The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

The Imperfectionists is a collection of short stories about a set of characters working at an English language newspaper in Rome.  Some book club members disliked the jumping around among characters, and would have preferred a more linear plot with developing characters.  Others enjoyed it, citing the excellent character studies and easily readable sections.  The perfect one chapter before bedtime book!  It is like a Robert Altman movie, with the connections between all the various characters slowly revealed.  One thing it is not particularly about, though, is Rome!  The Italian setting didn't figure very heavily in the story at all.  The book lead to interesting discussions about the impending digital age and what it will mean for newspapers and books.  A good read, although some felt there could have been at least one functional happy relationship!

The Cellist of Sarajevo

After a summer reading things my book club wouldn't enjoy (fantasy, young adult, and then some young adult fantasy!)  we're back together again for the fall.  Our first choice was The Cellist of Sarajevo by  Steven Galloway. Not a happy story, but a happy choice in that it got us talking.  There are three fictional narratives by people living through the Yugoslav war in the 1990s.  Each of the characters react in different ways to a cellist who decides to play in the street to commemorate people killed in a bomb.  We felt that the story was accessible, easy to read, and gave us a first person idea of what it would be like to live in a war zone.  The theme of the redemption of art resonated with the group.  Sad, but highly recommended.

The happy comfort of listening to someone read aloud

I have a cold.  Therefore I want comfort- waffles and stories that don't make me think too hard.  When I was a child that meant the structured stories of the Bobbsey Twins and Famous 5.  They were a  fun escape into an entertaining and reassuring alternate world.   When I was little I had my mother stirring the bubbles out of ginger ale and reading to me  from Enid Blyton.  Now I have Flavia de Luce on my iPod.  (and my mother brings over cupcakes!)

Flavia is the 11 year old aspiring English chemist that I've mentioned before.  Her first adventure is in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.  This weekend I listened to Jayne Entwistle read the second novel The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag.  It was exactly what the doctor ordered.  An amusing character working through the plot metholdically like Agatha Christie.  When I fell asleep for a section, it didn't even matter.  I just kept on listening, secure in my knowledge that Flavia would triumph!

My friend B.T. is of the opinion that Flavia would not make a great choice for a book club because there isn't much content for discussion.  But Flavia is a perfect companion to distract one through a cold or while away some summer hours in a lawn chair.

A happy and difficult and rewarding novel

In looking for new books for this blog, I placed holds at the library randomly on novels with the subject of happiness. A most incredible book was caught in this random net. Generosity: An Enhancement by Richard Powers is a fantastic and difficult read. It’s a multi layered story of Thassa Amzwadit, an Algerian immigrant with hyperthermia, a genetic disposition to happiness. She meets an unhappy writer, a psychologist, a journalist, and a genomicist. All these well realized characters are swirled into a chain of events as Thassa’s genes are studied and made public.


The plot, however, does not unfurl easily. It's layered with heavy debates about ethics, media, and the writing process. The author interjects with comments on how the story is going. The language is difficult and poetic. I had to read this slowly in order to digest the complex ideas. I found it a compelling and rich commentary on society’s obsessions and the direction science and industry are heading. If you liked The Elegance of the Hedgehog or Corrections by Jonathan Franzen you might find this book a treasure as I did.

Butterfly triggers memories

We chose to read Butterfly by Sonya Hartnett based on good reviews, and didn’t realize it was a young adult novel. It’s a well crafted story of 13 year old Plum living in Australia in 1980. She is lonely and angry and worships her two older brothers. Having difficulty socially at school, she makes friends with a young mother living next door.


Hartnett poetically conveys the isolation of being a teenager. This novel threw me back into the anxiety that was high school. Hartnett has skillfully balanced the elements of a novel. There is a solid plot for those who like a compelling story. The characters are vivid and memorable. The language is rich and evocative for those who enjoy the sounds, images, and rhythms of the words.

Most of my book club enjoyed this choice. There was some debate about whether the ending was appropriate for teens. I should point out that Butterfly does not qualify as a “happy” book in either the characters or plot, but that book clubs will be happy with this evocative, short and interesting read.

Happy driving

It's good to have something loose, light, and episodic to listen to in the car.  Tina Fey's Bossypants fills the need with humour and honesty.  A string of anecdotes about the comic writer's life, it's the perfect driving companion.  With a denser story, I sometimes concentrate so hard on memorizing the characters' names or plot twists that I miss my turn.  Suddenly I am the outskirts of the city wondering where my library went!

Underneath the jokes about Tina's life, there's a continuing thread of feminism.  Tina was the first female head writer at Saturday Night Live.  She discusses her SNL sketches about Sarah Palin, and how the media reacts to powerful women.  Then she details her life as the boss at the TV show "30 Rock."  She also addresses the being a mom vs. being a worker conundrum.

I wouldn't recommend this for my book club since it's more a series of jokes than a well written story.  However, as a bookcd it made me laugh.  It's HAPPY, so it deserves a spot on this blog (and in your car).

