December Author Birthdays - part 1

I'm still working with library school student Lara on several projects around the library. She was kind enough to contribute another guest post...

It's time for December author birthdays! With any luck we all have a bit of holiday time approaching that will allow for some extra reading time, so why not consider something by one of the following authors?

Ann Patchett, born on December 2, won the PEN/Faulkner Award as well as the Orange Prize in 2002 for her novel Bel Canto. Her most recent novel, Run (2007), is a story about family, the class divide, and ambition. A Publisher's Weekly review noted that Patchett's tightly-constructed, fast-paced story reads like popular dramatic TV shows The Sopranos and Six Feet Under.

December 4 is the birthday of one of my favorite poets, Rainier Maria Rilke. I credit the German poet's short work, "The Panther" with opening my eyes to the depths of emotion that can be conveyed in just a few lines.

Joan Didion published her highly acclaimed memoir of grief, The Year of Magical Thinking, in 2005. Her birthday falls on December 5, and the event that later prompted the writing of her memoir also occurred in December: the sudden, unexpected death of her husband, author John Gregory Dunne, on the 30th. The Year of Magical Thinking won the US National Book Award for Nonfiction, a gut wrenching journey into the grief and frustration with time that Didion experienced after Dunne's passing.

On an escapist note, if the gray skies and chilly temps of December in Atlantic Canada are getting you down, consider some humorous travel writing by Bill Bryson, born December 8. Author of In a Sunburned Country (2000), Bill Bryson's African Diary (2002), and Notes from a Small Island (1995), Bryson writes hilarious descriptions of his experiences traveling the world. More recently, Bryson has turned to larger nonfiction subjects like Shakespeare: The World as Stage (2007), and in A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003) he tackles, well, practically everything. With every topic Bryson turns his attention to, he makes keen observations about details both mundane and fascinating, and draws out the common humanity of people and places most of us will never meet or see.

The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy Continues

The sixth volume in the Hicthhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series has been published, even though original author Douglas Adams passed away in 2001.

Douglas Adams' widow approached Eion Colfer, best known as the author of the Artimis Fowl series, to resurrect the famous trilogy.

The result is And Another Thing... :Douglas Adams' hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, part six of three.

The resulting novel has been very well received.

"The reviews have been mostly positive. The Guardian's Mark Lawson, for example, admitted that the book has completely eliminated his initial skepticism about the venture. "Colfer has achieved the best post-mortem impersonation I have ever read," Lawson wrote in his column. "If Adams's family had chosen to tout this manuscript as an original novel discovered in a cupboard, their subterfuge would have been hard to rumble."

Flattering words - and yet Colfer says an impersonation was the last thing he intended: "Inevitably, there's a touch of Douglas about the book," he says, "but I'm not him. He developed a whole new way of writing - satirical, long-winded, with these labyrinthine sentences - and it's usually a dismal failure if you try to imitate this. So yes, I put a bit of Doug's voice in there to show that I was fond of him, but really just did my own thing.

Vanessa Farquharson, National Post

"With the franchise rebooted, I’m looking forward to a sequel. To sum it up in one word: froody."

Curtis Silver, Wired.com

Muscular Fiction

An acquaintance (who shall remain nameless to protect the weak) sustained a bicep injury reading Under the Dome by Stephen King. In one hand he held his mug of coffee (his beverage of choice while reading) and with the other arm he reached for and attempted to pick up this 1074 page tome. Coffee drinkers beware: This book is a two-hander.

The book's flyleaves are blank. There is no explanation about the book or ringing endorsements on the dust jacket. You have to admire the confidence. It's Stephen King, just read it. The 1000+ pages cover one week in the life of Chester Mills, Maine. An invisible force field has surrounded the town entirely isolating its inhabitants leaving them to the mercy of a tyrannical politician.

Sometimes I look at these huge books, which require not only a big brain but also well developed muscles, and think that life is just too short. However, in the case of Under the Dome, Publishers' Weekly describes it as a "nonstop thrill ride". I can attest that my acquaintance is sailing on through the book, presently at about page 450.

