Family Secrets

Memoirs and autobiographies are among the most popular non-fiction genres. There a lots of subgenres in this field (my own personal favourite are food memoirs!) but lately I've been noticing a trend of what I'll call the Family Secrets Autobiography. These books are emotional and often heart-wrenching stories of children secretly born out of wedlock to mothers who give them up due to religious or other social pressures. These secrets haunt them and their mothers throughout their lives, and eventually lead many to uncovering the painful past and reuniting with their birth families.

Philomena : a mother, her son and a fifty-year search by Martin Sixsmith was made into a movie in 2013 with Steve Coogan and Judi Dench.
"When she became pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena Lee was sent to a convent to be looked after as a “fallen woman.” Then the nuns took her baby from her and sold him, like thousands of others, to America for adoption. Fifty years later, Philomena decided to find him.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, Philomena’s son was trying to find her. Renamed Michael Hess, he had become a leading lawyer in the first Bush administration, and he struggled to hide secrets that would jeopardize his career in the Republican Party and endanger his quest to find his mother.
A gripping exposé told with novelistic intrigue, Philomena pulls back the curtain on the role of the Catholic Church in forced adoptions and on the love between a mother and son who endured a lifelong separation." Publisher.

Secret child : 1950s Dublin - a young boy hidden from his family by Gordon Lewis and Andrew Crofts.
"Born an 'unfortunate' onto the rough streets of 1950s Dublin, this is the incredible true story of a young boy, a secret child born into a Catholic home for unmarried mothers in 1950s Dublin and a mother determined to keep her child, even if it meant hiding him from her own family and the rest of the world. Despite the poverty, hardship and isolation, the pride and hope of a community of women who banded together to raise their children would give this boy his chance to find his real family. A heartwarming tale of working class life in 1950s Dublin and 1960s London"--Publisher.


My secret mother : two different lives, one heartbreaking secret : a memoir by Phyllis Whitsell.
"Phyllis was adopted aged 4. Despite being told that her parents had died of TB, she always believed that her mother was alive and, once old enough, was determined to track her down. While Phyllis was growing up in Birmingham,  her mother Bridget, known locally as Tipperary Mary, a trouble maker with alcohol problems and a tendency to cause mayhem, was living the red light district of Birmingham. So when Phyllis finally caught up with Bridget, she had to shield her own family from the problems this would cause. Hiding behind her district nurse's uniform, Phyllis, with no authority to do so, simply added Bridget to her daily district rounds; bathing her, taking her clean clothes, tending the wounds from her dysfunctional life and offering her what love she could. Phyllis cared for her mother in this way from 1981 to 1990 - without once telling Bridget that she was the little girl she had given away all those years ago." Publisher.

My secret sister by Helen Edwards & Jenny Lee Smith.
"Helen grew up in a pit village in Tyneside in the post-war years, with her gran, aunties and uncles living nearby. She felt safe with them, but they could not protect her from her neglectful mother and violent father. Behind closed doors, she suffered years of abuse. Sometimes she talked to an imaginary sister, the only one who understood her pain.
Jenny was adopted at six weeks and grew up in Newcastle. An only child, she knew she was loved, and with the support of her parents she went on to become a golfing champion, but still she felt that something was missing.
Neither woman knew of the other's existence until, in her fifties, Jenny went looking for her birth family and found her sister Helen. Together they searched for the truth about Jenny's birth - and uncovered a legacy of secrets that overturned everything Helen thought she knew about her family. Happily, they also discovered that they were not just sisters, they were twins." - Publisher.

The Last Foundling: A little boy left behind, The mother who wanted him back by Tom Mackenzie 

"When she fell pregnant in London in 1938, Jean knew that she couldn't keep her baby. Scared and alone in a city on the brink of war, she begged the Foundling Hospital to give her baby the start in life that she could not.

