I've been traveling for the past weekend, visiting family back east. Lots of adventures for my first flights in two years. On my return trip, the first leg got delayed for 3 hours and it screwed up the rest of my connections. But it all worked out in the end; I got home at 4 pm instead of 1 pm. I had a nice time visiting with family but it's always nice to get home.
While I was away I visited a couple of book stores; the Book Bazaar in Ottawa and Allison the Bookman in North Bay. I managed to find a few books while I was away. I also got some in the mail. Besides that I had I got some books from my connection with the Little Free Library group. They had an arrangement with the Giller Prize and the first 500 people who put their names in got copies of the books of the 5 finalists. So I'm swimming in books at the moment. I'll do a post to highlight all of my new books. While I was away I finished two books so I'll also provide my reviews of those plus the synopses of the next books in line.
New Books
Giller Prize Nominees
"Fight Night is
told in the unforgettable voice of Swiv, a nine-year-old living in
Toronto with her pregnant mother, who is raising Swiv while caring for
her own elderly, frail, yet extraordinarily lively mother. When Swiv is
expelled from school, Grandma takes on the role of teacher and gives her
the task of writing to Swiv's absent father about life in the household
during the last trimester of the pregnancy. In turn, Swiv gives Grandma
an assignment: to write a letter to "Gord," her unborn grandchild (and
Swiv's soon-to-be brother or sister). "You’re a small thing," Grandma
writes to Gord, "and you must learn to fight."
As Swiv records her thoughts and observations, Fight Night unspools
the pain, love, laughter, and above all, will to live a good life
across three generations of women in a close-knit family. But it is
Swiv’s exasperating, wise and irrepressible Grandma who is at the heart
of this novel: someone who knows intimately what it costs to survive in
this world, yet has found a way—painfully, joyously, ferociously—to love
and fight to the end, on her own terms."
"One night, while lying in bed next to her husband, Claire Devon suddenly hears a low hum. This innocuous sound, which no one else in the house can hear, has no obvious source or medical cause, but it begins to upset the balance of Claire’s life. When she discovers that one of her students can also hear the hum, the two strike up an unlikely and intimate friendship. Finding themselves increasingly isolated from their families and colleagues, they fall in with a disparate group of people who also perceive the sound. What starts out as a kind of neighborhood self-help group gradually transforms into something much more extreme, with far-reaching, devastating consequences."
"In the Nigerian city of
Enugu, young Nwabulu, a housemaid since the age of ten, dreams of
becoming a typist as she endures her employers’ endless chores. She is
tall and beautiful and in love with a rich man’s son.
Educated
and privileged, Julie is a modern woman. Living on her own, she is happy
to collect the gold jewellery love-struck Eugene brings her, but has no
intention of becoming his second wife.
When a kidnapping forces
Nwabulu and Julie into a dank room years later, the two women relate the
stories of their lives as they await their fate."
"Four sisters and their mother explore their fears while teeny ghost people dress up in fragments of their children’s clothes. A somewhat-ghost tends the family garden. Deep in the mountains, a shapeshifting mother must sift through her ancestors’ gifts and the complexities of love when one boy is born with a beautiful set of fox ears and another is not. In the wake of her elderly mother’s tragic death, a daughter tries to make sense of the online dating profile she left behind. And a man named Pooka finds new ways to weave new stories into his abode, in spite of his inherited suffering."
"More bodies have washed
up on the shores of a small island. Another overfilled, ill-equipped,
dilapidated ship has sunk under the weight of its too many passengers:
Syrians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Lebanese, Palestinians, all of them
desperate to escape untenable lives back in their homelands. But
miraculously, someone has survived the passage: nine-year-old Amir, a
Syrian boy who is soon rescued by Vanna. Vanna is a teenage girl, who,
despite being native to the island, experiences her own sense of
homelessness in a place and among people she has come to disdain. And
though Vanna and Amir are complete strangers, though they don't speak a
common language, Vanna is determined to do whatever it takes to save the
boy.
In alternating chapters, we learn about Amir's life and how
he came to be on the boat, and we follow him and the girl as they make
their way toward safety. What Strange Paradise is the story of
two children finding their way through a hostile world. But it is also a
story of empathy and indifference, of hope and despair--and about the
way each of those things can blind us to reality."
Book Orders
"When Lilith Lyapo wakes
in a small white room with no doors or windows, she remembers a
devastating war, and a husband and child long lost to her. She finds
herself living among the Oankali, a strange race who intervened in the
fate of humanity hundreds of years before.
They spared those they
could from the ruined Earth, and suspended them in a long, deep sleep.
