In the Forest of Forgetting by Theodora Goss 2007 (284 pgs)
Magical realism at it’s best: witches, flying cities, talking bears and all of it oh-so-real-seeming. Enjoyable author, with an old-world flavor updated by modern fantasy sensibilites.
Category Archives: nature
even educated fleas do it
Roach writes the best kind of science- compulsively compelling and delightfully accessible. In her third book, she delves into the history and current state of sex research. With short sections ranging from artificial insemination of farm animals to the study of rats in polyester pants (really!). Extremely informative, occasionally shocking, often hilarious, and always entertaining, Roach knows how to present science in a way that keeps you coming back for more.
no woman is an island
Vera is called to a remote island off the coast of Maine when her brother’s body is discovered on the shore. He’s been missing for 13 years, and Vera has out of necessity blocked all thoughts of his fate. But when she arrives, a hard duty becomes nearly impossible. Her older brother looks like a teenager, unchanged from the day he disappeared. And that’s not the only mystery on the island.
I was keeping a wary eye on this one, in case it turned sappy and life-affirming. (The author won a Christian fiction award for a previous book.) It did, but not until the very end. The bulk of the novel was an easy and enjoyable gothic-light (in the traditional “wife in the attic/bleeding wallpaper” sense) suspense story. I was disappointed in the too pat “it all happens for a reason” tie-up, but otherwise it was fairly entertaining.
Posted in family, nature, religion, supernatural, travel
sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters
Two sisters, inseparable in childhood, reunite for the first time in fifty years. Ginny has stayed in the family home, pursuing the multi-generational vocation of moth collection and study. Vivian escaped as soon as possible to a freeing life in London. They’ve pursued completely separate lives for decades, never speaking to each other. As the book opens, Ginny awaits Vivian homecoming. And as she waits, she thinks back on their childhood and the secrets, shared and solitary, that bind and separate them.
A riveting book with exceptional writing and masterful grasp of the slow reveal. I devoured it in two sittings.
Posted in crime, family, nature, Uncategorized
row, row, row your boat
Enjoyable travelogue of a woman’s frustrated efforts to row solo from Aswan to Luxor. She wants to experience the Nile they way ordinary people have for milennia: by self-powered rowboat. It’s an interesting shift in focus; she’s not preoccupied with the architecture and historical sites. She’s looking to connect with the everyday people who make their livings within reach of the Nile as well as make her own connection to the river. Along her journey, she ruminates on the epic force of this life-enabling river throughout history and touches on historical travellers experiences, which makes for an interesting read.
days of future passed
A global illness is wiping out humanity. Isolated in Antarctica, a single survivor remains. As she tracks across the brutal landscape, Laura Byrd plumbs the depths of her memories to distract herself from the harsh conditions. In an afterlife city, the longtime residents begin to notice the population changing drastically. As the pandemic takes hold, the recently departed funnel into a city, and even more rapidly disappear, until mere thousand are left from billions. For the inhabitants can only dwell there for as long as they live in the memory of the living.
In this haunting (or shall we say haunted?) narrative, Brockmeier illustrates the power of memory and the connections we form throughout our lives. Both portions of the story are separately compelling and it’s fun to see how they connect. And I always appreciate a book that doesn’t tie everything up in a pat little fluffy bow- but rather leaves the ending open to interpretation and imagined possibilities.
what would buddha do?
Twenty Jataka Tales retold by Noor Inayat Khan, illustrations by H. Willebeek Le Mair, orig pub 1939 (152 pgs)
A collection of short Aesop-esque legends of the former incarnations of the Buddha that relates tales of wisdom and kindness. Here he’s a lion, kindly correcting a panicking hare who thinks the world is ending. There he’s an stag convincing the king through his willingness to sacrifice himself for any of his fellow creature that all animals are worthy of respect. The tales are simple and fun & the morals subtle enough to compliment and not overpower the sweet nature of the book.
Posted in ethics, kid stuff, nature, philosophy, short stories
stuck in the middle with you
The ones I gave up on:
Can a Robot Be Human?: 33 Perplexing Philosophy Puzzles by Peter Cave 2007 (192/read 130ish)
Somewhat interesting, but written in an overly twee style that I could only take in short doses.
Love this book, but I’ll have to get it again later. So little time, so few renewals.
Reads like an art school cocktail party. In a good way. The prose is sophisticated and intellectual without being pretentious. It’s the perfect style for this tale of the entanglements of graduate students searching for connection, while one tries to steal the other’s identity.
Mmm, comfort book. One of my fav books, about a woman sentenced to solitary confinement in a virtual cell in her own mind (which is the point I started this time round). I love the evolution of her character and how being completely alone forces her to face herself.
Short story collection from an excellent author who winningly captures the dichotomous nature of the emigrant experience.
Archaea are microbes older than bacteria that are being discovered thriving in the most extreme environments- from volcanic vents to streams deep within icebergs. It’s a fascinating topic, but the meandering writing failed to grab me.
Posted in foreign experience, nature, philosophy, science, science fiction, short stories, sociology, unfinished
a veritable cornucopia
In our modern economy, the average food item now travels 1500 to 3000 miles from farm to plate. Even locally grown food is often shipped overseas for processing before sale. In Plenty a Vancouver B.C. couple, hoping to decrease their ecological footprint, commits for a year to eat only food grown within 100 miles of their urban apartment.
I like this book more the further I get away from it. The concepts are intriguing, but the writing is off-putting. In alternating monthly chapters the two authors chronicle their food-life experiment. MacKinnon’s writing is so overly ornate and convinced of his own profundity that Smith’s more practical approach is a welcome relief. Both authors tend toward minutia and never delve into the personal. There is a resulting sense of disconnect and readers are left feeling uninvested.
In spite of its faults, the book is a good jumping-off point for examining your personal consumption and the ecological and economic consequences. My library selected this book as our “all staff read” for an upcoming in-service and I’m excited for the discussion.
attack of the 50 foot book 