Other Twilights

People are still reading and asking about Twilight - the first volume in the immensely popular teenage vampire romance series by Stephenie Meyer. But you know what else is popular? Apparently, naming your book Twilight. I was searching the catalogue for this title the other day, and here’s just a few of the other Twilight's I came across:

Twilight by Meg Cabot: teen romance about a high school who can talk to the dead and is in love with a ghost. Number 6 in a series called Mediator.

Twilight by Brendan DuBois: Military thriller set in New York State. UN Peacekeepers are sent to investigate war crimes after a terrorist attack and it’s aftermath are the catalyst for a civil war.

Twilight : a novel by William Gay: "A Southern gothic novel about an undertaker who won’t let the dead rest. With his poetic, haunting prose, William Gay rewrites the rules of the gothic fairy tale while exploring the classic Southern themes of good and evil."--Publisher description.

Twilight : a novel by Katherine Mosby: “award-winning novelist and poet Katherine Mosby weaves the unforgettable story of a woman's sexual and political awakening, in Paris, on the verge of World War II.” --From the library catalogue

Twilight : a Jenny Cain mystery by Nancy Pickard: 10th in a mystery series featuring a smart, imaginative PI who by day is the director of a charitable organization. This installment sees Jenny assaulted on all sides by problems that threaten a festival she is attempting to organize.

Twilight by Elie Wiesel: novel by the Nobel Prize winning author. Story of a Holocaust survivor, living with his memories and with guilt. Library Journal called it a “brilliant and powerful interweaving of past and present, dream and vision, fantasy and reality...”

Who Are the People in Your Neighbourhood?

The world has become a funny place. Folks are quite likely to be in daily communication with friends not seen for 20 years (and likely never to see again), but may not know their neighbours well enough to pass more that a nod in the mornings. 

Neighbours can have a profound impact (for good or ill) on each others lives. You walk the streets, you know the cracks in the sidewalk. It's familiar and it's home. Neighbours are brought together by chance rather than by design creating an eclectic and unique community. Here is a salute to neighbours and neighbourhoods.

44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith

The action focuses around the residents and neighbours of 44 Scotland Street. An artist and his dog, a child prodigy and his parents, an art dealer looking for love, a bibliophile in the coffee house, an anthropologist, a key member of the Glasgow mafia all interact and intertwine in this series of subtly hilarious stories.

The Ballad of West 10th Street, by Marjorie Kernan
All great neighbourhood fiction contains a wide cast of characters each with their own story and their own contribution to the community. One such character, Sadie, the alcoholic wife of a deceased British rocker, and her children's lives are changed when a southern gentleman moves in next door to their Manhattan townhouse. The Colonel becomes the focal point for this set of

 mismatched neighbours creating a unique family.

Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
Anna Madrigal's apartment house on Barbary Lane is the setting for the adventures of quirky set of somewhat stereotypical characters populating a San Francisco neighbourhood.

New Yorkers by Cathleen Schine
As dog owners know, canine companions have a way of making their humans forge connections with strangers they would otherwise pass by. In the New Yorkers, dog owners commune and co-mingle in a tiny neighbourhood near Central Park.

Tales from Firozsha Baag, by Rohinton Mistry
Firozsha Baag is a run-down apartment building in Bombay. These short stories center around a cast of of somewhat quirky characters whose lives interweave.

Lunch at the Piccadilly by Clive Edgerton
Funny, yet a little sad. The community at the Rosehaven Convalescent Home are shaken up with the arrival of irrepressible Lil Olive and her rambunctious schemes.

Legends of the Chelsea Hotel: Living With the Artists and Outlaws of New York's Rebel Mecca by Ed Hamilton
It goes to prove that the truth is stranger than fiction. The Chelsea Hotel has a long history of harbouring writers, artists and thinkers. (Think Bob Dylan, Thomas Wolfe, Sid Vicious, Arthur Miller, Arthur C. Clarke). As the hotel comes more gentrified, long time resident Hamilton, tells the story of the hotel and its more eccentric residents.

