"The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana" by Umberto Eco

Before I started reading this book, I read some reviews in Amazon.com and they were pretty scathing. I have to agree. The book is pretty much a waste of time unless you are really  interested in Italy during the war, and in the type of reading that someone like Eco did. One thing I can say of it is that the illustrations are very nice. I skimmed the book and did not do it justice, but there are other books I would much rather be reading. One useful thing I gained from it was a good idea of what it's like to have no memory of who you are after a stroke. Ah, the challenge of rediscovering yourself based on clues such as old books and comics! And then he has a second stroke and his memory comes back while he is in a coma. And then he realizes that all his life he has wanted to finish off a scene from Cyrano de Bergerac with a girl he met in high school, who, just before his first stroke, he found out had died at 18. His wife and family were secondary to this goal. And then he dies. Gross book!

"Tree and Leaf" by J.R.R. Tolkien

This book, which I acquired during the FOPLA sale on Saturday, contains a somewhat interesting essay and a fairy tale. The essay was ok for an essay on fairy tales. I read the first few pages rather carefully, then skimmed the rest. I was disappointed in the fairy tale itself. Nicely written, but rather dull. It did, however, have the atmosphere of a fairy tale, so that's something, I guess.

"Belling the Cat" by Mordecai Richler

Finally finished skimming this collection of essays. Some of them were amusing because Richler was a good writer, but they have become quite dated. I am going to donate the book to the Salvation Army.

"Star Trek Typhon Pact: Paths of Disharmony" by Dayton Ward

My adventure for the day on this past Wednesday was going to St Laurent branch of OPL to borrow this book. I had considered getting it for Christmas, but am awfully glad I didn't. I only care about the Crusher, Picard, baby parts of the book, and those got boring after awhile. Skimmed most parts that didn't have these characters. Finished as soon as possible, and now on to a real book again.

"Bag of Bones" by Stephen King

Decided to read this book when I read that it is going to be televised in December. Pretty good story, but I'm tired of Stephen King. He stretches credibility too much for my taste. I think that Pierce Brosnan is going to be too old in the role of the protagonist.

"The Incomparable Atuk" by Mordecai Richler

A nice light read. I have found out I enjoy vicious satire. A bit dated, since it was published in 1963, and still refers to Eskimos.

"In the Stacks: Short Stories about Libraries and Librarians " by Michael Cart

I bought this book years ago because it related to Libraries, and I finally finished it yesterday. Can't say I was taken with all the stories, but the authors were good.

"Lavinia" by Ursula Leguin

I really enjoyed this addition to the Aeneid of Virgil, which presents Lavinia's point of view. Apparently, she doesn't say a word in the poem. I bought the book because I used to love mythology, and because I studied the Aeneid in a university literature course. I actually much preferred Homer's Odyssey, but there you have it. By the way, I'm not inspired enough to reread the Aeneid, or even part of it.

"Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs

Bought this young adult book because of its freaky vintage photos, because it seemed like a good Gothic story, and because I thought I had read a review somewhere. I was actually disappointed. It was average. Just the first 20 pages were brilliant. It's set up for a sequel, but I won't buy it if one comes out. At least I learned about the hobby of collecting vintage photos, and even briefly considered doing it myself.

"Devil's Waltz" by Jonathan Kellerman

Picked this book up at FOPLA, but was pretty sure had read it already. Reread it quickly to compare with Sara Peretsky. From reading the back cover, and from the contents, of course, realized that Kellerman falls into the category of psychological thriller and Peretsky does not. So that's the answer. I prefer psychological thrillers to straight up story telling.

"Body Work" by Sara Peretsky

Read this book because Ray gave it to me to read. He is a big fan of Peretsky, and found this book to be especially good. I found it to be long, often plodding, and unbelievable in its intricacy. And I didn't really get any feeling of warmth coming from it. Funny how Ray and I can't seem to agree on our favorite books. He doesn't like Jonathan Kellerman, and I do.

