Book Buzz

RUPERT EVERETT

Everett’s autobiography is surprisingly well written for a Hollywood gossip rag. Having previously publish two or three novels he most certainly does have a way with words. His start was in an upper middle class English family which of course led to the brutality of boarding school. It was there Rupert got his first acting experience and made plans to attend acting school. He ended up being kicked out of acting school for being unruly. But that certainly has not hurt his career at all. Rupert is a shameless name dropper. It seems that he knows everyone in Hollywood. Light fare. I actually listened to an audio version that was abridged to 4.5 hours. At the time I was quite sick so listening was the best way to appreciate this book.

MICHAEL GRUBER

Someone left the witch a baby.  She knew that she shouldn’t but she keeps the child to raise as her own. The ugliest child ever born she calls him Lump. A she bear suckles him and is his nurse. Lump grows up believing himself to be beautiful and pities human children when he catches a glimse because they are so repugnant. When he realizes how the non-enchanted world operates, he covers his face with a mask. He developes intois a most angry young man. The most fun is when Lump meets characters from fairy tales. In these revised tales the stepmother is never evil. Hansel and Gretal run away from an abusive mother and are saved by the witch.

A good fairy tale. Superb cover illustration.

MICHEL TREMBLAY

I’ve been wanting to revisit this old friend ever since it was part of Canada Reads on CBC. I had forgotten what a challenging read it is. I had to map the author’s family tree – the characters in the book – to keep them straight. Tremblay said he wrote this novel and the next three in the series to tell his family how much he loved them. Beautiful. The novel takes place in one day. The Fat Woman is Tremblay’s mother pregnant with him. Welcome to the family.

I tried to included the family tree but the format is lost so I created a web page. Please take a look. Other character besides family are listed as well.

TIMOTHY TAYLOR

Chef Jeremy is owner operated of a increasingly popular bistro on the edge of cuisine in Vancouver. With a great staff the menu changes daily focusing of local ingredients. Unfortunately Chef is not a good manager, when one credit card is maxed he simply applies for a different credit card to keep the restaurant alive. He needs to sell the controlling interest (95%) to coffee mogul and former next door neighbour, Dante, owner of Inferno Coffee. The new restaurant is the extreme opposite of local trying to be as international as possible, as the controlling interest wants. Meanwhile he is developing a closer relationship to the Professor, his father, who lives in Stanley Park studying the homeless who live in the park.

Several subplots and all of the epicureanism as well as good writing make for a great read.

TRAVELS IN SEARCH OF CANADA

WILL FERGUSON

Never would have thought I would read a travel book about Canada. But I enjoyed Ferguson’s ramblings. It’s part memoir, part comedy, part history as well as being a travel book. It turned out to be a great mix. I savored the stories from the places that I knew such as Thunder Bay and Moose Jaw as well as from the places that I had never visited such as “The Kingdom of Saguenay” and the “Republic of Madawaska.” Those are both parts of Canada.

Well worth the read.

MARC ACITO

Marc Acito is funny. College is a comic novel about a talented irresponsible teenager who schemes to steal his college tuition money when his wealthy father refuses to pay for acting school. Dad says business school at step mom’s urging.  Realistic no but side splitting yes. The sexual openess of the bisexual characters and the jock that is into drama does not ring true for the 1980’s but is still good for a laugh. Great for when you are in the mood for a light some what trashy read – pick this one up.

DOUGLAS COUPLAND

THIEF is both hilarious and clever. Most of the book is written as diary entries, emails,letters,etc. Roger is a a down and almost out divorced, alcoholic father. Bethany is a young goth quickly going nowhere. They meet a Staples where they both work. Coupland is a master of the one-liner:

“You took her on a date to Denny’s? That’s so recovering alkie …”

“I’m going to have a vodka snack and pretend to help customers in the office furniture department. Then I’ll probably go through the aisles and look at all the plastic crap we sell and wonder about the chemicals in it, and what leftovers were flushed into the water system during manufacturing. I sometimes get the feeling that we’re having full-time one-on-one unprotected sex with the twenty-first century, exchanging fluids with the era: antibiotics, swimming pool chlorine, long-chain molecules, gas fumes, new car smell – all of it one great big condom-free involuntary love-in.”

“Setting up fresh little sheets of white paper for people to use to test magic markers is not a hope scenario. All people ever draw is squiggles.…Staples must die.”

“Brittany thought of her own DNA and the DNA of all the creatures surrounding her–quintillions of cells, all of them loaded with DNA, and all of that spiral DNA rotating as mechanically and passionlessly as a car’s odometer. Suddenly, she felt surrounded by billions of little odometers, a universe of churning and grinding and drilling and digging.”

READ

ANTONIO SKARMETA

A Chilean classic, Postman is set before the ravishes of the Pinochet regime. Poetically written, it is the story of the young postman and his love and lust for the lovely  Beatriz. Postman has some of the most poetic erotic scenes written. It is also quite funny in parts, especially Beatriz’ mother.

Great read.

PETER MANSEAU

Songs begins on the night of a pogrom in Kishinev in Russia, while blood thirsty Christians were seeking Jewish blood, the narrator Malpesh is born in 1903. A lot of change is coming to central Europe. Malpesh is a poet, constantly writing on what ever surface he can find. He found a photo of a girl who as a child attended his birth and falls in love with  this girl. She is his muse but he discovers she lives in Palestine. Luck or fate (or are they the same thing) take him to the golden land: New York City. 

The ending looses energy but still well worth the read.