Coronation Street: Keeping the Home Fires Burning by Daran Little
And, finally, because I cannot resist, what neighbourhood can be compared to Coronation Street in Weatherfield. I once heard it referred to as the most dangerous street in England. How many people have been hit by cars? Close to 100 people have died on this street since 1960. In this novel, you are taken back to Weatherfield during World War I and will see how Albert Tatlock met Ena Sharples.

Poetry Month Wrap Up

Well, April is waning and so we must say goodbye to Poetry Month for another year, and goodbye to our Poetry Challenge. I for one had fun reading the poetry that I did, and am really glad we got around to doing this.

As the month wraps up, it seems like a good time to highlight the nominees for the Griffin Poetry Prize. A Canadian Prize that honours both Canadian and International poets with an annual $100 000 prize.

This year’s international nominees are:

The Lost Leader by the late Scottish poet Mick Imlah;Life on Earth by Irish poet Derek Mahon;
Rising, Falling, Hovering by US poet C. D. Wright;

Primitive Mentor by US poet Dean Young.

This year’s Canadian nominees are:

Revolver by Kevin Connolly;

Crabwise to the Hounds by Jeramy Dodds;
The Sentinel by A. F. Moritz.

More information on the prize and the nominees - included excerpted poems - can be found at the Griffin Prize website.

The prize also publishes an anthology each year of the nominees - The Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology is a great place to discover new poets.

And finally, HRM announced over the weekend that Halifax poet spoken word artist, children's book author and journalist Shauntay Grant will serve as the city's next Poet Laureate. Congratuations, Shauntay!

Thank You For Being a Friend - Bea Arthur

I was very sad this weekend to hear of the passing of Bea Arthur - American actress known best for her title role in the 70s series Maude and as the feisty, sarcastic and opinionated Dorothy Zbornak on the Golden Girls. The popularity of The Golden Girls was surprising at first. It was unique in its focus on the lives of older women and portrayed them as vibrant, fun loving and opinionated. I was just a kid when the show aired originally, but I remember watching it faithfully and being fascinated by the lives of these ladies. The show has become a bit of a cult classic - even the young ladies of The OC were into it.

There are lots of books that also focus on the lives of those approaching or living the retirement life. If you like the female focus, you might want to try The Hot Flash Club (and others in the same series) by Nancy Thayer which Publisher’s Weekly called “chick lit for the AARP crowd”. There’s also The Red Hat Club books by Haywood Smith (which has a slightly tamer spin) or the 1980s novel The First Wives Club by Olivia Goldsmith (for a bit of a feistier one).

Playing with the assumptions we often make about retirement life for comic effect is a common theme in books that feature retirees. A few other recent takes on the retirement lifestyle are Boca Knights by Steven M. Forman a comic thriller which features a no nonsense Boston cop trying to retire in Boca Raton, Florida but becoming embroiled in a the dark side of life in a retirement community. There’s also Canadian author Joan Barfoot’s recent darkly comic Exit Lines about the wild plans of several residents of the Idyll Inn retirement home who intend to be anything but idyll. And finally, if you feel it’s unfair that retirement is reserved for those of a certain age, you might enjoy Early Bird: A Memoir of Premature Retirement by Rodney Rothman: which tells the adventure of 28 year old Rothman and his decision to move to a Florida retirement village after losing his job.

Book Review: A Resurrection of Magic: Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey

What are new librarians reading? We recently had a future librarian from Dalhousie visiting our department and I asked her, what have you read lately, and are you willing to write a review of it? Her answer was a definite YES! She decided to review Kathleen Duey's Skin Hunger.

"Kathleen Duey’s Skin Hunger is a dark fantasy novel that is the first in her planned trilogy entitled A Resurrection of Magic. 

As summer in Halifax approaches, it is the perfect time to escape the realities of work and school and indulge in the twisted and fantastical world that Duey creates. 

Never in a fantasy series has magic been portrayed as such a terrible gift and never have magicians been depicted as such merciless and cruel beings. The book traces, over two different time periods, the engaging and well-developed characters of Sadima and Hahp as they face the cruel realities of living in a world where magicians and kings fight over the right to rule with magic.

