2010-67 - Raven Stole the Moon, by Garth Stein, 442 pages, Harper Collins, 1998

67) Raven Stole the Moon, by Garth Stein,  442 pages, Harper Collins, 1998
WHY I PICKED IT: I really enjoyed The Art of Racing in The Rain, and wanted to read Stein's new book
ELAPSED TIME: 5 days.
RATING: Good.

As it turns out, this isn't Stein's new book, it's a reprinting of his first book (and you can feel it throughout with the pacing and voice)... to take advantage of the fact he is a known author now.  This story is interesting in that it provides insight into the Tlingit people and their faith.  And it's not a bad story.  However, I think Stein's first book never did well because the story was just a bit too dark.  It starts with a tragedy, and even though the book is about the journey to find peace within, ultimately this story failed to draw me in.

2010-66) The Playbook, by Barney Stinson and Matt Kuhn, 141 pages, Simon and Schuster, 2010

66) The Playbook, by Barney Stinson and Matt Kuhn, 141 pages, Simon and Schuster, 2010
WHY I PICKED IT: Barney Stinson is awesome, so his book should be too...
ELAPSED TIME: 5 days.
RATING: Meh

The Bro Code was quite enjoyable... for what it was.  A lot less thought went into making this book funny.  I'm betting fans of the show would still want to churn through this book... but I don't know if I'd recommend it.

2010-65) Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett, 495 Pages, Harper Collins, 2001

65) Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett, 495 Pages, Harper Collins, 2001
WHY I PICKED IT: Eileen Lao recommended it
ELAPSED TIME: 5 days
RATING: REQUIRED READING

Oh my.  This story is a universe unto itself.  These characters became my friends.  Their experiences were my experiences.  I will miss them.  Ann Patchett has woven a fantastic story - of terrorists and their hostages, of the bonds that are developed over the months in captivity.  Patchett's voice draws you into the minds and hearts of her characters - which would fantastic on its own - but she throws out a sentence every so often that you must simply stop and ponder.  And in some of those sentences she tells you what will happen later in the story, but you have to want to hear it.  I, like the characters in the book, refused to accept the reality of their situation, and so I was condemned to experience their fate as they were condemned to live out their fate.

November 2010 - First to thirteenth

61) The Girl Who Played With Fire, by Steig Larsson,724 pages, Penguin Canada, 2006
WHY I PICKED IT: Second book in a trilogy, recommended by Rachel Menk
ELAPSED TIME: 2 Days
RATING: Very Good.

If you liked the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, you'll like this book.  Great plot, well written, the right amount of back story interspersed with the main plot...  Larsson has created engaging characters that are all likeable in different ways... Long books can be hard to read because they typically weigh you down with long time lines.  This book avoids that with a multitude of parallel interconnected characters all moving at the same pace through the four months that are this book.

62) The Confession, by John Grisham, 418 pages, Doubleday, 2010
WHY I PICKED IT: I like a good John Grisham as mindless entertainment once in a while
ELAPSED TIME: 2 Days
RATING: Good.

The story of a man on death row... wrongly convicted nine years earlier... and the guilty man on the outside who finally wants to come clean.  This story, like most of John Grisham's is entertaining and absorbing, without being mistaken for literature.

63) Steig Larsson, My Friend, by Kurdo Baksi, 144 pages, Viking Canada, 2010
WHY I PICKED IT: Because his crime fiction is fantastic; because he died before finishing the complete story of Lisbeth Salander
ELAPSED TIME: 4 Days
RATING: Good.

Wow.  This man was fantastic.  That he carved out the time to write such phenomenal stories is fantastic... but his other work, was his real work.  A tireless advocate for tolerance and acceptance - to fight injustice in all forms - racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia... from a white man from rural Sweden, this is fantastic.  The book itself tries hard to show both sides of the man, while keeping his personal life out of it... in that Baksi and succeeded, while displaying the true depth of the friendship and the sense of loss that he suffered when Steig Larrson passed away.

64) Three Day Road, by Joseph Boyden, 382 Pages, Penguin Canada, 2005
WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by Jennie Olden
ELAPSED TIME: 2 Days
RATING: REQUIRED READING

Wow.  What a gripping story.  Isabel Allende said it better than I could possibly: "A beautifully written and haunting story of survival and innocence shattered, of friendship, death, redemption, and love of the land... Please, please don't miss it!"  For the last two days, Little Bird has been in my life... I feel like I have gone to war with him, and now he is gone.  I will miss him.

