L Reads New CanLit for July: Falling Angels

Barbara Gowdy is a Canadian author I’d heard lots of buzz about but had never read.  After reading Falling Angels, I now want to read more of her.  She has an interesting voice and in Falling Angels, beautifully tackles dysfunctional family dynamics.  Coming from a dysfunctional family myself, I found much to relate to and much that was cringe-worthy in this book.

 

The book focuses on the three Field sisters – Norma. Lou and Sandy – and the differing ways they cope with a tyrannical military father and a perpetually drunk mother.  At a young age the girls learn that their elder brother was tragically killed as an infant while their parents visited Niagara Falls.  Although there is suspicion their mother threw baby Jimmy over the Falls, no evidence supports this.  Unable to overcome her grief or guilt, Mrs Fields crawled into a whiskey bottle and has stayed there until her own tragic death, or was it suicide?  Many events are unclear and left to the reader’s interpretation, as so many things in life are.  This makes for a fascinating read.

 

The sisters each cope with their father’s abuse and mother’s illness in varying ways:  Norma uses food as a cushion for the pain and struggles with self-image and sexuality; Lou hides behind a wall of anger that is mostly directed at her father, who she sees as the root of all the family’s problems; Sandy turns to older men for love and approval and struggles with self-worth and the inability to love or respect herself.

 

In a broken home with parents who alternately ignore or tyrannize them, the sisters must learn to raise themselves and fight for a future they can be content with.

 

Till next time, happy reading!

L :)

 

 

 

TBR = 13

WPL = 23

 

Of Cats and Men

Nina de Gramont’s delightful collection of relational short stories creatively manages to weave cats in all their pernicious glory through each and every tale.  Her stories are fresh and intriguing, and each features a cat that is as important a character as the protagonists themselves.  Here’s just a taste of what’s in store in Of Cats and Men:

 

In The Wedding Bed, an upper middle-class pampered daughter learns to accept her less well-off husband’s rugged lodgings with the help of a mangy stray cat.

 

A barn cat who desperately wants to be a house cat gives Elizabeth the strength to end a dysfunctional relationship in Human Contact.

 

And in By His Wild Alone, an aloof former stray who yearns to return to his footloose roots helps Natalie understand her own sister’s wild ways and need to free herself from familial attachments.

 

As varied as cat personalities are, so too are the people who populate de Gramont’s stories and in each story, a lesson is learned or a greater understanding of one’s own or another’s humanity is gained with the help of beloved, furry, four-footed creatures.

 

Till next time, happy reading!

L:)

 

TBR = 12

WPL = 23

 

June Was a Two CanLit Month. Lucky June.

While on vacay the final week of June, I picked up this delightful little novel from my TBR pile and discovered a new Canadian author whose style is quite engaging.

 

Eric Walters’ young adult novel about the night Hurricane Hazel hit Toronto in October of 1954 is a riveting read.  Lizzie is the 13-year-old babysitter of David and Suzie who live on Raymo Road beside the Humber River in Weston Ontario, the area that was hit hardest by the hurricane when the Humber overflowed its banks and wiped out several homes, killing dozens.

 

All alone in the house, with rapidly rising water levels, Lizzie and David must make some very difficult decisions and act rather heroically, showing maturity far beyond their years, in order to ensure the safety of all three children and the family dog, Daisy.

 

Safe as Houses is a gripping and enjoyable read for young and old adults alike.

 

Till next time, happy reading!

L :)

 

TBR = 11

WPL = 23

L Visits Austenland

Delightful!

Here is Colin Firth in a wet shirt.

I’ll let you enjoy that image for a bit.  Take your time.  I’ll wait.

 

Imagine if you will, a British holiday spot called Pembrook Park, where it is 1816 all the time, where guests dress in Regency period costume, address each other as Miss so’n’so and follow strict etiquette rules.  It is Jane Austen era, and in visiting Pembrook Park, you’ve just stepped into one of her novels.  Where do I sign up!

 

Jane Hayes is a graphic artist living in New York and drifting from one bad relationship to another.  She is obsessed with Jane Austen, and hides her copy of the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle movie version of Pride and Prejudice in a house plant.  Why?  Because even after all these years of dating, she’s still looking for Mr. Darcy, a fictional character she rationally knows doesn’t exist in the real world, but that hasn’t stopped the fantasies.

