A List

I fell down in my blogging of every book I read for the year. Here at least is a list, if not a review of each.
First there's my Scandinavian mystery period!
The Ice Princess-- Camilla Lackberg
The Preacher -- Lackberg
The Red Breast -- Jo Nesbro
Nemesis -- Nesbro
The Devil's Star -- Nesbro
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo -- Steig Larsson

And all the others that I can remember, or look up on my library record:

Florence of Arabia -- Christopher Buckley --great satire!
Sugarmilk Falls -- Ilona van Mil
When Will There Be Good News -- Kate Atkinson
The Caliph's House -- Tahir Shah
The Language of Bees -- Laurie R. King
When Gods Die -- C.S. Harris
The Thirteenth Tale -- Diane Setterfield
The Hour That I First Believed -- Wally Lamb
Free Fire -- Alafair Burke
The Arms Maker of Berlin -- Dan Fesperman
Christine Falls -- Benjamin Black
The Lemur -- Benjamin Black
What They Wanted -- Donna Morrissey
The Girl Who Played with Fire -- Steig Larsson
The Forgotten Garden -- Kate Morton
The Elegance of the Hedgehog -- Muriel Barberry

And the best book I read this year--
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, a wonderful collection of linked short stories that revolve around Olive, presenting a realistic portrait of a flawed human being written in luminous prose.

After the Hiatus

I stopped blogging in April because I went back to work at the end of the month and had no time to do anything! I finished the LTO in English at the end of June, and it's taken me this long to recover! But I didn't stop reading.

Here are a few titles I've liked.
I usually read mysteries for relaxation and had seen good reviews of Tana French. I read In the Woods and liked it a lot. Then I got The Likeness, her follow-up novel and I couldn't put it down. Unfortunately, you have to read them in order, because the second book gives away lots of detail about the first (Don't you hate that?!) In this case, it's because she creates such interesting characters that evolve from book to book, so it's not a bad thing.

The Crossing Place by Ellie Griffiths is another mystery that I raced through. I'm interested in archaeology and this first novel fit me to a tee. The suspenseful climactic scene at the end is a bit over the top, but again I enjoyed the characters since this looks like the beginning of a series, I be looking out for her next.
Astonishing Splashes of Colour by Clare Morrall was shortlisted for the 2003 Booker and I don't know why it didn't win. I'll have to look up who beat her. This is an original narrative voice, in much the same way as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. She's not autistic, but she has synesthasia, which is the ability (or disability??) of experiencing one sense with another. In Kitty's case, it's colour. It's a quest for a mother in a dysfunctional family. You get more information about Kitty as you read on, and I don't want to spoil it. The characters feel real; the situations may be a bit exaggerated, but I don't find them unbelievable; and though some reviews have said the ending is a bit off, I liked the whole thing. I don't think life ties up all the ends anyway...

The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman

This non-fiction book, based on the meticulous journals of Antonina, wife of the zookeeper in Warsaw, is easily read but not easily forgotten. The family managed to stay in the house on the city zoo property, through the zookeeper Jan's connections and his ability to convince authorities to keep the zoo operating in various forms including as a vegetable garden and a fur ranch and in doing so, they managed to save 300 people and help them make their way out of the ghetto to safety. Although Christian, they saw no difference in people based on their religion and put their own lives in jeopardy to care for Jewish Poles.

But the book is much more than a record of the family's life on the zoo grounds. Jan was an active member of the Polish underground, and Ackerman documents the activities of the Jews trapped in Poland and earmarked for the Nazi's most brutal treatment. She tells of an underground high school, a university and a hospital operating in the ghetto; she reveals the ways that people were able to move in and out of the ghetto; and how messages and supplies were sent back and forth between the ghetto and the Polish government in exile in London. There is also a wealth of information on the Nazis' attempts to recreate various extinct northern European animals that they considered properly Aryan.

Although I have read much about the Holocaust, this intimate portrait of life in Warsaw instilled admiration in me for the Poles--their history, their culture, and the devastation the Nazi's wreaked on Warsaw. And then, in what should have been their liberation at the end of the war, the Allies stood by while Russia pushed into Warsaw and continued the oppression of this proud people.

Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson

This third novel by Norwegian Petterson was listed on the Ten Best Books of the year by The New York Times, and since a former colleague had recommended it highly, I decided I better read it. And I was not disappointed. The characters are interesting and finely drawn; the action circles around past events; and the writing is outstanding.

The main character, Trond, is 67 years old and has bought an isolated cabin to live in. The chance meeting with a character from the past living in a cabin nearby, causes the narrator to think back to events in the summer of 1948 in an isolated area of Norway, near the Swedish border, that shaped his life. This is a coming-of-age novel as they should be written--we see the transformation from boy to man through a series of events as he thinks back and realizes their significance. The events involve his family and a neighbouring family, as well as things that happened during the Nazi occupation of Norway.Emotions and feelings between characters are beautifully conveyed through actions. Although I would class this as a "man's book" (defined by a reviewer on CBC as one that doesn't mention upholstery or soft furnishings!!) I found it lyrical and lovely--a far cry from The Road, that other "man's book" that I could barely finish.

This novel made me think about how difficult it must be to convey the author's unique style when you translate it into another language. I looked at the blurb and discovered that Anne Born, the translator, is a poet. It shows.

Touchstone by Laurie R. King

I am a huge Laurie R. King fan, so I was excited to find this at the library when I was browsing the shelves. Somehow I missed it when it was published last year. This is not part of her two series--Mary Russell historical mysteries or the modern Kate Martinelli ones. Whatever she writes has a historical aspect to it, and this novel is no exception.