October 2010

57) Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts, 936 pages, Abacus, 2003

WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by Nabeela Barday

ELAPSED TIME: 10+ days

RATING: Very Good

This is an amazing story.... but about 400 pages too long.  Roberts' experiences as a criminal, an addict, a health care provider, a money launderer, forger, gangster, Bollywood actor, and Mujahedeen are unbelievable and make for gripping reading.  His friends and mentors cause him to think about why and how he chooses different paths and the meaning of right and wrong.  I recommend reading this book in 200-page chunks - with 2 months between each chunk.

58) The Lost Boy, by Dave Pelzer, 331 pages, Health Communications, 1997

WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by Rubab Mavani-Hassanali

ELAPSED TIME: <1 Day

RATING: Good.

This book picks up the amazing story of Dave Pelzer's childhood (a Boy Called It, see above) and takes you through the rest of his childhood... This child, saved from his demonic mother and continually saved by a series of foster parents and angels throughout the system.  Without their help, he would have been lost so many different ways... but he came out of it and survived.  That one of his brothers was also abused, but that Dave never tells us what happened to him, is worrisome... That the system never went after the mother is sad.

59) PlayerOne, by Douglas Coupland, 246 pages, House of Anansi Press, 2010

WHY I PICKED IT: It's Douglas Coupland.  It's the Massey Lecture

ELAPSED TIME: 2 days

RATING: Good

I love Coupland.  I generally really enjoy the Massey Lectures.  Sadly, this didn't meet expectations.  Coupland likes to challenge his readers to think about the meaning of it all, to think about how and why we relate to one another.  Typically, he has been successful in doing so with characters that I fundamentally like, relate to, and care about.  Unfortunately, this book didn't get there.  I did enjoy the dictionary of terms at the end, but not enough to rate this book anything higher than "Good".

60) A Man Named Dave, by Dave Pelzer, 331 pages, Penguin, 2000

WHY I PICKED IT: Third book in a trilogy, recommended by Rubab Mavani-Hassanali

ELAPSED TIME: <1 Days

RATING: Meh.

This guy is a testament to perseverance, and living proof that you can overcome where you came from.  It is great to hear how most of his brothers did, but sad that they never rebuilt their relationship.  Wouldn't really recommend this book, unless you really loved the first two.

September 2010

52) A Child Called "It", by Dave Pelzer, 180 pages, Health Communications, 1995

WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by Rubab Mavani-Hassanali

ELAPSED TIME: 2 Days

RATING: Good.

This book tells the amazing story of Dave Pelzer's childhood... of a mother deranged enough to take out her misery on one of her children.  Who'se father couldn't stand up to his wife to help his suffering son.  Who'se brothers slowly learned the lessons of their mother and treated him like a slave.  I have already ordered his sequel, The Lost Boy.  That his mother is so messed up is gut wrenching; I hope Dave knows what happened to his brothers, and shares it with us.

53) The Lucifer Effect, by Philip Zimbardo, 488 pages, Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2007

WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by my colleague Michael Witalec

ELAPSED TIME: 5 days

RATING: Good

This book is both pheonmenal and disturbing.  Primarily focusing on the Stanford Prison Exercise in 1971 (Zimbardo was the professor responsible for it), and drawing parallels to Abu Gharib, this book shows how the drive for conformity coupled with the dehumanizing of "others" can quickly escalate into abuses by the majority over the "others."  Having experienced a breakdown of our civil liberties in Toronto during the G20 meetings this past summer, I wonder how much of the police escalation was premeditated action versus a result of structures put in place that could but lead to extreme acts by those entrusted with our protection.  One of Zimbardo's lessons at the end strikes home: I will not sacrifice personal or civic freedoms for the illusion of security.

54) A House in Fez, by Suzanna Clarke, 263 pages, Simon and Schuster, 2007

WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by Ally Norton

ELAPSED TIME: 1 day

RATING: Very Good

As a book describing an international living experience goes, this one is very good.  Clarke and her husband are both enthusiastic individuals who seem to truly want to live a simpler life and are respectful of differences in culture.  Reading about their experience of buying and restoring a house in the old part of Fez, in Morocco, was truly enjoyable.  I was engaged in the life of the staff and her friends, and was glad that she gave updates on them in the Q&A at the end of the book too.

55) Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, 331 pages, Penguin Books, 2006

WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by Nabeela Barday

ELAPSED TIME: 4 days

RATING: Very Good

Greg Mortenson is undoubtably a fantastic human being.  He is culturally respectful, plays the long game (not shooting for quick unsustainable results), and has accomplished something really rare.  That all being said, this book was a bit too much RAH RAH GREG.  The experiences that took him from his first school to worldwide fame and a budget to support continued growth are tremendous, but the book felt a bit long.  All in all, I'd recommend the book, but I'm glad to be finished reading it.

56) Little Bee, by Chris Cleave, 266 pages, Anchor Canada, 2009

WHY I PICKED IT: I don't remember.  Just saw it in a store and picked it up, I think.

