Multiple Blessings: Surviving to Thriving with Twins and Sextuplets by Jon & Kate Gosselin and Beth Carson

Books Completed: 18
Completion Date: January, 2009
Pages: 224
Publication Date: October 2008

Reason for Reading: I have seen the show on television and I was curious! Review copy sent to me by Harper Collins. New Author Challenge.

Three years after giving birth to twin daughters, Kate and Jon Gosselin became pregnant again—with sextuplets. Kate’s candid and emotionally-charged book chronicles the exhausting challenges she and Jon faced from the time the babies were conceived through the first two years of their lives, and the faith it took to get through each day.

I am not much of a television watcher, but I have to admit that I have been known to watch this television show from time to time. When I saw that there was a book out; I decided to give it a try. When I was looking for a synopsis online, because I am too lazy to type one, I found that reviewers have been arguing about this book. It was interesting to read the reviews because a lot of the people that wrote them hadn't even read the book, they just decided that they wanted a platform to stand on! I actually did read this book, though. I was just curious. They don't exactly have a normal situation, and I wanted to know how they have coped with everything that life has thrown their way.

Anyway, so I read this book in about a day. It is not really all that long, but it was interesting. I could not imagine having 8 kids! (Not that I could any easier imagine having one child, but that's not the point!) I am just amazed at what they have had to put up with and go through to have a 'normal' family. It is not an easy task, when you think about it. They were not exactly prepared to have eight children and even when they found out that this was going to be the case, it is not exactly an easy thing to prepare for! Kate talks very candidly about what life was like for her before and after the sextuplets were born, and I found it all rather interesting, but I can't say that I was really blown away by the book.

I can really just sum it up by saying that while I find the journey was worth reading about, I am not totally sure why I felt compelled to read the book. It is really not my type of read at all, but I can't say that I really minded it. I might even read more from them in the future. I liked learning about the children's personalities and their development. While I didn't love the book, I didn't hate it either. To be honest, it was the religious nature of the book that really didn't work that well for me, but I don't want to start a religious debate on my blog, so I am trying to shy away from offering opinions on the subject!

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The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

Any common reader will enjoy a good laugh from British playwright Alan Bennett's The Uncommon Reader, which can be consumed in a few spare hours. But readers expecting a work as brilliant and scathing as Bennett's plays The History Boys (2004) and The Madness of King George (1991), or even his other short stories, should expect something completely different. A political and literary satire, it pokes fun at the British monarchy while revealing the lasting power of literature. Reviews suggest that The Uncommon Reader should be enjoyed like the sort of reading it espouses: casually, but with a sensitivity to serious things as well.

Dear Dewey,

While the circumstances for this reviewing method are anything but cheerful, I have came to the conclusion that I quite like this idea of mine. I think you will have many letters from me throughout the coming year. That's a good thing, though, right? I am trying to read books that you read that are already on my TBR pile (this book is an exception), so with every letter that I write, I am cleaning one more book off the shelves. You are agreeing with me that it is an excellent idea, right? I thought so! (There will probably be lots of exceptions, I know what you are thinking, but we are going to ignore that and just keep our eyes on my halo, okay?)

Moving on... I am going to try and review a book that is just barely over 100 pages. That is not an easy thing to do, you know. You told the story of how the book came into your hands (and then later noticed that you had two copies). My story is not that impressive, I am afraid. I just wanted a new book tonight, so I went to the bookstore and bought this with my gift card. I have plenty of books coming in the mail, but that was the future and I was concentrating on the present... I wanted instant gratification instead of waiting. I have never been very good at waiting!

This was a fun book. As a resident of Canada, the queen is technically still the leader of my country, so it was kind of fun to poke fun at a political system that my country is still a part of. It is amazing how much the author gets into such a short book. He really has a grand ole time poking fun of the British monarchy, and it is things that I could totally see, even if I have never really voiced them aloud! I am too busy paying attention to my own prime minister, as in many ways the queen is just a figurehead nowadays. I am not sure if I liked this book as much as you did, you liked it enough to keep it, so you had to really like it! I am not as picky with the books I keep (though I really should be), so saying I am going to keep it is not the same as you saying you will. I do believe I will read this book again, though, and since I only say that about books that I really really like; I think I have come pretty close to you in terms of my enjoyment level.

It is really too bad that you never had the chance to read this book again... I keep going back to that thought in my head, and I am sorry to be depressing, but I had to mention it. Even though it cannot have very many words in it, I still think it is a book you can read a couple times and keep seeing different things! The book also reminded me that I really should read more classics, but I am going to ignore that insight for the time being. You won't tell anyone, will you?

Until next time...

The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier

The compelling story of two women, born four centuries apart, and the ancestral legacy that binds them. Ella Turner does her best to fit in to the small, close-knit community of Lisle-sur-Tarn. She even changes her name back to Tournier, and learns French. In vain. Isolated and lonely, she is drawn to investigate her Tournier ancestry, which leads to her encounter with the town's wolfish librarian. Isabelle du Moulin, known as Le Rousse due to her fiery red hair, is tormented and shunned in the village -- suspected of witchcraft and reviled for her association with the Virgin Mary. Falling pregnant, she is forced to marry into the ruling family: the Tourniers. Tormentor becomes husband, and a shocking fate awaits her. Plagued by the color blue, Ella is haunted by parallels with the past, and by her recurring dream. Then one morning she wakes up to discover that her hair is turning inexplicably red...

Dear Dewey,

Well, it is that time again. I read a book that you read, so I am counting it as one of the reads for the challenge held in your honour. After reading The Road, and getting rather depressed by it all, I tried to find something a little more cheerful. While there are a lot more cheerful moments in this book, though, it is still a rather depressing book. I have to say, if the book cover you used for the review is the one you read, I like your cover so much better than mine! Mine has the same woman on the front, but the top and bottom of her are cut off in order to include the title and the author. Mine is a second-hand copy, though, likely bought with credit, so I guess I shouldn't complain!

I also read Girl With a Pearl Earring and didn't like it as much as this book. I know that people loved it, so I am glad you are with me on it just being okay. I like her writing enough to keep buying her books, though, but I generally wait until I find them at the second hand store. I was interested in reading this book because of the tracing of her family tree and tracking down her ancestors. That is a subject that I have always been interested in, so I enjoy reading books about others trying to figure out where they came from. You said that you liked two things the best about the book: "the French history and Ella’s story". I agree with you there. I don't know a lot about French history, but my family is from France, so I really should study it more. I also really liked learning about Ella and watching her character develop.

There are two main characters to this book because the chapters switch back and forth. One chapter is about Ella, living in the modern time, and the other chapter would be about Isabella, who turns out to be one of Ella's ancestors. Near the end, the two stories become intertwined, though, and I found myself really enjoying that. I do enjoy that we seemed to be of the same mind about this book. What Isabella went through in the past was depressing. I didn't do a very good job finding a more cheery book! As her story progressed I couldn't believe what she went through! You thought the same. I hope that most people would think the same... I won't say anymore. People will just have to read it to see what we are talking about!