Though primarily for young adult readers ages 16-18, Duey’s Skin Hunger has considerable crossover appeal. For adults who secretly enjoyed Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series, or who delighted in Holly Black’s Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale, A Resurrection of Magic will be doubly more appealing because of its beautiful writing, intense characterization and fierce and unforgettable storyline.

If, after reading Skin Hunger, you are itching to read some adult fantasy novels that have the same lyrical prose and intricately woven storylines, try Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay and A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. Both of these novels represent some of the best that the fantasy genre has to offer." DG

It's refreshing to see what other people are reading, and to hear other readers' perspectives. And, I like to hear about other "cross-over" novels like the Twilight Series. Are any of you aware of other cross-over series or novels that you can recommend?

Remembering Guernica

About 5 years ago, I was lucky enough to have the chance to visit Spain, and while I was there I viewed Pablo Picasso’s Guernica on display in the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid. It’s an immense and beautiful painting.

As one often does when they experience something that leaves an impact on them, I wanted to do a bit of reading about the painting and it’s history and I stumbled upon a great book called Picasso’s War: the Destruction of Guernica and the Masterpiece

 that Changed the World by Russell Martin. I found the book easy to read, informative and interesting.

The painting Guernica was in response to the German bombing of the Basque town with the same name on April 26, 1937. With the anniversary nearing, you may be interested in reading something about the history of the event and/or the painting that came as a response to the horror of the event. 

If the link to Picasso interest you, Publisher’s Weekly magazine suggests the memoir Picasso and Dora by James Lord as offering an insightful look at his work on the painting. 

Guernica the Crucible of World War II by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan Witts is an older but still very interesting history of the bombardment. 

For a novel based around the historical event, American author Dave Boling has a recent first novel simply called Guernica.

Readalikes - Night Walker by Heather Graham

In Heather Graham's Nightwalker a nightwalker is someone with the ability to communicate with the dead. One such nightwalker, Jessy Sparhawk, is inadvertently caught up in a murder investigation when the dying victim whispers an important clue in her ear.

Graham is a prolific author who also publishes under the names Heather Graham Pozzessere and Shannon Drake. She writes historical, paranormal and romantic suspense novels.

Paranormal romance contains elements of the supernatural, vampires, ghosts, or time travel. While the romantic relationship is still the focus of the novel, Graham challenges her readers with both the paranormal and suspense elements.

Graham's fans might be interested in Paranormalromance.org where fans can find and share book reviews in this genre. Find out more on this website about P.E.A.R.L. (the Paranormal Excellence Award for Romantic Literature). Past winners are: Sherrilyn Kenyon, Jayne Castle, Patricia Briggs, Sandra Hill and J.R. Ward.

Fiction Gone to the Dogs

A couple of recent fiction titles involving dogs have recently come to my attention.

These are funny, light hearted stories with canine protagonists. For some reason they really crack me up.

For example in the Merrill Markoe novel Nose Down, Eyes Up, when alpha dog Jimmy discovers his owner isn't his real

father, or even the same species, he demands to seek out his biological mother. Unfortunately for owner Gil, this means tracking down his nasty ex-girlfriend and her precious pet.

In Dog On It, a new mystery series by Spencer Quinn, dog Chet is a part of a crime solving team. Chet is not the brightest dog in the world, he is always forgetting that he is wearing a choker collar, he  wonders where the breeze is coming from when his tail starts to wag. He is very loyal to his partner Bernie, but certainly has trouble understanding Bernie's human motivations.

A couple other humorous dog's point of view fiction titles to also consider:

Bones in the Belfry, by Suzette A. Hill. 

Presents three alternative viewpoints to the plot, that of the hapless Vicar, Maurice the Cat and Bouncer the Dog.

A Dog Among Diplomats: a bull moose dog run mystery

by Jonathan Englert. 

Randolph uses his superior Lab brain to tackle strange happenings at the United Nations.

 

Read Your Way Around the World - Brazil

One of the many great things about reading is the ability of a book to seemingly transport you to another place geographically. Fans of armchair travel revel in this aspect of leisure reading.

