CANADA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I AM CANADIAN!

I LIVE IN the BEST COUNTRY in the WORLD

I LIVE IN A COUNTRY with an UNBELIEVABLY COMMUNAL SPIRIT

I LIVE IN A COUNTRY THAT SUPPORTS IT'S ATHLETES ---whether they win or not!

I LIVE IN A COUNTRY WHERE an UNPRECEDENTED 18-1 in WOMEN'S HOCKEY INSPIRES A SPONTANEOUS ROUND OF APPLAUSE TO THE OPPOSING TEAM!

I LIVE IN A COUNTRY WHO THROWS AN OPENING CEREMONIES in a DAZZLINGLY humbling and TONGUE-in-CHEEK way....

we can make fun of ourselves and THAT --- on top of our class, our sportsmanship, our quiet but exceedingly important role on the world stage---- is the key to our brilliance...

I AM CANADIAN!-----

not only do we have the BEST literature and music, a gripping history, an amazing future and a wonderful spirit--- we have more OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES GOLD MEDALS than ANY OTHER COUNTRY EVER

and our men's hockey team kicks ass.

Dear Vancouver 2010, I will miss you....

CANADIANS --- keep the pride. The ball is rolling, the momentum is building... let's be loud and proud EVERY DAY OF OUR LIVES!

woot!

Blogging through Foyle's War: with Rachel and Jess

So, Foyle's War isn't really a book ---- but who cares because it is written by Anthony Horowitz who is brilliant AND it gives you the same experience as reading a really thoughtful and complex novel because it is a fabulous and engaging character piece. Perhaps, I would say, some of the best writing in television. EVER.

So, Jess and I are coupling our insane infatuation with the show from a.) a fangirly, giddy standpoint b.) a reverence for wonderful writing, characters and mood and pulling them together in one conversation.

We are both simultaneously watching from the beginning of the series and chatting afterward ( note: Jess lives in Colorado and I live in Toronto )

 Ep. 1 THE GERMAN WOMAN

Rachel: Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.


There is SO much in this episode--- it almost makes my brain explode. It is a pivotal episode in the series; sets the mood and setting of the show and establishes all sorts of character background and relationships.


It is marvelous. Anthony Horowitz says in an interview that he always writes like the rings of a tree. I find this fascinating and every carefully plotted, well-executed, overlapping story line is proof of his genius in this method. For instance, you know that every plot thread in Foyle is somehow going to connect: whether overtly, or slowly knitting together.

I really want to start The German Woman with a few key notes of the beginning of the series:
First, I think it is very interesting that the series begins with a pastoral shot: beautiful, lush England, a picnic setting, two people having a wonderfully romantic time, the camera panning and then, at the last, the shot of the barb wire trapping them into this world we will soon learns as Hastings and this war that we will soon see all contained ( with a few exceptions) in this community and suddenly all idealism is shot. It’s rather fabulous. I also think that we should draw our attention to the relevance of the title and its dichotomy: there are two German women in the story line and one could argue both were murdered: one in the traditional “revenge”-type plot --- with direct criminal intent; the other as a result of the harrowing prospect of internment—a woman victim of horrible circumstances. Both murder, in a sense, just in different ways.

Next, I enjoy how the series begins with our lead character wanting out of his surrounding. The main premise of the story is DCS Foyle’s work as a policeman in a world overthrown with chaos ….. the detective story begins with the detective wanting out of his surrounding and, ironically, wanting to do more for the war effort.Interestingly, after that introduction to Foyle and his world, we will see the series unfolding with Foyle being a very important part of the war effort---- just in a slightly different way. What he does in the micro-world of Hastings often ends up effecting the macro-world of England and the war.




Jess: Wow. I'm not sure what else to add to that incredibly insightful introduction to the series. I guess I'll just have to go personal, rather than academic.
What always strikes me deepest about this series is how thoroughly they set up life in WWII England. Just how everyday people lived during the war. Not the soldiers, but the soldiers' families back home. All the fear and prejudice and hope and opportunism andkindness and struggle wrapped in surviving, in waiting to see if your country would be invaded, if your loved one would come home, if your rations would hold out.


To your point about there being two German women, that's kind of true. The second, the woman in the internment camp, is actually English. But because she's married to a German, she gets treated as though she wereGerman. She married the "enemy" (even though he's a refugee who fled Germany), thus she is the enemy.


Rachel: and we’re going to tip our cap at two very special guest stars: Rosamund Pike and James McAvoy and that guy from Our Mutual Friend who plays the murderer and whose real name I might never know. We are also going to take one moment for Sam Stewart who is just about the most adorable thing to ever walk the face of the earth. Finally, I would like to have a moment for Foyle’s countenance when he learns Andrew is going to war and then ANOTHER moment for their shared laughter over the perfect trout (isn’t it perfect that Foyle’s pastime is fly fishing: so classical and harmonious---so HIM!) and then another moment for the smile that turns into distress as soon as Andrew’s back turns out the door. Any other moments, Jess, before we move on?




Jess: The introduction of Milner and his perfect eyebrows definitely deserves a moment. Also deserving of a very long, reverent moment? His super sexy shadowed jaw the first couple times we see him in the hospital. I don't think we ever see it again, but day-amn Milner, that was nice.
Also related to Milner, the way the episode lays the groundwork for his troubled marriage by mentioned how his wife has only come to see him once since he returned to Hastings, and how his relationship with Foyle begins - Foyle gives Milner exactly what he needs to pull himself out of his PTSD depression but does in a way that is neither coddling nor hard. He simply, straightforwardly tells Milner he needs a sergeant and does Milner want the job, yes or no? Milner proves he is actually good at this police thing, and the dynamic detecting duo is born.


Again more about Milner, because apparently I am his champion today. I love that the show uses his relationship with his wife to show what so many soldiers probably went through up on returning home. Couples got married in a hurry before they shipped off, before they really knew each other. And then, when the man comes home, broken by war - physically and/or emotionally - suddenly both parties realize how little they know each other, how little they have in common, how little they've really invested in this relationship they're now stuck in. I can't imagine how common Milner's situation was. (Note: This does not excuse his wife for being so incredibly awful that I am overcome with the desire to punch her every time she's on screen. She's so horrible to him.)

Rachel: Let’s tie this up then with two summarizing thoughts:


--Everyone hates Milner’s wife

--Anthony Howell has the least boring eyebrows I have ever seen.

Like Foyle? Jump in our conversation!

Stay tuned for A Lesson in Murder when Blogging Through Foyle with Rachel and Jess RETURNS

The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer

Courtney and I read this together and then decided to blog about it together ( with some casting .... enjoy!)

Courtney: I haven’t read any Georgette Heyer in a while and I’m always pleasantly surprised by her books when I pick them up just because of how fun they are. I found The Corinthian to be a lot more fun than some of the others I’ve read just because of the crazy hijinks that were involved – girls dressed as boys getting into scrapes, murder, theft, running away in the middle of the night, oh joy! What a great escapist novel, and how perfect for the February blahs. You’ve been devouring your way through her books – how did you find this one compared to the others that you’ve read?

Rachel: I really liked the pace of this one. There was lots of adventure and it didn’t take her very long to catapult us into the plot. Plus, she kept the whole cloak-and-dagger motif running rampant throughout the story. Like you, I really enjoyed the hijinks— and the image of carriages running helter skelter at a dizzying pace. This was sheer fun. Some of the books of hers I have read have serious undertones — like These Old Shades ( a great romance of redemption, in a way) and Black Sheep ( where the theme of women as marriageable commodities is pretty abundant ) —- but The Corinthian—well—- it was as of Heyer was writing with her tongue in her cheek.

Courtney: Yes, she does tongue in cheek very well. One thing that I noticed with this book is how much the quality of her writing improved from earlier books – this one is about 20 years into her career as a novelist, and you can really tell the difference. There’s more depth, more maturity in the writing (not necessarily the content, but certainly the writing style), etc. That’s one thing that is so much more noticeable when you can pick and choose your way through an author’s whole catalogue of books, as opposed to having to wait for the next one to be released.

