March's Pick: On Beauty

March's Book Club selection is On Beauty by Zadie Smith.

February's Pick: February

Even though it's well into the month, I am still going ahead with my February Book Club pick: February by Lisa Moore. I didn't pick it just for the title, however: it is also the Atlantic representative for this year's Canada Reads debate, which starts today. For a primer, check out Book Riot's brief synopsis of the book and Lisa Moore.

I don't think I will finish February before the end of the Canada Reads debate, but I will certainly tune in. Check out the Canada Reads page at CBC.ca for broadcast details. There are myriad ways to catch the action, so there's really no reason not to listen.

Resetting The Month Post

Last month was a pretty busy month for me, it turns out, and Arcadia didn't quite make it. My review of November's book club pick, Alias Grace, didn't quite make it either. So I'm just going to bump everything back a month: look for my review of Alias Grace shortly, and read Arcadia for January!

December's Pick: Arcadia

This December, we are picking Arcadia by Lauren Groff. It did not receive much attention from prize juries this year, but, as you can see below, it has made many end of year "best of" lists. Let's hope it lives up to the hype!

Book Page   The Christian Science Monitor

The Globe & Mail    Kirkus Reviews

Largehearted Boy    New York Times

NPR    Washington Post

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!

July's Pick: The Ghost Writer

This July, I am traveling at the end of the month, but that doesn't mean that I can't read a book! I've decided to honour 2011 Man Booker International Prize winner Philip Roth by selecting 1979's The Ghost Writer. First volume of a trilogy, The Ghost Writer focuses on Nathan Zuckerman, "a budding writer infatuated with the Great Books". Roth explores "the tensions between literature and life, artistic truthfulness and conventional decency". Can't wait!

June's Pick: The Eyre Affair

The Book Club pick for June 2011, celebrating 3 years of book clubbing, will be a “bookish” book, The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde:

"The novel is set in a very different reality, where literature is a very serious matter. Thursday Next is a Special Operative, who investigates literary fraud and forgeries. She's called in when a rare Dickens manuscript disappears without a trace. Then, she finds herself caught up in a literary detective tale, where she must unravel the puzzle of literary time travel and the re-writing of the the most famous endings." (thanks About.com)

Read more here. 

Perhaps my wife will even respond, as she has read this book and I know for a fact that she enjoyed it.

January's Pick: Nikolski

Fantastic Mr. Fox was pretty good, though the movie was better. I will attempt a full review at a later date, but for now let's reveal the pick for January: Nikolski by Nicolas Dickner. Published in French in 2005, it was translated into English in 2008 and subsequently won the Governor General's Literary Award for Translation. In 2010, it's becoming popular once again as it is a selection for this year's Canada Reads competition on CBC Radio One. It is a story about "three young people" who "follow their personal songs of migration". The back cover synopsis may seem overdramatic, but it actually worked, as it convinced me to give it a try (being $10 at Chapters right now doesn't hurt, either). It seems like a true Canadian tale, a coming together of unlikely compatriots to overcome the odds, and with a few jokes thrown in for good measure. I am looking forward to it.

Right now, however, I am in the middle of The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger, the current selection for the other Book Club I am involved in, the Chapters Rideau Book Club. So far, so good. I am enjoying it. I am looking forward to our book club meeting on February 24th at 7pm. All are welcome to attend - it should be exciting!

December's Pick: Fantastic Mr. Fox

December's book club pick is a short and easy one: Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl, accompanied by the film version by Wes Anderson. Hotbox!

November's Pick: Last Night in Twisted River

I'm slowly but surely catching up to the present. October's pick, Juliet, Naked, is done and we can't just skip over to December without covering November first. So, without further ado, I present November's book club pick: Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving. I understand that we just did a John Irving novel, but Irving's newest release is too good not to read. Stay tuned for December's pick!

October's Pick: Juliet, Naked

So the book reviews are few and far between lately. However, you can expect that I will post reviews about a number of books I've read lately, including Year of the Flood, The Time Traveler's Wife, Fables, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and our wayward book club selections A Prayer for Owen Meany and Inherent Vice. Although neither has made it to my "Already Read" section on Facebook, I will get to them soon enough. For now, however, I am reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

I have also not forgotten about October's book club pick. As everyone may or may not already know, one of my favourite authors is Nick Hornby. As everyone may or may not already know, Nick Hornby has a new book out. Thus, without really needing to explain myself further, Juliet, Naked will be October's book club selection.

I encourage all members to stay the course and maintain the discipline that has propelled us this far: don't give up on Owen Meany, get to Pynchon asap, and revel in the rare treat that is provided by anything writtenby Nick Hornby.

September's Pick: Inherent Vice

As August comes to a close, I have been thinking about which books to choose for our monthly poll. However, I have made a decision for the group, and it's entirely selfish: September's book will be Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon. Pynchon's latest novel, which can be described very briefly as a stoner gumshoe mystery, seems to baffle most critics: some expect Pynchon's postmodern leanings to come out in full force, i.e. the more complicated and confusing the better, and some like the idea of a straightforward murder mystery. It seems that Inherent Vice is somewhere in between. I am intrigued enough to find out for myself. The review on The Millions (yes, I am their greatest fan) is necessarily ambiguous, but it features a video trailer for the book that is, I believe, narrated by Tommy Chong, of Cheech & Chong fame. Which would make sense.

In other news, keep chugging away at A Prayer for Owen Meany, people! I am not yet done myself, but I will be shortly. It is proving to be a difficult one to get through, not the summer read I expected at the beginning of July. At any rate, my review will be here sometime in September.

Summer Reading Pick: A Prayer For Owen Meany

The poll has closed and our choice is clear: A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving has been selected as our summer pick. I am happy with this choice, as this is one Irving novel that I have not yet read, and by all accounts it is one of his best. I've seen the movie (Simon Birch), or parts of it, and I liked that, so I know I'll like the book. I also just finished reading Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella (another great summer read - a full post on that later), which prominently features Iowa, writers and/or writing, and New England, three Irving staples.

Given the length of time before our next reading selection (September 1st), we should also try to read as many of the other nominees as possible and write some bonus reviews. As mentioned previously, they're all great reads and should be interesting to read about them.

June's pick: Cloud Atlas

This month, we have a unanimous selection: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. The premise and reach of this novel is ambitious, so prepare for a challenging read, or so I'm told:

"David Mitchell entices his readers on to a rollercoaster, and at first they wonder if they want to get off. Then - at least in my case - they can't bear the journey to end. Like Scheherazade, and like serialised Victorian novels and modern soaps, he ends his episodes on cliffhangers and missed heartbeats. But unlike these, he starts his next tale in another place, in another time, in another vocabulary, and expects us to go through it all again. Trust the tale. He reaches a cumulative ending of all of them, and then finishes them all individually, giving a complete narrative pleasure that is rare."

Looking forward to it.

*Update*: Check out Books Worth Reading for another favourable review.