Novels: The piles are a-bloom, ever expanding. Each book has its own bookmark, each some degree of commitment attached, some commanding that kind of nervous energy that erupts when you begin a book and think that it might just be a perfect book written just for you.
Like a debut novel that I have been meaning to read all summer, Patrick Somerville’s The Cradle: a very ordinary story, about a man whose pregnant wife asks him to track down a cradle that had been in her family for many years, but its parts woven so perfectly together that the theme and characters had my heart a-beating hard.
In Giller longlist reading, I’ve read four of the thirteen books and am about to start my fifth, Alix Ohlin’s Inside.
In my A More Diverse Universe reading (the event is hosted by Aarti, from September 23-29), I’ve read 50 pages of Nalo Hopkinson’s first YA novel, The Chaos. The dialogue rings true, the characters feel real, and there are only quiet hints that something is about to go really wrong with Scotch’s world.
Short Stories: Later today I will be dipping into the anthology Nalo Hopkinson edited, So Long Been Dreaming. Earlier this week, I finished reading Russell Wangersky’s collection, Whirl Away, which contains many disturbing and gripping stories. I’m still reading Alice Munro stories. And yesterday I read Britt Holmström’s “Leaving Berlin”: an astute and meticulously told tale of a strained romantic relationship in 1970’s Berlin.
RIPVII Reading: I re-read the first 60 pages of Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve started this book, and I definitely can’t explain why, because it reminds me of Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret and that’s all kinds of fun.
And I began Ann-Marie MacDonald’s The Way the Crow Flies. “The crows saw the murder. A little blue cotton dress. Perfectly still now. From high in the tree, the crows eyed the charm bracelet glinting on her wrist. Best to wait. The silver beckoned, but best to wait.”
These are both long books (650 and 830 pages), so if I stick with my plan to read them, I’m guessing that it’ll be a tough haul to read beyond the four books I signed up for. In shorter reading, I picked up my copy of the fifth (and final) Locke & Key volume by Joe Hill.
Film/TV: RIPVII Viewing
Pontypool (Dir. Bruce McDonald, 2008)
Set in the “basement of the world”, where winter is “so cold” and “so dark”: Ontario, Canada. “But then something is always about to happen.” And when superfluous details collide: what do they mean? They mean that you’re at work, it’s an ordinary day as a radio host (Stephen McHattie), and the world goes awry. With only one truly gory scene, the bulk of the movie’s horror is rooted in what we imagine is happening, based on phonecalls from “outside” and the viewer’s imagination. Based on the novel by Tony Burgess: quietly horrifying.
Drag Me to Hell (Dir. Sam Raimi, 2009)
This is not the movie to watch if you are looking for positive role models for Gypsy women. It is the movie to watch if you are torn between 17 shades of blonde (literally: Alison Lohman). There are lots of gruesome effects, usually involving mouths and fluids. There is cake with unexpected ingredients and cute animals suffer. I don’t mind laughing in a horror film, so this wasn’t all bad, but I enjoyed his “30 Days of Night” more. (I thought we had already watched this, but apparently the disc we were watching wouldn’t play all the way through, so we started our spooky viewing this year by properly finishing last season’s final film.)
Audio: Archived podcast of The Next Chapter, September 3, 2012. Discovered that I had a caker upbringing (thanks to the explanation of Brian Francis, author of Fruit and Natural Order). Who knew that some Canadian kids did *not* have mandarin oranges in Jello with a main course. Also added Leanne Shapton’s Swimming Studies to my TBR, even though I swore that I wouldn’t be interested.
Archived podcast of The Next Chapter, June 25, 2012. In which Margaret Cannon, JD Singh, and PK Rangachari (and Shelagh Rogers, of course) reminded me that I should take some summers just for mysteries too. There are so many good ones. The reading list for this episode is here.
Archived podcast of The Next Chapter. April 18, 2011. Learned of the Torn from the Pages evening of music, which inspired by one of my favourite books, Michael Crummey’s Galore. As Shelagh Rogers suggests, this is an operatic novel, perfect for cross-platform inspiration.
Archived podcast of The Next Chapter, April 25, 2011. Added Catherine McKenzie’s Arranged (2011) to my TBR, based on the fact that the heroine is named for Anne of Green Gables.
I am not only a caker but a podcast-binger.And because I made a project of learning to pay closer attention to audiobooks earlier this year, I fell further behind in my other listening than I’ve ever fallen before.
