The Keeper of Stories

Finished April 15

The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page

This novel follows a woman who works as a cleaner, dog walker, and organizer. Janice is a quiet woman. She doesn't try to draw attention to herself. When one of her regular customers, a woman she thinks of as Mrs. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, because she is often on the phone saying this, asks her to take on the job of organizing and cleaning her mother-in-law's home Janice is wary. She doesn't want to go where she isn't wanted. So when she meets the older woman, she makes an agreement with her, and her relationship with Mrs. B. begins. Mrs. B. tells her the story of someone she knew of, that they refer to as Becky, and the story is told in installments as Mrs. B. feels like continuing it. In return Janice will tell stories, but she is very reluctant to tell her own story, as she doesn't feel she has one. Mrs. B. knows that she does and is the first person that really sees that. 

Janice has always loved stories, not only the kinds found in books. She also loves the stories of people, and picks up odd bits of conversation and stories she hears and keeps them in her mind. She also looks at people and tries to figure out their story. There is a bus driver she sees regularly who she thinks looks like a well-travelled geography teacher. She would love to know if she's right. Janice lives with her husband Mike, but he is a man with little patience, who flits from job to job, never staying for long. She isn't sure what she ever saw in him. But she doesn't know what other options she has. 

Janice has a so Simon and sees him occasionally, on her own. He doesn't visit, but sometimes they meet for a meal. Mrs. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah is a nervous woman with a husband who is overbearing, preoccupied, and demanding, a man that Janice thinks of as Mr. No, Not Now. They have a dog Decius that Mrs. B. walks, one that she has conversations with. She can understand by the dog's expression what he is thinking and they talk often. The dog has very witty comments that I appreciated. 

Janice also works for a young widow Fiona, who has a child Adam that she worries about. Adam sees Janice with the dog she walks and begins to join her for walks and he really bonds with the dog. 

As Janice spends more time with Mrs. B. and with Adam, she finds herself caring about them and about others. 

I liked how most of this story is centered on Janice, becoming her story, but we also see what others think from time to time. These sections have relevance to Janice, as she gets to know people and as people begin to see her as a person. Janice also has a back story, with a sister who now lives in Canada, and a recent comment by her sister has her thinking more and more about this past. We gradually come to know it, and see Janice in a different light because of it. 

I liked to see Janice coming in to her own, valuing herself as others tell her she is, and to take risks for what she knows is right. 

The Starless Sea

Finished September 24

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

This enthralling novel is split into sections: Sweet Sorrows, Fortunes and Fables, The Ballad of Simon and Eleanor, Written in the Stars, The Owl King, The Secret Diary of Katrina Hawkins, and an Afterward called Something New and Something Next. Some of these are books within the novel, some are elements within tales. 

The novel starts with three tales from Sweet Sorrows, and then moves to a university library in Vermont, where the central character of the novel, Zachary Ezra Rawlins is engaged in a regular activity of browsing the shelves for a fiction book or two to read for pleasure. He comes across the book Sweet Sorrows, a book with some missing pages and that he finds is not in the system. Zachary is almost twenty-five and a graduate student at the university working on a thesis on video-game design with a focus on psychology and gender issues. Zachary is the son of a fortune-teller, and grew up in New Orleans and upstate New York.

As he begins to read the book, he reads the chapters that we've already read, and is shaken by the third chapter, one which he is sure is about him as a boy, although the book appears much older than he is. As he looks at the book more closely, he notices a series of symbols, a sword, a key and a bee. 

As the novel continues, the events of Zachary's life are given in some of the chapters, interspersed with chapters from the book he reads. After reading the book a few times, he decides to get out of room and on a winter walk meets Kat, an undergrad that he has become friendly with. She runs a video-game-themed cooking blog. She also runs a couple of classes, one that is a discussion oriented one called Innovation in Storytelling and asks for his help for that week's class which is focused on gaming. This discussion is quite interesting, including multiple possible endings, collaborative storytelling, and what makes a story compelling. All of those relate to this novel in important ways. He also encounters Elena, the librarian that helped him check out the book and she has done some sleuthing to where the book came from and leads him down a path that reappears later in the novel. As his search leads him to a masquerade party on New Year's Eve, an attractive woman who dances with him, an unseen man who tells him a story in the dark, an invitation to a meeting later that night, and a stranger who asks a big favour of him, he finds himself entering that strange world that he read about, or a version of it that is lonelier. 

