Various Positions

Debut novel of Toronto's Martha Schabas, Various Positions sent me on a nostalgia trip of my childhood and my brief desire to be a ballerina. Something most little girls can relate to for sure. I picked up this book recently for the second book club meeting I attended. Thanks again to Allison who is always willing to loan me a book when I'm in need.

Motorcycles and Sweetgrass

The third novel I read in my popular Canadian literature class was Mortocycles & Sweetgrass by Drew Hayden Taylor. It was refreshing to read a novel based on a Native Reserve in Ontario, it really gave me a new perspective on a very important part of Canada's culture. He is able to pull off an effective story using comedy and mysticism.

Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture

The second book I got to read for my popular Canadian literature class was Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland. I enjoyed just as much as JPod, Coupland's quirky style has me hooked to his books.

The Best Laid Plans

This was the first of three novels I had to read this past semester for my popular Canadian literature class (I didn't post it immediately for fears of the work I handed in getting dinged for plagiarism and then having to explain to my prof that this is in fact my blog yadayadayada). I found that Terry Fallis did an excellent job in his debut novel The Best Laid Plans. I can see why it was the winner of Canada Reads 2011. Follows are the reading journal entries and opinion paper I wrote for the class. Hopefully you find the opinion paper informative and if you are one of the many in the age 18-24 demographic who does not vote maybe reading this book is a good way for you to start understanding politics and spur you on to take advantage of your democratic rights!

JPod

JPod by Douglas Coupland is the first book I read for the book club I joined this year (the first rule of the book club is don't talk about the book club... don't tell them I told you!). It is also the first Douglas Coupland book I ever read, I borrowed it 6 years ago in high school from my then international business teacher who had brought it in for his classroom bookshelf which provided books for students who forgot one during B.E.A.R. B.E.A.R stands for Bell Excels at Reading, it occurred every Friday for the last 20 minutes of your second period class and was instated shortly after the Grade 10 literacy test was introduced in Ontario to improve success rates (unfortunately my school had a low pass rate in comparison to others in the city). Rereading JPod was just as fun as the first time I read it, especially since it is a peculiar book to read. 

Next Episode

The Canada Reads pick for 2003 was Hubert Aquin's Next Episode. At the time I purchased this book I was not nearly developed enough intellectually to understand most of what was going on and sadly lost interest. Recently, nine years after I bought my copy, I decided to give it another chance. I can better see now why this book was chosen as a Canada Reads pick, it exemplifies the quintessential identity of separatist Quebec.

City of Lost Souls

There isn't really much I can say about Cassandra Clare's latest installment in The Mortal Instrument series, City of Lost Souls, without completely ruining the plot of the previous ones. So I will just say this, it was just as good as the others and you should go read them all! Also check out her prequel series The Infernal Devices, you'll especially enjoy it if you read steampunk novels, personally I like the characters better because I give them all British accents when I'm reading haha.

Plus, like so many teen novels lately, this series is being adapted for the big screen. The first in the series, City of Bones, is slated to be released in summer 2013.

Cassandra Clare

Mortal Engines

When Allison told me that there was a book where cities walk around and eat each other I was sold. After she finished reading Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve I quickly pilfered her copy to read myself. Filled with strong characters and a unique take on a futuristic, post-apocalyptic society Mortal Engines keeps you reading. In it you will find orphans, traction cities, airships, archaeologists, sky cities, pirates, corrupt people in power in government (not that far removed from pirates), and rebel forces. What's not to love?

Insurgent

Another day, another teen fiction sequel to read. Insurgent is the sequel to Veronica Roth's debut novel Divergent. Riding on the wave of teen dystopic fiction, following the success of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games, Roth does a fantastic job filling the void left behind when you finish a series and need something new to read. A read I quickly gobbled down.

Sailing to Sarantium

I finished reading this book quite a while ago (June of 2011 to be exact) and was waiting until I read the sequel to post about it, but since I don't seem to be getting on with it I figured I'd post what I wrote over a year ago about Sailing to Sarantium. FACT: Guy Gavriel Kay is my all time favourite Canadian author, I haven't read all of his novels yet but am coming close! What makes his books great to me is how he mixes historical facts with myth and fantasy in a smooth enough way that you are convinced that these things actually happened.

