What I am reading now- Moody Food

Moody Food (Biblioasis, 2002) by Ray Robertson
This 1960s rock 'n' roll tale about a bookseller makes the reader laugh out loud. Andrew Johnson wants to share the good times with you, writing:
"Moody Food is a fantastic rock 'n' roll novel that is also a terrific novel. Strangely under-appreciated, the book also draws on one of the great scenes in Canadian history, Yorkville in the mid-1960s, a rich place/time that deserves more celebration than it gets."
Accolades: Ray Robertson won over fans and critics alike with Moody Food. The Globe and Mail called it "clever, word-drunk and falling-down funny," adding that "Robertson is a moral writer and a bitingly intelligent one, a man who writes with penetrating insight of what needs to be written about: beauty, truth and goodness."

Pattern Recognition

Pattern Recognition (Penguin, 2003) by William Gibson
Science fiction writer William Gibson broke out of the cyberpunk mould with this thrilling take on consumer culture and the quest for meaning in contemporary life. Sheila Barry was bursting with enthusiasm for the book:
"With Neuromancer, William Gibson invented cyberspace, and he has been imagining, and perhaps helping to create, our future ever since. His novels are inventive, exciting, scrupulously plotted, and full of unique and memorable characters. Even his darkest scenarios include a faith in the warmth and goodness of ordinary people, and his own warmth and empathy as an author come through on every page."
Accolades: Pattern Recognition picked up nominations for the British Science Fiction Association Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award and a Locus Award, along with plenty of critical praise, including from Kirkus Reviews, which noted its "laser-perfect cultural radar."

So here's the story.  I haven't done this before, but I just couldn't finish this book.  It was borrowed from another library that only gave me 6 days to read it and it was REALLY dry and out there.  I knew that I didn't want to spend any more of my life reading it.  I was halfway through and not sure what it was about!

February

February (House of Anansi, 2009) by Lisa Moore
In February, Lisa Moore uses a real-life tragedy (the sinking of the Ocean Ranger off the coast of Newfoundland in 1982) as the basis for a sensitive exploration of grief that won reader Penelope Williams's vote. She wrote:
"This is one of my top ten novels ever. Reasons? Spare beautiful prose, characters you want never to lose touch with because they are as real as family, strong sense of place [ ....] But most of all, her depiction and understanding of grief. How does a young writer understand with such empathy an older woman's feelings? Amazing. Moore is one of the writers today who can pierce your heart with one sentence eliciting an unexpected gust of tears, or causing a whoop of laughter (not the same sentence of course...). Her understanding of the human character resonates like a bell."
Accolades: February won an Independent Publisher Book Award, was named to the Globe and Mail's Top 100 Books of 2009 and was a New York Times Editors' Choice. It also showed up on the shortlist of numerous awards including the regional Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the BMO Winterset Award and the Newfoundland and Labrador Book Award.

I enjoyed this book.  Nothing too spectacular.  I'd give it a B-.

Far to Go

Far to Go (House of Anansi, 2010) by Alison Pick
Lucy Valko feels that even though this heartbreaking tale of an affluent Jewish family in Czechoslovakia at the outset of the Second World War was published mere months ago, it's a novel every Canadian should read. She writes:
"A compelling story...but most powerful is the way the author was able to capture it. Alison Pick has a gift of painting the internal and external worlds of her characters with a lightness of depth that makes what is human — beautiful."
Accolades: A September 2010 pub date means Far to Go may still garner a nomination or two in future literary awards. In the meantime, it's had a warm reception from critics, earning a glowing review from the Globe and Mail, among others: "The writing in Far to Go is clean, crisp and unencumbered. Pick never dwells for too long in an image or metaphor, and she creates small moments that are both lovely and frightening."

This book was almost amazing.  It seemed that the author couldhave elaborated a little more and made it a better story.  Almost seemed that she was rushing it to finish at the end, like she had a 300 page limit!  Good read, though.

Drive By Saviours

Drive-by Saviours (Fernwood Publishing, 2010) by Chris Benjamin
Chris Benjamin's tale of a cross-cultural friendship struck a chord with David Cribbs, who wrote "It's highly demonstrative of contemporary Canada: the story of an immigrant and a Canadian born, who meet on the subway, and whose lives come to intertwine. Many can relate to this book, it crosses cultural divides."
Accolades: Drive-by Saviours is hot off the press (it was published in September 2010), so it hasn't had much time to earn any laurels. But it won a rave review from critic Stephen Patrick Clare in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, who called it "one of the finest first narratives to emerge from Atlantic Canada in recent memory. Well-balanced and masterfully crafted with a prose that is both poignant and poised, the work is certain to be considered for literary awards."

It wasn't a page turner, but it was a lovely story.  Nice for a rainy day.

Through Black Spruce

 

Through Black Spruce (Viking Canada, 2008) by Joseph Boyden
Joseph Boyden's haunting follow-up to Three Day Road follows Annie, a young woman hunting her for disappeared sister, and their aging and lonely uncle.Many readers, including Deb Powell, found it stirring:
"It is very moving, emotionally, geographically and historically. Touching an essential essence of Canadian identity, it deserves to be the must-read book of the last decade."
Accolades: This winner of the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize also captured the CBA Libris Award. Fellow Top 40 author Zoe Whittall was one of the novel's admirers; in her review for NOW magazine, she praised it as "a complicated saga that is emotionally satisfying, suspenseful and well crafted."

Loved this book!!!!

Conceit

Conceit (Random House of Canada, 2007) by Mary Novik
Mary Novik's journey to 17th-century London, England, had many readers, including Heather Walter, swooning. In her nomination, she writes:
"I recommend Conceit because it is far and away the best and most ambitious novel on a literary theme that I have read."
Accolades: Conceit took home the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, awarded annually to the best book of fiction by a B.C. author, and was a Scotiabank Giller Prize finalist. The Globe and Mail declared it a must-read, citing that "reading Conceit is like settling into a multi-course feast that shifts your ideas of food, of the wonders that art can conjure from the staples of life."

This book could have been great but it veered off a little and got a little off topic, I found.  I would have liked it to have focused more on the present time and not to have been so literal in assuming that you knew where the author was going.