Another brawny read that made waves in recent years is Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. Library Journal says this book is "not for the faint-hearted or the weak-wristed". (See, they understand!) Destined for a cult following, Infinite Jest is a witty social commentary that covers most aspects of American culture. For the truly dedicated you can find a website with instructions about how to read the book and another with page by page annotations.

Receiving mostly negative reviews when first published the weighty Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is making a resurgence. Heavy both literally and figuratively at over 1100, Rand explores a dsytopian United States in which its creative and productive citizens disappear. See this page from the Ayn Rand Institute for an explanation, in her own words, of her philosophy of objectivism.

If your attention span is up to the test, how about a classic? Clarissa; Or the History of a Young Lady by Samuel Richardson is over 1500 pages (Penguin edition). It' s considered to be one of the greatest novels of the 18th century. Clarissa is a tragic heroine who, against her will, is to be married off to a rather unsavory character. She is tricked by the rake Lovelace, who she sees as her protector, and so her downfall begins.

If you enjoy lists (and who amongst us does not!), try LibraryThing's Really Long Books : 1001 Books to Read Before You Die.

2009 Writer's Trust Awards

The 2009 Writer's Trust Awards have been announced:

Annabel Lyon is the winner of the 2009 Roger's Writer's Trust Fiction award.

"Annabel Lyon's Aristotle is the most fully-realized historical character in contemporary fiction. The Golden Mean engenders in the reader the same helpless sensitivity to the ferocious beauty of the world that is Aristotle’s disease. In this alarmingly confident and transporting debut novel, Lyon offers us that rarest of treats: a book about philosophy, about the power of ideas, that chortles and sings like an earthy romance."

-2009 Jury (Marina Endicott, Miriam Toews and R.M. Vaughan)

The Writer's Trust Non-Fiction prize was awarded to Brian Brett for Trauma Farm: a rebel history of rural life

“a lively, well-researched blend of memoir and socio-political commentary; a rare celebration of youth, age, and the tumultuous, surprising journey between them.”

- 2009 Jury (Tim Bowling, Anne Hart and Bruce Meyer)

Also announced:

The Writer's Trust Notable Author Award to David Bergen

"David Bergen is a writer trying to work things out that interest him. When you read what his characters are doing and thinking, you realize the core of a story is never what the story is about. A man and a woman may be trying to sleep with each other in rural Canada but one of them is thinking of a mare being inseminated then whipped with horseshoes in southern Egypt. This image and its residual feeling suggests the larger world within the intimate one David Bergen’s characters are living in as they learn to love and hate and love each other again.

Bergen’s material is both mundane and wild, tactile and complex, and he combines techniques of craft using flat surfaces with complex patterns of the psyche to create the world as he sees it, which happens to be a way none of us have ever thought of seeing it before. How does Bergen do it? How does he apply his interests and subject matter, so varied and widespread, so fantastic in ways, erotic and psychological, and make them our concerns? This mystery is at the heart of a very well crafted realism, and

David Bergen is, simply put, one of our best modern writers"

-2009 Writers’ Trust Notable Author Award Jury (Diane Schoemperlen, Rudy Wiebe and Michael Winter)

Marthe Jocelyn won the Vicky Metcalf Award for Children’s Literature.

"In her more than twenty books for preschoolers, elementary school children and young adults, Jocelyn demonstrates a rich versatility with genre, medium and style. She has published compelling narratives in a wide range of genres, including young adult realism, historical fiction, biography/memoir, fantasy and picture books. The emotional range of tone in her work is as broad and deep as her exploration of genre: she writes with equal conviction in the voice of satire, comedy and tragedy. Inventiveness, humour, and a sharp understanding of human nature underlie her work for all ages.

