As the TBR pile increases - Medieval version.

For the past few months, I've been working in the Hat's indy bookstore. Much like working in the garden centre, I might as well just handover my paycheque and grab all the things I've set aside. Like these: 

Hope and Destiny - This is the first of a trilogy about a time and place in history that I know nothing about. Author Niklas Natt och Dag has a close tie to the Kalmar Union and it's final demise around 1434. He is part of the Swedish Noble dynasty that dates back to the 13th C. He is also a well-known Swedish author. Up to this point his subject matter focused on the 1700's. I've read the first chapter of Hope and Destiny and it jumps in right away. Dense descriptions with lots of background and details.

The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women's Roles in Society - I've read a few books on the role of gender and sex in history. So it's not surpising that this book caught my attention. The title & concept are agressive and a call to action. With a basis in historical examples of women who went beyond the male concept of womanhood, I am intrigued about how the author, Eleanor Janega, can connect them to our lives today. Oh, and I just found a YT video. 

Welcome Back.

 Ok, here it is. A renewal, a spark of hope, and a (another) place to brain dump. 

Reading goals 2013

First off - I want to learn more about the industry I work in. I want to have a better skill set to analyze the books I read both for work & not. I am basing my self study on some course curriculum I found online, adding audio books and other podcasts/iTuneU materials.

Second, there is a reading challenge I can totally get into. Library of Clean Reads mentioned the "I Love Italy" Challenge. Below is her list. I've marked the ones I've read with a *

 Books I read for this challenge in 2012:

1. Waterfall by Lisa T. Bergren
2. The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani*
3. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
4. Dangerous Favor by Joyce DiPastena
5. A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers
6. The Jewels of Paradise by Donna Leon (Audio book)
7. The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister

Books I read for this challenge in 2011:

1. Juliet by Anne Fortier*
2. The Lovely Shoes by Susan Shreve*
3 .The Eternal City by Domenica de Rosa
4. The Italian Quarter by Domenica de Rosa
5. How to Love an American Man by Kristine Gasbarre
6. Frederico, the Mouse Violinist by Mayra Calvani
7. The Confessions of Catherine de Medici by C.W. Gortner*
8. Chique Secrets of Dolce Vita by Barbara Conelli



So I have a ways to go but I think it's a great list and there may be others to add.


Lastly, there will be a bookshelf makeover. There will be a cataloging, selling, donating, sharing and reading of the books I have. And I will write.

WWW Wednesday.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

• What are you currently reading?

Lancelot Du Lethe

This is book has been in my collection of Arthurian stories for a long, long time but I've never read it. When trying to decide my next read, I thought it might be a good idea to revisit my old passion. Turns out this is an engrossing read.

• What did you recently finish reading?

The Mute Stones Speak: The Story of Archaeology in Italy 
I started reading to prepare for my trip to Italy (I was there for three weeks in March)  and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in history not just archaeologists.

• What do you think you’ll read next?

Advance copies of Fall 2012 titles from work. 

 

Spring Clean Up.

These first few months have seen me on traveling quite a bit, meaning I've been jumping from book to book, leaving them at home or in the car, never having one with me long enough to finish. Add to that a slew of new titles from work for Fall 2011 and it adds up to a lot of reviews. So, to start a new season without any outstanding tasks here's the quick & dirty.

Cleopatra - (HC) NYTimes Bestseller indeed! Believe the hype. This is a great overview, full of surprises, intelligent hypotheses and gorgeous details, but in a very approachable package. My only criticism is the footnotes are sometimes misplaced within the text - the sentence they follow do not seem to match the note and one has to look back in the full paragraph to tie in the extra information.

The Forgotten Garden - (Audiobook) (started writing this Feb 25, hence the review is longer than the rest.)
Part gothic mystery, part family saga.
Listened to the Audio Book - reader was good but with so much of the story set in England I would have liked a bit better British accent. Themes - Connections, family, unhealthy desires for both, stories, and healing.

Nell is told by her father on her 18th birthday that she was a foundling, a child left alone on the dock in an Australian port just before the first World War, taken home by the man who found her and raised by him and his wife as their own first daughter. At the news Nell, who was the pillar for all her younger sisters and engaged to be married starts cutting ties with those who do not know her secrets and starts anew in the US. She doesn't start the search for her real family until later in life, and it is interrupted before the answers are fully found when Nell is asked to take in her granddaughter, Cassandra. Years later after Nell dies, Cassandra takes up the search and travels to England to discover a cottage on the hill and it's secrets.

