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I've had Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close on my to-read list for ages, but I've never gotten to it. Your comments @Susan are not enticing me to make it a priority!
It is actually a very good book but it was far too emotional of a read for me. I should have known better than to read it, but that's just me.
@ ✰ Allison ✰ It is a very well written book. I do recommend it as it is a wonderful book with some humour and a not overly sentimental look at how a boy looks for his father after 9/11. If I avoided every book that made me cry I would not be reading many books. Even some books I have read to my granddaughter have made me cry. Mind you, I would not want to watch the movie as I know I would cry throughout the entire movie.I really liked Jonathan Safran Foer's earlier work for its quirkiness and humour; the movie was well done as well, Everything Is Illuminated. I look forward to his latest Here I Am.
If you want to read a book related to 9/11 but something more on the heartwarming side , I would recommend The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland. It is about the outpouring of generosity by the townspeople who were inundated with unexpected guests when planes carrying thousands of people were ordered to land.
just about to go over to a friends place to check the Friday reads, which I missed last week, traveling. Am I missing something, because I don't see it.
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I think this would probably go under here. CBC Unreserved is starting an Indigenous Book Club that I figured some people here might be interested in joining. The first book is The Break by Katherena Vermette.http://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/ta...
Adele may not be Canadian, but she is in Canada this week. I know a couple of people who caught her show in Montreal last weekend and she's in Toronto this weekend. I am super excited to be seeing her in Miami later in October. She has an amazing voice and word through the grapevine is that her concert is amazing! There's also a new biography coming out soon:http://www.thebookseller.com/news/ade...
For those in the Halifax area or close enough to travel, there's a 2 day second hand book sale at the Halifax Forum this weekend. It's in support of the NS Symphony, the NS Youth Symphony and other local music groups.
The 2016 CBC Poetry Prize Shortlist has been announced! There's five finalists and the winner will be announced November 16. http://www.cbc.ca/books/2016/11/annou...
It's a start! I always wondered by ebook prices were getting higher and higher for something that had very little overhead compared to paper books.
I very rarely buy ebooks. It's not like I can display them on my shelves so what is the point in buying them? I just borrow from the library which I can do that from the comfort of my own home. If I'm to buy a book, I will buy a nice paper copy for decoration sake :-)
Agreed, @Louise. I like to think of books as wallpaper. :)
Books are also a good insulator along walls that get often winds.
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Just came across this article on Trump and his lack of reading which so contrasts the articles on Obama. https://www.theguardian.com/books/boo...
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Each time that I read these articles I can't help but think of Yann Martel's campaign to find out what Stephen Harper was reading and his subsequent book 101 Letters to a Prime Minister: The Complete Letters to Stephen Harper!
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I have to admit that I picked up
fates and furies because of his recommendation although I was not so keen on it.
Plus Obama said in his last press conference he was going to be writing again. I can't wait to read whatever it is that he writes.
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It is celebrated in the US and it seems that reading day is every day for this group but I thought I would pass that along anyways!!
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The saddest thing about this US election is that on the one hand there is the godless and soulless idiot tRump and on the other there is the holyier than thou sanctimonious, already promising 'Christian' (like the ones who brought residential schools) values Pence.Thanks for the Macleans article and reminding me about Terry Southern, The Magic Christian, whom I first read in the 60's with the Beat Poets. Terry Southern knew absurdity and wrote dialogue for several movies like Dr. Strangelove, and Easy Rider and also wrote for SNL (Saturday Night Live).
Reading 1984 could make us think, phew, that we are not quite there yet, we are not the old Soviet Union, but reading Brave New World, and oh my, it rings much truer with TV brain-addled people thinking that tRump would make the USA great. So do these ring truer: It Can't Happen Here and The Hunger Games. Sigh.
Now, if there were some novels with solutions to the myriad of problems this ol' world has.
I was in a used bookstore today with a friend and quite by coincidence I picked up Jo Walton's Farthing, really just because I know her now from Canada Reads. So imagine my surprise when I get it home and read a little more about this book. It fits right into this Maclean's list, I think, and I am going to try to get to it this year in light of the new presidency.