ELAPSED TIME: 3 days

RATING: Very Good

Wow.  This story is going to stay with me for a little while.  The story of a Nigerian girl who goes through hell in her own country, escapes to England (illegally), and the parallel story of an Englishwoman who witnessed the horror and is going through her own significant life changes.  To write more would be to ruin it.  Ultimately, though, I expected (and hoped for) a different ending...

August 2010

44) Nikolski, by Nicolas Dickner, 290 pages, Random House Vintage Canada, 2005

WHY I PICKED IT: Emile Martel recommended it to Stephen Harper on WhatisStephenHarperReading.com

ELAPSED TIME: 2 days

RATING: Very Good

I must admit, I am a bit perplexed with this story. Typically, when an author tells the tale of 3 characters from different backgrounds coming to the same city, the characters have more than just incidental contact with one another. Dickner is a fantastic storyteller, and Lederhendler has done a fantastic job with the translation - the three characters are interesting, have depth, and I will miss them... But why would Dickner tell me a tale of 3 people with no more than incidental contact with one another?

45) The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera, 314 pages, Harper Perennial, 1984

WHY I PICKED IT: One of my Indian colleagues recommended it when I was there in June

ELAPSED TIME: 6 Days

RATING: Not Good

I don't get the purpose of this story.  The tale of four lovers - only there isn't one unifying character - was hard enough... but the addition of the fifth nameless character who speaks directly to the reader... who spouts off on pseudo-philosophy was unbearable.  If Kundera had dropped the fifth character, the book would have earned a Meh.  If he had also dropped the two most incidental of the lovers, and made it 150 pages shorter, the book would have been Good.  Sadly, he didn't, and it's just Not Good.

46) Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, 153 pages, Pantheon, 2003

WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by Nabeela Barday

ELAPSED TIME: 3 Days

RATING: Very Good

Wow!  What a great history lesson that is accessible.  Shows the flaws of Iran from the Shah, and how the revolution was truly a people's revolution, through the Iraq war and the impact of the religious right in this girl's life.  As an illustrated novel, it's a quick read.

47) Right to the Edge, by Charley Boorman, 300 pages, Sphere, 2009

WHY I PICKED IT: I've read his other books, and enjoyed them

ELAPSED TIME: 3 Days

RATING: Good

I really enjoy travelogues, and this one is no exception.  Boorman is a respectful traveler, tolerant of people and cultures way beyond what most people would accept... acknowledges when he doesn't like something, but finds something nice to say about the people anyways.  His love of motorcycles is palpable, but his willingness to try, to figure out how he'll get to his destination mid-route is what makes his books enjoyable.  I'm not sure how willing I'd be, to just figure it out as I went... for 81 days from Sydney to Tokyo, by any means...

48) Iran Awakening, by Shirin Ebadi, 219 pages, Random House Vintage Canada, 2006

WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by Nabeela Barday

ELAPSED TIME: 2 Days

RATING: REQUIRED READING

Wow.  This book is the story of a pretty amazing woman... who was raised in a progressive household in a country that didn't offer that.  Who stuck by her country when many of the intellegencia did not.  Who stuck by her belief to bring about change in the post-revolutionary Iran.  In particular, I loved this sentence: "An interpretation of Islam that is in harmony with equality and democracy is an authentic expression of faith."

49) The Importance of being a Bachelor, by Mike Gayle, 375 pages, Hodder & Stoughton, 2010

WHY I PICKED IT: It's Mike Gayle, I read everything by him.

ELAPSED TIME: 1 Day

RATING: Good

This book met expectations.  In the same class as Jonathan Tropper and almost as good as early Nick Hornby, Gayle is consistently successful in introducing you to characters, getting you engaged in the day-to-day drama of their lives, and taking you on the journey of them figuring themselves out, to find happiness.  Now if only I could follow that path myself... :)

50) Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, by Eleanor Coerr, 64 pages, Puffin Books, 1977

WHY I PICKED IT: I remembered the story from when I was a kid, and wanted to re-read it.

ELAPSED TIME: <1 hour

RATING: Very Good

This book is the story of Sadako, who was two when the USA dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima.  At 11, she was diagnosed with leukemia, and at 12 she passed away.  Buried with her are 1,000 paper cranes, which she believed would make the Gods grant her good health.  The book ends with a poem: "This is our cry, this is our prayer; peace in the world."

51) Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return, by Marjane Satrapi, 187 pages, Pantheon, 2004

WHY I PICKED IT: I really enjoyed Persepolis, and this was the follow-up.

ELAPSED TIME: 1 Day

RATING: Very Good.

