March seemed to be mystery month here. Several new-to-me series debut novels came through my library reserve list so I dipped my figurative toe in several types of mysteries, old and new.

Have you read any of these?

A CAT WAS INVOLVED by Spencer Quinn (Mystery, Short Story, Animals)
This is really a short story, the prequel to Dog On It and the entire Chet & Bernie mystery series, but it fills in a blank for me & it’s important enough for me to record as book. (Count it as a novella: honestly, it’s hard to know how long it was since it was on my Kindle.)
This series is my very favourite. It’s light-hearted enough to be narrated by the dog, which device is a source of much humour. But it’s always a good, serious mystery too.
This short story filled in the blanks of Chet & Bernie’s meeting – and it has a mystery to boot. Loved it!
Read this if: you’re a Chet & Bernie fan (obviously); you like dogs and mysteries and are looking for a new series to read; or you want a small taste of what the series is like – if you like this story, you’ll like the books. 5 stars

THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER by Baroness Emmuska Orczy (Mystery, Short Stories, Classic)
Agatha Christie’s 1929 Partners in Crime is a series of short stories in which Tommy & Tuppence Beresford imitate the detecting styles of the popular detectives of the day. Orczy’s Old Man in the Corner has his place in their playacting.
Published in 1909, this collection of short stories, initially serialized, feature the nameless man in the corner who reveals to intrepid reporter Polly Burton his solution to several unsolved crimes in London and other cities such as Dublin, Liverpool etc. Many of the crimes are elementary but still clever, and given that this genre was still cutting its teeth, Orczy shines. In addition to thinking of unsolved crimes, she must always have ones in which the fact that they are unsolved , or wrongly solved, didn’t mean the false conviction of an innocent person.
Thanks to Jane at Fleur Fisher for her review that prompted me to get the library to dig this out of storage for me.
Read this if: you’re fairly new to mystery stories and want an introduction to the genre; you’re a young teen keen to solve conundrums; or you’re a keen admirer of mysteries and want to explore a classic of the genre. 4½ stars

*HASTY WEDDING by Mignon Eberhart (Mystery, Vintage)
Although this isn’t a first in series, it was my introduction to this vintage-era author, an American contemporary of Christie, Marsh and Ellery Queen.
This story is set in Chicago high-society in the 1930s and is a very matter-of-fact glimpse into that lifestyle, similar to early EQ novels. The puzzle itself is pretty standard, but entertaining. And the reader is thrown off to a slight degree because Eberhart wrote mainly stand-alone novels, so there was no knowing “good guys” from “bad guys” because of continuing characters.
The past progressive verb tense (was taking, were talking) put me in mind of Christie’s Sad Cypress and was slightly irritating. Christie didn’t regularly use that, and perhaps Eberhart didn’t either.
I have a few more Eberhart titles on my shelves so I’ll be reading at least those – and who knows where it will go from there?
Read this if: you’re a fan of the society settings of early Ellery Queen novels; or you’re a Chicago fan and would enjoy a glimpse into the city in 1930s. 4 stars

TOO BIG TO MISS by Sue Ann Jaffarian (Mystery, Amateur Sleuth)

This first in the series featuring plus size paralegal Odelia Grey delved into the on-line sex trade while still having the feeling of a cozy about it. The mystery is solid, though as with any cozy, there are stretches of suspension of disbelief. But it’s Odelia herself who will take me back to more of this series. She’s fun, she’s sexy, she has a life, she’s plus size, and although she’s aware of the world’s perceptions of her (“Weight was the last acceptable prejudice. It was still politically correct to assault and ridicule fat people.”), she’s not overly bitter about it: what more could you ask for in a novice sleuth?
Read this if: you’re looking for a new “cozy” murder mystery series with a heroine who’s life-size and imperfect.
3½ stars plus ½ for Odelia. 4 stars

MURDER ON THE ROCKS by Karen MacInerney (Mystery, Amateur Sleuth)
This first in the Gray Whale Inn series set on an island off the coast off Maine features innkeeper & Texas transplant Natalie Barnes. It’s a charming cozy with a decent mystery, and mouth-watering descriptions of the breakfasts Natalie whips up for her guests.
Read this if: you’re a cozy (murder) mystery fan who has B&B aspirations; or you are taken with the lifestyle and scenery of the NE coast of the USA.
3½ stars

STEALING WITH STYLE by Emyl Jenkins (Mystery, Amateur Sleuth)
Another first in the series, this time featuring antiques appraiser Sterling Glass. Although the information about the various antiques is very interesting, Sterling herself borders on being one of those perfect heroines – and as this first book closes, she nabs a job that will have her jet-setting and living on expense accounts.
Read this if: you’re looking for a mystery without a murder (sort of refreshing, don’t you think?); or you love The Antiques Roadshow. 3½ stars

*THE CORONER’S LUNCH by Colin Cotterill (Mystery, Amateur Sleuth)
Yet another first in the series, this one of Dr. Siri Paiboun, state coroner in Communist Laos in 1976. This was promising, although I must admit that after reading The Headmaster’s Wager, the tongue-in-cheek treatment of the communist state was a little jarring at first.
So here’s the thing about Siri: not only do his dead patients appear to him in dreams, he channels a thousand year old native warrior. If that doesn’t bother you – go for it: you’ll find this a refreshing addition to your other mystery reading. As for me, that’s the end of my reading in this series.
Read this if: you want an exotic locale and don’t mind a spiritistic approach to your mysteries. 3 stars

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* Eberhart’s WEDDING completes the ‘title with a celebration’ in Beth Fish Reads’ What’s In a Name 2013 Reading Challenge.
* Coroner Siri’s LUNCH completes the ‘title with something you’d find in the kitchen’ in Beth Fish Reads’ What’s In a Name 2013 Reading Challenge.

