Canada Reads Reax
I was the backup for Jian for this year's Canada Reads. Thank goodness he didn't get sick. But I got to read all the books as prep.
Here's my personal ranking, for what it's worth.... (next to nothing really)
1. Essex County. Loved the use of the form and found the deepest characters in this work. It was moving. Too bad the graphic novel is still hampered by pictures. My goodness - does anyone prefer Alice in Wonderland or Dickens without the pictures?
2. Unless. I had tried this novel before and stopped - so I sympathise with the voters who found it a grind. I'm glad I finished it. It was actually a very sweet meditation on personal loss and losing your own sense as a person. Shield's prose can get a little twee sometimes, but at others she lifts your brain as she moves your soul. (yes, that's twee as well)
3. Best Laid Plans. THE WINNER. I was ready to dis the book after the first chapter but it's a worthy champ. The book makes a real change away from puns to some beautiful . The letters Angus writes to his wife anchor the flights of fancy that push the humourous side of the work.
4. Bone Cage. This was surprisingly strong. It should be mandatory reading for all the people who watch the Olympics and then whine when Canadians don't "win" medals. But it's much more than that. Abdou is a good writer and you can physically feel what the characters in the book are going through. That takes skill. I think she did a good job of making the reader consider decay and pain, and how they tie humans together.
5. Birth House. Not a fav. I liked many of the passages but then felt like I was reading a 1917 melodrama. I half expected Nora's husband to reveal he was really Snidely Whiplash and then tie her to a railway track while twirling his moustache. And the minister and the head of the temperance society are really "getting it on" in the church. Hmmmm.
Here's my personal ranking, for what it's worth.... (next to nothing really)
1. Essex County. Loved the use of the form and found the deepest characters in this work. It was moving. Too bad the graphic novel is still hampered by pictures. My goodness - does anyone prefer Alice in Wonderland or Dickens without the pictures?
2. Unless. I had tried this novel before and stopped - so I sympathise with the voters who found it a grind. I'm glad I finished it. It was actually a very sweet meditation on personal loss and losing your own sense as a person. Shield's prose can get a little twee sometimes, but at others she lifts your brain as she moves your soul. (yes, that's twee as well)
3. Best Laid Plans. THE WINNER. I was ready to dis the book after the first chapter but it's a worthy champ. The book makes a real change away from puns to some beautiful . The letters Angus writes to his wife anchor the flights of fancy that push the humourous side of the work.
4. Bone Cage. This was surprisingly strong. It should be mandatory reading for all the people who watch the Olympics and then whine when Canadians don't "win" medals. But it's much more than that. Abdou is a good writer and you can physically feel what the characters in the book are going through. That takes skill. I think she did a good job of making the reader consider decay and pain, and how they tie humans together.
5. Birth House. Not a fav. I liked many of the passages but then felt like I was reading a 1917 melodrama. I half expected Nora's husband to reveal he was really Snidely Whiplash and then tie her to a railway track while twirling his moustache. And the minister and the head of the temperance society are really "getting it on" in the church. Hmmmm.
No comments have been added yet.
