ALONE IN THE CLASSROOM

Elizabeth Hay. ALONE IN THE CLASSROOM. McClelland and Stewart, 2011.

A Hawthorne Book Club selection for March. Loved this literary fiction which sucks us in with hints of murder and abuse and then presents a story of an almost invisible narrator discovering herself through researching family history and genealogy.Love how she distinguished between the facts we can find out and the things we will never know about the past and our ancestors who were there. Set in Saskatchewan in 1929 and then in Ontario in the end of the twentieth century. 

THE BEAT GOES ON

Ian Rankin. The BEAT GOES ON: THE COMPLETE REBUS SHORT STORIES. Orion, 2014.

I still love Rebus. I always enjoy short story collections. One or two of these were familiar from earlier editions. I especially enjoyed Rankin's essay at the end about the origins of Rebus which also includes a sort of "portrait of the writer as a young man" and the realization for the writer that the city itself is an important character.

BAD BOY

Peter Robinson. Bad Boy. McC&S, 2010.

A mother turns in a handgun to police and the world goes awry. Tracy Banks runs off with the bad boy and then becomes his hostage. Annie gets shot. Banks gets back from USA, jet-lagged. 

This is my 6th Robinson title in 3 years. Even move than Rebus (Rankin) or Gamache (Penny).

THE FACTS OF LIFE AND OTHER DIRTY JOKES

Willie Nelson. THE FACTS OF LIFE AND OTHER DIRTY JOKES. Random, 2002.

Song lyrics and dirty jokes told by Willie during a bus tour. Several nods and acknowledgements to friends and co-workers. Interesting in the way he says nothing except through the lyrics. Comments about pot and faith. A fast read. Not for the easily offended. 
Favourite quote: "If you ain't crazy, there's something wrong with you." p. 183

THE PRISON BOOK CLUB

January 20, 2019

Walmsley, Ann. THE PRISON BOOK CLUB. Viking, 2015.

A Hawthorne Book Club selection, a happy surprise chosen for us by the library. I was a bit hesitant because I have such non-objective opinions about prison programming. Even wrote my own book about it (but fiction; this one is non-fiction). Mine is called A MODEST PROPOSAL and I wrote it as a protest to the devolution of rehabilitation programs in prison, especially the turning over of programming to untrained volunteers. I posted this on Wattpad, using my name and "earthabridge". 

With the above in mind, I enjoyed this book club selection more than I expected to. The only two books I had previously read myself were ALIAS GRACE and the POTATO SKIN PIE AND GUERNSEY LITERARY SOCIETY one (not the exact title). I felt the strengths of this Walmsley book include: the narrator's previous experience as a victim of violence; the commendable amount of energy devoted to the project by its initiator; the hassles of scheduling anything behind bars; the continual change of characters attending and their group dynamics; the running theme of how to choose the books.This last point struck me as being like choosing gifts. Do we choose something WE like, or something we think would BENEFIT the receiver, or something which appeals to the receiver, with which they will feel a connection? With this last choice, we honour them by knowing, acknowledging, and accepting who they are. Start with where they are. 

KINGDOM OF THE BLIND

January 14, 2019

Penny, Louise. KINGDOM OF THE BLIND.

Another Inspector Armand Gamache mystery. While he is suspended, a woman loosely connected to Three Pines names Gamache as one of her executors. A generations-long contested estate. Investment fraud. Recovery from the GLASS HOUSES drug-smuggling investigation. Winter in Quebec. Gripping. 

The BREAK

Katherena Vermette. THE BREAK. Anansi, 2016. 

Book Club selection for our January meeting. Style-wise, a tour de force, telling a story through a variety of POV, over four generations. Set in Winnipeg. Crime as a community wound. Identity. Grief. Heavy but uplifting.