I miss you so much it’s giving me a pain in my pancreas.

June 30, 2006 Fiction,Young Adult,must read

I first heard about Maureen Johnson’s 13 Little Blue Envelopes in Harper Collins First Look review section. Since then I’ve seen it pop up a few places. And I can understand why.

I loved this book. And it’s been awhile since I read a YA book that I really, really liked. I mean I’ve liked some recently but I really, really liked this one.

Ginny receives a letter from her Aunt Peg (whose name is actually Margaret and I’m still not entirely sure why they call her Peg…I may have missed that…). The letters set her up for an adventure. Her and her aunt used to play a game where they pretended to live in different cities. In this letter her aunt tells her that she’s going to do just this. She is to follow the instruction in this letter and be prepared to travel for several weeks in foreign lands.

There are rules that she must follow: she can only take 1 backpack that she must be able to take as carry-on if she has to go on airplanes; she cannot take guidebooks, languages guides, maps, etc.; she cannot bring extra money or credit cards; and she can’t bring a cell phone or use email – no electronic crutches (man that would suck – no internet for an indeterminate length of time?).

At her first stop Ginny picks up a package. It contains 13 little blue envelopes. She is to open the first one on the plane to London and then after that she can only open the envelopes after she’s completed the task in the letter.

I don’t want to say anything more than that. But I really enjoyed this book. Something about it just struck a cord with me. I think that maybe I’m a bit like Ginny in some ways. But at the same time I really was impressed with Ginny’s bravery. A self-confessed shy girl who takes off to wander to foreign lands unknown all by herself without knowing how anything was going to be paid for completely alone. And it made me cry. I tend to like a book that makes me cry (I’m a sap). But at the same time, it’s really not a heavy read. It’s a quick read, good for a rainy summer afternoon. I’d be wary about reading it in public due to the whole crying thing but really, I’m a sap (and it was only the last couple of chapters that really made me cry so you’re probably perfectly fine starting it in public).

In fact, I loved this so much I’m going to put it in my “must read” category. That’s rare people. Go read. Now.
(And sigh, I really want to go to Paris.)

Emma – SRC #6

June 28, 2006 Classics,Fiction,Reading Challenges

I’ve tried to read Jane Austen’s Emma so many times but I always got bored or frustrated or kind of felt like I more or less knew what was going to happen so why bother reading it at all? I’m pretty sure I’ve attempted this no less than 5 times previously. But apparently without much conviction as I was able to finish it rather quickly (3 days) and without much trouble*.

My biggest issue with Emma (the book) is that I’m really not fond of Emma (the character). Well, for most of the book anyway. She does eventually redeem herself somewhat. But she’s not a character that you can love the same way you love Elizabeth Bennett. There are days where I think that one of the worst things that I ever did was not only read Pride and Prejudice first among Austen’s works, but I read it first at a young and impressionable age. But because I did Lizzie and Mr. Darcy are the standard by which all other characters must be compared to and it’s a pretty darned high bar.

I think after a few Austen books (I haven’t read that much Austen so at least among the ones I’ve read) you start to see some similar plot devices so when faces with what you believe to be an unlovable character you don’t see the point in continuing.

Definitely not my favourite Austen but I’m glad that I can say I finished it. And that the cad was less of a cad than I expected.
* The not much trouble refers to the fact that this particular version – the Everyman edition – told of a future event pertaining to one of the (minor but kinda important) characters in the notes which furthered my belief that I knew what was going to happen. The notes in this case are asterisks beside certain words that either define them or give additional information as to their context. Also, as I was reading this last night before bed, I dreamt that I couldn’t avoid an association with a Miss Fairfax. I shall be glad to have Emma out of my subconscious.

Pet Peeve

June 27, 2006 sometimes I ramble

I really, really hate it when editors of classics put asterisks beside “challenging words or statements” and then proceed to put SPOILERS IN THE NOTES.

HMPH!!!!