 

When an elderly aunt bequeaths Jane a three week vacation to Pembrook Park, Jane figures it’s time for one last Austen hurrah before leaving the fantasies behind for good.  So off to England she goes and finds herself immersed in Austenland where nothing is real and actors are paid to fall in love with her.  Struggling to find herself, she comes to the realization Mr. Darcy in real life would have been “a boring, pompous pinhead” and that what she longs for is simply “someone who made me feel all the time like I felt when I watched those movies.”  And in the end, isn’t that what we all want? 

 

Shannon Hale writes a delightful book that speaks to all Austen fans.  What if we could step back into Austen’s world for a brief time and live out her stories.  Be Fanny Price for a few weeks, pining for her Edmund, or Anne Elliot, reuniting with her Captain Wentworth, or best of all, Elizabeth Bennett, sparing verbally with Mr. Darcy.  And where in the end, all things have a happy ending.

 

The starry-eyed romantic in me is off to revisit the best of Austenland....Till next time, happy reading!

L :)

 

TBR = 10

WPL = 23

L Reads a Classic: The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde’s only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray is a timeless classic and very fun read.  Part Gothic tale, part morality lesson, part social commentary, Dorian Gray has a little something for everyone, and certainly a lesson to be learned about the pitfalls of vanity.

 

Young Dorian Gray sits for painter Basil Hallward, who puts his all into the portrait of his friend.  Upon seeing the completed picture, Dorian Gray is overcome with vanity – is he really that strikingly handsome?  He immediately makes wish that becomes a pact with the devil: his soul for the chance to stay forever young.  We all know the story, made famous by the 1945 Hollywood movie, where the image in the portrait ages while real-life Dorian Gray stays youthful, untouched by time. 

 

Perhaps it is his loss of soul that results in Dorian Gray developing rather questionable morals.  Perhaps it is merely the influence of the men he chooses to surround himself with, like the irascible Lord Henry “Harry” Wotton.  Whatever it is, all of Dorian Gray’s deeds show themselves in the twisted, evil visage of the portrait, but mars not his youthful, golden-locked self.

 

Conscience is an interesting thing.  One can never seem to escape it and for all Dorian’s pleasure-taking in his evil ways, he can never truly escape the ugliness his life has become because he can never escape his portrait.  It haunts him, as does its possible discovery by servants, or anyone who enters his house.

 

In the end, desperate to destroy the albatross the painting has become, he inevitably destroys himself.

 

A fascinating read, one I very much enjoyed on a sunny, lazy, vacation afternoon.

 

Till next time, happy reading!

L :)

 

TBR = 9

WPL = 23

L Reads a Classic Part II

I finally got around to finishing reading Bunyan’s sequel to his seminal work The Pilgrim’s Progress in which Christian’s wife, Christiana follows his pilgrimage from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City.  Published in 1684, The Pilgrim’s Progress The Second Part is less interesting a tale.  Unlike Christian, who encountered many foes and obstacles along his Way, Christiana and her children are accompanied by Mr. Great-Heart, a protector, who explains Christian’s journey and slays the last of the evil dwellers along the Way, giving the women and children easier passage.

 

I’m not sure if this is meant as a discourse on the weaker sex, or if Bunyan was merely using The Second Part as a vehicle to further explain his vision and message.  Quite frankly I would have preferred to have Christiana battle some of these demons on her own, but I guess her husband, having gone before, helped pave the Way for her own salvation.  Puh-lease!  Bunyan’s work is clearly a product of its time.

 

Worth reading if for nothing more than it’s a well-known classic.  Those more religious than I may get more out of it than I did.

 

Till next time, happy reading,

L :)

 

"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."

            ~ Mark Twain

 

L Dishes about The Book Thief With the Windsor Book Club

 

This is going to sound like an odd statement, but: I love Holocaust fiction.

 

It’s so emotionally charged and character driven, two elements I look for in novels, and is what makes a book good in my opinion.

 

Most Holocaust fiction focuses on the atrocity experienced by Jews or witnessed by foreigners.  In Australian author Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, we experience WWII from the perspective of a 10-year old German girl and her friend.  Set in Molching, Germany, Liesel Meminger is sent to live with foster parents Hans and Rosa Huberman because her parents are Communists.  On the train ride to Molching, Liesal watches her younger brother die and is haunted by this image, plagued by recurring nightmares. 

 

Growing up on Himmel Street in a poorer part of town, in the days leading up to WWII, Liesel is befriended by Rudy Steiner and together they join Hitler Youth, steal food, and otherwise try to survive this world gone mad.  There is one other thing Liesel steals:  books.  Yearning for the knowledge to make sense of the tragedies of life, Liesel steals her first book at the grave of her dead brother.  Later, books, and the words they carry will prove to be lifesavers.