Over centuries, the Oankali learned from the past, cured disease and
healed the world. Now they want Lilith to lead her people back home.
But salvation comes at a price - to restore humanity, it must be changed forever..."
"The mutant white rat had grown and mated, creating offspring in its own image. They dominated the others, the dark-furred ones, who foraged for food and brought it back to The Lair. Now the dark rats were restless, tormented by a craving they could not satisfy. But the white slug-like thing that ruled them knew. Its two heads weaved to and fro and a stickiness drooled from its mouth as it remembered the taste of human flesh."
"Manhattanite Cullen James inhabits two vastly different worlds. One is the realm of reality - of a loving husband, family and urban crime. The other is a place of serial dreams - of giant beasts, grotesque creations and a wondrous quest for the Bones of the Moon. A land of enchantments and hideous terrors that threaten to seep through the thin restraining fabric of fantasy and poison Cullen's waking world."
"Meet Detective Zaniel Havelock, a man with the special ability to communicate directly with angels. A former trained Angel speaker, he devoted his life to serving both the celestial beings and his fellow humans with his gift, but a terrible betrayal compelled him to leave that life behind. Now he’s a cop who is still working on the side of angels. But where there are angels, there are also demons. There’s no question that there’s evil at work when he’s called in to examine the murder scene of a college student—but is it just the evil that one human being can do to another, or is it something more? When demonic possession is a possibility, even angelic protection can only go so far. The race is on to stop a killer before he finds his next victim, as Zaniel is forced to confront his own very personal demons, and the past he never truly left behind."
"In the scorching summer of 1976 the hottest since records began Christopher Norton, his wife Laura and their young daughter Faye settle into their new home in north London. The faded glory of the Victorian house is the perfect place for Norton, a composer of film soundtracks, to build a recording studio of his own. But soon in the long, oppressively hot nights, Laura begins to hear something through the crackle of the baby monitor. First, a knocking sound. Then come the voices. For Norton, the voices mark an exciting opportunity. Putting his work to one side, he begins the project of a lifetime a grand symphony incorporating the voices and becomes increasingly obsessed with one voice in particular. Someone who is determined to make themselves heard . . ."
"Nanette's Aunt Vivian vanished into the jet set years ago, leaving her favorite niece with only fond memories of disco jumpsuits and serial husbands. So when Nanette's mom receives a desperate telegram from Viv in Paris, Nanette jumps at the chance to go and help her beloved aunt. After all, she got her wild streak from Viv, and besides, it's France. When she arrives, Aunt Viv is nowhere to be found, but her abandoned suitcase holds clues that date back to an old scam in the jazz clubs of Paris, and, apparently, an old murder. Now it's up to Nanette, and her new amour, Andre, to wade through a pool of dangerously eccentric characters to find her wily old aunt -- and Nanette would really prefer to find her alive..."
Book Bazaar Selections
"James Compton, a young journalist and crime writer, becomes intrigued by and then involved in the mysterious death of an older woman British tourist apparently on holiday near the ruins of Pompeii. On his return to England he becomes further implicated in what he now knows was a murder but his efforts to help the police are sabotaged by unknown forces who discredit him to such an extent that his evidence and his theories are devalued. However, so determined is he to bring the criminals to justice that he endangers not only his own life but that of his fiancee Juliet on the very day of their long awaited wedding."
"Harriet Leeson was the
first woman Dominic Eyre ever saw sit in a pub. But Harriet was daring
in many other ways. She long since had made an arrangement with her
aging husband, one of the local gentry, and soon Dominic became part of
that arrangement, one more captive of Harriet’s insatiable appetites.
Then
one night Harriet’s nude corpse was found by the river near the little
Irish town of Charlottesville—and no man could call himself safe, as her
husband and her lover joined forces to find the murderer."
""...And then he said to
me, 'You killed him, and you'll hang for it, my fine impostor. I saw
you in the coach'. And with that he came at me with both hands."
Thus
the police sergeant concluded his account of how the tall, thin, oldish
man in top hat, frock coat, and white whiskers attacked him. The
sergeant had been walking his beat along the wall of the Wade Museum at
the time. But who was this old man? What did he know about the body of
the actor discovered stabbed in a museum coach? And did the coffin
really contain the mummy of Haroun al Raschid's wife?
Three
investigators try to solve this most bizarre of cases. But it is Dr.
Gideon Fell - vast and genial, with his chins, his chuckle, and his
unerring sense for the important clue - who defeats the mystery."
