The Quickie Book Review

The Rapture

2009-08-12T15:13:00.000-07:00

by Liz Jensen.

Quickie Recap: Bethany has already driven one psychologist crazy: she's a young girl in a high security facility because she stabbed her mother to death with a screw driver. And now she's predicting deadly storms culminating in Armageddon...or is she causing them? Her new therapist, fresh from her own wounds, has to sort out the difference while keeping her sanity.

Quickie Review: Oh man. This was intense. It takes extremes of religion and environmentalism and makes the end of the world sound all too plausible. It's light on psychological fare, surprisingly, and heavier on psychic abilities, so yes, suspension of disbelief is necessary. But fun.

Quickie Recommendation: Pretty okay.

The Unit

2009-08-04T15:01:00.000-07:00

by Ninni Holmqvist.

Quickie Recap: On her 50th birthday, Dorrit is declared by her government to be disposable, so she, and others like her, are whisked away to the unit. They have no children, and no fame to redeem them, and so they are used as lab rats until such a time as they can ultimately be used for spare parts and make one big "final donation."

Quickie Review: Destined to be viewed as a great dystopian novel, I was immediately angry, fascinated, repulsed, and drawn the fuck in. Irresistible. Imaginative. Scary as hell.

Quickie Recommendation: Oh yeah, this one is very, very high on my list of loves.

The Answer is Always Yes

2009-08-01T15:09:00.000-07:00

A novel by Monica Ferrell

Quickie Recap: Matt is a high school loser with big ambitions for college. Over the summer he's carefully crafted a definition of cool - but despite his painful efforts, he fails. But then he's discovered by the owner of a popular club, and as a new promoter he suddenly has everything he always thought he wanted.

Quickie Review: A professor supposedly researching the socialization of children contributes to the novel via footnotes that are mostly just distraction. The main story is familiar but interesting and would be more readable if it stood on its own. It does an excellent job of portraying cringe-worthy loserdom. Oof.

Quickie Recommendation: Needs editing.

Lullabies for Little Criminals

2009-07-29T06:38:00.001-07:00

by Heather O'Neill.

Quickie Recap: Baby is being "raised" by her junkie dad, who had her when he was all of 15. Really, he's barely capable of keeping tabs on her, as evidenced by her constantly falling into the hands of others - foster homes, detention centres, homeless shelters - and all of these better than her fate if the pimp who has his eye on her gets his way.

Quickie Review: Oh, sigh. Big sigh. This has been in my to-read pile for so long that I'm so tickled to have finally gotten to it. It was worth the wait! My friend Luc read it just before me and gave it his seal of approval so of course I couldn't wait to rip into it. But then I stalled. Well, not stalled, exactly. But my enthusiasm paled. Not because the writing wasn't stellar, because it was, but because it's tough. You want to give this little girl a home, even though you know she's not real, but your chest tightens because you know there are actual little girls just like her. It's messy. It makes you emotional. I kept looking up from my book to exclaim things because I needed to interrupt myself, cut the tension. Really, really good read.

Quickie Recommendation:

The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy

2009-07-27T22:12:00.000-07:00

by Yves Engler.

Quickie Recap: While at a Propaghandi show in Toronto, the band promoted Engler's book and my mates took it upon themselves to order me a copy for my birthday (thanks, boys!). Engler writes to expose the foreign policy myths engineered by the government and believed by the citizens - namely that we are peacekeepers well-respected throughout the world.

Quickie Review: It is important to remember that such subversive material is probably being printed by a small, brave press and so tolerance toward typos and other mistakes needs to be exercised. Engler obviously goes out of his way to do an enormous amount of research and for that reason alone I feel that this is an important book for Canadians to have read. There is a bias in our media and certainly in what our government is telling us, and if Engler sometimes goes too far the other way, at least it helps balance out the perspective we are normally presented with. He takes a look at our dealings in all the various regions and tackles our favourite lies about ourselves as a find, upstanding country. Maybe we are, but not always, and there's a lot that's kept under the radar. Engler is not even afraid to take on Lester B. Pearson, whom you may remember was awarded (perhaps erroneously, according to Engler) the Nobel peace prize. Personally, I especially respected the piece on our Israel\Palestine stance and the tracking of where exactly and how exactly our so-called "foreign aid" is being spent. Yes, it is disappointing to read about so many of our failures, but it also highlights the areas where we can improve as a nation who takes pride in what we do for others.

Quickie Recommendation: For anyone who suspects that there is more to this than what Harper tells us.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

2009-07-26T18:15:00.000-07:00

by Michael Chabon.

Quickie Recap: Clay is the lucky boy born and raised in America in the 1930s and has all the big dreams to prove it. His cousin, Kavalier, escapes Prague just in time and arrives with only one ambition: to earn enough money to send for his family. Together they create a comic book featuring The Escapist, and hope it will lead them to fame and fortune.

Quickie Review: I could fall in love with this author based solely on his vocabulary. It's tremendous. It's exciting just to read his words, never mind what they mean when they're all strung together into a story. But what a story! Kavalier & Clay is not new to me, but having recently read the Yiddish Policemen's Union, I got the bug to reread this one, and I'm always glad when I do. It's a tapestry of incredible stories and feels to me what a "great American novel" should be.

Quickie Recommendation: For everyone, yes.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

2009-07-22T18:08:00.000-07:00

by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith.

Quickie Recap: Yes, it really is the bones of our favourite Austen story, with Miss Bennett and Mr. Darcy and the whole crew, plus a few undead thrown in for extra fun. And it is! If you've read the "original" as I have, you can't help but delight in Elizabeth sparring verbally with her lover and pausing only to disembowel a zombie. It's genius!

Quickie Review: You'll laugh, I promise. You may also wince in disgust. It'll open your eyes to a whole new side of Austen that she probably never intended but I think is a whole pile of enjoyment nonetheless.

Quickie Recommendation: I liked it. Apparently I like watching a classic be defiled. Actually, that's not generally true. I hate remakes. This is just different. It's cute. It works.

Possible Side Effects

2009-07-19T16:26:00.000-07:00

by Augusten Burroughs.

Quickie Recap: Burroughs shows us yet more sides him with awesome stories, my favourite possibly being the one about how he fell in love with an unlovable puppy.

Quickie Review: Not a one-trick pony! Yeah, he wrote that crazy-popular Running With Scissors, but he's not just one of the dozens capitalizing on a crazy childhood. He's a legitimate writer with things to say beyond the "hey, look at me and my eccentric ways" that are dominating the best-seller lists these days. Actually, I thought Dry was even better than Running, and this collection of little essays is yet more proof that he's an author, not just a victim.

Quickie Recommendation: Keep buying Burroughs.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union

2009-07-16T19:42:00.001-07:00

by Michael Chabon.

Quickie Recap: This novel features an alternative history to the one we're familiar with: during WW2, Alaska opened its doors to Jewish immigrants, saving the lives of 4 million Jews. Sitka, Alaska, is the town where they were settled, and it boomed for 60 years, but now the treatise is ending and all these nice people have to find somewhere else to go. In the meantime, the town's police force has close all of its open files, which is not easy to do in a town full of close-mouthed people afraid of the Jewish mob boss who makes sure that no one sees anything.

Quickie Review: Whoa. This guy is a genius.I'm always impressed with a writer who can invent a divergent history for us. It takes balls, and a scope of imagination that I know I wouldn't be capable of. As a reader, it fascinates and thrills me - as a fellow writer, it leaves me feeling comparatively vapid. So I don't compare, I just enjoy, and this is a very enjoyable novel. Lucky me. Lucky all of us that Chabon is willing to dive into something so rich and nuanced and finely tuned, and brings us along for the ride. It's a detective story, I suppose, but also a really cool cultural exploration, throwing together Native Americans and Jewish people of varying backgrounds, and a mix of world history and personal history that really present a strong and interesting mosaic.

Quickie Recommendation: So cool.

Downtown Owl

2009-07-13T18:25:00.000-07:00

a novel by Chuck Klosterman.

Quickie Recap: Owl is a tiny mid-western town stuck in the rut of mediocrity. Nothing big ever happens there and the people are just limping through life, never imagining anything bigger. But then one day, something big blows in, and as you might imagine, many are unprepared.

Quickie Review: Let`s just forget that I love everything that Klosterman does. This is different. This is fiction. And yet: still totally awesome! Win!

Quickie Recommendation: Oh yeah, I was seriously impressed. Yum!

Girl In A Blue Dress

2009-07-11T21:15:00.000-07:00

a novel by Gaynor Arnold.

Quickie Recap: Alfred Gibson is a celebrated author revered by his public and he'll do anything to keep their unblemished impression of him - including betray the woman who has cared for and loved him for years.

Quickie Review: Although this is a work of fiction, it is based on the life and marriage of Charles Dickens. It's easy to see the similarities if you're at all familiar with his work, and it's lump-in-the-throat-ish even if you aren't. It's a fascinating and intimate portrait of life behind closed doors, all the more so because Gibson\Dickens took such pains to always present a certain image to his adoring audience. It definitely stands on its own as a novel but as a glimpse of the man, the talent, the hypocrite, it's even better.

Quickie Recommendation: A brilliant insight.

The Blue Notebook

2009-07-08T18:13:00.000-07:00

by James A. Levine.

Quickie Recap: Batuk is a young girl sold into prostitution by her father. Her only escape is via the nub of a pencil she managed to pilfer from her madam and whatever scraps of paper she can keep hidden in her cage. She writes of violence, savagery, and dehumanizing acts as if they were merely a way of life, and for her, they are.

Quickie Review: Haunting, devastating, heart-breaking, hopeful. I don't know how he did it, but Levine writes beautifully and manages to present to us a face and an issue inside a story that you cannot put down. I blew this one out of the water, staying up past the wise hour in order to finish it all in one sitting. It's painful, but it's good. It makes you really think about the magic of words.

Quickie Recommendation: Please, yes. Levine is donating proceeds to help exploited children, so by buying his book you not only help, you have an inspiring and inspired piece of writing.

Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?

2009-07-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

The play-at-home companion book to the hit TV show! by Michael Benson.

Quickie Recap: 75 quizzes, two questions per grades 1-5 with a follow up $1 000 000 question (all answers are of course provided in the back) and plenty of "Did you know?" factoids to keep things interesting.

Quickie Review: I bought this because I was going to be spending over 2000km in various cars with various people and I thought it would be a good way to pass the time. It was. I never knew how competitive my coworkers were until we were a little bit lost coming home from a punk show in Toronto at 4 in the morning and solving 4th grade algebra suddenly became more important than finding gas when the tank was empty.

Quickie Recommendation: Only if your ego can take it.

Something Rotten

2009-07-02T17:53:00.000-07:00

4th in the Thursday Next series, by Jasper Fforde.

Quickie Recap: Thursday Next, literary detective and fiction crime fighter, is on yet another mission, and this time, the fate of the world depends on it.

Quickie Review: By now everyone knows I have a Ffordian crush that appears to be unrequited. And though this novel had a couple of cliched moments, overall I just feel like this guy goes to a place that I've never read of before. It's exciting to see what he'll come up with next. It's a whole other universe, and yet it feels oddly familiar.

Quickie Recommendation: He does it well. Very, very well.

Would You Rather...?

2009-06-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

Love & Sex: Over 300 amorously absurd dilemmas to ponder, by Justin Heimberg & David Gomberg.

