I’m late getting to my wrap-up of books that I read last year, so I’m not going to make a list of ‘My X Many Best Books of 2012’.

I’m just going to remind you about the book that had the greatest impact on me during the year: the non-fiction The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard. I hope you will visit the project web-site to get some background on this terrific eye-opener.

As for all the other 138 books I read last year, I’ve prepared pages for my blog, listing them alphabetically by author, and by rating within categories. A few of the ratings have been adjusted since my monthly round-ups, for after-effect and the results of comparing with the larger group. If you’re interested, please click on the links.

And that’s it – good-bye, books of 2012!

December was a mad rush to finish up books for my reading challenges. I ran out of time and nearly burned out on reading by cramming the massive Mordecai into the last few days of the month.

This year – I will read on whim.

THIMBLE SUMMER by Elizabeth Enright
Winner of the 1939 Newbery Medal for Children’s Literature, this is a delightful & heart-warming story of nine-year-old Garnet Linden and one perfect summer on her family’s Wisconsin farm. It’s set in what was in some ways a much simpler time, in a self-sufficient rural environment (her father fired his own lime to make his own blocks for the foundation of his new barn).
In one of many adventures that summer, Garnet makes a trip on the bus by herself to the next town (imagine that happening today!)
I found the comparisons between town & farm life amusing because they remain similar to such observations today.
Elizabeth Enright is also the author of my childhood favourites – the Melendy Family quartet, which begins with The Saturdays.
Every child should be able to enjoy a Thimble Summer. Sadly, few ever do – or even did – and so this story provides a wonderful escape.
Read this if: you love tales of the unspoiled rural America of 80 years ago; or you believe in happy childhood summers. 5 stars

BUSH STUDIES by Barbara Baynton
First published in 1902, Bush Studies is a collection of short stories set in the Australian outback of her day. While the stories certainly convey the harsh conditions, I felt that Baynton made scathing commentary on the harsh, crude and vulgar behaviour particularly of the men, and particularly toward women.
I found Scrammy ‘And and The Chosen Vessel to be especially compelling, and if I taught high-school literature would want to include them in my curriculum, regardless of where I was teaching.
Having met only the “jolly swagman’ of Waltzing Matilda, I had my eyes opened wide.
Read this if: (obviously) you want to find out about life in the outback at the end of the 19th century; or you are interested in the history of women’s role in Australian or global society. 4½ stars

THE UNDERPAINTER by Jane Urquhart
This 1997 winner of Canada’s Governor General’s Literary Award is the third novel I’ve read by this talented writer.
It’s told from the point of view of painter Austin Fraser, living in his old age in his childhood hometown of Rochester NY. The setting moves from upstate New York to the northern shores of Lake Ontario and Lake Superior – both Canadian locations. It’s told in flashbacks from Austin’s present (1970s) to 1914 and the ensuing years. I was struck by the different affects that the declaration of war in 1914 had on Canada, and on the United States.
The title refers to the method which Austin now uses for all his paintings: blank white over an “underpainting”. Why he paints like this is revealed as the story is.
Urquhart weaves her story skillfully, building to a heart-rending climax.
Read this if: you appreciate beautiful prose and understated stories; or you’re interested in the contrast between the effects of WWI on Canada and its closest neighbour the United States.
4 stars

MORDECAI: The Life & Times by Charles Foran
If you’re Canadian—and perhaps if you’re not—you no doubt recognize that this is a biography (“unauthorized, of course”) of one of Canada’s foremost ‘men of letters’, Mordecai Richler. It’s a rich, multi-layered story of a man whose life was the same – and who lived it large and controversially.
The knowledge I gained will add immensely to my reading of his novels since, essentially, he wrote his life. It also makes me want to reread the two of his works that I’ve already covered.
My only complaint is that at 704 pages, it was a little overlong. What to cut? Perhaps the explanations of the plots of each of his books.
Mordecai won several awards including the Canadian Governor-General’s Award for Non-Fiction and the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction.
Read this if: you’ve read or are going to read any of Richler’s novels; or if you would like some insights into the birth of Canadian publishing of Canadian material (CanLit). 4 stars

THE CAT’S TABLE by Michael Ondaatje
“In the early 1950s, an eleven-year-old boy boards a ship bound for England. At mealtimes, he is seated at the lowly ‘Cat’s Table’ with an eccentric and fascinating group of adults and two other boys.”
This is the story of their voyage and the after effects, felt into their adult lives.
The cover describes it as a “thrilling, deeply-moving novel”. I’d not be quite so effusive. Ondaatje’s writing is elegant and the story has some tension. But sometimes, the parts just didn’t seem to be coming together. 3½ stars

THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA by Ernest Hemingway
Winner of the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, this famous novella tells the story of an aging Cuban fisherman, Santiago, who wrestles with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. Perhaps better called the ‘Old Man & the Fish’?
This is my first foray into Hemingway and I’m impressed with the sparseness of his prose. I understand that The Old Man and the Sea was a bit of a departure from the norm for the author. Therefore I can’t recommend it as an introduction to him because it may not be representative at all of his work.
Read this if: if you like a good ‘fish’ story. 3½ stars

HALFWAY HOUSE by Ellery Queen
Cleverly crafted murder mystery first published in 1936 by Frederic Dannay and Manfred B, Lee, under the pen name Ellery Queen. Queen, of course, is the detective solving the mystery of a body found in a house where it’s obvious no one lived. Half way between NYC and Philadelphia Pennsylvania, the house was a place for the murder victim, who led a double life, to switch identities.
I had an inkling of who the murderer was this time, but based only on one fact, and no clues. These guys were good.
Read this if: you love a classic murder mystery; or you want a small taste of NYC society in the 1930s. 3½ stars

MISTER SANDMAN by Barbara Gowdy
Publisher synopsis: “The Canary family are unlike any other. Joan is exquisite, tiny, mute, plays the piano like Mozart and lives in a closet. Marcy is a nymphomaniac, while Sonja earns a fortune clipping hair-grips to cardboard and knits compulsively. Their parents keep their own habits secret for as long as they can.”
The secrets of the parents are that Gordon is homosexual and Doris likes to sleep with other women. The story reaches its climax when Joan reveals them to each other.
Well-written, but a bit bawdy for my taste.
(The title is derived, on one level at least, from the tunes that Doris always has running through her head. I kept hearing the beautiful tune Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream…. Here it is played by a master.)
Read this if: quite honestly, I’m not sure who should read this. 3 stars

THE ECHO MAKER by Richard Powers
This 2006 winner of the National Book Award (USA) is set in Nebraska 2001-2003. Amazon synopsis: ”On a winter night on a remote Nebraska road, twenty-seven-year-old Mark Schluter has a near-fatal car accident. His older sister, Karin, (arrives) to nurse Mark back from a traumatic head injury. But when Mark emerges from a coma, he believes that this woman–who looks, acts, and sounds just like his sister–is really an imposter. When Karin contacts the famous cognitive neurologist Gerald Weber for help, he diagnoses Mark as having Capgras syndrome. “
The Echo Maker of the title is the sandhill cranes which descend in spectacular numbers on the Platte River in Nebraska each spring during their annual migration north. “Where cranes gathered, their speech carried miles (…) One of the Anishinaabe clans was named the Cranes—Ajijak orBusinassee—the Echo Makers.”
The cranes play only an ancillary and not even necessary part in the story which reads more like a commercial novel than a literary prize winner.
Read this if : you are interested in how the brain functions, especially in making and retrieving memories; or if you enjoy the structure and pacing of John Grisham novels. 3 stars

LINKS FOR CANADIAN READERS:
Thimble Summer
Bush Studies
The Underpainter
Mordecai: The Life & Times
The Cat’s Table
The Old Man and the Sea
Halfway House
Mister Sandman
The Echo Maker

KINDLE editions:
Mordecai: The Life & Times
The Cat’s Table
The Old Man and the Sea
The Echo Maker

A snowstorm on the last Sunday in December sent me scurrying to my picture book shelf to read about snow.

I found three “winter” books and a couple about dogs (that seemed cozy, too).

What’s Wrong with Rosie is now on my “all-time favourite books” shelf. Rarely does a picture book move me as this one did.

Click on the links to read my (very short) reviews.

Jillian Jiggs and the Great Big Snow

No Roses for Harry

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

danny*s first snow

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What’s Wrong With Rosie? has been sitting on my bookshelf for years and I had no idea it was such a treasure!

Nan and her yellow Labrador Rosie live in “the Dales.” Nan is happy with Rosie but Rosie is perhaps lonely. After a scare with Rosie’s health as she getting older, Nan ends up with a new puppy for both of them.

This is a lovely, gentle story that I could read again and again. The language is wonderful. “The silver hairs gleamed on Rosie’s once golden face.” .” The emotions that it describes are complex and real but painted with only a few deft strokes. “She felt as though someone had switched all her lights off.”

And the pictures! They’re full of wonderful detail of a modest house and a country life. The cover doesn’t do the inside art work justice.

