the experiences, people, and flavours of Gesine's life that inspire her baking and keep her wanting to keep ungodly hours at her bakery so that she can do what she loves and is passionate about: feeding people sugary, buttery treats.

This was a light book to read, and it was a joy to read. I haven't made any of the recipes yet, but I have my eye on a couple. This book actually made me think of a lot of the common foods - both baking and savoury - that marked my childhood, too, and it made me appreciate all the more the love of cooking and baking my mother instilled in me, and the nurturing it can do for one's soul.

Thanks, Natashya! This was a great find!

The Hunger Games

I'm way behind on my book reviews! Before I started the month of writing, I did complete The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. Charlie was kind enough to send me a copy since he was convinced I would love this book. You can read his review of it here. Charlie described it as "unputdownable" and I have to concur.

Set in a not-too-distant future USA, now known as Panem and divided into twelve districts and a capitol, we get a grim look at how one family amongst many ekes out a living and enough food to survive in the coal mining and near-starving Twelfth District. Katniss hunts beyond the fence that separates the district from the surrounding forest to feed her family and to trade her catches on the local black market. The food and fuel in each district is controlled by the Capitol, who exert technological, economic, and psychological power over all the districts. And each year, in order to keep everyone afraid enough of them to keep them in line, the Capitol puts on an event called the Hunger games. Each district chooses by lottery two teenagers to participate in the ultimate game of survival in an outdoor arena, with the entire event being televised for the required viewing of all of Panem's citizens. In the Hunger Games, it's kill or be killed. The goal is to be the last one standing so that you can bring back extra rations and fame for your district. For the people of the Capitol, the Hunger Games are pure entertainment, and a lot of money is spent to put them on. For the districts, it's a callous reminder of just how much they are at the mercy of the Capitol.

Katniss's sister is actually chosen from the lottery, but since Prim is so young (only 12) Katniss volunteers to take her place. Once in the arena, fighting for her life amongst trained killers, genetically modified wasps, and the Capitol's ability to change the rules and the conditions of the area any time to make things more interesting, Katniss's brains, strength, and survival skills are put to the ultimate test.

This book was rich with theme, setting, character, and brutal conflict, but it was still a tightly-written novel that provided a compelling story without getting overly involved in lengthy exposition exploring all the themes the author was working with. Theme is left up to the reader to figure out on her own!

This is the first book in a trilogy, so there is more to come. The second book is called Catching Fire, and I can't wait to read it. Though classed as "young adult," The Hunger Games is relevant to adults and teens alike, and makes for good reading no matter what age you are.

Two books by Khaled Hosseini

I started to write about the Kite Runner, my most recent book completed, but found myself talking about A Thousand Splendid Suns as well. I found that I didn't want to talk about one without talking about the other. As I wrote about them, the similarities kept popping up. There's a further study here for sure.

Yes, the Kite Runner. We've all heard about it. Okay, well I heard about it because it seemed like it was big news when it was made into a film. Was that your experience? I haven't seen the film and I'm not sure I need or want to because I just read the book, and enjoyed it.

Actually, this summer I read Hosseini's other book A Thousand Splendid Suns, which I think I may have enjoyed more because the two protagonists are women, and I don't know, somehow I relate to women's stories more.

Both books are tragedies with uplifting endings. Both books have left me with lingering impressions of Afghanistan, and an understanding of the country's history I'm not sure I would have otherwise. While both books are works of fiction, they are based on the real issues in Afghanistan.

They are gripping books, although A Thousand Splendid Sunsdid make me wonder why I was reading something so, so dark, and if I should continue with the book. However, I was so engaged by all of the characters (in both books) that I found them to be very believable, and to be characters that I truly cared about. That said, I did have trouble with Hosseini's antagonists who are very evil indeed. He makes them so very evil that they almost become too stereotypical or are caricatures. Both antagonists physically stand out from all of the other characters in the book. They look different and perform such immoral and abhorrent acts to the main characters that I found it difficult to believe in. I guess I like my antagonists in fiction with a little more dimension. They do make the narrative very dramatic and kept the stories moving forward, making the protagonists' journeys that much more difficult.

As for plot, The Kite Runner has 2 main characters, two boys, who grow up together and are inextricably linked. They are born into different classes in society, but it doesn't become an issue until one allows it to be. A Thousand Splendid Suns has two female characters also of different backgrounds who become inextricably linked because they end up in a forced marriage to the same man, and live as women in a Taliban ruled Afghanistan. The women become bonded through their oppression and torture by their husband. It is their bond that gets them through their darkest days. Similarly, it is the bond between the two boys that, although they are apart as adults, shapes their adult experiences, and gets them through their most difficult obstacles. Hassan returns to Amir's home in memory of his friend. And it is Amir who returns to Afghanistan also for his friend. (I'm trying not to give away too much in case you haven't read either of these books).

