Nova Scotia: Causeway

The first book I completed for the 2015 Reading Challenge was Causeway: A Passage from Innocence by Linden MacIntyre. This was an autobiographical book set in Port Hastings, Nova Scotia in the 1950s and 60s. 

Goodreads says:
Causeway is Linden MacIntyre's evocative memoir of his Cape Breton childhood. At once a vibrant coming-of-age story, a portrait of a vanishing way of life and a reflection on fathers and sons, the narrative revolves around the construction of the Canso Causeway that would link the small Cape Breton village of MacIntyre's childhood to the wide world of the mainland. Shot through with humour, humanity and vivid characters, Causeway is an extraordinary book, a memoir that has set a new standard for the genre.

Having recently traveled to Nova Scotia, including Cape Breton and the Canso Causeway, I had a bit more connection with what the Canso Causeway is, and how it could change life. Even without that, I really enjoyed this book.

November Book Update

This was not a fantastic month for reading books...

Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling - Michael Boccacino. This book was a bit too fantasy for me, but I read it. Enough said.

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley. This book started off kind of slow, picked up, and then dragged on. I'm not sure how I feel about it! I read somewhere that 1984 is the 'hard, mean' future and Brave New World is the 'softer, happier' version. I'm not sure I want either.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simonson - I'm glad I finally read this book. It was really good, well-written, entertaining and just overall good! I'd recommend this to someone who wants a light read.

The Year of the Flood - Margaret Atwood - This was a really good book. Technically it's the second of a trilogy (first is Oryx and Crake, and the third isn't out yet). I was so engrossed in this book that I missed my bus stop at work and didn't notice when R sat beside me on the bus.. This is our November/December book club book.

October Book Update

This month I finished a bunch of stuff and read a bunch more. I also joined goodreads, username Christine L.

Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins. Final book of the Hunger Games trilogy. I'm not sure that I really liked this one all that much. Sure, it tied up some loose ends and stuff, but it wasn't the best.

Letter from a stranger - Barbara Taylor Bradford. This is probably one of the worst books I've ever read. I hated the way she wrote, I hated how cheesy it was, I hated that I paid money to read it.. ugh.

Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese. This, on the other hand, was probably one of the best books I've read. I loved it! It was a really well told story, and it was really different from what I was expecting. Definitely recommend this one.

Speaker for the Dead - Orson Scott Card. The second book in the Ender's Game series. I liked this one too, although an almost entirely new set of characters did take me a while to get into.

Extras - Scott Westerfeld. This is the fourth book from a series that I read a long long time ago. I just found out about this one, so I figured I should read it. I'd say read it if you are young and enjoy 'teen talk'. If you're older and mature, and prefer words to be written out in a normal way, and all that.. don't bother.

The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield. Another really great read. This was the book club book for the month and I'm not sure how everyone else feels about it yet, but wow. What a twisted tale! It's one that I'd recommend, although it's not for those who don't like a bit of wacky drama in their books.

Dreams from my Father - Barack Obama. I really enjoyed learning about Obama's struggle to identify himself as black (his mom is white, his dad is black).. or his struggle to identify, period. Really well written and really good overall. I hope he wins this election!

The Birth House - Ami McKay. This was amazing! Good month for reading, for the most part. This was the story of a midwife during the time when science became slightly more important and midwives less so. Very well read, and it was set in Nova Scotia. Another book I'd really recommend.

Dragon Seed - Pearl S Buck. I read the Good Earth a long time ago, and really enjoyed it. I didn't enjoy this one that much and it took me a few weeks to finally finish reading it. I wouldn't bother (but if you want to read it, it's on my bookshelf!)

August Book Update

Better month for reading, thankfully!

A Little Night Magic - Lucy March. Weird book about 'night' and 'day' magic. It was fast to read, which was a bonus for it, because it wasn't that wonderful. Somewhat.. Sabrina the teenaged witch.

The House on Fortune Street - Margot Livesey. I really liked this book. It was written from four different points-of-view, and it was really well done.

A Painted House - John Grisham. Not a typical law-related book. This was about growing up in the south in the 1950's on a cotton farm. I really enjoyed it.

