"Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go

~ Kazuo Ishiguro

Unexpectedly, I found myself reading this book. No idea what to expect, but I did know the author was a prize winning novelist.

It took me forever to finish, as I found it slow, very slow, yet I still continued on, much to the credit of the author's writing.

Detailed thoughts, feelings from these young people kept me trying my best to finish, to find out what it was about.

I suspected it was a science fiction, futurist story, and I was correct.

Congratulations to the author, it was very well conceived and expressively written.

Still, it wasn't one I'd want to re-read!

The Blood of Emmett Till

The Blood of Emmett Till

~ Timothy B. Tyson

the events leading up to his murder in Mississippi, the characters involved in this and other brutal murders, are shocking to say the least.

Shame on America. 

Testimony by Robbie Robertson

Testimony

~ by Robbie Robertson

Readings and interview at U Vic auditorium

Wonderful storyteller

loved this evening

Also, it snowed in Victoria this day!!

Miss Peregrine's Home For Precious Children

Miss Peregrine's Home For Precious Children
~ movie by the same name out now
Recommended to me by Marie of the Driftwood Malls Coles bookstore.
I'm loving it!
I admit, the title turned me off, made me think it was a children's story, but clearly it's in a similar vein as the Harry Potter fantasy novels.
Must see the movie as it's a Tim Burton show.

*** update Oct 13 ***

saw the movie, and as expected, not quite as interesting as the book. Couple of things to note:
- they changed the sex of one of the main characters in the movie
- the ending of the movie was VASTLY different from the book.
- 3D and not really worth the extra price.

The Opposite of Loneliness
 by Marina Keegan

Times review

Huffington Post review

Short stories from a young writer, whose life was cut short by an auto accident.
I found most of them enlightening, told from the view of a young 20 something student in the early 21st Century.

Worth a look if you can find a copy, check your library

Hillary Clinton
~ 'Hard Choices'

Got this for pennies at a thrift shoppe, so why not? she may become President, let's see what she has to say....
GOOD, very detailed re: her years as Secretary of State.
Amazing, how many leaders she met and was able to converse with
She comes across as a tough negotiator, but with a sense of democratic liberal morality.
She went thru all the hot spots, the crises, and comes out looking pretty keen.
Someone who appears to be well qualified to be President.

The Old Man and The Sea

The Old Man and The Sea
~ Ernest Hemingway
When I saw books at Coles 3 for $10, I checked out the pickins and found 3 Hemingways. I know I took this one in high school but I didn't pay attention nor did I remember much about the story.

Great short story of the fisherman, the boy, the boat, the sea, the fish, the Great DiMaggio, the weather, and talking to oneself 

Can see why it's a classic.

here's a short film adaptation beautiful animation true to the story

Bruce Cockburn

Rumours of Glory

~ Bruce Cockburn

My daughters gave me this signed from a concert Bruce did in Prescott Park, Portsmouth NH

beautifully written by the artist, it contains many lyrics to his works, and his travels throughout the spots they refer to.
Well worth it

Never Cry Wolf
~ Farley Mowat
The Canadian classic story of a government employee sent out to the North to survey the wolf population
At the time, wolves were regarded as evil creatures, responsible for the killings of Caribou herds.
This book brought to the attention of all, of the creative family structures within the wolf populations, how they cared for their pups, how they ate, what they ate, and the importance of the wolf to the caribou herds.
A great story, I had never read it before.
I enjoyed the humour Farley had in his story telling.

The Girl On The Train
~ Paula Hawkins
Really enjoyed this one, see it's been on the best seller list for over a year, plus I saw it at a thrift shop for $3, couldn't pass it up.

Set in the English London rail commuter area, it well written, exposing the psychological issues facing the main characters, their dysfunctional lives felt like home to me!!!

May be tough to follow this one, Paula but give it a go, will ya?

review by The Guardian
movie coming out in Oct 2016, here's a trailer

Shooting For Glory
~ Paul Henderson with Mike Leonetti
Who doesn't remember the Summit Series of 1972?
That unbelievable hockey tournament between Team Canada and the USSR, or CCCP as their sweaters noted.