Loyalty and friendship are at the heart of these books, suggesting that as long as we remain true to our friends, we remain true to ourselves and can overcome any obstacle. That's what I glean from these books. Two boys who ran kites together, read together, played & laughed together, are made better because of their strong relationship. Two girls bonded when they are women, find a deep friendship in the other when they hadn't expected it. Even in a dark time, they find a way to laugh, smile, and seek a way out of their oppressive life.

If you've read one and liked it, then I assure you, you will like the other. If you haven't read either then I recommend you chose whichever book you come across first. Either one of them I recommend.

Waiting for Columbus

The write-up for this novel, written by Canadian Thomas Trofimuk, was really intriguing. Here is an excerpt from the flap: In this captivating novel, a man who believes that he is Christopher Columbus looks into a two-way mirror in a contemporary Spanish mental institution and says: "It's time, Nurse Consuela, that you knew the story of how I got my boats."

What we have in Waiting for Columbus is a craftily woven tale of three converging lives: the mysterious, unidentifiable man in the mental institution who believes he's Christopher Columbus; a lonely nurse who befriends him and who listens to his tales in an attempt to try to unravel the mystery behind this man, and who develops feelings she shouldn't have for a patient; and a wounded, tormented Interopol agent on the trail of a man gone missing after a terrorist attack.

The character of Columbus, both 15th century and modern day, is complex and charming. The 15th century Columbus is a bit of a dolt, but he's stubborn, falls in love easily, and has a huge internal struggle associated with getting his three ships to sail to the new world. This internal struggle mirrors the external struggle he faces with the scientists of the time, the Spanish Inquisition, and Queen Isabella & King Ferdinand - not to mention his friends and family. Contemporary Columbus is a weaver of amazing tales, a bit of an escape artist, and a colourful character on a psychiatric ward full of colourful characters. He is incredibly compelling and heavily veiled in mystique.

Nurse Consuela is essentially spying on Columbus, taking meticulous notes of whatever he tells her so that she can help the treating psychiatrist unravel the mystery of this man. Having her own demons to deal with, she is vulnerable and eventually winds up falling in love with the man.

As for the Interpol agent, Emile, we see less of him than we do the other two main characters, but he is also very compelling in his own way, especially as he is on a journey of healing himself.

It took me about 150 pages to get into this book, which, until then, I found mildly confusing and not overly gripping, but once the author got rid of the dipstick psychiatrist who wasn't getting anywhere with Columbus and replaced him with a new guy who was also a great character, things began to pick up. The individual threads began to tighten and make sense, and at the end I was barely able to put this book down because the climax and denouement were beautiful, painful, and utterly gripping. I nearly cried.

This is an amazing story replete with humour, pathos, exquisite detail, and emotion. Read it!

Once An Eagle by Anton Myer

Here is one lengthy book. Its over 1200 pages. Oh by the way i just wanted to apologize to those of you who read my little Milwaukee Adventure instead of a book review earlier. I deleted it and put it on my main blog. For some reason I thought I had my main blog and I had it here. Anyway enjoy the book if you decide to shovel through.



I have to say we all know or knew some one in the first world war right?? We have read about it and what not in history and have had relatives telling stories about how they survived this and that and how the women worked in the factories when the men were out getting shot or killed. OOPs same thing.. I havent finished it but I can still give you my view on the book. I dont want to spoil it anyway.

Here is a young Sam Damon with a friend of his outside on a beautiful day and he tells her he has something to tell her. Well she guesses anyway and he finds it upsetting his sister opened her mouth. Well anyway this friend wants him to stay and work at the bank her father runs instead of going off into the Army. She begs and pleads with him but no such luck.

Sam works as a night clerk in bar/whore house you might say.. I cant think of the right word. If you do please correct me. He reads up on history while working the late night shift. Then he decides he is going to go talk to the commissioner in the next county. He is a boy of 18 and lost his father and his mother doesnt have the money to send him to West Point to get what he needs to be in the Army. Well he makes it there and suprises this commissioner.


The commsioner is so astonished by this boy that he puts in a few words for Sam to take the test and Sam passes it with flying colors but the catch is Sam has to wait a year to get into West Point. Sam doesnt want to wait that long. So he goes and joins the Army with out West Point behind him.

Well in the process the war starts up and Sam is shipped over to somewhere. They are fighting the Germans. He ends up getting like six of his guys back in one sitting that had been taken captive and then a few hundred yards off they take this one place and hold it until reinforcements come. Pretty cool. His side Kick Devlin is with him all the way.

