A Scanner Darkly - Phillip K. Dick

Another fabulous book.  The depiction of the entire drug world and the people in it is so rare in it's accuracy. Obviously the authour's experience helped with that.  Interestingly, in his authour's note he refers to it (all the drug activity) as 'playing' and includes a list of dedications - his friends' names and a brief description (ie. permanent massive brain damage, permanent psychosis, deceased, etc.).  I feel like parts of his life were probably very, very sad, but he's definitely given us some amazing work that will carry on.

Some themes: the relationship between cops and criminals, specifically drug addicts (though I don't know if you can just throw all drug addicts into a 'criminals' category, so we'll use that broadly), relationships between addicts and their drugs, addicts and other addicts, addicts and the world, drugs and capitalism, the right and left brain, identity, knowing/unknowing.

A vision of an alternate present that really isn't all that alternate.  I especially liked the ending, though the pace does taper off a bit, but the lines drawn (or circle drawn, you might say) between capitalism/greed/profit and drug addiction are ballsy and disturbingly clear.

The Crack in Space - Phillip K. Dick

Last week I went to the library looking for Variable Man because I want to see the Adjustment Bureau  movie (though I've since heard they have completely different plotlines).  The library didn't have it but I ended up taking home these two Phillip K. Dick books and loving them.

Crack in Space brought up really interesting ideas about what it means to be human and how we might react when confronted with another version of ourselves.  I liked how it took race issues one step further.  Planet of the Apes-esque, it's an eerie look at Dick's vision of our possible future.  Creepiest for me was the vision of warehouses full of row upon row of sleeping/frozen bodies, young people, waiting for an unknown time when a better life might be available for them.  The parallel-Earth thing was also a little mind-bending to think about.  However as far as I know many of our top academic minds do believe in that idea of there being infinite possible worlds/lives playing out kind of super-imposed on top of each other (From the Corner of His Eye is a cool Dean Koontz book I like that also explores this idea).

The book made me remember how much I like his writing.  Also made me want to learn more about prehistoric man. And parallel worlds.

666 Park Avenue - Gabriella Pierce

I brought this home from the communal cupboard at work thinking to give it to the two teen girls who live upstairs.  One day I had nothing to read and ended up reading this all afternoon.

I hate to say anything negative about anything (such as a novel) a person put so much time, effort and no doubt heart & soul into.  That being said, I can't really say this book is awesome.  It was not terrible, but not great either.

It's a story about a French girl who finds out she's a witch, then finds out her new finacee not only killed her grandmother  (whom she hadn't seen in 6 years anyway) but brought her to New York to marry because he's also from a family of powerful witches and his super-witchy mom made him do it.  Oh, but he really does love her and want to marry her.  On the upside, it only takes her a few days to go from not being able to use her powers at all to being strong enough to take on the evil witch mother-in-law.  However, the ending (involving a really creepy brother-who's-been-locked-in-an-attic-for-years, dungeon, wedding, a cab, and an uprooted tree)  falls really short of the fight you're expecting.  Surprise surprise.

I think I've made it sound a little more terrible than it is (sorry Ms Pierce).  The general idea and main character have potential, but the story could have been much fuller, more .... thought out? Still better than vampires but it felt like it had holes, or was written in a rush.

Waste of an afternoon.

A Note on the Walking Dead

If anyone's actually reading this, they might have noticed I'm catching up on a ton of entries tonight.  It's been so long since I was writing that I can only remember the order I read these books in, and my impressions (which, depending on book quality, linger accordingly).  So in amoung the various books of the past month or so I've been reading the Walking Dead, and I know it was after Sense and Sensibility that I was finally able to get my hands on Too Far Gone, which is volume 13.

I am so in love with the characters, the art, the story.  The worst part about it all is that now I have to wait for the next installment, and will have to keep waiting on and on as it is a continuing story.  I hate waiting.  In the meantime, I constantly recommend these graphics to people - most of whom make faces and say (either snobbily or with a whine) "I'm not into zombies."  To which I invariably want to respond - HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU WON'T READ IT????  Besides, it's more about human nature/survival....the zombies are more of a....backdrop, if you will.  I didn't think I'd be into zombies either.  And now I'm dying for the next Walking Dead.

Hurry up Robert Kirkman!!

