Reading Club: 2012 Reading List in Pictures

Can't wait to read these books for my local book club. We chose the books based on group consensus and used the Vaughan Public Library's Book Club Collection as a source of 8 out of 12 titles (God Bless public libraries around the world!) So here's our reading list presented in picture: (ok, so it's not the entire year's books, because I am running into technical difficulties with the pictures...I'll get the others up very shortly!)

January: Room by Emma Donoghue

February: Causeway: A Passage from Innocence by Linden MacIntyre

March: To Kill a Mockingbird 

by Harper Lee

April: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

 May: The Harvest by Clarke Wallace

Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos

Mockingbird...Verdict's In!

Mockingbird, Abi and Me in Lauderdale by the Sea
 Feb 2012

Just back from a 2 week vacation in Lauderdale by the Sea, Florida and I was able to relax, get some sun, play with the kids, and read 3 books! The perfect break!


To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is March's Book Club selection so I started with it. As you may already know (for a previous post), I was not looking forward to reading it again. I had read it in high school, (like most Canadian teenagers do) and I don't remember it being one of my favorites.

This novel is hailed as one of America's greatest works, and I often cringe when this kind of tag line is handed out. When I first read it as a fifteen year old, I was fascinated by the reclusive neighbour "Boo" Radley. I remember wanting to know about the strange man who lived next door and who's mere existence terrified everyone.


Having read it again at 41, I see that Lee's novel captures a feeling of social tension and oppression in the deep south during the 1930's. Through the eyes of a young girl, we see a black man stand trial for a rape that his does not commit, and yet is ultimately convicted.  Atticus, the defending attorney and father of "Scout", represents the moral standard that is revered by all. He remains aloof of the community's weaknesses and personifies justice and tolerance.

Harper Lee in the Court House, Alabama

Written in 1960, Lee's novel is a social commentary that is intended for the current state of racial tension in the USA. Although she sets the novel in the south during the 1930's, her message is clearly geared to the racial tensions of 1960 is the US.

Well, here's where I say what I think...I agree that the message that Lee puts forth is incredibly important: it was important in 1960 and it continues to be important. Mockingbird is an enjoyable read, but it's simplistic and in relation to today's fiction, I found it simplistic. It's not one of my favorites, but it's worth a read.

Receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Bush
(he seems to be having a hard time with it!)

Lee won the Pultizer for Mockingbird, but I think the success of this novel was a real curse for her. She attempted but never published again, and found herself living in the shadow of her first work. Nonetheless, she continues to be celebrated as a monumental author.


My bet is that Bush has never read it!!!

To Kill a Mockingbird...Will it Kill Me?!?

Sorry. I'm going to admit this right off: I'm not looking forward to reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It' March's book for my book club meeting, and I am really dreading it. Why you ask?

Well, I read this book in high school, and if I recall correctly I enjoyed it. Since then, Oprah has done a number on books, and the world has gone crazy for lists like the "Best Books Ever" or the "Top 10 Books of all Time". Yikes. Does that ever drive me crazy. First, who has the authority to determine the "best" books? Regularly, when they do surveys and collect everyone's vote, this book often comes out on top. Why I ask?

OK, so I'm sure it's noteworthy, but the "Best Book of All Times"? My theory is this: I think most people have read so few novels, that when they are asked what their favorite book is they really only remember one or two from high school. This novel is often voted as the best book because those that are voting haven't read anything else.

So that's my personal rant. I'd love to hear from anyone with another opinion. I will read Mockingbird, and I will journal my thoughts. I hope that it's great...I'm leery that it will even be in my top 20. Let's see!

A Tale from the Road to Recovery

Over the past 14 weeks, my mother-in-law Aida has been struggling with heart failure and the complications of this condition. She spent 5 weeks in the ICU and a couple more in the step down ward. It's been a hard couple of months for everyone, but especially her.

Nonna Aida and Abigail

Aida is an incredibly independent and strong woman. She has always prided herself on her strength and ability to manage without help.  Her present condition has undermined her essential constitution: she now finds herself reliant on her family and unable to complete basic tasks. She spends lots of time in her bed dozing in and out of sleep. Her inability to get around has been the hardest setback for her. Not doing anything for endless days has taken it's tole on her mind.