To help satisfy our readers' urge to explore the world via reading, Halifax Public Libraries has been creating a series of reading suggestions lists called Read Your Way Around the World.

Each country list highlights a few titles, usually combining both fiction and non-fiction, about the country and/or written by native authors. By no means exhaustive or definitive, these lists will hopefully give readers an enjoyable way to start a reading journey around the literary globe.

All Aboard! We are heading to Brazil.

The Accidental President of Brazil,

by Fernando Henrique Cardoso. (2006)

Cardoso chronicles his political live in Brazil. He paints a picture of modern Brazil, on the one hand on the verge of being a global superpower, and on the other, suffering terrible poverty.

Blood of the Wicked,

by Leighton Gage. (2008)

A Bishop is murdered in a remote Brazilian town. Chief Inspector Mario Silva is under pressure from the Pope himself to solve this case. Not for the faint of heart, as it is packed full of violence and vengeance.

Eleven Minutes,

by Paulo Coehlo. (2004)

Maria, a Brazilian prostitute, leaves Brazil seeking fame and fortune. Coehlo addresses the nature of love and sex. By the best selling author of The Alchemist.

The Seamstress,

by Frances de Pontes Peebles. (2008)

An intriguing tale of two sisters who each longs for a much different life. Set in historical Brazil of the 1920-30s, this saga takes the reader from rural life to high society and beyond, all the while engrossing the reader in Brazilian culture

Pursuit,

by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Rosa. (2006)

Espinosa is contacted for help by a psychiatrist who feels he is being stalked by a patient. Espinosa must differentiate fantasy from reality in the “sultry maze of Rio de Janeiro’s streets.”

River of Eden,

by Glenne McReynolds. (2002)

Botanist Annie Parish and reclusive rogue scientist Will Travers embark on a romantic adventurous journey deep into the Brazilian rainforest.

mc/sg/02/09

This Just In - Orange Prize Shortlist announced

If you're a fan of great fiction written by women - you should know about the Orange Prize, which is set up to honour exactly that. And what a great time for you to discover it, because they've just released their shortlist for this year's award:

Ellen Feldman for Scottsboro
Samantha Harvey for The Wilderness
Samantha Hunt for The Invention of Everything Else
Deirdre Madden for Molly Fox's Birthday
Marilynne Robinson for Home
Kamila Shamsie for Burnt Shadows

The Orange Prize was set up in the early 1990s as a means of showcasing talent in women's writing, after a group of people in the UK literary scene commented that many major book prizes weren't recognizing the achievements of female writers. The very first Orange Prize went to Helen Dunmore for A Spell of Winter. The prize continues to thrive, even as other major book awards now have more balance between male and female nominees.

Have You Read Yourself into a Corner?

Love James Patterson? Read everything by him? Don't know where to go next?

Try Novelist for reading suggestions.

Novelist is a database chock full of reading suggestions. 

With Novelist, you can:

• find reading suggestions for kids or adults.


• find "read-a-likes" based on appeal factors


• search for favorite authors, genres, subject areas


• find plot summaries for your favorite books.


• get resources to help you facilitate book discussion groups.


• get recommendations from reading experts.
  

Prefer the human touch?

Our expert staff will be more than happy to provide suggestions for your reading enjoyment.

Staff Picks - Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

I was thinking about this book again this week: thinking of putting it on my to-read-again list for over the summer. It’s a first novel from a couple of years ago that I absolutely loved when I originally read it and I’m dying to see if it holds up on second reading.

Here’s the story (from a review I wrote back shortly after I read it):

“It’s senior year and Blue Van Meer - bookish, witty and self-aware - finds herself settling into a single school to finish off her high school career. Having spent a rootless youth devoid of friendships (thanks to her father’s string of visiting professorships at colleges across America), Blue is surprised to find herself quickly adopted into an elite social circle of intellectuals and uber-cool misfits at the prestigious St. Gallway School. Led by Hannah Schneider, the sort of charismatic and unconventional teacher who is a student’s dream and a parent’s nightmare, Special Topics in Calamity Physics starts as a darkly humourous coming of age story, but as the plot shifts after two mysterious deaths, becomes much more. Part who-dunnit, part teen drama, part tour through the literary cannon, this first novel is smart, sardonic and suspenseful. The high school drama is spot on, the mystery and characters are compelling. It’s well worth checking out - maybe even twice.”