"THE TENTACLES OF
ORGANIZED CRIME HAVE AN EXTRAORDINARY REACH.... — It begins as a long
overdue vacation for Superintendent of Police Tetsuo Otani who, at his
wife's urging, finally boards a plane to England to visit his daughter
and his son-in-law. — Pleasure, however, is soon mixed with business
when Shigeru Murakami, a powerful Japanese philanthropist, is found
murdered at a ceremony at Cambridge University, where Otani himself
could well have been the intended victim....
Meanwhile, in Japan,
the supreme daimyo--godfather--of organized crime is dying and has yet
to name his successor. It is a situation fraught with danger as vying
mob leaders gear up for battle.
Otani believes Murakami's murder
and the daimyo's silence are related. Embroiled in Scotland Yard's
investigation, he soon realizes he is hopelessly bombarded with culture
shock. But time is running out--both in England and in Japan. Can more
bloodshed be prevented?"
The next three books are by SciFi author Jack Williamson, 2 from The Legion of Space and one from Seetee. I've read a couple of his books previously and they were entertaining. Williamson was one of the early writers of the space opera genre of Sci-Fi.
"C.T. or Seetee, contraterrene, is also known as anti-matter. It is untouchable by the normal matter universe... yet men must learn to control it, or die!"
"In the second book in the Legion of Space series, Jay Kalam, Hal Samdu and Giles Habibula fight The Cometeers, an alien race of energy beings controlling a "comet" which is really a giant force field containing a swarm of planets populated by their slaves. The slave races are of flesh and blood, but none are remotely similar to humans. The Cometeers cannot be destroyed by AKKA, as they are incorporeal from the Universe's point of view and exist for the most part in an alternate reality. The ruling Cometeers feed on their slaves and literally absorb their souls, leaving disgusting, dying hulks in their wake. It is said that they do so, as they were once fleshly entities themselves of various species. Hence, the ruling Cometeers keep other intelligent beings as slaves and "cattle." They fear AKKA, though, as it can erase all their possessions."
"SPACE VENGEANCE!
"I
am omnipotent and omniscient. I want every man on every planet to
shudder and grow pale when he thinks of Me. For I have suffered gross
injuries that must be avenged..."
This sinister message - and a
loathsome serpent-like trademark - were the only clues the Legion of
Space had to the identity of Mankind's most evasive and horrible enemy.
But meanwhile, He or IT - had meticulously begun to destroy the world...
The
Legion of Space was well accustomed to facing mortal peril in the black
depths of outer space in order to defend humanity against its unearthly
foes. But even they were to find their courage and ingenuity tested to
the utmost limits in their fight against the vile phantom that called
itself God and shrouded the Universe in an incredible web of terror..."
Allison the Bookman Selections
"Grandfather, What Evil Eyes You Have!
"We have never known whether these things happened or whether Sarah wants them to happen..."
Disaster
seemed to follow Sarah in the form of grisly and often fatal accidents.
And it seemed to stop when she took refuse in her grandfather's house.
Until
she found out that Grandfather wasn't Grandfather, her mysterious
accidents were really his malicious crimes, and the final bit of "bad
luck" he had planned for Sarah was her own brutal death..."
"At the edge of the
woods by the river stands the tower. Once part of a chateau since burnt
down, only the tower remains. The inside is but a shell with a stone
staircase climbing spirally up the wall to a flat stone roof with a
parapet.
On that parapet the body of Howard Brooke lay bleeding.
The murderer, when Brooke's back was turned, must have drawn the
sword-cane from its sheath and run him through the body. And this must
have occurred between ten minutes to four and five minutes past four,
when the two children discovered him dying.
Yet the evidence showed conclusively that during this time not a living soul came near him."
"John Mannering, aka the Baron, once the greatest jewel thief in Europe but now a respectable London jeweler, gets a mysterious phone call from an unidentified caller who offers to sell him priceless jewelry for ready cash. Then the Baron receives an unexpected visit from Ms. Richard Courtenay, the seductively beautiful wife of a millionaire jewel collector who asks him to help her recover some stolen jewels, Mannering sets out to find the connection.
While Mannering is tracking the thief, someone whose intention is clear - to stop the Baron at any cost. The search leads him to Courtney's lavish country estate, the Grange, in an electrifying - and deadly - encounter."
"Joan Kirby doesn’t believe her husband’s story about picking up a stranded woman in the middle of the night and dropping her off at a hotel. She asks Perry Mason to cross-examine him. Mason uncovers a much murkier trail involving murder, illegal adoption, stolen narcotics and blackmail."
"Dr Jason Love is going to attend a medical conference in Damascus and one of his patients asks him to find out how his daughter died in a car accident on the outskirts of Syria's capital. But all is not as it seems. Fulfilling a simple favor turns into a nightmare for the Somerset doctor, turned part-time secret agent..."
