Showing posts with label Canadian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canadian. Show all posts
Monday, September 15, 2014
The Dead In Their Vaulted Arches - Alan Bradley
This was a wonderful addition to the story of Flavia de Luce. The child detective and chemist is growing up and this is the perfect book to transition her (and the series) to the next stage of her life. It concluded a lot of open ended questions from the first 5 books in the series and opened up Flavia's world to all sorts of new adventures. As always the writing is fantastic and the story a page turner that I couldn't bear to put down. A fantastic addition to any library. (See here for my review of the first part of the series)
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
You Went Away - Timothy Findly
one sentence summary:
a woman struggles to keep from falling apart during WWII
review:
this is a beautiful work, short and with no wasted words. The emotions it dragged me through were more than enough to last a life time. There was so much tragedy and love expressed in the short work it was amazing that Findly could express his story with such flow and consistency (not to mention beautiful prose). It is a really short read, just go read it.
9/10
a woman struggles to keep from falling apart during WWII
review:
this is a beautiful work, short and with no wasted words. The emotions it dragged me through were more than enough to last a life time. There was so much tragedy and love expressed in the short work it was amazing that Findly could express his story with such flow and consistency (not to mention beautiful prose). It is a really short read, just go read it.
9/10
Friday, August 16, 2013
The Time In Between - David Bergen
one sentence summary:
a Vietnam War Veteran returns to Vietnam, his children follow to find him after he stops contacting them.
review:
this was in my to read pile for a very long time, so long that I had no recollection of why I bought it in the first place. I dutifully took it with me to the cabin and read it uninterrupted. It is a remarkably well written book, the language and syntax are better than most of what I have read, I understand why it won the Giller Prize. That said the story feels a bit disjointed and unbalanced to me. I wish that more time had been spent on the earlier years of the veteran's children's lives as I found that to be the most interesting aspect of the novel. It is written to make you think and above all feel. If you enjoy reading well written stories no matter the subject matter I recommend this to you.
8/10
a Vietnam War Veteran returns to Vietnam, his children follow to find him after he stops contacting them.
review:
this was in my to read pile for a very long time, so long that I had no recollection of why I bought it in the first place. I dutifully took it with me to the cabin and read it uninterrupted. It is a remarkably well written book, the language and syntax are better than most of what I have read, I understand why it won the Giller Prize. That said the story feels a bit disjointed and unbalanced to me. I wish that more time had been spent on the earlier years of the veteran's children's lives as I found that to be the most interesting aspect of the novel. It is written to make you think and above all feel. If you enjoy reading well written stories no matter the subject matter I recommend this to you.
8/10
Friday, May 31, 2013
The MaddAddam Trilogy - Margaret Atwood
one sentence summary:
what happens after the plague changes life as we know it?
review:
these novels are rather brilliant. The writing is superb and the characters are so well drawn out that even the most unbelievable attributes become logical. Atwood always writes with unforgettable voices and this is no exception. The world she as created is a beautiful as it is terrible. I highly recommend these to anyone who enjoys good writing / post-apocalyptic dystopias / Canadian authors. They are typical in tone of Atwood, that is to say a bit dark but with their own twisted humour thrown about for good measure. I would say of this series that the world she created surpasses the characters (which is a-typical of her work as usually the characters are the strongest point... on the other hand the world she created is almost like a character onto itself, especially as it is further flushed out in the third instalment.)
8/10
what happens after the plague changes life as we know it?
review:
these novels are rather brilliant. The writing is superb and the characters are so well drawn out that even the most unbelievable attributes become logical. Atwood always writes with unforgettable voices and this is no exception. The world she as created is a beautiful as it is terrible. I highly recommend these to anyone who enjoys good writing / post-apocalyptic dystopias / Canadian authors. They are typical in tone of Atwood, that is to say a bit dark but with their own twisted humour thrown about for good measure. I would say of this series that the world she created surpasses the characters (which is a-typical of her work as usually the characters are the strongest point... on the other hand the world she created is almost like a character onto itself, especially as it is further flushed out in the third instalment.)
8/10
if you enjoyed this check out Huxley, Bradbury and Iain M Banks
Sunday, April 14, 2013
The Stone Diaries - Carol Shields
One Sentence Summary
Daisy lives the typical middle class suburbia life
Review
This is a well written look at the mundane. Making the mundane into a fascinating story about a woman who is trying to make her own way in the world into a character study of the commonplace. The writing is beautiful prose and the story is worth reading. Though the story is not always happy it is worth reading if you enjoy reading for the sake of writing without a particular action packed story.
8/10
If you enjoyed this check out these other Canadian authors:
Alice Munro
Margaret Atwood
Michael Ondaatje
Daisy lives the typical middle class suburbia life
Review
This is a well written look at the mundane. Making the mundane into a fascinating story about a woman who is trying to make her own way in the world into a character study of the commonplace. The writing is beautiful prose and the story is worth reading. Though the story is not always happy it is worth reading if you enjoy reading for the sake of writing without a particular action packed story.
