All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews

I have mixed emotions about this book.  I didn't love it as I read it, but the more I think about it now that I'm done, it's growing on me.

This is the story of Efrieda and Yolandi, Mennonite sisters from Winnipeg.  Now grown women, Elf and Yoli live very different lives.  Elf is a world-renowned concert pianist, Yoli is the author of a somewhat successful series of rodeo books.  Elf has a very successful, happy relationship, Yoli has a string of broken relationships and shame about the fact that she "sleeps around".  Elf is suicidal, Yoli is determined to save her.

This is the story of their sisterhood.  Looking back on their childhood in a strict Mennonite community, Yoli (the narrator) looks at their lives and what brought them to where they are today.  Elf has made several attempts to take her own life, and each time Yoli is by her side, encouraging her to fight on.  So when Elf asks Yoli to take her to Switzerland to help her end her life legally, on her own terms, Yoli is torn.

This is a story of love, of sisters, of mental illness, of the difficulty of living when you don't want to live anymore.  And what is love, to allow your sister to go, even to help her die, or to ask her to keep living for your own sake?

Miriam Toews own father and sister committed suicide, so this book has a lot of her own story in it, which makes it more difficult to read at times.

But with all that being said, there are times when this book is laugh-out-loud funny.  Yoli is a very funny character and her way of expressing herself was humourous, even in the sad situations in which she found herself.  She is a very likeable, endearing character.

I'm glad I read it, but I don't think I'd ever read it again.

Emancipation Day by Wayne Grady

First of all, let me say how happy I am to be done my book club selection with more than a week still to go before our meeting!

But secondly, I didn't really enjoy this book.  It's the story of the Lewis family during World War II and the years immediately following it.  Jack Lewis is stationed in St. John's NL with the Navy where he meets and marries Vivian.  But he is always guarded about his life and family, so that when they return to his home in Windsor, ON after the war is over, many surprises await her.  The story is told in alternating voices between Jack, Vivian and Jack's father, William Henry.

It's a story about family, race, and what it is that makes us who we are.

I found the character of Jack to be irritating.  He is stubborn, sullen, selfish and dishonest. He just bugged me.  Vivian was quite a likable character, but I felt sorry for her because of the way she was treated by Jack.

My favourite thing about this book is that fact that it was partially set in Windsor, where I lived for so many years.  It was cool to read about the places I know so well, even in a different time period.

So, I don't really recommend this book.  But if you are interested, it is a fairly quick, mostly light read.  Some descriptions of the 1943 riots in Detroit can be a bit disturbing, but all in all it is a fairly light book.

Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier

I read this book several years ago and quite enjoyed it.  It was a selection for my book club for our February meeting, so I thought I'd just flip through it before the meeting.  But when I opened it, I realized I remembered very little about the story so I ended up doing a complete re-read of the book.

Rebecca is the story of a shy, young, unnamed woman who meets and falls in love with Maxim de Winter a handsome widower.  His wife, Rebecca, had tragically drowned a year ago.  After he proposes to our heroine, she moves with him to Manderley, his expansive English estate.

The problem is, she feels the shadow of Rebecca everywhere she turns.  Rebecca's favourite flowers are still placed in the house every day.  Rebecca's favourite meals are still served.  The new Mrs de Winter is constantly being told that she is, "nothing like Rebecca".  Maxim seems distracted and sad.  She feels he regrets marrying her and that he wants Rebecca back.

Her youth and shyness prevent her from talking to anyone about it and she becomes tortured with thoughts of Rebecca's presence.  Added to her insecurity is the presence of Mrs Danvers, the housekeeper who had been Rebecca's personal maid.  She has kept Rebecca's room perfectly preserved since the night of her accident and clearly has no interest in having a new Mrs de Winter in the house.

The book starts off fairly slowly, but really picks up in the second half.  An elaborate costume ball, a shipwreck and a gruesome discovery add to the excitement.

As our book club discussed this book on Sunday evening we talked about our frustration with not knowing Mrs de Winter's first name.  I understand that it was left out to emphasize how unimportant she felt and how she didn't feel like a woman when compared to the perfect Rebecca, but it is still frustrating.  Even writing this post has been difficult without a name to use.  It's an interesting device.
It's a great book, I highly recommend it.  If you liked Jane Eyre, you'll like this one.  It's got a similar feel to it,with the mysterious first wife and the big English estate.  In fact as I was re-reading this one, I was confusing the story with Jane Eyre in my mind.

Apparently Alfred Hitchcock made this into a movie.  I think I might check it out.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

What a lovely book this was to read.  It was recommended to me by a friend who loves it and wanted me to read it.  I'm glad I did.

I knew very little about the book when I started it and I'm kind of glad about that.  I loved the lyrical writing style (although it sometimes sped up my nodding off at the end of a long day) and quickly fell into the story.