Once again it was great to read a book with you!

Until next time!

P.S. I didn't know this was her first book and first came out 11 years ago! I guess I am reading rather out of order!

The Saga of Darren Shan Book Two: The Vampire's Assistant

The nightmare continues as Darren Shan struggles with his new life as a Vampire’s Assistant. He tries desperately to resist the one thing that can keep him alive—blood—but a gruesome encounter with the Wolf Man tests his resolve to the limits.

So, it is 2 in the morning and I just finished the second book in Darren Shan's Saga. That's rather unusual for me, I don't normally read books by the same author one right after the other, but I guess there's a first time for everything! Not that I need more series to read.... I should probably finish some of the ones I already have on the go, but that would make too much sense, right?

Anyway, so this book takes place about two months after the first book in the series. In the first book, Darren was not a Vampire's Assistant until near the end, so in this book is is a lot about Darren coming to terms with who he is and what his purpose is now. Everything he had known before has been changed. He didn't even know there were such thing as vampires, and now he suddenly he is working for one. This book is a real page-turner, I must say! There was just enough action to keep me engrossed in the story, so I will be very interested to see what happens in the next book!

I am kicking myself, though, because the second-hand bookstore had books 3 to 11 the other day and I never bought them! When I went back today they only had books 3 and 4. I was trying not to add too many books to my house, but it was rather stupid of me. I did buy the first two, but I don't really want to have to pay for the rest of the series.... I have my fingers crossed the second-hand bookstore gets more in, but if I am looking for something I can never find it!

The Saga of Darren Shan Book One: Cirque du Freak

Darren goes to a banned freak show with his best mate Steve. It’s the wonderfully gothic Cirque Du Freak where weird, frightening half human/half animals appear who interact terrifyingly with the audience. Darren – a spider freak – ‘falls in love’ with Madam Octa – an enormous tarantula owned by Mr Crepsley. Darren determines to steal the spider so that he can train it to perform amazing deeds. But his daring theft goes horribly wrong. The spider bites Steve and Darren has to sell his soul to Mr Crepsley – a member of the vampire clan – to get the antidote. Something out of the ordinary is set against the background of children’s normal lives to chilling effect. Atmospheric, funny, realistic, moving and… terrifying.

I have heard of this series for years, this book came out in 2001 or so, and it was always on the list to read one day, but I had yet to pick up a book. Nicola has been reviewing them this year, though, and I must say she caught my attention. I had a bit of money as a Christmas present, so I decided to buy the first two books in the series and see what happened! I am rather picky about young adult books. There are many series out there that everyone loves and have been recommending to me over and over again that I just did not like at all! This one, though, I think I am going to enjoy!

I stretched out on the couch with a blanket, some fluffy slippers, comfy clothes, and orange juice and dived right in. I wasn't really scared, it takes a lot to frighten me, but I was caught up in the atmosphere and the creepy feeling that this book gave off. You knew right from the beginning that something bad was going to happen, so I had to keep reading to find out what that was! It's not a large book, but it is compelling enough that when you finish it you will want to read the next book (which I might just do) so that you can see what is going to happen next. You were right, Nicola, I think this is my kind of series!

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

"Bah Humbug!" That's how Ebeneezer Scrooge feels about Christmas--until the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future decide to show the crotchety old miser the error of his ways. Together they travel through time, revisiting all the people who have played an important role in Scrooge's life. And as their journey concludes, Scrooge is reminded of what it means to have love in his heart, and what the true spirit of Christmas is all about. A timeless story the whole family will enjoy!

Dear Mr. Dickens,

It might seem strange that I am writing a letter to a man that has been dead for many years, but it also seems very fitting. A Christmas Carol is a ghost story, so let us pretend that ghosts are real and that Mr. Dickens has the ability to read all the things written about him after he died. He was, in many ways, an author that was only appreciated after he was deceased, so it is nice to think of him being able to revel in the praises of the generations that have came after him. At the same time, it is rather creepy to think about a ghost reading these words over my shoulder! I just find that writing letters is more my style. I can write 'formal' reviews, but I was finding them a chore. The few letters I have written this year have been a lot more fun, so I think you might see me slowly moving in that direction.

Anyway, Mr. Dickens, I have quite gone off-topic, something I am very good at, so I should probably get back to the book that is at hand. I love A Christmas Carol. I have read it many times over the years and I never tire of the story. You have written a story that is very fitting for the ages because within these pages you have shown what Christmas is really about. I just love every word. I do not believe there is a wasted one anywhere in the story. And, it sticks with you. I might not be able to say passages word for word, but there are sentences that stick with you even after you have long closed the book. When I sit down to enjoy this book and see the opening sentence: "Marley was dead, to begin with", I feel like I am coming home. It is like visiting with old friends. And, even though there are no longer any surprises, I still feel the emotions like I am reading it for the first time: outrage at Scrooge, sympathy for his over-worked clerk, a little creeped out by the ghost of Christmas yet to come, etc. It is truly a master that can make people feel for characters over and over again.

While you might not really comprehend the phrasing 'classic literature' because classic literature was very different in your day, you have to understand how rare it is for me to sing the praises of a classic, to me, author. I just love this book! There is really no other way to describe it. I get caught up in the story everytime and I am always sad when I finish. There is just something magically about the world that you have created. In many ways, while this is not necessarily a fantasy story, it is probably the story that moved me in that direction when I was very young. I like to believe that anything is possible, and in this story, three ghosts visit a cranky, rude, older man and show him the true meaning of living. They show him what will happen if he doesn't learn the error of his ways, and he gets a second chance. It is not forced on him, he could have come out of those experiences still not seeing the errors of his ways, but he doesn't. It's just the way the world should work, everyone should have a second chance.

This is really all I feel I have to say. I think everyone and their dog is familiar with the basic story, even if they haven't actually read this book. I am telling you now, though, you can not truly appreciate the magic of this book if you don't read the original. I am sure Mr. Dickens would agree. I am totally going back to my yearly tradition of reading this story. I have missed it. It was wonderful to visit with old friends this holiday season! Thank you, Mr. Dickens. I have read many other of your works, (and actually plan to do some reading of you in the New Year), but this will always be my favourite.

Until next time!

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER
National Book Critic's Circle Award Finalist

A New York Times Notable Book
One of the Best Books of the Year
The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, The Denver Post, The Kansas City Star, Los Angeles Times, New York, People, Rocky Mountain News, Time, The Village Voice, The Washington Post

The searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy's masterpiece.

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food-—and each other.

The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each the other's world entire," are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.

This is the first book that I read for Dewey's Books Reading Challenge. I have some great taste, there. Let's make the first book I read incredibly depressing! Anyway, after a lot of deliberating I think I am going to write these reviews in letter format. Let's see how this goes, okay?

Dear Dewey,

I have had this book since it was made an Oprah book. I know this because of the snazzy sticker that graces the front of my book. While I have wanted to read Cormac McCarthy for years, this is the first time that I have actually done so. I guess it took the events of the last few weeks to finally interest me in some hidden treasures found on my TBR... mountain. While I have read many of the books that you read, there are still many others that I own and just have never got to.