Three story lines - on that that covers mid 19th C to 1913, the second from 1913 to 1975 and the 1976 to 2005, all intertwine and alternate to provide clues, connections and a damn good story. The first has all the elements of the best Gothic fiction - secrets desires, a grand property with a mysterious garden maze, an orphan who finds herself the member of an aristocratic family and at odds with her uptight family relations. But there is also surprising friendships, romances, beautiful stories and a great love of place.

Will Read more of Kate Morton's book.


The Confessions of Catherine de Medici - (Audiobook) - Thought I mentioned this one earlier but.. I was slightly disappointed in this portrayal of one of Europe's most formidable matriarch. The religious wars is a very interesting time in French History and Gortner sets it up in rich detail, but his main character seemed to be more reactionary than using her political acumen & ruthless direction that her personal letters are filled with. While it's fine to keep a sympathetic character, I found it hard to believe that Gortner's Catherine would merit the reputation of the real person.

Beatrice d'Este: Duchess of Milan 1475-1497 (E-book) - This is an older book first published in 1899, hence it is a very different writing style than some may be used to. Still it is an extensive history of one of the famous d'Este sisters, rich with references to letters, household expenses, and descriptions, all the details that come together to bring the people to life and avoid a dry scholarly tomb.

The below are from the Fall 2011 pub schedule from work - so I can't go into too much detail right now. Still, no duds in the bunch.

Circle of Secrets - (ARC) Written by Kimberley Griffiths Little (Healing Spell) another middle reader set in the Louisiana Bayou. I love her story telling.

Flyaway - (ARC) Written by Lucy Christopher, author of Stolen. A very different novel but still as beautifully written.

The Scorpio Races - (ARC) Written by Maggie Steifvater (Shiver Trilogy) An amazing, fresh, well told story.


Next up:

The Scarlet Contessa: A Novel of the Italian Renaissance (Audiobook)
A Discovery of Witches (Thanks Julia!)
The Eleventh Plague (ARC)

The Bigger They Are:

The harder their fall is for everyone.

Today, a new chapter in Canadian publishing history may have begun. One that does not involve the largest homegrown distributor and publisher. H.B. Fenn, a company that's been around for over 30 years filed for bankruptcy protection. Now there are conflicting reports - some media outlets say they have ceased operation, others say they are proceeding under the restructuring option available under the act. Either way, what was may never be again and the industry is reeling.

Pretty much anyone I know in publishing has worked for Fenn at some point in time. In early 2002, before the boy and I moved back to Alberta, I was offered a job as Inside Sales Rep with Fenn. I had to turn it down when the boy was offered the job in the Hat. Luckily, the company that took over my old company thus resulting in my need to look for another job had a mat leave contract available in Alberta so it all worked for best.

A few years ago, after losing the distribution rights to Hatchett Books (including stuff like Disney, Meave Binchy & James Patterson) Fenn laid off all but three of their sales rep. We lost three reps in Alberta alone - all the accounts being handled by the Winnipeg rep after that. Then Fenn picked up Oxford University Press. Not as big as Hatchett but we thought things were looking up. Then word came just a short while ago, that Key Porter, one of Fenn's publishing division was being shut down. Like Fenn, Key Porter was a Canadian publishing icon, putting out books by Margaret Atwood and the like. Perhaps that why this latest news has hit us so hard. We've haven't gotten over Key Porter yet.

Now as sad as this might be, I am tempted to question how bad could this really be. Stoddard/General Publishing, what some believed to be a unsinkable goliath, went down in a big ball of flames in May 2002. They reportedly owed $45 million at the time; Authors went unpaid, books were never delivered, overnight hundreds of people lost their jobs across the country, book rights were lost in the shuffle - some authors are still trying to figure out if they own what they wrote.

But as report in the Quill&Quire at the time "It’s been a difficult month in a business that’s used to them." Mergers, closures, distribution changes, all pretty much par for the course. The demand for the books sold by Fenn is still there. (Yes, e-books are gaining popularity but not every farmer wants the Old Farmer's Almanac in e-form.) Hell, if I was in any position to do so I'd start contacting the publishers offering my distribution services right now, "psstt, Oxford, have I got a deal for you."

(And just in case anyone from work is reading this - Don't worry, I am no position. I know how much you pay me to travel. That's just too good to give up.)