After this Sam and Devlin are relaxing and meet these two young ladies and Devlin falls head over heals for the one. Things turn sour and then he tries to be one of the runners. Well Sam talks him into going back in but not too soon afterwards Devlin gets shot and dies from his wounds.

Well WWI ends and everyone goes home. Sam meets his bride to be before going home. They get married. They move around from base to base. They end up with there oldest child a son. They name him Donny. Tommy has Sam promise never to get him mixed up in the Army life. She grew up as an Army Brat as you call them. Sam promises but you just never know.

Then Sam ends up going over to China to help with something over there because he is a good solider. Well he helps win what they wand and comes home.

Guess what happens next and where I am at now. About 900 pages into the book we are in WWII. Yes they have just over taken Moapora. Sam walked himself right through malaria. It says most people would have died before walking through this episode of Malaria. Sam is with another friend named Ben. This Ben has been there since the beginning but didnt make a major roll until now with Sam. They are in Australia trying to rest up before being shipped back out again to either go home War Heroes or Dead in Body bags.

Well Ben is married with three kids of his own he is feeling around the edges since his wife isnt with him. Sam is tempted but realizes his marriage means more to him than Ben's does I guess. Anyway that is where I am at and going to leave you. Its a long book and some pretty dry parts but interesting none the less. Some history I have forgotten about and with this war with Iraqu I have been more inclined to read it.

Its not the same but we still have soliders coming home in body bags or terribly wounded from this new War. Life is not the same as we knew it 8 years ago.

I give it 7.5 tweets out of ten.

Await Your Reply

The flap of Dan Chaon's Await Your Reply reads: "Longing to get on with his life, Miles Cheshire nevertheless can’t stop searching for his troubled twin brother, Hayden, who has been missing for ten years. Hayden has covered his tracks skillfully, moving stealthily from place to place, managing along the way to hold down various jobs and seem, to the people he meets, entirely normal. But some version of the truth is always concealed."

The flap also says this book is "gripping" but I have been gripped tighter by a baby Dungeoness crab's 2cm long pincer on a college biology club trip to the coast when I was 18. It hurt and I bled. And that experience was far more exciting than this book was.

The story revolves around three seemingly unconnected characters who have some uncanny things in common - namely close associates or relatives of theirs are not who we think they are, and they all are involved in faked deaths in some way. Miles Cheshire seeks his schizophrenic, shape-shifting twin brother and drives all the way from Cleveland to Inuvik, NWT to find him. Lucy Lattimore runs off with her high school history teacher in his Mazerati hoping to leave behind personal tragedy and a pedestrian life. Ryan Schuyler suddenly decides to leave his life at university to fall in with his con-man of a father, hoping to find himself through becoming other people.

Though these stories seem to be unconnected, you know that they must be connected somehow, and the only really engaging mystery of this novel for mewas to figure out what that connection was. It led to a let down, some frustration, and more questions. In a way the climax and denouement were clever, but not clever enough to make me thin, WOW! It was more of a "this author just thinks he's so clever doesn't he?" kind of clever. When I was finished the book I was irritated more than anything.

I could see this book making a great Hollywood movie, actually. And I would probably have enjoyed that more.

Mathilda Savitch

This book, by first-time novelist Victor Lodato, is one of Random House's hot new releases and I just finished it last night! The flap on the cover of Mathilda Savitch reads:

"Fear doesn't come naturally to Mathilda Savitch. She prefers to look right at the things nobody else can bring themselves to mention: for example, the fact that her beloved older sister is dead, pushed in front of a train by a man still on the loose. Her grief-stricken parents have basically been sleepwalking ever since, and it is Mathilda's sworn mission to shock them back to life. Her strategy? Being bad."

At first this book reminded me of a Lovely Bones and The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie hybrid. You had the mysterious death & killer on the loose, and the getting over grief aspects from Lovely Bones, and the precocious, spunky, and smart heroine aspect from the latter book. Yet, this book was more complex than either of them.

The Savitch family is falling apart nearly one year after Mathilda's sister, Helene, dies after being pushed in front of a moving train. Through Mathilda's eyes, we see how her parents' grief has stagnated their lives and their marriage. Their inability to move on is sharply contrasted with Mathilda's strong desire to solve the mystery of Helene's death and her pro-activeness to achieve this goal. It takes her on a journey that enables her to move on from her grief and to come of age, even though what she learns about her sister's secret life isn't pretty. This story exemplifies how, in order to move forward with life after a tragic loss, we on some level must almost shed a skin, much like a growing snake.

I have to be honest, though: this book didn't grip me the way I was expecting it to. It was intense and I could only read it for small periods at a time. Mathilda was a little much for me at times, and her shennanigans were sometimes bizarre and annoying.