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I read a total of 16 books in March – the pages just seemed to fly! Since nearly half of the titles were mysteries, and since mysteries deserve their own ratings without comparison to other literature, I’m dividing up my posts this month. Tomorrow, the mysteries; today, everything else.

I’d love to hear what you think about my choices – and my reactions.

1. DOG BOYby Eva Hornung (Literary Fiction, Award Winner)

Winner of the 2010 Australian Prime Minister’s Literary Award, Dog Boy is a marvel of experience and of emotion. Four-year-old Romochka is abandoned in Moscow at the beginning of winter. Hungry and cold, he follows a feral dog to her lair – and so starts Romochka’s life as a dog. The premise sounds preposterous, but Hornung makes it work. Every time I start thinking that it couldn’t possibly have been as good as I remember, I read my notes – and I believe again.
I can’t understand why this book didn’t win more awards. Hornung has previously published novels as Eva Sallis – she is one author I will be reading more of.

Shannon over at Giraffe Days has written an articulate, passionate review . Sue at Whispering Gums beat us all to it with her review in 2010. All I can add to these two is: READ THIS.
Warnings: a half-dozen uses of that four letter word, and a brief torture scene.
Read this if: you’re breathing. 5+ stars

2. THE REMAINS OF THE DAY by Kazuo Ishiguro (Literary Fiction, Award winner)
This modern day classic, the 1989 Man Booker Prize winner, follows the aging butler Stevens as he takes his first vacation from Darlington Hall after decades of service. His trip is a drive to the English west country that he has never seen. As he travels, we are given a startling perspective on life, through his recollections. There’s not really a lot of “action”, but so much happens.
Ishiguro brilliantly captures Stevens’ ‘restrained’ emotions in a voice that is perfectly pitched to the time and circumstance. The facts are made all that more powerful by the understatement.
Read this if: you love Downton Abbey (here’s Carson, perhaps, 35 years on); or you enjoy elegant and understated prose and character-driven books. 4½ stars

3. *THE HEADMASTER’S WAGER by Vincent Lam (Fiction, Historical Fiction, Canadian author)
Canadian author Vincent Lam is the son of ex-pats Chinese from Vietnam.
This book, set in an ex-pat Chinese community just outside of what was then Saigon, South Vietnam, in 1968, is beautifully written and engaged me from the first page onward. The author skillfully conveyed the tension and uncertainty of living in a country at war, and invaded by hordes of outsiders (French, American, Communist North Vietnamese.) Even the ending of the book, which at first dismayed me, vividly depicted the uncertainty of the situation for those of non-pure Vietnamese origin after the collapse of the South Vietnamese government.
Warnings: a couple of (really, unnecessary) sex scenes
Read this if: you’ve ever wanted to understand just what made the Vietnamese “boat people” desperate enough to flee into certain danger throughout the late 60s and during the 1970s; or you’d like a better understanding of the Vietnam War, from the point of view of South Vietnamese civilians. 4 stars

4. *THE LUCK OF GINGER COFFEY by Brian Moore (Literary Fiction, Vintage, Award Winner, Canadian author)
Another ‘immigrant’ story, this time of the Irishman James Francis “Ginger” Coffey in 1950s Montreal. Ginger really is a loser – the ne’er-do-well who got by on his charm and connections at “home” but who isn’t willing to take a step down and make his way by working hard here. Winner of the 1960 Governor-General’s Award for Fiction, and a Canadian classic, this gives a different look at Montreal than the author’s contemporary Mordecai Richler portrayed.
Read this if: you’ve read some Richler and want to compare and contrast the Irish and the Jewish immigrant experiences; or you’re interested in the twentieth century Irish experience in Canada. 4 stars

5. *JANE AND PRUDENCE by Barbara Pym (Fiction, Vintage, Humour)

Jane (age 41) and Prudence (age 29) have been friends since their days at Oxford , where Jane tutored Prudence. Jane is now married to a clergyman, recently assigned to a country parish, to the delight of Jane’s Victorian-novel-fueled imagination; Prudence is a career woman in London.
As with the others of Pym’s I’ve read, the plot meanders while poking gentle, often sly, fun at church & society, gender roles, and love affairs in 1950s Britain.
At first , I didn’t like this book as much as Excellent Women, for example, because I didn’t like either of the protagonists. But they grew on me and I ended enjoying Jane & Prudence just as much as Some Tame Gazelle. 4 stars
Read this if: you enjoy Angela Thirkell novels; or you like sly mid-century British humour. 4 stars

6. THE LIGHTNING FIELD by Heather Jessup (Literary fiction, Canadian author)
This started out so promisingly. First, the book itself: a soft cover with a heavy-weight dust jacket – quite different. Then, the location and time period: 1950s Malton (a suburb of Toronto). Then the fact that the male protagonist is designing the Avro Arrow, a controversial piece of Canadian history. PLUS – the writing is clear and engaging. But after the build-up to the Avro’s introduction and the female protagonist being hit by lightning, the plot just seems to disintegrate.
Read this if: you’d enjoy learning about the Avro Arrow “incident” (that some, to this day, label a ‘conspiracy’); or you’re from Malton or the surrounding area. 3½ stars

