An Evening for Book Lover's (Oakville Public Library)

I was at an Evening for Book Lover's tonight, hosted by the Oakville Public Library. The event consists of library staff presenting the top 19 books for book clubs and/or reading on your own. Here's the list of books for 2012 that they presented tonight. From the list from 2011 book lovers evening, I think there was only a couple I didn't read, so it's a good chance I'll read most of these eventually! In fact, I've already read 5 of the 19.

1.  Jamrach's Menagerie, by Carol Birch
2.  The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary, by Andrew Westoll
3.  The Cat's Table, by Michael Ondaatje
4.  The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern
5.  State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett
6.  Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand
7.  The Thoughtful Dresser, by Linda Grant
8.  The Barbarian Nurseries, by Hector Tobar
9.  The Taliban Cricket Club , by Timeri N. Murari
10. The Fear Index, by Robert Harris
11. There But For The, by Ali Smith
12. The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga
13. Requiem. by Frances Itani
14. Eleven, by Mark Watson
15. The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides
16. The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain
17. Into the Heart of the Country, by Pauline Holdstock
18. The Sister Brothers, by Patrick DeWitt
19. Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, by Anna Quindlen

Let me know if you've read any of these, and what you'd recommend adding to my "must read" list. Thanks!

Book 38 of 52: State of Wonder

 

Book 37 of 52: The Midwife of Venice

This story centres on Hannah Levi, who is a midwife in the Jewish ghetto of Venice in 1575. When a Christian nobleman asks her to attend his wife (who is near death), she initially refuses, since the law forbids a Jew to give care to a Christian. But he is desperate and agrees to pay an exorbitant fee. Against the wishes of her rabbi, Hannah agrees so she can use the money to buy back her husband Isaac, who has been captured and forced into slavery in Malta.

The Midwife of Venice is full of rich historical detail—although I have no idea whether it’s accurate or not. I found the description of birthing babies in the 1500’s fascinating and scary at the same time. I’ll never forget the description of Hannah’s birth spoons. The book is educational as well, especially in discussing the religious differences between Christians and Jews at that time.
 
The chapters alternate between Hannah in Venice and her husband Isaac in Malta and their continuing struggle to be together. Isaac's chapters are just as full of historical detail, but it was Hannah and her tale I enjoyed the most. She was a fierce female heroine with her character coming to life on the page. Each of her chapters ended with a cliffhanger, making me want to rush through the next chapter about her husband just to get back to her story.

My only real complaint about this book was that it ended too soon. I wanted to see what happened to the characters as they grew older. I've seen some rumours online that the author, Roberta Rich is working on a sequel, with the working title The Levirate Marriage.


Book 36 of 52: A Cat's Table

This is a book club slection for the Oakville Public Library "open book club" in November that I've signed up for.

This story takes place in 1954 and is about a 21-day journey that Michael, 11, takes from Ceylon to England on an ocean liner to reunite with his mother who he hasn’t seen in years and barely remembers. He is traveling alone and befriends two others boys his age, as well as several older shipmates that eat at the “Cat’s Table” (the table in the dining room furthest from the Captain’s).  We see the journey from his eyes as he spends three weeks spying on the fellow passengers, getting into mischief, and even learning about an intriguing prisoner on board being transported to England. While the author makes it very clear at the end that this is a fictional work, it seems similar to Michael Ondaatje’s own life and I was a little disappointed to learn it wasn’t a memoir.

 

I have a hard time recommending this book, though you can’t deny it’s great writing. As I see it, this book is all about ‘the journey’, without a strong plot holding it together. The characters are interesting but the story falls flat and was actually a little boring at times. There were a few amusing bits, especially the part where the boys ride out a terrible storm while tied to the boat’s deck.

 

I understand now why my fellow book lover friends all said they weren’t too impressed by it. It is not a book I would hand to a friend and say "you must read this". If it’s still of interest to you after reading my review, maybe wait until you see it at the library so at least you don’t waste your money.

 

Book 35 of 52: Jamrach's Menagerie

This book was short-listed for the 2011 Man Booker prize and was a choice for our October book club. From the cover I could tell this book was a story that took place on high seas. So, having sailed around New Zealand for a month in a tall ship (see photo below) back when I was 17 I figured this was right up my alley.

The book takes place beginning in London in the 1850’s. The main character Jaffy, just a boy, survives an encounter with a tiger that is part of Jamrach’s menagerie of exotic animals that are sold to the very rich in England. Jamrach takes Jaffy under his wing and offers him a job. As he gets older he decides to venture out to sea to help search for the most exotic animal of all – a dragon (which I figure is a komodo dragon). Him and his friend Tim board a whaling ship to take them to Indonesia, but during the trip the ship falls under a mysterious curse and the sailors undergo horrible hardships to survive.

I had a hard time connecting to the character of Jaffy, and also in the end didn’t understand “the point” of the story at all. The unspeakable hardships the sailors endured went on and on for pages and pages, and took up evening after evening as I read the book. I’ve read books before that are on the depressing side, but they often have a message or lesson in them. I didn’t take away anything from this book, other than wanting to stay away from eating meat for several days while reading it.

That said, what the author lacks in character development and plot, she makes up for in her wonderful descriptions of London and the foreign lands the ship encounters. The descriptions are full of bright colours, pungent smells, and such rich detail. The streets of 1850's London she describes make you feel like you are there, as are the Azores, the ship, and the sea during a storm.

Also, one final warning….if you’re a squeamish vegetarian, you may want to avoid this book.

Book 34 of 52: The Book Thief

This kept me busy for the second half of our weeklong cottage stay.