Rachel: I also get the sense that Heyer was writing first and foremost for her own enjoyment. I love books like that because they allow the author’s personality to seep through. To continue your noting of her depth and maturity, I also feel she improves her grasp of how to tell convincing historical fiction. Whereas her early works had the tendency to lapse into encyclopediac knowledge now and then ( in an almost cut and paste fashion), the regency details in the Corinthian were more implied and ingrained so you had a keen picture in your mind’s eye and got a feel for the period without it being bludgeoned over your head with numerous factoids. Can I also just throw the word verisimilitude in here because I never get to use it? Thanks.

Courtney: I just had to look up “verisimilitude.” Google tells me that it is “the quality of seeming to be true or real.” But I can really see how this applies to The Corinthian. It does appear that she knows a lot of what is going on in the regency period, and it is sometimes surprising (in the case of this book, for example) to realize that she didn’t experience it herself. While this was a fun romp, it still does touch on some of the issues that would have been relevant at that point in time – specifically expectations of women who spent unchaperoned time with men, the difficulties families face with financial issues, and the necessity of women to make a good marriage. As much as I love reading regency books, I really don’t think I’d want to live in a time where it was depended on me to marry well just so I could secure my family’s financial stability!

Rachel: What I liked about this particular novel is that Sir Richard was facing the same impending threat of a loveless marriage to secure his family’s financial gain and to hold up in society. It is rather refreshing to see a man have the same expectations thrust upon him. It immediately set the stage for an understanding friendship between Sir Richard and Penn. I rather enjoyed this. Richard immediately understood Penn’s dilemma and I think, in part, that was why he was so eager to jump and save her. He knew what it felt like to have this unsavoury future looming afore him.

Courtney: Well, that plus he was completely smashed when he came across her attempting to run away in the first place. That might have had something to do with it, haha. I love the relationship that Penn and Sir Richard have right from the beginning in this book – she’s adventurous and naïve, and he is amused by her and knows that she needs protection in her wild and crazy schemes. I love that she puts him in situations he doesn’t feel comfortable with at all (hello, stagecoach?) and that he lets her do this. And that he goes out of her way to protect her without caging her in or patronizing her for her naïveté.

Rachel: He treats her like an equal— and I suppose she is— in humour and in situation and circumstance. But, I think he smiles at her out of his eyes the entire time and doesn’t always take her seriously. But, I am not altogether sure he completely takes life seriously so this is just another one of his many charms. I also enjoy the hint of rogue he has. In fact, talking about him makes me want to cast him. Jack Davenport?

Courtney: Mmm. I was just watching The Wedding Date last night and he is in it. He would definitely be able to pull off the rogue aspect, and we’ve already seen him in that same sort of time period in Pirates of the Caribbean. He could pull off being Sir Richard. What about Penn?

Rachel: I really like the idea of Carey Mulligan (Bleak House, An Education, Dr. Who) as Penn. \

Courtney: Is that Sally Sparrow? She looks a bit old for the role… I don’t know too many young females in acting, so this part is a little hard for me. What about Alexa Vega or Eliza Bennett? Actually, Eliza Bennett probably looks a little bit too young. Oh, what about Rachel Hurd-Wood? She’s rather adorable.

Rachel: What’s REALLY funny is that when you said Eliza Bennett I was thinking of the “real” Eliza Bennett ( which, in my crazy mind, was automatically Jennifer Ehle ). Alexa Vega!

Courtney: Yeah, I remember thinking that quite a bit when I read her name in the credits for Inkheart! Oh, Jennifer Ehle is such a wonderful actress. And Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, mmm… Anyway! Tangent! I hate to say this, but I think if they were to make a movie out of this, it would actually be better as a 2 hour movie than a 4 hour miniseries. As much as was going on, it felt like not everything was necessarily needed to make this a good story. Not that it dragged on, but it just wasn’t all that important to furthering character development or pushing the story to a climax – like the meeting between Penn’s aunt and Sir. Richard.

Rachel: What they should do is a BBC series featuring two hour episodes of each Heyer novel. They could totally squeeze this into two hours. I mean look at the ITV Northanger Abbey— that worked brilliantly. As did the ITV Persuasion ( Unfortunately, I have nothing good to say about the ITV Mansfield Park so I am just not going to say anything at all…..)
Penn’s aunt! Sir Richard! How Lady Catherine de Bourgh-esque was that pivotal moment. Good God Georgette Heyer! You’re like mango gelato. You are the sweetest confection in the world. And you ruin me for real life…. And so do your men with their boots and cravats and eye glasses hanging from dainty chains! Back to Jack Davenport ( because isn’t that just the best segway??? ) he has a delicious voice. I have a feeling Sir Richard would have a delicious voice.

Courtney: He really does have a delicious voice. And I imagine Sir Richard would too, especially when he is amused at Penn. And Jack Davenport could totally pull off Sir Richard’s bored attitude that seems to intimidate those he doesn’t care a fig about. Mmm, I totally want to rewatch all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies now, darn it!
What did you think of all the secondary characters? I loved me the thief they met in the stage coach. He was a lot of fun.

Rachel: I loved the thief and I loved the rather portly relative whose house Sir Richard visits at the beginning of the story— the one who tries hard to emulate Sir Richard’s flair with a cravat ( his name escapes me right now )

Courtney: The sister’s husband?

Rachel: Yah. That’s him. He was super cool.

Courtney: Yeah, he was pretty awesome. They were all mostly awesome; in fact, there were only two characters that I DIDN’T like – Penn’s childhood friend (again, the name is not coming to mind) and the girl he’s in love with. I have no patience for silly little people like them. I was especially aggravated when whats-her-name told her father that she met Penn for a romantic rendezvous instead of whats-his-name. This girl came across as being way too flakey, and I have no stomach for characters like that.
Before I start going on a rant, I need to change the subject.
How about the last moment when Penn and Sir Richard finally both admit and realize that the other is in love with them? It is up there with the awesome endings of Rilla of Ingleside and North & South, as far as my favourites go.

Rachel: I also loved the last moment. The thing with Georgette Heyer is she always leaves the romantic climax until the very last page. You know it is coming but she makes you wait and wait and THEN …. Then she ties it up with a happy bow ( same with North and South, eh?)
I really enjoyed the ending and the discovery of love which, really, when you think about it had been there since Sir Richard first saw Penn—all inebriated and blurry and cleaned her up and whisked her away.…

..
Courtney: Oh, he obviously loved her from the beginning. And she was in love with him from that point too even though she didn’t realize it until later. But all-in-all a satisfying end to a good book then. Yay!

Blogging For Books: Beneath A Southern Sky ( Deborah Raney)

NOW THIS is a fun blog tour! A grab bag of goodies from the Value Fiction WaterBrook is promoting to help us through bleak March days!

From the Publisher:

Beneath a Southern Sky by Deborah Raney – Daria Camfield is expecting her first child when her husband Nate is reported dead on the mission field. Devastated, she returns to the States and soon marries again. But two years later Nate is found alive in the jungle. How can Daria possibly choose between he two men who love her?

My take:
Beneath a Southern Sky by Deborah Raney is a contemporary romance featuring a headstrong woman faced with the most difficult dilemma of her life: new love with the man she has married having been widowed in Columbia or renewed love with the man she initially married, long thought dead, who has suddenly come back to life.

The harrowing opening chapter preludes Daria’s difficulty and ropes you in to find out whom she will chose, how, and what life journeys she will learn along the way.


Deborah Raney is a prolific Christian writer whose Vow to Cherish was adapted into an acclaimed made-for-tv movie. Her grasp of human emotions and her longing to portray the complexities of the human heart is quite pronounced here.

Raney also shakes the usual Christian fiction conception of love: something sought after, found and tied up nicely with a ribbon. Instead, love is found in a very unexpected way and coupled with a sacrifice of immeasurable proportion that will shake all characters with its ramifications for years.