I just read your review of this book to brainstorm just what I was going to say and it made me a little sad, but I was sad upon completion of this novel anyway! To get over this you had some chocolate chocolate chip Haagen-Dasz and watched an episode of Family Guy, so maybe I will have to do something similar. I was happy to see that we had some of the same ideas about this book. I also was often caught up with atrocious punctuation. Sometimes, I would get reading along and then there would be so many things wrong with a sentence that I would just have to stop and try and figure out what he was thinking! When I think about it, though, I am caught up in the idea that this is showing the energy that the characters had when they were speaking. The better things were going for them; the more words that they uttered. I actually loved the whole idea of this, but like you, it took me until they found the supplies to get caught up in the story. For a while, I was just reading the book to finish it and try and understand why people enjoyed it so much!

You had three things that you were wondering about in the course of the book:

1. How old is this boy?
2. What the hell happened to the world to make it
this way?
3. How did these two survive when most people are dead?

I found myself wondering about these same things. The boy would be talking or his father would be reflecting on something and I would find myself trying to picture him in my head. You came to the conclusion that he was about seven, while I was thinking about eight, so we were both on the same wavelength. I also have to admit that I found myself wondering what their names were. Especially at the end when the little boy says his father's name three times. I wondered what it was that he was saying. Not necessarily anything important to the story, just something to satisfy my own curiousity.

I am happy that I am not the only one that wasn't super fond of the ending. I will just leave it at that because there are still some people, I would think, that haven't read this book! Anyway, Dewey, thanks for reading this book and leading me to it. While I didn't love it, I didn't hate it, and I am glad that with this letter we have sort of shared the reading of it.

The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirit by Les Standiford

As uplifting as the tale of Scrooge itself, this is the story of how one writer and one book revived the signal holiday of the Western world.

Just before Christmas in 1843, a debt-ridden and dispirited Charles Dickens wrote a small book he hoped would keep his creditors at bay. His publisher turned it down, so Dickens used what little money he had to put out A Christmas Carol himself. He worried it might be the end of his career as a novelist.

The book immediately caused a sensation. And it breathed new life into a holiday that had fallen into disfavor, undermined by lingering Puritanism and the cold modernity of the Industrial Revolution. It was a harsh and dreary age, in desperate need of spiritual renewal, ready to embrace a book that ended with blessings for one and all.

With warmth, wit, and an infusion of Christmas cheer, Les Standiford whisks us back to Victorian England, its most beloved storyteller, and the birth of the Christmas we know best. The Man Who Invented Christmas is a rich and satisfying read for Scrooges and sentimentalists alike.

I have always been a big fan of Charles Dickens. Over the years I have read several of his books, but it has been a while. When I saw that this book was available, though, I knew I had to remedy my not having read him in a while and see what Standiford had to say about one of my favourite Christmas books of all time, A Christmas Carol. I really only know the basics about Dickens life, so it was interesting to get a more detailed look at what his career was like before and after this novel. I think we should be glad that this book was such a success for its time, because if it wasn't, we probably wouldn't have got all the great books that came after it.

Standiford looks at what Dickens early childhood was like and the struggles that his family went through just to pay the bills. As a result of his father not being able to keep up with things, Dickens childhood ended very early and he found himself working to keep the family afloat. So, to become an author after struggling your entire life just to eat was a very brave thing. While he doesn't go into detail, Standiford talks about the early books and their impact. He looks at what Dickens thought of America when he came here on a book tour. The big subject matter, though, is how he was floundering until he decided to write this little Christmas story. While A Christmas Carol was popular and sold very well, though, it did not solve all of Dickens problems. It just brought him the recognition he needed to be able to slowly pull himself out of debt.

The rest of the book is dedicated to what life was like for Dickens after the book was released. It mentions three other 'Christmas' books that I had never read before. I always thought that he only had the one Christmas book, and he technically did. The others were released around Christmas, but did not actually have Christmas in them. I am the first to admit that classic literature is not really my thing. Just because it is a classic and everyone should read it, doesn't mean that I will like it. Dickens, though, is one of those exceptions where I have always enjoyed what I have read, so it was worth it to give this book a chance and see more about the person behind these great novels.

My thanks to Random House for sending me a copy of this book!

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

“Every war has turning points and every person too.”

Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she’s never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy.

As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it’s a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy’s uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way.

A riveting and astonishing story.

Despite the fact that I just changed my 'currently reading' today, I actually finished this book a few days ago. I have owned it for a while and I kept picking it up with the intention of reading it, but that would never end up working out. Once I got going with it, though, I found that I really liked it! I am so picky with young adult fiction, when you really think about it. I continue to read it, but I never know what I am going to think about it from one moment to the next.

All I know is that my resolution for 2009 is to try and finish books. When I was organizing my bookshelves the other day I found so many books with bookmarks in them. Some of them I even remember enjoying, but for whatever reason, I got distracted and read another book. I really have to be the easiest distracted person in the world, judging by the bookmarks. I always have the best intentions of returning to the pages, but something else comes along and soon I forget I ever had the intentions. So, I am currently reading Eva Moves the Furniture right now, and while I like it, I don't love it. I keep wanting to put it aside for another day, but I know if I do that I probably will never get back to it! The last thing I need is more unfinished books. If there is not more movement soon, I am going to run out of living space!

So, now that I have totally gone off-topic, it is probably time for me to talk about the book that is the entire intention of this review. When I was reading this book, I knew it took place in a modern world, but I kept forgetting and thinking I was reading about World War I or another major conflict. Then, cellphones or internet would be mentioned and I would remind myself that the book is about a fictional war that hasn't happened yet (and hopefully never will). In this book, Daisy is the main character and it is she that tells the events of the story. For her, it is written after the fact and tells of her life when she is caught up in a battle with an unknown enemy.

Daisy is a fifteen-year-old girl who has not been having the best of life in the last few years. Her mother died back when she was little, so it was just her and her father for the vast majority of her life. Then, her father decides to remarry and the woman that he marries is the stereotypical evil step-mother. When she gets pregnant, it seems there are too many people in the household and that Daisy has too many problems, so she is sent to England to live with her mothers' sister. She is a trouble young woman who has been battling an eating disorder, but now she finds herself living in a place where just finding enough to eat is a luxury. Suddenly, she finds that she has an appetite just when the other people in the novel are learning what it is to virutally starve.

In essence, this novel explores what it is like for Daisy and her four cousins to survive while the country is at war and her aunt is away. With these four people, three boys and a girl, Daisy starts to figure out who she is as a person. Especially when it comes to her cousin, Edmund. Without necessarily trying, they help Daisy gain footing and find the strength to get through everything that comes next. These people battle some of the hardships that children leaving during the First and Second World Wars had to endure. Rosoff gives readers a chance to imagine what it would be like if the world went to war again. A very scary scenerio.

I quite enjoyed this book. It was well thought out and imaginative. I recommend it.