She is a visual artist as well as a verbal one, as her numerous picture books show. Her collage art glories in the beauty and grace of the child’s domain, rich in artefacts, objects of play and contemplation. Her subtle use of endpapers and framing, textured materials, fabrics and found objects — her use of real “kid things” — creates a visual world of identity, interest and choice, showing the creative possibilities and thoughtfulness in the child’s world."

- 2009 Vicky Metcalf Award for Children’s Literature Jury (Deirdre Baker, Julie Johnston and Judith Saltman)

Staff Picks - Short Stories in Coming Attractions 08

Coming Attractions 08 is an annual collection of short stories published by Oberon Press. A well constructed short story can be as satisfying a read as any full length novel. The author can relate and reflect on a single incident which could be a pivotal moment in a person's life or the catalyst for sudden and intense clarity. The narrative tends to be crisp with each word carefully chosen.

Rebecca Rosenblum's characters are young urban

types who have not quite found their place in the world. They are independent of, or estranged from their families and rely on their circle of friends and co-workers for their communities. In The House on Elsbeth, a young woman is assaulted by her stepfather and sets up an almost random community with fellow students from an anthropology class. They are seemingly fused, physically and emotionally, by Toronto's heat. Their lethargy is contrasted by the violence of couple next door. (photo Jane High)

Of Daniel Griffin's three stories, The Promise, has stayed with me the longest. Two brothers, different in temperament, maintain a relationship due to their connection with their mother. Both have failed marriages. One has moved on in a comparatively mature way and the other is causing concern all around. The Promise ends with an intense jolt that, for me, is the hallmark of a great short story.

The final three stories are by Alice Peterson. In Among the Trees and After Summer there is a sense of relationships ending and families disintegrating. Two boys are raised by their widowed father. One brother did not seem to sense the lack of cohesiveness in his family until he had reached adulthood. The other brother broke ties and established his own life. The younger brother is left with an uncertain sense of the future.

Coming Attractions (1980-2009) has been a forum for Canada's best new young fiction writers. Past editions have been peopled by no less than: Rohinton Mistry, Frances Itani, Peter Behrens, Lisa Moore, Dennis Bock, Neil Smith, Diane Schoemperlen, Timothy Taylor, Bonnie Burnard, Sharon Butala, Steven Heighton, Mary Swan, Caroline Adderson, and Gayla Reid.

Taking a look at Celebrity Authors

I haven't had a chance to blog recently, but I have been working on a series of reading lists that deal with celebrity authors. I think that, with our preconceived notion of celebrities, it's easy to judge what they write before we actually read their work.

For me, it was eye-opening to see that these celebrities can write more than just a memoir on their life, but have the ability to touch on the same concerns, topics or area of interest that we also have. Many of their works reinforce that celebrities are, in fact, just people who go through the same trials and have the same concerns as the rest of us.

In dealing with these reading lists, which will soon be appearing in our main catalogue as well as our kids' catalogue, Cheryl Stone, a colleague here at Halifax Public Libraries, has been incredibly helpful. Here's what she has to say on celebrity authors and their books:

"Occasionally I come across a familiar name while working with books. They aren't famous authors, award winners, or people I personally know, they are famous people turned author. I am surprised to find actors, singers, comedians, sports celebrities, and more, in the role of author. I suppose I shouldn't be as it's all under the category of creative people.

As I work with children, and have two of my own, I have read far more children's books than adult books. Some of my favorite celebrity authors have included Madonna, Billy Crystal, Julie Andrews, and Will Smith.

Madonna's Mr. Peabody's Apples is about a town and one particular young boy learning a valuable lesson about rumors in a surprisingly metaphoric way.

Billy Crystal's sentimental I Already Know I Love You touches the hearts of every parent more than the children and has wonderful, soft-toned pictures.

Julie Andrews has children's storybooks such as the Dumpy series as well as the touching tale Thanks to You about lessons learned as a mother and is accompanied by beautiful photographs.