A tightly plotted and deftly-woven yarn outside of the genres I usually read in the Christian industry. Thanks to our friends at WaterBrook for passing this along


I recommend finding a copy quickly--- especially because WaterBrook has such fabulous bargain fiction up for grabs!

Casting Georgette Heyer: These Old Shades edition

These Old Shades is one of Georgette Heyer’s classics. It is a wonderful, romping, rollicking plot of mixed identities and melodrama and girls dressed as boys and love slowly blossoming and cravats and conspiracies and oh! la! ...all things gloriously regency.

The Duke of Avon, Justin Alistair, is often called Satanas by the elite members of the ton: he has known so many women, has conquested so many conquests, blah! Blah! Has a good hand at cards, cares nothing for no one and drowns in his nonchalance. But one night while wandering the streets of Paris he saves a street urchin from the abuse of his older brother.

Avon sweeps the kid from the streets and adopts him as his page. Leon, with his pale skin and reddish curls becomes quite the favourite of society. For who knew Avon to be so charitable with those unfortunate?

Turns out, Leon is actually the adorable French creature Leonine who may or may not be the illegitimate child of someone very significant in Avon’s past.

He’s twenty years older than she; she has lovely hi-jinks and adorable broken English; she worships the ground he walks on and has sworn her devotion for life; he thinks she should be set up with his rapscallion brother Rupert … and… oh yes! There is a KIDNAPPING


So much fun! And so much fun to cast. Casting Georgette Heyer today we’re going to have to toss the role of Avon to our friend Richard Armitage.

Well-played Richard.

Casting Georgette Heyer's Black Sheep

My friend Courtney did the seemingly impossible: she gave me a book as a gift.

This is usually hard for people because they never know what I have or have not read ( I have read pretty much everything it seems) or what I will like and they generally shy away from tempting me with anything but a Chapters/Indigo giftcard.

Not Court. Nope. She found a winner (a few years ago, it would seem ) and held on to her treasure and just knew that she could pop it out at the right time and I would love it.


And I did.

Ladies and gents, I give you the Regency Barney Snaith ( of LM Montgomery's The Blue Castle) Miles Caverleigh from Georgette Heyer's DIVINE Black Sheep

Now Miles, adorable Miles, is part Barney/ part Rhett Butler- --- all delicious regency fun: his boots are too tall for society; his cravat too loose and he has this infuriating habit of making our prim and bright heroine, Abigail Wendover, giggle at the most inopportune moments.

Oh Miles!


But Miles, dear Miles, sees a spark in dear Abby ( who is actually eight and twenty and very very much on the shelf. You see, bloggosphere, no one has "made up" to her ---or out with her in 20th Century vernacular---in EONS and she is being left to wither away whilst caring for her invalid, hypochondriatic sister and the neice who wants to run away with a scoundrel! a rake! a rogue....


oh it is DELICIOUS! and it is all about mature love ( because Miles once eloped with his heart's desire all but twenty years ago, don't you know, and he knows that Abby and he have a preternatural connection and..... )....and I WISH L M Montgomery had been alive to read some of these sentences:


I give you:


"He had nothing to recommend him but his smile, and she was surely too old, and had too much commonsense to be beguiled by a smile however attractive it might be. But just as she reached this decision he spoke, and she glanced up at him, and realized that she had overestimated both her age and her commonsense"



AH AH AH

and there is MORE.....


"She was aware suddenly that her heart, in general a very reliable organ, was behaving in a most alarming way"


and then....


"She had been attracted by his smile, but no smile, however fascinating it might be, could cause a cool-headed female of more than eight-and-twenty so wholly to lose her poise and her judgment that she felt she had met, in its owner, the embodiment of an ideal."




Abby is smart and resourceful with a winsome sense of humour; Miles just enough parts rakish and gentleman with a hidden fortune and a desperate need to win the heart of fair maiden ( and with a dash of sarcasm and a sardonic smile which screams Barney!) and the whole blasted thing is bloody enchanting.

Seriously.

I timed it out so I didn't gobble it wholly and spread over a few pints in the Distillery ( here in Toronto ) on a train ride for work, on the subway and before bed and, seriously chickadees, I am going to start again. From the top.


BECAUSE I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS BOOK!

It is precisely what this woman of eight-and-twenty ( who has fallen hard for a smile more than once, don't y'know) needs to subdue the January chill.


I am all aflutter...

and the best part.... THE CASTING!


why yes!


Jack Davenport as Miles Caverleigh. Won't he be divine?



( I realize this post has no real literary merit and I don't very much care... I have jelly beans aside me, a friday evening devoid of commitment and a heart full of love for a fictional man.... again)

new post: JD SALINGER

Dear world,

stop pretending you like ---or GET--- The Catcher in the Rye. Now that he's dead and there is no chance of him hovering Banquo-like over your shoulder as you pretend to hum harmoniously with his disembodied words--- you can tell the FRAKKIN' TRUTH

you don't like that book

you never liked that book

you don't understand that book

you admitted to saying "oh yes! I love that book!" just because you were afraid to admit you DIDN'T LIKE IT

( you now acknowledge that the aforementioned was a trend that caught on like wildfire after a view sardonically and dishonestly constructed to throw the literary world off forevermore. With banishments! and sneers! extensively expanding its popularity thereafter)


Yes, world, you can now admit ( as you will now find the courage to admit for another book you secretly despise ---that little ditty known as Ulysses by James Joyce) that you are befuddled and bedraggled and would rather read SIDNEY SHELDON because BY GOD! Sidney Sheldon is bad writing but at least you BLOODY UNDERSTAND WHAT'S GOING ON!...


and ... and ... furthermore....


not EVERYTHING needs to MAKE a BOLD statement on the HUMAN CONDITION



and your life doesn't need to be populated by a James Dean rebel named Holden.

nope.

you're moving on.


RIP Salinger. I hope all they find in that secret safe the media is all excited about is decade old Jelly Bellys.

TYNDALE TYNDALE HAS A NEW SITE!

I received an exciting email from our marketing friends at Tyndale yesterday informing me of the launch of a new website on February 1st! What a great start to the month.

Here are some of the features we can expect to see:

• A list of all Tyndale authors and their blogs, Facebook and Twitter accounts, etc.


• A place where you can share stories about Tyndale products that have had an effect on your life


• To celebrate the launch of this new site, Tyndale is giving away four books a day in the following categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Bibles, and Kids.

Cool, eh?

visit http://www.tyndale.com/ on February 1st ( or before---- why wait to check out their great books and catalogue? ) to learn and see more ( and win prizes)

huzzah!

Thicker than Blood by C.J. Darlington

rating: ***

publisher: Tyndale

First off, it is nice to kick off my return from a holiday hiatus from blogging with a new author.

Thicker Than Blood by C.J. Darlington smells of old books and promise and is a welcoming frosty January read.

I must admit I have been impressed with C.J. Darlington’s tenacity in promoting her book. She has used an author’s seemingly most valuable marketing resource ( the internet) to tweet, facebook and blog about her first novel.

Moreover, I was eager to read the book because Darlington had won a major first writing award from Tyndale House for it. I think that is incredible and I congratulate her on her meticulous work. You glean from her bio and from the book itself that this is a labour of love and interest that has been lulling around in Darlington’s mind for a long while.

Christy is overcoming an addiction to alcohol and addressing issues of loneliness and the abandonment of love when the unthinkable happens: her beloved job at an Antiquarian bookstore and her burgeoning friendship with co-worker Hunter is disrupted but the sinister doings of Vince, an old flame.

Christyfinds herself drawn back to her roots--- and in particular the sister she has not seen in years ----to try and patch together the fragments of a life she learns is still valued: as valued as the first edition Twains and Hemingways she finds at auction.

Overtly Christian and filled with themes of redemption and grace, Thicker Than Blood is a thesis on the power of family, God and change ….


I commend Darlington on her first-hand knowledge of the antiquarian book world. I found Hunter and Christy's forays into auctions and appraisals fascinating and Darlington’s fascination with the world was meted out in a true and sustained fashion throughout the novel.


