This is the sequel to The Rosie Project. Don and Rosie are now living in NY. Rosie is pregnant and so Don’s already complicated life becomes even more complex. This book describes a common plot line, when an essentially good person makes a mistake and then covers up, resulting in much confusion.
Note from Amy. David reviewed the Rosie Project earlier in the year.
A Giller finalist and another WordFest author. This is a sweeping story from the early 1980s in India to the 1985 Air India bombing, and the aftermath leading to the trial in 2004. A search for coping mechanisms for grief produces a very strong story with distinctive characters, both in India but mainly in Canada.
Full disclosure – this is a disturbing book and not for the faint-hearted. The book details the events in early 1994 in Rwanda: the AIDS epidemic and mainly the Hutu-led genocide against the Tutsis. Amidst much death and brutal violence is a love story, the tender relationship between a Canadian journalist and a Rwandan woman who is Hutu but looks like a Tutsi. Issues of identity are crucial in the genocidal purge of “cockroaches”, the term the Hutu use to describe Tutsis to justify their extermination. Indifference from the UN and Western powers is described in detail, along with rampant corruption. This is a powerful book: how can love exist in this Rwandan hell?
American Gods – Neil Gaiman (the author’s preferred text). This is a fascinating book about America, an imaginative fantasy with old gods and new gods and their conflict. How can you not love a book with a central character named Shadow? Gaiman’s writing reminded me of Stephen King’s The Stand (this is meant to be a compliment). Gaiman readily acknowledges that reaction to this book has been mixed: some readers love the book and some hate it! Mark me down in the “loved the book” camp.
A Good Death – Gil Courtemanche (perhaps best known for A Sunday At The Pool In Kigali). This is a very well-written story of a dysfunctional large family in Montreal. The patriarch has always been a mean—spirited nasty individual who now has had a stroke with the onset of Parkinson’s. Some members of his family speculate that everyone would be better off if he died. The question of how his death might be facilitated becomes an important theme. His eldest son states that “you can only kill individuals that you love or hate. In this case, the son has never loved his irascible father but can’t hate him because of his illness. This dilemma is resolved in an interesting ending.
A tough war story about soldiers in Viet Nam. A chapter about the author’s reaction to being drafted is brilliant. A central theme is keeping the dead “alive” with dreams and stories. Powerful storytelling (this book came from a “50 books that everyone must read” list).
This is a very different book from Room. Frog music is set in 1896 San Francisco, a time of small pox and rampant racism towards Chinese immigrants. There are two compelling women characters: Blanche is a dancer/prostitute and Jenny is a cross-dressing free spirit. Essentially, the book is a murder mystery and is very entertaining.
This is the story of two women in the early 1800s in Lyme Regis England. They are both fossil hunters and remarkable finders, but this is in the era before extinction is proposed, and the issues of taking women seriously is paramount. A very good read. (thanks Thea).
This is the second book about Cormoran Strike, a hard-boiled private investigator in the Mickey Spillane mode. This book is set in the vicious world of publishing. Excellent plot with ongoing development of the relationship between Cormoran and his trusty secretary, Robin. The story takes place in London, and you can feel the cold of an English winter.
What David Read 