The drama of that first game loss in Montreal, the disgust after the Vancouver loss, then the first loss over in Moscow.
Followed by 3 successive victories with Paul Henderson scoring the winning goal in each.

This book was a story about that tourney, but also about how Paul survived the attention, then moved on into a Christian lifestyle.

To be honest, that didn't interest me!

There are a few photos, only 1 of the historic goal, otherwise, a way to pass an afternoon on the couch.

Wearing The Green Beret
~ A Canadian with the Royal Marine Commandos
~ Jake Olafsen
written by a man from BC, Vancouver Island, to be exact.
Describes his journey from enlisting, training, graduating and earning the Green Beret, then dispatches to Afghanistan, then finally a sea voyage around the South East Asia.

very detailed re: the missions, and descriptive re: his unit and the things he saw. A bit lacking on the emotional aspect of the journey, yet one certainly feels that this must've been an incredibly intense part of his life.

P.D James
~ A Mind To Murder
The late great UK writer shows up in my thrift store basket for $0.50 so here we go, gotta give it a try.
You see, I'm not really a mystery reader, although I do enjoy the mystery detective shows, most commonly viewed on our local PBS or Knowledge network channels. Oh, and NetFlix.

So, it's an Adam Dalgliesh Detective mystery, he of this and many others books.
I found it very well written, the plot was very intricately laid out, I obviously couldn't follow it, but enjoyed her writing, language and the characterizations.
I've another to read so will get to that one sometime soon!

Good-bye and Amen

by Beth Gutcheon

Found this for $5 at the local reads, so I figured 'what's to lose eh?'
Could not get through this. Did not like the style, where she had each character headlining a paragraph, as if it was a TV Documentary.

Sorry Beth, no go, do not collect $200.

SLAM 
   by Nick Hornby
I enjoy his writing style, as if he's just besides you talking away.
Previously, I've read How To Be Good.

this is about a teenager boy and girlfriend, their families rich and not so rich. Voiced from the perspective of the young boy, with a little help from Tony Hawk, skateboarder.

Sutton
   J.R. Moehringer
'Historical fictionalized novel' about the famed bank robber Willie Sutton.
Very interesting read, as it is based on many facts of his escapes and captures, his banks, his image in the 30s, the Depression years. Plus, it's augmented with the authors imagination of what happens between the lines, what were the reasons for Willie doing what he did.
I enjoyed it, and after a slow start, I couldn't put it down.

 - NY Times review       - NY Daily News article

 - Author speaks

The Bishop's Man

   by Linden MacIntyre

took me awhile to get thru this as it skipped back and forth between years and places too quickly for my slow brain to keep up.

It won a Giller Prize, that's why I picked it up, plus I knew of Linden from the Fifth Estate on CBC.

Set on the East Coast with sorties to Toronto, Boston, Nfld, it's about a priest, troubled past, questionable activities and rumours galore.

Wellington, The Iron Duke
   by Richard Holmes

keeping with the 19th Century theme here, I read this book, since I did get from the Crimean War book that he was still alive, at least in the run up to the hostility.
Course those days, there was always some battle going on in Europe.
I didn't realize that Wellington, or Arthur Wellesley as he was named, was Prime Minister at one point. Quite the lady's man apparently, his wife must've been very lonely.

a brief history of The Crimean War
the causes and consequences of a medieval conflict fought in a modern age
   by Alexis Troubetzkoy

Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do or die.
              Alfred, Lord Tennyson

The war and its causes was a colossal comedy of errors in which at every moment the question was asked, "Who is being swindled here?"
              Frederick Engels


a conflict I'd heard about (Charge of the Light Brigade, and Florence Nightingale) but knew nothing about.
the whys, wheres and whats are explained here in a reading which really points out the absurdity of war, and the anguish of the men (and women) of those who were 'lead' into the fighting.
interestingly, it was from what I gather, one of the first times England and France were allies.