November's Pick: Alias Grace

For November's book club selection, I am going back to the future with Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace. I must confess, I have started this one already; it is a long read, but thus far, it is vintage Atwood, with beautiful prose and complex, intriguing characters.

Who makes for a better character than an accused murderess who may or may not be criminally insane? And a real person, to boot. Alias Grace is the story of Grace Marks, a teenager who was convicted of murdering her employer and his housekeeper in 1843. You can read about the trial via the Toronto Public Library site, and you can read more about Grace Marks at thewhig.com.

Alias Grace won the 1996 Giller Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Read more about Alias Grace here, and at Atwood's website, margaretatwood.ca.

Additionally, Alias Grace has made the Top 10 list (Ontario region) for the Canada Reads showdown. On November 14th, the list will be shortened to 5 for each region before a single representative will be selected.

October's Pick: Up and Down

October's pick will be Up and Down by Terry Fallis. This is his third novel, following Best Laid Plans and The High Road. Both were extremely funny, with Best Laid Plans winning the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour and the 2011 Canada Reads title. Read more about Terry Fallis on his website.

Looking forward to this one!

September's Pick: March Violets

This month's selection is dictated more by lack of selection than actual choice. Our books are boxed up and waiting arrival to our new place. We have a couple of books with us in the meantime, one of which will be our September pick:

March Violets by Philip Kerr

Book one of the Berlin Noir trilogy, March Violets introduces "hard-boiled" private detective Bernie Gunther in the violent pre-war period in Berlin. He's "sardonic, tough-talking, and cynical" and sets himself against the Nazis in an investigation into a high stakes murder. It's Hammett, it's Chandler, it's Indiana Jones - it should be fun.

Read more at Philip Kerr's official website.

August's Pick: Motherless Brooklyn

Now that I have some time on my hands, it is time for another book club selection. I have chosen Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem. I have read a few things by Lethem recently, notably Fear of Music, his contribution to the 33 1/3 series on iconic albums. It is a master work, required reading for anyone who has claimed to be a Talking Heads fan. I have also read The Ecstasy of Influence, a large collection of his essays and shorter pieces. Again, excellent: engaging, personal, poignant, effective. I am excited to read Motherless Brooklyn.

March's Pick: Lamb

This March, we are going to read a book that has been on the "to be read" shelf for a long while: Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. I thoroughly enjoyed Fool, and I’m told that this one is his best. If the subtitle doesn't sum it up enough for you, perhaps the "Author's Blessing" will:

If you have come to these pages for laughter, may you find it.

If you are here to be offended, may your ire rise and your blood boil.

If you seek an adventure, may this song sing you away to blissful escape.

If you need to test or confirm your beliefs, may you reach comfortable conclusions.

All books reveal perfection, by what they are or what they are not.

May you find that which you seek, in these pages or outside them.

May you find perfection, and know it by name.


Check out more books at his website. It’s taken me a long time to get to this one - enjoy!

February's Pick: The Tiger's Wife

February's selection is The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht. Not only was it the winner of the Orange Prize in 2011, it is a contender for the coveted Tournament of Books. Obreht's novel is a story of "family legend, loss, and love":

"In a Balkan country mending from years of conflict, Natalia, a young doctor, arrives on a mission of mercy at an orphanage by the sea. By the time she and her lifelong friend Zóra begin to inoculate the children there, she feels age-old superstitions and secrets gathering everywhere around her. Secrets her outwardly cheerful hosts have chosen not to tell her. Secrets involving the strange family digging for something in the surrounding vineyards. Secrets hidden in the landscape itself."

(read more at Powell's Books)

This should be an interesting read, and not too long, which is good, because I am aiming to read the majority of the books in this year's tournament (sorry 1Q84, you won't make the cut!). So far I have read 6 of the sixteen books in contention - The Tiger's Wife will be the seventh, and I am on schedule to read 4-5 more, bringing my total to 12 of the 16, which isn't bad at all. Read along with me if you dare! But definitely read The Tiger's Wife. Look for a post at the end of the month with my review.

January's Pick: The Marriage Plot

In January, I am going to read The Marriage Plot by Jeffery Eugenides. Already a NY Times Bestseller and on many top lists of 2011, it promises to be an entertaining read. This is his first novel since the Pulitzer Prize-winning Middlesex in 2002, and revolves around a love triangle at a college campus in New England. Make this your holiday read of 2011 and share your thoughts in the new year!