Friday, January 10, 2014
Best Books I Read in 2013
I read mostly nonfiction this year, partly because I was researching a
book. So my best-of list is a little shorter than usual, but as you'll
see some of the nonfiction was really really good:
Cornwallis: The Violent Birth of Halifax by Jon Tattrie -
Jon's a friend
of mine and I was a captive audience in a sense, but I was surprised by
the details of this apparent baffoon who founded my city, and the
bizarre, sadistic tactics he used to subdue the French and Mi'kmaq.
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| Click here for more. |
Conversations With a Dead Man by Mark Abley -
This is sort of a
biography of Duncan Campbell Scott, who led the Indian Residential
School system thru its period of greatest expansion.
But it's also a
series of imagined conversations between the author and the subject's
ghost.
Abley's a great writer and writes a lot about language and
culture, so the book had a lot of great insights and solid storytelling
throughout. I was fascinated.
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| Click here for more. |
Everything is So Political edited by Sandra McIntyre -
This is a collection of short fiction with
political themes, which happens to have one of my stories.
But I was
genuinely impressed with these stories and how well they preached
without preaching. I also loved the international flavour - stories of strife and struggle from around the world.
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| Click here for more. |
Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan -
I picked this up at Value
Village for a buck. I knew it'd been a big hit and had an entire chapter in PowerPoint, so I figured why not give
it a shot? One of my top 2 reads of the year. It's all
about musicians. Each chapter is really a short story but the people are
all connected. It jumps around in time and relationships and you
eventually get several life stories. Really well written, fun and
tragic.
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| Click here for more. |
The Hermit of Africville by Jon Tattrie -
I liked this one even better
than the Cornwallis one. It's the true, and crazy story of Eddie
Carvery, who has maintained an onsite, tent-in protest against the
destruction of Africville for more than forty years. They call him
"Crazy Eddie" for a reason, but as crazy as he may be, the things that
happened to him were crazier.(Did I just say "crazy" several times?)
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| Click here for more. |
Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang by Mordecai Richler -
I read this to my 4-yr-old aloud, in one sitting, and he was riveted, and also cracking up constantly. I tried to read Richler when I was in high school and couldn't get into him - might have been over my head then. Should have read this one I guess, more at my level.
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| Click here for more. |
My other top-2 favourite read of the year, Song for Night by Chris Abani is an amazing short novel. I bought
it for $2 from a library discard bin in Toronto and it's one of the
most beautiful haunting books I've read. It's the first-person narrative
of a voiceless child soldier doing evil deeds masterfully told, with a
twist. I still think about it five months after reading it. Can't recommend it enough.
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| Click here for more. |
What Lies Across the Water by Stephen Kimber -
The story of the Cuban
Five, Cuban spies in Florida operating on practically nil budget until they got
busted and put away forever, almost. The response is laughable (or would be if it weren't causing so much harm) given how
little they were capable of and what they actually did, which was
prevent a few bombs being set off in Havana by Cuban-American radicals. Oh and there was that incident where a plane got shot down - many sides to that.
Fascinating story, top-notch research by Kimber.
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| Click here for more. |
Labels: 2013, best of, books, canlit, Fiction, non-fiction
Wednesday, January 02, 2013
Best Books I Read in 2012
[Click on the book cover image to learn more about the book from Goodreads.com.]
Fiction
The Way the Crow Flies by Anne-Marie MacDonald - based on the Stephen Truscott story, set in early cold war in Ontario at a military base. A murder mystery, abuse of power, divided loyalties, and great writing.
This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen by Tadeusz Borowski - horrifying and unforgettable stories based on Borowski's time as a prisoner in two concentration camps during WWII.
The Rest is Silence by Scott Fotheringham - Kind of a gentle apocalypse story, with gender bending.
The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall - The genius is that he gives a sympathetic portrayal, yet shows exactly how fucked up polygamy is.
Room by Emma Donoghue - I blitzed through the first half to see how the five-year-old narrator and his mom escape their cruel captor. The second half was an usual surprise: the story of the post trauma, the healing process. Gripping story (especially for a parent of small kids I think), masterfully delivered.
Germinal by Emile Zola - Craziest story I ever read. Scenes I thought would never end - miners marauding through the countryside leaving a swath of angry destruction, women ripping the penis off their tormentor's dead body, the collapse of the mine and the drawn out survival of some miners among the relentless corpses of others floating in the floodwaters. Thank holiness I wasn't born in northern France 1860.
Non-Fiction
Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy - academic, but helped me understand parenting (not only mothering) and community and the work I do and why.
Out of the Depths: The Experiences of Mi'kmaw Children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia by Isabelle Knockwood - A sad, powerful story that helped me better understand the attempted genocide of First Nations people.
A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System by John S. Milloy - Context for Knockwood's survivor stories. Milloy tells the stories of how these horrible facilities of systematic abuse, and the attempt to destroy First Nations culture through their children, came to be.
Fiction
The Way the Crow Flies by Anne-Marie MacDonald - based on the Stephen Truscott story, set in early cold war in Ontario at a military base. A murder mystery, abuse of power, divided loyalties, and great writing.
This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen by Tadeusz Borowski - horrifying and unforgettable stories based on Borowski's time as a prisoner in two concentration camps during WWII.
The Rest is Silence by Scott Fotheringham - Kind of a gentle apocalypse story, with gender bending.
The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall - The genius is that he gives a sympathetic portrayal, yet shows exactly how fucked up polygamy is.
Room by Emma Donoghue - I blitzed through the first half to see how the five-year-old narrator and his mom escape their cruel captor. The second half was an usual surprise: the story of the post trauma, the healing process. Gripping story (especially for a parent of small kids I think), masterfully delivered.
Germinal by Emile Zola - Craziest story I ever read. Scenes I thought would never end - miners marauding through the countryside leaving a swath of angry destruction, women ripping the penis off their tormentor's dead body, the collapse of the mine and the drawn out survival of some miners among the relentless corpses of others floating in the floodwaters. Thank holiness I wasn't born in northern France 1860.
Non-Fiction
Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy - academic, but helped me understand parenting (not only mothering) and community and the work I do and why.
Out of the Depths: The Experiences of Mi'kmaw Children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia by Isabelle Knockwood - A sad, powerful story that helped me better understand the attempted genocide of First Nations people.
A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System by John S. Milloy - Context for Knockwood's survivor stories. Milloy tells the stories of how these horrible facilities of systematic abuse, and the attempt to destroy First Nations culture through their children, came to be.
Labels: 2012, best of, books, canlit
