Author Archives: Christie

Unknown's avatar

About Christie

Book lover. Tea Drinker. Teacher. Writer. Mother. Canadian.

Help an author…

Posted on by
Reply

Fiona Robyn is going to blog her next novel, Thaw,  starting on the 1st of March. The novel follows 32 year old Ruth’s diary over three months as she decides whether or not to carry on living.

To help spread the word she’s organizing a Blogsplash, where blogs will publish the first page of Ruth’s diary simultaneously (and a link to the blog ).

She’s aiming to get 1000 blogs involved – if you’d be interested in joining in, email her at fiona@fionarobyn.com or find out more information at http://www.fionarobyn.com/thawblogsplash.htm.

Thirsty by Kristin Bair O’Keeffe

Posted on by
Reply

Kristin Bair O’Keeffe’s debut novel, Thirsty, professes to be a novel about domestic abuse, its horrible legacy and one woman’s struggle to get out from under its damaging fist.

The novel opens in Croatia in 1883: “In the beginning, Drago smelled of dirt and bloom, the odor that would rise if you peeled the erath back at its seams.”

Klara is just 16 when Drago arrives on her doorstep. Her mother is dead; her father is mean; she’s responsible for looking after five younger siblings and she dreams of a better life somewhere else. Drago is handsome and he’s going to America.

Thirsty is a pretty compelling story, but there’s too much story here for 200 pages. I never felt like I knew any of the characters well enough to really understand their motivations, fears, dreams. The book covers 40 years and, honestly, it felt unfinished to me.

Klara learns pretty early on in her marriage that Drago is just as violent as her father. Why? Who knows. We do learn, half way through the book, that he loved someone else –  a blonde woman who married his brother. When Klara decides, out of the blue, to get her hair dyed – of all things – blonde and Drago beats the crap out of her, Drago’s reminiscence  seems less like character development and more like plot contrivance.

Klara’s daughter, Sky, grows up to be promiscuous – clearly searching for something to take away the pain of having watched her mother be her father’s punching bag. Then she marries an abusive man. We get a page and a half of his story and then eight years zip by and Sky and her two young daughters arrive on her parent’s doorstep. She’s a mess.

Thirsty felt like a string of little set pieces, strung together, rather than a novel with a central character we understood or could root for. My frustration with Klara wasn’t because she didn’t leave Drago. I understand well enough the psychology of battered wife syndrome. My problem was that I just didn’t care.

I might have given up on the novel all together if it hadn’t been for the fact that the writing was quite lovely at times.  But as a story of abuse and one woman’s efforts to break free – it falls short. The ending is not a triumph for Klara. Ultimately Klara’s new life, when it begins, has more to do with good luck than good management.

Thirsty, the web site

Still waiting to be read…

Posted on by
4

A couple of days ago I asked readers of this blog (okay, perhaps readers should be singular, but I can dream!) to help me sort through my endless tbr pile, which I’d posted here. These are books I actually own; my tbr list is likely 1000 books long! (And, yes, I do have a list – well, a book actually:

I keep track of all the books I want to read, listed alphabetically, by author. It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? I’d have to give up sleep and food and work…and apparently when you have kids you’re required to spend time with them. Who knew?

Anyway. I wanted some help going through the list and trying to decide what should get moved up to the top. You can still help out, if you’d like. If you’ve read anything on that list which you think should make my reading list this year, I’d love to hear about it.

But it did make me wonder – what prevents us from reading books we should (I mean I did, after all, select and purchase 90% of the books on my shelf!)

Then I came across this great little article on AbeBooks. com

Remaining Unread: The Top Ten Reasons We Don’t Get To Certain Books

It’s a wonderful (and wonderfully funny) look at book procurement and guilt. I, too,  have purchased books because I’ve liked something else the author has written; I’ve snatched something out of the bargain bin even though…I’ve caved under peer pressure. There are classics I have never read…and I call myself an English teacher!

What are your reasons for not getting to certain books?

