Finished September 12
Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin
Having read Werlin's previous novel, Impossible, and loved it, I jumped at the chance for a copy of this book from Penguin. Again we have a teen girl as the main character, and a situation that has more to it than she first thinks.
Phoebe Rothschild is growing up as part of a wealthy, high-achieving family, but she doesn't always feel that she lives up to what her family's standards are. When Mallory enters the scene as the new girl at school, and is different enough that she becomes a target of the popular girls, Phoebe befriends her. The two grow very close, but Mallory is not all that she seems, and when Mallory's brother Ryland enters Phoebe's life, things change again. Phoebe becomes fascinated by Ryland, and he begins to influence her in ways she doesn't always like.
Phoebe has another friend, Benjamin, who has always helped to ground her, and although she only sees him a few times a year, they have a strong friendship.
When Phoebe finds out the true nature of Mallory and Ryland and what they are asking of her, she is shocked and dismayed. As she learns the reasons behind their actions, she isn't sure whether she can do what they want or not. We see Phoebe grow and learn about her self and what she is capable of and what is important to her.
This is a story about friendship, about individuality, and about self-confidence. A great book for teen girls.
Thank you Penguin.
Monday, 13 September 2010
Thursday, 9 September 2010
Enjoyable Listen
Finished September 9
Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson, read by the author
I picked this off the new book shelf at work, having never heard of the author. Well, now I am a fan. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, sometimes turning the engine off, and leaving the CD on to finish a section before getting out at my destination. This is a very "Southern" novel, from the reader's voice to the content. Ro Grandee is a young married housewife in Amarillo, Texas, occasionally helping out in her father-in-law's gun store, where her husband Tom works. His father controls Tom by promises of future success based on hard work and limited wages now, but lives well himself. Tom takes out his frustrations on Ro, who literally rolls with the punches. But Ro was born Rose Mae Lolly, in Alabama, and grew up with an abusive, alcoholic father. Rose Mae's mother left them when she was eight, and then she became the prime target for her father's violence. She learned to be tough and a good shot with a gun.
When Ro meets a gypsy at the airport, and gets her cards read, she realizes the truth in the gypsy's statement that Ro's husband will kill her if she doesn't kill him first.
Growing desperate, Rose Mae first looks to the men in her past and then realizes that that line of thinking just leaves her with more problems. She runs for her life with her pawpy's old gun, and her hounddog Fat Gretel.
This book is funny, poignant and gripping. I am now waiting to read her earlier book Gods in Alabama.
Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson, read by the author
I picked this off the new book shelf at work, having never heard of the author. Well, now I am a fan. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, sometimes turning the engine off, and leaving the CD on to finish a section before getting out at my destination. This is a very "Southern" novel, from the reader's voice to the content. Ro Grandee is a young married housewife in Amarillo, Texas, occasionally helping out in her father-in-law's gun store, where her husband Tom works. His father controls Tom by promises of future success based on hard work and limited wages now, but lives well himself. Tom takes out his frustrations on Ro, who literally rolls with the punches. But Ro was born Rose Mae Lolly, in Alabama, and grew up with an abusive, alcoholic father. Rose Mae's mother left them when she was eight, and then she became the prime target for her father's violence. She learned to be tough and a good shot with a gun.
When Ro meets a gypsy at the airport, and gets her cards read, she realizes the truth in the gypsy's statement that Ro's husband will kill her if she doesn't kill him first.
Growing desperate, Rose Mae first looks to the men in her past and then realizes that that line of thinking just leaves her with more problems. She runs for her life with her pawpy's old gun, and her hounddog Fat Gretel.
This book is funny, poignant and gripping. I am now waiting to read her earlier book Gods in Alabama.
Visual Tale
Finished September 9
Back + Forth: a novel in linocuts by Marta Chudolinska
This book is like nothing I've ever read before. I loved it.
Although wordless, this book uses images to convey a story that evoked my emotions. A young women looks both at her present life in Vancouver and back to a previous time in Toronto with sadness.
The images, all prints done from linocuts, are detailed enough to show what you need to know, but not fussy with detail. You can see emotions from facial expressions and rain, but still the drawings stay simple. I found myself studying each image carefully to see the story.
The author is a recent graduate of OCA (Ontario College of Art) and includes a brief history of linocut novels and her inspiration for this book. That I also found very interesting.
