Fiction

The Town That Forgot How To Breathe

Posted on June 12, 2008. Filed under: Adult, Fiction | Tags: , , |

The Town That Forgot How To Breathe by Kenneth J. Harvey (2003. FIC HAR) is an eerie story. I chose it because it was set in Newfoundland and I have enjoyed many other stories set there. This one was very different.
Bareneed is a small port town not far from Port de Grave. [...]

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Rex Zero And The End Of The World

Posted on June 10, 2008. Filed under: Children's, Fiction | Tags: , , , |

 
Tim Wynne-Jones’ book Rex Zero And The End Of The World (2006.  J   WYN) is meant for children about nine, ten, or so, but I think anyone born in the forties and fifties will love this story.  We of that generation can remember the nervousness of our governments, the chill of the Cold War, and [...]

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Number Ten

Posted on May 23, 2008. Filed under: Fiction, General | Tags: , , , , |

How about something very light, that you can read in no time flat. Sue Townsend, the author of the Adrian Mole books, has written a quirky chuckley book about a fictional British Prime Minister and his quest to find out what the people are really thinking.
Number Ten (2002. FIC TOW) is the story [...]

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The Story Of My Face

Posted on May 6, 2008. Filed under: Adult, Fiction, Thriller | Tags: , , |

Kathy Page wrote a great novel when she did The Story Of My Face (2002. Fiction. FIC PAG). I picked it up originally because of the cover. It features a big grey sky, a cold wintery-looking clearing hemmed with trees and in the foreground the back view of a woman with wild red hair. Obviously, [...]

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Where Soldiers Lie

Posted on April 30, 2008. Filed under: Fiction, Young Adult, history | Tags: , , , , , , |

I read a book intended for young people the other day and quite enjoyed it. Where Soldiers Lie by John Wilson (2006 YA WIL) is a fast-paced historical novel about the siege of Cawnpore (now called Kanpur) in India in 1857.
Sixteen year old Jack O’Hara has come from the Western Canadian wilderness to [...]

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Hunger’s Brides : A Novel Of The Baroque

Posted on April 7, 2008. Filed under: Adult, Fiction, history | Tags: , , , , |

 
I heaved a huge sigh last week when I finally finished reading Paul Anderson’s historical novel Hunger’s Brides : A Novel Of The Baroque  (2004.  FIC AND).  This is a great door-stopper of a book, coming in at 1358 pages.
The story in a nutshell.  A disgraced Calgary academic digs through the papers of his former [...]

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The Assassin’s Song

Posted on March 5, 2008. Filed under: Adult, Award Winners, Fiction | Tags: , , , , , |

This is my first foray into literature written by  M. G. Vassanji, and I will say right now that I have already put a hold on another Vassanji novel,  The in-between World of Vikram Lall . 
The Giller Prize winning novel, The Assassin’s Song  is about Karsan Dargawalla, a young man who loves reading  and has hopes of [...]

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After

Posted on February 22, 2008. Filed under: Fiction, Young Adult |

 
I just finished reading the young adult book After by Francis Chalifour (2005. YA CHA) and was struck by the author’s treatment of the whole subject of suicide.
The story follows fifteen-year-old, Francis, whose father has committed suicide and we see the effect of this act on the boy, his mother and his little brother.  As [...]

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A Short History Of Tractors In Ukrainian

Posted on January 31, 2008. Filed under: Fiction |

 
My whole family read and often I get recommendations from them.  Sometimes I even read what they suggest, and this time I have to say A Short History Of Tractors In Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka was very good.  My daughter said she had to stay up till the wee hours to finish it because she just [...]

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The Quickie - James Patterson (2007)

Posted on January 18, 2008. Filed under: Adult, Fiction, suspense |

Even NYPD Cops make bad decisions.
NYPD Cop Lauren Stillwell thought she would teach her cheating husband a lesson by sleeping with an undercover colleague. As Lauren recovers from a night of passion her lover is attacked and left to die. Just how much responsibility should Lauren take for this death? The consequences that unfold from [...]

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