The Drowning Tree by Carol Goodman

Posted on by
2

It’s been thirteen years since I last saw Neil – and fourteen years since we both nearly drowned in the river – and I still dream about him every night, and because he told me once that he believed that we could visit each other in our dreams, I always have the feeling that that is what he’s doing – coming to me in my dreams each night. – The Drowning Tree

Carol Goodman’s interest in Latin and Art and Literature is obvious. The first novel I read by her, The Lake of Dead Languages concerned a Latin teacher at a private girls’ school. The Drowning Tree tells the story of Juno  McKay, a woman who runs a glass business (she’s in the business of building and restoring stained glass windows and is currently working on the reconstruction of a beautiful window from her old  school, Penrose College.) The novel is steeped in Greek and Roman mythology.

Juno’s best friend from college is the beautiful and wildly smart, Christine. She blows into town to deliver a lecture about Augustus Penrose and his wife Eugenie and her sister, Clare and the very window Juno is currently restoring. After the lecture, Christine disappears. Juno spends the next 300 pages trying to figure out what happened to Christine and why.

My feelings about The Drowning Tree are lukewarm, I’m sad to say. Goodman is a fine writer. She clearly cares about the craft and her work has depth…but she’s supposed to be a writer of literary thrillers and her books (at least the two I’ve read) move slower than cold molasses. Nothing. Happens.

In fact, in The Drowning Tree, it isn’t until Juno’s long- institutionalized husband, Neil, makes a reappearance some 200 pages into the book that things start to perk up a little. I guess Juno herself just isn’t engaging enough to carry the novel all on her own. And the book’s central mysteries –  what happened to Christine and what was the deal with Eugenie and her sister –  aren’t compelling enough to hold 338 pages aloft.

Perhaps it’s the publisher that does Goodman a disservice by calling the book a “literary thriller”. Literary for sure; thrilling, no way.

Here’s a challenge for you…

Posted on by
Reply

If you check out my page On My tbr Shelf…oh dear, you’ll see that I have more than enough books to keep me reading for the next year (or three). My goal this year is to watch less TV and read more…and also to try not to buy any books other than what’s required for my book club.

Currently my tbr list is organized alphabetically. I’d love it if you’d take a look and help me prioritize my reading list. What’s on that list that I should be reading straight away because it’s awesome? What should I relegate to the bottom because, quite frankly, you have no idea why I’d want to read that.

I’d love to compile a list of 50 because that’s my reading goal for the year, so by all means…tell me what I should be reading in 2010.

Blast from the past…just not mine…

Posted on by
Reply

According to a recent article in the New York Times, The Babysitter’s Club series is coming back.  That series was wildly popular — 213 titles and 176 million copies sold– in its day.  I can’t comment on the series’  literary merit because I’ve never read one. When the series began in 1986, I was already an adult.

For me, the equivalent of The Babysitter’s Club would be The Bobbsey Twins. Oh, how I loved the adventures of Nan and Bert and Flossie and Freddie, two sets of twins solving mysteries in and around Lakeport. Laura Lee Hope, the series’ author, was actually several authors overseen by Edward Stratemeyer, the man behind The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew and several other juvenile series.  Of course, I didn’t know that back in the day. I thought Miss Hope was wonderfully inventive and I thought the  Bobbsey twins were courageous and funny and clever.

The first Bobbsey Twins books was published in 1904 and the never-aging twins continued to solve mysteries until the mid-seventies.

Every year for my birthday, my uncle would give me a couple hard cover Bobbsey Twins books and I would devour them. They were always my favourite gift. I’ve never reread them as an adult and I have no doubt that they wouldn’t be nearly as magical as I remember them…but no matter. They served their purpose and did what all great literature does — transported me to another place.

I still own several of the books — although many were lost or given away during my childhood. They now have pride of place on my daughter’s shelf. Although she’s read them, she is not — of course — the same sort of kid I was. Still, it’s wonderful to know they are cherished.

