Another New Year

Well, I didn't quite make my #26in2012 goal.  I did better than 2011. In 2011, I finished my 25th book on New Year's Eve. In 2012, I was a third of the way through my 26th book, Albert Brooks' 2030 (review to come), which gave me an unfair head start on my #26in2013 goal.

This is my only New Year's resolution: actually finish 26 books in 2013. I figure third time's a charm. In order to get myself really in the mood, I went shopping.You may notice that it's all Can Con which historically is unusual for me. However, with so many great writers and novels out there, how can you resist?

The big question is, which one first?

26

26.   It’s been a magic number for me for the last two years.  Why? In January 2011, I was hanging out on Twitter and one of the people I was following kept talking about #26in2011.  She issued a challenge to her followers to read 26 books in the year.  I immediately signed up for that one.  We tweeted throughout the year on the books we were reading and how we were progressing.

Medium Raw

Life really derailed my blogging these past couple of months - both figuratively and literally.  Reading Keith Richard's book slowed me down and work and life just kind of kept getting in the way of me sitting down to write some reviews.

So, on to it.  After Keith, I continued on the memoir theme and picked up chef Anthony Bourdain's Medium Raw.  I'm a Tony Bourdain groupie.  I loved Kitchen Confidential for bringing to the light of day, the counterculture of the food scene, the real food scene: behind the curtain and focusing on the people who actually work the food scene.  But my infatuation really started with his short lived show "A Cook's Tour," where Bourdain went around the world looking for truly authentic and crazy food experiences.

Life is a Grind

Life is a grind.  Literally and figuratively.  Don't worry this isn't going to be some philosophical rambling on the meaning of life or a "woe is me" moment on the challenges life brings us, I am actually referring to Keith Richard's autobiography Life.


There is something so unbelievably cool about Keith.  I love him. I love his seeming immortality.  I love his crazy hair and clothes.  I love the song Happy, which he sings, on Exile on Main Street.  I don't think anyone looks cooler with a cigarette in his mouth than Keith Richards.

Summertime and the Readin' is Easy

The lazy, hazy days of summer are upon us (evidence, the lack of posts).  I'm heading to Greece with the family for three glorious weeks of beach time.  With three kids (the youngest is almost 18 months), I'm not sure how much time I'll get for reading.

For those of you who do have reading time over these dog days of summer, here are my top three picks:

Pigeon English

I have never been one for the point of view novel.  I like a third party narrative where you can get the whole lay of the land.  I find, when a point of view approach is taken, if it's not done well, can become rather one-note.  ROOM is one of those exceptions.  So, buoyed by the enjoyment of that, I decided to pick up Pigeon English.  This is another point of view novel, told from the perspective of 11-year old Harri, who has emigrated to London from Ghana with his mother and older sister Lydia.  Coincidentally, a quote from Emma Donoghue appears on the cover :).

Going Up Up Up!

There are two things that are making the Yummy Mummy Book Club totally rock these days.  First, publishers are getting connected to Wanda, our leader and we are getting free books ( (check her out at Bookalicious or over at Yummy Mummy Club) .  Second, authors are hanging out with us on Twitter during #YMBC online meetings and participating in our conversations.  How awesome is that!

This time around, we had Julie Booker online to participate in our chat about her new collection of short stores: Up Up Up.  The publisher, House of Anansi, sent us YMBC members a copy of the book about a week before it was released.  I found it very cool that by the time the book hit the shelves, I was already finished and talking about it to my friends.

Who wants to be like Steve?

So much for my moratorium on business books.  I try not to read stuff that's so serious in its intent and writing style.  Yes business is serious business (ha, ha...see what I did there?), but, it doesn't have to be boring and stuffy.  In fact, if business is boring and stuffy, how are you supposed to have fun and passion?  How are you supposed to be good at it?

Anyway, on the recommendation of numerous friends, I decided to pick up The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs.  Steve Jobs is cool.  Apple is cool.  He is one of the most remarkable presenters in the world.  I have done a lot of presentations in my life.  I'm not bad, but I'm no Steve Jobs.  So, I decided that if the coolest guy on the planet who runs the coolest company has some presentation secrets, I'm ready to listen and learn.

The Paris Wife

Yikes!  Two weeks since my last post!  Not sure what happened there other than possibly the excitement of hockey season being over and revelling in the temporary window of extra time.

I have been thinking a lot about Paris lately.  This is largely due to the fact that I recently read The Paris Wife.  Also, it's been almost two years since my last time in Paris.  Anyone and everyone who knows me, knows that Paris is my very favourite city in the world.  In fact, I would love to be a wife in Paris.