"The Difference Engine" by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling

Ray gave me this to read when I expressed an interest in steampunk. He tells me this is the seminal steampunk novel. Definitely multilayered, and there were sections of the book that I really loved and was amazed by. However, the last section was disappointing, and no concrete mystery was really solved. I also missed out an a lot by not knowing very much about the Victorian era. I'm not interested enough to study and then reread the novel. I did do some minimal studying afterwards, and learned that Ada Byron, Lord Byron's daughter is considered by some to have been the world's first programmer. That's interesting. For future readers, I recommend getting an overview of the Babbage era before reading the novel.

"Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

Excellent book because it kept me riveted and brought tears to my eyes. It's not many books that can do that anymore. Unfortunately, towards the end, it strode too much into teen romance territory for my taste. Despite the 'too much romance' aspect, can't wait until I see the movie.

Read much of this book at Mama's house yesterday and today. Ray and I were in Montreal visiting Ciocia Marylka yesterday afternoon, then going to Diane's house for supper. It's nice being with family. Also, Ray and I spent Friday night with Liz and Mark, so we've had a very busy weekend indeed. Nice to be back in Ottawa.

"Dinner along the Amazon" by Timothy Findley

Finally finished this book of short stories. I'm tired of reading about all of his alcoholic characters. He was an alcoholic as well.

"What the Dog Saw" by Malcolm Gladwell

Somewhat interesting collection of essays that I had been reading for awhile now, usually in bed before going to sleep. This is the 1st book I've read by him, and I frequently found myself wondering why he has become so well known, such a cultural guru. I guess he presents interesting concepts, and shows links that people may have been unaware of.  It probably doesn't help his cause that I was usually tired when I read this book. However, the fact that I stayed awake for all the essays must indicate something positive about their content.

"A Slice of Pi" by Liz Strachan

A fluffy book of mathematical tidbits by an overly nerdy former math teacher. I enjoyed parts of it, so it was worth the read. But I really could care less about tricks for things like figuring out the square of certain types of numbers.

"The Slap" by Christos Tsiolkas

I bought this book because in a picture, I saw Simon Baker's wife reading it. It's a best book winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize. It was a good, very readable book that gave me a bit of insight into Australian society, and Greek families.

"A Game of Thrones" by George R. R. Martin

Even though Ray is not thrilled with this author, and even the books are kind of lengthy, I decided to read this book and the others in the series after watching the tv show on HBO. For many of the tv episodes, I was even kind of bored, but the last episode hooked me, and suddenly, I'm a bit of a George R.R. Martin fan. It's not that he's an extraordinary writer, but he does have a very unique vision. The series was kind of confusing because of the number of characters and the complexity of the mythology, so one of my purposes in reading the book was to clarify some questions.

I did enjoy the book, but it was kind of slow for me because the tv series followed it so closely. This is the book I was reading when I left for Europe, and despite all my time at airports, buses, and hotel rooms, I only finished it today.

"Dead in the Family" by Charlaine Harris

Enjoyable quick read. Though I find that each of the True Blood books does get boring after awhile. It would probably help if I didn't read spoilers on the web, and know most of the salient plot points before I even start the book. Same goes for the tv series. I'm addicted to spoilers, sigh.

"More Die of Heartbreak" by Saul Bellow

Simultaneously amusing and highly intellectual. Last year, I read "Henderson and the Rain King" by him, so I've become used to Bellow's style. When I read him, I don't worry about all the intellectual stuff that is foreign to me; I just enjoy his satire and his insights into the human condition. I love that he brings out the weirdness in human thought processes, and yet sustains the feeling of normalcy.

I became interested in Saul Bellow during my Mordecai Richler jag, because like Richler, he was a Jew from the Montreal area. However, Bellow moved to Chicago when he was 8, and this is another city that interests me.

"Stone Kiss" by Faye Kellerman

This is the first book I read by Faye Kellerman. I've enjoyed numerous books by her husband Jonathan Kellerman, and have been wondering what  I would think of her writing for awhile now. Verdict? The book was actually quite riveting, but I'm not really drawn in by the characters, so I don't think I'll ready anything else by her unless it happens to by lying around. Too much description, too much religion, too much earthiness in a conservative religious sort of way, and too much violence.

