The reviews are overwhelmingly positive for Ian McEwen's On Chesil Beach. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/05/31/AR2007053102540.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/books/review/Lethem-t.html?ref=review
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/labkbrownrigg3jun03,0,5719141.storycoll=labooksheadlines
http://www.sfgate.com/cgibin/article.cgif=/c/a/2007/06/03/RVGTMQ18Q21.DTL&type=books
Read the first chapter of On Chesil Beach here:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/books/chapters/0603-1st-mcew.html
The Globe & Mail says that Barry Callaghan's latest collection of short stories, Between Trains, is the work of a master at full stretch. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070602.BKCALL02/TPStory/Entertainment/Books
The Star's Phil Marchand speculates on why Callaghan, despite his long and distinguished career, remains curiously neglected in literary culture. http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/220866
Janin Armin is impressed with the way in which Anne Stone, in her third novel, Delible, traverses the magical, yet difficult, territory of young girls. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070602.BKDELI02/TPStory/Entertainment/Books
Patricia Robertson says that the stories in Sarah Klassen's latest collection, A Feast of Longing, possess a perfect balance between light and shadow that few Canuck writers have mastered. http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/220864
Jim Bartley, First Fiction reviewer for the Globe and Mail, suggests that the big risk and great strength of Andrew Wedderburn's début novel, The Milk Chicken Bomb, is in what the author doesn't say. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070602.BKBART02/TPStory/Entertainment/Books
Opinion maven Heather Mallick says that Linda McQuaig, author of Holding the Bully's Coat: Canada and the US Empire, is a model for Canadian journalists. http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_mallick/20070525.html
Read a review of McQuaig's book in the Montreal Gazette: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/books/story.html?id=a95b7aa6-68d7-4eb3-8bd8-2a8e3869ba42
In her review of Marianne Wiggins' latest book, The Shadow Catcher, Jane Smiley declares Wiggins one of our most adventuresome and enterprising novelist. http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-bk-smiley3jun03,0,2981462.story?coll=la-books-center
The New York Times calls Cindy Brown Austin's By the Rivers of Babylon a potboiler rich in characters and urban detail that is learned first-hand. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/03colct.html?ref=books
Derek Weiler writing in The Star says that Miranda July's début collection of short stories, No One Belongs Here More Than You, shows care and talent, and at its best will leave readers both laughing and brooding. http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/220865
Of the prolific Joyce Carol Oates' latest novel, The Gravedigger's Daughter, The New York Times says there is much to admire in this bittersweet tale of one woman's triumph of will.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/07/books/07gree.html?ref=book
Janet Maslin writing for The New York Times says that although Danielle Ganek's début novel, Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him, set in the New York's trendy art scene, is a genre novel, it's better than most.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/28/books/28masl.htmlex=1181188800&en=731cbfc1ddc35645&ei=5070
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/fashion/03ganek.html?ref=books
T. Paul Ste. Marie, a well-known and loved Vancouver performer, promoter and poet, has passed away at the age of 41.
http://onlymagazine.ca/Theatre/1057/t-paul-ste-marie-1966-2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Monday, June 4, 2007
Digested Reads
Update to Currently Reading (From May 12th)
Art Since 1900 -Hal Foster,Rosalind Krauss, Yve-Alain Bois, Benjamin H.D Buchloh:
Almost unreadable-but why? It's not that Foster &co have an academic agenda nor is it that it's a fairly obscurist view of modern art that will deter all but those majoring in the subject, no, my quibble with this text is that the authors consistently impute more spatial ability to their readers than is reasonable. From separating text from object, on to introduction of concepts in a non linear progression and through on to my favorite gambit- describing the impact of a certain art work from a given point of view BUT NOT ACTUALLY SUPPLYING A PHOTO FROM THAT ANGLE! Apparently, if you can't rotate objects three dimensionally in space, Mssrs. Foster etc don't want you reading their opinionated little text. Fine. Then don't. There are several dozen better books on the subject...
Yiddish Policeman's Union - Michael Chabon:
Weirdly compelling, even though I normally dislike his sort of naif storytelling but give me a Yiddish noir about an alternate time line where the Jews got Alaska instead of Israel and I'm like iron filings to the true magnetic north. Still can't decide if I liked it though. How strange is that?
Mcsweeney's 22 - Dave Eggers et al:
Pretty Pretty. Could do without the poems though, but that's just me. Otherwise, if you know McSweeneys, been introduced and done the dance already, you'll like it just fine. If not, I recommend # 13 ('the comics one', edited by Chris Ware) as a good place to start.
