Book Club Reads (October-February)

I recently took all of the above books out of the library for the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth book club meetings I attended. It was actually quite the adventure getting Robopocalypse to read. I first took the ebook out of the library to find that I didn't have the right software to read it with. After downloading some Adobe nonsense to read the book I was told that my file had expired :( which is sad since you are supposed to be able to take ebooks out for 3 weeks. Anyways, I almost gave up hope of reading this book before the assigned book club meeting when I walked into my local library branch and saw it on display! This is hilarious because online the library had a 22 person queue to take out the book, eat that system! The adventure of getting Robopocalypse was definitely worth it, so far it has been my favourite book club read. Thanks Gina for picking such a wonderful book :) Learning from my mistakes with Robopocalypse, I picked up The Time in Between and I Was Told There'd be Cake much earlier from the library.

Tolkien-mania

In lieu of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey hitting theatres this past December I decided to reread some of my favourite Tolkien stories.

The Father Christmas Letters were written by Tolkien to his sons either under the identity of the jolly old man himself, his right-hand elf Ilbereth, or his handy assistant the North Polar Bear. Fill with mishaps and mischievous goblins they are quite amusing and inspire me to write similar letters if I ever have children (in the far far future).

Obviously I had to reread The Hobbit. If you are like me you feel the compulsive urge to read the book that a movie/television show/play/musical is based on prior to seeing it itself. There's not much I can say about The Hobbit that hasn't already be said, but I will say this: I love that it was written with a target audience of children around the age of ten. This amuses me to no end, mainly because many adults find it a difficult read. I guess this may be a reflection on the changes in the English language over the years.

I also gave a go at Farmer Giles of Ham and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. The former being a short story of the historical nature, based in the distant past with many imaginative qualities. The latter being in verse and highly informative on bits and bobs of Middle Earth starring a character that those who have read The Lord of the Rings will be familiar with.

Right now I am currently reading Sir Gawain & The Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo. These are medieval English poems translated Tolkien and edited by his son Christopher to be published posthumously. So far I have only finished Sir Gawain & The Green Knight which was delightful. Filled with Arthur and his knights of the round table.

JRR Tolkien

January 2013

I kicked off the new year with a few teen fiction reads: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman and I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (known for The Book Thief). I could not have picked two books so different if I had tried. Seraphina is a fantasy filled with dragons whereas I am the Messenger is about puzzling circumstances and a bigger picture. Thanks to Allison for lending both to me!

A Little Margaret Atwood

After reading a short story of Margaret Atwood's entitled Death by Landscape in my popular Canadian literature class last semester I was itching to read some more. I started by requesting Wilderness Tips from the library, the collection of short stories in which Death by Landscape can be found. While patiently awaiting its arrival at my local branch I took a trip to see what was on the shelf, low and behold I stumbled upon The Labrador Fiasco and Good Bones and Simple Murders. Needless to say I was sufficiently occupied until my request was ready to be picked up.

October through to the New Year

Clearly I was so busy reading this fall that I did not have time to write about any of the amazing books I read! So now that I have the time here I go on a whirlwind book describing spree, wheeee!

Sainte-Carmen of the Main

After reading several short stories and a few novels it was time to delve into the world of Canadian plays. For this class I read Sainte-Carmen of the Main by Michel Tremblay, originally written and performed in joual the language of the people of the Main (a form of French). Michel Tremblay is well known for writing French separatist fables in order to give a voice to the suppressed people of Quebec prior to French becoming Canada's second official language and the Parti Québécois forming or coming into power.