And yes, now that I know I should really just ignore the asterisks because the stupid editor put SPOILERS in the notes I can’t help myself. I try to ignore the innocuous little * but it mocks and taunts me with its mere presence and I cave every single time.

For the Canadians out there

Bookstores

From today’s online version of the Globe and Mail, “For Bookstores, soaring loonie yields plot twist on prices”:

Publishers who distribute U.S. books in this country are scrambling to reprice their products, after an outcry from book stores and consumers unhappy over the outdated exchange rate used to calculate Canadian prices.

Canadian book buyers will soon see discounts of up to 20 per cent on some American-published books, as prices are shifted to take into account the soaring loonie.

[...]

Most publishers have already made pricing changes with new books, or reprints, that have been printed recently, reducing the difference between the U.S. and Canadian price to about 20 per cent. Book sellers say that markup is reasonable because of the higher costs of distributing books in Canada. Still, it can take up to a year for a newly priced book to work its way into a store.

More significantly, some publishers have promised to change pricing on their backlists — effectively altering the retail cost for books printed over a year ago, where there is the biggest price discrepancy because of the exchange rate.

[...]

Not all retailers will handle the price changes the same way. Some, like Mr. McNally, will make sure there are new price stickers on all repriced books to indicate the changes. Indigo and Chapters book stores, on the other hand, will put up signs to tell customers to check with cashiers to see whether the prices marked on the books have been reduced. Sorya Ingrid Gaulin, spokeswoman for Indigo Books & Music Inc., said the new prices will be in the computer system and show up at the cash register.

Bed Rest SRC Book #5

June 26, 2006 Chick-Lit,Fiction,Reading Challenges

I have to say that Sarah Bilston’s Bed Rest surprised me. I thought that it might just be a standard chick-lit and that it would bore me completely the way that most do nowdays but it was actually pretty interesting.

“Q” is a New York City lawyer married to another NYC lawyer. Unsurprisingly they both work a lot and hardly ever see each other and are both highly stressed out individuals. Q finds herself suddenly placed on bedrest when her doctor discovers that her amniotic fluid is low and is placing her baby in danger.So she goes from working crazy hours to facing 3 months of bed rest. Like most of us she thinks this is going to be fun, a breeze even. Then the reality of the boredom settles in. And she finds ways to get herself into trouble. She gets caught up in an affair a friend is having with a married man. She starts to question her own relationship with her hardly ever present husband. She examines her relationships with her immediate family. You know – all the stuff we tend to do when we have nothing to do but lie on our left side and think.

I think I’m going to place this in the beach read category. I read it in my few remaining hours of my vacation. That counts right?

(And it’s a Challenge book cause I own it, just in case anyone was curious…).

Up next in the SRC books – Emma (a book I’ve started a bunch of times and never finished…). Plus I have the DVD and it needs to be returned a week from today so I have a deadline for when to finish the book AND the dvd. I can do it…I have nothing to watch on TV now that everything is in reruns anyway.

How Happy to Be

June 25, 2006 Canadian,Chick-Lit,Fiction

Meh.

Katrina Onstad’s How Happy To Be is another story about someone in the publishing industry who doesn’t really like their job and kinda wants to be fired and all the while is going out and getting drunk or high most nights. Probably a little bit older than most chick-lit characters at 35. Oops. I’m not supposed to call this chick-lit because it’s Canadian-lit and as a twist the main character grew up on a commune and her mother is dead instead of meddling.

But again I say meh. I first heard about this on CBC Radio (most likely Sounds like Canada – where else would I hear about such books?) and it sounded like it was funny. But I think they mentioned all the funny bits on the radio.

I was bored most of the time. I think I don’t like reading about party girls, even when they are getting to the point where they don’t like it.

Now…what to read next???? I’ll keep plugging away at Let them Eat Flax but it’s mostly short essays and I will go crazy without something with a plot on the go as well. Maybe Banners of Silk? Or Bed Rest? Or A Great and Terrible Beauty? Or The Virgin Blue? Or something else???