I was an avid reader of these books when I was 8 and 9, and while they weren’t the only books I loved (I adored Trixie Beldon books and The Famous Five and The Secret Seven by Enid Blyton, too) they have a very special place in my heart.

How about you – I’d love to hear about your first literary love(s).

My first ever reading challenge…

Posted on by
Reply

Sandy at You’ve GOTTA Read This mentioned  a challenge I think I can manage.  The Betty and Boo Chronicles is hosting a ‘Memorable Memoir’ challenge.  I like this one because it’s totally doable: you have to read four memoirs by the end of the year.  I have four memoirs on my tbr shelf…so this will be the perfect excuse to finally read them!

The four memoirs I plan to read are:

  1. Scribbling the Cat by Alexandra Fuller
  2. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
  3. Before the Knife by Carolyn Slaughter
  4. Cherry by Mary Karr

First day in the new digs…

Posted on by
6

How wonderful that there’s a snow storm blowing through town and I could spend the day moving ‘Read ’em and Eat’ over here. Whew. Of course, that meant that I wasn’t doing any of the stuff I should have been doing today – wait for it…yep, here comes the guilt.

Still…here I am…ready for a year of reading and book chat.

January 1, 2010

Posted on by
Reply

“How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book,” Henry David Thoreau, Walden

So, it’s the beginning of a new year and a new decade. I have resolved to watch less television and read more. I am not a regular TV watcher…I am a binge watcher. So, after a long week I come home on Friday and after dinner etc I flake on the couch and watch back-to-back episodes of Criminal Minds. Back in the day, I was an avid Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel viewer (oh, who am I kidding, I was a total fangirl!)…but there isn’t much on TV that I watch anymore. I love Glee –  but I don’t think that’s on again until the fall; I love Lost and I will be watching its final season…but otherwise…I think I’m going to spend the year reading. And writing.

I also want to see if I can post something book-related every day. I am also going to be doing a little bit of housekeeping…I have decided to focus on the books and book-related things and will no longer be offering recipes and questions. I am also – when I get it figured out…moving the contents of this blog to a new blog (still here at WordPress because I do like it here). Stay tuned.

I can’t promise that I won’t be buying any new books this year (that’s just ridiculous), but I do hope that I will be making a huge dent in my tbr pile…191 books! And I look forward to getting out and about in the book blogging world a little bit more.

Happy reading!

2009 in review

Posted on by
Reply

Once again, SavidgeReads is inviting people to do something cool…take a look back at your reading for the year.  So, I’m making a new pot of tea and doing just that!

How many books read in 2009?

48…which is not nearly as many as some readers out there…and I am hoping to squeeze one more in before the 31st

How many fiction and non fiction?

I rarely read non-fiction, but this year I read two: The Art of Meaningful Living and Traveling with Pomegranates.

Male/Female author ratio?

20 men and 27 women and I know  the math doesn’t add up…but I read two novels by Thomas H. Cook this year.

Favourite book of 2009?

This wasn’t a stellar reading year, sadly. I had a horrible slump in the late fall where nothing appealed to me at all. Of the books I read, though, Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones was far and away the best. I said about it:

” Mister Pip is a fantastic book about the power of reading and imagination. It is also a powerful and startling novel about bravery and sacrifice, love and forgiveness.”

Least favourite?

Lots of potential here:

Love: A User’s Guide by Clare Naylor was god-awful.

At a Loss for Words by Diane Schoemperlen and Dismantled by Jennifer McMahon were hugely disappointing, particularly Dismantled because I had so loved the author’s book Promise Not to Tell.

Any that you simply couldn’t finish and why?

I started several books that I had to put aside. I finished Traveling with Pomegranates last night and I am hoping to finish The Drowning Tree by Carol Goodman before the 31st. I never did get around to finishing The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson…that’s a book I will have to restart. The buzz was crazy about it and I’m not sure why I didn’t finish it at the time I started…there was just something. Other titles I started and the set aside include: The Almond by Nedjma, What Love Means to You People by NancyKay Shapiro, Under My Skin by Alison Jameson and Birds of America by Lorrie Moore

Oldest book read?