Last Wednesday, I was thrilled when Aida was discharged from hospital and transferred to convalescence facility where she'll receive physio on a daily basis. She is now building up her strength and confidence for walking and living more independently. The goal is to get Aida back into her home, where she can live with her creature comforts, and once again, find the friendship and encouragement of her lovely neighbors and family.

I've really struggle during the period to try to find things for her to do that might help her deal with the vast expanses of time in bed. All of the various family members have been incredible: her sons have loyally visited every day, the grandchildren have gone despite their discomfort with the hospital surrounding, her brother and sister-in-laws have visited faithfully. But during the quiet time when she is alone, she lays and waits. Reading could be such a comfort during this time, but for Aida it is not.

Aida has never found pleasure in reading. Reading is something you do to pay the bills and deal with other functional needs of life. It was never a part of my mother-in-law's life, and I am so sorry that she was never led to this activity.

On the first day at the convalescence home, I was settling her into her new room. It is a pleasant and sunny place that she shares with another woman named Freida. As I put her clothes away in the drawers, I came across a stack of well worn paperback that looked like they had been read a million times. They were the usual romances and westerns, with the odd murder mystery thrown in. But right at the bottom of this pile was an odd, over-sized white book that looked to be in great condition. I was floored to find Still Alice by Lisa Genova.  Many of the residents at this home suffer from Alzeimer's and dementia. I was surprised to find Genova's book here in this place. Then it occured to me that perhaps this novel has been a comfort to some of the residents and their families. It is a wonderful book, and I guess it would be very helpful to some.

Books are a central part of my life. They give me entertainment, education, inspiration, and some times even distraction.  They help me get to sleep, pass the time, lighten my mood and see things from a different perspective. I wish that more people discovered this value in reading. I wish that Aida could have this benefit in her life too. Without books, the road to recovery is long and quite tedious. I continue to pray for my mother-in-laws speedy recovery. I'm sure I couldn't travel her road without a good book in hand!  

UPDATE April 7, 2012: Nonna should be coming home this week. We have installed chair lifts and updated her shower/bathroom. She is very nervous about the transition back, but we are all thrilled that she has worked so hard be regain her strength.

The Uncommon Reader

A gift from my mom, The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett is something that I wouldn't have chosen myself. For one, it's very short; only 121 pages...a novella really. Also, it's written with the Queen of England as protagonist, and so it would not have grabbed my attention.  That said, my mom suggested that I'd really get a kick out of it, so I gave it a shot! I am pleased to report that it was a bit of fun!

Quite by accident, Queen Elizabeth stumbles upon a travelling library on the grounds of Buckingham Palace. She goes inside the van, and chooses a book to read. Admittedly, she hasn't read anything for years. Although her choice is a tough slog, she does opt for another book after a week, and discovers the passion of reading.

Comically, her love of reading overtakes her Royal Duties, and she becomes quite delinquent and uninterested in her scheduled obligations. There is one passage in which she relies on Prince Philip to wave from the Carriage to the "cripples", because she's too busy with a good book!

With her new found passion, the Royal staff become increasingly concerned that her performance as Queen is slipping, and they do everything that they can to intercept her reading, and discourage her hobby. This angers the Queen and she begins to see the ignorance that surrounds her--especially the ignorance of the Prime Minister and other elected officials.

Author Alan Bennett

While this is an entertaining comedy, it does make the serious statement that reading can change your perspective on life. At the culmination of the novel, the Queen declares that she is going to write a book about her reflections on life, and her analysis of her times. Through books, she has been led to writing.

There are lots of witty recommendations for Alan Bennett's novel. These primarily come from the British press. I wonder whether some of it's "brilliance" is lost on this Canadian reader. It is a short, easy read that made me chuckle in places.  I wouldn't call it "A perfectly formed book." as does the Daily Mail. I wonder if the Queen of England has read it? What would she think of such a book? I'm sure I'll never know!

Things I want My Daughters to Know...