Beyond Beflast - Will Ferguson. This took a while to read - a true story of Will Ferguson walking the Ulster Way (around Northern Ireland). It was entertaining, although it did drag on a bit.

Black Heels to Tractor Wheels - Ree Drummond. I love the Pioneer Woman and her style of writing. If this is an entirely true love story, then lucky her. Well-written and entertaining.

I am Number Four - Pittacus Lore. Somewhat Hunger Gamesish, but it was really good. Definitely young adultish, but I think I'll read the rest of the series.

That's all for now! On to another month.

July Book Update

I'm happy to say that July had much more reading than June! This month, I finished:

Bel Canto - Ann Patchett. This was June's book club book. I didn't read what it was about, and was surprised (or shocked, even) to find out that at the end of the book, the main scenario that started right away was the premise of the whole book. It was really good, don't get me wrong, but you definitely learn something when you read the back..

The Peach Keeper - Sarah Addison Allen. A quick story about the popular and unpopular girls who become friends through a story from their grandmas..

Fifty Shades of Grey - E.L. James. The highly read (by females) book.. what to say. I didn't really enjoy this book. I wasn't excited by it, or thrilled by it. I read it because I wanted to finish it. I am not going to bother reading the next two, even though R's mom says that they're better.

Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen. Probably one of my favourite books this year! This was another circus story, one where a suddenly orphaned man hops on a train and then finds out that it's a circus train. Very well written, amazing to read.. :)

Eating Dirt - Charlotte Gill. Written by an ex-tree planter, this was basically a huge essay about tree planting, life of tree planters, and forests. Some parts were interesting, some weren't. It was a very slow book to get through, and I don't think I'd really recommend it.

The Broken Teaglass - Emily Arsenault. This was lent to me by a coworker. It was a very strange tale of two coworkers at a dictionary company that discovered a story within the citations that they used to define words.

The Art of Mending - Elizabeth Berg. Book club book for August. This was a quick read about family values and what we really know about our families. Kind of an intense read, but it was really short, so it was pretty easy to read without getting too caught up in the tragic story.

Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins. This is book two of the Hunger Games series.. and it was good. Completely unexpected and better than I thought. I'm way far down the waiting list to get the third, Mockingjay, though. 

That's all for now, but I've got plenty on the go :)

June Book Update

This is quite pathetic... !

Voyageur - Diana Gabaldon. This is the third book in the Outlander series. I enjoyed it still, although I'm not sure I will continue to read the rest of the series. Still good writing, and it's interesting to learn about the history of Scotland during that time.

Web of Angels - Lilian Nattel. R heard about this on CBC, so I put a hold on it. This was a crazy story about a girl who commited suicide and a neighbour's unveiling of a crazy background. The main character has a disorder called DID or multiple identity disorder. Really wacky story and not for someone who can't handle some twisted stuff..

Here's hoping that July will bring a bit more reading!

May Book Update

Another exciting update of what I've read.

Sima's Undergarments for Women - Ilana Stanger-Ross. This was an okay read, but not that great. It was about the owner of a small lingerie-type shop run by a woman who was infertile but always wanted a baby. She hires a girl ot work for her, and basically becomes her mother.. sort of.

The Scent of Cherry Blossoms - Cindy Woodsmall. No idea what I was thinking. An Amish romance? Um. Enough said. Cheesiest book I've ever read.

The Secret Lives of Dresses - Erin McKean. I loved this book! It was cute and awesome. Full of vintage dresses, romance and good story-telling. Plus, the cover on the soft cover is really cute. :)

Dragonfly in Amber - Diana Gabaldon. Book two of the Outlander series. I read this one fast, and enjoyed it. Yay romance...

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern. This was by far the best book that I read this month. A friend recommended it to me, and I'm glad she did. The descriptions were incredible, the writing amazing.. I recommended it to R, which isn't something that I'd normally do for a book like this. It was just so awesome! I highly recommend this one.