Cue for Treason by Geoffrey Trease, 1940. This is a book I am teaching to my grade nine class.

Newest?

The Art of Meaningful Living and Traveling with Pomegranates both came out in September and, strangely, are the two non-fiction titles I read this year.


Longest and shortest book titles?

Longest: Charlotte and Claudia Keeping in Touch by Joan Barfoot

Shortest:  Envy by Kathryn Harrison. I had several one word titles, so I chose the one with the fewest letters. *g*

Longest and shortest books?

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski – 576 pages

The Pearl by John Steinbeck – 96 pages

How many books from the library?

None. And I do have a library card!

Any translated books?

Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (translated from Norwegian)

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (translated from the French)


Most read author of the year, and how many books by that author?

Thomas H. Cook, a fabulous writer of literary mysteries. I read two of his novels this year: Places in the Dark and Red Leaves.

Any re-reads?

Yes, I reread The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier, a novel I first read 35 years ago. I also re-read Lord of the Flies by William Golding because I was teaching it to a grade ten class.

Favourite character of the year?

There were several interesting characters in the books I read this year. I fell totally in love with Claire Cooper, the narrator in Kelly Simmons’ terrific debut novel Standing Still. Claire is a fully realized character, fragile and brave. I also really loved that Claire is a woman who is trying to reconcile motherhood and marriage with the fact that she was, once, a very successful career woman. I loved her wild past, her ability to fall in love with a man based on a single characteristic, her yearning for that simple pleasure once again.

I also loved Caroline, the protagonist in Amanda Eyre Ward’s fantastic book How To Be Lost. Caroline is self-destructive and selfish and afraid. Her journey to find the woman in the picture (the  younger sister who has been missing for years) is ill-advised and necessary because by making the journey she is making her first real attempt to leave the past behind.

And, of course, I can’t leave out Matilda and Mr. Watts, the central characters in Lloyd Jones’ not-to-be-missed Mister Pip. As Mr. Watts unspools Pip’s story from Great Expectations,  thirteen year old Matilda begins the often painful journey from innocence to experience.

Which countries did you go to through the page in your year of reading?

Greece, France, Turkey – Traveling with Pomegranates

Norway – Out Stealing Horses

Poland, Switzerland – The Silver Sword

Brazil – The Trade Mission

England – Talking to the Dead

France – The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Papua New Guinea, Australia – Mister Pip

West Africa – The Book of Negroes

India – The White Tiger

Which book wouldn’t you have read without someone’s specific recommendation?

There are a couple books which might not have made their way onto my reading list so soon except for the fact that they were chosen by members of my book club and therefore I had to read them. For example, I would probably have never read The Story of Edgar Sawtelle – certainly not in hard-cover. I might never have given The Elegance of the Hedgehog a second chance; I really didn’t like it the first time I tried to read it, but managed to get through it the second time…and didn’t hate it.

Which author was new to you in 2009 that you now want to read the entire works of?

Lee Martin. I just finished his book The Bright Forever and it was terrific. I’ll definitely be looking for more work by him. I am also anxious to read Kelly Simmons’ new book The Birdhouse which is due out in February.

Which books are you annoyed you didn’t read?

You’re kidding, right? The bookshelf to the right contains about 200 yet-to-be-read books…so it’s not annoyance I feel when I don’t get around to those books…it’s more like panic!

Did you read any books you have always been meaning to read?

Not really, although several of the titles have been on my tbr list for a while: Out Stealing Horses, The Trade Mission, On Chesil Beach.

I’ll just add that the book I will be beginning 2010 with  is Kathy Hepinstall’s debut novel The House of Gentle Men. This novel is actually my pick for book club in January.  When Book Closeouts was having their massive fiction sale around American Thanksgiving, I bought each member of my group a copy of the book to give them as a gift at Christmas. I paid $1.24 per hard cover book. Score!

If you do this meme, I’d love the link so I can go check your answers out!

Happy New Year.