In Praise of Value Village…yes again!!!

If you have read some of my blog, you will know that I like to hunt for books at Value Village.  It's the best place to dig up and discover new work that you might never have previously seen. Books are lumped onto the shelves with virtually no organization, leaving the reader to wade through random subjects and styles.

Here's the common book store trap: Once you have "Chapterfied" a book collection, the natural tendency for the customer is never to venture into new subject areas, thus never discovering new genres and authors. I call this the process of "Heather's Pickification" (a sad state for book retailers…basically the same condition as "Oprahfication".

VV is a great place to find fiction from around the world. What's being sold is what is being donated. New releases that weren't to a readers taste are just as likely to find their way onto the shelf as 10 copies of Stephen King's Tommyknockers. There are always great biographies and historical fiction, as well as murder mysteries and humour.  The romance section is bursting at the seams with Harlequins (never read one, but clearly, someone is still buying them!) The most expensive book on the shelf is $4.99.  And if you buy 4 you get one for free!!! Love it!

SUPER EXCELLENT!!! Popularity Papers; Words of (questionable) Wisdom...

This was my favourite from the series:
#3.

Just when I thought that kids fiction was getting a bit predictable and boring, along comes Amy Ignatow to show me a new face of children's literature.

MOM'S TAKE NOTE: Amy Ignatow's Popularity Papers shine like a beacon of creativity and fun. These books are unlike anything I have ever seen or read, and I am raving about them to everyone that will listen. If you have girls ages 8-12, these are a must read!

On with my book review of the Popularity Papers:

A few weeks before Christmas, I came across Amy Ignatow's Popularity Papers at VV, and I was fascinated by the colourful cover. Being entirely illustrated by hand, and the narrative being hand written dialogue between two twelve year old best friends.  Julie Graham-Chang is a budding illustrator, so she draws all the pictures to illustrate the narrative. Lydia Goldblatt is her spunky friend who tries out new things, gets into pickles and generally is a scream.

They see eye to eye on most things and enjoy similarly quirky humour.  They are totally honest with each other and are a refreshing couple of girls. At times, they see themselves as outsiders to the mainstream school population, but they have each other, and as such, they encourage and maintain each other's unique personalities.

My Daughter and I now have a
Trunk List too!!!

There are currently 6 novels that make up this series, and when I bought Popularity Papers #3: I didn't realize that I was starting in the middle of the series.  Didn't make much difference though, as each novel is a stand alone snapshot of Lydia and Julie's antics. I have since read them all, (out of order too), and I can whole-heartedly recommend these books for any girl ages 8-12. I'm going to admit that I loved reading these books too, and found myself laughing hysterically in my bed at Julie and Lydia's antics. At times, I feared I was laughing too loud and would wake the kids.

Amy Ignatow is incredibly talented. She not afraid of difficult subjects and describes that from the perspective of a twelve year old girl. She shows Julie and Lydia supporting and encouraging each other through these life experiences. There are moments of true tenderness and and insight from a girls perspective.

Turns out Jen Mattocks is the Doctor's
daughter!

There are belly laugh moments, like the one here about Jen Mattocks.

It's a Beautiful Thing to be 12 and
full of Sunny Hope.

Amy Ignatow's Facebook page is a bit of fun and worth checking out:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Popularity-Papers/212256315882?id=212256315882&sk=photos_stream

Book Club Exchange and Update

I've been a bit slow to blog lately, mostly due to the busy holiday season that is upon us. But also, I have been working to learn how to crochet lately. I got it in my head that I wanted to learn, so I shared a cup of tea with my friend Karen, and after a few bumps in the road, she got me going in no time.

I'm proud to say that I've made a few hats and a head band, and I am frantically finishing a bunny and his carrot home--Alex, my son requested this one! It should be done this evening, and safely under the tree for tomorrow night.

I have updated my Book Club's reading list for 2014. If you scroll down, you will find on the left side of the screen, a widget that lists our reading for the upcoming year. We had a great book exchange meeting early on in December. I received A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett. I will be sure to get to it early this year.

My gift from the Book Club 

(Just finished Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, so I'll be reviewing it very shortly.)