LAT

NEIL GAIMAN

“The knife had a handle of polished black bone, and a blade finer and sharper than any razor.” Intriguing first line. That knife and the hand that holds it switfly kills all the people in the house except the baby who is nowhere to be found. The baby has miraculously vanished into the graveyard. Knowing that the child is being hunted the ghosts of the graveyard resolve to raise the child with one particular couple to be his parents. For many years Nobody Owens has little contact outside of the graveyard.

The book is quite a page turner. Definitely not for young readers but for teens. For a scary book set in a graveyard it actually quite life affirming. “I want to see life. I want to hold it in my hands.” “There was life and Bod walked into it with his eyes and his heart wide open.”

Newbery Award Winner

MY LIFE IN HOT PURSUIT OF THE WORLD’S MOST COVETED HANDBAG

MICHAEL TONELLO

Light, fluffy memoir about a man who makes his living buying Hermes brand name products from their stores at their outrages prices and selling them for more on e-bay and the internet. He had moved to Barcelona to work for a friend but when that fell through he had to find an other way to support himself. Fun.

NICOLAS DICKER

Nikolski is a wonderful book of eccentric characters, strange events, broken families and oh so much more. It reminds me of the magic realism of south american literature. But it is Canadian. Dicker is Quebecois. The translator, Lazer Lederhendler, won a Governor General Award for his translation French to English. I’m not telling you much so you discover it on your own. The writing is wonderful, almost poetry.

BRIAN FRANCIS

2009 Canada Reads Nominee on CBC

I am not sure who I would recommend this book to. It is narrated by a 13 year old boy who is in grade 8 whose “nipples popped out” last week. There are not many kids in grade 8 that I would suggest that should read this book. Saskatoon Public Library did have it in their young adult section. Here is how the author Jen Sookfong Lee (The End Of The East) explains why she choose Fruit as her choice for Canada reads:

Here’s my defence of Fruit in a nutshell: 

Fruit by Brian Francis should win Canada Reads because every single one of us has felt like a stranger in our own bodies, confounded by our growths and seemingly nonsensical urges. Peter, the novel’s 13-year-old narrator, is appalled when his nipples begin talking to him. Don’t kid yourself; we’ve all had moments like this, when hormones and parents and high school all come together in a conspiratorial way to make us feel like aliens who will never, ever fit into the human race. And that’s why Fruit should be read by every Canadian, because somewhere, deep inside, we are all awkward adolescents who will never understand what our lives have become.   - The Fruit Is Out Of The Bag

Interestingly it seems obvious that the boy is gay but he doesn’t seem to realize it yet. Some of his fantasies start with girls and them drift to boys.

Definately an unusual read. It will be interesting to hear the discussion on CBC.

DAVID SEDARIS

Sedaris’ writing is wildly popular and I can understand why. His writing is so crisp and clear and his sense of humour is so dry. I found myself laughing out loud in many places. His description of business class air travel took me back to the time I was bumped to first class with Bev on out flight to Hong Kong. And they apologized. His descriptions are so accurate. “The airline staff refer to the business-class section as “the ICU,” because the people there demand such constant attention.”

It is a fun light read. Try it.

The author is on the left, with his partner Hugh.

JANITA VAN DE VELDE

Postcards is a light fun read from a Saskatchewan author that is quite funny. I laughed out loud several times. It tells the story of Jenny’s round the world backpacking trip with her boyfriend, Johnny. The book is based on a trip she took with her husband.  And of course all their mishaps and misunderstandings.“I was inspired to write this book for several reasons,” says Van de Velde. “I wanted to give readers something to laugh about, because we could all use a little more humour in our lives. I also find it funny that no matter how old we get, we still attempt to hide the whole truth from our parents. Well worth the read when you are in the mood for something light.

Bob Morris

A wonderful memoir of a man’s frustration of taking care of his 84 year old dad after Mom has died. His dad who he never got along all that well with before but who now needs him. Bob thinks that he has never gotten along with his dad because they are such opposites. But when he finally relaxes to the point that he can attract and maintain a lover his lover tells him that when I got you I knew I was getting your Dad. Well written and touching especially at the end. This one is an easy read. Enjoy.

UNLEASH YOUR INNER GAUL

CHARLES TIMONEY

A must for francophiles! Learn the latest expressions and words as used in France. Written by an Englishman living in Paris. You learn almost as much about England and the English as you do about French and the French. Quite funny.
In English we call a man’s muscles a six-pack in French is “a table chocolate.”
The word merde is used to wish people good luck.

MAUREEN JOHNSON

Scarlett lives in a family owned, run down hotel in New York. Her parents rely on the children to maintain the hotel but guest are rare. Fortunes change when a new guest, a very colorful character, Mrs. Amberson registers. She wants to hire Scarlett for a summer job that promises to be anything but boring. Also spicing up her life is her older brother Spencer’s new coworker. Spencer is an actor who has just gotten a part in a play that is being performed in an old parking garage, and Scarlett is falling head-over-heels for another performer, Eric. The fact that Scarlett is 15 is not realistic.

Scarlett is a fun romp, a light confection. It likely should be in the young adult section.

WILLIAM SUTCLIFFE

This comic novel would make a great movie. Three mothers of thirty something bachelors desire to be grandmothers. Their plan is to descend upon their son’s unannounced for a week’s stay to observe and manipulate. One son is the editor of “Balls” magazine with a corresponding party lifestyle. Hiding from a failed relationship in Edinborough is another son. The last son has not come out to his mother. He lives in what she calls a “gay commune.” Funny and touching. A light read.