A surprisingly good read!

So, Neil bought Dan Brown's Deception Point--at 40% off--and sat down to read it in a day.

He doesn't read a lot of novels, so when I see him enjoying one, I usually read it, too.
It turned out to be quite a good page-turner. Of course there are improbably coincidences, but I thought the characters were pretty good, although a bit stereotypical. And the twists and turns and double-crosses certainly held my interest.
At one point, I was sure it was turning into science-fiction, but then there was a twist...
People do mock The DaVinci Code for similar reasons, but it was a good read, too.
Definitely a one-day wonder--or a day and a half, being 450 pages!

A biography: yes, I do read non-fiction!

Aimee Semple McPherson: Everybody's Sister
At the cottage on the weekend, without the Internet (ah, how times have changed) I took a look at the bookshelf. Last year I threw out or donated many books that needed a new home. Somewhere, though, I acquired a few "new" ones. Because we have been discussing Neil's Prince Edward Island grandfather lately, and we know he went to California to join Aimee Semple McPherson's movement*, this one practically chose itself.

I had heard her name; I knew she was an evangelist and celebrity in the 1920s and 30s, but I didn't know much about her.
The book gives lots of details about her growing up on a farm near Salford, which is near Ingersoll, which is near London, Ontario, where I come from. Some of the details are a little "off", but mostly they ring true.
Her mother belonged to the Salvation Army, which seems to have shaped her beliefs and personality. She went on to great success in saving souls and in generating the publicity required to carry out her work.
Her whole public life is described. The book is a "popular history", but still a bit long-winded and academic.
And while I learned some interesting things about religious and popular culture in the 1920s and 30s, there is one thing I still haven't fully grasped: what is "the doxology"? (Author mentions it at least three times, without capitalization.) According to Wikipedia, it is a chorus to a hymn, or possibly the hymn known as Old 100th.  So far, You Tube gives me examples, "Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow" and "All people that on earth do dwell" and to my untutored ear they sound rather similar.

*And yes, the grandfather did return to PEI, to his wife and 6 children, and lived happily ever after, with a bible reading every evening.

My April reading included Triggers and Red Planet Blues by Robert J. Sawyer.


They were two quite different books, but both very well constructed, entertaining and thoughtful. Triggers is the more philosophical, but relies on strong characters and thriller-style plotting. I was not really happy with the ending, which I have seen so many times in S-F, but it did grow organically from the story, so I suppose that has something positive to say for it.
Red Planet Blues (subtitle: murder on the mean streets of Mars) was a rollicking good read, perhaps a little self-conscious about the hardboiled detective genre, but quite worthwhile.
I went to the Ottawa launch for Red Planet Blues, heard Rob read and got him to sign both books.










My other book launch this month was for The Christie Curse by Mary Jane Maffini and her daughter Vicky, writing as Victoria Abbott.


I like MJ's detectives and the goofy scrapes they get themselves into. Kind of grown-up Nancy Drews. The characters in this new series have lots of potential and the story was quite a page-turner.

An anecdote: the story has Siamese cats in it. The cover artist put a pug dog in the picture, so MJ & V had to create a pug character to fit the cover. And it worked wonderfully well.






I also finally got around to reading a modern Canadian classic (nominated for Giller and GG awards in 2003) and I was very glad I did. The story of a Newfoundland man who goes to New York, the North Pole and back home, with many adventures and observations along the way was gripping and full of detail and insights.

Two free books. One very good. One just awful.

I went to a conference (not a serious one). Patrick, my son-in-law, went to a conference (more serious). Both of us got free books. Laura passed the one Patrick got on to me, and I really enjoyed it.
The one I received is headed for the recycling bin, or maybe St Vincent de Paul.

So, the bad book first: J.D. Gordon's caribbean calling is a simple adventure story, like an episode of Hawaii Five-O, or a really bad Bond movie. That is not the bad part. The writing is repetitive and the story apparently a rerun of many of the same situations and characters of his earlier novel. And he refers to the earlier story a lot. In his acknowledgements, he thanks his editor for her "meticulous attention to detail" but really, she was not very careful at all!
It was free, and fast to read, although frustrating. I got to the end, of course; I almost always do. And it's autographed, for what that's worth.

To the Edge of the Sea, by Anne McDonald, is a story of Prince Edward Island in 1864, when Sir John A, Macdonald was trying to get Canada's Confederation going. There are interesting characters and points of view, some useful coincidences, and an authentic feeling for the times.
There are fisherfolk, farmers, politicians, a circus.... I have been trying to get other people to read it, because I think it was good.
I would have even paid real money for it.
(Maybe I should return it to Patrick so he can read it?)

One of those " life has overtaken science fiction" stories

This one took several days to read. Arthur C. Clarke's writing is very dense. The story was not actually very complicated, but it took many pages to work through it. The characters were fairly flat but their names were long and exotic (not outer-space exotic, just Sri Lankan).  This is a 2001 reprint of a 1979  novel, and some of the technology has actually been surpassed (the Internet, for example). Lots of engineering ideas, so if that floats your boat, go for it. There are visitors (robotic) from another galaxy, but I don't see what they had to do with the main story.Some interesting bits of history, culture, art, philosphy, but they didn't gel together for me. I remember enjoying some of Clarke's earlier works, especially Childhood's End, which would always make me cry.

It cost me $3.50 at St Vincent de Paul. Almost worth it.

Today's book--back to SF

Treason is the name of the planet and it has a long history of human habitation. This is quite a good story. Lots of ideas and interesting characters, with clear descriptions and not too many battles.
O.S. Card is a very well-known SF writer: the series that started with Ender's Game is a real favourite, and stretches over many years, as a true saga does. His other series, the tales of Alvin Maker, seem to have more roots in his Mormon upbringing, and is decidedly American. This is a 1988 re-issue of one of his earliest books (1979) with author's revisions.
As a writer, Card tells tales, creates pictures and asks questions; what more can you ask?

May Day 2013

Today I finished the book I started yesterday. And I read another one yesterday. I was having a physical slump and found it necessary to be idle, and what is better for that than reading a fascinating book or two?

Today's book: The Book of Air and Shadows, by Michael Gruber

It was our Book Club choice for April, but I didn't get around to reading it before the meeting. Book Club people were divided. Some thought it confusing and inaccessible; others liked it a lot; some only got halfway through, so discussion had to stop because of *spoilers* for thse who hadn't finished it. There was a copy available (thanks Heather) and I took up the challenge.
I thought it was really good. Old manuscripts; Russian mobsters; academics; mystery women; colourful families. Well written and with lots and lots of plot twists.
The basic plot of someone discovering or hunting for an old manuscript that may or may not exist, or may or may not be a forgery, was also used in Victoria Abbott's The Christie Curse  (see April blog).




Yesterday's book was The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger


This was a very sad book. It made me frustrated with 19th-century England and its mean class and gender structure. It was a romance, but not a happy one. The setting and some of the characters reminded me of the whimsical detective novels by   Elizabeth Peters (the Amelia Peabody series http://www.ameliapeabody.com/ ), but they were much more entertaining.