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

Last year I read Mansfield Park and then, later, Emma.  I don't think I'd have ever really had the desire to start reading Jane Austen had my old roommate not owned several of the movies and made me watch them.  Thanks Liz.  Turns out I love Jane Austen.

Now, at work I've had a lot of conversations with customers about Jane Austen and it seems to be very much a love or hate kind of thing.  I myself was borderline but reading Sense and Sensibility has fully converted me.  How could you not love it?  These books were pretty much the invention of chick lit.

Anyway, I fully enjoyed the book.  It was much funnier than I expected; gave me a new respect for Ms Austen's wit. I particularly liked the contrast in the personalities of the two sisters, and the various themes of knowing/unknowing that run through the book - people believing they know the truth, when the truth is completely different. It happens a lot.

I get the sense from her writing that she put a lot of herself and the people around her into her novels - I don't know why, it's not based on anything, it's just my impression.  As such it somehow comforted me to know that some guys were still wankers even back in the day.  Or at least had wanker potential.  Also I was amused to recognize in the malicious character of Lucy a girl I knew in high school.  Nice to know some things never change.....probably part of the reason Austen's books are still beloved by so many.

That timeless  quality.

The Chrysalids - John Wyndham

I don't know how I'd managed to never read this book before - I understand a lot of people end up reading it for school but I guess none of my teachers ever chose it.  So I'd heard it was great but didn't have a real idea of what to expect. 

First of all, I thought it was great that the story took place in Labrador.  I don't think I have ever in my life read the name Labrador in a piece of fiction before, and it's not a place you generally come across in everyday life anyway.  Poor Labradorians.  I bet every school-age kid there has read this; if only for the novelty of actually seeing their province represented somewhere.  Anyway, it struck me as random but cool.  Though not so obscure as Labrador, the same theme applies to New Zealand as it appears in the novel.  A seemingly odd choice of a saving grace that makes perfect sense in the context of the world as it is portrayed in the story. 

The story itself is brief and moves along quickly, with everything coming to a rapid climax and the ending tying up neatly.  A good, straightforward novel that I really enjoyed.  Classic science fiction is awesome science fiction. 

The Secret Lives of Dresses - Erin McKean

After two heartbreaking books in a row I needed some lightness.  I brought this book home mainly because of the absolutely gorgeous dress showcased on the cover.  It ended up being a good choice.

Authour Erin McKean keeps a website chronicling a dress a day, writing little stories about each.  This led her to create the novel, in which a girl returns home to run her grandmother's vintage clothing store.  Sadness and happiness follow, leaning more on the happiness side. Plus a huge dash of amazing clothes.  Definitely a 'girl' book, it was exactly what I needed and made me vow to wear my dresses more often this summer.

An interesting addition to the book came in the form of many little stories told from the point of view of the dresses themselves.  I thought it was an original touch, loved it.  Made me think of all the stories various items in my own closet could be telling.

A nice, fun, easy, satisfying book; what my mom would have called 'a beach read,' but with a bit of extra depth.

Fifteen Days - Christie Blatchford

This was a book I kept picking up at work, reading the back, talking about it with different people...I don't know what took me so long to read it but I finally brought it home and was transformed.  Moving, intense, enlightening, so, so vivid...a book of many wonders.

Its hard to get a clear picture of what is going on in this war, what has gone on, why we're there, what we're doing.  The day-to-day lives of Canadian soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan seem to be a mystery to the general public (myself included, obviously).  I think this is partly due to the inability of the media to capture something so broad in a 3-5 minute segment on the evening news; the difficulty in saying everything one might want to in a newspaper article that has to take up exactly three-quarters of a page....I can see how it's hard.

This novel is able to give scope and depth to the war, to the soldiers, to Canada's role in the whole thing.  It is told in segments detailing fifteen days that all represented in Ms Blatchford's opinion/experience some kind of turning point or momentous event in the war to that point.  Together the stories form a complete picture I feel is somehow lacking in our collective Canadian consciousness, a picture of what we have accomplished so far in that godforsaken desert - and what it has cost us.

I was seriously impressed by the authour herself.  I could tell as soon as I started reading the acknowledgements in the front of the book I was going to love her voice (plus she seems to swear as much as I do, which is awesome).  She does not pull punches, does not lack in empathy, does not flinch in the telling.