I also found the ending anti-climactic and a tad bit disappointing. I was expecting a bit more concrete a resolution and was only left with more questions. Mathilda, for all her cunning and smarts, lost her resolve at the end and didn't give me what I was anticipating. Not that I need a nicely tied up ending in every book I read, but in this case...It just didn't work for me.

But who knows? Maybe one of you will have a different experience!

Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures - Vincent Lam

Vincent Lam is not your typical Can Lit darling. And although this literary debut garnered the Giller Prize in 2006, Lam does not spend his days in a coffee shop penning precious words. Rather he is an emergency room physician, who taps into his professional experiences and his memories of medical school to create this highly compelling collection of short stories.

I love short stories, but am sometimes left feeling that the story was simply too brief or that I have been cheated out of a deeper understanding of the characters by the brevity of the tale. Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures is a book of interconnected short stories, and thus it is highly satisfying to see recurring characters surface in later stories. The stories, although not strictly chronological, do follow a timeline of sorts, as the characters age and advance in their professions. In How to Get into Medical School Part 1, the first story in the collection, we see Fitzgerald and Ming striving to pass their entrance exams. Their troubled relationship, as it evolves and crumbles through the years, forms the basis of these tales of the driven, intelligent and often very flawed people who inhabit these stories.

I found myself quite drawn to Fitzgerald and, despite some really horrible character flaws he eventually reveals, continued to root for his character throughout the book. It’s a sign of a well-written character, I think, who can continue to garner sympathy and affection from the reader, despite being revealed to be deeply flawed.

I highly recommend Vincent Lam’s Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures. Not only are the characters wonderfully rounded, but the underlying medical tales are fascinating and will appeal to anyone with an interest in the medical sciences. There is even a substantial glossary of medical terms at the end of the book.

Do read it!

Dazzle by Judith Krantz

Ok here are a few questions that I want to ask before I start this book review.

One: Has anyone ever dreamed of being richer than they know how to spend the money Or have the dreamed that they were so rich they spent the money before they even thought about it??

Two: Do any of you like me have brothers and sisters or half siblings that want nothing to do with you?? I mean I have two half brothers and a half sister that I know and a few more that have an idea I exist but dont know me.

Ok the book starts off with Mike Kilkullen and his beautiful girlfriend at the beginning and he is a rancher. Sure strong stereo type man and powerful with the ropes of the world at his finger tips basically. Well they get to messing around and decide they want more than just touching so they elope and come back married. They act happy for many years to come and then when their daughters are like 11 and 13 they get divorced.

Well Mike finds another woman in the process. She is a gorgeous actress. She is in and out of his life but he decides it worth it. When they met she told him that if it worked for them she would be in and out a lot doing films. Well Mikes divorce was stopping them from getting married right away but when it was settled Mike and Slyvie got married right away. They ended up with a daughter Jazz.

Slyvie stayed home for the first ten months being mother but after that she got antsy to just sit and be mother and wife. Well in the process she ended up doing many films and was in and of Mike and Jazz's life but when Jazz was eight Slyvie went to do a movie and finished it and went to be with her lover one more night before returning to the Ranch. They were speeding down the highway and Slyvie and the car and her lover went over the edge of the cliff.

Well earlier that year Jazz had gotten a camera for her B-day. Well she had taken a photo of her mother and it hurt so bad when her mother passed on. She was only eight. Some of you know what I mean when you lose some one at an early age.

Anyway as Jazz grew up she realized she wanted to be a photographer and she became a good one. She fell in love at age 18 and was almost married at age 21. Her love of her life walked out on her the night before and she lived in Paris because he was a photojounalist.

What caught my eye was how she put her life back together after all this.

She just put her mind to being what she wanted and knew what she could be and didnt stop for anyone. She ended up with a Rep for her being a photographer and made a mean dent in life with what she accomplished. Then she went to a Feista her father held every year and met this guy and then realized after a long story with him in the book that he was the one.

I am skipping around here and I am very sorry for it. I have a heck of a time keeping my mind in one area of the book when its a good book. All I can say is that her older half sisters disliked her until the end of the book when they realized they could make millions by splitting the Killkullen Ranch up and putting a small Village in one corner of it.

I am going to sign off here with the thoughts of it. I would give it a 9.5 tweets of 10...

Nothing is Strange With You

This is the true story of serial killer Gordon Stewart Northcott, the man portrayed in The Changeling. And a strange man he was. If you think you have a dysfunctional family, you've got nothing on the Northcotts: A batty mother who may or may not have aided in at least one of the murders, and insisted that she was secretly married to an English aristocrat; a meek father so frightened of his own wife and son that he stuck up for them even when they (falsely) declared he had sired Stewart by his own daughter; a son so pampered that he believed he had a right to own anything he wanted, including people. Unfortunately, these folks were Canadian - though they lived illegally in the U.S. during the events recounted here.
A disturbing, but fascinating, read. Author James Jeffrey Paul spent twenty years researching Northcott and his murky background; you'll learn anything you wanted to know about the "Wineville Chicken Coop Murders" and more. I've updated my post on the real stories behind The Changeling with info from this book.