Raymond Chandler's Playback: A Graphic Novel -Ted Benoit & Francois Ayroles
Rediscovered screenplay that has been re-imagined visually in a blocky, yet somehow satisfying fashion by some french guys. And it's set in Vancouver! Am now intensely curious to know how much of the visuals are based on the actual architecture of the time. If anyone knows anything, please tell me!
Against the Day - Thomas Pynchon:
Still. Working. On.It. (Got about 400 pages in and then got waylaid. I'll be back though, I promise!)
In Defense of Atheism - Michel Onfray:
Interesting. French. Another take on the recently developing genre of loud'n'proud anti-religious tracts (And yes, I use that word advisedly)
God is Not Great - Christopher Hitchens:
This book's getting a stand alone review later in the week since I find I have so much to say about it.
Armadale -Wilkie Collins:
Type too small, fiendish book resists me every time I try to open it. Note to self, stop buying 50 year old paperbacks with 'hooky' fonts, you know you won't read them.
Good Omens Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman:
A delight and a hysteria, satisfying to fans of either/both.
Steep Approach to Garbadale -Ian Banks:
Disappointing and somewhat predictable. His output has been less than spectacular the last few outings but I'm ever willing to concede that even at his worst, he's still better than most. (See The Wasp Factory for a baseline comparison)
Flight -Sherman Alexie:
I have followed Sherman Alexie's work for years, he's a really interesting guy and I respect him a lot but unless this is a mislabelled Young Adult title, he somehow lost the plot with this one.
It reads like an after school special and I can't fathom why he plunged across the line he's always walked between writing fiction about First Nations that defies stereotypes (good & bad) and exhibiting a nuanced sense of humor, into the land of feel-good pablum.
Hmm, oh well, there's always the next one...
Art Since 1900 -Hal Foster,Rosalind Krauss, Yve-Alain Bois, Benjamin H.D Buchloh:
Almost unreadable-but why? It's not that Foster &co have an academic agenda nor is it that it's a fairly obscurist view of modern art that will deter all but those majoring in the subject, no, my quibble with this text is that the authors consistently impute more spatial ability to their readers than is reasonable. From separating text from object, on to introduction of concepts in a non linear progression and through on to my favorite gambit- describing the impact of a certain art work from a given point of view BUT NOT ACTUALLY SUPPLYING A PHOTO FROM THAT ANGLE! Apparently, if you can't rotate objects three dimensionally in space, Mssrs. Foster etc don't want you reading their opinionated little text. Fine. Then don't. There are several dozen better books on the subject...
Yiddish Policeman's Union - Michael Chabon:
Weirdly compelling, even though I normally dislike his sort of naif storytelling but give me a Yiddish noir about an alternate time line where the Jews got Alaska instead of Israel and I'm like iron filings to the true magnetic north. Still can't decide if I liked it though. How strange is that?
Mcsweeney's 22 - Dave Eggers et al:
Pretty Pretty. Could do without the poems though, but that's just me. Otherwise, if you know McSweeneys, been introduced and done the dance already, you'll like it just fine. If not, I recommend # 13 ('the comics one', edited by Chris Ware) as a good place to start.
Raymond Chandler's Playback: A Graphic Novel -Ted Benoit & Francois Ayroles
Rediscovered screenplay that has been re-imagined visually in a blocky, yet somehow satisfying fashion by some french guys. And it's set in Vancouver! Am now intensely curious to know how much of the visuals are based on the actual architecture of the time. If anyone knows anything, please tell me!
Against the Day - Thomas Pynchon:
Still. Working. On.It. (Got about 400 pages in and then got waylaid. I'll be back though, I promise!)
In Defense of Atheism - Michel Onfray:
Interesting. French. Another take on the recently developing genre of loud'n'proud anti-religious tracts (And yes, I use that word advisedly)
God is Not Great - Christopher Hitchens:
This book's getting a stand alone review later in the week since I find I have so much to say about it.
Armadale -Wilkie Collins:
Type too small, fiendish book resists me every time I try to open it. Note to self, stop buying 50 year old paperbacks with 'hooky' fonts, you know you won't read them.
Good Omens Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman:
A delight and a hysteria, satisfying to fans of either/both.
Steep Approach to Garbadale -Ian Banks:
Disappointing and somewhat predictable. His output has been less than spectacular the last few outings but I'm ever willing to concede that even at his worst, he's still better than most. (See The Wasp Factory for a baseline comparison)
Flight -Sherman Alexie:
I have followed Sherman Alexie's work for years, he's a really interesting guy and I respect him a lot but unless this is a mislabelled Young Adult title, he somehow lost the plot with this one.
It reads like an after school special and I can't fathom why he plunged across the line he's always walked between writing fiction about First Nations that defies stereotypes (good & bad) and exhibiting a nuanced sense of humor, into the land of feel-good pablum.
Hmm, oh well, there's always the next one...
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