I suppose what I'm getting is this, while I am sad that some people in the industry will suffer from this, there is no telling the effects in the long run. Perhaps it will serve to strengthen the smaller houses & distributors - not just with book sales but also with people experience. Perhaps it will serve as caution to the big house from getting any bigger and over extending their corporate debt load.

But for now, all we can say is "Good, Bad, Who Knows"

Hops & Glory - Pete Brown

Pete Brown is one of my favourite beer writers - possibly the best in Europe (since the best in Canada is Nicholas Pashley - Pete loses out on the world title.) At first glance though, I didn't think "Hops & Glory" would have enough of the history or scope to interest me as much as "Man Walks Into A Pub" but I was delightfully surprised.

"Hops and Glory" detail Pete's attempt to recreate the journey from England to India that helped create the now iconic India Pale Ale. Alexander Keith's has long been a staple in Canada, and my first introduction to IPA but not many people know the history and legacy behind the beer.

IPA with it's high hop content was originally created the 18th Century in England to be shipped and sold to the customers of the East India Trading Company. During the long sea voyage south, the beer not only survived without spoiling but underwent an amazing transformation - aging, mellowing and blending to create a brew perfect for the climate and cuisine. It enjoyed many years of popularity in India before it was push out of the market by new brands and it's origins forgotten. Today, the IPA style has traveled the rest of the world and Pete saw it as his mission to bring it back to where it all started.

So he set off on a trip of a life time overseas from Burton England, with a keg of newly brewed India Pale Ale in hopes of tasting the final result in Calcutta India.

The history of IPA, like the history of colonial India, is filled with back room deals, imperialistic superiority and military supression. It is also filled with a desire for home, drunken revelry and amazing fortitude. Through the book we meet a whole cast of brewers, ship crews and travelers as well as the beers they encountered - often mirroring those that Pete meets on his own trip. The author describes the characters and beers with simplicity, vividness and enthusiasm. And that is really what makes this book. At 400 pages, it felt like a fast read but memorable, from his first description of the American Bridgeport IPA to the last taste of the Burton keg.

(It also made me want a beer just to test my own descriptive powers, really*...)

Another aspect I enjoyed about the book was the scale of the task. Just as I'm sure many average people had trouble imagining the long trip in the 1840's, I was intrigued by Pete's own travel logistics: Who travels from England to India by sea anymore? how was it possible? how much would it cost? how long? I was so happy when it all came together (albeit in fits & starts.) Maybe one day I'll let one of my crazy ideas take me on a good adventure.

Cheers!

*Sadly, No IPA in the house. But we do have a Fullers and a homebrew pale now chilling in the fridge.

Fall reading habits

Fall means three things to me - Travel (audio books), Q4 book season (best of the best) and holidays (sappy Christmas romance novels)

I am well prepared for the first, already survived a few good trips with Michael Pollan (The Botany of Desire) with a new iPhone. On the docket is The Forgotten Garden (Kate Morton), Salt: A History of the World by Mark Kurlansky, and another Pollan, Second Nature.

The second, hmm, well I'm still trying to get through summer novels with Birthmarked. Not really sure what I should look for next.

And well the third, the holidays are coming early. The sappy Christmas romances are on the bookselves. Last week I picked up Lakeshore Christmas. Usually, these things all have the same story line - boy or girl leaves small town to come back years later to have a magical holiday & fall in love or overworked boy or girls meets someone over the holidays to help them re-evaluate their lives and have a magical holiday. Sometimes the fact that it's Christmas is secondary to the whole novel (I know that some were simply re-written, adding a few holiday references to catch those freaks like me) which I hate. Well, Lakeshore was way better than I expected. Very Christmasy with just a touch of magic. A good way to start the yearly tradition.

Try to Remember...

I wasn't a reader as a kid. Music was more my thing. Now I was fairly good in English class but I can pretty much name all the books I remember reading on my own: Encyclopedia Brown, Children of Morrow and Sweet Valley High. Then I found Withering Heights, Piers Anthony & Orson Scott Card. That was it. Grade 11 and I lost any chance of ever experiencing the classic kids' books as a kid. No Munsch, Judy Blume, blah, blah, blah...

Fast forward...most of you know I work for publisher of children's books. Sometimes my lack of childhood reading memories shows but I've been in the business long enough to have discovered some new to me favourites (Kit Pearson!)