7. THE WARDEN by Anthony Trollope (Fiction, Classic, Humour)

This is the first in the classic Chronicles of Barsetshire series and features befuddled cleric Septimus Harding and a kafuffle over his income. Trollope set his story in his current day, in this case 1855. There is lots of social satire (including a veiled reference to Charles Dickens), biting humour, and pokes at church & state.
I’ll admit this was humourous, but I’m not really into early Victorian times so began to find Trollope’s references boring. I’m glad I read this (my introduction to Trollope) but I’m not in a hurry to read more by him, even though it’s likely that if I did want Victorian literature, he would be near the top of my list.
Read this if: you’re a fan of Victorian literature. 3½ stars

8. *THE BOOK OF AWESOME by Neil Pasricha (Non-fiction)
Based on, or perhaps the basis of, the website 1000 Awesome Things, this book is a collection of short essays proclaiming the joy of the little things in life (the smell of crayons or freshly-cut grass, or getting something with handwriting in the mail).
When my husband saw the title he told me that I’d be gritting my teeth on every page at the misuse of ‘awesome’ (a pet peeve of mine) but I tried to let that go and just appreciate the sentiment of the book.
I borrowed this from the library so I had to read it straight through and, honestly, taken in that way, the book becomes repetitive and even annoying. I much prefer the web-site. (Sorry, Neil!)
Read this if: someone gives it to you as a gift and you can dip into it a few pages at a time, now & then. But, everyone, DO visit the web-site. 3½ stars

9. CHUNG LEE LOVES LOBSTERS by Hugh MacDonald, illustrated by Glen Craig & Perri Craig (Picture Book, Canadian author)

Written by a past Prince Edward Island poet laureate, Chung Lee Loves Lobsters tells the story of Chung Lee who spent his working life on PEI cooking lobsters for tourists and other customers. Now that he’s retired, Chung Lee spends part of each of his monthly pension cheques to buy a live lobster from the restaurant where he used to work. Then he walks down to the beach and releases the lobster into the ocean.
I’m a little perplexed as to the message children will get from this book. Is it wrong to cook lobsters, or not? The people who own the restaurant now are nice people with two small sons; Chung Lee himself did so for decades. I’m still puzzling this one out.
3 stars

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* I read The Headmaster’s Wager for our local book club, The Loquacious Compendium.
* Luck (of Ginger Coffey) is a qualifying word in the Keyword Reading Challenge at Bookmark to Blog.
* Jane and Prudence is the third Barbara Pym that I’ve read, as I keep up with the LibrayThing Virago group read-along for Barbara Pym’s centenary.
* I read The Book of Awesome as this month’s random pick from my TBR wish list spreadsheet of 2,378 items for the Random Reads Challenge hosted by I’m Loving Books.

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For Canadian readers:
Dog Boy
The Remains of the Day
The Headmaster’s Wager
The Luck of Ginger Coffey
Jane and Prudence
The Lightning Field
The Warden
The Book of Awesome
Chung Lee Loves Lobsters

Weekend Cooking is a weekly meme hosted by Candace over at Beth Fish Reads. Have a food-related posted this week, why not join the fun?

This is the first time I’ve joined this meme.

In the 1980s, I bought or received a copy of a small spiral-bound cookbook called Muffin Mania, written by two sisters from Ontario Canada, Cathy Prange and Joan Pauli.

The book has become somewhat of a cult classic, at least in Canada. Cathy & Joan followed up with the great Nifty Nibbles, as well as Veggie Mania and Sweet Mania, but none attained the commercial or fan success of Muffin Mania.

Somewhere along the way, I’ve lost my copy of this treasure of a book and so had to turn to the Internet to find the recipe for the muffins I made often for my daughter as she was growing up. They’re aptly called:

BEST-EVER BANANA MUFFINS

3 large ripe bananas
3/4 c white sugar
1 slightly beaten egg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/3 c melted butter

Mash bananas. Add sugar and slightly beaten egg. Add the melted butter. Add the dry ingredients. Mix until it is thoroughly moistened but not smooth. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Makes one dozen.

I used to add a cup of chocolate chips to the batter for Jen’s muffins. This weekend, I made half plain and half with that addition.

Does Muffin Mania stir up any memories for you? Have another good muffin cookbook you can recommend?

I have a confession to make: for the past few months, I have had a growing creature on the corner of my desk. It was my INBOX.

In the dark days of winter when I couldn’t face making decisions, everything went into my INBOX – for the “next” time I was at my desk; I would deal with it then.

It started out so innocently (4 years ago) like this:

(It was in better shape then.)

But the pile outgrew the box and reached the point where it couldn’t support itself. So I put it in this:

(See how nicely it fits!)

Alas, even that didn’t last and I had to find another box:

(See all the room around the red box? That’s extra space for “stuff!”

No question about it: my INBOX was threatening to physically take over my office, as well as burdening me with lots and lots of guilt. Mind you, I have a number of other baskets to cull, but they’re project files, not current items that keep me awake at night.

(This is “BEFORE”.)

I don’t know how she did it but my favourite organizing guru, Jen Hofmann at Inspired Home Office, threw me a life-preserver last week, in the form of her monthly newsletter, Juicy Gems. The subject line read: What to do with the baby elephant on your desk.

Jennifer wrote that newsletter especially for me; I know she did. So, I listened to her advice. It was brilliant!

I had my husband carry the box down to the dining room table, and I dumped it out upside down (one of Jen’s tactics). I spent many 5 minutes periods over the next couple of days standing (another two of Jen’s tips) at the table, sorting.