"Lew Archer is back, careening down the bloody trail of women who were beaten to death, a murdered cop, and a dead hobo who is the key to a 15-year-old family secret that won't die."
"For Inspector Banks and Superintendent Gristhorpe the abduction of a young girl brings back dreadful memories of the Moors Murders When two social workers, investigating reports of child abuse, appear at Brenda Scupham's door, her fear of authority leads her to comply meekly with their requests. Even when they say that they must take her seven-year-old daughter Gemma away for tests... It is only when they fail to return Gemma the following day that Brenda realises something has gone terribly wrong. Particularly worrying is the calculated manner of the abduction, and the fact that one of the 'social workers' was a woman. For Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks ritual Satanic abuse is a dreadful possibility. At the same time, Banks is investigating a particularly grisly murder at the site of an abandoned mine. Gradually, the leads in the two cases converge, guiding Banks to one of the most truly terrifying villains he will ever meet."
Just Finished
I've finished 4 books in November... well, completed 3 and gave up on 1.
"Breed is the first book in the Breed series (2 books) by American author Chase Novak, a pseudonym for Scott Spencer. I have to rate this book as a Did Not Finish (DNF) so can't in all honestly give it a rating.
I did try to give the book a fair shake, but after getting through half of it, I came to the conclusion that it really wasn't for me. I'm not sure who the book is aimed at; horror aficionados? I do enjoy a good horror story, I think, but once again, this one didn't work.
This is the premise in case you're interested in trying it yourself. A rich couple in New York have been trying unsuccessfully to have children. They take one last chance, flying to Slovenia to meet with a specialist. Dr. Kis injects something into both of them; animal products, hormones, etc. Lo and behold, it works and they have twins (a third baby is born deformed and taken away, presumed dead). Oh, both parents grow extensive body hair as one of the side effects. Their lives spiral downwards as their kids grow up; dogs and cats disappear in the neighborhood, their children are locked up every night; their house is destroyed and everything sold to pay bills. The children decide they must escape because they fear their parents want to kill (eat?) them and when they do, they meet up with other children born from similar parents......
That's as far as I got. I will say the story moves along at a reasonable pace. There is lots of action. But I never warmed to it in anyway and ultimately, I didn't care how it ends. That's about it. Sorry. I don't often not finish books I've started and I probably could have steamed through with this story, but .... nyeh.. (No Rating)"
"This collection Peter Pan and Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens by J.M. Barrie contains two Peter Pan stories; the initial Peter Pan story, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, published in 1906 and the novel, Peter Pan, published in 1911. The former was illustrated by Arthur Rackham and the latter by Francis Bedford. The 2nd book, Peter Pan, which is shown first in this collection is the basis for the Disney film and others. Peter in Kensington Gardens introduces Peter Pan and you can see some influences on the 2nd, larger novel.
Most people are familiar with the Peter Pan story; the Darling children, Wendy, John and Michael fly off to Neverland with Peter Pan and jealous Tinkerbell and have various adventures there, fighting the pirates under Captain Hook, befriending the Indians and Tiger Lily, etc. It's interesting to see the story in print and not on the big screen; to discover Peter's thoughts, about mothers (who needs them), about life (an adventure), etc. He wants Wendy to stay forever and the longer the Darling kids do stay, the more they forget about their parents and past life. It's all very interesting and ultimately quite sad; growing up and no longer being a child. In some ways it reminded me of the last story of the Winnie-the-Pooh collection where Christopher Robin, now becoming a teenager, has to say good-bye to his friend Winnie and the others (I think A.A. Milne did this with much more poignancy, but the theme is similar)
The second story, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, was in some ways more interesting as it was unfamiliar to me. We move from the narrator, presumable J.M. Barrie and his son Daniel to various adventures that take place within Kensington Gardens after it closes down for the night and the fairies and Peter Pan come out to play. It's an excellent intro to how young Peter became Peter Pan and his adventures within Kensington. I think I preferred it to the novel, probably because of it's freshness to me.
All told, I enjoyed the book and I can see why it became such a popular story and movie. Well worth reading and maybe sharing with a child who craves adventure. (Ed Note. - reminder that the story was written in 1905 / 1911 so they're may be some racial terminology that is not meant to be derogatory in any way but isn't considered acceptable. I leave that to the discerning reader / parent) (3.5 stars)"
"Vicious Circle is the 2nd book in the Felix Castor fantasy / mystery series by author Mike Carey. Castor is an exorcist who works in a dystopic London. London is peopled with zombies, ghosts, weres, vampires, etc. so there is a bit of the Anita Blake feel to the story. There is even a political movement trying to give ghosts legal protection.