Dear Creature

Sometimes it is nice to take a break from reading long arduous books (just kidding, no book is arduous...) and pick up a graphic novel to read. Thanks to my friend Michael who lent me Dear Creature, it was wonderfully amusing. With an amphibious main character who just wants to fit in but finds it difficult since he cannot resist his craving for human flesh. My personal favourite trait of the creature is that he speaks in iambic pentameter! He learned to speak through bits of Shakespeare he found in bottles afloat in the water. Which is what leads him out of his watery depths to seek a life amongst humans, to find the source of these Shakespeare excerpts. Mixed up in all this comes a lovely romance of a slightly batty woman and this creature from the depths.

Jonathan Case

American Gods

 
Last year I went on a Neil Gaiman reading spree and borrowed a couple of his books from my friend Allison. Over a year later, hehehe, I finally read American Gods one of his most successful and well known novels. Filled with Gods of old fighting against the Gods of the new world, trying to survive. I have started in on Good Omens next, a delightful duet done by Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

Hereafter

Once again I picked up a new teen series to take a stab at. It was another free advanced readers copy (thank you Chapters) and since its sequel, Arise, came out recently I figured I had better get a move on in reading Hereafter. A quick, enjoyable read I do believe I will take a gander at Arise (that is once it comes out in paperback, hardcovers just are not in the budget at the moment).

The Golem's Eye

Many moons ago I borrowed The Amulet of Samarkand from my friend Kate to read. It was an ok novel but Kate promised me that the sequel was much better and I was not disappointed! The Golem's Eye is faster paced and better narrated than its predecessor.

Rocannon's World

Wow I cannot believe how long it has been since I updated a blogpost! I guess I have just been spending all my time reading books as opposed to writing about them hahaha. So here we go, starting with a book I finished at the end of April.

Lady Susan

Since this novella is short and sweet I will likewise keep my post to a minimum. Long ago I vowed to read all of Jane Austen's works and have had great success with Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and most recently Lady Susan. The format in which Lady Susan  was written was by letters of correspondence between characters. I found it quite amusing how each character changes their writing dependent upon who they are writing to. Although I do tremendously enjoy Jane Austen's style of writing I often find myself irritated by her characters, namely I did not like Lady Susan at all. I thought that Lady Susan was a terrible mother and person in general, her tact and wiles were put to a lot of ill use. I was also very dissatisfied with the ending that came about. I somehow thought things would end differently but then again since it is called Lady Susan undoubtedly things would have to end well for her.

Jane Austen

The Last Unicorn

A blast from my past hit me while I was wandering about Chapters: The Last Unicorn. I cannot count the number of times I watched the movie adaptation of this book as a child, it was one of my favourites. I loved it so much that I ended up buying it on dvd last year. Oddly enough, I had never read the book and thought I might as well pick it up to read. I was definitely satisfied by the familiar adventure from my childhood.

The Lathe of Heaven & Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea

 

I started April off with a bit of an Ursula K. Le Guin marathon: The Lathe of Heaven, which is a sci-fi, and Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea, which is the fourth book in the Earthsea Cycle. Both of these novels were hard to put down for I find Ms. Le Guin's writing to flow quite well, so that 3 hours would go by and I would not even notice. They are great examples of how an author can diversify their writing. The Lathe of Heaven takes on political and ethical questions through a journey into the not too distant future while Tehanu is written for a much younger audience in a fantastical world full of wizards and dragons.

March 2012

March started off swell with Rob Thurman releasing another book in her Cal Leandros series, Doubletake. I always enjoy the shenanigans that Cal, Niko, and Goodfellow get up to and this was no exception. An evil automaton bent on killing you, no problem! Got all of the pucks in the world convening in NYC, no sweat! Another romping tale of urban fantasy that had me laughing all the way through.

February 2012

It's been quite a while since I last posted anything. What can I say? It's time consuming reading all of these books, but I don't mind since I enjoy them all so much! February was a teen fiction heavy month (Starcrossed, What I Was, Glow, and Lenobia's Vow) which I managed to balance out by finally finishing The Brain That Changes Itself. As well as finishing one of my favourite series with Out of Oz.