But, no matter, I still enjoy episodes of “The Next Chapter” and “World Bookclub” whether I’m listening to them fresh or preserved. In fact, I was thrilled to learn this week that the BBC has added all kinds of podcasts to their site of earlier bookclubs that I’ve never heard before.
(I just downloaded Margaret Atwood’s 2003 interview; I guess, technically, that means I’m 9 years behind in my listening?)
How about you? Have you read or seen or listened to any of these stories? What story is preoccupying you these days?
“…the bulk of the movie’s horror is rooted in what we imagine is happening.”
That is my favorite kind of scary. Often it’s so much MORE alarming when we see less. This is probably why I like Hitchcock and other old movies so much.
There’s something about having it in black-and-white, isn’t there? I enjoy both contemporary and classic horror, but sometimes the contemporary attempt to reveal takes it into silly-ness and although that’s fun, it’s not creepy. “The Haunting” and “The Wickerman”, though newer than Hitchcock, were disturbing too. But Pontypool is frightening because it is contemporary, its setting and characters completely believable: it could be you, going into work one day — and (maybe) not coming out again, certainly being changed forever — so though there is very little actual horror on display, it gets right under your skin.
Did you like the Holmstrom? I thought it looked interesting and am contemplating ordering it. I loved The Woman in White, but the first time I tried it I couldn’t manage it. The second time I couldn’t put it down. Timing is so often everything! If someone would load podcasts onto my MP3 player I would happily listen to them, but it is tedious and I am too lazy to do so. I could load a bunch and then spread them out…it’s always a matter of time management. I’ve just started a YA book for my RIP reading called The Hunting Ground and am finding it surprisingly creepy–I can see why there is a warning on the book that it is not for younger readers. And I am ‘trying out’ books now for a new nonfiction read…so hard deciding. Of course am thoroughly enjoying the AMM. If you are looking for another scary movie to add to the line up–try The Broken–I have rarely been so scared watching a movie–even now a year later it freaks me out!
Very much: it’s immediately accessible but, as you read on, you start to recognize the layers to the story. It was very well done: I think you’d like it.
So often about timing is right indeed. I’ve made it past the 200-page-mark (and am into the third narrator), so I think I’ll finish this year, but couldn’t tell you what makes this year different. My podcast listening is proof that you don’t have to download often; you just need to stack a bunch on there to fill those isolated moments when you can’t read anyway (and can’t handle the narrative of an audiobook either). I love the idea of books having to “try out” to fill your NF slot. And I’m going to have a look for that movie: sounds perfect!
Noticed you said you’ve abandoned Woman in White a few times. What aspect is it that you don’t like?
That’s the strange thing, because I do like it, when I’m reading it, but I’ve just started and left it unfinished so many times now, that it’s become an unfortunate habit. (I mean, it is a novel of its time, so there are the usual niggling factors that reveal some of the prejudices of the day, but otherwise I enjoy the story.)
You should join us in the Science Fiction Experience in January. There are generally several who participate for whom ‘sci fi’ isn’t their thing and they end up discovering, and sharing, some wonderful books.
I think I’ve said this before, but I like that you’ve named this event (and others) so as to emphasize the experience of reading rather than suggesting that it’s about reading the most number of books or watching the most movies(not that it’s not fun to set goals like that too, when it keeps one reading instead of slipping into some kind of mindless or repetitive entertainment). [She says, all-too-aware of the launch of The Mists of Pandaria expansion this week.]
I have added Nalo Hopkinson and N.K. Jemison to my list after signing up for a More Diverse Universe. I so wanted to participate and have Wild Seed by Octavia Butler for review, so I did a happy dance. There are so many diverse authors out there and I can’t wait to get to them all (or as many as I can, lol). I started reading Brown Girl in the Ring when I picked it up from the library and I know I’m gonna like it. My only question for you: is what is the trick to reading multiple books at the same time? That is something that I’ve tried to do and failed at, but you seem to be successful with it.
It’s an awesome event for adding to one’s TBR, isn’t it? Brown Girl is immediately absorbing, and The Chaos is similar in that way. I’ve only read the first of Jemisin’s (listened, actually) and not that particular one by Butler either (but I loved her trilogy and the other two that I’ve read). Hope you’re enjoying them.