The minute I land, I am full of joy (except for the time when I am in Charles de Gaulle airport but then as soon as I am out, I am back to being full of joy).  It was during that trip two years ago that I threw myself the best party I have ever had in my life (well, maybe except for my wedding), to celebrate turning 40.  It is also during that trip that I received a surprise birthday present in the form of conceiving my third child.

Sing You Home

Where did this week go?  I had this blog post half written in my head in preparation to post right after our Wednesday night Yummy Mummy Book Club Twitter meeting.  Then....poof.  The week was over.

In my March Break post, I mentioned that I had read best selling author Jodi Picoult's latest, Sing You Home.  It was an exciting YMBC meeting.  Our fearless leader, Wanda, really out did herself for this one.  She struck a deal with Simon & Schuster Canada to get us complimentary copies of the book.  Then, when Picoult was touring in Canada, she coordinated passes for YMBC members to go to the readings.

Evil Plans

I've made no secret of the fact that I am a BIG Hugh MacLeod fan.  So, I was super excited when his new book Evil Plans: Having Fun on the Road to World Domination came out.  I actually bought it the exact day it hit the shelves in Canada.  Then I took a picture of it on the shelf.  Then I tweeted it.

Yes. Seriously.

Evil Plans is the follow up to MacLeod's bestseller Ignore Everybody which I talked about here.

Gods Behaving Badly

I have had a very good stretch of reading lately.  However, they haven't exactly been the lightest stories.  To give myself a break, I decided to read Gods Behaving Badly.  On the surface, it had all of the things I was looking for to take a break from the intense fiction I had been immersed in:  a little fantasy (Greek gods), some romance and just general silliness.

It definitely delivered on the silly factor.  Although I thought I wanted to read something light and airy, I think I may have swung too far on the pendulum.

Giddy for Giller Part 5: Annabel

I'm finally getting to my post on Annabel.  This will likely be my last Giller post until the 2011 shortlist is announced.

It's not often that one reads a story about a hermaphrodite.  I, in fact, have read two stories about hermaphrodites.  I talked about reading Middlesex here.  The similarity between Middlesex and Annabel stops there.  Middlesex is an epic, sprawling novel that is sometimes a bit campy.  In Middlesex no one knew Cal was a hermaphrodite (though there was always something a bit odd about her/him that people couldn't put their finger on).  I quite enjoyed it for the most part but honestly, it's nothing compared to Kathleen Winter's beautiful story.

ROOM

I had actually planned to post my fifth installment of "Giddy for Giller" with a review of Kathleen Winter's Annabelle (sneak preview:  the book is stunning. I'll say no more for now).  However, I have recently been caught up in a firestorm of love for Emma Donaghue's ROOM which culminated in what I will call an "emergency" session of the Yummy Mummy Book Club (#YMBC for you Twitter folks) last week.

I had no idea what ROOM was about when I picked it up.  I just saw a lot of Twitter activity about how much people loved it.  I didn't even read the sleeve.  I just started reading.  I am glad I did it that way.  If I had a clue, I don't know that I would have fallen so completely in love with Jack, the young voice of the novel.

Giddy for Giller Part 4: Short Stories with Legs

I'm not much of a short story fan.  I find sometimes that you are just getting into it and then it stops.  The one exception to this is Gabriel Garcia Marquez's short story collection Strange Pilgrims.  The stories are beautifully written.  Of course, Marquez could write an instruction manual and I would probably like it.

So in my ongoing Giller reading streak, I picked up last year's shortlisted Light Lifting by Alexander MacLeod.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I will admit, the fact that he is very cute probably played a small role in selecting this.  Cute enough to mitigate the fact that Barbara Amiel Black introduced him at the Giller Awards with a disgustingly affected British accent looking like a cougar on the loose.  But I digress.

Stand By Your Man

I recently read Jennifer Weiner's Fly Away Home for my Yummy Mummy Bookclub.  I've talked about the YMBC in another post here.  I had never read Jennifer Weiner before but I had seen the movie "In Her Shoes" based on her book.

Fly Away Home chronicles the voyage of Sylvie, after it is revealed that her politician husband had an affair with a much younger woman who he then helped get a job at a prestigious law firm.  He comes clean with Sylvie and his two daughters: Diana the hyper Type-A control freak, over achieving, ER doctor (who is by the way also having an affair) and Lizzie a recovering addict.

Giddy for Giller Part 3: The Sentimentalists

After watching the 2010 Giller show, I immediately ran out and bought three of the five finalists, including the winner, The Sentimentalists. I really debated which of my three purchases (including Kathleen Winter’s book Annabel and Alexander Macleod’s short story collection Light Lifting) I would read first.  I decided to go with the winner first.

It seemed to be the dark horse of the group: first novel (Skribsund had previously published a book of poetry), artisanal publisher, and was running against some serious competition including David Bergen and Kathleen Winter.  I was super excited to read it.