The Wife's Tale

Lori Lansens' The Wife's Tale tells the story of Mary Gooch, morbidly obese and abandoned by her husband on the eve of their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.

When we first encounter Mary Gooch, she is waiting for her husband, Jimmy, to return from work, and when he doesn't show she starts to worry. We then get a portrait of a woman who is constantly feeding her sorrow and emptiness with binge eating. On the very first page, a great image is described: Mary looks as if she "were enrobed in by a subcutaneous duvet." Spending most of her life as an compulsive overeater, the only time Mary was slender was as a teen after she contracted a case of GI worms after berry-picking. During this short window of acceptable body weight, she attracts the attention of Jimmy Gooch, high school basketball star and jock with a damaged past of his own. Upon discovering Mary's pregnancy just after high school graduation, the couple marry, only to have their marriage slowly unravel due to a string of reproductive and personal tragedies that create emotional distance, loneliness, and erosion of intimacy.

The descriptions of Mary's binges, obesity, and all the problems, both major and minor, both physical and mental, that result from her size were compelling, as was the character of Mary herself. Not only encased in her fat, she is oblivious to the world outside the small cocoon of the county in which she lives. She's never been anywhere and has so little experience of life outside her eating and regular daily routine that she's as naive about the world as a pre-schooler. When she strikes out on her own after her husband leaves, every discovery about the world and the people in it she makes is as delightful to read as it is to witness the joy on a child's face when you introduce him or her to a new experience.

Despite Mary's flaws, she is a sympathetic, lovable character whom I had a lot of compassion for. The Wife's Tale is about breaking free from the past and the present, and creating a different future from the broken down pieces of something that had died long ago. I found myself rooting for this fictional woman, because although her corpulence was self-created, the issues and motivations Mary has, as well as her fight to create something new for herself, are universal experiences most of us can identify with.

Definitely a recommend!

The Shortest Distance Between Two Women

The back cover says "Bestselling author Kris Radish takes the emotional measure of mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends in her wise and wonderful new novel of a woman unsure if she's on the verge of a breakdown...or a breakthrough..."

The Shortest Distance Between Two Women centres around 43 year old Emma, and the stresses revolving around her role as the organizer of a very large annual family reunion. However, life seems to be getting in the way, distracting her from her duties. An old love reappears. Her oldest sister is discovered to be an alcoholic and in a bit of a marital crisis. Her relationships with her other two sisters suddenly becomes rocky. Her mother is acting very strangely. And her favourite niece is navigating the rocky road to womanhood. Emma's life appears to be imploding.

This book had the unfortunate position of being the first book I read after The Thirteenth Tale, and I have to say it was quite mediocre in comparison. There were long stretches of the novel where I felt that Emma was indulging in a lot of self-pitying whining, and playing the victim ad nauseam. It was only near the end of the book, when the much-anticipated family reuninon actually took place that things began to tie together and become more relevant to the overall themes. There are a lot of wise and insightful statements about family relationships said in the last few pages that were poignant and emotional, but otherwise the Emma character was mostly annoying to me, and I couldn't help but become bored with her very quickly. The rest of the cast, like Marty the mom and the niece, Stephie, were far more interesting, but we didn't get as much of their internal dialogue as we did Emma's.

In the end, a ho-hum read.

Dirt Music

Australia's Tim Winton's dirt music is a story Georgie Jutland and Lu Fox whose one encounter disrupts their lives forever. Doesn't sound too earth shattering does it? But the stories are unique and unfold in an unexpected manner. Winton is a fine writer and has crafted a very fine novel.

The novel follows each character separately as they go on their own bruised journeys to try and muddle through life as best as they can. Once they find each other it disrupts their way of life and they can no longer live the way they've been living. However, that is easier said than done. Each character's journey after their encounter becomes a jouney of self-healing.

As the plot unfolds, Georgie's and Fox’s life stories are doled out in bite size pieces throughout the book so we spend time imagining what might of happened until the facts of what really happened are revealed. This worked well to draw me into the characters' lives. While I learned about Georgie through her actions, Fox is a more internal character and we experience him through his memories and nostalgia. We are drawn to each character for different reasons and experience pain and suffering in different ways. Georgie soothes herself with drinking, but also with water. She's often swimming in the ocean or a pool. It's her retreat from the pain of being in her skin. For Fox he lives in the darkness. He poaches before the day breaks and seems to live without being seen by anyone. He keeps himself hidden from the world as best he can.

