Another One Off the List

For some reason (personally I'm going with the theory that a one year old is not conducive to long periods of reading) I'm not getting through the books as fast as I'd like to but I've finished another, about three chapters in on one more and have three more ready to be picked up from the library.

Roopa Farooki's The Flying Man was a pretty good story. I read it in fits and starts, but when I was reading I was absorbed. The main character seems to have a split personality having been born the surviving twin of a still born brother in effect he has stolen the life force of his brother in the womb. He becomes throughout his life the charming grifter, making no firm attachments leaving a trail of wives and friends in his wake as he easily walks out the door without notice or farewells. (with the constant companion he refers to as my, he and we; perhaps the spirit of his twin who he carries in his head and speaks aloud to when he is alone)  finally ending up alone in a discount hotel presumably writing his life story for someone to find. As a character he isn't very likable and I found the characters of his family much more interesting. The parallel ending between our heroes death and his sun's movement forward with his life and how different each ones life was based on their choices was a perfect closing to the book.

I'm not sure that this book will cling to my brain but it was a good story.

• Island of Wings by Karin Altenberg 
• On the Floor by Aifric Campbell 
• The Grief of Others by Leah Hager Cohen - On deck
• The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue 
• Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan - Finished
• The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright
• The Flying Man by Roopa Farooki - Finished
• Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon 
• Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding 
• Gillespie and I by Jane Harris 
• The Translation of the Bones by Francesca Kay
• The Blue Book by A.L. Kennedy 
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - Reading Now
  
• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
• Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick - Finished
• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
• There but for the by Ali Smith
• The Pink Hotel by Anna Stothard
• Tides of War by Stella Tillyard - On deck
• The Submission by Amy Waldman  - On deck

 While I was about half through Flying Man, I  started on Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus. I'm finding the tone to be somewhat similar to China Miéville. I'm enjoying it so far but then I'm a sucker for stories about magic. Are you reading along? Which book are you reading, what do you think of it?

Slow Goings but going none the less

I think I may have wildly overestimated my ability to get through the long list. I'm still at it though. The flying man is so far an absorbing read whenever I get a chance to be absorbed. The main character is a charming minor villain, leaving broken hearts and families behind his wandering feet.

I've started The Night Circus as well. When I say I've started I mean I've read the prologue and the first page of the first chapter. The premise is very promising but I haven't heard good things about it. I'll keep on it and let you know if I have anything bad to say about it. Tides of War is sitting on my kitchen table waiting for me to get through Flying Man before it can be started...

Are you reading along? What books are you reading, what are your thoughts? 

• Island of Wings by Karin Altenberg 
• On the Floor by Aifric Campbell - On deck
• The Grief of Others by Leah Hager Cohen
• The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue 
• Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan - Finished
• The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright
• The Flying Man by Roopa Farooki - about half through
• Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon 
• Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding 
• Gillespie and I by Jane Harris 
• The Translation of the Bones by Francesca Kay
• The Blue Book by A.L. Kennedy 
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - started
• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
• Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick - Finished
• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
• There but for the by Ali Smith
• The Pink Hotel by Anna Stothard
• Tides of War by Stella Tillyard - on deck
• The Submission by Amy Waldman 

Book Two: Foreign Bodies

And on to Book number three. I can't tell you what it seems to be about because I haven't even taken a look past the cover art. I'm super tired today since the Bean has been keeping odd hours, going to bed on her own in her own bed and then waking up two to three time a night and fighting going back to sleep. Between the husband and I, we are both exhausted.  I don't recall sleep training the Peanut to be this tricky... but on to the reading:

Foreign Bodies was filled to the brim with foreign bodies of all make and manner. From the intrusion of estranged family members in one characters living room to the literal foreign bodies that inhabit post war Paris. If I was an English Lit Student, this would be a great book to write an essay on based on the Foreign body theme alone. It was a good read; I'm just not sure that it's going to inhabit my brain the way a really superb book would.

Are you reading along? what book have you started on? Let me know what you've read and if you want what you thought about it here or in another Orange Prize labelled post. 