Quickie Recap: Authors ask if you'd rather fuck the tin man, or the scarecrow, or if you'd rather breast implants made of Nerf, or Play-doh. The catch of the game is: you must choose.

Quickie Review: It's exactly what you think it is. Some questions you'll skip over, others will leave you giggling for a long, long time. I played it with my mother on a road trip (true story! I now know her preferred blowjob soundtrack), and around a campfire with 20 acquaintances. Both times were good times.

Quickie Recommendation: Oh, it serves its purpose all right.

Cutting for Stone

2009-06-26T16:44:00.000-07:00

by Abraham Verghese.

Quickie Recap: Marion and Shiva are twins born of an Indian nun and a British surgeon. Their birth parents disappear very suddenly from their lives and they are raised in a mission hospital in Africa.

Quickie Review: This book was beautiful and incredible in ways I hadn't really anticipated. To call this book compelling would be to sell it short. It juxtaposes culture and brutality while hinting at the great things to come. It's a literary page-turner that I felt privileged to read.

Quickie Recommendation: Oh yes.

The Thing Around Your Neck

2009-06-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Quickie Recap: These 12 stories span between America and Africa, and offer up a variety of experiences but are linked by their intimacy, their excellence, their fine detail.

Quickie Review: This was my first taste of Adichie and it was quite satisfying. The stories are powerful, offering careful slices of lives worth observing. 'The American Embassy' was for me particularly memorable but each story gives a taste of culture and humanity in stirring ways.

Quickie recommendation: Yes.

Six Months in Sundan

2009-06-20T02:39:00.000-07:00

A young doctor in a war-torn village, by James Maskalyk.

Quickie Recap: Dr. James Maskalyk spends 6 months in an isolated hospital working for MSF and the people of the small town Abyei in southern Sudan, practicing the medicine of poverty.

Quickie Review: Delicious, and I'm not just saying that because I probably fell just a tiny bit in love with Dr. James while reading his book. This book is surprisingly introspective and personal. It's not preachy, it's not bloated with a sense of purpose, and both of those things are almost forgivable when a doctor returns from a Doctors Without Borders mission. Instead, what he does is opens an intimate window on what it's really like to be an aid worker in a foreign country, trying to do what's best, and struggling to define what that even means. It's sad at times, as it must be, and the sense of struggle is often so strong that I wish I could climb through the pages and give the poor guy a hug.

Quickie Recommendation: Of course the work of Medecins sans frontieres is commendable, but this book seems to me to be first and foremost a tribute to the Sudanese people. It is not without heartbreak, and I admit that my copy is somewhat tear-stained, but that's because it's a beautifully written treasure. My favourite non-fiction of the year so far.

Border Songs

2009-06-17T16:25:00.001-07:00

by Jim Lynch

Quickie Recap: Brandon is the newest member of the border patrol, and his extreme height and autistic tendencies make him possibly the most notorious and most maligned. But it's soon apparent to everyone that he has a sixth sense for detecting things that shouldn't be - bombs, drugs, illegal aliens. This makes him good at his job but unpopular in a town along the border where his own father is being offered huge amounts of cash and the girl across the border that he's crushing on is part of the biggest North American grow-op.

Quickie Review: Lynch is an American, so I felt like I was reading a story that had been flipped because it's not everyday when Canadians are portrayed as the bad influence. At the heart of the book, though, is Brandon, and he's a great character that makes you feel so much more forgiving of everything else. His sympathy is so far-reaching it even leaps up off the pages and extends to the reader. The genius of the book is how under-the-radar the satire is, but you can feel it like a light buzz that once perceived becomes hard to ignore.

Quickie Recommendation: One of the most striking and unforgettable characters makes this book one not to be missed.

My Father's Tears

2009-06-15T16:59:00.000-07:00

and other stories, by John Updike.

Quickie Recap: In this collection of short stories, Updike is in the mood for reminiscing. They look back at past loves, high school, raising families, travels, surviving suburbia.

Quickie Review: Although these stories do focus primarily on aged characters, you never get a morbid feeling. These people are living. They are remembering, and taking stock. They have learned from life even if the reader sometimes has to infer the lessons. I fell in love with Updike for his short stories more than a decade ago and every time I get my hands on more I do my own remembering: that he is a master of this medium.

Quickie Recommendation: Always a delight.

The Neighbor

2009-06-12T16:34:00.000-07:00

by Lisa Gardner

Quickie Recap: It's a "detective" novel, so I can't give too much away. Let's just say that a wife disappears in the middle of the night under suspicious circumstances, leaving behind not just her cash and ID, but also her young daughter. The police identify two suspects very quickly: her husband who is clearly hiding something, and the convicted sex offender down the street who is guilty just by virtue of his record. Now the squeeze is on to find her body and make the arrest - but which one will it be?

Quickie Review: It's a mystery, and it bears some reference to her last fare, Say Goodbye, which I read and reviewed last summer. My sister considers Gardner to be at the top of her game in this genre, and I suppose she must be right. After all, The Neighbor did have that page-turner quality. Bonus points that I found this one to be a little less predictable and it attempts to touch on some real-life issues in a not insensitive way.

Quickie Recommendation: A book to read while floating in the pool.

Brooklyn

2009-06-09T18:18:00.000-07:00

by Colm Toibin.

Quickie Recap: Eilis leaves Ireland for America, away from her family, but also towards opportunity and independence. She finds both, and in them she comes to realize that maybe they're not exactly what she wanted.

Quickie Review: I immediately had the sense that I was reading something very special. It was beautiful and captivating. I devoured it, but come the last 15 pages or so, I dreaded the reading, not just because I didn't want it to end, but because I was so enthralled with the main character that I didn't want to see her get hurt. Faced with a tough choice, I was rooting for Q but fearful she'd opt for P. I read it as if she were my friend, as if the outcome mattered to me personally. This felt more like a letter to me than a novel. I fell in love.

Quickie Recommendation: This is the other book I referred to as most likely not moving from my top 5 of 2009 - along with The Good Mayor and Come Thou Tortoise. Loved it.

The Story Sisters

2009-06-07T10:32:00.000-07:00

by Alice Hoffman.

Quickie Recap: After suffering some trauma, the Story sisters invent a fantasy world complete with their very own language. But as they grow through adolescence and beyond, they learn that their other world can't keep them safe.

Quickie Review: Of course I wish this book was better than it was. I breezed through it of course, because it's "easy-reading" and it has a huge readership I'm sure. At least one seems to be the better sort for its genre, and I didn't dislike it. In fact, I read it knowing exactly who it would be perfect for. It's the kind of book that would be great to throw in your beach bag for the summer.

Quickie Recommendation: Not for serious readers.

The Good Mayor

2009-06-05T08:57:00.000-07:00

a novel by Andrew Nicoll.

Quickie Recap: Tibo Krovic does his job with zest; the town cannot help but dub him the "good mayor" and he lives up to that title every single day. That he is such a competent mayor is a true testament to his will, because Krovic is tortured at work. He is in love with his married secretary.

Quickie Review: Breath-taking. The jacket refers to Nicoll as a former lumberjack, which completely blows away every lumberjack stereotype you thought you were comfortable with. This novel is subtle, sensitive, beautiful. It's a love story, in a way, that veers toward the Kafkaesque toward the end. This too will probably stay in my top 5 for all of 2009 - which means beware the remaining 6 months' worth of books, there are only 2 spots left! Bring your A game, because Nicoll certainly has, despite this being his first novel. You just get swept along into such sweetness and tenderness, yet also fantastic and funny.

Quickie Recommendation: Not to be missed!

The Devil's Tickets

2009-06-03T14:46:00.000-07:00

A night of bridge, a fatal hand, and a new American age, by Gary M. Pomerantz.

Quickie Recap: Two couples - first, Ely and Jo, who become celebrities through their thrilling bridge playing and their pioneering of the system, and then Jack and Myrtle, whose marriage is as troubled as their bridge game, until a passionate game has fatal results.

Quickie Review: Is it weird that I really liked this? Yes, it's about bridge. But it's also about the time, the politics, the depression, the emancipation of women, and it's oddly titillating. Both couples followed in the story and worthy of our attention, and the author does a very good job of showing how their lives intertwined even if they never met. It's hard for me to imagine a card game meaning so much that I might fire bullets into my spouse's chest, but Pomerantz does an awesome job of painting a picture of a period when this was unreasonable, yes, but not unimagineable.

Quickie recommendation: Fascinating.

Die For You

2009-05-27T07:23:00.000-07:00

by Lisa Unger

Quickie Recap: Isabel's husband goes missing, but that turns out to just be the tip of the iceberg. She finds out she's been married to a stranger these last 5 years - and not a very nice one. Not content to just let him get away, she chases after him, unadvisably, of course.

Quickie Review: Lisa Unger is like mousse cake. Not junk, but a treat. Indulgent. I read this to pre-screen for my mother, who will love it. I can picture her now, on the hammock, in the sunshine, with a frosty drink by her side.

Quickie Recommendation: Total tub book! It's a bit of a guilty pleasure, but guilty-light. :)

Pygmy

2009-05-25T04:25:00.000-07:00

by Chuck Palahniuk.

Quickie Recap: Pygmy is a highly trained child terrorist who has infiltrated the US disguised as an impoverished foreign exchange student. He is there to rape, impregnate, and ultimately kill many, many capitalist pigs.

Quickie Review: Whoa whoa whoa. Palahniuk is one of those writers that generate a strong response in most readers. I loved Rant, hated Snuff and couldn't wait to see how I felt about his newest, Pygmy. But 50 pages in, I still didn't know on which side of the divide I sat. First off, it's not reader friendly. It's written in broken English that WILL frustrate you. After the first chapter or so I found my rhythm and it got easier, but never easy. And I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. I couldn't quite believe the narrator, and I wasn't sure he was who he said he was. I was suspicious. I was also enthralled. I sure sped through it if I didn't like it, so I must have liked it quite a lot. It's definitely original, anyhow, and Palahniuk does an indictment of the American culture like nobody's business. This we knew already. I guess I can't really tell you if you'll like this book. I feel like people need to read it for themselves. I snorted several times, and it definitely was a conversation spark, so to me, it was worthy.

Quickie Recommendation: Tell me what you thought!

Why Socrates Died

2009-05-20T04:49:00.000-07:00

Dispelling the myths, by Robin Waterfield

Quickie Recap: Socrates was put on trial and sentenced to death by his peers - this book gives the real reason behind the death sentence, and puts an uncomfortable spotlight on Athens.

Quickie Review: Evidently I thought this book might be good because I did choose to pick it up. But I was pleasantly surprised by how much I got involved in it. Waterfield has exactly the right scope for this book - it puts Socrates in context. It's also about Athens vs Sparta, the Pelopennesian war, the political and religious and judicious climate of the times, and the people who stood on either side of the issue. It doesn't just list the charges against Socrates (mainly, impiety and the teaching\corruption of young boys) but explains why these would suddenly be brought to attention when they'd been largely ignored for years (not just in terms of Socrates, either).

Quickie Recommendation: Very interesting stuff.

The Little Stranger

2009-05-15T08:06:00.000-07:00

by Sarah Waters.

Quickie Recap: A small town doctor, Faraday, is called up to a crumbling old mansion to help proud but failing family who still inhabit it against all odds. The family fortune is gone, and they suffer set back after set back. But the family is oddly compelling, and Dr Faraday can't seem to stay away, even when things start to get very unsettling...

