Category: Book Reviews (Page 35 of 46)

Certainly a weirdly good read. Charles Yu first came to my attention with Thrid Class Superhero, his collection of short stories. Now, he’s on the radar with How to Live Safely in a Science Fiction Universe, his debut novel.

Minor Universe 31 is a vast story-space with interconnected yet separate universes. It’s a time when time travel is something anyone can do, like microwaving food. People have a personal time travel device, which they mostly use to visit moments in the past that they want to relive–usually bad moments that they are hoping to change or from which they hope to gain insights.

Quote: The base model TM-31 [TM-31 Recreational Time Travel Device] runs on state-of-the-art chronodiegetical technology: a six-cylinder grammar drive built on a quad-core physic engine, which features an applied temporalinguistics architecture allowing for free-form navigation within a rendered environment, such as, for instance, a story space and, in particular, a science fictional universe.

A box. Get in. Push some buttons. Visit different times. The operating system is called TAMMY (or TIM–depending on what you chose at start up).

Charles Yu, time travel technician, saves people from themselves. Or rather, he fixes their time travel machines that break due to human tampering. But ultimately he ends up trapping himself in a time loop.

If you’re not a fan of science fiction, then this is a good literary spin on that genre. If you are a science fiction fan, I think you’ll enjoy the science and philosophy described in the novel.

1-line summary: This novel is The Big Bang Theory meets a dysfunctional Family Ties, without the laugh track, although there are some funny moments.

Clever. Geeky. Nostalgic. (Can you be nostalgic for the future? In a science fictional universe, I think you can be.)

Related Links

Charles Yu in the Huffington Post before finishing the novel.
Lev Grossman’s review of Science Fictional Universe on Amazon.com
Pantheon: US publisher
Pantheon: CDN publisher

The Tower, the Zoo and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart is a strange but lovely book about what happens at the Tower of London after the tourists go home.

I did not know that the employees of the Tower of London , the Beefeaters (or more correctly, the Yeoman Wardens) , their families, the reverend, landlady of the pub and Ravenmaster actually live within the walled village of the Tower. No one is allowed in or out between midnight and 6 am.

The main characters are Yeoman Warden Balthazar Jones and his Grecian wife Hebe Jones who have lost their son Milo and are adrift in their grief. Hebe works at the London Underground Lost Property Office, which supplies no end of curios to the storyline. Balthazar, through strange circumstances, becomes the Head of the Royal Menagerie. In his care are 4 giraffes, a raft of penguins, a stinky zorilla, an albatross, some cheeky monkeys, and among others, a stolen bearded pig.

Not quite a modern-day Greek tragedy, this novel is full of comedic drama, human vulnerabilities, follies and divine acts.

Measure of Paris by Stephen Scobie (published by the University of Alberta Press) is a travelogue, memoir, literary criticism and poetic look at Paris.

Quote: From the UofA site:
Paris remains one of the most fascinating cities in the world. It provides a measure of excellence in many areas of culture, and it is itself constantly being measured, both by its lovers and by its critics. This book presents a series of studies on the images of Paris presented by writers (mostly Canadian, from John Glassco to Mavis Gallant to Lola Lemire Tostevin), but also in such other areas as social history and personal memoir. The result is a wide-ranging discussion of the city’s history in 20th century literature and thought, which will appeal to all those who love Paris, or who have ever walked on its streets.

Scobie is the ultimate flaneur and his philosophical meanderings through Paris takes readers to sites of art, architecture and transit. His history of the city planning, and the itineraries of Canadian writers in Paris, makes for interesting reading and a different look at a city that is larger than life.

His personal musings were my favourite, along with the insights into Haussman’s influence and transformation of Paris through the large-scale construction of the streets and boulevards that make the Paris we know today.

James and I often rant about unnecessary quotation marks. “Who is being quoted,” is our common refrain.

Bethany Keeley took her curiosity about this phenomenon to new heights and after years of blogging, compile the best examples into The Book of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks. (Guest post by Bethany on the Chronicle Books blog.)

When quotation and attribution is unnecessary

According to the Chicago Manual of Style, “commonly known or readily verifiable facts, proverbs, and other familiar expressions can be stated without quotation or attribution unless the wording is taken directly from another source.”

Which makes me wonder, what unverifiable fact makes a “hamburger” and to whom are we attributing “live” lobsters?

I don’t trust the editorial wisdom of Wikipedia, but according to the masses, common use for quotation marks is apparently “to call attention to ironic or apologetic words.”