As the novel unfolds, other books within this novel are introduced, as are the characters attached to them. There are also interludes that tell of other times and events, and words from folded papers. All of these move the story forward, as we watch Zachary and other characters make choices that lead them to each other and to endings and new beginnings. 

I found this book fascinating, a superb example of innovative storytelling in itself. 

The Story Sisters

Finished March 8

The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman

This novel tells the story of three sisters, Elv, Meg, and Claire from their childhood into their twenties. The story begins shortly after a defining moment in two of the sisters' lives. Something happened to Elv as a result of her trying to prevent something happening to Claire. This incident was never shared with their third sister, or their parents, but it resulted in Elv creating a fantasy world that had its own language and stories. Elv told the fairy stories from that world to other children, who were enraptured by them, but as the stories became increasing dark, others were scared by the stories and her following began to fade away. Elv too became a darker child, rebellious, entering a world of drugs, sex, and chaos. Their parents separated when the girls were quite young, and their mother Annie was for a time bound by her own loss as a result of their father leaving. 

One constant in the girls' lives was their grandmother, who had homes in both New York City and Paris, and the girls regularly went to Paris once a year, where they had their favourite shops and eateries. They also were close to one of their grandmother's friends, Madame Cohen, a woman who had survived World War II as a young Jewish girl and who had her own secrets. 

As the girls grew older, Meg grew studious and serious and became less involved with her older sister Elv, and there grew a resentment between the sisters, with Claire the bridge between them. But Claire too had her own guilt, over what Elv experienced as a result of saving her, and over what later happened to Meg. It takes intervention from her grandmother and Madame Cohen to save her from her demons and bring her to a more hopeful future. 

For Elv, a better future also required intervention, although it took a long time, and it was Annie and an older man who Annie called on for help that ultimately made the difference as Elv's truth came out and she faced it. 

This is a story of trauma and its long term effects, of sisters and the complex relationship that can develop, and of the power of story. 

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

Finished September 14
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie, translated by Ina Rilke

This short novel is told from the viewpoint of a young man who is one of a pair of young men who are sent to the mountains to be reeducated during China's Cultural Revolution. The narrator and his friend Luo are the only two sent to their remote village, and both are the sons of doctors. Another young man in a nearby village sometimes visits with them, and the two boys discover that he has a hidden suitcase of foreign novels.
There is a tailor in the region that travels from village to village making and mending clothes, who has a daughter that he mostly leaves at home. This young seamstress is friendly to the boys, and Luo begins to court her by reciting stories that he knows. Their village headman also enjoys their stories, and allows them to take time off work to go visit a larger town nearby where they could visit a cinema and return to recite the story of the film to the rest of the villagers. Luo has an extraordinary gift for storytelling, but at the times where illness strikes him, the narrator can also do a fairly good job. The narrator was also lucky enough to bring his violin, and he often played music, to distract them from their life as it was in the mountains.
When the boys are able to borrow one of the books from the boy in the next village, they read the book by Balzac often enough to memorize it, and the young seamstress is particularly enamored of this story.
We see the difficult work the boys must perform, the lonely life in the small mountain village, the release that they long for, and the ways they manipulate those around them to make their lives easier. It is a story of endurance, of hope, and of the power of story.
The author himself spent more than three years undergoing reeducation, and ten years after his release, emigrated to France.