Recently, a friend asked me for some kid friendly versions of Shakespeare. That got us talking a bit about introducing our classics to this new generation of readers. Then, I read this article, Kids' Books are alright, in the NYTimes. It referred to a book on this very topic - Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading. I love the covers!!

So I am thinking. What are your classics?

Inspiring History...

Rebel Ireland: From Easter Rising to Civil War (Paperback) - Sean McMahon

We picked this book from the many available at Easons on Connell Street in Dublin. We probably know more than most about the troubles, I mean beyond movies Rebel Heart, the Devils Own and Michael Collins or fiction books like Trinity and 1916 but we were intrigued to learn more after seeing an exhibit of photographs at the National Photographic Archive in Temple Bar, Witness to War by Journalist WD Hogan. It's hard if you have a passing interest in Irish history to not be struck by the immediacy of the fight with such heart breaking pictures. So we needed to know more.

So when we found ourselves in a bookstore we spent a lot of time in the Irish History Section. And were fairly lucky in our final choice.

This book is a quick read, originally published in three parts. It doesn't go too deeply into the reasons behind the conflicts but it does work to keep the many changing factions straight. The timelines move fast but the author is good at providing the tipping point (to use a modern term.) However, you do have to work out who's doing what and it does leave a bit left unsaid like the real affect of the orange card and the proposal of the north. So. It's a good start, a good reference and enough to make me want to read more.

New books to watch for...

in a about a year or so (from Publisher's Lunch Deal Weekly)

Illustrated/Art
Seymour Chwast's CANTERBURY TALES, a graphic novel of Chaucer's classic, to Margaret Maloney at Bloomsbury, in a very nice deal, in a two-book deal, by Sandy Choron at March Tenth (world).

Science
Stanford mathematician and NPR's "Math Guy" Keith Devlin's FIBONACCI'S BRIDGE OF NUMBERS: THE MEDIEVAL GENIUS AND THE BOOK THAT LAUNCHED THE MODERN WORLD, the previously untold story of how a 12th-century Italian mathematician brought Arabic numbers to the West, triggering revolutions in everything from banking to the age of exploration to architecture, to George Gibson at Bloomsbury, at auction, by Ted Weinstein at Ted Weinstein Literary Management (World English).

Children's: Young Adult
Maggie Stiefvater's FOREVER, the final book in the bestselling SHIVER trilogy, plus three new stand-alone fantasy titles, to David Levithan at Scholastic, for publication summer 2011, by Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (world).

YRCA Nominees

Some of my favourite books from this past year have been nominated for the 2011 YRCA selection.

9 Scholastic titles out of 23.

Catz!

Book: Dewey by
Finished on Feb 9th, 2009
****

I've had cats all my life. Even when I didn't think I was ready to have another cat, somehow they would make their way into my life. So I know that look; that one that drags you in, not letting go, where every moment near them effects your life, as they watch.

Dewey had that look from a young age apparently. And the library/town that adopted him was not immune.

Spencer was a typical small town in the mid west, suffering from an economic downturn and the loss of families, until Dewey, the rescue cat became a focal point for the town to rally around. The story of Dewey is the story of a town's survival. It has humor, sadness (especially for anyone who has had to put a cat down) and most of all insight to what brings people together.

And I loved it. It was beautiful. A great balance between the generalizations of what one thing can do to help a community and the influence of that special thing on individuals.

I have to admit, my first thoughts were "really, how much can you write about one cat? They sleep 20 hours a day." Now that I'm finished the book, I see, once again, the power of writing; to expand the mundane, seemingly simple events to significant universal experiences.

Once I, on a whim, I went to a movie. It was a sunny afternoon and I was wandering downtown with nothing to do. The movie was Remains of the Day. I remember walking out of the theatre thinking "I'm a better person for seeing that movie."

It's not often I say that about a book.

Marriage? Why?

I recently got married. For some bizarre, inexplicable reason, my boyfriend of 13 years and common-law husband for 6 years and I decided "yeah, I guess it's a good time." Really, I have no formal answer as to 'why now'?

So when I heard that the author of "Eat, Pray, Love" Elizabeth Gilbert was publishing a book on her experience as a reluctant bride, I was very intrigued. I read EPL and while I will admit is was interesting, like many others I found it overly indulgent and almost naïve. Oh, the imagery was beautiful, the spirituality exudes every chapter, and the author is unbelievably smart but I will always have a problem with too much self indulgence. Unfortunately, I just don't have the ability to relate to people who spend so much energy questioning themselves and others. I know. My life would be totally different if I did...