The Heretic's Daughter - Kathleen Kent. Nothing good to say about this one, really. It took me almost (or over) a month to read it, and I finished two or three other books before finishing it. It was the story or some history of the witch trials in Salem, MA. (At least I think it was MA?). It wasn't a thrilling story, but it wasn't descriptive enough about the events to really be called a history novel. I'm sure others enjoyed it, but it wasn't high on my list..

Wild - Cheryl Strayed.  Book club book. This was a really fast read. It was the story of a girl who, after losing her mom to cancer and getting divorced, decides to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. For those who don't know, this trail follows the mountain ranges of the West coast from the Cali-Mexican border to the WA- BC border. She was inexperienced, which probably makes this book more interesting. It would have been fantastic to have photos of her trip in it, but.. that's life. It made me really want to go hiking somewhere, or do something that I didn't think I could do.

That's all for this month. I'm hoping that in the insanity that is June, I'll have time to read a bunch more. I should.. given the time off and time in the field.

April Book Update

Another month gone..

Secret Daughter - Shilpi Somaya Gowda - I really loved this book. It was the tale of one woman (American)'s fertility and an Indian woman's inability to produce male heirs. It's fairly easy to figure out what happens, but the tale is amazing.

My Horiztonal Life - Chelsea Handler - WHAT WAS I THINKING? I think I heard or read about this book somewhere, but it was just another horrible book about a slutty girl. Waste of time.

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins - Book club book for April. Unbelievably easy to read, but well-written too. I enjoyed it, and am going to start reading the second one soon.

The Wednesday Letters - Jason F. Wright - Found The Wedding Letters, realized it was a sequal and decided to find the first one. This is the story of a family whose parents both died at the same time! in bed, and how the husband wrote letters to the wife every Wednesday. Lots of family secrets learned.. blah blah blah. Not super thrilling, but whatever.

A Boy of Good Breeding - Miriam Toews - Ah, Miriam Toews. She's such a bizarre author! The main character's daughter in this book was named "Summer Feelin'" .... Yep. It was really well-written though. I'd recommend it, along with the rest of hers.

The Wedding Letters - Jason F. Wright - Second to the book above. Still not that exciting.

The Uncoupling - Meg Wolitzer - This was a book about a high school drama teacher that decided to put on a Greek play where women decided to abstain from sex to end a war.. (It was called Lysistrata). All of the women are suddenly repelled by their men... It was really good, and I would recommend it!

Prodigal Summer - Barbara Kingsolver - I love Barbara Kingsolver. This book was the tale of three different people - one woman living in a forest alone, one woman living on a farm and dealing with some tragic events and one old man living with a neighbour who he kind of hates. It's entertaining and I enjoyed it too.

Overall, a good month of reading.

March Book Update

I feel like I didn't read many books in March, or maybe that's just because it took a long time to get through some of them.

• Apples to Oysters - Margaret Webb. This was a 'cross-Canada' tour of food and farms. It featured one main ingredient from 10 of the provinces/territories. There was interviews with farmers, recipes and other things. It wasn't my favourite book (she was a bit too sexual about it all), but it was interesting to read about food.
  
• Carnevale - M.R. Lovric. This was recommended to me by a friend, and (sorry S!), I have to say, it wasn't something that I would read again. It took me a while to get into, and some parts were just weird. I'm sure others would love it, but it wasn't my fav.
  
• I am Half-Sick of Shadows - Alan Bradley. Fourth? in the Flavia de Luce series. Again, a super fast read. Sometimes those are necessary.
  
• Deja Dead - Kathy Reichs. Lent to me by a coworker. Super fast to read, Patricia Cornwell style book. I did enjoy it, and there were actually parts of it that made me scared.
  
• Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford. Favourite book of the month. This book took place in Seattle at the end of WWII, and in the late 1980's. It was one of those books that switched back and forth between past and present. It told an amazing tale of friendship between a Chinese-American and a Japanese-American, during the time when the Japanese were shipped to camps to ensure that they weren't spies. Very, very well written.
  
• The Black Dahlia - James Ellroy. This book took me a long time to get into. I believe that it is a fictional story, based on the true story of a murder in the late 1940's in LA. I didn't enjoy the author's style of writing very much, and some of it was confusing. By the end, I was more interested, but it took a lot longer than normal. 