I pushed anything paper that was no longer relevant down to the edge of the table where my husband picked it up each time he walked past to go to the basement to feed the wood furnace. (Yet one more of Jennifer’s hints – not that the paper be burned, but that disposal be easy).

When I got to the bottom of my pile, I had several smaller piles that I knew exactly what to do with: file, return to shelf, put away in drawers, and so on. This was all in my INBOX – and probably half again as much paper but Bill took it away too fast to be photographed.

AND I have new INBOX:

(This is “AFTER”.)

I know it still looks like a lot to do, but it works for me. And I’m so proud that I just had to share it.

SO – what’s the state of your inbox? As bad as mine was? Worse?

I ran across this week’s word while reading Stealing with Style, a cozy mystery story in which the lead character is an antiques appraiser

Putto: a figure of a plump, young male angel or cupid, as in baroque art (from var. of pusus, boy; akin to puer)

“The body [of the soup tureen] was gracefully shaped, and on the lid a playful putto sat astride a cornucopia overflowing with exquisitely painted, hand-modeled flowers.”

(pg 201) Stealing with Style by Emyl Jenkins

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered or spotlight words you love. It’s hosted by Kathy at Bermuda Onion.

I just finished reading The Warden by Anthony Trollope so I have a font of new words, especially relating to the church and its clergy. Some of them are just obscure, other now obsolete (the book was first published in 1855). But here’s one that’s still in the dictionary:

Appanage: an accompanying endowment

The patronage was a valuable appanage of the bishopric; and surely it would not be his duty to lessen the value of that preferment which had been bestowed on himself (.)
(pg 28) The Warden by Anthony Trollope

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered or spotlight words you love. It’s hosted by Kathy at Bermuda Onion.

I’m a few days late gathering this up this month – but what’s a few days (or a week or more) between friends?

My reading seemed to take off in February as I made my first foray into several authors I’ve been wanting to try for some time. I also listened to the first audio book I’ve had since the old abridged “books on tape” that I “read” 15 years ago. The audio experience was integral to this particular book but I’m not sure I can fit these into my life regularly. We’ll see.

In the meantime – enjoy this month’s mini-reviews, and the extra links.

1. THE OUTERMOST HOUSE:: A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod by Henry Beston (non-fiction, nature)
In 1925 Beston spent a year living in a simple two-room home on the outer arm of Cape Cod, facing the wide Atlantic Ocean. This book is a series of essays documenting the seasons there.
Beston believed that poetry had as much to do with his observations as science did, and his prose is “burnished, polished sentences, richly metaphoric and musical, that beg to be read aloud.” (Robert Finch, Introduction)
This is a book to be read in small doses and savoured. It’s everything I had hoped Walden would be, but wasn’t. Highly recommended. 5 stars.
Read this if: you love lyrical descriptions of creation’s beauty; or you want a glimpse of a vanished Cape Cod.

2. AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE VINYL CAFE by Stuart McLean (audio, fiction, humour)
Most Canadians are familiar with Stuart McLean who is a regular voice on CBC Radio’s Vinyl Café. McLean is a superb storyteller, weaving magical tales about the everyday lives of Dave & Morley and their kids Stephanie & Sam.
His stories are so brilliant that they work on the printed page (I have several of his Vinyl Cafe books) but are that much more perfect in an audio performance such as this. Trish at Desktop Retreat, who gave me the idea to listen to McLean rather than to read him, describes his work as “clever and sweet and funny and good natured”. I concur. 5 stars.
Read this if: you loved Stephen Leacock’s gentle stories; are a fan of NPR’s Garrison Keillor (McLean’s stories are, well, sweeter – but similar); or you just need a good laugh at the daily oddities of this thing we call “life”.

3. LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY by Frances Hodgson Burnett (fiction, classic, children’s chapter book)
The third son of the Earl of Dorincourt, Cedric Errol, is disowned by his widower father because he marries an American. The couple have a child; Cedric Sr. dies in an influenza epidemic; both of the Earl’s older sons die – and, guess what? – the American boy Cedric inherits the title. His grandfather has him brought to England to groom him for the position.
Cedric is a paragon of beauty and virtue but, even though I tried, I couldn’t dislike him. “He was always lovable because he was simple and loving. To be so is like being born a king.”
What a wonderful children’s story this is – and I’m so very sorry that I missed it a s a child. 4½ stars
Read this if: you have a child to share it with (oh, do introduce him or her to Cedric!); you’d like a child’s view of the world of Downton Abbey; or if you value classics.

4. THE FLOWERS OF WAR by Geling Yan (fiction, historical, translated)
This novel, the February pick for the War & Literature Read-Along, is set in 1937-38 Nanking, China during the beginning of the occupation by the Imperial Japanese army at the start of the second Sino-Japanese war. The period beginning mid-December 1937 has become known as “the Rape of Nanking“, for what seems to be very good reason.

The priest at a church ‘compound’ has had thrust upon him the care of twelve young students from an all-girls school, whose parents for various reasons, have not been able to collect them. Shortly after the arrival of the schoolgirls, several prostitutes from a neighbouring brothel scale the compound walls, and a small group of wounded Chinese soldiers take refuge there as well, setting the scene for the novel’s tragic climax.