My Latest Easy Read

I'm usually not swayed by a novel's title, but this one captured my attention right off the bat. Having 3 children but only one daughter :-(, I thought that this might be a really interesting read. Further I also really enjoy reading novels that take the form of letters.  (This is called the Epistolary genre.)So when I came across Things I Want My Daughters to Know by Elizabeth Noble, the title interested me, and then for format sold me on reading it.

"Things..." is a story is about a women who passes away from cancer and leaves a journal for her four daughters. As she is dying she prepares separate confidential letters for each of them. The novel is structured around what happens to her daughters as a result of the information in the letters, and it explores the events that unfold from the reading of her journal.


Elizabeth Noble

This novel is definitely "Chick-Lit", and is quite an easy read. The most challenging aspect for me was keeping the four daughters organized in my head!!! (guess it doesn't take much to confuse me!) Nonetheless, I really enjoyed this easy novel. It's perfect holiday reading or a good change of pace after a few heavier titles.

Elizabeth Noble has an interesting website, and has created a forum where other women can post their ideas of what they want their daughters to know, and tributes to their mothers. Some of these messages are very moving and worth checking out:

http://www.thingsiwantmydaughterstoknow.com/site/tiForum.php5

I am going on vacation soon, so I have the difficult task of choosing only a few books to bring with me. We'll see what makes my reading list!!!

Super Cute Video for the Love of Books!!!

Have a look at this video on Youtube! If you love books, you might find this cute!

I'm guilty of organizing the books so that they look good!!! But this must have taken HOURS to do! Love the music too. Hope you enjoy it too!

Causeway: A Passage to Boredom?...Ugh.

Have you ever read a book, and stayed up late just to get it finished? Well, unfortunately, that was how I felt about Linden MacIntyre's Causeway: A Passage from Innocence. It's taken me a few days to work on this review. I am learning from this blog that reviewing books that I didn't enjoy is much more difficult than books that I classify as "good reads".
February's read for my book club is MacIntyre's autobiography, and based on my experience with the group, I predict that only a few of us will have finished it! 

Linden MacIntyre grew up in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. He tells of his experiences as a young boy in Port Hastings.  He uses the construction of the Canso Causeway as the narrative thread through several years of his youth. He has many little ancedotes of living in a very modest home and visiting his old relations in the backwoods of Cape Breton. MacIntyre's father is constantly leaving his small town to find employment. Consequently the author is left without a strong male figure for much of his younger years.

Although MacIntyre's writing is easily read, I was often troubled by the lack of chronology throughout the book. It jumps back and forward from paragraph to paragraph and it leaves the reader trying to figure out the time frame of events. Several times, it mentions events that have already been
described, and the reader is left juggling the time frames.

Similar to Dryden's The Game, this is an autobiography that leaves lots of questions unanswered. First, I was fascinated to find out how MacIntyre finds his way to his current career as a journalist with the CBC. Never a mention of an obvious major point of interest for his audience. Further, his discussion of his sisters is so minimal that I was surprised to find a picture of his two siblings buried at the end of the book. (I really didn't understand that he has two younger sisters, and certainly they didn't factor in his accounts at all.)

Linden MacIntyre

In fairness though, there were a couple of passages that stood out for me. One such passages is when the author tells of his Hungarian friend's suicide. Having seen Old John Suto dead, but not realizing that he had just killed himself, the priest Father MacLaughlin tries to explain to the young MacIntrye the old man's rational:   "Despair leaves no room for reason in the human heart. And in the absence of reason, there is no place for hope." (page 262) I think that this is brilliantly written and is truly poetic. 

This autobiography left me flat. I finished it (another good result of writing this blog is that it forces me to finish novels that I would probably quit midway!)

One of the great things about this book is that it belongs to the Vaughan Public Library's Book Club collection. That means that the VPL lends out sets of up to 20 copies of the same book to registered groups. Here's the link to check out the vast collection of great titles available through VPL: http://www.vaughanpl.info/books_for_book_clubs/index/adults   It also eliminates the need to purchase a book that may or may not be to your taste! I hope that I have better luck with next month's book: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.