Quickie Review: The make or break of this book lays in the creepiness factor. It`s an old house with a history. Possibly, it`s haunted. There are unexplained happenings, mysterious deaths, and lots of dark corners. Either the author can pull this sort of thing off, or not. And this case, it was a resounding yes. I remember at one point it being maybe past noon, I was hunched over my desk at work, with another person in the office, our reading lights on, and I was still getting goosebumps.

Quickie Recommendation: Well executed. Find out more about it here.

Nocturnes

2009-05-10T08:01:00.000-07:00

Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Quickie Recap: 5 short stories, each related in some way to a love of music, some stories overlapping briefly, if not in content then in theme.

Quickie Review: Beautiful. I found it absolutely lovely that there stories each had a similar feel to them. Each one was precious - each, I felt, deserved to stand alone, could have been fleshed out into whole novels, could have held my attention for oodles longer. And that`s not to say that I felt unsatisfied by any of them, because they were perfection as they were.

Quickie Recommendation: For me, this is a rarity - short stories that I really loved.

Sweetness in the Belly

2009-05-05T07:51:00.000-07:00

by Camilla Gibb

Quickie Recap: Lilly is a white Muslim in Ethiopia just beginning to find love when revolution tears her away. She becomes a refugee in England where she struggles to fit in and find her footing while every day her thoughts remain in Africa.

Quickie Review: Sigh. I loved this. Loved it. I have never read such an impactful account of immigration. You feel her sadness, her struggle, the urge to make a new home for herself while still yearning for the home she left behind. It feels real and it feels tragic. The contrast between the two countries is brilliant. It touches on war and politics as it must, but they are lived and felt, not just discussed. Acceptance is a struggle for Lilly no matter where she is, and her tenacity is tremendous. She is an interesting character, so much so that I forgot that she was a character and not a real person, and that's a huge compliment to Gibb.

Quickie Recommendation: Breathlessly, yes.

Lost in Cyburbia

2009-05-01T13:22:00.000-07:00

How Life on the Net Has Created a Life of Its Own, by James Harkin.

Quickie Recap: The internet's powerful social networking webs have been 70 years in the making - Harkin traces the path from WW2 until now, and delves into all the www's nooks and crannies along the way.

Quickie Review: Confession time. When you pick up a non-fiction book that's going to be on a certain topic, it is usually written by an expert in that field - maybe a physicist, or a paleontologist. These people are knowledgeable, and sometimes they convey the material in really engaging ways. But they aren't usually english majors, and that usually shows. This book, however, seems to have been written by a writer. Call me a cynic, but to find this book so thoroughly well-written was a surprise, and a good one. And yes it was interesting, and topical, and I loved the way Harkin explores the commonalities between what's happening now in cybernetics and the counterculture of the 1970s. Norbert Wiener and Marshall McLuhan are also compared, and it's fascinating to watch the internet and its offshoots spring up around these men who predicted the things to come more accurately than even they could have guessed. Harkin does a wonderful job weaving all of these things cohesively, and then presenting them with a wink.

Quickie Recommendation: I have to give this one a yes.

The Kindly Ones

2009-04-27T18:48:00.000-07:00

a novel by Jonathan Littell; translated from the French by Charlotte Mandell

Quickie Recap: Max Aue is an SS soldier not particularly interested in killing, but involved in the mess anyhow.

Quickie Review: First, let me tell you that though this was a translation, it never felt like one. Kudos to both Littell and Mandell for such beautiful language. This book took me months to get through, no kidding, and not just because it's nearly 1000 pages long (and probably doesn't need to be, if I'm being honest). It's just painful, repellent, sickening. And not just for the brutality, but also for the lack of it, the deliberateness, the cold pursuit. Yes, there are blood thirsty soldiers who enjoy, relish the killing. And there are people who are following orders, people who want job security, people who are just along for the ride. But they all do it. And maybe at the end of the day, apathy is just as bad as evil. There are scenes of blood and piss and shit, but the enormity is more bureaucratic which is even more maddening. You watch the decisions being made, the ones that could either make or break a genocide, and so little consideration for the actual people. Politically, it's very interesting, those who believed that the "Jewish question" should be made the first priority, and those who felt that winning the war should come first. And indeed, you do see how using the Jews as labour may have contributed to success, but how they kept taking off work in order to be exterminated...and how that need to wipe out a people pretty much led to the nazi downfall.

Quickie Recommendation: It's not for everyone, but it's a great piece of historical fiction that put a lot of thoughts into my head. If you were German, if you were in those shoes, what would you have done? Aue insists that he is like us, and we have to ask ourselves how much of that is true. It's fucking hard to read, but it's meant to be. This is not fun stuff. Gird your loins, but I think it does exactly what it's supposed to.

The Children's Book

2009-04-22T23:01:00.000-07:00

by A.S. Byatt

Quickie Recap: Olive Wellwood is a writer of children's fairy tales who is surrounded by a large family and an entourage of friend. Everyone has a story. Not all of them end happily ever after.

Quickie Review: I like what I read from the get go. There are so many characters to follow that at moments I felt it difficult to sort out who was who, but a little bit of persistence paid off. We follow them over a number of years, through an idyllic childhood, troubled times, the wisdom of children and the ignorance of their parents, all culminating in the one thing the reader knows is coming better than the characters do: WWI. And boy does it come.

Quickie Recommendation: Absorbing.

Our Days Are Numbered

2009-04-15T16:36:00.000-07:00

How Mathematics Orders Our Lives, by Jason I. Brown

Quickie Recap: Brown explains the hidden maths behind everyday things, from simple games like rock, paper, scissors, to redecorating, to Beatles' songs.

Quickie Review: Yes, I read this willingly. It was better than I feared, and not quite as good as I'd hoped. I have a hard time explaining what exactly I anticipated from this title, but I was craving one of those aha moments that other great books have given me. This book didn't give me the tingles. I think it's failing that it was trying to cover too much too simply. The things that I understood - like how to calculate a tip and how to interpret a political poll in the papers - are things that I already knew and didn't need a book to tell me. Topics that I was less (or not) familiar with, like logarithms, I still have no grasp on whatsoever. But there were some clever moments, and Brown's cornball sense of humour helped me keep going.

Quickie Recommendation: Not entirely.

Blackstrap Hawco

2009-04-10T20:28:00.000-07:00

Said to be about a Newfoundland family, by Kenneth J Harvey.

Quickie Recap: It takes 800+ pages to tell us who Blackstrap Hawco is, so I'm probably not going to summarize him very well here. He's a hero and a criminal, and has a family tree full of the same. Mostly, though, he's a Newfoundlander. He's proud of where he's from, and what that means. It's in his bones, and in his blood, and we see plenty of both.

Quickie Review: Does this book reward the careful reader? Yes. Does it also frustrate the careful reader? Yes. Does it at times alienate even the carefullest of readers? Yes, yes, yes. Between the pheonetically-spelled Newfoundlander dialect, the constant, frenetic shifting between narrators, characters, and time periods, and the portion at the end that is written by an illiterate, this book is not for those who are looking for a light read. Or an easy read. Or a non-headache-inducing read. It's tough. There are some very good parts, and some parts that I still can't say what the fuck they were about. There are entire characters who remain mysterious to me because I could never quite place them in between the time they appeared and disappeared again. This is definitely an ambitious and far-reaching novel, not exactly a song for Newfoundland, it's too gritty for that, but a tribute that a true Newfoundlander would probably have a terse nod of approval for. I can't say my heart was entirely in it, it was too convoluted and tried to be too many things for that, but I do have some fondness for it.

Quickie Recommendation: Tell me what you thought of it, if you've read it.

Diary of Interrupted Days

2009-04-08T20:22:00.000-07:00

by Dragan Todorovic

Quickie Recap: This is about the Serbian-Croatian war in the early 90s, about the young people living there at the time, their reaction, thoughts and feelings towards not just the war, but about the ideas and the politics of the time, and how they feel they have to leave their home in order to live the life they want. It goes on to tell about resettling in Canada, and what happens to those who didn't get out, and how hard it is to go back.

Quickie Review: I've noticed that the harder it is for me to recap a book, the better it is. I didn't expect to like this one as much as I did. I was reading another book about another war concurrently, and I was barely muddling through it. This one, however, really earned its right to be read. Maybe it's because the characters were young, and though not idealistic, they had ideas. They are relatable.

Quickie Recommendation: I can't keep the surprise out of myself when I say that I really did enjoy this one. It was a haunting tribute to Yugoslavia, with a real feeling of longing and regret.

A Portable History of the Universe, by Christopher Potter.

Quickie Recap: How to recap what is basically a recap of all the highlights of the universe, from its conception to its hypothetical death? Well, I can't. It just is.

Quickie Review: This book is so brilliant even Jesus uses it to refresh his memory. Every day I'd read a little on the bus ride to work and come in challenging my poor coworkers to give me their ideas on the craziness I'd just read - everything from the bizarre standards of measurement we use, to what the world will look like when it's ending, whether we're all alone here, and if anything is significant when we're all so clearly insignificant. There are some really good ideas in here, and it's everything a good book should be: informative, entertaining, stimulating.

Quickie Recommendation: Absolutely.

Moral Disorder

2009-03-23T20:11:00.000-07:00

by Margaret Atwood

Quickie Recap: The stories are all about the same woman, from different periods in her life, and told from different perspectives.

Quickie Review: It's Atwood, so of course it's good. I found it fairly straight-forward, with moments of bitterness and sweetness both. When I first dove in, I was in love. It was easy to get into, but because the stories are related, it almost reads like a novel, a novel which in the end lacks that final punch. It left me wanting to know more about the other relationships that get woven into the stories. I wanted a bit of closure.

Quickie Recommendation: I don't consider it her best, but I'm sure even her worst is far above much of the tripe they sell in Chapters.

Come Thou Tortoise

2009-03-17T19:29:00.000-07:00

by Jessica Grant.

Quickie Recap: Audrey has just lost her father, and she doesn't yet realize that his death complicates thing for everyone she once considered family. She chases after the people she loves while leaving behind the pet she has cared for - a tortoise named Winnifred who tells us about all her previous owners and their various heartaches.

Quickie Review: Maybe I had feelings of happiness towards this book because I read it on a hammock on the beach shaded by palm trees. But sitting back home in Canada, I still identify this as not just my favourite book of 2009 (so far and I'd venture to say in its entirety), but the best book I've read in a really long time, and I've read some very pleasing gems. The cover of this book refers to itself as "offbeat" and it is, but it's even better than that. It's the very best kind of odd there is. Charming at every word.

Quickie Recommendation: Awesome, awesome, awesome. Can't be said enough.

You Suck

2009-03-07T19:14:00.000-08:00

A Love Story by Christopher Moore.

Quickie Recap: Jody turns her boyfriend Tommy into a vampire so they can live immortally together forever. Except it turns out that vampires don't have it so easy. And did you know that some people don't like vampires? True story.

Quickie Review: So I'm sitting on the plane headed for The Dominican Republic, and the flight attendant announces that the in flight movie will be Twilight. Pass. So I crack open You Suck instead, which superficially is also about vampires and the persecution of and whatnot, but actually is the anti-Twilight because it's good. Ya gotta love Moore, he's got such a strange and inventive mind. I quite enjoyed it. Quite!

Quickie Recommendation: As always, yes.

The Believers

2009-03-03T18:51:00.000-08:00

A novel by Zoe Heller.