The library has copies of Special Topics in Calamity Physics in both print and audio format.

It was reported last year that Pessl is now working on a second novel, tentatively titled Night Film and to be published by Random House (but not until 2010). I for one will be keeping my eyes peeled.

In the meantime, if you find that Special Topics In Calamity Physics interests you, you may also want to check out The Secret History by Donna Tartt which has similar threads in terms of the academic elements, the mystery and the plot device of the teacher/student relationship (although without the dark-humour) or Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld which hits the right tone for a comparison; also featuring a young, intelligent female main who is enrolled at an exclusive school and makes shrewd commentaries on the social structure around her (although without a mystery).

Contemporary Romance: Lisa Kleypas

Lisa Kleypas’ latest bestselling romance, Smooth Talking Stranger, has fans excited and eagerly awaiting their chance to read a copy.

While you wait, why not try her two previous bestsellers, Sugar Daddy and Blue-Eyed Devil. Sugar Daddy is the first of the two, introducing the characters for both books, including the unforgettable, “blue-eyed devil” Hardy Cates, Liberty Jones, and the Travis family.

Both novels are set in hot and steamy Texas, where the men always look sexy in jeans and cowboy boots, with just enough of a hard-edge to their personality to make women want to read more. While we wait for the warm weather, why not try escaping with these light romances set in a hot place!

Poetry Challenge - The McSweeney’s Book of Poets Picking Poets

Okay, I’ll admit that I’m a bit of a sucker for literary gimmicks: that’s probably what drew me to the McSweeney’s Book of Poets Picking Poets.

Before I tell you about the book, and its gimmick, let me tell you a bit about McSweeney’s. It is an American publishing house that started in 1998 with the journal McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern. The first issue contained only pieces that had been rejected by other magazines. In the ten years since, McSweeney’s has built a loyal following, moved into book publishing as well as magazines while still aiming to highlight new and emerging writers. But in those ten years, it hasn’t really tried to publish poetry.

So, when the folks from McSweeney’s decided to put together a poetry feature, here’s what they did: they picked one poem by each of ten relatively well known poets to include in the collection. Then, each of those poets picked one of their own poems to also include, as well as a poem by another poet that they liked. And then each of those poets picked one of their own poems and a poem by someone else, and so-on and so-on. The book contains 10 chains of 10 poems by five poets and it gives a wonderful, random glance at a range of living poets from around the world. It’s a great place to dip into poetry and see what is happening today.

My last Poetry Challenge post talked about the fact that verse novels appeal to me. With these poetry chains, there is no single thread flowing through, so I had to find a new approach. So, I read for the flow, for individual images, and individual thoughts that made me smile or remember similar situations. And I’ll admit I rarely sat down and tried to figure out what the poem means; although sometimes, depending on the poet or the story they are trying to tell, it jumped out at me. One of the things I found most interesting was comparing the two poems by the same poet, as frequently the poem picked by the poet him/herself gave a very different impression of their work then the one picked by someone else.

So there were some poems I liked and some I didn’t. A few I loved: James Tate’s “The Radish” for me perfectly juxtaposed the beauty that can be found in a vegetable with the unnatural world of the grocery store; Patrick Lawler’s two poems where he speaks of himself in the third person say a lot about self-perception (one of those "Patrick Lawler writes about "Patrick Lawler" can be found here), and Jane Hirshfield’s “Theology” addresses the big questions of life through the actions of flies and dogs.

The McSweeny’s Book of Poets Picking Poets is available in book form, but was first available as part of issue 22 of the magazine McSweeny’s. The library has copies of both.

Readalikes - Summer on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber

Summer on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber is a feel good story, perfect for the summer. She continues her Blossom Street series in this fifth installment. Lydia Goetz's Seattle knit shop is the setting for an ever changing cast of characters. This time round fibre arts and self-help collide in a a "Knit to Quit" class. The shop fills with a cast of characters each with their own story and challenge to overcome, whether it is putting a bad relationship in the past, reducing stress or quiting smoking.