I wanted to share a few random snaps from around town:

My local library's idea of a Christmas Tree. I love it!!!

My Friend Kim's idea of a Christmas Tree (It's Jack Daniels)

My Kids love when I set up my Christmas Village

I took my daughter Abi down to the CBC radio open house called Sounds of the Season earlier this year. She loved seeing how radio is made.  They had a display of the 5 finalists for Canada Reads. Here they are:

I am going to try to read these before the jury debates and selection. I have already read Half-Blood Blues, and will continue with Annabel next.

Also while shopping at VV, I found a quirky looking book that I bought solely based on it's cover: Skippy Dies by Paul Murray. Not sure what it's about, but I want to give it a go!

Looks Like a Bit of Fun!

Starting Out in the Afternoon…A Delight!

Jill Frayne, daughter of June Callwood, tells of her personal journey into the Canadian wilderness. The analogy of Starting Out in the Afternoon might refer to her starting over again, or reclaiming and re-establishing her new life after a relationship ends, and her daughter leaves for university. One spring, she packs up her car, and starts out on a 3 month trip to northern British Columbia for a camping and kayaking expedition by herself. (I was surprised to find that she lived in Uxbridge…about 20 minutes away from my home!)

I share a passion for the outdoors--canoeing in freshwater is the best therapy for the soul. Like Frayne, solitary tenting has been a wonderful experience for me. I have enjoyed camping in Vermont and New Hampshire and tented on Long Beach just south of Tofino by  myself in my early 20's.  I have backpacked to the Isle of Skye and northern Scotland solo. Traveling alone, you learn a lot about a place, and even more about yourself. You have time to reflect on the life that you have stepped outside. You have quiet expanses of time in which you can observe your surroundings and watch life quietly unfold.  I loved Frayne's description of her sitting in a strawberry field writing. If I could choose a book to live out, this might be the book that I would want to experience (except for the failing marriage, and problematic parenting aspects!) 

Nuff about me, back to the book. This writing spoke to my soul. Frayne's novel read like poetry and effortlessly took me to the northern reaches of this great country.  Frayne's writing is like butter: smooth and delicious. The closer I got to the end of the book, the slower I read; like savouring the last few drops of an excellent wine.

As a general rule, I don't "dog-ear" the pages of a book, but I just had to mark these two passages:

"I went West in my car in 1990 like a person burned down, but I came back with seeds in my pocket for the rest of my life. To go into these last places, to go alone or to go with the companion I have found, long after I was content to have no companion, is all I'll ever need." p. 233

On discussing the Inuit culture seeing the world as entirely connected, both animate and inanimate objects sharing a concrete relationships, she revels in the culture that orients more to non-difference than to difference: "A bear and a skunk cabbage are much more the same than they are different. What would it be like, I wonder, if our first thought, regarding anything was to perceive the kinship, the non-distinction, rather than shorting out to the difference between things?" 

I was entranced by the imagery, and beautiful descriptions. A pleasure to read and I recommend it highly.

The Perfect Crime...A Perfect Thriller!

During my weekly trip to my local library, I make a point to check out the "de-circulated" book shelf...It's like the library book graveyard, where books that haven't been signed out a lot, get the chop (for no good reason other than shelf space for crap--see my last blog post and you'll understand). Our local sells these slow movers for a mere 25 cents (paperbacks) while hard covers run a buck each (Criminal isn't it, and no wonder writers are starving). 

After a little looking, I uncovered a novel called A Perfect Crime by Peter Abrahams. I bought this novel because on the front dust cover, Stephen King is quoted as citing Abrahams as the best American suspense author of our times. NOW THAT'S HUGE PRAISE. I bought it for a buck and boy, was that a dollar well spent.

The Perfect Crime is the story of the affair between Francie and Ned who are both married to other people. Everything gets more and more complicated as their lives become entwined. Deception, jealousy, madness and murder...this one has it all!!

I read it in a couple of days...and I have to admit that the second half of the novel was much more entertaining than the first half.  Francie's husband Roger, is an arrogant prick who might drive Mother Theresa to adultery. Anne, Ned's gentle and ever kind wife is a lovely woman...maybe a bit too soft but alas, wonderful. This story gets the reader hooked in the first few pages and takes him on quite a good ride. 