February Book Update

I started working again this month, so I think the increased number of books finished is entirely related to that.. tons of time alone, on a bus. I also read at lunch, because our office is kind of boring, and we all eat at our desks.

• A Red Herring Without Mustard - Alan Bradley. This is the third Flavia de Luce book, and I'm still interested. I enjoy that they are fast to read.
  
  
•  Where the Heart is - Billie Letts. Book club book. We refer to this as "Wal-Mart baby" book, and seriously.. The book itself was ok, although not my favourite. It felt like having a baby in Wal-Mart was some sort of wacko "American dream" type thing.. so strange to me.
  
  
• The Bride's House - Sandra Dallas. This book was about three generations of girls and their lives in and around the "bride's house." It was well-written, and I enjoyed it.
  
  
•  Exes and Ohs - Shallon Lester. This book sounded funny.. but it wasn't, really. It was written by a girl, living in New York who apparently did weird things or had terrible relationships. It was more just stupid. Seriously do not recommend, although it was super fast to read.
  
  
• A Study in Sherlock - ed. by Laurie R King and Leslie S Klinger. This was a bunch of Sherlock-style short stories. Some where different versions of Sherlock stories, some where new Sherlock stories, and some just had a similar theme of detective. I don't love short stories, so this took a bit to get through, but I did enjoy it.
  
  
• A Reliable Wife - Robert Goolrick. Twisted story! It was really good, but I can't say much about it without giving important things away. It was totally not what I expected, but that's good.
  
  
• The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin. One year to become happier. Gretchen had different resolutions to become happier every month. I enjoyed reading it, and I think that I definitely took some things from it. It made me think a lot more about how my actions and reactions affect other people...
  
  
• Outlander - Diana Gabaldon. Good. So good. One of the main characters in this book sounds really hot, which totally helps, but I can see how so many people love this series. I can't wait to read more.
  

January Book Update

I've decided that I'm going to post books monthly, so while I think one of these has already been posted about.. too bad ;). Book club books are in a different coloured font, and the rest are my random books. I'm up for any suggestions too! (S-Carnavale is on hold).

• The Eagle - Jack Whyte. Book 8/9. Continuing from Clothar the Frank. Not my favourite, but still well written!

• A Patch of Blue - Elizabeth Kata. This was definitely not my favourite book, and from what I've heard from the other girls so far.. there's a reason why there aren't any copies in the VPL! It touched on racism, but not in a good way..
  
  
• Uther - Jack Whyte. Book 9/9! It only took from late September - early January to finish this series.. although, as you can see, I did read many other things in between. This was probably one of my favourites, because it was written from Uther's perspective, rather than the other side of his family like the rest. It did a fantastic job of tying up all the loose ends.
  
  
• Mini Shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella. Girlie chic-lit. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a quick, girly read once in a while too..
  
  
• Through Black Spruce - Joseph Boyden. This was the second Boyden book I've read.. It's not quite a sequel to Three Day Road, but is a few generations past the characters in that book, and they are related. I liked this one much more than the first!
  
  
• The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag - Alan Bradley. The second in the Flavia de Luce mystery books. Well written and quick to read. I'm looking forward to reading more of these.
  
  
• Spiced - Dalia Jurgensen. Book about a pastry chef in  New York. Not really that exciting, but again very quick to read. I don't think I'd recommend it.

That's all for January! February's a short month, but now that I have work (and therefore long commutes), maybe I'll go back to reading more.

Book update

I managed (quite pathetically) only to finish three books since I last updated.

• Clothar the Frank - Jack Whyte. Book 7 of 9. Took a while to get in to, but still very well written.

•  Three Day Road - Joseph Boyden. This book was recommended to me by a coworker up north. I enjoyed the writing, although there were times when I was a bit grossed out (lots of talk about needles and how they go into a vein makes me sick feeling). We read it for our book club, and I'm curious as to what the girls thought of it.