Venice remembered

A friend reminded me of a novel I happily gobbled up a couple of summers ago. I figure any novelist who picks Venice as her locale is inspired to begin with. Sarah Dunant brings the city alive In the Company of the Courtesan. Fiammetta is the determined and clever courtesan of the title, escaping tragedy in Rome in 1527. Her company is Bucino, a devoted and equally intelligent servant. He is also a dwarf deeply in love with his employer. This novel was a one day, no stop, eat toast for dinner summer blowout.

Three Cups of Tea (more or less!)

My book club read Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson just as a controversy erupted over this nonfiction story.  A Sixty Minutes documentary accused the fundraiser author of misrepresenting the facts and financial wrongdoing.  It led to an engaging discussion on the nature of heroism. 

The autobiography tells the story of how nurse/mountain climber Greg got lost climbing down the mountain K2 in Pakistan.  In thanks to the local people that rescued him, he promised to return and build them a school.  His seat of the pants planning and dogged persistence are charming.  The writing, however, is not so skilled, but passable.

Despite the controversy, everyone in the club enjoyed the book except me, who found it a bit too banal and predictable.  Maybe I should rename myself the grumpy librarian!

Two easy reads that are popular choices

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This first novel has been flying off the shelves of the library where I work.  It's the story of two black maids and an aspiring white writer in Missisippi in the early 1960's.  It's a likable and easy read.  There have been better novels on the topic, but this approach brings it to a wide audience. Segregation lite!  Interest peaked in the summer of 2009, but will rise again as a movie is due out in August 2011.

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
This is a non fiction self help book about a yearlong program to find more happiness.  Self help books generally make me cringe, but this one is appealing for several reasons.  One is that the author once wrote a spoof on self help books.  Two is that many women share the mania for self improvement programs, myself included, and this tackles the impulse with humour, credible research, and great quotes.  My favourite is, "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good."

If you like Oprah Winfrey, you will like these two books!

Audrey and Winnifred, 2 favourite characters

One of the funniest scenes I’ve read in years happens at the beginning of Come thou tortoise by Jessica Grant. Our heroine Audrey is a well meaning, mentally challenged young woman flying back to St. John’s, Newfoundland to see her injured father. Audrey is suspicious of a passenger who is reading a Shirley Maclaine book. Then she notices that he has a gun. Audrey disarms the man and locks herself in the bathroom. It is the Air Marshall’s bad luck to run into such a formidable opponent!


This novel reminds me of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon. An offbeat narrator with a persistent nature and unique way of looking at the world solves a mystery. The second intriguing voice in this book is Winnifred, the tortoise from the title. Winnifred is Audrey’s pet, and fills the reader in on all the important points that Audrey neglects to mention. We recommend this book to people who like zany families like the ones you find in Miriam Toew’s novels.

One Chrysanthemum

Reading about Japan in the news, I remembered the novel One Chrysanthemum by Joan Itoh Burk.  We read it several years ago in book club, but the characters remain vivid in my mind.  It's Tokyo in 1965, and Misako is married to Hideo.  Misako discovers her husband's infidelity, and must decide what she's going to do.  Her grandfather, a Buddhist priest, represents the past, and a Westernized childhood friend Sachiko represents a changing Japan.  I remember the details that reveal the culture as much as the story itself.

Perhaps it comes from reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog.  Perhaps it comes from going to buy a simple watch, and being confronted with rows and rows of big, glittery brand name products.  Perhaps it comes from looking at Japanese art.  In any case, after years of reading "Western" novels where it's all about characters asserting their individuality, this novel is an interesting counterpoint.

Half-Broke Horses

Last night we met to discuss Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls, and it triggered many stories about our grandmothers.  This easy read is like Little House on the Prairie for grownups.  Walls calls it a true life novel because it is the fictionalized story of her grandmother Lily.  Born in 1901 on a ranch in Texas, the adjective "hardscrabble" pops to mind to describe Lily's life.  For example, at 15, she rides her horse Patches alone 500 miles north to teach in a one room school house.  Lively antiquated words fill Lily's monologue, like when she calls her first husband a "crumb bumb."  She dispenses a lot of no nonsense philosophy such as the "most important thing in life is learning to fall."  This is a lively read about an interesting character.  Half-Broke Horses is a kind of prequel to the bestseller Glass Castle, which tells the story of Jeannette's own difficult childhood with Lily's daughter, who was her mother. 

Hedgehog's prickly delight

Once again, I'm pushing the boundaries of "happy" choices with this suggestion, but my book club all enjoyed The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.  There is loss in this story to be sure, but the theme is that art, friendship, and French pastries make it all worthwhile.  You will need both a dictionary and kleenex to finish this translation of a French bestseller.

Hedgehog tells two stories.  Paloma is an intelligent, wealthy, and depressed twelve year considering suicide.  Renee is the reclusive landlady in Paloma's Parisian apartment.  Renee pretends to be stupid, but secretly spends her days consuming art, literature, philosophy and music.  The story alternates between the two interesting characters as they ponder the meaning of their lives and become friends. 

Calgary Public Libary has an excellent audio version of the story with two fine actresses reading the alternating parts.  Using the Overdrive service, you can download the story onto your iPod.  My house was never cleaner than when I tidied while listening- I didn't want to stop!