The institution, which had been providing care for deserted infants since the eighteenth century, allowed Jean to nurse her son for nine weeks, leaving her heartbroken when the time came to let him go.
But little Tom knew nothing of her love as he grew up in the Foundling Hospital - which, during years of the Second World War, was more like a prison than a children's home. Locked in and subject to public canings and the sadistic whims of the older boys, there was no one to give him a hug, no one to wipe away his tears.
A true story of desertion and neglect, this is also a moving account of survival from one of the very last foundlings. It stands as a testament to the love that ultimately led a family back together." Publisher.

Garden Planning By the Book

Another spring, another year of garden planning.

Last year we rebuilt our vegetable garden from the ground up, complete with 10 raised beds, a 3 chamber composting area, and a fence high enough to keep out deer and deep enough to keep out burrowing bunnies. It was an exhausting project that I couldn't have accomplished without the help of a few good garden planning books. Local favourite Niki Jabbour's most recent book, Groundbreaking food gardens, really got me thinking about creating a space where that was attractive but also useful and flexible in its use of vertical space. Vegetable garden success!

This year, I'm moving to a new project that I find a lot more intimidating even though it requires less infrastructure. The former owner of our house designed our front yard with water features, pathways, and loads of perennials designed to attract songbirds and other beneficial wildlife. I absolutely loved the garden when we first moved in, and was so happy to not have a boring patch of lawn to look at. Unfortunately I was unaware of the maintenance required by those beautiful perennials, and it's now a messy space where many of my favourite flowers have been crowded out by pervasive weeds. Fortunately, there are loads of books that will help me figure out how to transform this mess into a lower maintenance space that is still productive and beautiful.

 Many garden design books start with the assumption that readers will be replacing a blank expanse of lawn with flowers. In my case, I'm kind of doing the opposite. I want to move some of my perennials to other spots in my yard where they have the room to sprawl, and make a little space to set up a sitting area with a firepit. Lawn gone! : low-maintenance, sustainable, attractive alternatives for your yard by Pam Penick has given me a few ideas on how to tame my yard. There's a chapter called "Places to Walk, Places to Sit" that have a lot of great ideas about how to create naturally surfaced spaces in the garden that are still surrounded by lush and sustainable beauty.

The beautiful edible garden : design a stylish outdoor space using vegetables, fruits, and herbs by Leslie Bennett and Stefani Bittner is full of amazing images of what I'd like to incorporate in my garden. I already utilize food plants in this part of the yard - last year when the big veggie garden was under construction I grew tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, kale and lots of herbs in this space. It was productive and convenient, but definitely not very attractive! This book has given me a lot of ideas on how to interplant flowers and vegetables to make my space productive AND beautiful. And thanks to this book, I can now identify my particular garden as a cottage garden, which "can look messy if not given a balanced design". Yup! Sounds like my garden!

Now that I've gotten some inspiration from these books and from gardening blogs, I need to make a concrete plan. Planning Your Garden : A Practical Guide to Designing and Planting Your Garden by Peter McHoy is a slim book that lays out exactly what I need to do in a step by step manner. There are checklists, examples how to survey your existing space, tips on sketching out your plan on graph paper, and illustrations that demonstrate design concepts in an accessible way. I can easily get distracted by pretty pictures, so I appreciate that this book focuses on practical planning advice that will move me beyond the daydreaming stage into taking action!

These four books are just a tiny sample of all the garden design books in our library system. Click here for a full list of titles.

Cookbook Club - Food52

Have you ever read through a new cookbook and wanted to try every single recipe - but not actually have to cook it  yourself? A few friends and I have started up a cookbook club, which is really just a fancy word for a coordinated potluck where everybody makes a dish from the same cookbook. I had heard about this idea a few years back, but this post on SeriousEats.com gave us some tips on how to get it organized, and motivated us to finally set a date.

The cookbook that was chosen for our first dinner is actually a group of cookbooks inspired by Food52.com. The administrators of Food52 describes its website as a community that seeks to encourage the love of food and cooking (after all, we cook 52 weeks out of the year) and believe that "if you want to eat better, and you want to help change our food system, you need to cook."  