Castor is helping the police investigate a murder, trying to contact the spirit of the victim. He is also hired by a couple to find the spirit of their daughter. She has been kidnapped by another exorcist and her spirit is being held for ransom, or so the parents tell Castor. Castor is still trying to help his best friend Raffi. Raffi is held in a secure mental facility, possessed by the demon Asmodeus (*sp*). This came about in the first book. As well, the ex-succubus, Juliette, who had been sent to kill Castor in the last book, and who is now working also as an exorcist, has requested Castor's assistance with a demon inhabiting a church.. Oh right and the Anathematists (once again *sp*) a hit squad of the Roman Catholic Church, who use weres as their main weapons, also have Castor in their sights. Oh wait, there is a Police detective who wants to arrest Castor for murder.
So as you can see, lots going on in this entertaining story. The key question is how are all these threads linked, or are they? It seems Castor is in a steady battle to just stay alive in this story. He's got some excellent help; I particularly like Juliette (but then again how can you not like a succubus, right???). There is also Nicky, a zombie trying to keep his body together, who is Castor's reluctant researcher. The story moves along at a steady drumbeat, lots of action, scary stuff, an entertaining mystery and just fascinating ideas. I've enjoyed both of the first two books very much and have the 3rd sitting on my bookshelf. I'm looking forward to reading it. (4.5 stars)"
"I've enjoyed a few books of W. Somerset Maugham, ever since I tried The Razor's Edge one of my all-time favorite books. He's got a varied catalogue, excellent fiction, spy novels, etc. The Magician was originally published in 1908 and is an interesting horror novel.
Set in Paris, English surgeon Arthur Burdon, a man who believes in facts, has come to Paris to learn the French surgery techniques. Also in Paris are his fiance, Margaret Dauncey and her companion, Suzie Boyd.. As well an old friend Dr Porhoet lives in Paris. Porhoet is very different from Arthur as he is a man who delves into the old alchemists and magicians, keeping an open mind on fantastical concepts and practices. Arthur does not believe in things that can't be proven scientifically. As this group interacts, into their mix comes Richard Haddo.
Haddo is a larger than life character, both in size and personality. Neither Arthur nor Margaret like him on initial contact. Dr Porhoet knows him from his research as Haddo is a self-proclaimed magician who has researched many of the same people. There are many odd things about Haddo, particularly the negative power over animals. Haddo seems to show up in their lives on a daily basis, insulting people, telling fantastical tales.
An incident at Margaret's apartments causes the story to take a strange twist. Haddo is bitten by Margaret's dog and strikes it, thereby causing injury to the dog. Arthur takes exception and reacting to Margaret's shock and anguish, he strikes Haddo and gives him a sound beating. Haddo's reaction will cause pain and anguish to both Arthur and Margaret and the story will degenerate from there into fantastical realms.
It's a slowish paced story with excellent description and character development. As the story moves into Haddo's actions against Arthur and Margaret, the pace picks up and the tension ratchets until a final explosive conclusion. It's quite a different story from what I'm used to by Maugham but you still get a flavor of his excellent writing style, character development and story-telling. An excellent horror story and an excellent story. (4 stars)"
Currently Reading
"Gunner Asch was fed up with his brutal barrack-room companions, with his Nazi bosses, and with the horror and stupidity of the coming war. Also because he was seeing far too little of his girl.
But what can one man do against the mightiest army in the world? It is a known fact that every army has its weak spot. So Asch found the Wehrmacht's - and struck hard!"
"The Rocksburg Railroad
Murders is a crime novel by the American writer K.C. Constantine set in
1970s Rocksburg, a fictional, blue-collar, Rustbelt town in Western
Pennsylvania (modeled on the author's hometown of McKees Rocks,
Pennsylvania, adjacent to Pittsburgh, as well as his current place of
residence, Greensburg, Pennsylvania).
Mario Balzic is the
protagonist, an atypical detective for the genre, a Serbo-Italian
American cop, middle-aged, unpretentious, a family man who asks
questions and uses more sense than force.
As the novel opens, a
man familiar to Mario has been found beaten to death with a Coke bottle
on the platform of the Rocksburg railroad station. Mario becomes
convinced that the man's stepson is the guilty party, but proving it
will be a challenge."
"Three epic Tank Girl stories, collected in one digest-sized volume!
Tank Girl's back with a bang - and a helluva spine - in this Booga's-pouched-sized collection of three insane adventures!"
Phew! There you go, how's that for an update. I hope you find some reading ideas.
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