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Jul. 25th, 2016 08:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tvordljJust a book catch up. They are almost all Canadian authors because in a Goodreads group I belong to, they've posed a challenge for July to read only Canadian authors. The first book was started before July. They've got a similar one for August, to read books with titles starting with the letters of the month, preferably Canadian (because that's the main focus of the group) though I don't think I'll be able to get through that one. I have an advance copy of a book i won from a Goodreads giveaway that i want to read and review which isn't Canadian authored and is not titled with one of the letters in the month of August either.
Silk - Penny Jordan
Nice, chunky book. Orphaned Amber brought up by an austere grandmother who owns a factory that manufactures silks. Love, heartbreak, a loveless marriage, more love. It runs from the 1920s up to the war. I enjoyed it. I think there are a couple of sequels that follow the next generations. Always liked that style of book.
The High Mountains of Portugal - Yann Martell
Three stories that cover three slices of the 20th century. All about how grief affects people. All three have a connection. The first is about a man that is trying to find a religious icon in the "high mountains" of Portugal, something he'd read about in a diary of a missionary in Africa. The second is about a coroner who ends up doing a very bizarre autopsy in the middle of the night. The third tale is a man who gives up his life and moves to a little village in Portugal with a chimpanzee. It sounds weird but it's not. This is the same author that wrote Life of Pi which was also a bit surreal but it's more readable, at least I found it to be.
Mercy Among the Children - David Adams Richards
This book on the other hand, was very bleak and depressing. None of the characters are very likeable. It's about poverty and sticking to your principles even if they adversely affect your family. As hard as it was to read at the beginning, you do end up getting drawn in.
The Three Sisters Bar and Hotel - Katherine Govier
A scientist and his son and daughter, along with his butler, hire a guide to take them up into the Rocky Mountains of Alberta to go hunting for fossils. The year is 1912. The party goes missing after a blizzard and it haunts the guide ever after. The guide eventually gets married and raises a family in the little frontier town and we follow their lives, but also jumping forward to the guide's daughter and son-in-law who, in their old age, buy the hotel in the town for their three daughters. It's mostly about the past though some of the past turns up to colour the present. It was quite good.
Daydreams of Angels - Heather O'Neill
This is a short story collection by a young Canadian upcoming author. I am not normally one for short stories but these were quite good, many with an odd or strange twist to them. If you like short stories you'll probably like these ones, the first one especially was my favourite.
The Best Laid Plans - Terry Fallis
A funny book about the behind the scenes of Canadian politics. A political aide takes a job as a university professor but is persuaded to find a Liberal candidate for the riding where he now lives, a riding that is a very Conservative stronghold that he has no hope of winning. Or does he? The aide finds someone to take on the no-hope campaign, a crusty old Scottish Engineering professor who agrees to run if he has no involvement in the campaign and if the aide will take on his English for Engineers class. The book is quite good, funny, with the two main characters very well put together.
Silk - Penny Jordan
Nice, chunky book. Orphaned Amber brought up by an austere grandmother who owns a factory that manufactures silks. Love, heartbreak, a loveless marriage, more love. It runs from the 1920s up to the war. I enjoyed it. I think there are a couple of sequels that follow the next generations. Always liked that style of book.
The High Mountains of Portugal - Yann Martell
Three stories that cover three slices of the 20th century. All about how grief affects people. All three have a connection. The first is about a man that is trying to find a religious icon in the "high mountains" of Portugal, something he'd read about in a diary of a missionary in Africa. The second is about a coroner who ends up doing a very bizarre autopsy in the middle of the night. The third tale is a man who gives up his life and moves to a little village in Portugal with a chimpanzee. It sounds weird but it's not. This is the same author that wrote Life of Pi which was also a bit surreal but it's more readable, at least I found it to be.
Mercy Among the Children - David Adams Richards
This book on the other hand, was very bleak and depressing. None of the characters are very likeable. It's about poverty and sticking to your principles even if they adversely affect your family. As hard as it was to read at the beginning, you do end up getting drawn in.
The Three Sisters Bar and Hotel - Katherine Govier
A scientist and his son and daughter, along with his butler, hire a guide to take them up into the Rocky Mountains of Alberta to go hunting for fossils. The year is 1912. The party goes missing after a blizzard and it haunts the guide ever after. The guide eventually gets married and raises a family in the little frontier town and we follow their lives, but also jumping forward to the guide's daughter and son-in-law who, in their old age, buy the hotel in the town for their three daughters. It's mostly about the past though some of the past turns up to colour the present. It was quite good.
Daydreams of Angels - Heather O'Neill
This is a short story collection by a young Canadian upcoming author. I am not normally one for short stories but these were quite good, many with an odd or strange twist to them. If you like short stories you'll probably like these ones, the first one especially was my favourite.
The Best Laid Plans - Terry Fallis
A funny book about the behind the scenes of Canadian politics. A political aide takes a job as a university professor but is persuaded to find a Liberal candidate for the riding where he now lives, a riding that is a very Conservative stronghold that he has no hope of winning. Or does he? The aide finds someone to take on the no-hope campaign, a crusty old Scottish Engineering professor who agrees to run if he has no involvement in the campaign and if the aide will take on his English for Engineers class. The book is quite good, funny, with the two main characters very well put together.