Turtle Valley by Gail Anderson-Dargatz

My memories are so like that hat full of butterflies, some already deteriorating the moment they are collected, some breathed back to life now and again, for a brief moment, by the scent on a passing wind–the smell of an orange, perhaps, or a whiff of brown-sugar fudge–before drifting away, just out of my reach. How much of myself flits away with each of these tattered memories? How much of myself have I already lost? (Turtle Valley, p. 289)

Kat has returned with her disabled husband and young son to her family’s homestead in Turtle Valley, in British Columbia’s Shuswap-Thompson area. Fire is sweeping through the valley in a ruthless progression toward the farm and they have come to help her frail parents pack up their belongings. Kat’s mother, Beth, (the now elderly protagonist of Anderson-Dargatz’s first novel, the award-winning The Cure for Death by Lightning) is weighed down by her ailing husband, Gus, and by generations of accumulated detritus. But there is something else weighing her down, a secret she has guarded all her life. Kat is determined to get to its source before fire eats up all that is left of the family’s memories.

Kat has her own burdens. Her father is dying, and the family has chosen to keep him home as long as possible in defiance of the approaching flames. Beth is showing signs of early dementia. And her husband, Ezra, is a husk of his former self, stolen from her years ago by a stroke and now battling frightening mood swings and a trick memory. Once filled with passion and hope, their relationship has become more like that of nursemaid and invalid.

Now thrust into contact with her parents’ neighbour Jude, her lover before Ezra, Kat finds his strength attractive, as well as his ongoing passion for her. As she considers her choices in love, Kat discovers that her grandmother, Maud, to whom she bears an uncanny resemblance, was once faced with a similar dilemma when forced to choose between the capricious violence of her shell-shocked husband, John Weeks, and the rugged constancy of their neighbour Valentine Svensson. Leafing through Maud’s scrapbooks and long-hidden love letters, Kat begins to unravel the mystery of her grandfather’s disappearance in the mountains. She is to find that like most family secrets, this one is tangled amidst generations of grief.

As sparks rain down upon them, Kat tries to hold her family together, soothing Ezra’s rages, comforting their son, Jeremy, tending to her mother’s fragile mental state and striving to keep her father at home and comfortable as he nears death. Masses of ladybugs swarm through the house and panicked birds smash windows. Shadowy ghosts flit in and out of the encroaching smoke. All around them the landscape burns and terrible choices must be made. What can be salvaged? What will survive after Turtle Valley has burned?

Turtle Valley is a novel of reconciliation and hope in the midst of terrible loss. Part ghost story, part mystery, part romance, the novel transcends these genres and carries its readers into new territories of forgiveness and acceptance of the difficult choices we all must make in finding our way through life and love.

One thing I can say, while I haven't read as much as I normally do this year, I have been doing a very good job at cleaning off some of the books that I have really wanted to read and never got around to. I have had this book almost since it came out because I had heard such good things about it, but it took me all this time to get to reading it. I had heard of the author before, but this is the first time I have ever read her. I probably will look into her backlist after this though, because this was a very enjoyable book. Especially since one of the earlier books is about the main character in this books mother.

I always like the history of family. The secrets that are hiding in the closet or the mysteries that have never been solved. This book deals a lot with this idea, which is a lot of the reason why I liked it so much. Katrine is coming to the conclusion that there are things that happened in her past that she does not know the whole truth about. When a forest fire threatens her childhood home, she finds herself back to help her aging parents collect the important things from their home. While searching through years of memories, she uncovers the truth about who her grandmother and grandfather were. Saving the memories before the fire wiped them out forever.

I was really surprised by how much I liked this book. I was a little worried at first. I am not sure what it is, but children in novels tend to grate on my nerves much more than they do in person. So, I did find Katrine's son, Jeremy, annoying at times. I think it was also an extension of the fact that she babied her husband because he was recovering from a stroke. Too many children under one roof, or something along those lines. It was enjoyable to be along for the mystery, and I very much liked the ghost story elements. They seemed to fit right in and didn't seem strange to me at all. In the face of terrible tragedy, there is rebirth. This is Katrine's time to find herself, and lose parts of herself at the same time.

Overall, a very well-written novel! I strongly recommend it!

Cats I Have Known and Loved by Pierre Berton

Who would have guessed that one of the great historian’s passions in life is cats? Over the course of his eighty-two years, and from his birthplace in Dawson City, Yukon, to his home in Kleinburg, Ontario, Berton has known and loved many cats. In this charming collection of stories, he has chosen his best cat tales to share with us.

Pierre Berton is a master storyteller, and his lyrical writing and sense of pacing and adventure enliven this collection, making it irresistible to any cat lover.

The book opens with the adventure of Pousse-Pousse, the cat with extra toes, who was carried off by a Great Horned Owl and, seven months later, reappeared at the door, bedraggled but alive. Pierre Berton’s first cat was Happy, a kitten the teenage Pierre spied in a pet store window “free to a good home.” It was Depression-era Victoria, and the Bertons barely had enough to feed themselves. Still, they kept Happy, and she produced scores of kittens over the years. There are stories of stray cats and “hobo cats,” beloved cartoon cats like Felix and Krazy Kat, and finally, “Rules for Guests,” which includes the following: “No discussion is so intense, no story so riveting, that it can’t be interrupted when a cat enters the room.”

This beautifully designed small-format gift book is illustrated with line drawings by Pierre Berton, photographs, and coloured endpapers.

As I mentioned earlier this weekend, I have been cleaning up my books. All the unread books are organized on the shelves and it looks really nice now! I have way too many and I probably will not read everything I have in this lifetime, but that is beside the point. One good thing about mixing things up a bit is that I tend to locate books that I knew in the back of my head that I had, but I at the same time didn't remember I had them. Tonight, I decided that I was in the mood for some Pierre Berton. I had planned to read some of his history, but I have been curious about this book since I found it at the second-hand store. In this book, Pierre Berton recounts tales of the cats that he has owned in his eighty-two years. It is not really his normal book, but it is written with the style that I have come to know from him.

I have to be honest. I am a dog person. If Pierre Berton didn't write this book, I probably wouldn't have read it. But, since I am a huge Pierre Berton fan, I feel the need to purchase all of his books. The stories in this book are hillarious and make me think about the cats that I have had so far.

The first cat that I picked out was a black cat named Sam. He was a great cat... Even after he was fixed he continued to spray. Not in the house, thankfully, but cars. Normally cars driven by male drivers. It was actually pretty funny to watch him mark his territory! He was the hunter in the clan, and my god did he let you know it! He would cry until someone noticed that he had caught a squirrel or a bird or a rodent. I was always so thrilled!

At the same time that I got Sam, my sister picked out Mittens. Mittens was an orange cat that, well, just was not all there. Insanely affectionate, but not the brightest bulb in the box! You never knew what stupid thing this cat was going to do next, really. The strangest thing about him, though, was his sleeping habits. That cat would sleep on anything and in any position. We would make houses out of lego and he would go to sleep on top of them. Many times I would have to pause and stare to try and figure out how on earth that location or position was comfortable! That cat drove me insane. It yeowed more than any creature I have ever dealt with, but it is also the cat that I remember the best!