It's not surprising that they've come up with their own line of cookbooks - many of the best new cookbooks come from food blogs  - but the Food52 books are unique because they are not authored by a single person. Baking and Vegan contain creative and unique recipes suggested by Food52 blog contributors and are curated by the editors to make sure a great mix of the best new recipes are included.  Genius Recipes is a compilation of 100 remarkable recipes from famous chefs that "might involve an unexpectedly simple technique, debunk a kitchen myth, or apply a familiar ingredient in a new way." Michael Ruhlman's fried chicken recipe is in here, as is Julia Child's recipe for zucchini and rice gratin.

My favourite of the bunch is The Food52 Cookbook: Volume 2: Seasonal Recipes. I love any cookbook that is arranged by season, but this book is special because it recreates the feel of the food blog. Each recipe was originally featured on the website, and is introduced with a "Who - What - How - Why we liked it" section that includes the comments of the recipe contributor, as well as suggestions for serving. At the end of each recipe, there is another short section that offers comments and technique suggestions found in the recipe's comment section on the website. I rarely follow recipes by the letter, and I really like reading the comments on blogs to see if I should up the spice level, substitute another vegetable. I think it's really neat to find these tips included in a printed cookbook! 

If you're wondering.... I haven't made my final decision on what I'm going to bring to supper this month, but I'm leaning toward the Sausage and Kale Dinner Tart. Or maybe the Okonomiyaki....?

Revisiting the Classics: Jane Eyre

I am starting to understand that there are two types of readers: those who love to re-read their favourite books, and those who read books once and then move on. I am firmly in the re-reading camp.

I first read Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre as a teenager. The classic gothic tale tells the story of Jane Eyre's sad childhood, her unhappy school years, and her tumultuous relationship with her employer, Mr. Rochester. I always loved the dramatic setting and the unexpected plot twists but my favourite part was the witty repartee between Mr. Rochester and Jane (although I can't help but find him more manipulative every time I re-read the book.) I keep coming back to Jane Eyre's story because of the character's complexity; although Jane appears meek and understated, she is able to stand up to people more powerful than her in order to maintain her sense of self. She is fiercely uncompromising when it comes to her inner core of morality.

There are loads of adaptations, mash-ups, prequels and sequels that relate to Jane Eyre. Here are a few notable selections:

Jane Eyre : the graphic novel  by Amy Corzine and illustrated by John M. Burns is a fairly faithful adaptation of the the original book, designed to bring classic literature to a young adult audience.

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys was published in 1966 as a prequel to Jane Eyre, and tells the story of Antoinette Mason, a daughter of Dominican slave owners who lost their fortune. When her mother remarries, Antoinette is married off by her step-father to a British man who we gradually understand is Mr. Rochester. He feels duped by his hasty marriage, and is alarmed and alienated by the wildness of the Caribbean. Upon return to England, he locks her up in his attic where she eventually goes mad. Wide Sargasso Sea has become a feminist classic in its own right and is a fascinating counterpoint to Jane Eyre.

There are many other Jane Eyre-inspired books that will definitely never become classics but are nonetheless fun to read!  Jane Eyrotica by Karena Rose and Jane Eyre laid bare : the classic novel with an erotic twist by Eve Sinclair are mash-ups that combine Charlotte Bronte's text with newly written erotic scenes.  Rose's book simply cuts and pastes erotic scenes into the original story, which I found rather alarming and not true to the original character of Jane at all. (Spoiler alert: Jane sleeps with practically everybody.) Sinclair is a little more creative in her attempts to reimagine Jane's secret sensual life, and includes some rather hilarious plot twists. (Spoiler alert: the mysterious noises in the attic are not what you think they are!)
If you like mash-ups but erotica isn't your thing, you could check out Jane Slayre by Sherri Browning Erwin, where - you guessed it! - Jane stars as a vampyre/zombie/werewolf slaying heroine. The popularity of Pride and Predjudice and Zombies probably means that we'll see more of this particular genre in the near future.