• The Eagle - Jack Whyte. Book 8 of 9! This one took me a while too, although I still enjoyed it. I'm going to start the final one today, and hopefully soon be finished with it. It's a great series, and I'm looking forward to reading his other tales, however.. I need a break from history, Jack Whyte and long series for a while. First book of 2012!

Book list update

Woohoo, another update to what I've read this year!

Metamorphosis - Jack Whyte (book II of the Sorcerer, and book 6 in the Dream of Eagles cycle). I enjoyed this one too...

The Help - Kathryn Stockett - This was a book club book, and although only two of us showed up to the meeting, we both really liked it. I've heard that the movie is good too, so maybe sometime this week/weekend I'll watch it. I would definitely recommend this book, especially if you enjoy women's rights, equal rights etc.

Have a Little Faith - Mitch Albom. I picked this up from the biography section of the library, and was happy that it was a quick, although engaging story. The writing was good and the characters well described.

The Collector - Jack Nisbet. My mom told me about this one. It's the story of David Douglas - the botanist and person who collected and described a huge number of plants in the Pacific Northwest. It was interesting to read about places that I've been, through someones journal from almost 200 years ago. Being the nerdy plant lover that I am, it was also interesting to read and guess at which plants he was talking about, and even realize that he named many of them. This is the Douglas of Douglas-fir, and many plants ending with "douglasii". There was lots of journal entries and quotes from letters scattered throughout, too. Very good, but probably mostly recommended to plant lovers or naturalists.

More books

Quick update of what I've been reading lately:

• Ex-Boyfriend's Handbook - Matt Dunn. Not really that exciting. Story of how a guy learns to get over his ex by trying to get her back. 

• The Saxon Shore - Jack Whyte. Book four of the Dream of Eagles Cycle. Still so, so good.

• Everything Bad is Good for You - Steve Johnson. I read this for our book club, and it was actually a book that I had wanted to read. I actually remember the introduction from when I attempted to read it the first time. (That's one of the main reasons I don't re-read books!). Giant essay about pop culture, and how gaming is not actually ruining our lives, but may, in fact be good for us. Woohoo.

• The Fort at River's Bend (The Sorcerer, book I) - Jack Whyte. Book five of the Dream of Eagles Cycle. I'm still happily reading them, so they must be good, right?

That's all for now! I think it's time to hit up the library so I can knock back a few not-so-interesting books before I head back up north.

Books!

I got a bit bored updating every book with what Amazon says and stuff.. so, for the last few weeks, this is what I've read:

• My Stroke of Insight - Jill Bolte Taylor. About a neuroscientist who had a stroke. Interesting, but really, she should stick to science and not writing. Her "style" of writing left a lot to be desired.. at least from me.
  
• The Skystone - Jack Whyte. I'm not sure how I've never read Whyte's books before, but seriously, they are amazing. Thanks to Mom for lending them to me! This is the first of nine and they are well-written, long, and they definitely leave you wanting more.

• The Hound of the Baskervilles - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I enjoyed this because it was a full length novel instead of the short stories that I'd read previously.

• Innocence - Kathleen Tessaro. Another chick-lit. It was definitely not as good as the first one of Tessaro's books that I read, and I wouldn't bother to read another.

• The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls. K lent this to me - gotta love friends that share books. She lent me three that I'd never heard of. I can't believe this book is true. That's basically all I can say. It was well-written as well.

• The Singing Sword - Jack Whyte. Book two. Still so good.

• Sarah's Key - Tatiana de Rosnay. This book was also from K. It was about France during the war. There's definitely some history here that I didn't know about. Well-written again. I really enjoyed the two different characters and how their stories were laced together.

• The Eagles' Brood - Jack Whyte. Book three.

• Room -Emma Donoghue. The last from K. This one took a bit to get into, but once I understood how it was being written, it was really good. 

Well, that's all for now. I think I'll stick to updates like this.. maybe a bit more frequently though.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

From Amazon: "This splendid collection of mysteries carries readers back to a gas-lit era, when literature's greatest detective team lived on Baker Street. A dozen of Holmes and Watson's best-known cases include "The Speckled Band," "The Red-Headed League," The Five Orange Pips," "The Copper Beeches," and "A Scandal in Bohemia."