Set in the 20s, the main character is an American FBI agent who comes to Britain to try to find proof that a rising Labour politican and strike organizer is responsible for three bombs set off in the U.S. He has a personal motive as well--his beloved younger brother was severely injured in one of the explosions. In Britain, Harris Stuyvesant becomes involved with a strange bunch--there's Carstairs, the slippery powerbroker who seems to be playing his own games; Bunsen, the main suspect, a powerful orator and his lover Lady Laura Hurleigh, a member of one of the oldest families in England; Bennett Gray, whose war injuries have given him an usual ability--he can tell just by being in the room with someone if they are telling the truth--and Bennett's younger sister Sarah, whom Harris finds extremely attractive. Somewhere in this stew is the likelihood of a bomb, a plot to discredit the Labour party, a possible general strike, and the machinations of a man who models himself on Machiavelli.

King's descriptions of England are lovely and she seems to catch the flavour of the times, with many in England rethinking the rigid class structure that the war has called into question. I never thought of England having a 'revolution of its own,' as Harris puts it, and modelling itself on the U.S. However, for all its strengths, I have to say that this is not at the top of my list of King books to recommend. It doesn't appear to be the start of a new series, although Harris Stuyvesant is an interesting character. If you haven't read anything by her, The Beekeeper's Apprentice, is the first in her Sherlock Holmes series. And make sure you start reading the Kate Martinelli series from the first one as well. The relationships in her series develop in interesting ways, and you wouldn't want to read them out of order.

Payback by Margaret Atwood

This is the print version of the Massey Lectures, aired on CBC in November. I tried to download the podcast onto my new iPod, but was unsuccessful, so I read the book. I had the constant sense of her voice in my head as I read, although I'm not sure if this because of her style, or my initial desire to listen to the broadcasts. In any case, I loved this volume. Like all the Massey Lectures, there are five chapters, corresponding to the five programs broadcast. Atwood looks at debt through the lens of the social sciences and includes her own personal stories about learning lessons of debt and money as a child. She looks at the historical attitudes to such aspects as fairness, indebtedness, redemption and reviews their appearance in a vast array of places and times, from ancient Egypt to modern Christianity, from the Bible to Shakespeare to Dickens. Her linguistic and literary knowledge make this an intriguing look at debt, especially critical in our society right now. Amazing that this was written before the global financial crisis. I did read a review that said they found this book full of 'drivel'--perhaps by an economist, who can't see anything but the numbers!! If you are interested in the more human side of debt, and its effect on our society, this is the book for you. If your only interest is in watching the stock market, you probably won't like this approach, although I would say you are one who really should read it.

A Scientific Romance by Ronald Wright

My bookclub was reading this for January so I reread it. I was impressed all over again. I read this long ago when I first came out, and loved it. I found the idea of finding H.G. Wells's time machine and going to the future to find the cure for mad cow disease, then going to the past to cure his lost love a timely plot device. And I loved Wright's sense of humour. He must have been the first to write a novel about global warming. The Thames is filled with mangroves and crocodiles, no humans are present in London, and the main character, an archaeologist, uses his professional skills as he tries to figure out what happened to cause the total breakdown of society. Then he sets off north in search of other humans, and finds them. There is one caveat--many in my book club found this novel hard going. It is filled with allusions to history, philosophy and literature. I consider myself a generalist--I know a little about a lot of stuff--so loved the eclectic references. But for many this may make the novel a bit too erudite. I liked this much better than Atwood's Oryx and Crake (and I am an Atwood fan, see the next review!) I fully intend to find and read other Ronald Wright books, both fiction and non-fiction. If my warning hasn't put you off, pick up this creative response to Wells's classic.

One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson

This second in the series features the same main character, Jackson Brodie, as Atkinson's first foray into mystery writing. This one has Jackson following his 'girlfriend' to Edinburgh where she's acting in a performance at the summer arts festival. Again there is a disparate cast of characters who are related by unlikely plot threads, but the character development is excellent and the plot(s) keep you guessing. The 'good turn' is the throwing of a laptop case at a thug which stops him from killing another driver in a case of road rage. The thrower, Martin, is in a queue for a performance and the incident is viewed by the other characters in the subplots. The wide-ranging novel includes crooked developers, brides from Russia, writers and writing, acting, parenting, and of course the chain of events that 'one good turn' can set in motion, for good and for bad. And there's also a nice twist at the end! I'll be looking out for her newest mystery.

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

I'm having trouble with series lately. I got One Good Turn out of the library, only to discover that it took place a couple of years after this first mystery novel by a normally 'literary' author. So I managed to get this one to read first. Great choice. Atkinson does write well--especially character creation which she used particularly well here. Each case history is a different murder, many years apart, all taking place in Cambridge, that are taken on by private investigator Jackson Brodie. At first I was somewhat bothered by the crossed paths of people, until I realized that the smaller, permanent (non-student) population of Cambridge make this quite likely. People do all see the same homeless girl on the street, or see other residents in the Emergency Room at the hospital. All the mysteries revolve around the family reactions to murder and grief, including parent-child and sibling relationships. If you are a mystery fan and love well developed characters, and are not bothered by plots that meander, this is an excellent book.

First of the new year

Well, it's not a great start for my project to record and review every book I read this year. I started Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. I'd been meaning to read it for ages because it's so highly praised. She has a follow up out now, so I wanted to read this one first. Boy, I don't know what mood I'm in after the holidays, because although I found her writing wonderful, it was such a slow read that I finally put it aside. I have a book I have to re-read for my book club and I knew I wasn't going to get to it at this rate. I needed a faster read, so I found one.