Back + Forth: a novel in linocuts by Marta Chudolinska
This book is like nothing I've ever read before. I loved it.
Although wordless, this book uses images to convey a story that evoked my emotions. A young women looks both at her present life in Vancouver and back to a previous time in Toronto with sadness.
The images, all prints done from linocuts, are detailed enough to show what you need to know, but not fussy with detail. You can see emotions from facial expressions and rain, but still the drawings stay simple. I found myself studying each image carefully to see the story.
The author is a recent graduate of OCA (Ontario College of Art) and includes a brief history of linocut novels and her inspiration for this book. That I also found very interesting.
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Edge of the Seat Reading
Finished September 6
Every Lost Country by Steven Heighton
I stayed up late last night to finish this as I couldn't bear not to know how it ended. I was gripped by the story and characters and how events overtook intentions.
This novel is told variously from four points of view: Sophie Book, a high school student who has been brought to Nepal by her father; Lewis Book, a doctor hired by a mountain climbing expedition; Amaris McRae, a videographer also part of the expedition; and Wade Larson, leader of the expedition and extremely self-centered.
The group intends to climb a mountain near the Nepal-Tibet border. Their base camp is within sight of the border. One day a group of Tibetans tries to cross the border while being chased by Chinese soldiers. Sophie has always been one to support the disenfranchised and she is compelled to record what is happening. One of the guides, Kaljang, leads her to safety behind some rocks. Sophie's father Lew however is also compelled to help those in need and when he sees some of the refugees are injured he crosses the border with his medical bag and goes to help. Amaris is also compelled to record what is happening and the Chinese grab her and her camera and take her and Lew with the Tibetan prisoners back down from the pass to China.
Lawson is angry at the situation and refuses to let the circumstances affect his climb. Against advice from others, he continues toward the mountain's summit.
Sophie, however, is worried about her father and what he might do, and decides she must act.
As we get caught up in the plight of the refugees and their individual stories, we also see how the relationship between Lew and Sophie changes, and how Amaris is forced to deal with her past after running from it for years. The story is compelling and the characters interesting and with depth. This is a great read and highly recommended.
Every Lost Country by Steven Heighton
I stayed up late last night to finish this as I couldn't bear not to know how it ended. I was gripped by the story and characters and how events overtook intentions.
This novel is told variously from four points of view: Sophie Book, a high school student who has been brought to Nepal by her father; Lewis Book, a doctor hired by a mountain climbing expedition; Amaris McRae, a videographer also part of the expedition; and Wade Larson, leader of the expedition and extremely self-centered.
The group intends to climb a mountain near the Nepal-Tibet border. Their base camp is within sight of the border. One day a group of Tibetans tries to cross the border while being chased by Chinese soldiers. Sophie has always been one to support the disenfranchised and she is compelled to record what is happening. One of the guides, Kaljang, leads her to safety behind some rocks. Sophie's father Lew however is also compelled to help those in need and when he sees some of the refugees are injured he crosses the border with his medical bag and goes to help. Amaris is also compelled to record what is happening and the Chinese grab her and her camera and take her and Lew with the Tibetan prisoners back down from the pass to China.
Lawson is angry at the situation and refuses to let the circumstances affect his climb. Against advice from others, he continues toward the mountain's summit.
Sophie, however, is worried about her father and what he might do, and decides she must act.
As we get caught up in the plight of the refugees and their individual stories, we also see how the relationship between Lew and Sophie changes, and how Amaris is forced to deal with her past after running from it for years. The story is compelling and the characters interesting and with depth. This is a great read and highly recommended.
Monday, 6 September 2010
Short Memoir
Finished September 5
One More Theory About Happiness by Paul Guest
This is a memoir that touches on the high points of a life. Beginning with his life-changing bicycle crash at the age of twelve, Paul related the story of his life to his present.
The bike crash broke two vertebrae in his neck and severely damaged his spine. Paul comes to terms with his situation more quickly than you'd think, and his parents send him back to school days after his return from the rehabilitation hospital. His discovery of poetry allows him to find a focus in his life, and his interest in words and language become his career and his means to independence.
What this memoir really offers us is vignettes, glimpses into his life that illustrate things he learned about himself to move him forward.
Like poetry, it uses few words to show a great deal. This is a very interesting book about an interesting man.
One More Theory About Happiness by Paul Guest
This is a memoir that touches on the high points of a life. Beginning with his life-changing bicycle crash at the age of twelve, Paul related the story of his life to his present.