Fans of The Friday Night Knitting Club, by Kate Jacobs and the Elm Street Quilts books by Jennifer Chiaverini might enjoy the crafty theme of these books.

While knitting is certainly important in these books, non-crafty readers may also find much to enjoy here. Macomber is a prolific writer of both contemporary romance and non-genre fiction. Her stories are heartwarming, gentle reads. Jan Karon's Mitford Years series and most, if not all of Maeve Binchy's novels come to mind. Again, heartwarming and somewhat old fashioned stories. Binchy deals with slightly more urban issues, however, all three authors could be described as cheerful and optimistic.

Too hot to quilt? Why not read a novel about quilting instead...

In the Fall and Winter, I’m all about quilting and sewing. In the Spring and Summer, I tend to focus on quick, easy projects. Many of these include simple purses, clothing or crafts. But, I have a lot of friends who put away their quilting altogether to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. Who wants to be stuck inside, under a hot (albeit beautiful!) quilt?

So, how will we get our quilting fixes while the weather is nice? Try reading Jennifer Chiaverini’s quilting series, Elm Creek Quilts.

Each of the novels has its own “design” just like a quilt. In her latest Elm Creek novel, The Lost Quilter, Chiaverini explores the history of slavery and the heirlooms passed down from that time. What type of a story does a quilt tell? The lost Quilter explores the story of a brave woman, trapped in slavery who has recently escaped. However, she leaves the legacy of her quilt, and her son, behind when she is recaptured. Now, it is present day and Master Quilter Svliva Bergstrom Compson treasures this antique quilt, quilted by a fugitive slave named Joanna.

The book jacket reads:

Master Quilter Sylvia Bergstrom Compson treasures an antique quilt called by three names—Birds in the Air, after its pattern; The Runaway Quilt, after the woman who sewed it; and The Elm Creek Quilt, after the place to which its maker longed to return. That quilter was Joanna, a fugitive slave who traveled by the Underground Railroad to reach safe haven in 1859 at Elm Creek Farm.

Though Joanna’s freedom proved short-lived—she was forcibly returned by slave catchers to Josiah Chester’s plantation in Virginia—she left the Bergstrom family a most precious gift, her son. Hans and Anneke Bergstrom, along with maiden aunt Gerda, raised the boy as their own, and the secret of his identity died with their generation.

Now it falls to Sylvia--drawing upon Gerda’s diary and Joanna’s quilt--to connect Joanna’s past to the present of Elm Creek Manor.Just as Joanna could not have foreseen that, generations later, her quilt would become the subject of so much speculation and wonder, Sylvia and her friends never could have imagined the events Joanna witnessed in her lifetime. Punished for her escape by being sold off to her master's brother in Edisto Island, South Carolina, Joanna grieves the loss of her son and resolves to run again, to reunite with him someday in the free North.

Farther from freedom than she has ever been, she nevertheless finds allies, friends, and even love in the slave quarter of Oak Grove, a cotton plantation where her skill with needle and thread soon become highly prized. Through hardship and deprivation, Joanna's dreams of freedom and memories of Elm Creek Farm endure. Determined to remember each landmark on the route north, Joanna pieces a quilt from the cast-off scraps of the household sewing, concealing clues within the meticulous stitches. Later, in service as seamstress to the new bride of a Confederate officer, Joanna moves on to Charleston and to other secrets that will affect the fate of a nation, where Joanna’s abilities and courage enable her to aid the country and the people she loves most.

The knowledge that scraps can be pieced and sewn into simple lines, beautiful both in and of themselves and also for what they represent and what they could accomplish, carries Joanna through dark days. Sustaining herself and her family through ingenuity and art during the Civil War and into Reconstruction, Joanna leaves behind a remarkable artistic legacy that, at last, allows Sylvia to discover the fate of the long-lost quilter.

and the winners are.... Atlantic Book Awards 2009

The 2009 Atlantic Book Awards

were announced last evening. 

And the winners are...