The prose in this book is simple and straight-forward; so simple, in fact, that at times I thought perhaps this was a Young Adult book. But on consideration, I believe that it is the effect of the original Chinese language, and the translation.
Even though it may not appear to be at first, Flowers of War is an extremely powerful book about the horrors of war and the sacrifices of ordinary men and women. Warning: The last chapter is very graphic, although not gratuitously so, and describes savagery you will not soon forget. 4½ stars
Read this if: you want to find out about the war between China & Japan that preceded WWII, and is now forgotten by the majority of North Americans.

5. EXCELLENT WOMEN by Barbara Pym (fiction, vintage, gentle humour)
This is the February selection of the LibraryThing’s Virago group reading for Barbara Pym’s centenary year. It’s also the second Pym I’ve personally read, and I think the better of the two.

The “Excellent Women” of the title are those sacrificing “spinster” (in their thirties and unmarried!) ladies who filled every church congregation in England throughout the twentieth century. Those who peopled the committees, fed the bachelor rectors and vicars, and never expected that their lot would change.
“It was not the excellent women who got married but people like Allegra Gray, who was no good at sewing, and Helena Napier, who left all the washing up.”
Pym pokes sly fun, through her protagonist Mildred Lathbury, an orphaned clergyman’s daughter in her early thirties, at the day’s social perspective.
I felt that I wanted to be alone, and what better place to choose than the sink, where neither of the men would follow me?
Choice British wit and recommended. 4 stars
Read this if: you’d enjoy a gentle romp through the sexual, class, and religious mores of the mid-twentieth century England church.

6. THE BIBLE SALESMAN by Clyde Edgerton (fiction, gentle humour)
Set in 1950 in the Southern U.S., The Bible Salesman tells the story of a few months in the life of Henry Dampier, 20-year-old door to door bible Salesman. Henry is a ‘good boy’, intelligent but oh-so-naïve. Preston Clearwater, a key figure in a large auto theft ring, hires Henry for a small job and manages to convince him that he is undercover FBI and Henry can be too.

Edgerton does a brilliant job of conveying Henry’s intelligence, even though his naïveté causes him to unquestioningly trust this stranger. Henry’s ponderings on his Bible readings are also interesting.
(T)hen it [the Bible] said that Adam would return to dust. Why wouldn’t he go to heaven or hell? That’s where everybody went, wasn’t it? Nobody just returned to dust, did they? Was there not a heaven when Adam was alive? Wait, in Genesis 1:1 God created heaven and earth; so there was a heaven when he told Adam he was going back to dust, but God didn’t create hell. Did he create hell? It didn’t say so.
Great questions, Henry.
This is a warm and amusing book with a preposterous scenario at its heart. But it works. Recommended. 4 stars
Read this if: you’re looking for a light read with a likeable every-day-type protagonist; or if you’d like to compare how modern communication (mainly the Internet) has informed and educated just about everybody.

7. WITH YOUR CROOKED HEART by Helen Dunmore (literary fiction)
Paul & Louise are married and childless for 10 years before Louise conceives Anna by an illicit affair with Paul’s younger brother Johnny. Paul is a successful businessman; Johnny runs with the criminal element. Louise becomes an alcoholic because she gained weight with Anna and couldn’t stand being ‘fat’. Because she’s an alcoholic, Paul eventually gets custody of Anna.
It sounds like something you’re read a hundred times, but in Dunmore’s hands, it turns into much more. The story is told from various points of views and persons, but is mainly Louise’s story. As the plot builds to its almost inevitable conclusion, one almost wants to look away and not watch how Louise destroys her life.

This is my first foray into Dunmore’s writing (she won the 1996 Orange Prize—now the Women’s Prize for Fiction—for her book A Spell of Winter). Her writing is so adroit! See the stories that these few words paint:
I love daylight sleep. First of all there are the hours it eats, that you never have to live.

Only one thing puzzles me: Dunmore uses the phrase “it’s not Nova Scotia” twice in the book. As in:
‘Not much else for her to do up there.’
‘It’s not Nova Scotia, Lou.’
A bit of an odd expression, but I let it go.

I, too, think it’s a bit of an odd expression and, since I live in Nova Scotia, I’m curious about it. Can anybody shed any light on Dunmore’s use of this phrase? 3½ stars.
Read this if: you love intelligent use of words; or you fancy a warning tale about lives that go off the track—through personal choices.
‘Heart’ is a qualifying keyword on the Keyword Reading Challenge at Bookmark to Blog.

8. SAFE FROM THE SEA by Peter Geye (fiction)
Noah Torr is summoned by his dying father to said father’s cabin in the woods near Duluth Wisconsin. Olaf was an officer on the great freighters that ply mighty Lake Superior and in 1967 was one of only three survivors when his ship went down – comparisons to the Edmund Fitzgerald were, of course, inevitable in my mind. Noah is bitterly resentful of his father’s drinking problem and his ‘absence’ from his young life.

Unfortunately, I didn’t find this the “tautly written gem” that Joseph Boyden, one of my favourite authors, found. Geye has a powerful story to tell – of the night the ship sank and of the rifts and healings between father and son – but the book has more of a commercial, rather than literary, flavour. I didn’t really connect to any of the characters—and was especially annoyed by Noah’s wife who gives him grief for being with his dying father, because she’s ovulating and wants him home to try for a baby. I mean, c’mon, his father’s dying and you’ll ovulate next month, won’t you? I was going to rate this a “4”, but decided while I was writing this on 3½ stars.
Read this if: you’re interested in a harrowing tale of how it just might be on a freighter that is sinking in stormy waters.