Quickie Recap: Joel and Audrey are a couple of activists who raised 3 kids and now that they're reaching retirement you'd think the worst was behind them, but just as Joel is trying a big huge case, he has a stroke and falls into a coma, leaving his family to discover dirty little secrets and work out their many, many dysfunctions.

Quickie Review: Wow, that was killer. It's not often you read a scathing expose of the hypocrisy of the left wingers. Totally makes you think twice. Heller has a real gift for the details, which makes the family dynamics just pop off the page. I had an immediate hate-on for the mother character, Audrey, which tells me she was very carefully written. Nothing is safe from Heller's pen: not the crazy institution of marriage, or religion, or politics. Everything is under fire, and ooooh does it burn.

Quickie Recommendation: Righteous book, dude.

Apologies to March

2009-03-01T18:47:00.000-08:00

Quickie Apology:

I sucked in March. I still read like crazy, but between the vacation and the new puppy and the idiotic schedule at work, I've barely had to time to write about what a read. And that's a travesty, no?

So I'm playing catch up, but it's all worth it because I actually did read some really amazing shit in March, particularly this one book that I read on the beach in Punta Cana that I cannot wait to tell you about.

A Short History of Nearly Everything!

2009-02-28T08:20:00.000-08:00

by le fabuleux Bill Bryson.

Quickie Recap: First, let me confess that the exclamation mark up there is my own addition. I think Bryson should consider adding it for his next edition. To recap this book would be ridiculous, as it is indeed a history of nearly everything - the origins of the universe, human ancestry, and everything before, since, and in between.

Quickie Review that's maybe not so quick: When I first read this book, I was blown away. Sorry if I've ever used that expression here before: if I have, I take it back, I take them all back and reserve it solely for this one. This was nearly life-changing, I kid you not. It was brilliant. I felt exhilarated - this guy was not mistaking me for an idiot, just a curious person who would like to be reminded of the things I probably learned in grade school. And then he expands. He digs around. He presents the awesome, interesting facts, and I just ate it right up. I couldn't believe my luck - here was this great, entertaining book that I kept putting down to share tidbits with others, that also had me learning new things and remembering old things and making me thirsty to know more. What a combination! It's the very thing that authors strive for all the time and yet hardly ever achieve. Is there anything this guy can't do (except return my phone calls?)

Now, the Short History of Nearly Everything is short in terms of how much history there is, but in terms of books, it's still pretty long. However, a most marvellous thing has come along - A Really Short History of Nearly Everything! (again, italics and excitement are my own.) This is the condensed (and illustrated!) version, and it appealed to me immediately. Only once I was in the middle of it did I think that perhaps its intended audience was children. But I refuse to feel childish reading this wonderful thing. It's just way too awesome! I learned how to become a fossil (it's harder than you think!) and that it's fun to cough on things just to make gross science.

Quickie Review: This book is in my top ever reads without a doubt. This is a book for other books to look up to. Once again, Bill Bryson has gotten it exactly right.

The Enchantress of Florence

2009-02-26T11:12:00.000-08:00

by Salman Rushdie

Quickie Recap: This dude shows up to the king's court and basically claims that he's a long-lost relative, and he has this intricately winding story to prove his authenticity. Turns out, it's so crazy it might actually be true, but this guy is a story teller, and a known liar, and the king struggles between not trusting him and being completely charmed by him, and ultimately, enjoying the story so much that he wants it to be true.

Quickie Review: Oh, Salman Rushdie. When your name is on a cover, I feel as though I have to like it. I feel the pressure, although admittedly sometimes I wonder if you're really that good, or if people mistake talent with controversy. Ahem. I didn't say that. And I know it's not your fault that I'm dyslexic, but for the past 5 days, I believed I was reading The Enchanted Forest. Maybe you could look into that? So, okay, I read Midnight's Children, and fine, kudos to you. I get it. It was good. But The Satanic Verses? Do you know how many hours I've sunk into that one, just trying to make heads or tails of it? So along comes this newest one, and for me, it started out pretty okay. I was like hey, look at me understanding a Salman Rushdie on my first try! But then, thunk. I hit a rough patch, and I'm inclined to blame you. I think you do it on purpose: when you continually refer to your characters by different names, and transpose them in different nations, you make it a little hard for the reader to keep track, no? So after enthusiastically diving right in, I spent the next 200 pages just trying to swim toward the light. I had to reread, and it was better going the second time around. It's not impossible to navigate, but it helps if you keep detailed notes. Is it worth it? Well, it is good, I'll give you that. You're a story teller, you're not afraid to meander with it a bit, to tease it out. You reveal things in your own good time, and I can respect that. Yes, I think I can respect this novel.

Quickie Recommendation: Word. But seriously, you can stop trying to impress us now. We get it. You're a smart guy. How about being a little more reader-friendly? Or even just reader-non-hostile.

The Time Traveler's Wife

2009-02-21T10:58:00.000-08:00

One of the best novels I've ever read, by Audrey Niffenegger.

Quickie Recap: This is the story of Henry, an honest-to-god time traveller, and Clare, the wife he meets when she's just 6 years old and his travelling has him plopping out of the sky, nude and disoriented, in a field by her family home. Their mind-boggling courtship takes place over all kinds of time and space, and for all the complexities they face, this is also just the story of a boy and a girl and how they fall in love.

Quickie Review: Sigh. I asked for this book for Christmas, and my mother wondered why I would need it since she knew for a fact that I'd already read it (and lent it to her so she could read it too). Having misplaced my last copy, I was desperate not to be without it for long. I told her this: I first read this book at least 5 years ago, and to this day, I still remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I finished it. Hint: completely devastated, I emptied an entire box of kleenex and actually woke someone up with my weeping. My mother nodded, and proceeded to tell me exactly when and where she was when she finished it too, and this is a woman who has to ask the librarian to warn her if she's checking out a book she's already read, and the librarian squeamishly admits that she is attempting to check out at least 2 that she just read last week. The point is, this book is not just memorable but achingly so. It's funny how you can take this incredible situation and boil it down to the struggles of marriage, any marriage, really. But I think the real reason why this book is brilliant is that it's not about the time traveller, it's about his wife. That's where the heart is. Sure time travelling is this crazy, messed up, misunderstood thing, but it's the woman who loves him anyway, loves him knowing and not knowing, loves him the best she can through the most impossible of situations, through her childhood and old age, loves him when he's there and when he's not that really breaks your heart. It breaks mine every time I read it, and that's why you need a copy for your own shelf, because every once in a while, you just want it to take you back.

Quickie Recommendation: Um, I think that's rather obvious.

A Shadow On The Household

2009-02-17T10:36:00.000-08:00

One Enslaved Family's Incredible Struggle for Freedom, by Bryan Prince.

Quickie Recap: John Weems, a former slave himself, watches helplessly as his enslaved wife and 7 children are sold away from him and from each other when their owner suddenly dies and his heirs decide on sale and separation. The Weemses seek liberation by any means possible.

Quickie Review: This book is incredibly well-researched and so nuanced that at times I had to remind myself that it was fact, not fiction. The family is brought to life by the tragedy of their situation, which is highlighted by the presence of both heroes and villains in the truest sense of words.

Quickie Recommendation: Enlightening.

Apologize, Apologize!

2009-02-14T18:10:00.000-08:00

A novel about a family that puts the personality in disorder, by Elizabeth Kelly.

Quickie Recap: Collie is the only sane member of his family, but he can't keep their strange ways from affecting his life too, so he struggles against them to find his own way without becoming like them.

Quickie Review: Collie is not surrounded by characters, but by caricatures. They're bigger versions of every family's crazy archetypes - the beloved younger son, philandering-charmer father, neurotic mother, overbearing grandfather, etc, etc. But it all serves to call attention to the fact that "normal" or not, Collie is still trying to find himself, and navigate his way through life, and he still needs a family's support, even if his leaves something to be desired.

Quickie Recommendation: One of the most memorable books I've read in a while.

Little Bee

2009-02-11T18:02:00.000-08:00

by Chris Cleave.

Quickie Recap: A couple goes on vacation to Nigeria to try to save their marriage, but instead they find themselves in the middle of an unofficial war and are asked to make a decision that will save or take lives.

Quickie Review: A few pages in, I wasn't feeling this book. Little Bee, as the girl is known, is just coming out of a detention centre, and I wasn't enjoying her narration. Thank goodness I stuck with it. Not only does her story improve, but it becomes intertwined with that of the couple that she accidentally met on a beach on a very fateful day in her home country of Nigeria. This book refers to an "incident" that is initially not known to the reader. I was nearly preparing myself to get annoyed by the omission when the author lets us in on the secret, and it's a big secret. It's the kind of scene that haunts. Everything else kind of unfolds as a result of that one incident, and it's gross and sad and frustrating and a really good read.

Quickie Recommendation: Don't be a bonehead like me. Give it a proper chance and it will dazzle you.

His Illegal Self

2009-02-07T17:47:00.000-08:00

A novel by Peter Carey.

Quickie Recap: A little boy named Che waits at his grandma's house for the day when his radical parents will come back to claim him. But when contact is initiated it all goes wrong as it must and he ends up hiding out in Australia with people who either are or are not his family. Sound convoluted enough for you? Sorry - it plays better in the 272 page version.

Quickie Review: I really liked Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang, which this book is nothing like other than its inherent goodness and interestingness. Che is a confused little boy, and as he tries to work things out in his head, the reader is trying to do just the same thing. What is the right thing? Are you sure? Are you really sure?

Quickie Recommendation: Everyone deserves to question everything every once in a while.

An Accidental Light

2009-02-04T05:03:00.000-08:00

by Elizabeth Diamond.

Quickie Recap: A little girl dies in an accident and two families break apart: the little girl's family, of course, but also the family of the man who caused the accident. The accident sends both families spiralling down different paths that eventually collide in unexpected ways.

Quickie Review: Wow!! Another really great read. Finished in under 12 hours, I could hardly put it down for work. I was hypnotized by Diamond's intimate knowledge of grief, and how it triggers past pain. This was very real, very tender, very wise. When I finished the book, I flipped to the author's photograph on the back flap, because I felt like this woman had really accomplished something, had said something significant through fiction. This is her first novel, and it blew me away.

Quickie Recommendation: I would go so far as to call this a do-not-miss.

To Whom It May Concern

2009-01-31T04:44:00.000-08:00

a novel by Priscila Uppal.

Quickie Recap: After a long struggle, Hardev, a quadriplegic relying on the help of home care workers, is losing his home to the bank. His eldest daughter is soon to be married and he fights to keep his secret under wraps until then. However, as the story unfolds, we see that the whole family is keeping secrets from each other, failing to communicate, failing to be that perfect nuclear family.

Quickie Review: I was thinking that maybe it ended a bit abruptly for my taste, but the truth is, I think I just got so involved that I was a little devastated to see it end. There are so many great stories going on, so many layers, so many things to think about, and then, learning something new, you reevaluate, change your mind a dozen times, and it's never enough. Every character has a distinct voice and they switch back and forth, and every single time one ended and a new one began I could never decide if I was more sad at the letting go or happy at the new exploration. It keeps you on your toes, this book, and you can take it as it is and enjoy it immensely, or interpret it as a retelling of King Lear and really sink your teeth into something meaty.

Quickie Recommendation: This review does not do justice to what I've just read. I didn't know Uppal before, but I think she's now officially on my list of authors to look up. This book really impressed me.

