“Gargoyles” by Bill Gaston

An enjoyable, mostly psychologically dark, but sometimes uplifting, collection of short stories.

“The Lonely Hearts Hotel” by Heather O’Neill

It is a dark, whimsical tale. And for the most part, I loathed this book because there was so much ugliness in it. It’s about the lives of 2 talented orphans in a Montreal orphanage who have always loved each other, but are kicked around by a disgusting society. Needless to say, their adult lives are no easier. I could not wait to finish the book, and to my amazement, the ending was brilliant. Pierrot’s funeral brought tears to my eyes, and Rose’s destiny was a well written surprise.

“Juliet was a Surprise” by Bill Gaston

This was an interesting and rather sad group of short stories. It took me awhile, but after reading them all, I’ve come to appreciate Bill Gaston. I would say that the overarching theme was extreme self involvement, to the exclusion of living a life.

“Sick of Shadows” by Sharyn McCrumb

I like Sharyn McCrumb as a writer very much, but this was not one of her better efforts, I think. This book is volume 1 in the Elizabeth Macpherson mystery series, and I expect that McCrumb was still developing her skills as a detective writer. One problem is that the pace is kind of slow because it consists mainly of dialogue. Also, the book did not resolve all issues to my satisfaction. I would especially like to know why the schizophrenic murder victim became upset when her psychiatrist arrived for the wedding. Did she infer that he was expecting trouble? And why did the murder victim decide to write a will?

“Barbarian Lost: Travels in the New China” by Alexandre Trudeau

This was a good read that taught me quite a bit about China. I did, however, find Trudeau’s writing style to be occasionally jarring in its casualness, by which I mean use of expletives and slang. In fact, his general writing style was new to me. It was simulataneously a travelogue, diary, and erudite exposition. Also, he quoted the conversations of himself and his guide, throwing in the underlying emotion as well.

“The Three Musketeers” by Alexandre Dumas, Pere

So, I finally read this classic. Overall,it was quite enjoyable. Dumas has written some quite beautiful descriptive passages, and the various incidents in the book are quite amusing. On the other hand, I must admit that afte4 awhile, I found the adventures to be rather repetitive. And I skimmed over much of Milady’s machinations near the end of the book.

As often happens with the classics, I was surprised by how modern it felt. Dumas has a good sense of humour. Also, I very much liked the collaborative decision making style among the Musketeers.

“The Lost Symbol” by Dan Brown

Some of the plot twists in this book ended up being quite interesting. But overall, it was too long, too preachy, and described Washington landmarks with too much fawning detail.