Sam became more of the family cat than my own cat, so my parents let me acquire another cat. This one was a white fluffball named Snowball (I know, I was so creative with Sam and then I went right downhill in names). This cat was an obvious choice because when I picked her up at the shelter she put one paw on either side of my head. It was like she was hugging me, and this was something that she would do the entire time I had her! Too bad she was never all that friendly the rest of the time... Snowball was the cat that would cover her food over with whatever she could find so that the other cats could not use the food dish. She also always had something in her mouth.

The baby of the group was Maggie. Maggie was a double-pawed wimp. She hated the outdoors, especially in the winter! When there was snow on the ground and she was forced outside you could see her gingerly attempting to navigate around the snow. Eventually, she just never went outside. She would instead go to the bathroom in the furnace vents, which was a blast! We could never catch her doing it, but we could smell the evidence! This lead to a litter box, something that my mother hates. Maggie was the cat that would sleep in my closet or on my bed or other strange locations. To be honest, as much as I was a dog person over the cats, these four cats were always around me. This is because I fed them, probably, but I am also the animal person in the household.

With one of my ex-boyfriends, there were cats. Three are still living, but I never see them, and one is deceased. That deceased cat, Lana, was the craziest cat I have ever seen in my entire life. She played fetch, if you asked her a question she would answer with a meowing noise, she attacked everything, climbed the Christmas tree and slept in it, and so much more. The stories I can tell about that cat and she only lived to be just over two years old! I was kitty-sitting one holiday season and I noticed that she wasn't very mobile, which is very strange for her. She ended up being a very sick little cat and being put down fresh into the new year. The other three cats are Tolkien (the baby), Atra (the one in my profile picture), and Miko (the timid little princess). I never see those three anymore, but I hear they are doing well!

So, instead of rehashing the book, I shared my own stories. Fun, huh? Berton had some really entertaining cats as well. The stories are hillarious at times! Some of them I would have loved to see in action! And, as I was reading this book, the cat I gave my mother earlier this year was visiting. That cat is the most indecisive cat I have ever met. In five minutes she changes her position from side of the room to the other like ten times, I swear! I never know where I am going to trip over her next...

Santa Claus: A Biography by Gerry Bowler

An entertaining, often surprising look at the life of the world’s most influential fictional character.

He is the embodiment of charity and generosity, a creation of mythology, a tool of clever capitalists. The very idea of him is enduring and powerful.

Santa Claus was born in early-nineteenth-century America, but his family tree goes back seven hundred years to Saint Nicholas, patron saint of children. Intervening generations were shaggy and strange — whip-wielding menaces to naughty boys and girls. Yet as the raucous, outdoor, alcohol-fuelled holiday gave way to a more domestic, sentimental model, a new kind of gift-bringer was called for — a loveable elf, still judgmental but far less threatening.

In this engaging social and cultural history, Gerry Bowler examines the place of Santa Claus in history, literature, advertising, and art. He traces his metamorphosis from a beardless youth into a red-suited peddler. He reveals the lesser-known aspects of the gift-bringer’s life — Santa’s involvement with social and political causes of all stripes (he enlisted on the Union side in the American Civil War), his starring role in the movies and as adman for gun-makers and insurance companies. And he demolishes the myths surrounding Santa Claus and Coca-Cola.

Santa Claus: A Biography will stand as the classic work on the long-lived and multifarious Mr. Claus.

I didn't get a chance to read this book before Christmas last year, so I saved it to read at some point this year. Gerry Bowler has tackled the subject of one of the most famous fictional characters of all time. I learned a lot reading it, to be truthful. Dating back to when Santa first appeared and carrying on into the modern era, it looks at the evolution of this jolly fellow and the joyous holiday season that accompanies him. There was a lot that I did not know, or even think of, until I read the words in this book.

The sections of the book cover every aspect of Santa. They are: His Long Gestation and Obscure Birth, His Youth and Character Development, Santa as Advocate, Santa the Adman, Santa the Warrior, Santa at the Movies (and in the Jukebox Too), and Does Santa Have a Future. The first section talks about before there even was a Santa Claus. It was instead Saint Nicholas, who would eventually evolve into the Santa Claus of today. The second section talks about the creation of the characteristics we know of today. Like where the reindeer came from and how he got his look. It also talks about the struggle to have a Santa in a religious world. The next four sections talk about how Santa has been used in the world. He was used as a spokesperson for marches and rallies, has appeared in countless ad campaigns, was used in the war effort as far back as the 19th century, and has had many movies and songs written about him.

One spoiler. This poem played a large part in the creation of Santa as we know him today:

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

Apparently in 2004, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers 'announced the society's twenty-five most-performed Christmas songs of the new millenium:
1. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
2. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
3. Winter Wonderland
4. Santa Claus is Coming to Town
5. White Christmas
6. Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!
7. I'll be Home for Christmas
8. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
9. Little Drummer Boy
10.Jingle Bell Rock
11.Silver Bells
12.Sleigh Ride
13.Feliz Navidad
14.It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
15.Blue Christmas
16.Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
17.Frosty the Snowman
18.A Holly Jolly Christmas
19.I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
20.It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
21.Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)
22.Wonderful Christmastime
23.Carol of the Bells
24.Santa Baby
25.This Christmas

So, what's your favourite Christmas song out of the list? What is your favourite Christmas song not included on the list? For me, it really depends on who is singing. If it is done right, a lot of these songs are great. As for a song not on the list, probably "Christmas Shoes".

That's it for telling you what the book said, all the other magic you will have to discover yourself! A few other discussion type questions, though, are: What is your favourite Christmas movie? And, more seriously, do you think that Santa will survive into the future?

In any case, this was an interesting book and perfect for this time of the year! Thanks to McClelland & Stewart for the gift of this book last year!

I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors by Bernice Eisenstein

I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors distills, through text and drawings, including panels in the comic-book format, Bernice Eisenstein’s memories of her 1950s’ childhood in Toronto with her Yiddish-speaking parents, whose often unspoken experiences of war were nevertheless always present. The memories also draw on inherited fragments of stories about relatives lost to the war whom she never met.

Eisenstein’s parents met in Auschwitz, near the end of the war and were married shortly after Liberation. The book began to take root in her imagination several years ago, almost a decade after her father’s death.

With poignancy and searing honesty, Eisenstein explores with ineffable sadness and bittersweet humour her childhood growing up in the shadow of the Holocaust. But more than a book about the Holocaust and its far-reaching shadows, this moving, visually ravishing graphic memoir speaks universally about memory, loss, and recovery of the past.

No one who sees this book will not be deeply affected by its beautiful, highly evocative writing and brilliantly original and haunting artwork created by the author. I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors is destined to become a classic.

“I am lost in memory. It is not a place that has been mapped, fixed by coordinates of longitude and latitude, whereby I can retrace a step and come to the same place again. Each time is different. . . .