Georgie has found herself in a bland, but easy relationship with Jim, the revered fisherman in White Point, the one that all the others look to and often model their behaviour after. His family is renowned in the community. Georgie has filled the gap after the death of Jim’s wife, and at a time when she leaves her profession as a nurse behind because she is burnt out. Life with Jim is easy. Money is not a worry, and while her relationship with Jim’s two sons is often tense, Georgie makes a half-hearted attempt to make this “family” work. Georgie is restless though, and her encounter with Fox makes her more restless. She seems to bide her time until she can escape from that life. The question for Georgie is will she do it?

Fox is trapped in a home that no longer exists. Once a musician with his brother and sister-in-law who played "dirt music" (blues/folk), he gives up music when he loses them in a tragic accident; Fox is the sole survivor. Without them he’s lost his way. He works as a poacher, illegally fishing in White Point. Fox is muddling through his life stuck in memory and nostalgia. His encounter with Georgie opens old wounds. The Fox family is superstitiously thought to be bad luck and the town would prefer they didn't exist. It also makes Fox feel emotions he's certain he doesn't want to feel again and he tries to escape.

Even though Fox and Georgie's emotional and sexual encounter is unlike anything they've felt in a long time, they do what they do best: retreat. They realize that they can't be together since Jim and the town would probably lynch Fox and burn his house to the ground. They think it is best to stay away from each other. However, what's done is done. Deep down they both know that they can't be apart. No matter how hard they try, they can't escape how they feel about each other and how their brief encounter made them feel alive again.

Georgie retreats to playing the dutiful housewife with a drink always nearby. Fox retreats to the wild remote coast of northern Australia. Each of them begins to heal in their own way.

It's a powerful novel. Although I had trouble with some of the Australian jargon and not knowing some of the wildlife, I also found that the story could not be from anywhere else. It felt like what I imagine wild western Australia to be like. For me it was a glimpse into a world I wasn't too familiar with, but the characters' stories are universal and very engaging.

I know Wandering Coyote wasn't particularly fond of this novel, but I want to thank her for sending it on to me. I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. I kept thinking about what a wonderful film it would make. Of course it looks like that's already in the works.

The Thirteenth Tale

I picked this novel by Diane Setterfield up at a second hand bookstore where I trade in my books and finally got around to reading it this weekend.

I did nothing else all weekend but read this book - well, except berry picking and cleaning the bathroom. Sunday in particular was spent curled up on my uncomfortable couch with this book in hand and Apocalyptica playing on my iTunes. You have no idea how appropriate that music was for this novel...

I don't know how to express exactly how I feel about this book, other than to say I was gripped to the point of obsession and simply had to tear myself away from it quite painfully to leave the house for the huckleberry patch & to clean the bathroom. In fact, I had a hard time tearing myself away from it even to go to the bathroom. It was that good.

I can safely say this is one of the best books I've read in a while. It was stunning. It was dark, creepy, mysterious, well-crafted, well-told, unique, suspenseful, Gothic, full of surprises, layered with symbolism, imagery and literary allusions...I could go on and on...

The Thirteenth Tale is a story within a story within the story. We start out with our main character, Margaret Lea, who, at about 30, has lived her life in her father's antiquarian bookshop and read just about everything out there there is to read. She has a family secret she's kept that has obsessed her since childhood and has been detrimental to her relationship with her mother. She's also an amateur biographer, and a biography she published about a pair of siblings caught the eye of a famous British writer named Vida Winter. Vida is dying and hires Margaret to write her biography, where she promises Margaret she'll tell her "the truth." Vida has written prolifically a series of fiction novels, but is a recluse and no one knows a thing about her. Her most famous book is a collection called Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation but the volume is missing the thirteenth tale, and her fans and followers are all waiting with baited breath for this thirteenth tale to appear...

The story we are told, however, is utterly Gothic in nature and so full of mystery, surprises, and suspense that it made for incredible reading. Nothing I can say about this book will do it justice, in fact. The language simply doesn't exist.

I'm still not sure when I can move on to the next book in my stack of TBRs gathering dust on my shelf...I can't get this story out of my mind.

A DEFINITE recommend.

What They Wanted - Donna Morrissey

I should offer a disclaimer about this book. I received it as a wonderfully unexpected gift from that kind and clever wordsmith, Gifted Typist. And what I received was not only a solid hardcover edition that felt so substantial in my hands, but a copy that was autographed to me by the author, a personal friend of the dear typist. With that kind of introduction and those personal connections, of course I wanted to love this novel.