This book is a worthy follow-up to Satrapi's first book.  Less an informative lesson on an Iranian experience, this book was more personal.  It's a quick read though, and I enjoyed it.  If you liked Persepolis, I'd recommend this as a follow-up.

July 2010

36) The Best of Roald Dahl, by Roald Dahl, 520 pages, Random House Vintage Books, 1978

WHY I PICKED IT: I love Roald Dahl

ELAPSED TIME: 6 days

RATING: Good

I had read some of these short stories before, but many of them were new to me. Interestingly enough, I read a lot of stories that identified plagarists... from Jeffrey Archer (the famous British Author) to a story I read by a classmate when I was in Grade 8. Dahl's stories typically had a twist at the end which makes them dark... and interesting. Despite this, I don't know if I'd recommend the book. Too much great stuff out there, and this is somewhat middling.

37) The Bro Code, by Barney Stinson with Matt Kuhn, 195 pages, Simon and Schuster, 2008

WHY I PICKED IT: Barney Stinson is Awe - wait for it - Some! Awesome!

ELAPSED TIME: 3 days

RATING: Good

It was funny, it was lighthearted... a really quick read. Amusing, only if you follow How I Met Your Mother. In addition, I strongly agree with Amendment II of The Code.

38) Chef, by Jaspreet Singh, 248 pages, Random House, Vintage Canada, 2008

WHY I PICKED IT: My Aunt, Fatma, referred it.

ELAPSED TIME: 4 days

RATING: Very Good, almost Required Reading, but not quite.

The story was honest, and made me think. I truly enjoyed the words chosen, the story. The line about the monk who told the Dalai Lama that he was worried that he would lose his compassion for the Chinese was an amazing parallel to what the Kashmiri's must feel towards the Indians. Rubiya's story of the movie screen revealed a depth of understanding that is not often considered. But with respect to a comparison to Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun, I felt something was missing. Chef Kirpal Singh did not exhibit strength, he was simply an observer. I would rather have read the story of Chef Kirsen, of Irem, or better yet, of Rubiya.

X) Anthills of the Savannah, by Chinua Achebe, 233 pages, William Heinemann Ltd, 1987

WHY I PICKED: I liked another book by Achebe, so I thought I'd try this

ELAPSED TIME: 3 days

RATING: Not good.

This is my third non-finished book of 2010. I struggled with the first 40 pages and just couldn't get into it at all...

39) The Proposal, by Owen Slot, 263 pages, Hodder and Stoughton, 2005

WHY I PICKED: I liked Slot's other book, so I thought I'd try this

ELAPSED TIME: <1 days

RATING: Good.

Hmm. This book was interesting. Typically, books in this genre (guy-lit) have happy endings... and this one was really about accepting that you can't have what you wanted. That you can't always make the parts fit. If Slot ever writes a third book, I'd read it.

40) Educating Alice, by Alice Steinbach, 282 pages, Random House, 2005

WHY I PICKED IT: It's about travel, it's about learning... two things that I love

ELAPESED TIME: 5 days

RATING: Very Good.

This book was really enjoyable... not a single story that you would want to sit with and churn through in one reading, instead it's about Alice's learning experiences around the world. Chef in Paris, Dog Trainer in Scotland, and traditional lady in Japan... all very cool. It's how I want to spend my time - not at all as an observer, but rather as a student of the world.

41) How I Live Now, by Meg Rosoff, 194 pages, Wendy Lamb Books, 2004

WHY I PICKED IT: Alice Kuipers recommended it to Stephen Harper on WhatisStephenHarperReading.com

ELAPSED TIME: <1 day

RATING: Very Good.

This book tells the story of a young woman staying with family in England when World War Three breaks out. The story of survival is tough to read as an adult; that it's targeted to young adults is interesting. I will read more by Rosoff and would recommend this book.

42) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson, 837 pages, Penguin Canada, 2008

WHY I PICKED IT: My friend Rachel recommended it

ELAPSED TIME: 4 days

RATING: Very Good

Phew. That was a really good story. Three (?) stories interwoven together to show the motivation for the actions of the characters... The book is a compelling read (as evidenced by the speed at which I completed the tale). I'd categorize it as more fluffy than literature, but would recommend this book for anybody stuck in a room for 3 days... it's long, and it's definitely entertaining.

43) One Day, by David Nichols, 435 pages, Random House Vintage Books, 2009

WHY I PICKED IT: Ling Sian recommended it

ELAPSED TIME: 3 days

RATING: Very Good

Wow. This book is phenomenal. Tracing the relationship of two people from University and over the next 20 years... on July 15th of each year. Tracing their friendship, and their love, their ups and their downs... With characters that I tried hard to dislike, but couldn't help but go through their emotional turmoil; David Nichols has written a captivating story.