Nova Scotia Heritage Day: The Legacy of Joseph Howe

This year on Heritage Day, Nova Scotia honours Joseph Howe. Born in 1804 in Halifax, Howe served as a journalist, politician, premier and lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia before his death in 1873.  Although Howe is perhaps most known across Canada for trying to keep Nova Scotia out of Confederation, he contributed to the creation of many local institutions like the Halifax Public Gardens, and promoted local authors like Thomas Chandler Haliburton in his newspaper, The Novascotian. Howe was a colourful character who could convince almost anybody of his way of thinking: the Canadian Encyclopedia claims that Howe "could use his oratorical powers to influence his compatriots as no other man has ever done."

Today, Howe's most enduring legacy is as a defender of free speech. In 1835, Howe was accused of criminal libel against local magistrates after he accused them of swindling Nova Scotia's citizens out of 30,000 pounds. After spending two days vigorously pleading his own defense he was swiftly acquitted of wrongdoing and thus proclaimed "the press of Nova Scotia is free".  Dictionary of Canadian Biography.

John Ralston Saul's Joseph Howe & the Battle for Freedom of Speech is based on a lecture Saul delivered at King's College School of Journalism in Halifax in 2004. Saul suggests that Howe's fight to expose government corruption through his newspaper contributed to a distinctly Canadian position on freedom of speech and freedom of the press that remains at the heart of smart Canadian journalism today. "In a style that is highly articulate, humorous and emphatic, John Ralston Saul provides a succinct, relevant look at Canadian history, our current whereabouts, and an ambitious rally for participatory democracy and intelligent media for the future." Publisher.

For more information on Joseph Howe, visit the Nova Scotia Heritage Day website.
 
For a full listing of our library holdings on Joseph Howe, please click here. Please note that many of these items are rare or delicate and might require visiting our libraries in person to view the material.

In honour of Joseph Howe, here are a few other books about media freedom:

    
The new censorship : inside the global battle for media freedom by Joel Simon describes the threats to media freedom happening today across the world. "Journalists are increasingly vulnerable to attack by authoritarian governments, militants, criminals, and terrorists, who all seek to use technology, political pressure, and violence to set the global information agenda. Reporting from Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, and Mexico, among other hotspots, Simon finds journalists under threat from all sides. The result is a growing crisis in information―a shortage of the news we need to make sense of our globalized world and fight human rights abuses, manage conflict, and promote accountability." Publisher.

    Compared to many of the abuses facing journalists around the world, journalists working in Canada have much more freedom, but that doesn't mean that we can take the freedom of the press for granted. Mark Bourrie's Kill the messengers : Stephen Harper's assault on your right to know is a critical look at the restrictions placed on access to information by the Harper government."The public's right to know has been undermined by a government that effectively killed Statistics Canada, fired hundreds of scientists and statisticians, gutted Library and Archives Canada and turned freedom of information rules into a joke. Drawing evidence from multiple cases and examples, Bourrie demonstrates how budget cuts have been used to suppress the collection of facts that embarrass the government's position or undermine its ideologically based decision-making. Perhaps most importantly, Bourrie gives advice on how to take back your right to be informed and to be heard." Publisher.

Also written by Mark Bourrie, The fog of war : Censorship of Canada's media in World War Two looks at some of the fascinating stories that were censored in Canada due to concerns for our national security and civilian morale. "In Mark Bourrie's illuminating and well-researched account, we learn about the capture of a Nazi spy-turned-double agent, the Japanese-Canadian editor who would one day help develop Canada's medicare system, the curious chiropractor from Saskatchewan who spilled atomic bomb secrets to a roomful of people and the use of censorship to stop balloon bomb attacks from Japan. The Fog of War investigates the realities of media censorship through the experiences of those deputized to act on behalf of the public and reveals why press censorship in wartime Canada was, at best, a hit-and-miss game." Publisher.