Democracy 250 Atlantic Book Award for Historical Writing: Halifax at War, by William D. Naftel

Dartmouth Book Award for non-Fiction: Halifax at War, by William D. Naftel

Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction: Falling, Ann Simpson

Margaret and John Savage First Book Award: Evidence, by Ian Colford

Best Published Atlantic Book Award: Up Home, by Shauntay Grant (shared with publisher Nimbus Publishing)

Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration: Up Home, illustrated by Susan Tooke

The Mayor's Award for Excellence in Book Illustration. The Terrible, Horrible, Smelly Pirate (Nimbus Publishing)  Eric Orchard, illustrator

Atlantic Independent Booksellers' Choice Award: Before Green Gables (Penguin) by Budge Wilson

Mayor's Award for Literary Achievement: Dan Soucoup - Nimbus Publishing.

 

Staff Picks: Lush Life by Richard Price

I’m heading out on a trip in the coming weeks to New York City, and during these dragging days of spring, I’d been looking for some fiction to read that is set there, in order to hold me over until my actual trip.

Picking a book based on the setting is always a bit of a challenge - because honestly, I’m very interested in NYC, but I’m pretty realistic that I’m not going to be interested in just any book that is set there. The reviews of Lush Life - and more broadly of author Richard Price’s writing - were just too gushing for me to not give him a try. Author Russell Banks is quoted on the book jacket as saying, “With Lush Life Richard Price has become our postmodern American Balzac ... he’s a writer I hope my great-grandchildren will read, so they’ll know what it was like to be truly alive in the early twenty-first century.”

The story takes place in Manhattan’s Lower East Side and revolves around the late night random shooting of a young bartender. The world of Lush Life is vivid and detailed, its characters three dimensional and lifelike. Price presents several Lower East Sides: that of working-poor immigrants, packed together in small apartments; of young, privileged artists and up-and-comers; of police officers who work the district every day but come from all over New York; and of residents of the projects on the edge of gentrifying neighbourhood. Price’s story is not an action packed race to an all-is-revealed ending, rather it is a character piece that takes us through the competing interests of contemporary Manhattan, using the murder as a means to tell another story: a story of life in modern America.

So, as a piece to get me ready for a trip, a novel about random street crime was a poor choice. But as a piece of literature, this was a find. I’m not much of a reader of genre fiction, but this struck me as somewhat different from your standard crime novel. There is no mystery, there are no chases or similar dramatic action, but there are people and stories and a place - all drawn remarkably well and a climax, as described by Publishers Weekly magazine that is “both expected and shocking”.

If you are a fan of the gripping drama of the television show The Wire (which Price was also a writer for), you’ll find this book worth a visit.

Poetry in HRM

As part of our Poetry Challenge we contacted HRM’s outgoing Poet Laureate, Lorri Neilsen Glenn for some ideas to share with poetry readers this month. The position of Poet Laureate in HRM was created in 2001 to create an “ambassador and advocate for literacy, literature and the arts, and [to] reflect the vitality of our community through appearances and readings of poetry..."

The Internet is a great place to find works from new and up-and-coming poets, and Lorri has kindly passed along a few sites that she highly recommends. Check them out, discover some new voices:

The Poetry Map of Canada: a site that features information and poetry from Poet Laureates from across Canada.

Poetry Foundation: a website from “The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine,[an] independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture." Features a searchable database of poetry by author, topic, first line. As well as a daily poem in print and audio, plus lots more.

Poetry 180: created by former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins, offers a poem a day for high school students (and the approximately 180 school days in a year).

Young Poets: a Canadian site of resources and poetry for youth.

Lorri’s web page suggestions hint at something that has been important during her term as Poet Laureate: engaging youth in poetry. As a part of her term, she worked with a youth group called Wordfishing who have since put together both a CD and a chapbook of their work. Watch the library catalogue for copies. Coming soon!

If you’re looking for more poetry suggestions from the library collection - check out the legacy project To Find Us: Words and Images of Halifax of previous HRM Poet Laureate Sue MacLeod to find some more great local talent. And of course the library stocks books by both Lorri Neilsen Glenn and Sue MacLeod.