9. THE SOUL OF KINDNESS by Elizabeth Taylor (fiction, vintage)

This was originally published in 1964; the copy I read was the Virago Modern Classic with a 1983 introduction by Philip Hensher. This was my first sample of Taylor’s writing and I was slightly disappointed: the writing is beautiful but the story didn’t live up to the cover hype.
Yes, Flora is a spoiled brat masquerading as everyone’s golden girl,
“It’s so miserable of everybody. I thought it would please them to be asked. It would please me. And if I were in their place, I’d do anything rather than spoil my happiness.”
but the cover and the intro promised something almost sinister.
I’ll definitely try Taylor again, but I rate this 3½ stars.
Read this if: you feel you’re being manipulated by someone in your life – perhaps looking at an objective situation will help you gain perspective – and tools to snip the strings.

I read this as this month’s random pick from my TBR wish list spreadsheet of 2,323 items for the Random Reads Challenge hosted by I’m Loving Books.

10. DEATH OF A FOOLaka Off With His Head by Ngaio Marsh (fiction, mystery, vintage)

February was a month of first tries of well-respected authors. I grew up loving Agatha Christie – and I don’t know how I never heard of Ngaio Marsh before a couple of years ago. (And I’m not sure that, without the Internet, I would be familiar with her yet today.)

This was my first Marsh because I won it from Bev at My Reader’s Block for completing a mini-challenge in last year’s Vintage Mysteries Reading Challenge, but it’s #19 in the Insepctor Roderick Alleyn series.
I liked Alleyn and I thought the mystery was fairly clued, if a little confusing, since there was a heavy country dialect and an apparent assumption that the reader would have some knowledge of British country folk theatre.

I’m definitely going to read lots more Marsh. This first try: 3½ stars
Read this if: you have an interest in folk theatre, particularly in winter solstice dance rituals.

11. A SHILLING FOR CANDLES by Josephine Tey (fiction, mystery, vintage)
This is the second in the Inspector Alan Grant and, as in the first, the solution to the mystery is a little weak. I want to love Josephine Tey, and I already own the rest of the Inspector Grant titles (Touchstone softcovers), except that most famous, The Daughter of Time. So I know I will be reading more and, while I enjoy the stories moderately well, I’m hoping for stronger mysteries in future books. 3½ stars

Read this if: you’d enjoy an easy mystery read by a famous author.

DID NOT FINISH

NATIVE SON by Richard Wright (fiction, 20th century classic)

Bigger Thomas lives on Chicago’s south side in the 1930s and begins a job as a chauffeur to a rich white family, as a condition of his welfare payments. On his first night on the job, Bigger finds himself having inadvertently killed his young employer and then sets in motion a series of decisions that can only lead to disaster.

It was eye-opening to see just how uninformed people were in the 1930s: all Bigger knows about white people he has learned in the movies, and he is at a loss how to behave in his new job. He also doesn’t understand terms his employers use, for example “capitalist”.

Wikipedia says: “[Native Son] was one of the earliest successful attempts to explain the racial divide in America in terms of the social conditions imposed on African-Americans by the dominant white society.”

I know this is a 20th century classic. I know that it is a seminal work in modern black fiction. But I read 150 pages of Native Son—what I understand to be Part 1 – Flight—and I couldn’t go any further. It was like watching a train wreck happen – just too painful.

Do any of this month’s selections appeal to you? Which would you choose to read? (Maybe you’ve already read one or more?)

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Links for Canadian readers:
The Outermost House
An Important Message From The Vinyl Cafe (audio)
Vinyl Cafe print books
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Donwton Abbey on DVD
The Flowers of War
Excellent Women
With Your Crooked Heart
A Spell Of Winter
Safe From The Sea
The Soul of Kindness
Death of a Fool
A Shilling for Candles
The Daughter of Time
Native Son

KINDLE editions:
Little Lord Fauntleroy (FREE)
The Flowers of War
Excellent Women
Safe from the Sea
The Soul of Kindness
A Shilling for Candles
The Daughter of Time
Native Son

Book Beginnings on Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Gilion at Rose City Reader. Hop on over there to get a linky to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

Opening sentences from The Headmaster’s Wager by Vincent Lam:

1930, Shantou, China
On a winter night shortly after the New year festivities, Chen Kai sat on the edge of the family kang, the brick bed. He settled the blanket around his son.

My thoughts: Oh, good – historical fiction! It will be interesting to see how this plays into a setting in Viet Nam, and into both the headmaster, and to his wager.

P.S. Gilion is also hosting a leap-frog giveaway for Dry Rot, a Sage Adair Historical Mystery by S.L. Stoner. Visit her blog to find out how you can win!

I haven’t participated before in Bermuda Onion’s Wondrous Words Wednesday weekly meme , but I just had to share this one. To see what other Wondrous Words bloggers have found this week, visit Kathy’s blog (link above).

Analemma: a curve in the form of an elongated 8 marked with a scale, drawn on a globe of the earth to show the sun’s declination and the equation of time for any day of the year: formed by plotting the sun’s actual daily position at noon for a year.

From Safe from the Sea by Peter Geye Pg 101
It was beautiful, a tarnished nickel-silver pocket watch with an analemma on its face.

I got a slow start on my reading this year after nearly burning out in December trying to meet my reading challenge goals for last year. In addition, I took some time over my non-fiction selection this month, to savour ideas.

This year I’ve decided to go more slowly – and choose more freely. The core of my month’s reading list will be around a couple of challenges I’ve unofficially taken on, but because it’s unofficial if I don’t make it, I won’t stress.