Many of us acknowledge the necessity for some censorship during wartime in order to maintain public safety, but the terrorist attacks of 9/11 have greatly muddied the waters. Free speech in fearful times : after 9/11 in Canada, the U.S., Australia & Europe is an anthology edited by James L. Turk and Allan Manson that delves into the implications of current anti-terror laws on our freedom of expression. "Free Speech in Fearful Times offers a unique perspective on how the laws created to "protect" us can actually harm us. Following the events of 9/11, rashly conceived anti-terror laws were introduced that put civil liberties at risk, and eliminated long-standing legal protections in Canada, the United States, Australia, Europe, and the United Kingdom. Internationally recognized experts analyze the impacts of anti-terror laws and offer solutions to protect freedom of expression, academic freedom, and civil liberties."

Literary Horoscopes - Welcome to the Year of the Monkey!

Happy New Year!  Today is the first day of the Chinese Year of the Monkey. Just like the Western zodiac, the Chinese zodiac is based on a 12-part cycle, but each year has specific attributes associated with a specific animal rather than each month. People born in the year of the Monkey years are intelligent, curious and playful, just like their namesake. The flip side is that the Monkey can also be tricky, opportunistic, and not trustworthy.

The year of the Monkey will be volatile and unpredictable, but generally optimistic. Your own luck for the upcoming year will depend on your sign. According to Astrology Club, it will be a "generally auspicious year for Rats, Oxen, Dragons, Horses, Monkeys, Roosters and Dogs. This could be a difficult year for Tigers, Snakes, Dogs and Boars. Rabbits should beware their finances. Sheep should take care of their health." Above all, people who think on their feet and remain flexible will prosper during the Year of the Monkey. Individualism will be rewarded!

In this spirit, here are some titles that should inspire your fast-thinking and independent spirit.

Let's get the obvious recommendation out of the way: Curious George, everyone's favourite mischievous monkey. Originally created by Margret and Hans Rey, the Curious George character is now at the center of a franchise which now encompasses movies, TV shows, and many book series. The original seven stories written and illustrated by the Reys are included in The Complete Adventures of Curious George.

The Monkey is definitely the trickster of all the animals of the Chinese zodiac: he's clever and witty but you can never quite trust him. My favourite literary trickster of all time is Coyote from Green grass, running water by Thomas King. Not only is Coyote clever, but he just may have created the world. Or did he? Green Grass Running Water is an unconventional read filled with sly references to colonial history, and an engaging narrative with a lot of colourful characters. The occasional narration by Coyote keeps you wondering if you understand what is *really* going on.



Non-fiction fans might like reading some true crime titles in honour of the Monkey.  Bringing down the house : the inside story of six MIT students who took Vegas for millions by Ben Mezrich is action packed and contains many unexpected twists. "Bringing Down the House is an action-filled caper carried out by the unlikeliest of cons -- supersmart geeks. A highly elite group of mathletes was recruited to join The Club, a small, secret blackjack organization dedicated to counting cards and beating the major casinos across the nation at their own game. As a successful ring of card savants, backed by a mysterious ringleader and shadowy investors, they infiltrated Vegas and won millions." Publisher. 

     If you're a history fan, you'll likely enjoy Empire of deception : the incredible story of a master swindler who seduced a city and captivated the nation by Dean Jobb."A rip-roaring tale of greed, financial corruption, dirty politics, over-the-top and under-the-radar deceit, illicit sex, and a brilliant and wildly charming con man on the town and then on the lam, Empire of Deception has it all. It’s not only a rich and detailed account of a man and an era; it’s a fascinating look at the methods of swindlers throughout history. Leo Koretz was the Bernie Madoff of his day, and Dean Jobb shows us that the American dream of easy wealth is timeless." Publisher.