“While my father was alive, I searched to find his face among those documented
photographs of survivors of Auschwitz — actually, photos from any camp would do. If I could see him staring out through barbed wire, I thought I would then know how to remember him, know what he was made to become, and then possibly know what he might have been. All my life, I’ve looked for more in order to fill in the parts of my father that had gone missing. . . .”
—Excerpts from I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors

I have no idea why it has taken me so long to read this book. I remember seeing a review of it back when it was about to come out in paperback, so I knew I was going to have to read it, and soon after that it entered my house. I just never got around to actually reading it! Then, earlier this month it was brought to my attention that my dh had never seen Schindler's List! I was shocked, to say the least. I am the first to admit that there a lot of movies I should have seen that I have never got around to watching, but I think everyone should watch Schindler's List. We of course ended up watching it (I own it, of course), and he said that he liked it, so then I had the Holocaust on my mind. When I was rearranging my books, I noticed this one and decided that now was as good a time as any to read it.

I have never been able to grasp the idea behind the Holocaust. It is something that I have heard about probably my entire life, and I cannot believe that it actually happened! I know that it did occur, though, I am not one of those people that does not believe it happened. I think that the experiences of World War II were horrific enough to hear about, so when you add these events on top of it, I think I am glad that I did not have to live through what they had to live through. There is no Jewish blood in my immediate family, so short of books and movies, I have never had anyone tell me their experiences during that horrible time.

Bernice Eisenstein is the daughter of parents that were both involved in the Holocaust. They actually met near the time of liberation and married soon afterwards. Her father rarely said what it was like to live during this time, he would just tell bits and pieces that she would have to make a full story out of. Her mother did an interview for some archives, though, so she heard what her mother had to say. Using pictures and words, Eisenstein speaks of her parents past and how it affects her. She was obsessed with the Holocaust her entire life, so I suppose it is fitting that she writes another book to add to the growing collection.

If you haven't read this book, I do recommend. I think it could probably count as a graphic novel, so something to keep in mind if the challenge is repeated next year. She is a fantastic prose writer and she has created haunting pictures that I believe will stay with me for some time. While it is a short book, not even 200 pages, it packs a punch and will get you thinking.

Thanks to McClelland & Stewart for this book!

Getting the Girl by Susan Juby

Sunglasses. Check.
Binoculars. Check.
Notepad. Check.
Mom's pink bike. Check. Check?

Meet Sherman Mack. Short. Nerdy. Amateur P.I. and prepared to do
anything for Dini Trioli.

Nobody knows who began it or when it became a tradition, but every girl
at Harewood Tech fears being D-listed, a ritual that wipes her off the social
map forever. When Sherman believes Dini is in danger of being D-listed, he
snatches up his surveillance gear and launches a full-scale investigation to
uncover who is responsible.

Could it be the captain of the lacrosse team?

The hottest girls in school, the Trophy Wives?

Or maybe their boyfriends?

One thing is for sure: Sherman Mack is on the case. And he's not giving
up.

Part comedy, part mystery, and with all of Juby's trademark
tongue-in-cheek humor, Getting the Girl takes on one of the cruelest aspects of
high school: how easy it is for an entire school to turn on someone, and how
hard it can be to be the only one willing to fight back.

I am actually surprised that I liked this book. When I read the description, I wasn't sure if it was my thing. It came with Jolted, though, so I thought I would give it a try! It was actually a pretty funny book, but at the same time very serious. It got me thinking about high school and how tough being in high school could be. At my school there was this hallway and everyone called it Jock Hall because it ran along the gym. Anyway, all the 'popular' people used to stand along this hallway and stare, or other days, they would call remarks or do other things that could be intimidating to others. Anyway, this lead to a lot of problems. I know that some of my friends wouldn't even walk down that hallway, they would find alternate routes. It is sort of related to the fact that I wasn't too keen on being intimidated, so I didn't really care all that much... They stopped bothering me; my friends were so embarassed they didn't walk down that hallway. This is the worst-case high school story that was running around in my head while I read this book.

In this book, girls were singled out and they were defiled. This meant that they were essentially invisible passed the first day. That first day, though, they would be bullied and ridiculed. A few of those scenes were shown in the book and it was very depressing what these girls had to go through. It is a very eye-opening book about just what it is like to be a teenager! In such turbulant times, it is a fitting subject, really. Susan Juby covers it with wit and humour, but she also shows the dark side of bullying and intimitation. It was a pretty good read.

It was an ARC of the book, and there was a funny typo that I hope they noticed before it went to printing! Sherman was a likeable character and it was nice to see him stand up for these defiled girls. Although, the path there was rather interesting, to say the least! He doesn't see the borders of the school quite like it was 'supposed' to and finds himself friends with lots of different crowds. Maybe if a few more teens read it they will find the power to stand up for themselves like Sherman did for the girls at his school. It's worth a try, anyway.

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Thanks Harper Collins!

Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding my True Voice by Maureen McCormick

Marcia Brady, eldest daughter on television's The Brady Bunch, had it all—style, looks, boys, brains, and talent. No wonder her younger sister Jan was jealous! For countless adolescents across America who came of age in the early 1970s, Marcia was the ideal American teenager. Girls wanted to be her. Boys wanted to date her. But what viewers didn't know about the always-sunny, perfect Marcia was that offscreen, her real-life counterpart, Maureen McCormick, the young actress who portrayed her, was living a very different—and not-so-wonderful—life. Now, for the very first time, Maureen tells the shocking and inspirational true story of the beloved teen generations have invited into their living rooms—and the woman she became.

In Here's the Story, Maureen takes us behind the scenes of America's favorite television family, the Bradys. With poignancy and candor, she reveals the lifelong friendships, the hurtful jealousies, the offscreen romance, the loving support her television family provided during a life-or-death moment, and the inconsolable loss of a man who had been a second father. But The Brady Bunch was only the beginning. Haunted by the perfection of her television alter ego, Maureen landed on the dark side, caught up in a fast-paced, drug-fueled, star-studded Hollywood existence that ultimately led to the biggest battle of her life.

Moving from drug dens on Wonderland Avenue to wild parties at the Playboy mansion and exotic escapades on the beaches of Hawaii, this candid, hard-hitting memoir exposes a side of a beloved pop-culture icon the paparazzi missed. Yet it is also a story of remarkable success. After kicking her drug habit, Maureen battled depression, reconnected with her mother, whom she nursed through the end of her life, and then found herself in a pitched battle for her family in which she ultimately triumphed.

There is no question: Maureen McCormick is a survivor. After fifty years, she has finally learned what it means to love the person you are, insight that has brought her peace in a happy marriage and as a mother. Here's the Story is the empowering, engaging, shocking, and emotional tale of Maureen McCormick's courageous struggle over adversity and her lifelong battle to come to terms with the idea of perfection—and herself.

I will be the first to admit that I am not necessarily a huge fan of The Brady Bunch. I have seen the show over the years and watched the Christmas movie, but I probably haven't seen all the episodes and I never exactly rushed out to buy the DVDs. That being said, I actually started paying attention to Maureen McCormick when I was channel-surfing one day and saw her on Dr. Phil. She has had some serious problems with her father and one of her brothers over the years and she was on there talking about elder abuse. While I don't think I saw the entire episode, I did find myself interested in a topic that I had never really given much thought to before. So, when I saw that she had a book out, I decided to give it a read and get the whole story. I was rather surprised at just how open about her life she is!

