A very short post...

I’ve got a killer headache tonight but wanted to get this written before my book club meeting tomorrow night.  I finished reading our book choice today, Alice Feeney’s Rock, Paper, Scissors, and I have to say that I didn’t really enjoy it.  I won’t bother giving a summary, but I’ve read or listened to a couple of her books in the past, I think Daisy Darker and Sometimes I Lie, and I think I enjoyed them more than this one, but I don’t really recall any details.  Anyway, I found this book to be repetitive and totally unrealistic, even by “unreliable narrator” standards.  I would not recommend it.  I wonder what the others will say. But since there were “word of the year” headings for some of the chapters, I at least learned a couple new words:  Metanoia, literally changing one's mind, means a change in one’s way of life as the result of penance or spiritual conversion; and schadenfreude, a term I’m familiar with but never quite knew the proper meaning, is the the emotional experience of pleasure at another’s misfortune. 

That’s all for tonight.  Stay warm and keep reading!!

Bye for now... Julie

Amazing book, but short on time...

It’s Monday evening and I’m tired from a long week (book fair last week) and a busy weekend, but I just finished a fabulous book that I wanted to tell you about before I forget too much about it.  I just finished Claire Messud’s latest novel, This Strange Eventful History, which was brilliant.  This novel, loosely based on Messud’s own history, follows the Cassar family over three generations and across several continents. From 1927 to 2010, this strange, nomadic family seem never to find a place to call home, but whose members keep wandering, relocating and searching for happiness and a place to belong.  I can’t really tell you much more about the plot than this, but the themes that are dealt with are ones of family, relationships, what “home” means, and what it means to belong somewhere. She also explores the power of words, and I found L.J. Austin's concept of "performative utterances" (the idea that saying something makes it so), as well as the notion of anti-performatives (if I din't say it, it's not real) fascinating.  Messud’s use of language is brilliant and every character is riveting.  I don’t usually enjoy novels that portray family histories, particularly ones that are multi-generational, but this one was gripping from the opening page to the final paragraph.  I would highly recommend this literary novel if you’re in the mood for a gripping story that has you wanting to race ahead to find out where the story will lead while simultaneously wanting to read slowly, to savour each word and phrase.

That's all for tonight. Stay warm and keep reading!

Bye for now... Julie

Short post on a dreary evening...

It’s been busy this past week, and this weekend was also super-busy, as we went to see the musical “Something Rotten” in Stratford yesterday - it was excellent!  I would highly recommend it to anyone, so if you get a chance to see it, don’t pass it up!!  These past few weeks I’ve been finishing books in the middle of the week, which kind of throws me off-schedule. 

Last week I finished reading Liane Moriarty’s latest novel, Here One Moment.  If you could know your age of death and cause of death, what would you do?  Would you want to know?  And if you knew, would it change the way you lived your life?  These are just some of the questions that this novel asks readers to ponder as we’re plunged into what appears to be an elderly clairvoyant delivering age of death and cause of death proclamations to passengers on a short flight from Hobart to Sydney, held hostage in their seats as the plane is mid-flight.  Some of the passengers who receive this news are middle-aged workaholic Leo, newlywed bride Eve, eighteen-year-old Kayla, and twenty-eight-year-old flight attendant Allegra.  Initially these are not taken too seriously (but a little bit seriously), until first one death occurs at the time and in the same manner as predicted, then two more follow.  Suddenly everyone is doing their best to avoid death by the causes predicted by the "Death Lady".  But as we follow the passengers into their futures, we delve into the deep and detailed past of Cherry Lockwood, the “Death Lady” herself, and discover what has occurred in her life that would lead her to be on this flight.  I don’t want to give too much away, but it was an excellent read, and in true Moriarty fashion, the conclusion looks very different from what we are led to assume at the beginning.  We get stories from many different points of view, so also in typical Moriarty fashion, it may seem a bit confusing at first, but soon you’ll know who everyone is and also what their prediction is.  I would highly recommend this to anyone, whether you’re already a fan or new to this bestselling Australian author’s books.  I guarantee you won’t be disappointed! 

That’s all for tonight.  Have a good week and keep reading!

Bye for now... Julie

First post for November...

It's hard to believe, since we’ve had such mild, late-September-like days, but this is, in fact, the beginning of the first full week in November, for many a difficult month due to shorter days and more dreary, drab weather.  We’ve actually had lots of sunny, clear days, so hopefully that’s helping some people who usually suffer at this time of year.  I like November, with generally crisp, chilly days, bare tree branches and brisk winds.  Strangely enough, I still have my sandals out, as it’s going to be 22 degrees one day next week!  Anyway, it’s a “long” weekend, with the extra hour due to the time-change, so I finally feel like I'm “ahead of the game”. 

Yesterday my Volunteer book group met to discuss Laura Dave’s bestseller, The Last Thing He Told Me, which prompted great discussion, even though most of us thought the book was just OK.  This novel tells the story of Hannah, a wood sculptor who is left to cope with her sixteen-year-old step-daughter Bailey after her husband Owen disappears following the announcement that the tech company he works for is under investigation for fraud.  Hannah has no idea where Owen is or how to connect with the reluctant, distant Bailey, but she manages to piece together clues that lead her to Austin, Texas, where she believes she will find the truth.  What she discovers, however, is not what she expected, and she must find a way to go forward and do the right thing for not only herself, but for Bailey and Owen.  This novel was not perfect, but we all agreed that it was a page-turner that kept us reading (or listening) to find out what would happen next.  It had many moments that made us go “What??”, moments that forced us to suspend our sense of disbelief, but we all finished it and had many things to discuss.  We talked about Hannah’s choices at the beginning and at the end of the book, and how she determined what to do based on little information.  We discussed her relationship with Bailey, and how difficult the discoveries at the end of the book would have been for her.  We talked about whether Hannah told Bailey about her choices or whether she as the adult just made the choice for both of them.  Mostly we discussed the ending, the improbability of it, how confusing it was, how Dave left many questions unanswered, and how difficult it would have been for Hannah to live her life after making the choices she made for everyone involved.  We also discussed the writing, which we felt was fairly simplistic, so this was not a book you would choose to read if you were looking for a literary mystery. Overall, while we didn’t love the book, it was a great discussion and so I would say that if you’re booking for a mystery/thriller, this would not be a bad choice. 

That’s all for today!  Get outside and enjoy the sunshine!

Bye for now... Julie