Of course, if you're one of the animal signs that is facing a challenging year, you might want to step away from the drama and focus on mindfulness. Tigers, Snakes, Dogs and Boars, Rabbits and Sheep - this book's for you! Taming the drunken monkey : the path to mindfulness, meditation, and increased concentration by William L. Mikulas, PhD. "Drawing from Western and Eastern psychology, health systems, and wisdom traditions, this book provides instruction for developing and improving three basic behaviors of the mind: concentration, awareness, and flexibility." Publisher.

Revisiting the Classics: Gone with the Wind

I’ve always enjoyed revisiting books that meant a lot to me at a particular time in my life - partly because it's fun to re-immerse myself into a familiar narrative world, but also because it allows me to see how my own perspective toward life has changed throughout the years. In How to be a heroine ; or, what I've learned from reading too much, Samantha Ellis reflects upon the changes in her own life that has caused her to rethink some of her all-time favourite literary characters like Cathy Earnshaw from Wuthering Heights, Anne from Anne of Green Gables, and Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Predjudice. The book is really more of a personal memoir than literary criticism, but it shows how deeply our love of certain characters can affect us throughout our lives.

In one of my favourite chapters, Ellis explores her feelings about Scarlett O’Hara, the wonderfully complicated heroine of Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 Pullitzer Prize winning epic, Gone With The Wind. Thoughout the chapter, Ellis reflects on her own development as a feminist and how strong characters like Scarlett initially helped her achieve a sense of independence from family pressures and expectations.  Ellis recognizes that Scarlett’s pushy determination inspired her to move past her own Melanie-like teenaged bookish tendencies to take more risks and to focus on herself, but she eventually realizes that Melanie may have been the stronger character all along, and that Scarlett would have been a much happier person if she could have appreciated Melanie's friendship throughout her life.

It’s an interesting perspective, and one that I can identify feeling as a teenager. Gone with the Wind was my all-time favourite book during my middle school years. Like Ellis, I remember loving Scarlett’s lack of willingness to suffer fools gladly and her determination to survive despite all odds, but wished that she could have appreciated the people around her a little more. But my hero-worship of Scarlett is long gone: upon rereading the book several times since my teenage years I find the implicit racism of the book impossible to ignore. None of the many African-American characters are shown to have lives of their own, and even saintly characters like Melanie support the activities of the Ku Klux Klan.

In recent years, several authors have attempted to create back stories for many of the secondary characters in Gone With The Wind. In 2014, Donald McCaig was commissioned by the Margaret Mitchell estate to write the back story for the Mammy character, which resulted in Ruth’s Journey. (McCaig was previously commissioned by the Gone with the Wind estate to write Rhett Butler’s People in 2007). Although this story finally offered Mammy the dignity of a name and an origin story, I was disappointed with Ruth's Journey because it still focused more on the lives of Scarlett's mother and grandmother rather than exploring Ruth's thoughts, feelings and motivations. The Ruth character still only exists in relation to white slavemasters.

I much preferred The Wind Done Gone by Alice Randall, which reveals the story of Cyanara, the secret daughter of Mammy and Gerald O'Hara (Scarlett's half-sister), which continues the story after Gone With The Wind ends. This book is a really fun read: lots of secrets about the lead characters are revealed, and we learn that the African American characters were pulling the strings of their white owners all along. Nowadays, we'd likely call this fan fiction, but in 2001, the Margaret Mitchell estate was furious with the book and sued Randall's publisher for alleged copyright infringement. Randall was forced to add a big disclaimer to the front cover of The Wind Done Gone to make it clear the book was an anauthorized parody.While it's not attempting to be great literature, it does make an interesting companion piece to the original.

There are plenty of other officially endorsed prequels and sequels, as well as non-fiction accounts of the Gone With the Wind phenomenon. If you are (or were) a big fan of Gone With The Wind, it's worth it to revisit some of these titles. 