I can’t imagine that my four-years-old grandson would appreciate this book for several more years. It’s a picture book but it’s really for older children, or even adults. This adult certainly loves it.
5 stars, easily

Written by: Pippa Jagger
Illustrated by: Gavin Rowe
Published by: Magi Publications London 1997

Canadian link:
What’s Wrong with Rosie?

The back cover of this book tells me that “Phoebe Gilman is one of Canada’s best-loved children’s book author/illustrator.” After reading Jillian Jiggs and the Great Big Snow, I can see why.

When I read a picture book, I speak out loud, as if I were reading to a child. To do that with this book is a real pleasure. In two-line rhymes, Gilman fairly bounces us through the story of Jillian, excited by the snow but not allowed out until she finds her hat. Her mom says:
“Jillian, Jillian, say it’s not true.
How do you lose all things that you do?”

By the time Jillian finishes her play outside, she is minus her scarf, hat, and both mittens and her friends and her sister have repeated this mantra several times.

The imagination in the snow play is wonderful – the children build Martians and monsters, and roads for Mars. And the issue of lost outerwear is very realistic – a perennial problem with children.

The illustrations, “created in gouche and coloured pencils”, are also excellent – bright and cheerful with just the right amount of detail. I stop and examine the pictures and point out to myself what I would to a child: a small cat in the house scenes, various implements and activities in the outdoor scenes.

I didn’t expect to like this book much, but I did and I highly recommend Jillian Jiggs and the Great Big Snow, especially to children who live in snowy climates! 4½ stars

Written and illustrated by: Phoebe Gilman
Published by: North Winds Press 2002

Canadian link:
Jillian Jiggs and the Great Big Snow

No Roses for Harry! is part of a series of books featuring the “white dog with black spots”. It was published in 1958 and I think my (taped & well-worn) copy of this charming tale was printed then.

Harry receives a gift from Grandma: a green sweater with yellow roses. He doesn’t like it much and tries to lose in a department store, to no avail. despite his cleverness trying to disguise the sweater in the spots he leaves it.Then a bird unravels a loose thread and takes Harry’s sweater to build a nest. When Grandma comes to visit, Harry doesn’t have his sweater! But Harry’s story has a happy ending – of course. Zion’s story is delightful.

What is it about Margaret Bloy Graham’s drawings? In this book, they’re line drawings with two colors- in this case, the green & yellow that are in the sweater. But what a use of those two colors! A house with windows with curtains and plants, clothes on the line, a toy truck, the sun, the trees, the other dogs, all in green & yellow. But the pictures are far from boring; they are full of detail while seeming simple.

I love reading about Harry’s antics and looking at the house & town that Graham brings to life. Maybe I can’t be objective about Harry so I’ll only give this 4 stars. But then I’ll add another half for the sheer nostalgia. 4½ stars

Written by: Gene Zion
Illustrated by: Margaret Bloy Graham
Published by: Harper & Row, NY 1958

Canadian link:
No Roses For Harry!

I love Robert Frost’s poem Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, and even if you are in the minority that doesn’t feel the same way, you’re no doubt familiar with some of the lines.

I was very pleased to see this book on a sale table and snapped it up, looking forward to reading the poem again.
But the artist Susan Jeffers has used only the first and last stanzas of Frost’s poem, along with a couple of stray phrases from the third verse to accompany her drawings of snowy woods. To me, the original rhythm of the piece was lost and despite the art, I was disappointed.

In addition, the rotund figure with the white beard in the horse-drawn sleigh suspiciously styled after Santa’s disturbed me. I don’t believe this was ever intended to be a Christmas poem and I resent that Jeffers seems to have appropriated it for that purpose.

I might have forgiven that if the poem had been intact. The artwork deserves 3 stars.

Written by: Robert Frost 1923
Illustrated by: Susan Jeffers 1978
Published by: Dutton’s Children’s Books, NY 1978

Canadian link:
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

(I’m thankful that the author used capital letters in the text of the story.)

I had forgotten that I had read danny*s first snow before—when Steven was living with us. But I remember now his reaction to it: he didn’t get it.

Gore has drawn “delicate pastels and acrylics” of snowy outdoor scenes where the trees and bushes look like different animals. Steven couldn’t figure out where the animals were. On one page where he did see them, he didn’t understand that it was also a picture of a tree with snow on it.

But I can hardly blame him – I’ve never seen trees and bushes that look like that and I’ve seen plenty snow-covered nature. The story itself wasn’t anything special, either.

I’m sorry, Leonid, but I think it’s worth only 2 stars.

Written & illustrated by: Leonid Gore 2007
Published by: ginee seo books NY 2007

Canadian link:
danny*s first snow