Tell Everyone

Finished March 19
Tell Everyone: Why We Share & Why It Matters by Alfred Hermida

This book looks at the phenomenon of sharing information online. UBC professor Alfred Hermida looks at social media, digital journalism, and online storytelling in this interesting analysis on how we are social creatures in this new environment.
Chapter one looks at news sharing. Hermida looks at instances where this was done well, like the movie theatre shooting in Colorado, and instances where misinformation had the upper hand like the Boston Marathon bombing. He puts this in the historical context of news dissemination from newsboys hawking on street corners to the mix of comedy and journalism in venues such as The Daily Show. He looks at how ordinary people now have the ability to refute "official" versions of a news event. He examines issues such as context loss and the illusion of privacy.
The second chapter looks at the psychology behind the urge to share. From social capital to bonding, personal expression as a means of defining ourselves, to the kinds of relationships we develop online, this looks at sharing more closely. Hermida looks at what benefits we get from sharing including self-fulfillment to helpfulness to a feeling of connection.
Chapter three looks at what kinds of information we share. Most of it aligns with the kinds of things we share when we socialize in person: what we are doing, gossip, updates on news, and the kind of "wow" stories that often lean toward urban legend. Emotional impact of a story drives us to share more widely. Interestingly, social media tends toward sharing positive news, the opposite of traditional media, although sad can be appealing to share if it is framed in a hopeful way. Fear is not a driving force in sharing, but anger can be, especially if it offers a connection to a personal experience. Disgust is also a strong driver.
Chapter four looks at how connections play a role. Celebrities sharing everyday experiences, people sharing reactions to news events in a "where were you when" sort of way, How the news reaches us rather than us going looking for it. Hermida looks at this in historical and cultural context as well as the algorithms present in social media and how they influence what we see. He shows that the common idea that social media causes us to be in "filter bubbles" where we only see news with the same view that we have personally is not actually true. The way that information moves in social media can counter this selective lean and bring us broader viewpoints. One of the most interesting historical tidbits in the book came in this chapter. Early newspapers offered blank space for people to add their own news and comments before sending the newspaper on from the city to rural friends and family. Some even were designed to be folded up with a space to put an address for mailing on. Historical instances of this use have proved quite interesting from a social history viewpoint.
The fifth chapter looks at who has risen from the ranks in terms of social news sharing to be more well known, whether it is as a trusted source that others find and build up through referrals, or through mass appeal. This type of influence tends to be more ephemeral in nature in social media than it has been traditionally.
Chapter six looks at the role of dissemination of information in crisis situations. Hermida looks at sharing of information from the Japanese earthquake of 2011 and compares it to how information was shared about the Portuguese earthquake of 1755. The dissemination was slower, naturally, in 1755, but the pattern was similar. He shows how the collective sharing of this type of information can even beat official channels in terms of how fast a warning can get out to those who need to know. Other events he looks at are the Haiti earthquake of 2010, Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and Queensland flooding in 2011. He also talks about the disaster myth. This is the idea that people who are most affected by a natural disaster are stunned by the situation and unable to help themselves. In reality, victims are often the most likely to step in and help others around them.
Chapter seven looks a consumer power in this information context. Social media gives individuals the voice to speak out against companies and governments to tell their side of the story when traditional media doesn't give them a voice. Hermida looks at how companies have handled this, both well and badly. He discusses how early social media reaction to products or services can be good forecasting tools for the success of such offerings. Fans can become ambassadors for a brand if handled well.
Chapter eight looks at the darker side of online information sharing, when lies and rumours take on a life of their own and spread, affecting reputations and situations in a negative and damaging way. He discusses what signs we can look for to determine with such information is true or false, sometimes looking at the nuances of language or details and sometimes stepping back and looking at the bigger picture of data around a situation or new event.
The last chapter is on the politics of online information. From the Arab Spring to Idle No More, individual voices have made a difference to outcomes despite political pressure and mainstream media to silence those voices.
This was a very interesting look at social media and its role in our lives.