Anyway, I was a bit hesitant about Committed. And let me say - am I ever thankful that I got over that.

Committed is a better version of EPL. All the wit with more smarts. I'm not saying it doesn't have any episodes of Gilbert saying "woe is me, why is this so hard on me?" and then trying to find the answers outside of herself (again, something I don't really understand.) But this has more historical and social insights. And that's really where her intellegance shines. She can take however many scholarly reports & publications and somehow whittle them down to what they really mean now, to her and the 26 women she's writing for, as mentioned in one of the best opening chapters ever written for what basically is a long awaited sequal.

As such, the details of her life fade into the background and we, as readers (or listeners in my case*,) become incased in how marriage is situated in our lives. I have to admit that I found myself agreeing with her on many observations: the misunderstood history of marriage, the overriding legal significance vs. romantic significance of marriage and the ways friends and family can become invested in one's marital status.

Seriously, change only a few details, this could be my story. I never really considered exploring my feelings towards marriage but this book really does highlight why I didn't get married until now & why now was the right time to. My friends, really, I will hand this book over to you when you ask me once again, why now? Ignore the travel itinerary, I'm working on it.

*PS. I heard Committed as an AudioBook narrated by the author. Elizabeth Gilbert's voice is perfect for audio. It's deep and resonant and she can pull off the best characterizations. lovely.

Bookish Holiday Gifts - A Selection of Finds from Etsy

I am up for it if you want to buy me any of these :-)

Bookish Holiday Gifts - A Selection of Finds from Etsy: "

A paperback weekend.

Give my mother three words to describe me and they would be: dramatic, emotional and artsy-fartsy (if the last is indeed a word.)

This last weekend at the very least proved the first two. We were supposed to go away for a visit with friends & family. At the very last minute I reneged and immediately ran out to buy the latest in paperbacks. Definitely time to put down the latest Man Booker Nominee and pick up what ever caught my fancy at the nearest drug store.

So there I was with four books before me: a collection of christmas romances (the first of the season - a bit late actually), Heart & Soul by Meave Binchy, Sunday at Tiffany's by James Patterson & Under the Radar by Fern Micheals.

I hated the Fern Micheals, didn't finish it but only because it really wasn't what I thought it would be. I have never heard of the Sisterhood series before so that is my bad.

As for the other three, there is something to be said for getting exactly what you want. I loved Tiffany just for it's quaint feel. It will make a great movie some day. Heart & Soul was just as engaging as her other books. The christmas title? My obession started after reading a few books that really centred around the holiday. Now I'm finding many stories are just being re-worked to include a mention of christmas now and then. So I wasn't expecting much here but two out of the three stories actually did revolve around what it says to be about. Really. Therefore I was happy. Still not as memorable as the other two which means I can read it again next year.

ARC's

Please, please, please let the future be the new trend in YA. (taking over from fantasy, vampires, pirates or chicklette-lit.)

Hot on the heels of Hunger Games & Catching Fire, comes Clone Codes A very intelligent, exciting look at how we try to backtrack after our experiments with cyborgs & clones go awry. Following the premise that we are bound to repeat history the story incorporates the ideals from key figures in the fight against slavery and constitutional discrimination. Great female lead, cool technology.

My other fav this season is Numbers - not really set in the future but rather timeless, and very realistic give the premise. A young girl deals with the fact that she can see the date of people's death when she looks into their eyes. It was very well presented in conference but they didn't warn me that the ending would make me cry.

There's more like Wolves of the Beyond and Lonely Hearts Club.

July Books - just a quick note for my own memory.

February - Lisa Moore: Thanks H for the copy of this. While the story was a bit different than I thought (not as much focus on the son,) it is so beautifully & simply told that I couldn't put it down. The precarious balance between now and then, in & out in Helen's head is very clear; we easily could fall into that life. Only when the shadow lifts does the light show how much was missed.

Sugar Queen - Sarah Addison Allen: I picked up Garden Spells a while back. A good clean read especially for those who enjoy Alice Hoffman (see below.) Sugar Queen is the same, although I think the characters are better drawn here.

Ice Queen - Alice Hoffman: I often forget how much I love the magical fiction of Alice Hoffman that is until a read an only slightly inferior copy of her type of writing and am forced to find which books I've missed. More will be on the agenda.

But first I have to finish Syliva & get it back to the library :-)