• Island of Wings by Karin Altenberg 
• On the Floor by Aifric Campbell - On deck
• The Grief of Others by Leah Hager Cohen
• The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue 
• Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan - Finished
• The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright
• The Flying Man by Roopa Farooki Starting
• Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon 
• Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding 
• Gillespie and I by Jane Harris 
• The Translation of the Bones by Francesca Kay
• The Blue Book by A.L. Kennedy 
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
• Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick - Finished
• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
• There but for the by Ali Smith
• The Pink Hotel by Anna Stothard
• Tides of War by Stella Tillyard
• The Submission by Amy Waldman

Book one: Half Blood Blues and Foreign Bodies

So here's the list. I also have it on my last post as well. I'm posting it here again because I'm going to mark off the books as I've read them, about to read them or reading right now. When I went through the list the other day I was pleasantly surprised to see that Half Blood Blues could be marked off as read.

I finished the book a few months ago and it's one of those books that takes you in. Set during Nazi occupied France as well as in Germany and modern day. For some reason (possibly the referrals from my good friend who just happened to be obsessed with literature set during WW2) a lot of my most memorable reads over the course of the last six months have WW2 settings. Half Blood Blues tells the story of a group of black jazz musicians who escape to Paris. It hops back and forth between modern day when two of the characters are heading to a film festival celebrating the youngest member of the group and the events leading up to that member's capture by German soldiers in Paris. It's a book whose characters still hop into my mind here and there, as I go about my days; which to me, is a pretty good indication of it's booky goodness.

Yesterday I said I was starting off with On the Floor but that changed when the Husband brought home my library holds and Foreign Bodies was cracked open first. I'm enjoying it. I don't really like any of the characters (my vote is still out on the main character) but then I'm also enjoying not really liking them. The concept of the story is very interesting. Cynthia Ozick has taken the Henry James's The Ambassadors  and rewritten it, giving it new meaning. This is at least what it says on the book flap. As I said I'm not too keen on some of the characters but not because I'm not relating to them.  I expect to have the shading on Foreign Bodies at bright orange by early in the coming week if not by the end of the weekend. What are you reading now?

• Island of Wings by Karin Altenberg 
• On the Floor by Aifric Campbell - On deck
• The Grief of Others by Leah Hager Cohen
• The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue 
• Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan - Finished
• The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright
• The Flying Man by Roopa Farooki 
• Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon 
• Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding 
• Gillespie and I by Jane Harris 
• The Translation of the Bones by Francesca Kay
• The Blue Book by A.L. Kennedy 
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
• Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick - half way through
• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
• There but for the by Ali Smith
• The Pink Hotel by Anna Stothard
• Tides of War by Stella Tillyard
• The Submission by Amy Waldman

Reading Reading Reading

Last year about this time a good friend tossed out the idea of reading as many of the Orange Prize long list books as possible before the Long list became a short list. So what's the Orange Prize you ask? It's a literary prize that was launched in 1996 which celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in women's writing from throughout the world. The books I read from last year ranged from about four or five that were so fantastic that I'm still thinking about them; considering the themes, the characters the ideas; to very good reads that I wouldn't have picked up otherwise, to one that I just couldn't get into.

When the long list for 2012 came out yesterday I was poised at my computer with my local library's site open on search so that I could place holds on any and all of the titles that are on the shelves there. I was fortunate that most of the titles are either at my library or on the Vancouver Public Library 's list. Now I'm waiting for the first titles on my list to come available so I can dive right in.

if you're interested in joining me here's the list:

• Island of Wings by Karin Altenberg (Quercus) - Swedish; 1st Novel
• On the Floor by Aifric Campbell (Serpent's Tail) - Irish; 3rd Novel
• The Grief of Others by Leah Hager Cohen (The Clerkenwell Press) - American; 4th Novel
• The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue (Picador) - Irish; 7th Novel
• Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan (Serpent's Tail) - Canadian; 2nd Novel
• The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright (Jonathan Cape) - Irish; 5th Novel
• The Flying Man by Roopa Farooki (Headline Review) - British; 5th Novel
• Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon (Quercus) - American; 4th Novel
• Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding (Bloomsbury) - British; 3rd Novel
• Gillespie and I by Jane Harris (Faber & Faber) - British; 2nd Novel
• The Translation of the Bones by Francesca Kay (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) - British; 2nd Novel
• The Blue Book by A.L. Kennedy (Jonathan Cape) - British; 6th Novel
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (Harvill Secker) - American; 1st Novel
• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (Bloomsbury) - American; 1st Novel
• Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick (Atlantic Books) - American; 7th Novel
• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (Bloomsbury) - American; 6th Novel
• There but for the by Ali Smith (Hamish Hamilton) - British; 5th Novel
• The Pink Hotel by Anna Stothard (Alma Books) - British; 2nd Novel
• Tides of War by Stella Tillyard (Chatto & Windus) - British; 1st Novel
• The Submission by Amy Waldman (William Heinemann) - American; 1st Novel

First up on my holds list is The Flying Man. I haven't read any synopse of any of the books. I won't until I pick up the book to start it. Once I've started I'll post here about how it's going. 