There were a few “rookie”moments that trailed the book:

First, the shaky transition from Christy's story and life to May’s didn’t flow smoothly. Secondly, the dialogue at times seemed forced and stiff as if taken straight from a Writer’s How-To guide.

Finally, Darlington doesn’t have a convincing grasp of anything secular: possession, tumultuous relationships, alcoholism: these all seemed like inserted bits of research and were not naturally ingrained in the novel.

Darlington is proud of her home-schooled Christian heritage but in this rare fact a writer’s background adds a friction and strips some of the validity and natural fruition of some very importantly bold and over-arching themes.


I am in no way suggesting a writer become “method” in obtaining this sort of information--- but when it is forced it is something very noticeable and can detract from the book’s potential to slip into the secular realm.


I was so happy for the chance to review this book because Darlington’s personality and passion shine through: two things I grant great merit to when discovering an author for the first time.


The book was not pitch-perfect but it does show some great seeds of potential. I look forward to reading more from Darlington---especially if infused with her first-hand and erudite knowledge of the antiquarian book world.

I would very much like to thank C.J. Darlington for the opportunity to read her promising first novel.

Visit C.J. here; follow her updates on the Christian culture world at TitleTrakk and follow C.J. on twitter!

To Dance at the Palais Royale by Janet McNaughton

This book has been sitting on my shelf for years and I never picked it up. So, preparing for a bus ride to London for a long weekend, I tossed it in my bag and read it while waiting for the bus then finished it on the bus. It is a quick, lovely, languid read.

Aggie leaves her large family and domestic role as a housekeeper in Scotland to move to Canada in the late 1920s. Toronto's elite hanker after the idea of British and Scottish domestic workers and Aggie has no trouble securing a position in the Deer Park area of Toronto ( near St. Clair West and Yonge).

I live in Forest Hill ( very near where the Stockwood`s mansion would be fictionally set )and felt that I was transported back to a city I love in Aggie`s time. The streetcars rumbled, yes, but over tracks still primitive and new; Royal York on Front Street had not finished completion; Union Station ( which McNaughton describes as a hallowed, hollow cathedral ) stood loftily as the biggest building Aggie had ever seen and the mythical Sunnyside park near the harbour was filled with stands selling redhots; dance pavilions; mirth and merriment.

McNaughton spins us into a world of colour and prosperity in a booming post-war Canada. Aggie meets Rose, an indelible flapper; Rodney a posh Queens undergrad who shirks his father`s stock business to pursue history and Rachel, a domestic servant like herself sponsored by an upstanding man named Moshe: who saves her from the travesty of liquidation and hardship in pre-Nazi Poland.

This world: the markets and kiosks of Spadina when clashed with the ferries to Center Island; the upscale Rosedale mansions; luncheons at the King Edward and traipses around Eatons and Simpsons is a finely rendered friction.

McNaughton does well at painting the often invisible line between classes ( and the internal skepticism of jewish residents and other immigrants like Rachel) as Aggie weaves in and out with little more than a fancy dress and a few well-thought lies.

Having experienced all corners of bustling Toronto: prejudice, social injustice, women`s burgeoning roles, sexual awakening and a strengthening independence, she is able to carve her own world and leave her own stamp on the booming city: this includes meeting a wonderfully painted Newfoundlander named Will with a sing-song dialect and a lackadaisical way about him.

Each dialect from each of the worlds Aggie visits ( including her own Scotch dialect ) are perfect.

The story is brilliantly told and unfolds so subtly you are swept up in its simple beauty.

I heartily hope that McNaughton abandons the more stark and futuristic novels of her recent distopian fiction and returns to more yarns like this one.

Beautiful, historical, full of promise. Ending on a shrill, high note that even the lingering Stock Crash ( waiting around the corner like a tiger with teeth pried open ) can sever and mute.

WONDERFUL!

Highly recommended

death to KINDLE

Dear Bloggosphere,

on the occasion of the Kindle being available in Canada:


Books were invented to be read. READ THEM! Open them, smell them, hold them. Run your fingers along their spines. Give them as gifts, covet and cuddle and coddle them. ….

Books: the platform of imagination, theory, critique, thoughts-taking-form ………. All scintillatingly fit into one harmless little square of paper and ink; of smell and light.


BOOKS Are TANGIBLE! Make your reading experience tangible. Hold your book! Run your fingers on perforated pages; feel the glassy, glossy imprint of a sheen sheet between your fingers.


Or, alternatively, buy a piece of technology and download your words onto an unfeeling ipod. Who wants to curl up with a fireplace, a candle, a blanket and ….an ipod?


This holiday season buy your books from bookstores! Read books! … not files….

Save pdfs and the like for work and blogging and, you know, internet things…..


Books are for reading. Read them. Buy them.


You can’t fit an electric file into a stocking. …. ( perchance you can but not much fun, is it)


This Christmas BOYCOTT the Canadian Kindle, walk into your favourite bookstore and buy a real book.

Fire By Night by Lynn Austin

publisher: Bethany House

rating: ****

Fire By Night may be my favourite novel of the year. This is a big statement coming from a bibliophile, I know, but when I think of Lynn Austin’s works I think of how they differ from my usual run-of-the-mill reading and reviewing. Though the second in the Refiner's Fire Series: each tackling a different perspective (north, south, slave ) of the Civil War, it can be read as a stand-alone.


I usually look for expert characterization, deftly-woven plot, some humour, some sparkle, some originality: some historical what-have-you in my historicals; some carefully-planted mayhem in my murder mysteries; the books that make me giggle and clap and gasp at their brilliance ( I have said before, I am an effusive reader). Lynn Austin ignites all of these things.

What makes Lynn Austin special to me ( for special she is ) is the fact that her works hit me on a deeper, spiritual level.

This is not mere infatuated emotionalism: the kind I reserve for the books I love, love, love. Austin validates in an erudite and carefully plotted fashion the role and journey of any woman of faith

Reading a Lynn Austin book for me is empowering: spiritually, emotionally, personally.

When her profundities surge through the page I am not just rattled in my usual “La! Such brilliance fashion”; but rattled, rather, to the core.

If I am having an off-kilter moment, if I am grappling at some truth in relation to Christianity if I am feeling, what with all my passionate opinions and strict independence, like I do not fit the mold of the ideal Christian woman ---Lynn Austin makes it okay.

As aforementioned in previous blog entries, Austin’s greater thesis ( what strings each of her books though splayed through different historical periods together) is the role of women : in the church; in history; as part of God’s master plan.

And Austin allows us to find malleability in these roles. Rather than dictate: This! is the ideal or This! suits a woman to her greater purpose, she extends and stretches and validates whatever a Woman chooses ---as long as---- and here is the deliciously jubilant caveat--- as long as your role aligns with the Master’s.


I can think of no more wonderful and empowered subservience.

In Fire by Night, two very different women stretch the bounds of society’s constriction and find God’s plan in anomalous ways: Phoebe clads herself in male attire and joins the army; prim and society-bred Julia finds greater purpose in working as a nurse.

Romance is involved, yes, but only ordained if it enhances the already well-established independence of the woman.

For example, Julia’s eventual suitor loves the traits ( her outspokenness, her defiance, her scorn of all that is “ societally” approved” ) that her previous and erstwhile suitor Nathaniel disdained.

Both women make up two parts of a whole: both strengths ( decidedly different and yet interconnected) allow each to establish God’s purpose.


This is not feminism, nor equalism so much as God-driven purpose .


A woman, argues the novel, can be any role: be it domestic, a “man’s role”; a servant’s role as long as she is aligned with God.


One such instance has Julia questioning her burgeoning station away from her heritage and upbringing. Having oft-heard her fiancé Nathaniel’s talk of God’s purpose, she rallies with a truthful cry to the extent of a question: Can’t women hear God’s voice and follow His purpose too? In a male dominated society, entrenched in tradition and war, Julia and Phoebe are caught at the turning of the tide. No longer, argues Austin, will women be content to stay underappreciated in the household, not when circumstance has forced them out to the front and to hone the God-given skills they were made for.