Staff Pick: In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick

The 2015 Christmas movie blockbuster season has begun with the release of Ron Howard's In the Heart of the Sea, based on the non-fiction book In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick. The book tells the true story of the shipwreck that originally inspired Herman Melville to write Moby Dick.  In the early 1800s, whaling was the ultimate resource extraction industry, and Nantucket Island off the shores of Massachusetts was the unlikely center of the industry. Philbrick's book draws us into the culture of early 19th century whaling; the years away from home navigating the globe in search of sperm whales, the military rigour of the life at sea, and the logistics of slaughtering and processing huge whale carcasses lashed to the side of a wave-tossed ship. When the Essex is destroyed by a whale, the crew attempt to navigate to South America several thousand miles away with rudimentary instruments and a scanty supply of food and water. Philbrick uses personal accounts of the shipwreck as well as contemporary studies of starvation and deprivation to delve into the desperate mindset of the survivors. It's a gripping story of men driven to the very limit of survival.

Philbrick also references other famous tales of exploration, shipwreck, and survival in In the Heart of the Sea. The famous mutiny of Captain William Bligh's ship The Bounty had occurred 30 years before the wreck of the Essex, and the story of his survival in an open boat on the Pacific would have been known to the survivors of the Essex. The Bounty : The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty by Caroline Alexander traces the steps of  the mutineers as well as the Captain Bligh. "Alexander's reconstruction of the mutiny and its aftermath (thanks to her exhaustive research through books, reports, newspapers, correspondence, historical societies and archives) is almost as remarkable as Bligh's feat. She details daily events during the captured mutineers' court-martial, expanding on court transcripts. Separating facts from falsehoods and myths in the closing chapters, she finally turns to the life of the mutineers on Pitcairn Island, noting "this fantastic tale of escape to paradise at the far end of the world had the allure of something epic." Publisher.

Captain Bligh's Portable Nightmare by John Toohey attempts to present a sympathetic view of the notoriously cruel Captain and brings attention to the remarkable navigational skill that allowed Bligh to make the 4000 mile journey to saftey in an open boat. "Instead of rehashing the tale of the famed 1789 mutiny on the HMS Bounty (as done by so many historians, novelists and filmmakers), Australian historian Toohey tells the story of what happened to Capt. William Bligh after the mutiny was over. After his ejection from the Bounty, Bligh traveled halfway across the Pacific (to Java) on a cramped 23-foot launch with 18 crew members. Drawing heavily on survivors' accounts and other contemporary sources, Toohey recounts the dramatic tale of this voyage in an almost novelistic narrative, reconstructing conversations and interior monologues and capturing the terror and cunning of men facing slow death on the high seas." Publisher.

Readers that enjoyed these stories of survival against all odds might also enjoy reading about Ernest Shackleton's failed expedition to the South Pole in the early 20th century. The setting for these adventures is in frozen Antarctica rather than the open Pacific, but the desperate will to survive by the crew is very similar. Endurance : Shackleton's incredible voyage by Alfred Lansing has been called the "definitive account of the Endurance's fateful trip". Using team member diaries and interviews with survivors, Lansing describes the story of survival after their ship gets trapped and eventually crushed by the ice.

Caroline Alexander's book, The Endurance : Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition also tells the tale of the Shackleton expedition, and includes 170 previously unpublished photos taken by the expedition's photographer, Frank Hurley, described as "stark, artfully composed tributes to the savage beauty of the ice and to the fortitude of the men and their dogs. Not one of the men died during their sojourn in a freezing hell; as Alexander makes clear in her gripping, emotionally resonant book, this incredible fact bears witness not only to Shackleton's leadership but to the strength of the human spirit." Publisher.

Halifax Public Library Staff Favourites of 2015 - Adult Fiction

It's that time of year again!  We've polled our staff for their favourite books of 2015 and as always, we have an eclectic bunch of books to recommend. 

Our picks for Adult Fiction include some books that you'll likely see on many "Best-Of" lists this season, but we have a feeling that you may not have noticed all of these titles. There's a great mix of literary fiction, fun quirky books, dystopian fantasies, and mysteries. Enjoy.