8/10
Alice Munro
Margaret Atwood
Michael Ondaatje
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Alias Grace - Margret Atwood
One Sentence Summary:
Grace Marks is in prison for a murder she does not remember committing.
Review:
This was required reading for a university class I took, I really enjoyed reading it for the class and spent a good deal of time working with it as I wrote an essay. I am an unrequited fan of Margret Atwood, I love everything she has ever written so if you are the opposite I do not recommend this. It is written in Atwood's typical style, well researched with major focus on the characters and flowing (sometimes run-on) prose This novel is sure to take you to a place where you will be unsure what to believe. It is a beautiful piece of Canadian literature and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction.
8/10
“If we were all on trial for our thoughts, we would all be hanged.”
“When you are in the middle of a story it isn't a story at all, but only a confusion; a dark roaring, a blindness, a wreckage of shattered glass and splintered wood; like a house in a whirlwind, or else a boat crushed by the icebergs or swept over the rapids, and all aboard powerless to stop it. It's only afterwards that it becomes anything like a story at all. When you are telling it, to yourself or to someone else.”
“Murderess is a strong word to have attached to you. It has a smell to it, that word - musky and oppressive, like dead flowers in a vase. Sometimes at night I whisper it over to myself: Murderess, Murderess. It rustles, like a taffeta skirt across the floor.”
“I am afraid of falling into hopeless despair, over my wasted life, and I am still not sure how it happened.”
Three Day Road - Joseph Boyden
The Stone Angle - Margaret Laurence
Pierre Burton
Grace Marks is in prison for a murder she does not remember committing.
Review:
This was required reading for a university class I took, I really enjoyed reading it for the class and spent a good deal of time working with it as I wrote an essay. I am an unrequited fan of Margret Atwood, I love everything she has ever written so if you are the opposite I do not recommend this. It is written in Atwood's typical style, well researched with major focus on the characters and flowing (sometimes run-on) prose This novel is sure to take you to a place where you will be unsure what to believe. It is a beautiful piece of Canadian literature and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction.
8/10
Memorable Quotes:
“If we were all on trial for our thoughts, we would all be hanged.”
“When you are in the middle of a story it isn't a story at all, but only a confusion; a dark roaring, a blindness, a wreckage of shattered glass and splintered wood; like a house in a whirlwind, or else a boat crushed by the icebergs or swept over the rapids, and all aboard powerless to stop it. It's only afterwards that it becomes anything like a story at all. When you are telling it, to yourself or to someone else.”
“Murderess is a strong word to have attached to you. It has a smell to it, that word - musky and oppressive, like dead flowers in a vase. Sometimes at night I whisper it over to myself: Murderess, Murderess. It rustles, like a taffeta skirt across the floor.”
“I am afraid of falling into hopeless despair, over my wasted life, and I am still not sure how it happened.”
If you enjoyed this I recommend:
Three Day Road - Joseph Boyden
The Stone Angle - Margaret Laurence
Pierre Burton
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Three Day Road - Joseph Boyden
One Sentence Summary:
Review:
An aboriginal Canadian returns from WWI addicted to morphine and relates his story to a tribe elder as he detoxes and they paddle back to their tribe.
Review:
This is a heart wrenching look at trench warfare and the plight of aboriginal soldiers during WWI. Boyden does such a wonderful (terrifying) job of depicting WWI at times I seriously contemplated that he may be a time traveler as it was so close to a first hand account. As the protagonist struggles for sanity the setting flashes back and forth from the war to his detox. The war scenes are so gripping that they may give you nightmares. I do not recommend it as before bed reading that said you may not be able to put it down.
Notable Quotes:
“In school, it got so that Elijah learned to talk his way out of anything, gave great long speeches so that his words snaked themselves like vines around the nuns until they could no longer move”
If you enjoyed this you should read:
All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque
9/10
Notable Quotes:
“In school, it got so that Elijah learned to talk his way out of anything, gave great long speeches so that his words snaked themselves like vines around the nuns until they could no longer move”
If you enjoyed this you should read:
All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque
Johnny Got His Gun - Dalton Trumbo
Atonement - Ian McEwan
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
the Flavia de Luce series - Alan Bradley
8/10
6/10 middle - high school (coming of age)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
(Flavia de Luce #1)
I really enjoy the character of Flavia, however she will not be for everyone as she is a very precocious child. Bradley's writing style brings to life the setting but sometimes lacks in the character development end of things. The story in this novel, while not the most believable is still enjoyable.
8/10
The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag
(Flavia de Luce #2)
6/10 middle - high school (coming of age)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
(Flavia de Luce #1)
One Sentence Summary:
A precocious young girl solves a murder in her 1950 town.
Review:
Review:
I really enjoy the character of Flavia, however she will not be for everyone as she is a very precocious child. Bradley's writing style brings to life the setting but sometimes lacks in the character development end of things. The story in this novel, while not the most believable is still enjoyable.
8/10
The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag
(Flavia de Luce #2)
One Sentence Summary:
Flavia uncovers another murder, this time of a traveling puppeteer.