I have underlined and highlighted numerous passages in Fire By Night and, though a historical novel, I feel it is surged with the message that I needed as a young and independent struggling to find what God wants: be it through the traditional structure afforded women --- or by blazing a path, not as severe as Phoebe’s place in war but just as important.


Austin sends a much-needed jolt when it is needed most . Her arguments are sound; her message pronounced and strong and the fact that she is a gorgeous writer heightens her validity.

Yes, this is a compulsively readable novel of romance, war, adventure and coming-of-age and self. Yes, it has mystery and wonder and heart-pulsing moments but, to me ,it is so much more: it is Austin’s medium for empowering women: for rallying a cry with the oft-forgotten message that ( to steal from “Though Waters Roar”, her latest book): “God never expects us to be anyone but ourselves.” Phoebe and Julia; dimensional and flawed are walking encapsulations of this: God never asks them to surrender who they are but embraces each flaw, validates them and appraises their purpose--- no matter how far stretched, no matter how improper, no matter how unexpected.


I encourage every one to find a Christian author who speaks to them in this way---- for you’ll soon realize ( as is so wonderful and such a jubilant anomaly in the trade) that they are being directed by a much higher purpose to propel you to what you might need to hear: be it through theology, fiction, letter, prose ….

blog? there's no time for blog!!!

I am too busy watching this over and over again.

( and yes, the dog is canon)

FUN FALL READS: a WaterBrook Blog Tour

Happy Fall!


Happy November!





Our friends at WaterBrook ( a company to which I am quite partial) have a great initiative for Christian Book Bloggers called Blogging for Books ! Great incentive! Great alliteration! Sign.Me.Up.



So, they sent me fun fall reads at a perfect time: just before two weeks of extensive travel across my great country where I spent meals and evenings wiling through the best and brightest of Christian chicklit:





Two Melody Carlsons = One Tamara Leigh= FALL.FUN.FUN.FALL.



First, off Leaving Carolina by Tamara Leigh:


Leaving Carolina is a colourfully spun charmer sure to delight chicklit fans. I must confess, my interest in the book was heightened by a character spotlight featured in Relz Reviews: wherein gardener Axel is compared to Russell Crowe in my favourite film, Master and Commander. One moment of Russell Crowe with a roguish queue a la Lucky Jack in the movie and I was willing to be whisked away.

The wonderfully alliterative Piper Pickwick is a top notch PR person in glamorous LA who shines at ironic out the wrinkly problems of the elite. Having shed pounds, half of her name ( she now goes by Wick) and her accent, Piper is reluctant to return home to unearth some seedy family secrets and come to the rescue of an aging uncle. Established and successful, these legal matters threaten to excavate a past she wants to stay buried.

Piper soon begins to see those around her in a different light, has more than one sparkly moment with the gardener and uncovers who she is and who God wants her to be.

Endearing moments, bittersweet recollections and a subtly blooming romance are sure to entertain.

A bright and breezy read which fans will find followed in Nowhere, Carolina .



Then:



What Matters Most: a Melody Carlson for the younger fry:



From The Editor:Sixteen-year-old Maya Stark has a lot to sort through. She could graduate from high school early if she wants to. She’s considering it, especially when popular cheerleader Vanessa Hartman decides to make her life miserable–and Maya’s ex-boyfriend Dominic gets the wrong idea about everything.To complicate matters even more, Maya’s mother will be released from prison soon, and she’ll want Maya to live with her again. That’s a disaster waiting to happen. And when Maya plays her dad’s old acoustic guitar in front of an audience, she discovers talents and opportunities she never expected. Faced with new options, Maya must choose between a “normal” life and a glamorous one. Ultimately, she has to figure out what matters most.


From Rachel: Maya was spunky, spirited and sounded quite a lot like teenagers her age. She struggles with self confidence, acceptance and, yes, boys but ultimately discovers grace and compassion.



And then:


Limelight Melody Carlson of a different generation. From Rachel:A Norma Desmond-esque story about wilted fame and beauty and uncovering truth inside. At times heartbreaking ( a once adored star abandoned by a willing throng and reduced to a home for the aged) and uplifting as our sassy heroine with spirit and vigour turns her heart inside out and replaces desperate nostalgia with current contentment.



Says the Editor: Claudette Fioré used to turn heads and break hearts. She relished the glamorous Hollywood lifestyle because she had what it takes: money, youth, fame, and above all, beauty. But age has withered that beauty, and a crooked accountant has taken her wealth, leaving the proud widow penniless and alone.Armed with stubbornness and sarcasm, Claudette returns to her shabby little hometown and her estranged sister. Slowly, she makes friends. She begins to see her old life in a new light. For the first time, Claudette Fioré questions her own values and finds herself wondering if it’s too late to change.



As the holiday season approaches, I am sure these titles will come in handy as stocking stuffers. Cross of a few avid readers on your list and pair them with a great book under the tree!



I would like to sincerely thank WaterBrook/Multnomah for sending review copies of the aforementioned.

BLOG TOUR: The Call of Zulina by Kay Marshall Strom

The Call of Zulina is the first in what promises to be an exhilarating series which unearths some of the darker parts of human history.

Drawing on an extensive and wide-reaching range of writing experience, Strom spins the story of Grace Winslow: a woman trapped between two worlds.

Grace’s lineage is a hybrid of royalty and slavery: her father a noted English sea-captain, her mother an African princess. Notes in the book inform us that this marriage is based on factual events.

From the beginning, Strom’s passion for the subject matter and erudite grasp of the culture, vernacular and atmosphere of Winslow’s time and circumstance flash across the page. Indeed, Strom’s work on the life of John Newton and her companion book for the famed William Wilberforce biopic “Amazing Grace” have allowed her the freedom to play with an established era in a satisfying fictional way.

I enjoyed Grace’s strength , courage and strong set of unwavering ideals in a time and place where black and white were often muddled into unsavoury, and unethical grey areas.

From the point when Grace’s beloved gazelle is murdered to impress a portly guest, Grace’s innocence is lost. In its stead rises a strong woman vehemently opposed to injustice.


This was a fresh and satisfying read with a healthy dose of verisimilitude. I felt quite engaged with all of the characters and enmeshed in the historical canvas painted for us.


I am happy to include an erudite interview Kay Marshall Strom participated in for this blog tour:

1. How did you come up with the storyline of The Call of Zulina?
While in West Africa working on another project, I toured an old slave fortress and was struck dumb by a set of baby manacles bolted to the wall. The characters of Lingongo and Joseph Winslow, Grace's parents, are modeled after real people who ran a slave business in Africa in the 1700s. I "met" them when I was researching Once Blind: The Life of John Newton, a biography of the slaver turned preacher and abolitionists, author of Amazing Grace. The more I thought about them, the more I wondered, "If they'd had a daughter, who would she be? Where would her loyalties lie?"


2. What inspired you to write a book so entrenched with uncomfortable issues?
I used to think that non-fiction was the meat and potatoes of writing and fiction was the chocolate mousse dessert... fun, but not of much value. But I've come to understand that truths can be revealed through fiction just as powerfully as through non-fiction. Sometimes, more so! The fact is, for so long we have tried to look away and pretend that this horrible chapter in history never happened. But it did, and we still feel the effects today. Moreover, the roots of slavery--hunger for power and money, fear and diminishment of people unlike ourselves, and humanity's endless ability to rationalize evil actions--abound today. The time seemed right.

3. How have your travels around the world equipped you for writing such a historical novel?
People ask me where my passion for issues such as modern day slavery come from. To a large degree it is from the things I have seen and heard on my numerous trips to India, African countries, Cambodia, Nepal, Indonesia, and other places around the world.