I’m back to the land of too many choices but for a change it’s not too many library books since I’ve made most of my holds temporarily inactive. What I ought to do is plug away at some books for the SRC because I’m hopelessly behind at the moment. *sob*

Vacation Purchases

Bookstores

Yes so my hometown doesn’t have a bookstore but I was able to go to Charlottetown and stumble into a few bookstores there. The first one I stopped at was The Reading Well on Water Street. I went in to get A Century of Excellence which I think is going to be one of my history selections for the Summer Reading Challenge. For those of you who have read Anne of Green Gables the Prince of Wales College is the basis for Queens College where Anne goes to study to be a teacher.

I also left with two other books.

Murder at Mussel Cove is written by someone from my hometown. He used to teach at my high school (I think…I know he taught but it may have been in another school) but retired to write before I got there. I went to school with several of his children. The only book of his I’ve read before it one of his children’s books called Chung Lee Loves Lobsters which meant to buy for Davyn but I forgot (I’ll either order it at some point or pick it up on my next trip). I hope I like it but it’s a mystery and well, I’m not a mystery girl.

And my final purchase from the Reading Well was Duet. According to the owner David Helwig is a really good but under-noticed local author. If I like it I may order another book by him called The Time of Her Life. I bought this solely on the recommendation of the owner and I hope I like it. We both liked Three Day Road but had different opinions on Reading Lolita in Tehran (he liked it, I didn’t).

After wandering around for awhile we stopped by a couple of second hand book stores and I found an old girls book that I bought for about $10. I think it’s called A Girl’s Life but I can’t locate it at the moment (I’m not exactly unpacked yet) and can’t remember the name of the store (The Book Emporium maybe?) but it’s on Queen street a few doors away from the Bookman (the Bookman’s owner is an asshole – I had read that but didn’t really remember him being an ass but he barely let us inside the store and evicted us as quickly as possible – he didn’t want to let us browse at all – asssssssssshooooooollllllleeeeeee).

I’m back!

Don't Read,Fiction,Reading Challenges,Young Adult

And yeah, I didn’t read all the books I brought with my but it was nice to have options. I also ended up doing some shopping at a small independent bookstore. Yay! Ok, so what did I read???

1.

The Men I Didn’t Marry

It was ok. A good beach read even though I really didn’t make it to the beach. Hallie and her husband drop their youngest kid off at college and on the way home he tells her he’s leaving her. Her process of healing was to look up all her ex’s – the men she didn’t marry – and find out what is goign on with them. She had 4 ex’s and some are a lot more involved in the story than others. Wasn’t great, wasn’t horrible and it only took a couple of hours to read.

2.

A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies

Should have been interesting, possibly even a bit trashy, but really wasn’t. It was a snore. Do yourself a favour and just skip it.

Inserting blah blah blah text because otherwise the images and text below does not align properly and it’s driving me crazy because just blank hard spaces aren’t working…a theme based bug I think…

3.

Summer Reading Challenge Book #4

Endymion Spring

Ok, I’ve been looking forward to this one for awhile. I ordered it in March and it was on backorder so I didn’t get it until sometime in May. You’ve all seen my TBR piles so you understand why I haven’t read it. But I took it with me on vacation and read it in a day. It’s definitely a book for booklovers.

Blake is a little boy whose mother is a visiting scholar at Oxford studying old world volumes. His little sister, the very intelligent Duck, is with them as well. His father is back in the US and indications seem to be that the parents are on the verge of splitsville. Blake is running his fingers along a row of books in the library when one BITES him. The book title says “Endymion Spring” and the pages are blank but seem to quiver. Endymion Spring takes him on all kinds of adventures…

I really enjoyed this book even though the ending was a bit trite and unoriginal. It will be coming out in the US in August (in hardcover but a very cheap hardcover).

Books started but not finished:

4. Summer Reading Challenge Book # <s>5</s> 7 (I’m soooo behind…and it took me longer to finish this than I thought. I finished two other books for the challenge in the meantime.)