Enjoy this month’s links!

1. WINTER: FIVE WINDOWS ON THE SEASON by Adam Gopnik (Non-fiction, Essays)
I chose to read this collection of Massey Lectures broadcast on CBC Radio to satisfy the Keyword Challenge hosted by Bev at My Reader’s Block. I also thought that with some insight on this frigid season, I could learn to dislike it a little less.
The five windows or views of winter that Gopnik considers are: Romantic Winter, Radical Winter, Recuperative Winter, Recreational Winter, and Remembering Winter.
This book is a fascinating mix of history, art, science, religion, popular culture, and philosophy and flows like a great lecture should. I highly recommend it.
Read this if: you’re a fellow winter-survivor and want to have ‘warmer’ feelings about this difficult season; you’re one of that unusual specie – a winterphile and want factoids to dazzle and convince your friends that you’re not insane; or you’re a lucky warm-weather inhabitant and want a taste of what the big chill is all about. 4½ stars
Thanks to Buried in Print who first tipped me to this book.

2. FLIGHT BEHAVIOR: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver (fiction)

I approached Flight Behavior with mixed emotion. On one hand, I’ve loved every Kingsolver book I’ve ever read and rate her The Poisonwood Bible as one of the best books in my reading lifetime. On the other hand, I roll my eyes (quite literally) at heroines with names like Juniper or Venetia or, in this case, Dellarobia, AND the book was purported to be full of butterflies. Dreams of fluff danced in my head.
But Kingsolver tackles a very serious issue in Flight Behavior: climate change, and the real-life destruction of the wintering nesting grounds of North America’s Monarch butterfly population in 2010. That she peoples this drama with the melodramatically named Dellarobia who makes a series of decisions that alienated her from this reader does not lesson the importance of that main issue, or for that matter, the beauty of her writing.
For concrete (albeit fictionally set) consequences of a complex issue, you could do far worse than this book.
Read this if: you don’t think climate is really changing our world; you recognize that climate change is real and would like great party talking-points on the subject; or you’re a Kingsolver fan. 4 stars

3. SOME TAME GAZELLE by
Barbara Pym (Fiction)
This is one of those read-alongs I mentioned: LibrayThing’s Virago Group is reading twelve of Barbara Pym’s mid-twentieth century novels to celebrate the centenary of her birth. This happens to be the only Pym that I’ve already read, and I enjoyed it just as much this time around.
Read this if: you’re a fan of gentle English humour. 4 stars

4. THE OBSERVATIONS by Jane Harris (Fiction, Historical fiction)
The cover of this book (the debut novel for the author of Gillespie & I) tells me that it is set in 1863 Scotland, but other than a single reference to the “war in America”, the time period could be anytime in the 19th century. That it is Scotland, though, is obvious.
Bessy Buckley, a young teenager serving as a housemaid, is asked by her mistress to keep a journal. The blurb hints of something sinister coming of that, but Bessy discovers the purpose early on in the book and it’s not earth-shaking. In fact, I thought the book over-long for the plot.
But other critics have raved about Bessy’s voice – and rightly so. Harris has captured a working class Irish/Scottish street slang that is endearing, even though it is oftentimes crude. And that voice was strong enough to garner several prizes, including a shortlisting for the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction.
Be forewarned: Bessy’s language is sometimes obscene. A mild example: “Once or twice he got a jack on him would have put your eye out, you could see it poking behind his trousers .” But her life has made her so. In fact, sometimes it seemed that Bessy’s lively voice did not allow the true impact of her tragic past to affect the reader.
Read this if: you want to be glad you weren’t born into a 19th century British slum. 3½ stars

5. THE BLUE DRAGON (fiction, graphic novel, translated fiction)
This oversized graphic novel (a little outside my usual genre) was recommended by Buried in Print, where you’ll find a longer review and explanation of the work. Written by Robert Lepage and Marie Michaud, illustrated by Fred Jourdain and translated from the Mandarin by Min Sun, The Blue Dragon is set in Shanghai and centres on a Canadian from Montreal who has come to China to adopt a baby girl.
I kept returning to the artwork over and over, and it has three alternatives for an ending – you choose. It’s quite thought-provoking.
Read this if: you’ve ever wondered about the life of Canadians in China, or the difficulty of adopting there for a single woman; or you ever read ‘choose your own adventure’ books. 3½ stars

6. WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE? By Maria Semple (Fiction, YA?)
After all the raves about this book last year, I was disappointed by this novel. I so looked forward to the epistolary format but, honestly, the emails, letters and articles seemed forced, and the plot farcical.
Was it a farce? (SPOILER ALERT!) What mother would leave her 13 year old daughter behind and go to live in Antarctica without a trace?
Or was I supposed to take seriously the serious issue of depression and related mental illness?
I’m just not sure what to make of this whole thing.
Thank you to Hachette Books from whom I won this book via Under My Apple Tree, hosted by Leslie.
Read this if: you want a slightly (?) farcical take on upper middle-class suburban Seattle. 3 stars

THE YELLOW BIRDS by Kevin Powers DNF
I started to read this acclaimed novel about a friendship, set during the war in Iraq, among other reasons because I wanted to try the Literature & War Read-Along, hosted by Beauty is a Sleeping Cat.
This year, I’ve determined that I’m censoring my reading more closely than I did in 2012. In particular, one big trigger for the red flags to go up is that four letter word that starts with f that used to be so shocking. Thing is, I want it still be to be shocking and I’m tired of its overuse in modern literature . I’m willing to overlook the occasional use within a novel – once or twice perhaps for effect but that’s my limit.
It’s a shame about The Yellow Birds, which I was looking forward to very much. The book begins with the narrator’s voice – and no profanity in sight. It was when the soldiers started speaking that the trouble began. And, yes, no doubt soldiers do talk like that. But I don’t want to read it. I put the book down at page 20.
It’s a shame to miss out on this story which I presume is actually quite good – but there are lots of other stories out there to fill the void.