Any good books on your reading list?

Books Books Books

I may have mentioned before that I'm a reader.

Wiki pageBooks, books and more books, magazines, blogs the back of a cereal box.... if it's there I'll read it. Last year a friend sent out a challenge to read as many of the Orange Prize long list as possible before the short list was announced. I took up the challenge and read some very beautiful and heart wrenching and gut gnashing books; many that will stay in my mind and whose stories will become a part of my personal mythology (Jamrach's Menagerie I'm looking at you) . I'm thinking I may just have to have a go at this year's long list when they announce it in March.

I'm a little embarrassed to say this but up until last year I'd become stuck in a little rut of reading. I'd found a circle of writers who I read and re-read and then maybe read again. Adding an author here or there and then including them to my rotation. Tolkien, Pratchett, Gaiman, Gibson, Lackey, Tepper, Ondaatje, Atwood and Coupland are all well worn and traveled worlds in my private library as well as in my local public library and I know that I'll take their paths many more times to come. Last year I read so many new and new to me authors that some of them have melded together into a melange of plots characters and landscapes. My circle of authors grew with the additions of Miéville, Wynne Jones and a few others who are escaping my still addled Mommy Brain.


So what am I getting at? Where am I going with this? Well, I just thought that I'd like to share a few of the books I've got in my diaper bag, on the bedside table and sitting on the edge of the couch right now.


Starting with one of my Good To Go To Authors; Douglas Coupland's All Families Are Psychotic  is in my diaper bag. I've been reading it when I wait for the Peanut to be done for school and the Bean has fallen asleep. It's a story about a very dysfunctional family who has come together to watch the daughter who is an astronaut be launched into space. So far it's told from the point of view of the Mother and the Eldest son who both suffer from AIDS. I find Coupland's books always make me think outside of the story. 


On my Bedside table is Austin Grossman's Soon I Will Be Invincible a twist on the super hero comic book. It's a novel told from the point of view of the Super Villain Dr. Impossible and Fatale the newbie member of his defunct nemesis super hero group reformed after the disappearance of the worlds most powerful super hero Corefire. This is a re-read for me since I saw it on the shelf at the library and could remember reading it sometime in the last two years but couldn't remember anything about it other than I had enjoyed reading it.

Stacked on top of that is Heather B Armstrong, better known as Dooce' It Sucked and Then I Cried I'm laughing out loud and nearly peeing myself with this one. The episode in the first part of the book where she eats the Pizza to bring on labour springs to mind. I made the husband drop what he was doing and run to the bedroom to read it.

In addition I have books on deck to read including the Bio of GNR guitarist Slash (in between when the husband has it to read). What are you reading? What would you recommend? Want to read one that I'm currently in and compare thoughts when you're done?

The things that run through my mind

when I'm breastfeeding the Bean.... (but before we go any further make sure you enter into teh Melissa and Doug Seaside Sidekick giveaway )

Well, mostly I read. I'm nearly done the Orange Prize Short list with a handful of the long list already crossed off but tonight I finished Wendy Law-Yone's The Road to Wanting and found myself with no books within reach so my brain did a little wander and I found myself thinking about the first book I remember reading as a child which led to a short list of books that I remember from childhood.

On the top of that list is Dr Seuss' One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. I remember my Dad reading this book to me and my sister when we were little and giggling when we got to the part where the narrator says "I don't know go ask your Dad"

OK, if I'm going to be honest the first book that popped into my head was the Hobbit. I first picked up the Hobbit when I was eight or nine and I've read and re-read it over and over and over ever since.

The third book that popped into my head was a book that I didn't even read when I was a kid. In fact I've never read it at all. It was a book that was read out to us during a story time session in our school library and for some reason I never managed to get it out of the library to finish it but If I was ever to come across the book I would totally be reading it. So the name of this book that made such an impression on me? Roger Wolcott Drury's The Finches Fabulous Furnace. A book about a family who moves into a house that is heated by a tiny volcano.