HRM will be announcing its newest Poet Laureate later this month.

Less is more - Flash Fiction

If you find that microwave popcorn is taking too long or that you are longing for transporter technology to get you home, flash fiction might just be for you.

Flash fiction, sudden fiction, blink fiction, or my favourite smoke fiction are all stories much shorter than traditional short stories. (Smoke fiction = a story that can be read in the time it takes to smoke a cigarette.) There are differing opinions regarding the proper length of flash fiction - 1000, 750, 500 words.

The challenge of this form of writing is to present a fully formed story in a minimum number of words. It has to have all the elements of a full length short story. There must be a protagonist, action, conflict and resolution. Some writers begin with an idea, write the story and then begin to strip away all that is extraneous. The kernel of the story must be small, but important. Childhood is too big, but playground bullying might be just right. The story tends to leap into the action immediately, not pausing to explain past events or motivation. Images are carefully chosen and powerful. The ending is often a twist and unexpected.

Flash fiction is not a new idea. Writers like Ray Bradbury and H.P. Lovecraft have produced these short stories. The Internet and mobile devices have increased the market for this kind of fiction. There are websites and ezines dedicated to flash fiction:

For a new story every day try Flash Fiction Online. The stories go through an editorial process and the authors are paid for their submissions. Ezines like Flash Me Magazine and Smokelong Quarterly publish on a schedule more in line with print magazines, again giving new authors exposure and editorial advice.

Consider also Micro Fiction. This is usually a story under 200 words. One of the most famous examples of micro fiction is by Ernest Hemingway. He was challenged by friends to write a complete story in six words. "For Sale: baby shoes, never used." For this and other six word stories check out SixWords.Net.

If you prefer your fiction in print format we have some collections of Flash Fiction at the library.

Flash Fiction Forward: 80 Very Short Stories
Sudden Fiction International: Sixty Short Short Stories

Novels Told in Letters (or What the Heck is Epistolary Fiction?)

Back in February, I made an attempt to shed some light on a question that I get asked a lot in the library: “what the heck is a bildungsroman”? Just recently a coworker mentioned that she has read the current bestseller The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and particularly enjoyed the fact that it is told largely through letters. Why she wondered, isn’t there a way to search the library catalogue and find such stuff? And lo and behold, there is.

Epistolary fiction is the formal name for this sort of fiction - and it’s the subject heading we apply to fiction told through letters.

One of my favourite Epistolary novels of the last few years is a Canadian novel called Clara Callan. It’s actually a mix of letters and diary entries and tells the story of two sisters in the 1930s. It was one of the first books in this style that I had ever read, and I was really surprised that I liked it as much as I did. Because the characters are speaking for themselves, you experience the world through their eyes and I think it brings you into the story a lot more intensely.

Back in the early 1990s, another Canadian author, Nick Bantock, created a bit of a sensation with his take on the epistolary novel Griffin and Sabine. The book's pages contained envelopes and within each envelope was an actual letter and these letters - the correspondence between the title characters - formed the story of the novel. With this book, readers got not only the intensity of the characters own perspective, but also the tactile experience of reading an actual letter.

As you might imagine, it’s not uncommon for this type of novel to tell the story of people who are physically separated - for example, if one of them is in jail. Upstate by Kalisha Buckhanon uses letters to tell the coming-of-age of a young couple in New York - bound by love but separated by bars when the young man is imprisoned for killing his father. (The library has this in unabridged audio as well, the narration is superb, adding a further dimension to the story.)

The Orange Prize winning novel We Need to Talk About Kevin uses a variation of that theme. In this novel the mother of a teen, imprisoned for killing a number of people at his high school in a shooting spree, tells the story of her son through a series of letters to her estranged husband.

Epistolary novels aren’t all serious though. Case in point, Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot which tells the story of an HR rep who has to fire a popular office worker at the say-so of their spiteful boss. It’s filled with chick-lit style comedy of errors and told “entirely through e-mails, journals, instant messages, phone mail, deposition transcripts, notes scribbled on menus, to-do lists and other hallmarks of a modern girl's life.” (Publisher’s Weekly Magazine)