We Bought A Zoo

2009-01-29T05:04:00.000-08:00

The amazing true story of a young family, a broken down zoo, and the 200 wild animals that change their lives forever, by Benjamin Mee.

Quickie Recap: His father dies and his wife is diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, and for Benjamin Mee, the obvious response is to sell his dream home and relocate the family to a failing zoo with absolutely no experience and no real idea of what he's getting himself into.

Quickie Review: Well. This book quietly exceeded my expectations. Going in, it was easy to anticipate some syrupy sentiment, an overwhelming feeling of inspiration, an uplifting theme, etc, etc, and so when Mee describes his young wife's death in the fancy chair he'd bought her just the week before in the middle of the zoo she never lived to see opened to the public, the tragedy hits you even more because of how low-key he is. Low-key is probably the wrong word. In fact, I know it is. It was obviously a devastating blow, but he's not asking for sympathy. He's simply saying: this is what I did, what my family did. And although you should never trust a book cover, it really is an amazing story, but not necessarily because he bought a zoo. Really it's how he lives his life, believing and persevering, and being sometimes quite selfless without acknowledging it. Mee tells a good story, and has a good story to tell. I'm so glad he shared it with me , and I hope you'll let him share it with you too.

Quickie recommendation: Have kleenex on stand-by.

Confession

2009-01-27T04:43:00.000-08:00

by Lee Gowan.

Quickie Recap: As a young boy, Dwight overhears his father confess to a friend that God talked to him, and warned him that his son (Dwight) would one day kill him. And one day, he does. He kills him in, of all things, a modern-day duel to avenge his mother's death. But then the coroner explains that his mother's death was accidental and Dwight has to do some serious thinking about what he did and why he did it.

Quickie Review: Have you ever bought a book, taken it home, not read it right away, and pretty much forgotten why you got it in the first place? That's me, like 85% of the time, and I have a policy of not reading the flaps so that I might be 'surprised'. And surprised I was. First off, the narrative voice here is really compelling. Dwight is not always a sympathetic character but I was drawn to him, to this prophecy. And the strange thing is, it should be unsettling to a reader when a man's death is predicted, but in this case you almost feel like it's...deserved. But then when the mother's death is ruled an accident, the father is vindicated and it's the son who is guilty. But we can never say that the father is truly innocent. So there's this play between these two extremes that the author exploits subtly. Religion plays a part as well, inevitably, but it too does not go unchecked. I really think that Gowan has a good thing going in this book, and I foresee myself giving it a second reading sometime soon because I bet there are nuances that only a second reading can do justice.

Quickie Recommendation: Yup.

Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors

2009-01-24T09:56:00.000-08:00

by (? are dictionaries "by" someone?) Bill Bryson.

Quickie Recap: Well, this is how a dictionary works: words are listed, usually alphabetically for easy references, and you can look them up to check their spelling or their meaning. Neat eh?

Quickie Review: Yes, I read a dictionary. Back off. It's Bryson. And it's not every word, just the ones I'm most likely to fuck up, you know, the icky plurals, tricky hyphens, kooky foreign stuff, that kind of thing.

Quickie Recommendation: At the risk of forever brandishing myself an incorrigible nerd, yes.

Shakespeare Wrote For Money

2009-01-21T09:49:00.000-08:00

Two years of reading begat by more reading, presented in easily digestible, utterly hysterical monthly installments, by Nick Hornby.

Quickie Recap: Nick Hornby wrote a column for Believer called Stuff I'm Reading where he discussed - you guessed it! - the stuff he was reading, or not reading, whichever was the case.

Quickie Review: Nick Hornby is a funny guy, even when he's lazy and he eschews books in favour of World Cup action. As I'm always yammering on about my own 'reading begat by more reading' it is both refreshing to find that I am not the only poor soul who reads extensively and yet never seems to make headway on The List, and also maddening, because Hornby's recommendations just contribute to even more additions to The List.

Quickie Recommendation: Oh. Yes. Was it even a question?

The Well-Dressed Ape

2009-01-19T09:41:00.000-08:00

A Natural History of Myself, by Hannah Holmes.

Quickie Recap: Holmes attempts to describe homo sapiens the way an encyclopedia describes any other animal - where it lives, what it eats, how it reproduces, what it senses. Humans generally hold themselves above such scrutiny but Holmes is putting is back where we belong.

Quickie Review: This is a unique way at looking at ourselves and just the change in perspective alone, putting us in the context of other animals, really lets you think about how and why we are. Holmes juxtaposes human description with comparisons to other animals, so we are constantly checked and put in our evolutionary place. She is funny and thoughtful and unafraid to remind us that she too is an example of the homo sapiens, and not always a prime one at that. Her microscope allows us to more dispassionately look at our own selves and evaluate what we truly see - the fur, the tools, the adaptations.

Quickie Recommendation: Cool book, I'd say.

God's Mercies

2009-01-16T13:08:00.000-08:00

Rivalry, Betrayal, and the Dream of Discovery by Douglas Hunter.

Quickie Recap: Samuel de Champlain and Henry Hudson were a couple of 17th century rock star explorers who raced to be the first and best explorer of a lot of my favourite haunts.

Quickie Review: Confession time. After months of trying to get through this, I have decided that if God is indeed merciful, he will forgive me for abandoning a book partway through on occasion. I haven't abandoned a book that I've started since 2004, when I gave up on I, Claudius after just a couple of pages. In this case, I made it to page 130 and that should count for something, right? Wrong, I know. I'm pathetic. And just like I, Claudius, I know the problem was me, and not the book. Sometimes something just doesn't gel and you can't find sufficient motivation to prod yourself on. And to be honest, I just have too many books that I am excited about sitting unread on my night stand to keep plodding through something that doesn't hold my interest. So I apologize to de Champlain, and to Hudson, and mostly to Hunter. Many minds brighter than mine found this to be "first rate adventure" and worthy of accolades. I admit defeat.

Quickie Recommendation: I'm sadly unable to say, but I invite anyone who has read this book to let me know what a numb skull I am and how quickly I need to pick this back up and give it a second go.

The Demonic Comedy

2009-01-13T12:49:00.000-08:00

Some Detours in the Baghdad of Saddam Hussein, by Paul William Roberts.

Quickie Recap: Is there humour to be found in the situation in Iraq? Yes. Well, no, not really. Not really at all. But if there is, I'd trust Roberts to find it. He goes there before the war, during, and after, and finds a lot of things that he's not actually supposed to find. His "interpreters" and "guides" show him the glossy, wonderful world that he's supposed to be writing about but aching sadness is never far off.

Quickie Review: Roberts magically is able to write with perspective and humour that I suspect were not only a struggle to achieve, but also a bit of a defense mechanism for coping with what must have been some very difficult realities. There are bits that had me laughing out loud, and there are bits that had me reaching for the kleenex, and I think that ability to show the complexity without beating us over the head with it is the definition of this book's genius. I really enjoyed it, as much as anyone can "enjoy" reading about atrocities and the attempt to cover them up, deny them, or exploit them. Frustration and impotence are palpable undercurrents in this book and if you can find the stomach for them, then I suggest that this is one of the most tempered books on the subject available. Roberts finds equal scorn for all politicians and the only side he takes is that of the ordinary, suffering, every day Iraqi.

Quickie Recommendation: Yes. But you might want to arm yourself with a little guilty pleasure on the side. Don't say I didn't warn you. But yes, yes.

The Almost Archer Sisters

2009-01-10T12:28:00.000-08:00

by Lisa Gabriele.

Quickie Recap: Peachy is a "stayer" and Beth is a "leaver". Beth left the family home (a farm in rural Ontario) as soon as she could, and fled to a life of glamour in New York City. Peachy stayed behind, dropping out of school to marry and have a family. Years later, Peachy's life is comfortable and Beth's is beginning to fray but - guess what!? - all that's about to change!!

Quickie Review: So I was thinking to myself that I needed a serious injection of fiction, stat, so I reached for a strong injection of the guilty pleasure, forgivable\unforgivable sort. This is exactly the kind of book I read when I'm alone at night because I'd be too embarrassed to be caught with it. But then it surprised me. It was actually a bit meatier than I expected. Okay, it's not a feat of literature or anything, but it was its moments. It definitely went down easily and I have to say, when it's sandwiched between an exploration of a failing auto plant and the glory days of Saddam Hussein, it was exactly what the doctor ordered.

Quickie Recommendation: I can see this appealing to a wider audience that the book I reviewed before this, and after this. Is that a good thing? Bad thing? I don't know. I do know that I enjoyed it, and that Gabriele has a place in this world, and that when my brow was furrowed with too much information, her words have soothed me and made it possible for me to read on.

Life On The Line

2009-01-07T12:10:00.000-08:00

One Woman's Tale of Work, Sweat, and Survival, by Solange De Santis.

Quickie Recap: A journalist and all around white-collar woman decides it will be interesting to live the life of a labourer to see what it's "really like" so she goes to work at a GM auto plant and describes not only the physical work involved, but the people she befriends, the management she doesn't, and the union that baffles everyone.

Quickie Review: I'm a little wary of anyone who wants to see what life is "really like" for others because they so often do an insulting half-assed exploration that leaves me frustrated as a reader and embarrassed as a human being, but I grudgingly admit that De Santis does some justice here. She manages to tell her story without being condescending to her fellow workers. She writes more compellingly about snobbery without realizing it than most authors who set out with that purpose. Of course there's a smidge of self-righteousness within the pages, but maybe that's inevitable when you put a soft person into hard circumstances. There's a certain grit and grime to this that's unmistakable, but to her credit, it is overshadowed by the dignity with which she writes, perhaps not closing the gab between white and blue collar worlds, but at least shedding some light on it.

Quickie Recommendation: Certainly one of the better of its kind.

The Lost Continent

2009-01-05T11:57:00.000-08:00

Travels in Small Town America, by Bill Bryson.

Quickie Recap: After a decade of living in England, Bryson returned to the US, got in his car (well, his mum's car anyway) and drove in search of the warm fuzzy places he remembered from family trips of his youth.

Quickie Review: Well, he never found those warm fuzzy places. They all seem to have been replaced by nearly identical towns of stripmalls, gas stations, and fast food joints. Bryson is a genius of course, and he manages to paint this bleak picture with his characteristic dark humour. It's a bit sad too though, because he drives 14000 miles in search of something that doesn't really exist anymore, and you get a double sense of loss: on the one hand a personal loss, that of a youthful image of a mythical small town that keeps luring him on but remains elusive, and on the other hand a more generalized loss for the rest of us as we discover that the postcard perfection is not just elusive but extinct.

Quickie Recommendation: I read The Geography of Hope and was inspired to read Drive, which in turn inspired me to read The Lost Continent. For me, this was a pretty organic selection process and I'm happy with the outcome. Bryson is a pretty sure bet, and I might even give him the edge in an otherwise pretty stellar trilogy.

Drive

2009-01-02T18:39:00.000-08:00

A Road Trip Through our Complicated Affair with the Automobile, by Tim Falconer.

Quickie Recap: Falconer goes for a drive to think about how driving is killing the planet.