Once Upon a Line

Finished December 5
Once Upon a Line by Wallace Edwards

This picture book offers children the chance to use their imaginations to take stories to the next step. The book starts with the premise that a trunk in the attic contains a number of paintings all begun from the same initial line drawn by a special pen. A key at the back of the book shows the line that all the images here began with.
The images a rich in detail and use lots of colour. Each image is accompanied by a sentence that begins with the words "Once upon a line..." and a second sentence that is unfinished, leaving the reader to fill in their own words and continue the story in whatever direction pleases them. The images are varied, and some suggest the next words, while others are more uncertain.
This is a great addition to a child's bookshelf, and one that will appeal to kid's from JK up.
The author/illustrator is Canadian and a graduate of OCAD. Other books of his have won a variety of awards from the GG to CLA.

One Amazing Thing

Finished October 12
One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, narrated by Purva Bedi, Soneela Nankani and Neil Shah
The situation here is nine people who get trapped in the basement of an Indian consulate in an anonymous American city after an earthquake. They try various means of escape to no avail, and prepare what they have to last until they are (hopefully) rescued. One of them is a college student who has a copy of the Canterbury Tales in her backpack, and she suggests they do something similar to distract themselves from their situation. They each tell a story of something that made a difference in their lives, finding connections through empathy and personal experience.
The characters come from a wide range of backgrounds, and all have beliefs that they bring that influence their actions and come from their stories. A wonderful read, especially with the different voices in the audio format.

Stories from the Prairies

Finished March 7
Stories from the Prairies by Marie Anne McLean
This audiobook is part of the StorySave series, voices of Canada's storytellers. Marie Anne McLean grew up in Manitoba and the stories here are her own creation. They fall into three types
The first set of stories is set in the fictional small town of Thumbprint, Saskatchewan. McLean's interest in small town Saskatchewan began with her brother's experiences as an RCMP officer there. The stories capture various ideas and are vignettes of small town life. The second set of stories are World War II stories based on the experiences of McLean's father, Jack, and his fellow soldiers from D-Day to reunions. The third set of stories are family stories from McLean's family from her grandparents, to her parents, to her brother.
McLean tells a good story and makes them come alive. She is hesitant in spots as she looks for the right word or phrase, but the stories are well put-together and interesting.

StorySave: Alice Kane

Finished February 10
StorySave: Voices of Canada's Storytellers: Alice Kane: Tales of Wonder
This audiobook is part of a series by the Storytellers of Canada. It gives the listener access to storytellers from across the country. The 13 stories told by Alice Kane are from Irish folklore and I recognized many themes from folktales and fairy tales I know. Some here are short tales, while others (like Flann) are long and involved, almost a combination of a bunch of tales into an integrated story.
Listening to these I was captivated and engaged and I thoroughly enjoyed them. I will be checking our collection for others from this series.

The Forgotten Garden

Finished January 2
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
Told over the course of a century from the early 1900s to the 21st century, this novel follows a small girl, "Nell", and later her granddaughter from England to Australia and back again.
A small girl is left alone on a ship to Australia in 1913. She has only a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a book of fairy tales. She is taken in by the dockmaster at the Australian port and raised as his daughter. It is only on her 21st birthday that she finds out the truth of how she was found, and not until much later that she is given the clues to begin her search for her past. Following the clues she is given she makes her way to a manor on the Cornish coast.
Back in Australia her plans change again, and it is her granddaughter Cassandra who continues the quest for the truth of the past and Nell's origins in England.
This book has mystery, romance, and great stories.
At 549 pages, it also puts me another book towards the Chunkster Challenge.

Canadian Fiction

Finished May 6
Motorcycles and Sweetgrass by Drew Hayden Taylor
This book reads like a traditional storyteller, with a wonderful flow to it. We see things from a variety of points of view, which only enhances the storyteller effect.
The tale takes place (mostly) in Otter Lake an Anishnawbe reservation community. The chief is in the final stages of negotiation to buy additional land for the reservation. Her constituents all have ideas about what to do with the property. Add to this that she is a single mother of a young teen boy. Add to this that her mother, matriarch in the community, is on her deathbed. Add to this the arrival of a mysterious stranger. And boy do you have a story.
I loved the quirkiness of some things, like the raccoons. The chief's brother Wayne is another example. There is just so much here to love. I think this will be one of my favourites for the year.