In What They Wanted, Donna Morrissey explores the dynamics within a family who are clinging to a way of life in an isolated Newfoundland outport, as filtered through the eyes of the eldest, the only daughter, returned home following her father’s heart attack. Sylvie has long been trying to entice Chris, the middle son, the talented artist, away from this limiting life and into an academic life where his gift and his dreams can blossom. However, when Chris insists instead upon following Sylvie back to Alberta’s oilpatch to make some quick money to bolster the family’s failing resources, the tensions within the family come to a head.

Sylvie has always had a volatile relationship with her mother, whom she sees as having essentially abandoned her in favour of lavishing excessive devotion upon the preferred child, Chris. In turn, her mother feels betrayed by Sylvie’s abandonment of the family, made far worse by the fact that now two of her children have gone into the world far beyond the insulated world of Newfoundland’s hostile yet embracing coast.

And when the brother and sister find a world of machismo and a perplexing hierarchy in the oil rigs, they struggle to deal with the family’s past and with existing relationships that haunt them. When tragedy strikes, it comes not as a shock, but rather as a culmination of an encroaching sense of dread that these are people who are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I admit that I had a couple of difficulties with What They Wanted. Initially I had some problems with the colloquialisms used in this book. Morrissey’s characters speak in a broad Newfoundland dialect, and it felt a trifle odd to me, uncertain as I was of the authenticity of this particular vernacular. I think this is largely a result of the flap that E. Annie Proulx caused when she wrote The Shipping News in a Newfoundland dialect that most people concur was simply fabricated. However, since Morrissey is herself from Newfoundland, I will take it on faith that the way in which her characters speak is authentic.

I also found it hard to understand the degree of animosity between Sylvie and her mother. I found myself wanting to smack their heads together at times, to tell them to suck it up and put their issues of estrangement behind them. To me, the intensity of their relationship felt a little overwrought and not entirely believable, but perhaps that’s simply because that sort of relationship has never really entered into my sensibilities.

However, the raw pain with which Morrissey imparts the tragedy in the novel is entirely and painfully believable. It was rather hard to read, the aftermath of the accident, so intensely naked was the grief. But through the overwhelming loss and guilt and isolation that Morrissey explores in the grieving, comes an understanding and ultimately a catharsis.

What They Wanted is a gripping and at times wrenching novel. Despite the small quibbles I had with it, I was left with a lasting memory of this particular family, of the strength of blood ties and the bonds of loss.

The Da Vinci Code

Wow was this an interesting book for those of you who havent heard or read it. I am not very religious and dont follow what most people do in there lives ok.. I do know that this was suppose to be border line religous.

This 7 year old Albino kills his father because his father beat his mother to death. Yikes that tells you something there doesnt it?? I mean sure those that have heard about abuse in house holds want to do stuff to those that hurt but come one do or would we really do it??

Well this Albino forgot what his parents named him so when he met this priest he was called Silas. Well Silas grows up and helps builds a few churches and a very faithful person to the priest. Well in the end he ends up trying to help get the Holy Grail.

This is where the story goes funny at least for me. I mean you think of the Holy Grail as a cup from like the Monty Python and the Holy Grail but according to the book its a woman. There is probably stuff I missed here but as always I get my point across I hope.

Well in the mean time a man named Langdon is in Paris making a speech on the Grail and his beliefs. A curator of the museum of Paris was suppose to meet with Langdon and ends up dead and Langdon gets the first suspect thing going. Well Langdon meets up with this Sophie Nevue. She warns him that he is in danger and they go on the run. They find hidden codes in messages left by the curator for them to follow.

This Albino follows them. The priest who raised Silas was in on the murder with another man. Well anyway the story takes a twist here and you would never believe who the man was and why.. I will not spoil anymore of the book.

If you have not read this I think you should. If you have seen the movie dont spoil that for me because we havent seen it yet. I am going to add that to my netflix que..

Rhapsody

I love immersing myself in fantasy fiction - it truly is escapism. I came across this novel, Rhapsody, by Elizabeth Haydon, at a second hand book store, and both the cover and the write-up on the back intrigued me.

I read on Rhapsody's sequel's Amazon page this quote: "In a book world awash in sword-slinging fantasy novels, each trying to out-Jordan the other, the arrival of yet another big new series on the scene is...no big deal." I love the term "out-Jordan" because it's so true - or at least it would have been in 1999, when Rhapsody was published. Now anyone can out-Jordan Jordan himself because Robert Jordan is dead.

Rhapsody is a young woman of Lirin birth and a kind of magical singer. One day, on the run from a man who wants to possess her, she comes across two fishy characters who get her out of a bind. She ends up joining these two characters, Achmed and Grunthor, on an epic journey literally through the centre of the earth - and through centuries of time. When they get to the other side, the find they are in a completely different world altogether, and they have to start not only finding navigating their way through new language and culture, but also they must also destroy an ancient evil before it destroys this new world.