The book goes back to the beginning and covers events up to just a few months ago. Considering she does this in under 300 pages, you would be surprised in how much she covers and how much detail she goes into. The only thing I can ever remember seeing her on was The Brady Bunch, but it turns out that she has been on many other things. Of course, it is mostly television and I am just not a big television watcher... Throughout her career, though, she has battled many demons and in this book she lets them all out of the closet. I probably have an addictive personality, but I try and prevent it from taking control. I grew up in a household, though, where one of my parents did allow their addictions to run their life, and while they didn't do cocaine, it was just as interesting and enlightening to hear the story from the addicts point-of-view. My parent is older than Maureen and they haven't exactly got to the same point as her, but maybe one day it will happen.

Anyway, in this book Maureen looks at her addiction, her insecurities, the struggle to find work for a child star, her marriage, her relationships before her marriage, being a mother, her relationship with her own mother, and so much more. It was very illuminating and actually quite well-written. I found that I easily became wrapped up in her story. Like I said above, I was not necessarily reading it because she was Marcia Brady, but because I was interested in her story. I think she did a very good job at getting the facts out there, and considering that she was raised in a family that hid everything, it was very brave to write it all out for the world to see.

I am very glad I took the time to read this book!

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Harper Collins in Canada just relaunched and they have this cool search inside feature. I personally like them and while other book sites have them, they don't send me review copies of books. Harper Collins does, so I was thinking of including them from now on. What does everyone think?

Jolted by Arthur Slade

The Starker family is infamous. They’ve been chronicled on blogs, profiled on TV and researched by paranormal investigators. They appear to be cursed: everyone of Starker blood has died after being struck by lightning. Fourteen-year-old Newton Starker is the last of his line—except for his great-grandmother, Enid, a woman as friendly as a pickled wolverine—and he’s determined to survive.

Newton has spent all of his life surviving, following a list of rules for self-preservation, guidelines passed down through generations of Starkers. But Newton wants to try something new. He has enrolled at Jerry Potts Academy of Higher Learning and Survival in Moose Jaw with the hope that he’ll be able to beat the odds—he has a dream of becoming a great chef someday. If he wants to go beyond just getting by, Newton is going to need more than rules. He’s going to need friends.

From the creative mind of award-winning writer Arthur Slade—author of Dust, Tribes and Megiddo’s Shadow—comes a quirky, laugh-out-loud story about dreaming big, standing out and knowing when you need help.

Rachel over at a Fair Substitute for Heaven wrote a FANTASTIC review of this book, so, it of course moved onto my RADAR. Then, it just so happened that Harper Collins was willing to give me an Advanced Reading copy of the book, so I quickly said yes! I am very glad that I did. I read it yesterday in one sitting and it was a really entertaining read! I enjoyed how it crossed several genres, it is nice to get outside the comfort zone once in a while. Best thing of all? He's Canadian, so he is one of my own (who I had never even heard of before, but I don't read a lot of young adult fiction).

Moving on. The main character in this book is Newton Starker. He comes from a family who attracts lightening strikes. This means that he has to follow very strict rules about how he lives his life. He is technically the second-last surviving Starker because he great-grandmother Enid is still alive, and what a character she is! Let's just say there is one scene where she gets her great-grandson to wheel her outside so she can watch the men playing lawn hockey. Why, you might ask? Because apparently some of them still have very nice backsides! This woman is over a hundred, so I am sorry, you can't help laughing at that! The poor boy, though, I am sure the last thing a 14-year-old wants to think about his old men and their backsides.


It is not a long book, and it is young adult fiction, but it's hilarious and refreshing. You cannot help getting swept away by the characters and Newton's time at Jerry Potts Academy of Higher Learning and Survival. The students are forced to wear kilts. Not because Jerry Potts wore them, but because he was part-Scottish. Waring a kilt is quite complicated, though, as Newton comes to learn!

My favourite character of all, though, was Josephine! Her timing was perfect in every scene and you just couldn't help laughing at her interactions with Newton. Oh, and I probably should mention, Josephine is a truffle-finding pig. She was a perfect addition to the cast of characters! Anyway, I really enjoyed this book, and I will hopefully read some of the back-list by him in the future. People should read this book!

This book can also count for the 2nd Canadian Challenge, Eh? I think I might be done.... I will have to go count!

Thanks to Harper Collins for sending me a copy of this book!

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The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

This brilliant novel with universal resonance tells the story of three people trying to survive in a city rife with the extreme fear of desperate times, and of the sorrowing cellist who plays undaunted in their midst.

One day a shell lands in a bread line and kills twenty-two people as the cellist watches from a window in his flat. He vows to sit in the hollow where the mortar fell and play Albinoni’s Adagio once a day for each of the twenty-two victims. The Adagio had been re-created from a fragment after the only extant score was firebombed in the Dresden Music Library, but the fact that it had been rebuilt by a different composer into something new and worthwhile gives the cellist hope.

Meanwhile, Kenan steels himself for his weekly walk through the dangerous streets to collect water for his family on the other side of town, and Dragan, a man Kenan doesn’t know, tries to make his way towards the source of the free meal he knows is waiting. Both men are almost paralyzed with fear, uncertain when the next shot will land on the bridges or streets they must cross, unwilling to talk to their old friends of what life was once like before divisions were unleashed on their city. Then there is “Arrow,” the pseudonymous name of a gifted female sniper, who is asked to protect the cellist from a hidden shooter who is out to kill him as he plays his memorial to the victims.

In this beautiful and unforgettable novel, Steven Galloway has taken an extraordinary, imaginative leap to create a story that speaks powerfully to the dignity and generosity of the human spirit under extraordinary duress.

In my attempt to read Giller-nominated books, I am crossing another one off my list! Having not yet read all of them, and I doubt I ever will, I have to still say this... I think this book should have made the short-list. I am also not surprised it didn't. There was just something about this book that pulled me. About a very dark period in the earth's history, this is the story of people surviving the only ways that they know how.

My favourite part of this book, though, was the cellist. He has made it his mission to play the cello where a group of people were killed waiting in a breadline. Twenty-two died, so he has made it his mission to play everyday for twenty-two days. One of the characters in the book, Kenan, goes to listen to the man play and I really like how the experience is described, so I am going to quote:

None of that matters to Kenan anymore. He stares at the cellist, and feels himself relax as the music seeps into him. He watches as the cellist's hair smoothes itself out, his beard disappears. A dirty tuxedo becomes clean, shoes polished bright as mirrors. Kenan hasn't heard the cellist's tune before, but he knows it anyway, its notes familiar and full of pride, a young boy in a new coat holding his father's hand as he walks down a winter street.