Not a very exciting description.. This book was 12 short stories. I thought they might be a bit dull, but I really enjoyed them. They reminded me of Agatha Christie, but short, sweet and deceiving. I'm currently reading The Hound of the Baskervilles, which is a full length novel about these two characters. I'd recommend this book, because it was quick to read, but very well written.

The Debutante

The Debutante - Kathleen Tessaro

From Amazon: "A gifted artist, Cate has come to London from New York to escape her recent past. Working for her aunt's auction house, she is sent down to Devon to value the contents of Endsleigh House, the once gracious but now crumbling estate of a former socialite. There, hidden in the back of a dusty bookshelf, Cate discovers an old shoebox. Inside is a strange assortment of objects: an exquisite pair of dancing shoes circa 1930; a diamond brooch; a photograph of a young sailor; a dance card; and a pearl and emerald Tiffanys bracelet."

I really enjoyed this book. It was a pretty light read, but there was enough twists, turns and mystery to keep me reading. I'd recommend it to someone who just needed a fairly quick read.

The Art of Eating In

The Art of Eating In - How I learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove - Cathy Erway

From Amazon: "Named one of Publishers Weekly's most exciting cookbook deals, Cathy Erway's timely memoir of quitting restaurants cold turkey speaks to a new era of conscientious eating. An underpaid, twentysomething executive assistant in New York City, she was struggling to make ends meet when she decided to embark on a Walden-esque retreat from the high-priced eateries that drained her wallet. "The Art of Eating In" reports on the delectable results of her twenty-four-month experiment, with thirty original recipes included. What began as a way to save money left Erway with a new appreciation for the simple pleasure of sharing a meal with friends at home, a trove of original recipes, and a greater awareness of take-out food waste and whether her ingredients were ethically grown. She also explored the antirestaurant underground of supper clubs and cook-offs, and immersed herself in an array of alternative eating lifestyles from freeganism to picking tasty greens in the park. "The Art of Eating In" is a personal journey that transforms the reader as it transformed the writer, about the joy of getting back in the kitchen and turning something seemingly ordinary into something completely extraordinary."

I really enjoyed reading about Cathy's foray into not eating out in New York. I actually cannot imagine eating out for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.. or even just lunch and dinner every day! Her tales of various cooking experiments and contests were very interesting. I also enjoyed that her book had plenty (well, thirty, apparently) recipes. I wrote down a few of them to try before I returned the book.

I wish I could find more books about what I'm interested in for work (ie, plants). I seem to read a ton about food...

The Jade Peony

The Jade Peony - Wayson Choy

From Amazon: "Wayson Choy's The Jade Peony is about growing up in Vancouver's early Chinatown. The book, which began as a much anthologized short story almost twenty years ago, is divided into three sections, each narrated by a different child from the same family: Jook-Liang, the "useless" female, whose main interests are going to movies, tap dancing, and imitating Shirley Temple; the adopted orphan Jung-Sum, the second oldest brother, who discover he's gay; and Sek-Lung, the youngest brother and the only one in the family born in Canada."

I read this book during an owl survey. I liked the way that it was written from three different children, and their struggles growing up in Vancouver during the war. It was quick to read but had a good story. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in a different perspective of Vancouver in the '30's and '40's.

Never Cry Wolf

Never Cry Wolf - Farley Mowat

From Amazon: "In the summer of 1948, young biologist and budding writer Farley Mowat, "infatuated with the study of animate nature," joined the Dominion Wildlife Service and, after enduring a few bureaucratic mishaps, was assigned to study a population of wolves in the subarctic highlands of southern Nunavut and northern Manitoba. Those wolves and their kin, Mowat's superiors believed, had decimated the once huge population of large mammals in the region, so that, as one worried official put it, "more and more of our fellow citizens are coming back from more and more hunts with less and less deer."

As a biologist (or at least working my way up to one), reading this book was really interesting. Wolves and other large carnivores have been misunderstood for years, and they still are today. This book was Farley Mowat's summer (or longer?) living up north with wolves. I really enjoyed his style of writing, as well as the topic.