Quickie Review: Forget that the content of the book completely contradicts the thesis - this was one of the most enjoyable road trips I've ever taken. It seemed a natural progression from The Geography of Hope, allowing further exploration of "car culture" and the need for a fundamental challenge to our attachment to wheels (to conquer the inconvenient truth, it seems that cars must be sacrificed). Sure I had qualms about Falconer's delivery - driving 15000km makes him part of the very problem he's describing - but it's still an interesting read. Interesting, but I suppose ultimately unsuccessful, since he admits that he himself remains unconvinced. He is unwilling to make the sacrifice he knows is necessary.

Quickie Recommendation: I realize I just called it a failure, but I still really liked it.

Holidays on Ice

2008-12-19T06:24:00.000-08:00

by David Sedaris

Quickie Recap: Christmas in some families is a time of tradition and warmth and celebration. But if you've got a family half of crazy as mine, if you veer toward the untraditional, then you'll have an appreciation for these stories.

Quickie Review: You may have already heard Sedaris read his Santa Land Diaries and you can be glad to read them here again. If not, you're in for a treat because Sedaris working as an elf in a Macy's department store = pure comedy gold. He's also included some other holiday gems, some of them never before published, so yay!

Quickie Recommendation: I laughed out loud, what more do you want?

Tales From Outer Suburbia

2008-12-13T06:14:00.000-08:00

by Shaun Tan.

Quickie Recap: I have no earthly idea how to describe this book! It looks like a children's tale if you judge it by the cover, but please don't. Although it does contain what may be called tales inside its pages, this is no ordinary book, it has a darker edge and a more sophisticated feel.

Quickie Review: To be honest, I had to read this a few times before I could get to the place where I might say I liked it. But now I really like it. I've felt the same way about really dark indie films too: it's such a departure from the norm that your first response is confusion, but a couple of days later you're still thinking about. So you see it again, and you're blown away by how good it is, and how different. I'm a big fan of different, and I think I can safely say that I am a big fan of Tan.

Quickie Recommendation: Oh yeah.

Fifteen Days

2008-12-08T06:06:00.000-08:00

Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death From Inside the New Canadian Army, by Christie Blatchford.

Quickie Recap: Fifteen "important" days are highlighted from among Blatchford's trips to Afghanistan to spend time with the Canadian army. Unfortunately, "important" in this case means that shots were fired, lives were lost. Blatchford uses the tragedies to underscore the closeness of the army in ways that we don't normally hear from the media.

Quickie Review: Army books are a bit of a hard sell with me, but this book wasn't what I was expecting. It's not political, not remotely. It's about the people who are serving their country, and what that really means. Blatchford reports respectfully but she's not detached. These are real people she's writing about, and she lets us know it. I think that's why it resonates in the reader so strongly.

Quickie Recommendation: Despite the tightness in my chest, yes.

The Geography of Hope

2008-12-05T05:53:00.000-08:00

A Tour of the World We Need, by Chris Turner.

Quickie Recap: When it comes to the environment, that is to say, the health and the fate of the planet we call home, we are very near the tipping point, the point of no return. Humanity needs to be cultivating a new sustainable lifestyle and this book offers exactly that.

Quickie Review: HOPE is the key word to this book. Lots of green books get overexcited by the topic and doom us all but Turner instills hope by showing what can be done, in fact, what is being done in small doses right this very minute, and how it's working and could be working on a much larger scale if only we could get everyone on board. At various times in reading this book, I was ready to sell up and live in a mud hut, and then an eco-village, and god knows what else. The power of this book is that it makes it all feel possible, and that's not always something that environmentalists are good at. Parts of this book were more readable than others and Turner cares more for telling cool stories than for sticking to the topic but that's okay because he's got some important words here that I think deserve to be read.

Quickie Recommendation: Yup. What makes this book different, and my opinion good is that it's not about technology. We already have the technology. It's our consciousness that needs to change, and I think this book not only defines the problem but helps contribute to the solution. Wow, eh? Buy it here.

A Mercy

2008-11-25T16:50:00.000-08:00

A novel by Toni Morrison.

Quickie Recap: A slave woman casts off her daughter in order to save her, but this little girl spends the rest of her existence searching for a person who can love her.

Quickie Review: Mention the name Morrison and little else needs to be said. Of course it's an intense and tragic read worth every page. But it's not just about slavery. It's about the backdrop of intolerance, class and religious, that breeds the kind of culture where slavery seems justified, sometimes even to the enslaved themselves.

Quickie Recommendation: Disturbing and devastating, it's a definite yes.

Alice Munro's Best

2008-11-20T16:43:00.000-08:00

Selected Stories, by Alice Munro.

Quickie Recap: Alice Munro offers up some great great pieces to love and re-explore.

Quickie Review: Munro is a goddess of Canadian literature. Many of these stories were familiar to me, like old friends with whom you instantly take up the relationship where it left off. Others were less known to me and gave me new opportunity to appreciate her genius. The Bear Came Over the Mountain struck me in particular - it has recently been transformed into a wonderful movie by Sarah Polley but still stands on its own as a brave short story.

Quickie Recommendation: A resounding Canadian yes.

An Imperfec Offering

2008-11-14T18:10:00.001-08:00

Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-First Century, by James Orbinski, MD.

Quickie Recap: Dr Orbinski has worked as the international president of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), and this book recounts the political frustrations, UN-induced nightmares and personal tragedies that he's witnessed while working in Somalia, Rwanda, Afghanistan and the like.

Quickie Review: Fucking Heart-breaking, and important.

Quickie Recommendation: Fucking yes.

Self

2008-11-11T18:00:00.000-08:00

by Yann Martel.

Quickie Recap: So there's this boy who goes through a sweet potato phase is a foreign country and wakes up transformed: a woman.

Quickie Review: It's kind of crazy how reflective this novel is. It really is personal and soul-searching; sometimes funny and sometimes tragic. The magical gender transformation seems natural, almost trivial to the story. It's the spiritual journey that is most remarkable, and more than a mite addictive.

Quickie Recommendation: Psychologically fascinating.

The Flying Troutmans

2008-11-09T17:07:00.000-08:00

by Miriam Toews.

Quickie Recap: Hattie's sister Min is in the psych ward again, having lost her sanity and her will to live, and Hattie is left to fend for Min's 2 children. Overwhelmed by the responsibility, and more than a little lost herself, the three Troutmans embark on epic journey to find the children's absent father that has you hoping that somehow, damaged people can help each other.

Quickie Review: I adore this book, adore it! I gorged myself on it, consuming every last drop in one delicious sitting. Toews is unpretentious and darkly funny. She doesn't use her characters' youth as an excuse not to make them into fully emotional and intellectual beings. She's compassionate but she's not a drip; if this book breaks your heart a little, then so be it. It's rich and layered and always has you thinking more than one thing at once.

Quickie Recommendation: The only bad thing about this book is that it had to end - this one is tough to let go of.

The Furies

2008-11-07T06:45:00.000-08:00

a novel by Fernanda Eberstadt.

Quickie Recap: Gideon, a penniless puppeteer, meets Gwen, an ambition liaison to Russia, and they fall in love, and they fall out of love.

Quickie Review: I'm still not sure what to make of this book. The arc of the relationship seems predictable, inevitable. It isn't a story about love, it's about lust-addiction-dependency-complacency-obligation-resentment-hatred. It's about sexual obsession, which was mistaken for love, a grave error with grave consequences, although ultimately I think Eberstadt punished her characters a little too strongly. However, the two worlds that clash continually was a great backdrop to the book and the author shows no mercy.

Quickie Recommendation: How many times can you read the word pussy in one sitting?

Stiff

2008-11-05T01:09:00.000-08:00

The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, by Mary Roach.

Quickie Recap: What happens to a body when it is donated "to science"? You'd be surprised. Cadavers have a whole bunch of uses, and I bet you haven't really stopped to think about most of them, but Mary Roach has.

WARNING: Cool book alert!

Quickie Review: Like a gruesome car wreck, you can't help but look. Sure it's gory and gross and deeply disturbing, but it's also oddly fascinating and enlightening and has you questioning your own sense of mortality. The first time you laugh out loud, it will surprise you, but pretty soon you realize that Roach is faultlessly respectful, which never stops her from being highly entertaining. This is a re-read for me and I'm enjoying it just as much the second time around. It has been on my list of all-time favourites for years now and I can't see it ever being displaces because it's quirky, unusual, extremely thorough, and delightfully fun. The footnotes alone would be worth a glowing review but all together - I cannot say enough.

Quickie Recommendation: God, yes!!!

Flash Forward

2008-11-03T00:33:00.000-08:00

by Robert J. Sawyer.

Quickie Recap: Lloyd and Theo are physicists messing around with atoms when their experiment goes wrong, knocking the entire population out cold for 2 minutes and granting them all a glimpse of their future 21 years hence. Obviously this experience is life changing, some good and some bad, but regardless, almost everyone agrees that the experiment should be replicated...and what will this second vision show? Is the future immutable?

Quickie Review: Hold on to your socks, folks: I'm actually going to say that I liked this book. It was given to me by someone after confessing my distaste for the genre and so this foreknowledge probably helped him select something that would be more philosophical than technological, and he hit a homerun with this selection. I think that when a reader can throw themselves into a narrative and start thinking like a character, then the author has accomplished something. And that's how this book got me: it gave me some very interesting shoes to walk in, and I did, and I asked the tough questions and thought about the future and I made this reading experience a personal one. This is good.

Quickie Recommendation: I repeat, this is good.

The Origin of Species

2008-11-01T03:00:00.000-07:00

a novel by Nino Ricci.

Quickie Recap: Alex is a grad student working on a thesis uniting literature and Darwin's theory of evolution while plodding ungracefully through the 80s in Montreal and regretting his romantic entanglements. Although he sees a psychoanalyst daily, it's a random sampling of his acquaintances that actually shed meaning on his life.

Quickie Review: Oh, the existential angst in this book is palpable. I felt a bit like a voyeur reading it because Alex is holding on to so many secrets and insecurities that at times I felt like looking away and granting him some privacy. At it's most basic, this book is about exploration - geographically, philosophically, personally. It's also about the growing pains that come along with it, the self-doubt and the fear that grips us when we know a big jump is required of us. The novel is structured in three parts and for a moment I worried that the second part was careening away and stopping the narrative, but a little faith in Ricci goes a long way. He knows what he's doing, and he's remarkable at making a cohesive story out of some pretty big concepts. This is a pretty dark book, which is not a criticism. In fact, it's nearly a compliment because I think it's hard to be so consistent without being overwhelming, but Ricci is forgiving and empathetic, and there's comfort in that. There's hope.

Quickie Recommendation: Well the Governor General isn't often wrong about these things... :)

Three Cups of Tea

2008-10-30T02:26:00.000-07:00

One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.

Quickie Recap: Greg Mortenson, an American climber, fails to get to the summit of K2, but succeeds in doing more good for the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan than the rest of his country combined.

Quickie Review: I'm not going to comment much on how it's written except to say that Relin is more than competent. The real crux here is that Mortenson is an incredible person with an extraordinary story. He's a regular guy who has selflessly given himself to a cause that seemed to go against what the rest of his country was doing at the time. But Mortenson fights for peace by building schools - educating girls, and giving all children the option of a traditional but non-extremist education. Perhaps an even bigger achievement is that he's been able to earn the trust and respect of people who have plenty of reasons to hate Americans, and his success is a great example that rebuilding a country and regaining peace is not about utilities or train tracks, but about relationships.