So, anything here intrigue you? Anything you’ve read already – and agree or disagree with my assessment?

Links for Canadian Readers:
Winter: Five Windows On The Season
Flight Behavior
The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel
Some Tame Gazelle
The Observations
Blue Dragon
Where’d You Go, Bernadette: A Novel
The Yellow Birds: A Novel

I don’t know who is the genius behind Wordle but I’m sending out a big THANK YOU!

At Wordle, it’s free to create your own word clouds – and then you can change the orientation, colour, and font. It’s a little tricky to copy the image, but there’s lots of valuable FAQs to help you along.

This Wordle is Exurbanis at the end of January 2013.

I didn’t intend to read any picture books this month, but some of my library holds from last year started to arrive, and I couldn’t resist reading them!

Z IS FOR MOOSE by Kelly Bingham, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky

I reserved this book, which must be quite popular, in late November in a last minute effort to read a book beginning with the letter “Z” in the 2012 Eh-Zed Reading Challenge. In the end, I had to go with a compromise because Z is for Moose didn’t show up until January.

See if it was worth the wait.

IT’S OKAY TO BE DIFFERENT written and illustrated by Todd Parr

When our grandson visits us, everyone in town knows him – because he stands out. In any group of kids, he towered over his fellow three-year-olds and went nose to nose with seven and eight-year-olds. His skin colour is different too: in a rural village originally settled by Mi’kmaq (formerly MicMac) and then Scots, his half-Jamaican ancestry is very noticeable. So when I heard about It’s Okay to Be Different, I immediately reserved it at the library.

Did I find it helpful?

APPLES AND BUTTERFLIES by Shauntay Grant; illustrated by Tamara Thiébaux-Heikalo

Originally, I reserved this book at the library on the recommendation of a friend who had heard the author interviewed on CBC radio. Shauntay Grant was the poet laureate of Halifax, Nova Scotia from 2009-2011 so I expected a book of poetry. Imagine my surprise when I received a children’s picture book.

Here’s what I thought of it.

In Z is for Moose Zebra is having a talent show of sorts – animals and objects walk across the stage as called for each letter: B is for ball, C is for cat, etc.
Big, gangly moose is impatient and starts peeking on stage & asking if it’s his turn yet at letter D. Zebra is cool and continues to call letters – and then, after all of Moose’s finagling, chooses Mr. Mouse for the letter M.

Moose realizes he’s been left out and starts to push onstage, trying to appear for any letter. By the letter T, Zebra starts guarding the stage and Moose starts to cry. There’s a happy ending when Zebra announces that Z is for Zebra’s friend, Moose.

The illustrations are delightful: Zelinsky has depicted Moose’s gawky awkwardness and Zebra’s graceful calm is simple pictures.

Moose sounds obnoxious but he isn’t. Okay, just a little, but we like him right away and are somewhat aghast when he is passed over for the letter M. I’m not too keen on the idea that might be conveyed that being pushy and fighting with people is the way to get what you want (in this case, to be in the show) but somehow, that concept doesn’t seem to be what comes across. Instead, we identify with Moose, even if we might be a little embarrassed for him. Perhaps the lesson is that everyone can be included.

In any case, I felt good when I finished Z is for Moose, and rate it 4½ stars.

Link for Canadian readers:
Z Is For Moose

Everybody wants to belong – especially kids. So when a child is “different” from the others in his or her group, it can be easy for them to feel bad about themselves. Todd Parr wants every kid to know “You are special and important just because of being who are”, and he’s written It’s Okay To Be Different to get that message across.

Illustrated by the author with outlined-in-black figures that are painted with bright primary colours—blue faces, orange hair and so on—this book delivers the message in short, clear statements: it’s okay to have a different nose, it’s okay to wear glasses, to have an invisible friend, to have different moms or different dads, to be embarrassed, to be a different color…. I’m not able to imagine a situation Parr didn’t cover in these 30 pages.

Although I don’t agree completely with Parr (I don’t think it’s okay to eat macaroni and cheese in the bathtub, but that’s me – I’m a mean old mom), I love the statement this book makes. I think you’ll want to buy this one so you can re-read it many times. A solid 4 stars.

Link for Canadian Readers:
It’s Okay To Be Different

Apples and Butterflies tells the story of a young girl and her family on a fall holiday on Prince Edward Island, based on the author’s own memories.

Although this is subtitled: a Poem for Prince Edward Island, if there is a poem here, it is very free-form and I couldn’t recognize it. I know my poetry senses are untrained but then, so are a child’s (I assume the intended audience).

So I looked at Apples and Butterflies as “just” another picture book. From that point of view it was disappointing. The story does mention some of the delights of PEI but doesn’t develop them before the ideas float away. The illustrations seemed non-descript given the beauty they were intending to capture.

Sorry, Shauntay. I think it’s worth only 3 stars – plus another half for the Atlantic Canada connection. 3½ stars

Link for Canadian readers:
Apples and Butterflies: A Poem for Prince Edward Island

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