Great Listen

Finished April 22
The Truth about Stories: a native narrative by Thomas King
This collection of five talks is the Massey Lecture series of 2003. Thomas King is a great storyteller and that is what he does here, tells us stories. There is, of course, a native theme throughout that King uses very well to illustrate a number of issues and themes. His voice is mellow and draws you in. Even the titles of the lectures evoke stories before you hear another word.
Definitely worth a listen. I'm lending this out, but will want it back in my permanent collection.

About Story

Finished December 23
"told" the art of story by Simon Aboud
This interesting analysis of storytelling breaks storytelling into twenty principles, discusses those and then puts a selection of the principles together to tell a story. The story examples are good at showing the principles as they are laid out and make you think about the components of a story and what role each of those components plays.
A very interesting book.

Page-Turner

Finished August 11
Darling Jim by Christian Moerk
This is a gripping story, with a very different plot.
The story begins with the grisly discover of bloated and emaciated bodies in a house. It is unclear exactly what happened, but it would appear that the older woman, Moira has killed her two nieces and been killed herself in a struggle with one of them.
When Niall, a young postman discovers the diary of one of the women in the dead letter bin, he feels compelled to follow the story back to its source and find out the truth of what led to this tragedy. His story takes him to a small village near Cork, to fairytale-like stories of wolves and castles, and to three sisters who cared about each very much.
It took me a while to get into this story but once I did, I could hardly put it down. The story just flows and Niall is a young man who believes in stories, and what librarian doesn't like that!

Children's Fiction

Finished July 15
What-the-dickens: the story of a rogue tooth fairy by Gregory Maguire
From the author of Wicked, this story for the young crowd is a tale apart. Three young children and their older cousin are stranded in a bad storm. They are running out of food and when the older cousin, Gage begins a story to occupy their time, even the most skeptical of them is interested. The story he tells is of a skibbereen who doesn't do what is expected of him, and yet is someone more of value to his community because of it.
The skibbereen is called What-the-dickens and his odd name is only the beginning of his story. The daring adventures of him and his skibbereen friend Pepper are engaging and the reader, along with the children, finds herself wanting more.
I know my niece will like this one and she will be getting it soon.

Inner Thoughts

Finished January 5
Man in the Dark by Paul Auster
August Brill, a 72-year-old book critic, lies in the dark in his daughter's house and thinks. He thinks about his past, about his family, and makes up stories to keep himself from thinking about those things he doesn't want to think about, but can't help thinking about.
Besides the stories of his own life, he invents the story of Owen Brick, and man transported into another version of the world in which the United States is engaged in a civil war. Owen is given the job of killing the author of this version of the world so that the war may end, and struggles with the mission given to him.
This novel is like nothing else I've read. It concerns the life of a man who is sensitive yet not without his own destructive powers. I got a sense of the concern for others, as well as the inevitability of sorrow.
This is a wonderful little gem.

Fictional Memoir

Finished April 14
A Partisan's Daughter by Louis de Bernieres
This is a wonderful little book about the relationship between two people who encounter each other on the street and begin meeting to talk. Over the period of time that they meet, Chris imagines that he falls in love with Roza, but is not completely sure. Roza, in turn, grows fond of Chris as well.
When Chris, bored and feeling estranged from his wife, spots Roza standing on the street, he thinks she is a hooker and propositions her. Roza corrects him on his impression, but gets in his car anyway and asks for a lift home.
As they meet repeatedly, sitting in the kitchen of Roza's dilapadated home, Roza tells Chris the stories that lead to her present life. The point of view goes back and forth between the two, but the reader is never sure whether Roza is telling the truth or not. Chris gullibly believes it all, and makes the stories part of his own memory. They come to depend on each other more than they realize and, as with so many relationships based on stories, create their own images of each other.
I found it an engrossing story with lots of human interest and two very interesting characters.