The comedic and dramatic actor, Will Smith, surprises me with his sentimental book Just the Two of Us. In his book he reveals how a father's love for his son motivates him to be the best dad ever, to protect him, to teach him powerful life lessons, and to have fun.

These gem stories, speak to me more than books by other authors because of my media-promoted, pre-conceived understanding of these people, these entertainers. I have learned and continue to learn that we all have something in common no matter how famous or unfamous we are. We all love our children and want to do what's best for them including teaching them life lessons and keeping them safe from harm."

The Young Adult Label

I recently read a very interesting opinion piece in the Globe and Mail, The Curious Incident of the Y/A label, by author Joan Clark.

This article discusses North American bookstore's and publisher's use of the Young Adult (YA) fiction label, which we use at the public library as well.

Ms. Clark feels that the use of the label greatly restricts a book from finding it's full audience. That there lies great crossover potential for many young adult and adult fiction titles that is discouraged by separating and/or labeling the collections.

Apparently the YA label is not used in the UK, where fiction is classified as "for 12 years old and under" and "over 12 years old".

I think I might agree with Joan?

Some of my most satisfying reads as an adult over the years have been classified as YA.

For example:

Chanda's Secrets, by Alan Stratton. This story deeply affected me and is still inspiring/haunting me two years after reading it.

Honour the Sun and Silent Words. These two YA novels by Ruby Slipperjack have also left a lasting impression on me, despite reading them as an adult more than 15 years ago.

I have also offered up these titles as reading suggestions to other adults.

As well, I recall reading Joseph Heller's Catch 22 as a teen, having picked up my mother's copy. I really enjoyed it, so much that I have re-read it several times. This title would not have been on the reading radar of many teens of the time.

Joan's arguments might also be used for making a case against using any genre stickers. I bet a lot of readers would enjoy Robert J. Sawyer (Science fiction) or Peter Robinson (Mystery) if they ignored the stereotypes associated with genre stickers.

Having said all that, I do understand the value of making it easier for readers to broadly identify the parts of our collection that are most appealing to them. Genre stickers are very helpful in that regard, as are genre separations.

Perhaps the only truly effective solution is the case of Harry Potter: create separate adult and youth versions and shelf them in all parts of the collection.

What do you think?

Read Your Lunch - Holiday Special

If you're planning on including books in your holiday gift giving this year and you need a bit of inspiration, stop by the Spring Garden Road Library on Tuesday November 24th for Read Your Lunch. Librarian Kristina Parlee will have suggestions of great books from the last year and more that will make great holiday gifts (or reading anytime).

The focus will be on books for adults, fiction and nonfiction and include award winners, genre favourites, nonfiction suggestions and much more. Bring your questions, your suggestions and your appetite for reading!

Our Read Your Lunch holiday special has become an annual event, here are just a few of the books we've suggested over the years. We'll have lots more great suggestions this year!

For the Can Lit devotee ... The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews. A quirky tale of a family road trip across America from the GG winning author of A Complicated Kindness. Toews' endearing and well drawn characters will leave you wanting more.

For the conscientious eater... In Defense of Food: an eater's manifesto, by Michael Pollan. Follow up to his widely acclaimed The Omnivore's Dilemma, journalist Pollan looks at what's wrong with our modern food system and offers advice on how to make it right.

For the serious history buff ... Old World New World: Great Britain and America from the beginning by Kathleen Burk. Hefty, detailed, yet readable tome examining the relationship between two great nations over 400 years.

For a history buff with nerdy tendencies ... The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell. Author and NPR personality Vowell turns her wit and wisdom to New England Puritans. Her past inevitably comments on our present, and her amusing personal stories round out the lesson.

For the mystery lover ... The Art Thief by Noah Charney. A novel of theft in the art world, that provides thrills and intrigue alongside well crafted insight into the dark side of art collection.

National Book Awards

The winners of the National Book Awards have been announced:

Colum McCann has been award the fiction prize for

Let the Great World Spin: a novel.