We've been reading to the Peanut since she was the Bean's age and the books that have made an impression on her are Ted Dewan's Bing Bunny books and Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The ones that have stayed with me are Sam Mc Bratney's Guess How Much I love You and Neil Gaiman's Blueberry Girl

So what books do you remember from your childhood? Which books do you read to your child (if you have one) that will always remind you of story time) that most lovely of moments in each day?

books books books

I'm on a bit of a new book binge. Not that I'm buying new books just borrowing them from the library. I mentioned before the Bean was out and about that I was planning on getting lots of reading in over the next little while. I was a tiny bit worried that I was being a little optimistic regarding how much I was going to be able to read after she made her entrance, but I've been pretty lucky so far.

I'm not reading as fast as I normally do but I have been able to finish off a healthy stack of books over the last three weeks. So far I've been keeping to authors who I'm familiar with; Nick Hornby, Terry Pratchet, Neil Gaiman, and a newer member of my must read if written by list China Mieville.

In the Hospital and during our first week home I was reading Good Omens by Pratchet and Gaiman. I also read Hornby's Juliet Naked, a handful of Gaiman's Graphic novels, and I'm now reading Mieville's Un Lun Dun and loving it.

What's on your reading list right now?

I may be deluding myself

But I've got a big stack of books for reading over the next week or so. Of course I'm not taking into account the whole going to be taking care of a newborn in about 3 days or so.

The thing is, is that I can't not read. I read and re-read books just to have a story going at all times. The problem is that I get in author ruts and find it hard to pick up a new one without some sort of recommendation. To be honest my book reading practice has become very much like that of a finicky eater who is longing to break out of a rut. I read books that I've love and re-read them because the choices open to me when I step into the library are so vast that it's easier to pick the tried and true than it is to venture into uncharted territory. And then when I do taste something new and fresh and I enjoy it; it becomes an obsession and I collect the plots of a new author.

I'm fortunate in that I have this amazing friend who is as avid a reader as I am... OK if I'm going to be honest she's more avid a reader than I am, she devours books like chocolate, she always has something new in her bag to read. She's been tossing the odd suggestion my way over the last little for which I'm very grateful, after all, there's only so many times you can read the same book in one year...

So with the Bean on the verge of reality I'm piled high with some new reads and looking for more, What else should I be doing while I'm breastfeeding? Watching TV? What's on your night table? What book are you reading that you just can't put down, can't stop thinking about? Me? I've been reading China Miéville; courtesy of a suggestion by my above friend, I just finished Kraken, Looking for Jake and Iron Council and I'm looking forward reading Un Lun Dun.

Speaking of Purging

I'm a reader, I have books books and more books. I kept most of my text books from College and I have authors that I haunt the book store in order to read them. My favourite art history class at Emily Carr was one that compared literature to film. We had a reading list that looked like it belonged to an english major and we got to watch a film every week.

I have a fairly good selection of Canadian Literature including both Margarets and a number of signed books from contemporary writers visited and read at Red Deer College. I used to be an English Major and I had hopes of being published but not the discipline for self editing and rewriting.

My secret reading indulgence is fantasy. I blame Tolkein, I read The Hobbit for the first time at the age of 7. I've re-read it numerous times and I'll probably read many many many many many many more times yet. I have a number of fantasy novels that I have read and re-read. I've been packing them around with me for the last 15 years.

They say not to judge a book by it's cover but I buy my fantasy books based on the cover art. I can remember studying the cover art for The Hobbit, probably because I was still at an age where I liked picture books; and if a fantasy novel's cover isn't interesting to me I'll pass it by. I've probably missed out on any number of good reads this way but I've never been disapointed with the ones I have chosen. I also choose Miranda's books by the artwork. I guess I've never outgrown liking picture books.

As we were packing up our books for our most recent move I decided to let some of them go. On one hand it's a little sad, the stories have meant enough to me that I've revisited them more than a few times; on another it's kind of liberating to cull tehm from my library. So I have about 50 books that I'm looking for new homes for. I've emailed the library to see if they'll take them but haven't heard back yet. Selling them to a used book store is kind of sad. I've spent hundreds of dollars on these books and they have become a part who I am. Having a stranger rummage through them and then offer a monetary amount (which will inevitably be much less than I'd like to get for them) kind of feels a little strange.