4. Tell us a personal story regarding modern day slavery.
A most pervasive type of slavery is what is known as bonded servitude, where entire poor families are bound into virtual slavery--sometimes for generations--because of a small debt. This is especially common in India. I visited a village in central India where the women had been freed from bondage and set up with a micro loan that allowed them to raise a small herd of dairy cows. They worked so hard and saved every rupee. When they had enough saved, they persuaded a young teacher to come and start a school for their children. Then they used further profits to make low interest loans to others in the area so they could start their own businesses, too--a little bank. I sat in a circle with the five women who made up the "board of directors." Only one could read and write. I asked, "How will the next generation be different because of what you have done?" They said, "No more will be like us. When people look us, they see nothing. But when they look at our children, they see real human beings with value."
From invisible slaves to human beings... all in one generation!

5. Grace, the lead character in The Call of Zulina, forsakes all to escape the slavery of her parents and an arranged marriage.How common is this scenerio today in other countries?
Horrifyingly common. Slavery today takes many forms. According to UNICEF's more conservative count, there are about 12 million people living as slaves today--three times as many as in the days of the African slave trade. As for child arranged marriages, I have talked to girls "enslaved" to husbands in many countries. Examples include a girl in Nepal married at 9 to a middle-aged man, one in India married at 11, a 13-year-old in Egypt married to a man older than her father. I've seen it in Africa, Eastern Europe... so many places!

6. What about in America, are there slavery and trafficking issues here?
Unfortunately, there are. The U.S. State Department estimates between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the Untied States each year, although it concedes that the real number is actually far higher. And it's not just states like New York and California that are affected, either. According to the U.S. Justice Department's head of the new human trafficking unit, there is now at least one case of trafficking in every state.

7. You've had 36 books published, and more written and contracted for future release. How has this one impacted your own life?
Some books report, some tell stories. This book has torn my heart.

8. Briefly tell us about the next two books in this Grace in Africa trilogy.
In Book 2, Grace watches her reconstructed life smashed by slavers and revenge, and she is forcibly taken to London. There she faces a new kind of tyranny and another fight for freedom... and for her husband, who is enslaved in America.

Book 3 is set in the new United States of America, in the heart of the slavery. It is a story of slavery at it's worst and redemption at its best.


What Can Concerned Citizens Do to Raise Awareness?

Find out all you can about Modern Day Slavery: then watch for chances to pass on what you have learned.
Write to your elected officials: Petition them to place a high priority on enforcing anti-slavery laws and to put pressure on countries that tolerate forced labor or human trafficking.
Buy Fair Trade products: Fair trade provides a sustainable model of international trade based on economic justice. To find out more, see http://www.fairtrade.net/ .
Support organizations that are in a position to make a difference. When you find an one that is doing a good job on the front lines, contribute to their cause so they can continue on.
Be willing to step into the gap. If you suspect someone is being held against his or her will, call the Department of Justice hotline: 1-888-428-7581. Or you can call 911.


My thanks to KCW Communications for the opportunity to participate in this worthy tour and discover a fantastic new author.

I cannot wait for book two!

->visit Kay Marshall Strom here

-> purchase your own copy of The Call of Zulina

-> read my previous entry about William Wilberforce

A Victorian Christmas by Catherine Palmer

rating:***
publisher: Tyndale


It's a little early, yes, but when Tyndale sent me this copy for review, I was eager to get started. You see, I am quite excited about Christmas: ALL YEAR ROUND! I love the music, the ambience and the glittery feeling you get. Pair my favourite holiday with my favourite period of history and you have a winning combination.

Here, noted Christian novelist and Christy-award winning Catherine Palmer has provided her readership with a glimpse into the lives of very different women who experience Christmas in decidedly different ways. Palmer delves into issues of social class and the restrictions placed upon women victim to a conservative structure, to spin a tale of determined women who find hope, love and often independence at Christmas time.


I most appreciated the first two stories. The first Angel in the Attic spotlights a winning and spunky heroine who is just as comfortable with her rifle as she is planning the annual Christmas tea for the local orphans. When a mysterious stranger shows up, Fara raises her guard but secrets will be revealed and her truest strength will get a chance to shine.

Fara is my kind of woman and certainly an oddity in the usual mix of Christian heroines who subscribe to the "angel of the hearth ideal" ( as befits the Victorian Era, ironically).

The second story is a love story not constricted by social bounds, Star is an endearingly vulnerable newcomer to the taut English Society of a high-brow manor. Promised to marry as a pawn to secure a symbiotic business deal in the best interest of her father and his English counterpart, Star doesn't count on falling in love with her intended's brother.

I read most of the stories during some train travel over the past few weeks and I was utterly delighted!

Consider these stories as the perfect stocking stuffer! Or treat yourself---coupled with a steaming cup of candy cane hot chocolate, you will relish the transport into a simpler time.


Kudos to Palmer for embroidering a perfectly Victorian atmosphere and peppering her snow-globe world with bright, resourceful heroines and dashing suitors at turn in top hats and cowboy boots.






Don't just take my word for it, here is another review

Dreaming Anastasia or I Dreamed This Anastasia would be a lot better than it was

Dreaming Anastasia was given a great marketing campaign from SourceBooks in the form of a rampant blog tour which infiltrated my google reader for the course of a few days.

Courtney and I did one of our book swaps at Word on the Street, I was pleased to steal off with this one. I was in the mood for some Romanovs and I always hanker after enchanting stories about the lost Duchess.

Unfortunately, my appetite was not whet. At all.

Now, you all know my favourite thing to do is gush about books. I love finding books that I can talk non-stop about for days. Advertise. Coddle. Adore.

Every once in awhile, a book comes along that frustrates me. This one did.

I wasn’t in the mood for slipshod writing, convoluted perspectives, wooden dialogue and a heroine who was not so much endearingly vulnerable as not-so-bright.

The book just doesn’t work. I applaud Preble for her renaissance of a subject a lot of YA readers would easily jump on a bandwagon for: the Anastasia legend is embedded in intrigue, mysticism and romance and, with that platform, competent and imaginative writers can spin many a lustrous web.

Unfortunately, this web was tangled. Too tangled.

Anne is a lithe ballerina and typical high school girl who is still grieving the loss of her brother while trying to come to terms with a new and eerie presence at school ( the brooding Ethan: trying so hard to be Edward Cullen it made my eye twitch), midterms, ballet class and dreams about a Russian duchess.

That’s right: the lost Duchess is alive and well and infiltrating Anne’s dreams.


Intermixed with this oft confusing and bordering on sheer ridiculous tale we have infusions of Anastasia’s letters. Now this is not at all the author’s fault, but, in ephemera-gone-bad, Anastasia’s “cursive” is nearly illegible in print and I had to squint ( with reading glasses on) to decipher this code.


Far be it for me to stomp on a first novelist. I know, I KNOW how difficult writing intriguing and different YA can be --- especially when infused with history and I applaud Joy Preble ( a high school teacher, at that) for her creativity.

It just doesn’t work. Perhaps if all of the different patterns had been sewn in a different quilt….


The problem is I read a lot ( hundreds ) of YA books a year and I like finding those that fit into my handful of “DROP EVERYTHING AND READ!”

I ended up looking up from the last page while reading on the subway this morning thinking: “I just don’t have time for this.”

In trying to be original and at the same time appealing to the Twilight-audience, Preble has set out to unravel a gorgeous and illustrious facet of history and, ironically, fashioned herself a cliché.

This doesn't mean I won't try Joy Preble out again in the future: she HAS potential.

Piece de Resistance by Sandra Byrd

I have been traveling quite a bit for work these past few weeks and I am currently writing this review on a train home from Montreal: a city closely linked to Lexi Stuart of Sandra Byrd's series about a dedicated pastry chef torn between fulfilling her dream; coming into her own and choosing the right path---and man--- for her all while growing closer to God and re-discovering powerful friendships in a church context.

The Montreal strand: Lexi studied French in Montreal and all things French--specifically Parisienne ---infuse Byrd's tasty confections of novels.