This book wrecked me. This book enlightened me. This book made me rethink war, Canada, peace. Soldiers.  It made my heart pound while I followed the soldiers through firefights in my mind, and almost every  chapter left me teared up (and I'm really no pansy).  It has won a Governor General's award - so I'm not the only one who has some serious respect for this achievement of a novel.

Side Note -- I really feel this should become part of the high school curriculum.  When you learn about the big wars of the last century in high school, the majority of material available refers mainly to the US and British roles, which is a shame.  Books like this can prevent it happening now.  This is a perfect compilation of Canadian success and loss to bring home the realities of this war when we teach future generations about it.

Side Side Note -- I would also love to see this as a play.  It would translate amazingly well to the stage and it would reach a wide audience.  This would be a perfect project for the Canadian Stage Company.

A Woman in Berlin - Anonymous

So this was a re-read; pulled it from the shelf in my bedroom.  Picked it up again to read a bit while I was in between books and ended up reading the whole thing again.  This book is so astounding.  I guess I've read it a few times now and every time it just rocks me.

A Woman in Berlin is actually a journal kept by a woman from April - June 1945.  She chronicles the chaotic last few weeks of the siege on Berlin and the first few weeks of the Russian occupation.  When I'm reading her words I'm always reminding myself - this actually happened.  These are real people she saw die, real people who raped her, real people who suffered.  It's very, very rare to come across an eye-witness account of the second World War like this.  It is unusual also to find something from the time written by a regular Berliner...albeit an uncommon woman such as this who can write with such unflinching clarity about the insanity happening all around her.  She was a journalist before and after the war, which lends a completeness to her observations.

There's a lot more I want to say about it, but I can't put it properly into words, so I'll settle for this. This unknown woman is a hero of mine.  Her story is a priceless document.  It's a perspective of war everyone should see.

Separate Beds - Elizabeth Buchan

I picked this up at the library because I keep seeing it at work and thought it sounded semi-worthwhile; I almost gave it up as a bad job after the first few pages but generally never do that unless I have something better to hand...and I didn't, so I plowed through. It was alright.

A British book about a family dealing with the onset of the financial chaos the world is only just now recovering (somewhat) from, it covers predictable themes like loss, rebuilding, and family.  At first I found the character of the father to be insufferable.  I realize one shouldn't get too annoyed at a fictional character but I often have a hard time with those that seem to exacerbate the suffering of those they supposedly care the most about. Though I do realize that it is true-to-life.  I also find it irritating to read endless paragraphs of a character's self-absorbed whining (don't even get me started on Bella of the Twilight series).  In the early stages of the book, the father loses his job and seems to lose his will to live for a while, further neglecting his family.  I know its very hard for a man to lose his job, but I'm going to be sexist here and say most women would just suck it up and get on with it as there is no other choice.

However, the man redeems himself towards the end of the book, the family finds ways to cope, and of course the marriage is rebuilt along with everything else.  I guess besides the little rant above I don't have much to say about this one.  Not terrible, but more mediocre than good.  Not that the writing is bad - it's more the story itself.  Blah, recession, blah, bad marriage, wah, children are hard.......tell me something I don't know.

Freakonomics - Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything 


A collaboration between a journalist and one of the top economists in the US, this is a great book.  I read it a few days ago and it's remained on my mind.  I've also found myself talking about it a lot, telling people about various ideas put forth in the book.

Startling in terms of both its scope and the concepts put forth, the book takes a meandering path through a variety of issues, touching on subjects as diverse as crime and parenting.  Though some conclusions may shock readers (the legalization of abortion in the US led to the greatest drop in crime rate in history) they all make a lot of sense once you read the background information.

It also gives an informative look at how studies are conducted and researchers sift through piles of data to arrive at their results.  I liked that it was so straightforward and easy to understand, even for someone like myself who had no real grasp of what an economist's job might entail prior to reading this.  Everything is well explained, easy to follow, and often very funny.  A perfect book for anyone with a curious mind.

I got this one from the local library and read it a few days ago; the authours also recently put out a sequel of sorts called Superfreakonomics, that I'll be reading soon.