Day Old “Bread”
Ironic or apologetic?
Unverifiable fact?
Unfamiliar expression?

I love the quotation use in this one:

Do “NOT”
PARK here
Please

THESE PARKING SPACES ARE FOR
“CUSTOMERS”

Are we calling attention to the irony that this place has customers? Perhaps it’s all just apologetic.

Bethany Keeley’s The Book of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks is a collection of photographs of signs in stores, offices, streets and “facilities” making interesting use of our favourite punctuation mark.

And just because quotation marks can be so confounding. Here is some fun with single and double quotation marks.

Quote: “Don’t be absurd!” said Henry. “To say that‚ ‘I mean what I say’ is the same as‚ ‘I say what I mean’ is to be as confused as Alice at the Mad Hatter’s tea party. You remember what the Hatter said to her: ‘Not the same thing a bit! Why you might just as well say that “I see what I eat” is the same thing as “I eat what I see”!’ ”

The Book of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks by Bethany Keeley
Published by Chronicle Books
Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books

Mary McCarthy’s most celebrated novel follows the lives of eight Vassar graduates (Class of ’33), known simply to their classmates as “the group.”

The tangled stories of eight different lives are united by the pivotal figure of Kay Strong–the first of the group to break from the traditions of society by getting married without parental guidance.

The social history presented here, pre-World War II, is equal in period quality to that presented in the tv show Mad Men (if not moreso).

The girls are all middle-class or upper-middle class, growing up during a revolutionary period in American life where women are forming an identity beyond their social class, beyond their parent’s social aspirations.

They work outside the home, they travel abroad alone, they philosophize, they use birth control, they buy this new thing called margarine.

All eight are in some way breaking with the past and forging a new status quo while at the same time falling into prescribed roles.

The language choice is striking and the novel’s structure of twists and turns reveals layers of insights into each character through the commentary and interior monologues of other characters.

McCarthy’s novel was published in 1963, thirty years after the time described in the novel, but the picture she paints of the times seems complete as well as insightful. (I particularly enjoyed the incredibly rich word choice and complex sentence structure. This is a novel written in a different time and its structure is reflective of the times represented.)

Quote: It was plain to Polly that many of her married classmates were disappointed in their husbands and envied the girls, like Helena, who had not got married. In June the class would have its fifth reunion and already it had its first divorcees. These hares were discussed wistfully by the tortoises of the class. It was felt that they at least had ‘done something.’ Norine Blake’s divorce, she had gone to a ranch outside Reno and now called herself ‘Mrs. Schmittlapp Blake’, had earned her a place of renowned in alumnae affairs equal to that of Connie Storey, who had become a model for Bergdorf, or of Lily Marvin, who dressed windows for Elizabeth Arden, and outranking poor Binkie Barnes, who was working as CIO organizer, and Bubbles Purdy, who was studying to be a preacher.

“A witty, moving, instructive and wise novel, a gem of American social history as well as very good fiction.” , The Nation

I concur.

Ordinary Thunderstorms is a well written book with a horrible, morally short premise. I did not like this book, but I’d still recommend it. How’s that for conflict?

Adam Kindred happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. In shock, he makes a serious of choices that make his situation worse. Throughout the book he continues to make poor decisions and yet the novel ends with no dire consequence to him. This is what I didn’t like.

What happens? (If you don’t like spoilers, stop now.)

Adam Kindred happens to meet Philip Wang in an Italian cafe. Wang forgets a file at his table. Adam decides to call him and personally return the file. He arrives at Wang’s apartment only to find Wang murdered, well, he’s not quite dead. Wang asks Adam to remove the knife stabbed into him, which Adam does. Adam’s finger prints are now on the murder weapon. Adam flees.

Adam continues to flee throughout the book. Wang’s killer continues to track Adam. The police bollocks things up. There’s conspiracy theories and secret agents. It’s all stupid, really. Adam continues to make dumb mistakes. I continued to read.

And as I mentioned, nothing really happens.

I tried not to spoil the details for you. I disliked this book, but if you like random, literary mystery stories, this is well written.

My favourite book of 2005 was Jim Lynch’s The Highest Tide. I still recommend it. But now I can recommend his latest novel, Border Songs.

Think The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time + CNN reporter on the hijinks of the Border Patrol + an episode from Weeds.