The building behind the cellist repairs itself. The scars of bullets and shrapnel are covered by plaster and paint, and windows reassemble, clarify and sparkle as the sun reflects off glass. The cobblestones of the road set themselves straight. Around him people stand up taller, their faces put on weight and color. Clothes gain lost thread, brighten, smooth out their wrinkles.

This is a quote from page 209, so the book is nearing its conclusion. It goes on from there, and I just love this imagery.... but then I don't at the same time. Reading is my main hobby, but I also have a soft spot for music, and so, while I cannot relate to the circumstances, I can related to the idea. This is what music does, really. It brings hope. This novel shows one more instance of people doing horrible things to other people, but a short period of time for twenty-two days... these people have hope. The story is told from the viewpoint of three different people. It's horrible, really, what people go through. These three people are battling their own personal battles, and at the centre, their is this man and his musical tribute.

Like I said, I haven't read all of the Giller-nominated books, but I am very happy that I read this one. I can't even say I love it... I just think it is a book that will stick with me for a long time. If you get a chance to read it, I recommend that you do! It could easily be a book about a lot more than just that one period in history.

And, this is another book for the 2nd Canadian Challenge, eh?

My thanks to Random House for sending me a copy of this book!

Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips

From Marie Phillips, hailed by the Guardian Unlimited website as a “hot author” destined to “break through” in 2007, comes a highly entertaining novel set in North London, where the Greek gods have been living in obscurity since the seventeenth century.

Being immortal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Life’s hard for a Greek god in the twenty-first century: nobody believes in you any more, even your own family doesn’t respect you, and you’re stuck in a dilapidated hovel in North London with too many siblings and not enough hot water. But for Artemis (goddess of hunting, professional dog walker), Aphrodite (goddess of beauty, telephone sex operator) and Apollo (god of the sun, TV psychic) there’s no way out… until a meek cleaner and her would-be boyfriend come into their lives and turn the world upside down.

Gods Behaving Badly is that rare thing, a charming, funny, utterly original novel that satisfies the head and the heart.

This was such a fun book! It might weigh a bit on the 'chick-lit' side, which is not usually my sort of read, but I took a chance on it and I am very happy that I did! As many people that read my blog know, I like history. This is a book about the Greek gods set in a modern age! It was a perfect read for me. While mythology is a very broad area of study that I have never researched in depth, it has always interested me. Here we have a book where the author takes all of the powers that the gods and goddesses were believed to possess and writes a book where they take the fore-front. It was really quite a good idea.

The gods are quite the dysfunctional family. People today don't believe in them anymore and they are just bored. Their hold on humanity has been slowly slipping, so they find that they don't seem to have a use anymore. So, they burn off their energy in other pursuits. Plus, it helps pay the bills! Artemis, the goddess of hunting and chastity, is a dog-walker. She has to work off her lust somehow, right? Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, is a telephone sex operator. It is pretty entertaining, I must say! The scenes where she are talking on the phone couldn't help but bring a smile to your face. The other god that figures predominately in this book is Apollo, the god of the sun. Conceited, sex-crazed, and unappreciated... That's Apollo in a nut shell. Other gods and goddesses are in the book, but these three are the main characters.

The gods and goddesses have been around for a long time, and they are frankly bored and old. There are times in the book where they even talk about what it would be like to just die! Then, a prank has unanticipated results and life for them changes very drastically. Enter a very meek, perfectionist cleaner and her sort of boyfriend and things start to happen. I really love that for as smart as this couple is, they never really wonder why the entire family is named after Greek gods. We witness their thoughts, so I figured that somewhere in there they would be wondering what the parents were on when they named the kids, but it never happens.

So, what we have here is some all-powerful gods that are losing their powers, some unsuspecting mortals, a falling apart house in London, some sex, some romance, incest, fighting, a trip to the underworld, and so much more all in one book! So, yes, I enjoyed this book and I do hope that if she writes another book she makes it a sequel of sorts. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for what happens next!

Thanks to Random House for both bringing this book to my attention and kindly sending me a copy!

The Witch's Trinity by Erika Mailman

The year is 1507, and a friar has arrived in Tierkinddorf, a remote German village nestled deeply in the woods. The village has been suffering a famine, and the villagers are desperately hungry. The friar’s arrival is a miracle, and when he claims he can restore the town to prosperity, the men and women gathered to hear him rejoice. The friar has a book called the Malleus Maleficarum—“The Witch’s Hammer”—a guide to gaining confessions of witchcraft. The friar promises he will identify the guilty woman who has brought God’s anger upon the town; she will be burned, and bounty will be restored. Tierkinddorf is filled with hope. Neighbors wonder aloud who has cursed them and how quickly can she be found? They begin sharing secrets with the friar.

Güde Müller, an elderly woman, has stark and frightening visions—recently she has seen things that defy explanation. None in the village know this, and Güde herself worries that perhaps her mind has begun to wander—certainly she has outlived all but one of her peers in Tierkinddorf. Yet of one thing she is absolutely certain: She has become an object of scorn and a burden to her son’s wife. In these desperate times her daughter-in-law would prefer one less hungry mouth at the family table. As the friar turns his eye on each member of the tiny community, Güde dreads what her daughter-in-law might say to win his favor.

Then one terrible night Güde follows an unearthly voice and the scent of charred meat into the snow-filled woods. Come morning, she no longer knows if the horror she witnessed was real or imagined. She only knows that if the friar hears of it, she may be damned in this life as well as the next.

The Witch’s Trinity beautifully illuminates a dark period of history; it is vividly imagined, elegantly written, haunting, and unforgettable.

When I read books like this I am always left thinking. How can we live in a world where people are capable of burning innocent women on stakes! We might think that we are better now and incapable of these atrocious acts, but when it comes right down to it, the hate has continued. We might not be burning witch's, but there is so much hate and blame in this world. I love to think we have moved away from the actions of the people in this book, but we have just found new ammunition and new enemies. While the townsfolk in this book blindly followed a friar because he was the voice of god, think of the men who followed a leader that flew planes into buildings and killed countless people; or another leader who declared war on helpless people and was allowed to legally kill innocent people for the crimes of a few select. We live in a scary world, as much as we would like to think that we are advanced...

Mailman is an excellent writer. Believe me, when I was reading about the living flesh being burned in raging fires, I could almost picture it happening right in front of me. I almost heard the screams of the innocent as they felt flames tear at their bodies. It was both captivating and disturbing that an author could achieve that. Frankly, books like this scare me. While this is a work of fiction, things like this really happened. A finger was pointed and next thing you know, you were a witch! Those that condemned others to death were just as easily sentenced to death themselves. The 'tests' were farces and the punishments and torture devices were severe. I am always horrified to know that people are capable of such cruelty, but if I was there, who is to say which side I would find myself on. I look back on it now and say I would never be involved, but things were a lot different back then...

So, while I can't say that I totally loved this book, I did really appreciate it. It was just disturbing, as books of this subject matter always are. I will definitely be keeping my eyes open for the next book that Mailman releases. She does tell a really good story, even if I got thinking about things totally unrelated. If you were meant to like the character, you liked the character, and if you were meant to hate them, you hated them. It think she has lots of potential!