Moral Disorder

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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.