Border Songs is about Brandon Vanderkool, who is a six foot eight, dyslexic, perhaps slightly autistic, romantic, bird-watcher who loves working on his father’s dairy farm but happens to be serving his country on Border Patrol in Washington State.

This quirky novel tells the story of Brandon and the townsfolk on both sides of the border who complicate his down-to-earth approach to life.

There’s pot smoking and pot smuggling, and a pretty girl doing both.

There’s dairy farmers, gad-abouts, an insulting professor and an equally exacerbating vet.

There’s the Border Patrol, the smugglers and the victims of both.

Lynch has provided another wonderful look at a very particular, and peculiar, place along the Canada-US border. Like The Highest Tide there’s hilarious tension, tenderness towards wildlife, and insightful pokes in the ribs.

Border Songs by Jim Lynch is published by Vintage Canada.

The day job requires me to pretend like I know how to manage employees so I subscribe to a number of newsletters for HR, entrepreneurs and managers. I don’t find a ton of useful information, although it is good reinforcement that in all situations common sense should prevail.

I recently read this interview with Paul Falcone, VP of Employee Relations at Time Warner Cable and thought I’d check out the book.

What I learned was that whether it’s lateness, harassment, poor behaviour or lousy productivity, you should do something, and you should do it sooner rather than later.

Paul definitely has a “corporate America” take on how to have these conversations, but I still found value in his guidelines and the sample dialogues.

Be clear.
Be direct.
Be fair.
Be firm.

I was eagerly looking for anything to read in the Denver airport. I’d lost my previous book on another flight and wasn’t anticipating success in the airport bookstore. But I did spot Little Bee and picked it up because a woman in my row on the last flight had been reading it.

The first page and the back cover sealed the purchase.
Quote:
We don’t want to tell you WHAT HAPPENS in this book.

It is a truly SPECIAL STORY and we don’t want to spoil it.

NEVERTHELESS, you need to know enough to buy it, so we will just say this:

This is the story of two women. Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice, the kind of choice we hope you never have to face. Two years later, they meet again – the story starts there …

Once you have read it, you’ll want to tell your friends about it. When you do, please don’t tell them what happens. The magic is in how the story unfolds.

Chris Cleave has created an English garden maze of a novel. At each page-turn you are introduced to a new path, another piece of the puzzle, a possible way out.

Brilliant. I loved this book.

I pulled 35 books off my shelves that I’m sending to another home. If you’re in Vancouver and want to stake a claim on any of these, let me know. Some are already claimed, but have a peak at GoodReads for what’s available.

Monique’s book montage

Monique’s favorite books »

I’ve got another 18 that I want to recommend. In no particular order:

Lavinia by Ursula LeGuin to Boris who I think enjoys a good fantasy yarn and maybe hasn’t read LeGuin. If that’s true, then he definitely needs this book.

Public Art in Vancouver by Steil + Stalker to Sean who is involved with public art in Vancouver and may not have a copy of this great book, which I think would be an even better iphone app.

Taking Things Seriously by Glenn & Hayes to Rachael who has enough books I’m sure, but this one is quirky and might give her some fun photography inspiration.

The Big Why by Michael Winter to Darren who likes reading and should definitely get some Canadian writers under his belt.

Little Bee by Chris Cleave to my mom who will be interested in this fiction that could be true about a Nigerian girl who’s seeking refuge in Britain and the only people she knows is a couple she met on the beach in Nigeria while they were on holiday.

Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks also to Darren, in case he doesn’t like Michael Winters. This book is esoteric enough to be of interest, at least for a couple of chapters.

Audition by Barbara Walters to Jen, who I think would be interested in the celebrity memoir of Walters and the twists to her character that this book reveals.

The Order of Good Cheers by Bill Gaston to James, who should read Gaston because I think he’ll like the local settings and Gaston’s sense of place and character.

The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard to any of my geeky, interweb friends who want to claim it first.

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters also to my mom because she likes these historical novels and because I like Sarah Waters.

Beatrice & Virgil by Yann Martel to Rachael who took me to the CBC Book Club to see Martel.

Duel by David Mulholland to Greg who was my high school English teacher and my next-door neighbour. This book is smart enough for him to enjoy.

Small beneath the Sky by Lorna Crozier to my grandma because she likes reading and she might like this Saskatchewan memoir since that’s where she grew up and because prairie girls stick together.

Jew and Improved by Benjamin Errett to Julie, not because I want her to convert but because, of all my friends, she’ll enjoy this exploration of religion, ritual and faith.