The bike crash broke two vertebrae in his neck and severely damaged his spine. Paul comes to terms with his situation more quickly than you'd think, and his parents send him back to school days after his return from the rehabilitation hospital. His discovery of poetry allows him to find a focus in his life, and his interest in words and language become his career and his means to independence.
What this memoir really offers us is vignettes, glimpses into his life that illustrate things he learned about himself to move him forward.
Like poetry, it uses few words to show a great deal. This is a very interesting book about an interesting man.
Canadian Mystery
Finished September 4
Still Missing by Chevy Stephens
This novel is a page-turner. I kept losing track of time as I was reading it, as I got so caught up in the plot.
Annie O'Sullivan is a real-estate agent at the end of an open house for a home she is trying to sell when she is abducted. This novel starts several months after she gets free from her abductor and we learn her story from sessions with a psychiatrist. Her abduction lasted for a year and in her sessions we learn the details about that as well as about what has happened to her since as she works her way toward recovery.
The police are still working to identify her abductor, and she is still dealing with a lot of fears around her ordeal. It is Annie's voice we hear and she makes it real for us.
This is a very disturbing story and yet offers hope for a better future. Annie has had struggles in her life before, but this is something she's had to pull herself through, keeping herself distant from friends and family.
She is a changed woman and will never be the person she was before, but she can find a future.
This is a first novel for a talented writer from Vancouver Island, and I'll hope to see more from her.
Still Missing by Chevy Stephens
This novel is a page-turner. I kept losing track of time as I was reading it, as I got so caught up in the plot.
Annie O'Sullivan is a real-estate agent at the end of an open house for a home she is trying to sell when she is abducted. This novel starts several months after she gets free from her abductor and we learn her story from sessions with a psychiatrist. Her abduction lasted for a year and in her sessions we learn the details about that as well as about what has happened to her since as she works her way toward recovery.
The police are still working to identify her abductor, and she is still dealing with a lot of fears around her ordeal. It is Annie's voice we hear and she makes it real for us.
This is a very disturbing story and yet offers hope for a better future. Annie has had struggles in her life before, but this is something she's had to pull herself through, keeping herself distant from friends and family.
She is a changed woman and will never be the person she was before, but she can find a future.
This is a first novel for a talented writer from Vancouver Island, and I'll hope to see more from her.
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Saskatchewan Fiction
Finished September 2
Cool Water by Dianne Warren
Except for the prologue, which is historical, this book takes place within a period of just over 24 hours. Set in the small town of Juliet, near Swift Current, this book follows several people from town through their day. From the escape of a horse from its trailer in the wee hours one morning to camping in the sand dunes in the wee hours of the morning of the next day, this book follows the events in people's lives. Some are mundane, some life-changing, but all have their own resonance here.
We have the horse owner, off to start a new life and hoping to make a good first impression. A young man, now on his own, trying to find his identity and place. A couple on the brink of financial disaster struggling through their life, yet finding comfort in each other and their family. Their eldest son, learning about his dreams for the future. A well-off, but distant middle-aged couple facing a different life-changing event than they thought they were. A middle-aged man and his widowed sister-in-law finding that life goes on in unexpected ways.
The characters here, whether major or minor all have their own voice and feel authentic. And the landscape of Saskatchewan, in the sand hills, has its own role here as well. This is a book to savour and enjoy.
Cool Water by Dianne Warren
Except for the prologue, which is historical, this book takes place within a period of just over 24 hours. Set in the small town of Juliet, near Swift Current, this book follows several people from town through their day. From the escape of a horse from its trailer in the wee hours one morning to camping in the sand dunes in the wee hours of the morning of the next day, this book follows the events in people's lives. Some are mundane, some life-changing, but all have their own resonance here.
We have the horse owner, off to start a new life and hoping to make a good first impression. A young man, now on his own, trying to find his identity and place. A couple on the brink of financial disaster struggling through their life, yet finding comfort in each other and their family. Their eldest son, learning about his dreams for the future. A well-off, but distant middle-aged couple facing a different life-changing event than they thought they were. A middle-aged man and his widowed sister-in-law finding that life goes on in unexpected ways.
The characters here, whether major or minor all have their own voice and feel authentic. And the landscape of Saskatchewan, in the sand hills, has its own role here as well. This is a book to savour and enjoy.
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