It's the story of Santiago, a young Spanish shepherd who heads to Egypt in search of his Personal Legend (always capitalized throughout the book).  Everyone has a personal legend, but very few actually find it.  You must listen to your heart, follow the omens and understand the Language of the World.  Of course, he meets many challenges along the way and questions the validity of his search, but decides to continue on.

It's a theme I've been encountering over and over again in recent months.  Find your dreams and do what it takes to achieve them.  When I heard Chris Hadfield speak in November, this was essentially the message he gave us.  Set a goal and make decisions in your life that will help you achieve that goal.  You might reach it, or you might not, (believe it or not, he didn't), but your life will be richer and fuller for having worked for what you want.

The Rosie Effect, by Graeme Simsion

Meh.  I expected to like this book a lot more than I did.  When I read The Rosie Project I loved the character of Don Tillman and couldn't get enough of the book.  I loved the story of how the man who has Asberger's but doesn't know it falls in love and marries a woman who is the opposite of his expectations.

Naturally I was excited when I heard there was going to be a sequel.  Fantastic!

In this book, Don and Rosie have moved from Melbourne to New York City.  Once there, Rosie discovers she is pregnant.  The rest of the book follows their preparations for parenthood, along with the challenges that change presents to their still fairly new marriage.

I just felt like Rosie had a complete personality shift in this book.  In the first book, she seemed to really understand Don and the quirks that make him "not average".  But in this book there are many situations where it seems she is expecting him to change who he is.  I don't think the Rosie we met in the first book would do that.  As a result their marriage hits a crisis point.

Maybe it's just that I'm still not interested in reading about marriages in trouble.  Hard to say.  But I don't think that's it.  I just found her pretty unlikeable in this book.

Don still has some laugh out loud moments, and learns some great things about himself.  Some of the situations are more than a little far-fetched and then resolved too easily.  But it's a light read, it can be read quickly and might make you laugh at the end of a busy day.

Thunder Dog by Michael Hingson with Susy Flory

I feel like this blog post would be complete if I just said, "Read this book!"  But there is so much more I want to say.

What a great book!  This was a selection for my book club for our January meeting.  I wasn't finished it in time for that meeting, but I'm glad I finished it afterwards.  This book is the account of Michael Hingson and his guide dog as they escaped the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.  Michael became blind as a premature baby, after being exposed to too much oxygen in the hospital.

Not letting that stand in his way, Michael worked hard, went to college and embarked on a career in sales that landed him a job in the World Trade Center. After receiving his first guide dog at the age of 15, he didn't go anywhere without his dog by his side.  So Roselle was there with him on that day, as she was any day.

The story weaves together their experiences on September 11th, along with stories from Michael's childhood, giving you an understanding of what it was like for him to grow up blind.  Fascinating stuff.

There are so many good things about this book, but my what struck me the most was the attitude of Michael's parents.  Michael was born in 1950.  After his blindness was discovered, doctors recommended that he be placed in residential care, to ease the burden on his parents.  This wasn't something his parents would even consider.  They brought Michael home, and taught him that there wasn't anything he couldn't do and that allowed him to reach his full potential.  He wasn't treated any differently than other kids, he went to public school, he rode a bike (leading to one of my favourite scenes in the book) and even bought himself a Ford Mustang!  But his life could have been very different.  If his parents had taken that advice, he would have had a very different experience.  I love the bravery they showed, long before that was the common approach for parents to take.  It's a great lesson for all of us in how we treat people we perceive as "different".  

I can't recommend this book highly enough!  It's an easy read, you'll likely find it fascinating and work through it quite quickly.

A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett

Perhaps you've thought that I've given up on blogging about the books I've read.  That is not true.  The fact is, I've been so busy that I haven't finished a book since July.  Fortunately, that changed this morning.  I hope to be back on track(ish) now.

The main reason I haven't been reading is the general busyness of my life, especially my studies.  My courses this semester involved a lot of reading, which didn't leave much time for reading for fun.

But another reason is that the book I was reading was A House in the Sky.  This is the true story of a Canadian woman who was taken hostage in Mogadishu, Somalia, and held there for 15 months.

As you can imagine, this was not pleasant reading.  What Amanda, and her fellow captive Nigel Brennan, endured was unbelievable and heartbreaking.  At the end of a long, busy day, it was hard to want to pick up a book that involved so much devastation.

This was my book club's chosen book for October.  I finished it this morning.  Not bad.  (haha).  I wasn't able to attend the meeting where it was discussed, so I don't know how the other women in my group felt about it.  A women's group from my church will also be discussing the book in January.  I'll be interested to hear their thoughts.

It is helpful to know that Amanda wrote the book herself.  Otherwise as you are reading it, you would never believe that she could make it out alive.  But I would love to read or learn more about her adjustment back into "normal" life.  In the epilogue she talks briefly about some of the PTSD therapy she received, but I still can't imagine how difficult the transition was for her.

It is a powerful story of what a person can endure, but it is not a book you will read for fun.  If you read it, or have read it, I'd love to hear your thoughts too.