As for reading multiple books, I should preface my answer with stating that I have a very poor memory when it comes to the substance of what I’ve read, and I think part of that (at least) is due to having several books on the go at one time. But what I do to keep them straight while they’re underway is simply to make sure that there aren’t any that feel similar in the stack. So I wouldn’t pick up a Dickens novel while reading A Woman in White, even if there was no woman in white in it. And I finished The Chaos before I started to re-read Hiromi Goto’s Half World, which is also about a teenage girl whose world changes suddenly and fantastically. It works for me!
The Chaos is next in my pile to read, I hope to start it tonight. I don’t read Speculative Fiction so when I signed up for A More Diverse Universe, I wanted to try and find a Canadian to read. Her books sound fantastic, and this one just jumped right out at me. I also love that these books have a Caribbean aspect to them.
Then next on my list is Whirl Away! I’m reading through the Giller long list as well.
That was my first thought: which Canadian to read! Have you had a bad experience with specfic, or is it just that you tend to pick up other books first? I hope Nalo Hopkinson’s works have you starting up a fresh page of TBR titles.
Oh, are you? Yay: love reading company especially when it comes to Canlit and prizelists. Which ones have you read, and what’s still awaiting you after Wangersky’s stories? I’ve just started Inside today and I was immediately pulled in. I think it’s going to read very quickly. I’ll look forward to your thoughts on the stories; one of the reasons that I’m fond of this prizelist is the mix of forms, even though there are only two collections this year (last year there were three).
I’ve never been interested in SF but am challenging myself to read more genres this year. I think Nalo Hopkinson will be perfect for me to start with as a lot of the themes are close to home.
As for Giller – so far I’ve read Ru, Everybody Has Everything and 419 (read those before the list was announced). On my table are Whirl Away, Our Daily Bread and Dr. Brinkley’s Tower. The rest I’m in queue for at the library. I like this years prize list as there are a lot of new to me authors, and a quite a few books I was expecting to be there weren’t.
Carl’s event (which he mentions below) sounds perfect for you, and Hopkinson a terrific choice of author to begin with.
I just bought a copy of Ru yesterday, having finally accepted that the library queue will not cooperate (and having heard from so many people how amazing it is). Hope you’re enjoying your other Giller reads.
Wow, you’ve had a busy week!
Love that quote from The Way the Crow Flies. The length puts me off a bit. I’d have to know the pay off was well worth it to commit to a chunkster like that. I too have started The Woman in White and not finished it, and like you I have no idea why. I was into the mood and language of it right from the start.
Pontypool sounds VERY interesting.
Isn’t it a great passage? And on the first page. So far it is a whirlwind of a read; 100 pages of it just flew by. Waaaay faster than the Collins FWIW. If I hadn’t been so enamored of her first novel (gothic tone but not a mystery per se, Fall on Your Knees), I wouldn’t have committed to so many pages either, especially not in such a busy reading season, but she is very good. Right not it feels more like a coming-of-age story set in the ’60s than a mystery, but you still have a sense of something lurking.
Have you read any of Tony Burgess’ fiction before? It might give you an idea of whether you’d like “Pontypool”; it’s perfect RIP viewing, but not for every horror film lover either. It does feel very believable though, and there is an interesting twist to the world-gone-wrong story that I think you’d appreciate.
I haven’t, hadn’t even heard of the author. I’m not big on gore and this one sounds like it is overall light on that.
I will be very interested in your final assessment of the book. If it continues to fly by like that and is a good overall read then I may go ahead and grab it for my pile despite its length.
In the film “Pontypool”, there is very little gore; in his collection of short stories, Ravenna Gets, there are some very disturbing scenes, but they are sketched very succinctly, matter-of-factly. (Which is partly what makes them so disturbing.)
I haven’t come across Nalo Hopkinson’s books before, so I’m going to check out Chaos and Brown Girl. They do look very good!
Cool! Brown Girl in the Ring reads very quickly and it’s entertaining and intriguing, but it was written very quickly; if you’re looking for a story with more substance and complexity, try Midnight Robber or New Moon’s Arms. I can’t comment thoughtfully on Chaos yet, but it is written with a YA audience in mind, and I don’t recall your reading a lot of that (but then I do remember you enjoyed The Knife of Never Letting Go).
I can’t wait to see your review of The Chaos! I think I am going to be adding a lot of Hopkinson to my wish list 🙂
To save time, you might as well add all of them now. I’ve read them all (except this one, but I’m enjoying it immensely): they’re all pretty great.