Quickie Recommendation: Is this endorsement ringing yet? Mortenson seems destined for the history books, and for a much-deserved Nobel Prize for peace, and we should all be inspired and moved by this remarkable man and the quiet way he's gone about changing the world. I'm glad to have found a cause I can feel so good about right before the holiday season and I'm sure that you'll feel the same way too.

Watchmen

2008-10-28T02:55:00.000-07:00

a graphic novel written by Alan Moore; illustrated by Dave Gibbons.

Quickie Recap: Tensions are high as the U.S. edges closer to war with Russia. When a government-sponsored superhero is murdered, one of his colleagues, Rorschach, smells conspiracy and warns the others that a costumed-hero killer seems to be on the loose, but what he actually uncovers is much worse: one of his own has devised a plan for avoiding war but does so by sacrificing the lives of millions...

Quickie Review: This book will challenge your notions of what heroism consists of, what acceptable losses are, and ultimately asks: who watches the watchmen? Visually, the novel is stunning. I read the first page, and getting to the last panel, I realized I need to go back to the first and start over. Each panel is constructed to punch you in the gut and is bursting with symbolism, the extent of which would probably require several readings to fully know. Although sympathetic to the plight of the superhero, having placed them in a contemporary context, Moore seems to be asking: why do we trust these guys, and are we sure we should leave the fate of the world in their hands?

Quickie Recommendation: Some of the most gripping stuff I've read in a long time.

Brain Fuel

2008-10-26T14:54:00.000-07:00

199 Mind-Expanding Inquiries into the Science of Everyday Life, by Joe Schwarcz.

Quickie Recap:Schwarcz presents little-known food for thought, such as "What is liberty cabbage?", "What is the link between Neil Armstrong and coloured mouthpieces for trumpets?" and "What is the military use of silly string?"

Quickie Review: Friends don't let friends drink and drive; editors don't let writers use bad puns. Or at least they shouldn't. This book was rife with them, and with atrocious writing, both of which may have been forgiven if Schwarcz had lived up to his end of the bargain and provided any measure of mind expansion but in truth, I was beyond bored by this book. I had a whole stack of seemingly promising reads but I was on a high from other good non-fiction reads, so I picked this one up and was utterly disappointed. The content just wasn't there. Even as a book of general trivia it fails because it never asks questions that I really cared to hear answered. The book failed repeatedly to pique my curiosity and I found it a chore to get through.

Quickie Recommendation: Try 13 Things that Don't Make Sense instead.

The Retreat

2008-10-24T14:46:00.000-07:00

by David Bergen.

Quickie Recap: Norma and Lewis take their family to a small commune-style retreat in British Columbia because Norma's grasp is slipping again and Lewis will do anything to keep his family together. Neither parent, though, is able to keep tabs on the children, who rely mostly on the elder sister, though she has lessons to learn herself. Her teachers are many, but most prominent among them is Raymond, a Native man with secrets and struggles of his own.

Quickie Review: There is a balance in all of us, between hope and utter despair, and it's jarring to see it so clearly etched in these characters. It's heartbreaking how hard they try, and frustrating how little they try, and every ounce of this book keeps poking at you, makes you stare at their failings and feel their anguish.

Quickie Recommendation: Nice book.

Blink

2008-10-22T16:07:00.000-07:00

The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell.

Quickie Recap: We all know that in a matter of seconds, we can decide whether we like someone, whether we approve of something, whether we're afraid of a situation. Most of us will try to justify these snap decisions, but the truth is, the real reasons are largely unconscious, but Gladwell tells us we can actually learn to control those quick reactions.

Quickie Review: I liked this book, though I feel a bit wary admitting that since Gladwell openly admits that we can be primed to like something, and I have no doubt that he's savvy enough to prime his own readers! But he's got a really energizing concept coupled with some excellent examples that will make your brain tingle in all the right places. Have I learned when to think and when to blink? Ask me really quick and I guess we'll find out!

Quickie Recommendation: Surprisingly thoughtful.

Red Dog, Red Dog

2008-10-20T15:59:00.000-07:00

by Patrick Lane.

Quickie Recap: Two brothers living out in the prairies are the products of their pasts. The family history is rife with secrets, some kept, others not, which leads to a series of poor choices and the spiralling of consequences.

Quickie Review: I don't want to write this review because I feel pretty strongly that the problem was with me, and not the book. Because I saw the poetry in the words, the ache in the characters, the familiarity in the situations....but in the end, I just didn't have any feelings for this book. I've enjoyed Lane's work before, and lots of people agree that this is one of his best - nominated for the Giller, no less. So why did I feel so disconnected? Maybe that was the whole point - after all, this story is about isolation. Maybe the reader is meant to feel as they do, alone and largely uninvolved.

Quickie Recommendation: Sorry, I'm still feeling ambivalent about this one. I think I'll leave it on the back-burner and give it a re-read with fresh eyes somewhere down the road.

Thoughts?

When You Are Engulfed in Flames

2008-10-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

by David Sedaris.

Quickie Recap: Sedaris once again tells us the charming stories that make his life so gosh darned readable: the useless things he learned in Japan, the inappropriate artistic leanings of his parents, and accidentally making friends with pedophiles.

Quickie Review: I secretly think that he's written better (Me Talk Pretty One Day, for example), but I also think that mediocre Sedaris is still a goddamn treat. The man is a genius and there isn't a word he's ever written that I wouldn't wet my panties over.

Quickie Recommendation: Oh yes.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

2008-10-16T15:27:00.000-07:00

by Milan Kundera.

Quickie Recap: Tomas, knowledgeable surgeon and lover of women takes a wife, Teresa, because he finds in himself that he must. But he can't stop himself from visiting his various lovers, like usual, and this tears Teresa up. Thinking about the series of events that have made up his life, Tomas, and other characters reach the same conclusion: that life is unbearably light.

Quickie Review: This novel is post-modern, in that the author takes time away from the plot to speak directly to the reader: Here is my idea, he says, and I have made up this little story to illustrate it, but it's not real, I just made the characters up. The central idea is: we each have but one life to live, and the events in our lives quite easily may never have happened. Therefore, every decision that we think is so important is actually insignificant. If you spend too much time thinking about this, your head will hurt, and indeed, the characters who think this way are in pain. It startles each one of them, and life never looks the same after this conclusion is reached.

Quickie Recommendation: I'm not a big fan of post-modernism. I like the idea, like the challenge of reading something with so concretely a central theme, but I can't say that I overly enjoyed this on in particular.

Necessary Illusions

2008-10-14T15:14:00.000-07:00

Thought Control in Democratic Societies, by Noam Chomsky.

Quickie Recap: This book probably defies quickie anything, but generally, it's the published version of several of his lectures, including 'Democracy and the Media' and 'Adjuncts of Government'.

Quickie Review: Going to the beach? Drawing yourself a bubble bath? Climbing under the duvet? Read something else. The best adjective I know of to describe this book is "dense" which is not to say it's bad. It has some really good ideas, but man, you have to be mentally prepared to plough through them. Basically, this book is about politicians maintaining a culture of confusion by using propaganda to distract us from what's really going on. Of course this smacks of the past 8 years of George W, but this book was prescient I guess, having been written in 1989. The edition that I read had the added bonus of being twice as long as the original, thanks to a series of appendices that address the criticism of the book's contents. If you think Chomsky is normally a little....scathing, well, you should see him with his hackles up!

Quickie Recommendation: Oooh, tough one. I can't really imagine gifting anyone with this book, which is usually what I go by. Sorry, Noam.

Crazy

2008-10-12T15:58:00.000-07:00

A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness, by Pete Earley.

Quickie Recap: When Earley's adult son suffers a breakdown and is arrested after a bizarre incident committed under the haze of mental illness, he is astounded by the inability of the health system or the justice system to deal with his son, let alone get him the help he needs.

Quickie Review: This book should serve as a wake-up call: something isn't working. Earley makes an excellent advocate. He goes looking for answers even when he can't get anyone to listen to his questions. He has the instincts of a journalist but in this work, he is tempered by having been touched personally by the subject. It makes him more sensitive, more probing, more concerned. It gives him fire.

Quickie Recommendation: It should be lighting fires in all of us.

Crossing California

2008-10-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

by Adam Langer.

Quickie Recap: It's Chicago, 1979-1981. Some of the kids live on the right side of California Ave, some of them live on the wrong side of it. But they're all trying to get by, trying to navigate the world as it passes them by, trying to claim some piece of it for themselves.

Quickie Review: Adults, teenagers, and children all share narration responsibilities in this novel, which gives the story an interesting pace and an ever-changing perspective. It's the kind of book that, for the first half, makes you wish you could have been born in a different time and place, and for the second half pokes holes in the illusions created. So, it's not really re-hashing the glory days: it's about the election, the hostage crisis, the drug use, the sexuality. It keeps surprisingly well-focused, and is unrelenting in showing how useless and irrelevant authority (parents, school, government) had become and how a narcissistic generation was born.

Quickie Recommendation: Vigorous, acerbic, and good. But not wholesome.

A People's History of the United States

2008-10-08T22:08:00.000-07:00

1492-Present, by Howard Zinn.

Quickie Recap: Does America really need an introduction?

Quickie Review: I was gutted by the first page, the first fucking page, when Christopher Columbus gets off his boat, is touched by the generosity of the "native" Americans and remarks what "fine servants" they would make..."With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want." What a sickeningly cynical way to give birth to a nation, and yet there it is, on the very first page....and it made me wonder what kind of people would go on to celebrate this man, even name a national holiday for him...but not to worry: there were still 700 pages to go.

Luc lent me this book, called it his bible. And I totally get how you might come to hold a belief system based on this book, because I felt stirred while reading it. I felt restless and touched and small. Zinn is critical of his government every step of the way, and by all accounts, there is much to be critical of. However, this is the people's history, and it is clear that Zinn feels that it's the people who have made his country a great one, in spite of its government, in spite of the oppressive class who relied on slavery to give birth to a nation and now relies on poverty to keep it going. People fought...and I can't help but feel complacent in comparison, and this has me a little worried for the future.

Quickie Recommendation: Arm yourself.

A Complicated Kindness

2008-10-06T03:05:00.000-07:00

by Miriam Toews

Quickie Recap: A teenage girl named Nomi watches her family be pulled apart by the Mennonite community they live in and the choices they are forced to make between church and each other.

Quickie Review: I am painfully late reading this book, everyone and their pet rock already read it 3 years ago, so this review is just for me and I'm okay with that. I'm glad I didn't read this book before this because it heartens me to know that such things exist: that there are still beautiful words waiting on a shelf for me somewhere, if only I can discover them. This book does not fall short of brilliant. It aches with mundanity at times, pulses with a yearning that is surprisingly relatable to someone who did not grow up in a cult. Of course kindness is complicated. This book makes me really question whether anything has ever been simple.

Quickie Recommendation: Keep this one nearby, self, as you'll want to read it again.

No Way to Treat a First Lady

2008-10-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

by Christopher Buckley.

Quickie Recap: When she wakes up in bed next to the body of her dead philandering husband, Beth isn't just under suspicious for murder, but for the high crime of assassination - because that's what they call it when your husband's the president. Not to worry though - America's most pompous and sensational trial lawyer just happens to be her ex-lover...you know, the one she dumped to marry the president. Yeah.