Let Them Eat Flax

Dr. Joe! I like Dr. Joe. I had hoped to finish this one while in PEI so I could leave it with my mother but I had given her another Dr. Joe book and she said that would take her a long time to finish anyway. Dr Joe books are good for commuting because each chapter is only a few pages long. This one is about the science of food and everyday life – usually health related. I should be finish it up on work breaks in a week or two depending on what else I have on my TBR shelf.

Yay Dr. Joe!

5.

How happy to be

I had been looking forward to this one but meh, I’m not loving it at the moment. I started it yesterday morning and probably only have about 100 pages left. I should finish it in a day or two.

Anybody Out There?

June 16, 2006 Chick-Lit,Fiction,Women

You know…after reading Marian Keyes’ Anybody Out There I realized that I really don’t love the Walsh family as much I remember. This is the 4th book about the Walsh family: Watermelon is about Claire (I hated Watermelon, really hated it); Rachel’s Holiday is about well, Rachel (I did like this one quite a bit); Angel is about Maggie (I hate Maggie, as her sisters say she’s a lickarse).

I think the hardest part for me was remembering who Anna was, most likely because I remember her as her old drifter self and not as New York City career girl. It confused me for awhile. I feel like I missed out on the part where she stopped being a drifter but I really don’t feel like rereading Angel to see if it’s in there (if anyone knows, let me know because I only really remember Anna from Rachel’s Holiday and Watermelon).

I don’t think Anybody Out There is going to go really high on my list. It was ok. It wasn’t great. It wasn’t horrible. I don’t like the whole psychic crap. But hey, since it’s set in NYC the Real Men made an appearance. I had totally forgotten about the Real Men and it made me really want to reread Rachel’s Holiday.

It wouldn’t be a bad choice if you were going away for the weekend and you just wanted to take one book with you because in the fashion of Irish women writers this thing is flipping huge. What is up with that? Why do Marian Keyes and Maeve Binchy write big-ass books? Ok, Nights of Rain and Stars wasn’t as huge but you know what I’m saying. I’m not really complaining, they make for great reading on the 5 hour train ride between Montreal and Toronto. Especially if you get stuck because of a derailment and are in Belleville, which you been transported to by a SCHOOL BUS, when you are supposed to be getting into Toronto. But that’s another story. And when you read one of these on the subway people look at you strangely for reading a big-book. Sorry, babbling. Avoiding cleaning and doing dishes and cleaning out the fridge and all that. Anyway, my point was that I’m really happy that I don’t have to pack this massive 600 page hardcover in my suitcase cause it’s damned heavy. Hmmm maybe I’ll throw that Maeve Binchy paperback I’ve had lying around the house unread into my suitcase instead seeing as I wasn’t banking on starting, let alone finishing, this book before I left.

(And I always end these books wanting to run around saying “feck” and “eejit”.)

A Dirty Job

June 15, 2006 Favourites,Fiction,Recommend,must read

Not surprising at all but I loved Christopher Moore’s A Dirty Job. I loved this so much that I missed seeing every goal in the hockey game last night. I’d look up and go “Hey! They scored! When did that happen???” (And really, who expects there to be a goal in the first 16 seconds of play???)

Also this book confirmed that I am soooo not allowed to read Christopher Moore books in public. They cause spontaneous laughter and should I ever read them in public I’m know I’m going to get crazy lady looks. You know the ones I mean. The ones where people look at you either like they are wondering if you are off your meds or as though they are wondering what meds you are on and where they can get some. This would go over really well on one of the streetcars near my house that is prone to have seriously crazy people on it. My personal favourite was the one that told me that she was only talking to me because I wasn’t really there. I said ok and that seemed to please her because she turned around and didn’t talk to me any more.

So yeah, it made me laugh and I’m sure it will make you laugh too. Assuming you have a slightly twisted sense of humour and really hope you do cause it makes life so much more bearable.

Good book post-Moonstone. And a very good book if you having a sucky week. It’s easy to forget about a shitty week when you are reading about death and lime green suits and hellhounds and sewer harpies. Really, I swear!