So much happens in this novel, it almost felt like a trilogy in itself. Haydon does a smart thing to keep it simple: she keeps her cast of main characters to three and spends a lot of time developing their personality and dynamics. This isn't a story diluted with a cast you can't keep track of and who each has a subplot revolving around him/her. Plot-wise, this is very tight, though it did seem to drag a bit in the last quarter.

The writing is excellent. Craft-wise, Haydon can create suspense, theme, drama, and poignancy without bogging her prose down; she keeps her structure tight, and her transitions between point of view characters were smooth. The magical elements are more mystical in quality than high fantasy stuff, which is always nice to see.

So, I'm very much looking forward to getting my hands on the rest of the series, which contains two more books, Prophesy and Destiny.

The Fruit Hunters

I've had this book sitting around for a long time, and I procrastinated for months before finally finishing it today. One of the reasons was the introduction didn't grip me. An introduction should be gripping, shouldn't it? Somewhat? The second reason was that we were having cat peeing/marking issues at the time, and this book was a victim. I sat it on the stairs, where it collected dust and cat hair, so that it could dry out and de-odourize a bit. Eventually, I got sick of it there and did my duty as a book reviewer.

The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce, and Obsession by Adam Leith Gollner is a wild ride to say the least. Taking the reader to the margins of society - much like Krakauer did in Under the Banner of Heaven - this book explores the world of, well, fruit. But not just our grocery store fruit - we're talking the exotic, the rare, and the downright weird fruits that 99% of us will never see in our lives. Gollner travelled the planet during his research, going to the Seychelles in search of the endangered coco-de-mer; the junlges of Borneo to sample the stinky durian in it's natural habitat; Cameroon in search of the miracle fruit; as well as a bunch of other far off places like Hawaii, Thailand, and South America. Along the way, Gollner exposes a cornecopeia of not only exotic fruits, but strange, strange people.

As with most books I read, it's the characters that grab me, and this book was no different. The author meets some of the most obsessed whackos non-fiction has to offer. You couldn't make up some of these people if you wanted to.

There are fruitarian Doomsday cultists in Arizona. There are vicious fruitleggers. There are mega-rich men who spend their time collecting exotic fruit trees. There is the weirdo who invented the Grapple. There are men who make it their life's work to go clomping around the world's jungles cataloging every fruit they come across. There is the guy in Florida commonly known as "Graftin' Clafton", who is addicted to grafting to the point where security guards now make him leave his grafting implements at the door when he enters a certain botanical garden (he'd been caught grafting different species there too many times).

The Fruit Hunters also is a depressing overview of our modern fruit and agriculture industries. The chapter on marketing fruits here in North America was extremely disheartening. I will never go into a grocery store's produce aisle and look at the fruit displayed there the same way ever again.

A few things I'd like to point out:

• never buy Grapples. Trust me. It's not worth it and I wouldn't give that idiot any of my money
• 90% of the foods we eat derive from about 30 plant species
• fruit hunting isn't cheap, which is why it seems to be dominated by rich white men - most of them American
• some guy named Bob Harvey invented a nuclear powered artificial heart in the 1960s - WTF?

A fascinating read, one that I totally recommend.

Award & Convergence

Charlie very kindly bestowed upon me this lovely award for straight-shooting book reviewers:


Direct.
Honest.
When you like a book, you say why.
When you don’t like a book, you don’t mince words or sugarcoat it.
That’s why you get the Straight Shooter award.

Thank you, my friend!

And now for a straight-shooting book review, this time the first installment of a fantasy series by Sharon Green called The Blending. Convergence, the first of five books, apparently, tells the story of five men & women who come together to do the magical testing required by the laws of their land. Each represents an element: Air, Water, Fire, Earth, and Spirit, and each come from a very different background with very different motivations for travelling to their empire's capital city for the testing apart from legal reasons. Each is trying to escape something and each is on a very particular journey that will not only test their magical talents, but their personal limits, beliefs, and backgrounds.

Convergence is about these five characters converging not only on the capital of Gan Garee for the magical testing, but into each other's lives. They are forced to live together, which leads to tension but also to the cliche liasons one would expect to find in a book about a group of twenty-somethings living together in a nice house with a huge bath-house and nice gardens. Of course, they all have issues but that doesn't keep them from having mind-blowing sex. ZzzzzzZzzzzz...

Still, despite the boinking, this was a pretty good introduction to a series. Each character is loveable in his or her own way and it was an engaging read. Unfortunately, the books appear to be out of print. I got this one from a second hand bookstore where I trade my books at, so I'll have to go back there and see if they have any of the rest of the series.