 

As war breaks out, another friend enters Liesel’s life in the form of a promise kept by Hans Huberman.  Years before, in WWI, Hans life was spared thanks to the actions of friend Eric Vandenberg.  After the war, Hans visits Eric’s widow and son, promising to be of service should they ever require his assistance.  Young Max Vandenberg, a Jew, is smuggled to Hans’ home in Molching one night, where he takes up residence in their basement and Liesel and her adoptive parents become Jew rescuers.

 

Narrated by Death, The Book Thief is a beautifully written novel about the Holocaust told from the perspective of everyday Germans.  It is so easy to hold the country and its people as a whole accountable for the atrocities committed against the Jewish peoples during WWII, yet we must remember so many Germans were sympathetic to the Jewish plight, but were powerless to stop it.  They lived in a police state where any outward sign of rebellion or anarchy was punishable by death, the same death they witnessed  occurring to their Jewish friends and neighbours.

 

 I got to sit down with the Windsor Book Club this past Wednesday at delightful Evolve Cafe, who were incredibly kind to open especially for us, and we chatted about this book.  The overall consensus was that the book was really very good.  Where I thought it may have dragged in places and been a bit slow, I was quickly shot down as everyone else thought it was a quick read.  Go figure.  One good point was made that it isn’t exactly a suspenseful novel, so that may have been what I was missing.  The book is based on many actual events that happened in Germany to the author’s parents or witnessed by them, and this made the book resonate with readers.  Some members mentioned stories they’d heard growing up from grandparents and parents who’d been in the war, and how the novel brought back memories of those stories.

 

Another interesting point that was made, and that speaks to the literacy advocate in me, is how important words, books and reading are to the characters in this novel.  Scenes like book burnings were offset by townsfolk huddled in bomb shelters being read to by Liesel which very much helped to pass the time and ease fears and worries.  The juxtaposition of Hilter burning books or using words to kill was nicely offset by Liesel using books and words to save friends and neighbours. 

 

Till next time, happy reading!

L :)

 

TBR = 8

WPL = 23

 

 

 

L Reads New CanLit for June

What Boys Like is a collection of short stories by promising Canadian author Amy Jones.  Although vividly and beautifully written, each story tackles such similar themes that the collection becomes a bit of a bore by the middle.  However, the final three stories are stellar and really worth reading.

 

I particularly liked Where You Are, which is about a woman who talks to the daughter she might have had, planning out what her life might have been like had things turned out differently ten years previously.  Speaking to this imaginary daughter whom she has christened Natalie, she describes the kind of young woman she would become, the life they would have, the relationships she would form with her father and step-father.   Alternatively filled with regrets, yet much promise and hope, it is a heartbreaking read to know this beautiful 10-year girl doesn’t really exist.

 

Then there was Post Mortem, about a family travelling to the site of the car crash that killed their son, brother and husband.  The story is told from the perspective of two family members, Jeremy and his sister-in-law Theresa and they are coping in the aftermath of tragedy.

 

Finishing up the collection is Church of the Latter-Day Peaches, about a young pregnant widow attending her husband’s funeral.  Jones is very adept at drawing our attention to the minutiae of life; all the quirks and foibles that make us uniquely human and that make life as fascinating as it is.

 

The other stories in the collection tackle the same relational themes:  Mother/daughter, sisters, husband/wife, girlfriend/boyfriend.  Jones explores what it means to connect with each other in urban landscapes that shift from Toronto to Halifax, and that play as much a part of these stories as the characters themselves.

 

Jones is a talented writer with a unique voice, and on their own, these stories are powerful.  Tied together in a collection, many of them read too similarly and I would have preferred more variety.  By halfway, the stories started to blend into one another rather than standing apart on the strength of their uniqueness from each other (I’m thinking here of Selecky’s This Cake is for the Party which covered the same relational subject matter, but with varied characters, settings and situations which helped to differ one story from another).  Jones tends to place similar characters in similar urban settings dealing with similar relationship problems.  After awhile, it just gets boring.

 

Definitely check this book out, but don’t read it in one sitting like a novel.  Space yourself through the stories and you’ll likely get more out of it than I did, who naively read it cover to cover as quickly as possible.

 

Till next time, happy reading!

L J

 

 

 

TBR = 8

WPL = 22