"In the dawning light of a late-summer morning, the people of lower Manhattan stand hushed, staring up in disbelief at the Twin Towers. It is August 1974, and a mysterious tightrope walker is running, dancing, leaping between the towers, suspended a quarter mile above the ground. In the streets below, a slew of ordinary lives become extraordinary in Colum McCann’s intricate portrait of a city and its people. Let the Great World Spin is the author’s most ambitious novel yet: a dazzlingly rich vision of the pain, loveliness, mystery, and promise of New York City in the 1970s". - publisher's description

T. J. Stiles has won the non-fiction prize for

The First Tycoon: the epic life of Cornelius Vanderbilt.

"Founder of a dynasty, builder of the original Grand Central, creator of an impossibly vast fortune, Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt is an American icon. Humbly born on Staten Island during George Washington’s presidency, he rose from boatman to builder of the nation’s largest fleet of steamships to lord of a railroad empire. In The First Tycoon, T.J. Stiles offers the first complete, authoritative biography of this titan, and the first comprehensive account of the Commodore’s personal life." - publisher's description.

The poetry prize was given to Keith Waldrop for his work, Transcendental Studies: a trilogy

"This compelling selection of recent work by poet Keith Waldrop presents three related poem sequences—“Shipwreck in Haven,” “Falling in Love through a Description,” and “The Plummet of Vitruvius”—in a virtuosic poetic triptych. In these quasi-abstract, experimental lines, collaged words torn from their contexts take on new meanings. Waldrop, a longtime admirer of such artists as the French poet Raymond Queneau and the American painter Robert Motherwell, imposes a tonal override on purloined materials, yet the originals continue to show through. These powerful poems, at once metaphysical and personal, reconcile Waldrop's romantic

tendencies with formal experimentation, uniting poetry and philosophy and revealing him as a transcendentalist for the new millennium." - publisher's descripton.

The award for Young People's Literature goes to Phillip Hoose for Claudette Colvin: twice toward justice.

"On March 2, 1955, a slim, bespectacled teenager refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Shouting “It’s my constitutional right!” as police dragged her off to jail, Claudette Colvin decided she’d had enough of the Jim Crow segregation laws that had angered and puzzled her since she was a child. But instead of being celebrated, as Rosa Parks would be when she took the same stand nine months later, Claudette found herself shunned by many of her classmates and dismissed as an unfit role model by the black leaders of Montgomery. Undaunted, she dared to challenge segregation again a year later—as one of the four plaintiffs in the landmark busing case, Browder v. Gayle." - publisher's description.

2009 Governor General's Literary Awards - English

The 2009 Governor General's Literary Awards have been selected.

Here are the English language winners (with descriptions from the GG website):

Fiction: The Mistress of Nothing, by Kate Pullinger

In The Mistress of Nothing, Kate Pullinger creates the fascinating character of Sally, maid to Lady Duff Gordon in Victorian times. Over the course of a memorable journey down the Nile with her Lady, Sally comes to realizations about the nature of power – its seductiveness, its elusiveness and its ability to alter the soul in manifold ways.

Poetry: The Fly in Autumn, by David Zieroth

In The Fly in Autumn, David Zieroth addresses our common and defining human fate – the loneliness that is a rehearsal for death – with a tenderness and buoyancy that shows the reader “how to walk in the dark with flowers.” The intricacy and exuberance of rhyme and the breadth of vision are stunning.

Non-Fiction: A Place Within: rediscovering India, by M.G. Vassanji

An utterly brilliant, evocative memoir that ranges across the landscapes of culture, memory, identity and history. M.G. Vassanji’s style – diverse and playful – brings the reader along effortlessly, illuminating the ramshackle roots of self, family, and culture.An outstanding book of self-reflection and persistent insight, A Place Within is the resonant chronicle of a sage, a traveler,

a pilgrim.