Of interest is that Peter Abrahams has written 27 novels...How is that possible, and why haven't I discovered him before now? Am I that OTL?...

Here's a bit about Abrahams courtesy of Wikepedia:

Peter Abrahams (born 28 June 1947) is an American writer of crime thrillers. His works include Oblivion, The Tutor, The Fury of Rachel Monette, Hard Rain, The Fan, Crying Wolf, Last of the Dixie Heroes, the Echo Falls Mysteries, and Lights Out, the last of which was nominated for an Edgar Award for best novel. His literary influences are Vladimir Nabokov, Graham Greene and Ross Macdonald. Stephen King has referred to him as "my favorite American suspense novelist". Born in Boston, Abrahams previously lived in Ottawa and worked as a CBC television producer. He is currently living in Falmouth, Massachusetts on Cape Cod with his wife and children.

This is a great site for more info about this talented and prolific writer: 

http://www.peterabrahams.com/index.html

This novel is entertaining, and makes for riveting reading. I recommend it and have already lent it to my friend Mary! And by the way, I'll buy his next novel...I want to support his talent!

Novel About My Wife by Emily Perkins

Never Know What I'm Getting!!!

Once in a while, I go shopping in an Asian supermarket, where I can't read the signs and hardly know what I'm looking at! The produce are totally different from what I'm used to seeing in my local grocery store, so it's a real adventure. On rare occasion, when I'm feeling daring, I'll pick up "mystery" package of food, and try to eat it without having the faintest idea what I'm consuming. (Thank god
I haven't stumbled into eating mothballs just yet!)

 Cover that Caught My Eye

Anyhow...Last Tuesday, I spent an good half hour at my local library simply browsing the stacks, and I came across a novel with that intrigued me. First thing, the title caught my eye: Novel About My Wife. Not "A Novel", but simply Novel. I found it a big jarring. That was followed by the fact that the authors name was clearly Emily Perkins, not Emile or Edward. I picked it off the shelf and gave it a quick peak. Cool cover: a gaunt looking redhead standing ascu wearing a simple cotton slip.

I had to open it and see what it was about. The first sentence is probably one of the best first lines I have ever read: "If I could build her again using words, I would: starting at her long, painted feet and working up, shading in every cell and gap and space for breath until her pulse couldn't help but kick back into life." Very clever writing. I could only wish to write a line as beautiful as that!

Well, I was sold. I had judged a book by its cover, and I decided that I would give this one a try. I laughed to myself, because it was like a package of Chinese dried goods...I had no idea what I was getting myself into!

Here's a quick summary courtesy of Goodreads.com:

"From one of Britain’s most exciting young writers comes the story of a couple’s emotional and complicated relationship … from the husband’s perspective. Novel About My Wife is narrated by Tom Stone as he searches through the mysteries his wife has left him with. The reader is left to discover what dark thing has come between him and his beloved partner.  

Tom Stone is, as well as being cheerfully neurotic, madly in love with his wife Ann, an Australian in self-imposed exile in London. Pushing forty and newly pregnant, they buy their first house in Hackney. It seems they are moving into a settled future, despite spiralling money troubles. But Ann is dogged by a local homeless man whose constant presence comes to feel like a terrible omen. As her pregnancy progresses Ann finds solace in her new friendship with Kate, a woman Tom is both repelled by and peculiarly drawn to. Their home is beset with vermin, smells and strange noises. Is this normal for London, or is the measure of normality in this city actually mad?"

I really enjoyed this novel. It was well paced, and I was drawn to keep reading. The protagonist is a bit frustrating, as he's a bit of a lame duck writer who needs to get a steady paying job. (God bless my solid husband!) He has a good heart though tries to help his wife who is struggling to hold onto her sanity.

I would try another of Perkins' novels...It was a pleasant surprise!

(Emily Perkins and I are born in 1970. She's from New Zealand and currently lives there with her family. I'm from Canada...and the winter feels like it may never end!)