Review:
Flavia really came into her own on this story, and so did Bradley. His writing reached a stride that eliminated the distracting loss of rhythm that was in the first. Again the plot was rather unbelievable but so were all of the characters so it seemed to flow better than the first one.
8/10
A Red Herring Without Mustard
(Flavia de Luce #3)
Review:
I Am Half Sick Of Shadows
(Flavia de Luce #4)
Speaking from Among the Bones
(Flavia de Luce #5)
this is not out yet, will be out in 2013 apparently
Notable Quotes:
"I gave her a partial smile and kept the rest of it for myself..." -The Sweetness...
"...silence is sometimes the most costly of commodities." -The Sweetness...
"I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life" -The Sweetness...
"I wanted to shake the stuffing out of him; I wanted to hug him; I wanted to die." -The Sweetness...
"Experience has taught me that an expected answer is often better than the truth." -... Hangman's Bag
"If you remember nothing else, remember this: Inspiration from outside one's self is like the heat in an oven. It makes passable Bath buns. But inspiration from within is like a volcano: It changes the face of the world." -... Hangman's Bag
"She consumed books like a whale eats krill." -... Hangman's Bag
"There's a lot to be said for being alone. But you and I know, don't we, Flavia, that being alone and being lonely are not at all the same thing?" -... Hangman's Bag
"I remembered that Beethoven's symphonies had sometimes been given names... they should have call [the Fifth] the Vampire, because it simply refused to lie down and die." -... Hangman's Bag
"I was learning that among friends, a smile can be better than a belly laugh." -Red Herring...
"The very best people are like that. They don't entangle you like flypaper." -Red Herring...
"Whenever I'm with other people, part of me shrinks a little. Only when I am alone can I fully enjoy my own company." -Red Herring...
"Spare us the pout, there’s enough lip in the world without you adding to it." -Red Herring...
"Thinking and prayer are much the same thing anyway, when you stop to think about it -- if that makes any sense. Prayer goes up and thought comes down -- or so it seems. As far as I can tell, that's the only difference." -Red Herring...
"Books are like oxygen to a deep-sea diver," she had once said. "Take them away and you might as well begin counting the bubbles." -Half Sick...
"Either way, the whole thing was a pain in the porpoise." -Half Sick...
If you enjoyed this you should read:
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Remarkable Creatures - Tracy Chavellier
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
Flavia uncovers another murder, this time of a traveling puppeteer.
Review:
Flavia really came into her own on this story, and so did Bradley. His writing reached a stride that eliminated the distracting loss of rhythm that was in the first. Again the plot was rather unbelievable but so were all of the characters so it seemed to flow better than the first one.
8/10
A Red Herring Without Mustard
(Flavia de Luce #3)
One Sentence Summary:
Flavia uncovers another murder, this time of a traveling gypsy.
Review:
I like Flavia even better now, in this story she comes to terms with her life, the death of her mother and the distraction of her father. And Bradley's writing is still on the upswing.
8/10
I Am Half Sick Of Shadows
(Flavia de Luce #4)
I finally got my hands on this one, it was even better than the earlier ones. I recommend sticking it out with the series. Flavia grows even more as a character as she faces the trials of a Christmas with her family, her sisters also develop more and become almost likeable in this instalment.
Speaking from Among the Bones
(Flavia de Luce #5)
this is not out yet, will be out in 2013 apparently
Notable Quotes:
"I gave her a partial smile and kept the rest of it for myself..." -The Sweetness...
"...silence is sometimes the most costly of commodities." -The Sweetness...
"I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life" -The Sweetness...
"I wanted to shake the stuffing out of him; I wanted to hug him; I wanted to die." -The Sweetness...
"Experience has taught me that an expected answer is often better than the truth." -... Hangman's Bag
"If you remember nothing else, remember this: Inspiration from outside one's self is like the heat in an oven. It makes passable Bath buns. But inspiration from within is like a volcano: It changes the face of the world." -... Hangman's Bag
"She consumed books like a whale eats krill." -... Hangman's Bag
"There's a lot to be said for being alone. But you and I know, don't we, Flavia, that being alone and being lonely are not at all the same thing?" -... Hangman's Bag
"I remembered that Beethoven's symphonies had sometimes been given names... they should have call [the Fifth] the Vampire, because it simply refused to lie down and die." -... Hangman's Bag
"I was learning that among friends, a smile can be better than a belly laugh." -Red Herring...
"The very best people are like that. They don't entangle you like flypaper." -Red Herring...
"Whenever I'm with other people, part of me shrinks a little. Only when I am alone can I fully enjoy my own company." -Red Herring...
"Spare us the pout, there’s enough lip in the world without you adding to it." -Red Herring...
"Thinking and prayer are much the same thing anyway, when you stop to think about it -- if that makes any sense. Prayer goes up and thought comes down -- or so it seems. As far as I can tell, that's the only difference." -Red Herring...
"Books are like oxygen to a deep-sea diver," she had once said. "Take them away and you might as well begin counting the bubbles." -Half Sick...
"Either way, the whole thing was a pain in the porpoise." -Half Sick...
If you enjoyed this you should read:
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Remarkable Creatures - Tracy Chavellier
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
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