In fact, I am surprised I didn't gain weight just reading about all of the gourmet delights Lexi concocts at a new Seattle bakery where she is at the helm: creating pitch perfect recipes for weddings and corporate events.

Following her stint in Paris in Bon Appetit, Lexi is State-side once more and with the new addition of handsome Philippe and his daughter, Lexi is caught between her developing feelings for the Frenchman and her long-standing relationship with Dan ( the lawyer who wears suspenders, as my friend Jessica and I refer to him).

I love the suspenders. I love the lawyer. But, Byrd keeps us guessing ( as she has throughout the entire trilogy) who Lexi will end up with in the end. I was very excited to see the outcome as I was strung along in the story and the pages kept flying in my anticipation!

This is a frothy book perfect for an autumn afternoon wiling away in your favourite coffeeshop, a favourite piece of carrot cake by your elbow. In fact, even though situated as the third (and final ) in the series, I don't think you need to have read the previous two books to capture Lexi's life and dilemmas of career and faith. Byrd does well in relaying any and all vital information from the book's predecessors and this can definitely factor as a standalone novel.

I heartily recommend this delicacy: a perfect piece of escapism as tasty as Lexi's renowned caramel latte cake.

I have two small nitpicks with the novel that I would be remiss not to mention ( for you know my penchant for honesty in reviews). As in the previous two novels, I was bogged down by the ephemera which informs major events in Lexi's life: emails, text messages, invitations, etc., I found these extraneous and detracted from the action at hand.

Next ( and this is a very small nitpick and you can shake your finger at me for my pickiness ), Lexi studied French in Montreal yet the author never once differentiates the fact that Quebecois French and Parisienne French are almost foreign to each other. I am probably only writing this because, as aforementioned, I am just returning from a stint in Montreal and it is fresh in my brain. The insertion of french words here and there did not help to create a valid ambience so much as tamper the flow of Byrd's competent rom-com prose.

But enough nitpicking, I was absolutely delighted to return from a work trip last week and be greeted by a signed copy by the author with a delicious recipe card tucked inside. I felt like Lexi had crept into my apartment!

For this, I would like to thank Sandra Byrd for the copy and invite you to visit her website where you can interact with this best-selling WaterBrook author.

I also enjoy engaging with Sandra on facebook!

I added Sandra Byrd to my roster of must-read Christian chicklits back when I read Let them Eat Cake and I eagerly await where she'll take us next.

Sylvanus Now by Donna Morrissey

Donna Morrissey is a goddess. Just so you all know. She is a CanLit goddess.

I love her.

I thought I loved her when I read Kit's Law and I thought I loved her when I read Downhill Chance but, woe, I was so young and naiive in my love and it took my recent reading of Sylvanus Now for my love to come full circle and for me to fully realize the power of Morrissey's craft.

Oh Rachel-of-yesteryear--- you were so young, you merely appreciated her taut page turners---- her compulsively readable yarns of familial saga;of the scope of Newfoundland: of relationships tested and tossed ( like the waves she speaks so proudly of).

You could not, dear Rachel, have anticipated the gut-wrenching; heart-breaking; mind-numbing-palm-sweaty-and-eyes-watering-and-brain-reeling-sheer-POWER of Sylvanus Now.

I latched onto every sentence for dear life.

Funny, I was looking for a book to take on the plane with me leaving St. John's last weekend. I had read all of the books I had with me because when I travel alone I always bring a book with me for when I eat out. I ploughed through all I had.

In the airport bookstore, I knew I wanted something from Newfoundland and there it was: a compact mass market ready to be read.

I loved Sylvanus Now. Loved every heart-wrenching page. I loved that it made me perspire with anticipation: made me actually taste the bile and salt young Addie encounters in her treacherous work with the "flakes."

In fact, the story of fishermen and fisheries ----specificially one fisherman and his trapped wife---were a representation of the changing way of life. After the Second World War with large international vessels populating and ravaging the waters surrounding Newfoundland, residents of the outports were forced into a world crass and new. Gone were the days of slaving only to the Mother ( the great ocean whose bountiful fruit provided industry and survival in primitive form); gone the oral tales and the language of sea and sky; of living from the land for the land; of appreciating a culture and tradition dating back centuries.

The world sped up and swept Sylvanus, a proud fisherman, and all of the outport men of his ilk with it.

I was thoroughly outraged by what was presented in the novel. Outraged that somehow the sea became free reign for modernization; machination; crude infiltration of factories and technology to rid the water of what Sylvanus and his family had carefully wrought for generations.

The Mother becomes less and less fruitful as Sylvanus' skiff bopped over waves once plentiful of food and promise and the sea foam became a haunting, watery grave for bloated fish carcasses: an emblem of man's extremes.

As a paradox, Sylvanus' proud wife Addie suffers numerous stillbirths: almost as if the glassy water surrounding the port is offering a mirror in which her plight is reflected.

A powerful and gripping story of love and loss.

As turbulent as Sylvanus' relationship with the sea and the new factory-life sprouting around the province, so is his relationship with his beloved Adelaide.

Their courtship is tame and lovely: a young fisherman who has worked endless hours to buy a suit: (who, because of this revered garment, is hired to stand in at weddings and funerals to loan respectability) in order to woo and marry a girl pursues her and attempts to show her the poetry in the region she disdains: beauty and promise and a house of her own in a region she longs to leave for a life as a missionary.

Sylvanus watches the seemingly haughty Addie at a party one night; her lithe frame erect, her nose stuck in the air. Sylvanus spends the entirety of the novel attempting to make good on his promise to provide her everything she needs. Addie accepts and, though the two rift at cross-purposes throughout the novel, there persistence and stamina reminded me of the locals who will not be moved by industry or modernization.

This novel has such a huge scope it is hard to condense and compartmentalize it here for you.

All you need to know is that I recommend it ever so highly. I loved each page and held on for dear life.

I finished it the day I started and, though somewhat emotionally distressed, was better for the profound experience.

Donna Morrissey: I love you! Damn! You can write a book.

The pages flew through my fingertips.

New Pet Project please

My friends know that without a book "pet" project that I can cultivate and not utter a sentence without recommending, I wither up and die inside.

I am a bookseller: inadvertently in my current job; during my university job; on this here book blog ( and at my Christian book blog ) and every day in most every conversation.

I am a bibliophile and a compulsive bookseller. On facebook, on twitter, I really cannot fathom a world where I am not talking books.

Sometimes I narrow my focus to dedicate time to a particular author or book. I usually have some unwritten qualifiers for my casual "pet projects."

In fact, I was not always cognizant that these were my pet projects but now I deduce standard criteria based on a string of past experience.

First, the author or book in question must be Canadian ( or past Canadian or almost Canadian). I discovered a new word today, canaphile, and I mean to put it to good use. I love my country. So should you.

Secondly, the author or the book can be recognizable but not necessary popular. I have an odd relationship with popular things or things that are two easily noticeable, I like to feel with "pet projects" that I have a bit of a handprint; that I have the ability to recommend something others may never have stumbled across.

Thirdly ( and this is very important as I distinguish my roster of favourite authors and books), the author's personality must complete the work. Books that have no spark of an author's personality are a waste of time and not nearly as fun to read.

(I interrupt this blog post from my hotel in St. John's to inform you that RH Thomson is in a really terrible television movie and I love RH Thomson and need to point him out)

For meeting all of the aforementioned guidelines, pet projects have included Maureen Jennings ( most often her Detective Murdoch series); Arthur Slade ( for Megiddo's Shadow and Dust but mostly in recent years for JOLTED!!!!) and CC Humphreys ( only for Jack Absolute although I did once sell five copies of the French Executioner in an hour) and Lynn Austin ( a Christian writer who I try to infiltrate into the secular market--- a tricky balance, indeed)

Problem is, I need a new pet project. I am actively searching. You now know my qualifiers. Anyone have any hints? I sell. I SELL a lot: in stores I don't work at ( I no longer work in book retail although the way I talk about it you might think I do); to friends; on my blog; on facebook.... just all the time. Every day.