And The Rest Is History - Marlene Wagman-Geller

Full Title: And the Rest Is History: The Famous (and Infamous) First Meetings of the World's Most Passionate Couples

I guess I was influenced by all of the Valentine's merchandise out and about because I was feeling romantic and decided to read this little book on Sunday. All I can really say about it was it was slightly less than mediocre. It was kind of neat to read about how certain people first met (people like John Lennon and Yoko Ono {art gallery}) but the stories felt very loosely researched and more like myths than based on fact, which I don't appreciate. 

That's all I really have to say about this (I should have known better because the cover wasn't that great). I hate reading stuff I end up not liking. I'm going to the library to find something new. 

Beauty Queens - Libba Bray

I picked this up in the cupboard at work and after reading the jacket (in summary: teenage beauty pageant contestants end up sole survivors of a plane crash and must fend for themselves on an apparently deserted tropical island...pirates were also mentioned) I thought, well, that could either be very, very bad or very hilarious.   I opted to give it a try although it was impossible to tell what to expect (beauty queens? pirates? is this a joke?).  Being an very visual person (and shallow as a cookie sheet) I always judge books by their covers, and I liked this one, so that also swayed my decision to take it home.

Anyway, long story short, I read this on Saturday and was pleasantly surprised.  This book does have a lot going on, perhaps borderline too much, but for the most part it's funny and clever.  It really does feature planewrecked teen beauty queens and pirates, as well as "The Corporation," which is basically a metaphor for our modern world.  It also features an unexpected dose of satire that give it a lot of its oomph, and a way of lingering in the mind.

The practical everyday hardships of both being half-woman, half girl-child and trying to survive alone on the island are starkly contrasted to the satirical footnotes peppered throughout the book.  These footnotes and other interludes including "commercial breaks" often bring some serious social commentary to the pages that I loved. (ie: "Bridal Death Match, the popular TV show about brides who cage fight each other in order to win the wedding of their dreams.")

So, despite some flaws and a strange style that wavers between campy, girl-power and stick it to the man (like I said, this book has a lot going on), I'll definitely be giving this to the teen girls who live upstairs; I think they'll like it.

Battle Royale - Koushun Takami

(Still catching up)

So my brother gave me this book after I told him about The Hunger Games (a decent series itself) and I read a bit before putting it down. Now, several months later, I picked it up a few days ago and just tore through it, finishing yesterday morning. AWESOME book. Definitely moved to my all-time favorites list.

Okay, so normally, high school kids killing each other wouldn't be something I would generally enthuse about.

However.

This is a wicked, vivid story that completely draws you in.  It reads like an action thriller movie (which of course it now is - can't wait to see this movie now).  Though there are over 43 characters (at first), each is subtly nuanced, giving them all depth and a backstory that makes them real.  Each short life plays out in full, a small perfect bubble of life seen just as it bursts. You find yourself rooting for almost everyone, not to mention just as boggled as they are at the 'game' they have been forced to play.

I also found this book more than a  little terrifying in its scope. Once you start thinking about the major themes at play here there is almost no end to it.  How can you really trust someone? How do you actually know what someone is thinking? How well do you really know any of the people you think you know?  What are we really capable of?  If you and a bunch of your day-to-day acquaintances - your grade nine class, your co-workers, your friends - were forced into this (admittedly insane) situation - what would happen?

Would you play the game?

Pretty Little Mistakes - Heather McElhatton

Catching up a bit here - read this earlier in the week.

 It's not often you can describe a book as fun but this one certainly is. A grown up version of the choose-your-own-ending books I loved as a kid, drawn with skill, humour and hundreds of endings.  Reading the book you can experience hundreds of different lives, deaths and even afterlives - end up anywhere from heaven to hell to reincarnated as a huge tuna fish. The lives themselves are as vibrant as the endings awarded them; unlimited options allow you to do anything from become a Jamaican drug dealer to a multi-millionaire shoe designer.

Turn the pages long enough, experiencing more and more of the book, and you will begin to see common threads woven throughout the lives.  I loved the real woman's voice throughout and felt that the author has a very good grasp on the way women think; why they make certain decisions; what they want for themselves. It comes through.  Also enjoyed the way the book forced me to consider every moment in a life where one tiny decision matters the most.