My memory of Jonathan is that his books are more cerebral and more sparsely (i.e. better) written. Just to show you how shallow I am, I stopped reading Jonathan's books when the protagonist broke up with a girlfriend I liked. I see that they're back together again, so I guess I'll start reading him again.

"Poland" by James A. Michener

While I was reading this book, things that I did that I remember are:
- Ray and I visited my mother in her new apt, where Henry and Cocia Marylka also came
- Had a really nice visit from Morgan and Lucas, and the highlight, believe it or not, was our visit to IKEA.
- Morgan had a miscarriage. Baby stopped growing at 7 1/2 weeks
- Started my new volunteer job, sorting books at the Tallwood facility. Tiring and a bit boring, but also interesting. It's a long bus ride, and I read on the bus.

The book is interesting, but Michener tends to go into too much detail, and has a rather straightforward writing style. There were occurrences of male chauvinism and I didn't always know if that was a reflection on the author or the period he was writing about. A large part of Poland's history is kind of embarrassing, and the magnates in particular were rather disgusting in their self interest. Now that I know that I have an Austrian ancestor, the Austrian bits were of more interest to me than the first time I read this book.  I didn't remember a thing from my 1st reading.

"We were the Mulvaneys" by Joyce Carol Oates

I'm writing this entry in Oct, 2014, and have a feeling I forgot to create one when I actually read the book. Unless, of course, I somehow managed to delete it along the way. I wanted to make sure this book is recorded, because after reading "Haunted" I have finally become a fan of Joyce Carol Oates. All I remember about it is an impression. It was well written, but somehow disappointing to me, and caused me to wonder at myself, since Oates is apparently a great writer.

"The Girl Who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Eva and John were right. It is better than the first one.

"Losing the Dead" by Lisa Appignanesi"

I had read 2 fiction books by her and enjoyed them, especially the one set in Montreal. It's because of her Montreal roots that I bought this non-fiction book, which recounts her search for her Jewish family's history, especially in wartime Poland. It also mentions her troubled relationship with her rapidly aging mother. I enjoyed the book, because I guess I can relate to both these things. The Poles are not always mentioned in a flattering light, but I do think she tried to be fair.

I recently took a course on a genealogy database at the Ottawa Public Library, and at first I didn't think it had inspired me to pursue my family history, but this book has given me that spark. It was useful to me that it mentioned some of the psychological roadblocks to pursuing a family history that is filled with horrible events.

"The Mayor of Casterbridge" by Thomas Hardy

I decided to finally read this book (which I bought ages ago) after watching the Michael Winterbottom movie 'The Claim', which is loosely based on it. I found the movie very slow, but it had beautiful scenery and the plot was somewhat intriguing. I hate having a book lie around for decades without being read, so I used the movie as the incentive I needed. There is even, believe it or not, a Simon Baker connection, because I know Michael Winterbottom from the movie 'The Killer Inside Me' where Simon Baker starred.

To my surprise, because I think of Thomas Hardy as being gloomy, I actually enjoyed the book. I liked the fact that even though much misery befell Hanchard, it was mostly of his own doing, He was not an innocent victim. It's almost ironically funny.  Hanchard (Job?) was presented with one trial after another, and he always seemed to make the wrong choice. He seemed unable to have a trusting relationship with other people.

"The Killer Inside Me" by Jim Thompson

Read the book to see if it gave some clues to the movie, which I watched because Simon Baker appears in it. The answer is 'no', but it was an interesting read. Having seen the movie and read the book, I have to admit that the ending is still ambiguous

"Salem's Lot" by Stephen King

It was an amusing enough read, but has become dated because vampire mythology has evolved quite a bit since this book was written. It doesn't help that the book takes itself seriously. Tongue depressors taped into a cross as a successful weapon against vampires is a bit much.

"The Hero's Walk" by Anita Ray Badami

I don't remember much about this book, except for the fact that I liked it. When I read it, I didn't know its place in Canadian literature, but now it's up for Canada Reads, so it must be fairly well liked. It would be interesting to reread it, now that I've become more familiar with Indian culture, because of my acquaintance with Kanak.