I have a long track record here and LOVE to recommend books. LOVE!

please forward suggestions.

Who are your pet book projects? I might end up discovering some book I might never have rubbed shoulders with otherwise.

NOTE: the book I handsold the most of was definitely "Deafening" by Frances Itani; but it was really popular and a Canada Reads selection so not one of my select few.

Jess and Rachel Talk Books: the Classics Edition

Hey kids, hello from BLUSTERY windy and rainy St. John's Newfoundland where I am at a conference for work and surrounded by dozens of delicious books.

I also found a fantastic used bookstore here: complete with a Michael Crummey display. Yes, Newfoundland is proud of Mr. Crummey, as well they should be.

note ( on a very superficial level which rescinds any dwindling respectability I might have had): I think Michael Crummey is Canada's cutest author. The end.


Remember when Jess and I talked Horatio Lyle and how much fun that was?

Well everyone's favourite Coloradonian ( is that even a word) and yours truly are going to talk CLASSICS! Look for me in italics and Jess in bold ( for she is boldly beautiful )....


Jess, what is your favourite “Classic” book? ( from any era, just one widely-regarded as “classic”)

I’m going to give you two. I’m a cheater like that.

As a kid, one of my favorite books was Matilda by Roald Dahl. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I read that book. It’s been a while since I re-visited it, but I look forward to my chance to sit down with it again someday soon and experience the magic and delight.

Okay, I’m going to cheat even more and give you three, because I also read The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell about 8 billion times as a girl. What I loved about both of these books was the strong, smart girl protagonists who have to take care of themselves – and do. Matilda is smarter than pretty much everyone everywhere, and manages to defeat the evil adults so that she can live with her beloved teacher, Miss Honey. Also, she’s telekinetic. Which is just awesome. Karana lives on the island all by herself for years, finding food, hiding from hunters. Her story is sad and lonely, but she finds peace and contentment in her life, and isn’t so much rescued as much as she chooses to leave.

I now feel the overwhelming need to re-read both of these.

My “grown-up” favorite classic novel is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I read this for the first time in high school, and it’s the book that truly sparked my love for literature. Because if Rebecca was this awesome, how good must most of the other previously-considered-boring classic novels be? Rebecca is a gothic mystery that’s as close as one can come to a ghost story without actually having any ghosts. The narrator never tells us her first name, and no one ever uses it. She is simply Mrs. de Winter, living always in shadow of the previous Mrs. de Winter, the beautiful, beloved Rebecca. Rebecca haunts the narrator, making her miserable, as she knows she can never measure up. But then she starts to discover the truth about Rebecca, and with it, the truth about herself. It’s creepy and atmospheric, and it’s been far too long since I read it. October’s a good month for gothic, isn’t it?


Like you, I love “autumny” books which make me think of sitting in my cozy living room in orillia, staring out at the street: the tarmac all slick and sparkly under the streetlamps from a chilled fall rain, the leaves rustling and everything shadows. I LOVE THE FALL.

It’s funny that your connection with Rebecca prompted you to seek further classics because that is the story I associate with Les Miserables: the book that propelled my love of literature. I threw down my copy of whatever generic Fear Street book I was reading deciding that I already knew how it was going to end, asked my dad to take me to our Coles store and picked up Les Miserables. I was 13. I loved it! Every moment. It’s a gargantuan book but it is made up of so many different infinitesimal worlds. You can almost go through and just pick a strand of story: a sort of choose-your-own-adventure.

(Brief interruption: Fear Street books! Ha! I think I read three of those and then gave up. Ah, memories. Also, I have never read Les Miserables because I am the saddest excuse for an English major there is.)

I cannot say I ever enjoyed Roald Dahl because I found him rather creepy and depressing. I read Island of the Blue Dolphins, though, and I concur: it has strong female protagonists. And, when you think about the state of YA and teen fiction published ‘round O’Dell’s time and the limitations of genre, it is rather remarkable that that book was so daring and unique. There is far more published now for the demographic and I hope that classics like that don’t get squandered by PARANORMAL URBAN FANTASY!

I love Rebecca. I think it has one of the most haunting opening lines I have ever heard. I also really liked the Hitchcock film. Rebecca is so much more than your typical gothic romance. It really speaks to a woman usurped by her husband’s status, who is nothing more than wife, who is victim to narrate a story that is another woman’s and not quite her own. Mrs. DeWinter. The females prey to Max’s charm subsequently are reduced to no more than a name stemming from his identity.

This is why you’re the one with the book blog. You talk about this things so much more eloquently than I. I’m just sitting over here shouting, “Yes! YES!” to everything you’ve said.

That is a very haunting book. Makes me think of Jane Eyre.

Funny, your classic books are 20th Century: two YA books and a mid-20th Century classic whereas mine are Victorian. Because, my developing mind was circumferenced by the 19th Century: there were no classics before or after, or so thought my 15 year old brain. So, classics included Les Miserables, Great Expectations and Villette by Charlotte Bronte. As well as the Sherlock Holmes books. From there, of course, I expanded, starting with the A’s ( for Austen, notably) and moving forward.

Thoroughly Modern Millie. That’s me.

What classic do you loathe?

Wuthering Heights! Urg. I do not understand how Heathcliff and Cathy have become these great romantic characters. They’re awful. I hated them.

Robinson Crusoe and The Last of the Mohicans were both torturously dull. Never again will I read Daniel Defoe or James Fenimore Cooper. Though, I will read Mark Twain making fun of James Fenimore Cooper anytime.

Oh Alatriste! Who cares if every one of your five (so far) novels are exactly the same ?

I love Captain Alatriste! And I loved The Cavalier in the Yellow Doublet

I love Alatriste: I love his low-brimmed hat and his black boots and his long moustache and the fact that he broods and broods and glares at us with steely grey eyes and then broods again.

And I love the fact that every Alatriste novel set in Madrid is exactly the same ( The Sun Over Breda and The King's Gold had some fun battle scenes and ships and pirates and treasure and stuff.... ) except when Inigo almost gets swallowed up by the Spanish Inquisition in Purity of Blood but with that slight hiccup its all the same.

I LOVE these books. In fact, Alatriste ----actually Alatriste's Madrid--- what with its cobblestones and lanterns and taverns and poets and theatre and carriages and equal parts squalour and lavish riches--- have made Spain ( after Vienna, Austria) my most foreseeable future trip.

I gotta hand it to Perez-Reverte for sheer atmosphere. Our guide, Inigo Balboa, page to the elusive Alatriste, is looking back on his life as the famous sword-for-hire's page and like the legend-in-making is as close to the Spanish lore he embroiders with his snippets of verse and poem; of theatre; of Cervantes.

So much Cervantes.

Perez-Reverte crafts an homage to Spain. He makes it grand. Alatriste paints it grand. Inigo gives us the insider scoop on how it is grand.

This is unabashed patriotism here, kids, all over the place, dripping from the rooftop of the Inn of the Turk ( where Alatriste and Inigo take rooms) through the countless barrels of wine to the blood-soaked alleyways bereft of Alatriste's recent swordthrust.

Like all of the novels in the series, The Cavalier in the Yellow Doublet is all swordplay and tawdry romance and epic conspiracy: this time-- with regicide.

I seem to always be reading Alatriste on a plane somewhere: which is magnificent because I have a bit of a fear of heights and like to get wholly engrossed in a yarn before take off so that I don't look up from my book.

My first two Alatristes were consumed on a trip to the Maritimes; The King's Gold en route to New York City and today en route to St John's Newfoundland where I am here for work, my dreary eyes didn't abhor the early morning flight ---instead they were countered with a venti latte ( triple shot, dear god yes!) and another round of Alatriste.

If you haven't read them yet and have a penchant for historical fiction --- or just need some sweeping swashbuckling from a dazzlingly romantic era of trickery and derring-do, then get yourself some Perez-Reverte. But, a caveat, they always take forever to be translated into English and I tap my fingernails forever until the next installment is tossed my way.

Two BIG Rachel Thumbs Up