Catch Me If You Can - Frank Abagnale

Found this at the library last week - of course I love the movie so I thought I'd read the book to find out a bit more about his exploits.  In the end I think his real life was more dramatic than the movie.  In this memoir he describes everything from his decision to leave home, to how he executed his cons across the globe, to his final escape from federal prison (with a little help from his future wife).  The story really brings to life the ups and downs of such a life with humour and total honesty.

 I liked that he does not shy away from discussing anything, whether it be his man-whoring ways or his brush with insanity in a terrifying French prison.  Also liked the subtle and graceful way in which an era past is brought to life.  A great, unbelievable-and-yet-true-and-thus-even-more-awesome story.

The Walking Dead

A collaboration: Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn, Rus Wooton

Just finished reading chapter 8, Made to Suffer. Love this series; can't get enough. I've become obsessed.  Never really been one for zombies, but this is more a story about people dealing with the end of the world they know, and after a while you kind of just get used to the walkers as part of the scenery - a very dangerous part.

The writer does a brilliant job portraying people dealing with a crazy situation in a way I find very true to life.  By that I mean yes, I think there would be people killing themselves left right and centre, and that there certainly would be a lot of needless blood shed as people adjusted to a world re-written.  But there is still beauty in certain moments as what life there is carries on, and people need to cling to whatever scraps of humanity they can (or have left).

The characters are multileveled, believable, and you find yourself rooting for almost everyone. The drama! The suspense! I can't wait to read the next one!

Because I only just finished reading it I've got to get this out: I CAN'T BELIEVE HIS WIFE DIES!!!!!!

Oh, p.s. - spoiler alert.

An Exclusive Love - Johanna Adorján

I read an article about this in a magazine a while ago and was intrigued, so brought it home from work last week when I had nothing to read. A slim little thing; I read it in about two hours, but felt very present in the story all the same.  Adorján begins by bluntly telling the reader the date of her grandparents' double suicide and proceeds to work her way through the background information.

She details conversations had with her grandparents' friends and acquaintances in an effort to fill in the blank spaces of their lives, with medium to minimal success. It seems her grandparents were both extraordinary and extremely private people, with many stories/secrets that will now forever stay buried. What is known of their lives is both remarkable and inspiring, as is their united final exit. It seems Adorján herself found both some closure and a new sense of home/family through her searching while writing this book. Bittersweet.

Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen

Read this last Friday, trying to get myself up to date here so I can just start posting as I finish a book.
I definitely liked this book. A quick read, a little sad, but sad like real life is sad. And yet it still manages to have a happy, conclusive ending, which also does sometimes happen in real life. So true to life, then.

A completely vivid depiction of several places, each a world unto themselves: the era of the Great Depression itself, a present-day nursing home, and a travelling circus.  The world of the circus just draws you in, as does the voice of the narrator, at once longing and averse to his own longing. A seriously pretty little story, with enough jabs of tragedy to still make you feel slightly unsettled even as you enjoy it. But in case you haven't noticed, everything beautiful is also unsettling, in some way, to some one.

Millennium Trilogy - Stieg Larsson

I had these sitting on my bookshelf for months before I finally got into them - and then devoured the series in about a week.  My stepmother had given me all three with good recommendations, and I had tons of customers coming into my work speaking highly of the series. But I had started Girl with the Dragon Tattoo just after it was given to me and had a hard time getting into the story.

 After being told several times that 'it gets good' I picked them up just after the new year and found out why these books are so wildly popular. Featuring a broad, vibrant range of characters and tight plotlines, the books are great crime fiction that becomes impossible to put down.  Larsson has dreamed up a wonderful heroine in Lisbeth Salander, a character he obviously loved, and I think that anyone reading the books will also love her in their own way.

 A racing good read, notably the last two thirds of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and all of The Girl Who Played With Fire.  I was slightly unsatisfied after finishing Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest; in some ways it is like the last Lord of the Rings movie and has several different endings.  The writing also becomes somewhat fragmented and choppy, possibly the translation? It is hard to say.  I feel that perhaps Larsson was laying the groundwork for a fourth book, or had written an excerpt to be included with Hornet's Nest, and then the editors/publishers/whatever tacked it on to the end of the book for lack of something better to do with it.  Not necessarily a bad thing but it certainly dulls the impact a little.   

However, all in all I did love the books, will be keeping them, and certainly found Sweden a surprisingly exotic place to immerse myself in for a time.