Drama: Where the Blood Mixes, by Kevin Loring

An abducted daughter returns to her wounded community after many years away. Kevin Loring illuminates the complex aftermath of the residential school system and the circumstances of contemporary Aboriginal history through compelling,sympathetic and humorous characters who live as best they can, with courage and strength.

Translation: Pieces of Me, by Susan Ouriou

( English translation of La liberté? Connais pas… by Charlotte Gingras.)

With Pieces of Me, Susan Ouriou has created a magical rendering of the exquisite original. Tenderly redrawing the portrait of a troubled teenage girl struggling to come into her own, Ouriou has sensitively captured all that is moving, poetic and funny about the novel’s main character in a truly accomplished translation.

Children's Literature - Text: Greener Grass: the famine years, by Caroline Pignat

Caroline Pignat’s Greener Grass: The Famine Years follows the disintegration of the Byrne family during Ireland’s Great Famine of 1847, when landlords ruled without mercy, children could be taken away to prison, and thousands were left to starve. A timeless story of courage, family loyalty and the resilience of the human spirit.

Children's Literature - Illustration: Bella's Tree, by Jirina Marton (text by Janet Russell).

Jirina Marton’s illustrations invite the reader to a winter landscape full of textures and subtle, earthy colour palettes. The Van Gogh-like interior and its warm tones create a holiday season mood that evokes an emotional response. The illustrations are well crafted and capture the imagination and humanity of the everyday lives they portray.

2009 Governor General's Literary Awards - French

The 2009 Governor General's Literary Awards have been selected.

Here are the French language winners (with descriptions from the GG website):

Fiction: Le Discours sur la Tombe de l’Idiot, by Julie Mazzieri

An exceptionally polished novel, the result of an exemplary mastery of narrative. The text is deep, dark and implacable, and the tight, suspenseful writing stays with us long after the book is finished. The author sets herself the challenge of making the story believable, and she has succeeded brilliantly.

Poetry: Thérèse pour Joie et Orchestre, by Hélène Monette

In Thérèse pour joie et orchestre, the poet transforms the sister she lost to illness into a happy spirit floating over people and places. This elegy orchestrated by Hélène Monette is astonishing in its ability to touch the reader. A magnificent ode in a voice that is generous and powerful.

Non-Fiction: Pointe Maligne : l’infiniment oubliée, by Nicole V. Champeau

Like a requiem, this book sings of the destruction of the territories of the Upper Saint Lawrence, drowned by dams and depopulated by expropriation. These places have even disappeared from the memories of maps. Around Cornwall, originally called Pointe Maligne, the memory of the founding peoples, Amerindian and French, has been obliterated.

Drama: Le Bruit des os qui Craquent, by Suzanne Lebeau

Le bruit des os qui craquent is a rare, courageous and beautiful work. Suzanne Lebeau conveys the devastating effects of war on children with sensitivity and uncompromising rigour. Directly and with heartbreaking lucidity, she broaches the question of individual and collective responsibility, and proposes empathy as the road toward hope and ultimately, redemption.

Translation: Le Miel d’Harar, by Paule Noyart

(French translation of Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb)

Paule Noyart shows a keen sensitivity to the poetry of the original. In a true act of literary creation, the expressive liberties the translator has taken serve this culturally-rich novel well. The remarkable quality of her work manages to transcend the limits of the translator’s art – a rare accomplishment indeed.

Children's Literature - Text: Harvey, by Hervé Bouchard

Hervé Bouchard makes us feel the confusion and helplessness of a little boy faced with the death of his father. His surprising and extremely sensitive writing is deeply moving. Through a series of poetically powerful metaphors, he allows us the freedom to explore the multiple layers of his story.

Children's Literature - Illustration: Harvey, illustration by Janice Nadeau

In illustrating a book that stands out for the originality of its language, Janice Nadeau has come up with wonderful ways of depicting the sadness of spring and the melancholy of loss. The subtle drawings dance with the text and give rhythm to the reading. Hervé Bouchard’s Quebec comes alive under the brush strokes of the illustrator.