Quickie Review: Oh woe is me - can it already have been a year since I last read Buckley? I read this book in a span of 24 hours - in the bath, on the bus, at work, at the gym. I couldn't help myself! His books are like those little boxes of very expensive chocolates. You tell yourself you'll be good and just have one, maybe two. But they're so velvety on the tongue that before you know it you've gobbled them all up and all you've got left is a box full of empty wrappers. Okay, I took that metaphor too far. But Buckley is an insanely sharp writer and he reduces me to gushy fandom in the space of a paragraph.

Quickie Recommendation: Get into Buckley, he is soooo money!

Kane & Abel

2008-10-02T01:18:00.000-07:00

by Jeffrey Archer.

Quickie Recap: In the early days of the 20th century, two babies are born, worlds and classes apart, but destined to play a part in each other's lives. Each man is fuelled by ambition, and by hatred for the other - and each will stop at nothing to see the other lose everything.

Quickie Review: More Romeo & Juliet than the biblical title implies, this story is nonetheless epic and engrossing. I surprised myself by developing a small addiction to these characters.

Quickie Recommendation: You'll basically know what's coming, but you still won't be able to wait for it to get there.

On Bullshit

2008-09-30T21:36:00.000-07:00

by Harry G. Frankfurt.

Quickie Recap: What is bullshit? Bullshit is less than a lie, but a nontruth nonetheless, that aims to impress and persuade the audience at hand.

Quickie Review: What is bullshit? This essay is bullshit. Nobody seems to call Frankfurt on this, though, which makes me think he's sitting in an oak-panelled office somewhere just gloating and stroking his beard (as if he doesn't have a beard!). But I'll say it. This was bullshit at its finest, and in actually publishing an essay on bullshit that is bullshit and getting away with it, Frankfurt deserves the title of bullshit artist. And I don't mean that in a bad way at all, because it was a very amusing little read and I think the whole concept of writing bullshit about bullshit to be very clever, and I have lots of respect for the person who pulled it off. By his own definition of the word - Frankfurt is never lying, but he is, I dare say, misrepresenting his own thoughts and feelings on bullshit, because let's be honest here, can anyone really have felt a need for a whole book on bullshit? Doubtful. But can anyone have thought it a marvellous little joke to publish a seemingly serious piece on something that can never ever be taken seriously? I think that to be the case. Is it bull? Is it trivial nonsense? Yes, it is. But highly entertaining.

Quickie Recommendation: There is a slim slice of the more literary-minded set who will find this to be all kinds of clever.

The Well of Lost Plots

2008-09-27T05:47:00.000-07:00

(Third in the Thursday Next Series), by Jasper Fforde.

Quickie Recap: Following her stellar work for fiction in The Eyre Affair and Lost in a Good Book, Thursday Next seeks refuge in an unpublished novel. With a baby on the way by her disappeared husband, Thursday deserves a break, but you can't really expect her to get one. There's a new technology about to be released that will change reading forever, supposedly for the better, but when readers of advance copies start being murdered for their secrets, its more sinister intentions are revealed and it's up to Thursday to once again save fiction.

Quickie Recap Recap: The above, of course, does not make sense to you. It barely makes sense to me and I just read the damn thing. The truth is, Thursday's universe is so unique you really just have to read it to understand.

Quickie Review: Fforde is incredible. He can afford to write a book about the recycling of about 8 basic plots because he is secure in the knowledge that his series is of true original content. Right down to the last detail I am constantly blown away by how thoughtful and imaginative he is as a writer. His novels live and breathe because they are infused with so much detail. You cannot just jump into The Well of Lost Plots blind; start at the beginning, with The Eyre Affair, and do yourself the favour of entering a universe created for the book lover in all of us.

Quickie Recommendation: Every time I read a Fforde, my recommendation is the same, that:

a) you read the book, cause it's awesome

and

b) that Mr. Fforde make babies with me

I won't embarrass myelf this time by proposing that he swing by around, say 7ish, or that he bring the wine and I'll supply the steaks, and that we'll both get drunk and just see what happens. I will, however, stick with the whole READ THIS BRILLIANT SERIES thing, because I surely do believe in it.

At Swim, Two Boys

2008-09-23T01:08:00.000-07:00

by Jamie O'Neill.

Quickie Recap: Jim and Doyler are two outcasts who become the best of friends during a trying time for Ireland, circa WW1. But as boyhood turns to manhood, these touching displays of friendship become charged with underlying passions and desires.

Quickie Review: I knew how this book would end before I even properly began it, but this is the kind of book where you say it's not the destination, it's the journey. This is a bittersweet journey, but one worth making. You really get the sense of witnessing something rare and beautiful: these two boys share a love that is almost completely unselfconscious despite the fact that they have to hide who they are, don't even know what to call it, really. But they explore this new territory together, fearlessly. Meanwhile, a gentleman named Anthony befriends them, having recently been released from a term of hard labour served for "buggery". This character teeters on the edge of impropriety but as he extends himself to teach them about their love and lifestyle, we see a transformation of sorts occur. You find yourself grimacing at times, willing him not to be a schmuck, to make the right choices because ultimately, though O'Neill could have written him as an ugly pedophile, you do end up sympathizing with him. But this is not just a story of love between boys, but also of love for one's country...and how sometimes these two intersect, and other times, they don't.

Quickie Recommendation: I feel a little improved to have shared in this story, and a little foolish to have ended up crying on a bus.

13 Things That Don't Make Sense

2008-09-21T00:47:00.000-07:00

The most baffling scientific mysteries of our time, by Michael Brooks.

Quickie Recap: In 2008, scientists are still struggling with some pretty basic questions. Things we have come to take for granted remain unexplainable, so much so that many scientists, after decades of research yielding conflicting results, have started to ignore some of these 'things that don't make sense'. How is it, for example, that we can only account for 4% of the cosmos? It's space. It's pretty damn big. We spend billions of dollars thinking about it, and yet, we can't find 96% of it!

Quickie Review: I do not make sense. Let's get that right out of the way. The truth is, I did find this book to be rather fascinating, despite the built-in frustration of having all of your curiosities piqued only to conclude "we don't know!" We don't know, because it just doesn't make sense. But it made me think of things in ways that I hadn't before. Sex and death were two chapters I enjoyed most. Everyone dies, so we've accepted that it's just part of life. But think about that statement, and nope, it doesn't make sense. Death and life should not go together. Our tendency to self-destruct is a little crazy, and from an evolutionary standpoint, it's kind of not very handy. But we all do it. And how about that sex? No matter how much we may enjoy it, it's kind of ludicrous. The truth is, there are way better ways to reproduce. Asexual organisms do it far better than we do, with less fuss and more efficiency. So why haven't we adapted the better way of doing things? Is there something about sex that we're missing? These kinds of questions prompted me to annoy my colleagues with my thoughts on the subject, and that's pretty much my measure of a book. It gave me the itch, and I made other people itchy too. It put some sparks in my brain.

Quickie Recommendation: Well done, you!

If anyone's read it, let me know your thoughts on the question of free will. Or should I say the delusion of free will. :)

Sex is Red

2008-09-17T02:20:00.000-07:00

Stories by Bill Gaston.

Quickie Recap: How can you really recap a book of short stories, except to say that there's a range of emotion here that is quite impressive. However, there is a unifying theme of internal struggle, a feeling of alienation, a yearning for something that perhaps was never quite yours to begin with.

Quickie Review: I would agree that sex is red, but sex isn't the only thing that's red, and in the story in question, I doubt whether it's only sex being referred to. There are shades of subtlety, of quiet revenge, of quiet rage, even, for lives lived not quite right. I was bowled over by the very first story and just kept on truckin, delighted to have found a new (to me) Canadian voice that actually has something to say.

Quickie Recommendation: Worth the perusal.

The Truth About Canada

2008-09-14T02:20:00.000-07:00

Some important, some astonishing, and some truly appalling things all Canadians should know about our country - by Mel Hurtig.

Quickie Recap: According to Hurtig, everything, absolutely everything about Canada is horrid and wrong and disgusting - except of course, for this one small (unvoiced) exception - our freedom of speech. But everything else, from our education system to our ability to negotiate free trade agreements, is an utter and complete mess beyond all redemption.

Quickie Review: Remind me never to have this guy over to dinner! Honestly, this book comes off as whiny, petty, and most puzzling of all, pompous. I hated it from the get-go. If Canada was half as bad as Hurtig thinks it is, we'd have been left to die on the side of the road by now. I can't even say that he overstates the facts because he offers them without any context at all. He may say, for example, that our country has fewer acute care beds than country X without ever offering any possible explanations (perhaps country X has a more aged population that REQUIRES this discrepancy?), which is bad science, terrible research, and a huge sin, possibly the hugest, as far as statistics go. I think Hurtig should be a little more grateful to be living in a country that allows blow-hards like him to publish such astonishing loads of crap.

Quickie Recommendation: What, do you really have to ask?

p.s. I've also never read such a complainy book that offers no advice whatsoever towards improvement. What, then, is its point? If you're not part of the solution, Mel, you're part of the problem!

Black Girl White Girl

2008-09-12T02:20:00.000-07:00

by Joyce Carol Oates

Quickie Recap: 15 years after the mysterious death of her even more mysterious roommate, Genna embarks on this "text with no title" as an exploration of the racism, both real and imagined, on their college campus in the 1970s.

Quickie Review: I have to hand it to Oates, she doesn't shy away from tough topics. When she begins to touch on the theme of personal attacks vs. racial attacks, she hits on something meaningful. I wished the book would pause and take a more in-depth look. Genna is a rare protagonist; she seems painfully honest in her quest for the truth. But ultimately as the story confuses race and politics, a haze takes over and the story-telling loses its focus and ends, in my opinion, unsatisfyingly.

Quickie Recommendation: Interesting, but not quite recommendable. Yes, I just made that word up. Shut it.

You Say I'm a Diva Like it's a Bad Thing

2008-09-11T15:02:00.000-07:00

by Ed Polish and Darren Wotz.

Quickie Recap: A flip book of affirmations for "mommies on the edge, self-styled drama queens, and domestic goddesses everywhere. Featuring full-color advertising images from the 1950s and 1960s paired with sly, laugh-out-loud sayings". Some of them are actually pretty risque!

Quickie Recap: Like the other one, a saucy collection of fiercely feminist declarations paired with kitschy vintage advertising images. Quite possibly more daring and defiant (with a no-fear attitude toward language! nothing is safe!), it ponders the fine points of bitchiness with provocative panache. Walking a thin line between vulgarity and hilarity, how could you not love it?

Quickie Review: Exactly the kind of thing your girlfriends will laugh about, and you'll hide when your in-laws visit, I'm liking this so much I've found some very unique uses for it.

The Ravine

2008-09-09T14:39:00.000-07:00

by Paul Quarrington.

Quickie Recap: Phil's life has hit a rough patch and he believes that resurrecting the memory of a childhood "incident" will give him the context and the insight to move on. Not everyone agrees, but they indulge him on his mission.

Quickie Review: We all have that defining moment in our pasts that changes who we are. For Phil, the memory is distorted and painful, but Quarrington is not gentle. He's not afraid to be confrontational, and I think that really drives the story and makes it real. He manages to be whimsical and tragic and mysterious and funny all at the same time. This book is just full of grace. I find that Quarrington writes characters that I really get into. He's got this subtle touch that allows him to channel a character's insecurities and defense mechanisms and show those vulnerabilities without absolutely naming them. It's kind of brilliant. He never disappoints me.

Quickie Recommendation: I'd even take seconds, if only they were on offer.