A Reunion of Ghosts by Judith Claire Mitchell 
Recommended by Elizabeth: "It's a darkly humourous tale of family and destiny. Funny, poignant, dark, and very compelling, it is the history of the Alter family and their curse."

How to Start a Fire by Lisa Lutz
Recommended by Jeanna: "A perfect book - dialogue-heavy and often quite funny, with very likeable characters and a lot of heart. I wanted to read it again as soon as I'd finished it."

Last Four Days of Paddy Buckley by Jeremy Massey   
Recommended by Rosemary: "Coming from a British background I enjoy reading about the "old country". This novel has an Irish undertaker who finds himself on the wrong side of the Irish mob."

Confess by Colleen Hoover.    
Recommended by Elizabeth:  "A completely engrossing story told in two perspectives. One of the characters is a painter and you can find glossy colour images of some of his paintings based on anonymous confessions that are sent to him in the center of the book.They are actual confessions that were sent anonymously to the author, Colleen Hoovers, from her readers!" 
His Whole Life by Elizabeth Hay
Recommended by Lindsay RB: "A coming of age story set against rural Ontario and NYC about learning to love people despite their shortcomings and how dreams deferred manifest in our children, marriages, friendships."

The girl who slept with God : a novel by Val Brelinski
Recommended by Vicki

When the Saints by Sarah Mian (Local Author)
Recommended by Alanah

Hausfrau : a novel by Jill Alexander Essbaum.
Recommended by Maria
Read our previous post on Hausfrau here.
Kitchens of the great Midwest : a novel by J. Ryan Stradal.
Recommended by Jeanna
Read our previous post on Kitchens of the Great Midwest here.

Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler
Recommended by Rosemary Talbot & Vicki Smith: "I love books with family history that has a bit of mystery and a family curse.  Adding the love of old books and the history of a circus troop made the book magical."
Read our previous post on Book of Speculation here.

The Water Knife : a novel by Paolo Bacigalupi
Recommended by Robbie
Read our previous post on The Water Knife here. 

Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper.
Recommended by Kristina: "A sad, heartwarming, creative story of love and aging."
Read our previous post on this book here. 

Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller 
Recommended by Lindsay: "A girl who’s kidnapped by her survivalist father and raised in a cabin in the woods where he tells her the world has ended. This book is fantastic, gritty and dark."
Read our previous post here.

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
Recommended by Lindsay: "Beautiful, sharp representation of competing perspectives of a complicated marriage."
Read our previous post on Fates and Furies here.

The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante
Recommended by Chloe:"My all around favourite from 2015. The Neapolitan series taken together is one of the most brilliant portrayals of how people treat each other that I have ever come across."
Read our previous post here. 

Among the Ten Thousand Things by Julia Pierpont
Recommended by Jannaya: "I was drawn in by Pierpont's mix of tones, sharp wit, and thoughtful character development in her first novel, which follows the Shanley family as they enter crisis mode upon the discovery of an affair. At times sad, and at others quite funny, their story is told through multiple perspectives in a writing style that is distinct, nuanced, and insightful."

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
Recommended by Elinor: "N. K. Jemisin is such a good writer! I’m in the midst of reading everything she’s written… " 

Binti by Nnedi Okofor
Recommended by Elinor: "SciFi with an African slant. So good." 

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
Recommended by Chloe: "My pick for the best sci-fi/speculative book of 2015."
   
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Recommended by Keriann
The Fold by Peter Clines
Recommended by Jeremy: "Great sci-fi about opening a door into a parallel world - fun and terrifying at the same time."  
 
One Year After by William R. Forstchen
Recommended by Jeremy: "Great sequel to One Second After.  The book looks at what happens to civil society after all electronics stop working."

As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley (Flavia DeLuce #7)
Recommended by Alison C.
Read our previous post on the Flavia DeLuce series here.
 
The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny (Armand Gamache #11)
Recommended by Alison C. & Louise: "This story was based on actual historical events and opened up a chapter in Canadian history I was unaware of until I read this book."
Read our previous post on this book here.