I read Farthing but I was underwhelmed. There was one character in it that irritated me to bits and it took away from the story, for me.
@Mary Anne Have you read Pauline Hedge? Her stuff is set so long ago it doesn't hurt as much as most of the things I've been reading lately.Also, Starhawk wrote a terrific novel, and Marge Piercy and Doris Lessing have some great books amongst their titles.
@ Magdelanye which Pauline Gedge do you recommend? I am a fan of Starhawk and read most of her non-fiction, and was lucky to see her years ago with Matthew Fox in Ottawa. The novels of Starhawk that I have are The Fifth Sacred Thing and Walking to Mercury but have not read yet. I have read some Marge Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time is the one I remember most. Which Doris Lessing do you recommend?I just finished Company Town, a kind of dystopian set in a future Newfoundland, but which was such a positive read, because good overcomes evil. There are no such endings in 1984 or Brave New World.
The Eagle and the Raven starring Boadicea is a special favorite of mine, but also Pauline Gedge has a splendid series set in ancient Egypt that I have yet to finish.The only Marge Piercy that I would not recommend is Summer People. He She and It is brilliant, IMO, and Gone to Soldiers as well. The rest are lighter, and her poetry is wonderful.
As for Doris Lessing, as much as I love her, her oeuvre is inconsistent. Her midlife stuff is best I think, including the Golden Notebooks and that whole cycle. And I absolutely adored her science fiction series, not easy to get into but so delightful and mind expanding when it all clicks.
@MaryAnn it was the young debutante wife of the Jewish banker. I found her shallow and vapid and clueless. But that's just me. She rubbed me the wrong way though I'm sure she's supposed to represent how a lot of people just accept the norm without question.
@Mary Anne, yes, those.And the Starhawk you have, I loved from the start. I met her long ago, around the same time as Chris Williamson. Compelling speaker.
@MaryAnne, glad I popped in here today, I had no idea that you had posted this question. The answer of course is yes! I guess I was assuming, with us being contemporaries on parallel paths, you'd know her.I came here today because I'm feeling so sad about the shooting in the mosque. Its beyond terrible, beyond comprehension. Do any of the Canada reads books address this issue?
Wow! Come on... That's pretty cool...
I was thinking about that Erik Larson book the other day. I own a copy but haven't read it and pulled it off the shelves and put it on my pile of planned reading.
Bookstores and books are so important in any revolution. I am heartened that books are being bought to give people courage to if not revolt then at least to be more than sheep.
Nice!! Finding any personally rewarding way to avoid the absence of critical thinking gets my seal of approval.
LOL! Susan, thanks for posting those. That's clever!
Can't seem to be getting any of these links to open on the mobile app. I'll try the laptop when I get home.
@Natasha, if you open the link in Goodreads then hit the bottom right, you should get the option to open in Safari (on iPhone). There's probably something similar on other devices.
@Allison It's not working. But thank you. I'll be back home with my laptop tomorrow.
Freedom to Read Week in Canada starts tomorrow Sunday February 26th - Saturday March 4th. It is an annual event that encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom, which is guaranteed them under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Check out the following website to find out more about it and what you can do to promote and advocate for this freedom. It's a great resource.
http://www.freedomtoread.ca/
For those participating in Canadian Content's 2017 Bingo Challenge this link is a great place to help you select a book for your Bingo Square if you haven't done so already. (posted this link there as well)
For those who haven't joined in......why not think about it at and start with a B4 Banned Book Bingo Square. The Bingo Challenge doesn't end until December 31, 2017......so it's not to late to begin now and have some fun and camaraderie. You'll find lots of support and encouragement from other participants and discover some great Canadian books.
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I don't think I've seen this mentioned here yet but April 23 is Canada Book Day. We should all strive to read something by a Canadian author this month and on the day in particular. Yes, I know, that's what the group is all about anyway. :) Keep an eye out for local events that week too. I must check our library website.
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That looks like a pretty good list of Iraq/Afghanistan books. I've read Redeployment and Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (which I thought was great), and have Green on Blue sitting on my Kindle.