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!