Torontoc's Books Read in 2016 and films seen

Just setting up for 2016- I like to read fiction, history, and selected mystery series. I see a lot of films- documentary and fiction.

(waves) Hi Cyrel! I'm about to jump in here, too.

Welcome back!

Great to see you back again Cyrel. xx

1. The Crimean War by Orlando Figes My book title is different from the touchstones but this is the title of my edition. I have read and enjoyed some of this author's other books on Russian social history-The Whisperers and A People's Tragedy. This history reminds me of Anthony Beevor's work- sound details and great background on the why of this war. The author begins with the disagreements on religious rights at churches in Jerusalem between the Orthodox and the other Catholic groups. Russia and Britain, Turkey and the Ottoman empire, France and Austria became embroiled in disagreements on the status of lands in the area of the Crimea and the Black Sea. The fate of areas controlled by the Ottomans and the Russians in the area of the Danube was also a factor in the call for war against the Russians by the British. Figes shows the way the various armies and leaders won and lost battles that resulted in the catastrophic loss of many soldiers' lives. Bad judgements by leaders who didn't know what they were doing, insufficient preparation of supplies for the common soldier and the effects of uncontrollable disease led to the loss of many lives for control of a few towns. Each side could claim victory of a sort, although the French and British were the victors and there was a settlement at the Congress of Vienna. However, any penalty given to the Russians was changed in the following years. Figes believes that the French were better prepared for this war. He also talks about the work of Florence Nightingale and others who helped saved the lives of soldiers. I liked this history as Figes wrote about the aftermath in terms of literature and political changes in the Crimean area.

2. The Adventures of Miss Petitfour by Anne Michaels Acclaimed poet and writer Anne Michaels and her illustrator Emma Block have produced a very charming set of five stories for children in this book. The interesting thing is that the words have not been simplified. In fact, Michaels take the time to use "grownup words' and give easy to understand definitions. The whimsical world of Miss Petitfour and her 16 cats is imaginative. Miss Petitfour takes a tablecloth , holds it so that she can catch the wind, takes her cats with her and flies to various parts of her village. The reader learns about a lost Penny Black stamp that flies away, a search for marmalade, a messed up jumble sale and the saving of the owner of the confetti factory. The illustrations match the tone of the book. A lovely work for a young reading child.

Hi Cyrel, The Adventures of Miss Petitfour sounds delightful. I'll have to check my library.

I loved The Whisperers, insofar as one can say that about a book about such a topic; Figes is great about capturing social history. I think I have Natasha's Dance here, too; I don't know whether to read that or this Crimean War history first!!

>6 torontoc: The Adventures of Miss Petitfour sounds like a fun book! I will have to keep an eye out for it at the library.

>6 torontoc: Yep, I need to keep an eye out for that one, too!

Yes, The Whisperers was amazing- I have Natasha's Dance on my TBR pile and do like the author's work on social history.

You have to like whimsy when you read The Adventures of Miss Petitfour- the whole design of book, illustrations and book cover are beautiful- I am saving my copy ( from ER) for one of my great nieces.

I loved The Whisperers too. It's too bad about the later controversies Figes involved himself in.

Yes! I remember the stories-

3. The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore. Wow! I really enjoyed reading this extensive history of the origins of Wonder Woman. The author goes right back to the biographies of the very unusual man who was at the centre of Wonder Woman's creation, William Moulton Marston, his wife Elizabeth Holloway, and his mistress, Olive Byrne. The three lived together and Marston had children with both women. Holloway worked and Byrne raised the children.Byrne also wrote a column for Family Circle about Marston- she characterized him as a leading psychologist. Lepore writes about this family group and their influences from early feminist leaders, avant-garde ( at the time) forces and their stretching of the truth. Olive Byrne was the niece of Margaret Sanger, a guiding force in promoting birth control when it was illegal, and a leading feminist. Marston developed the lie detector but was unable to hold a steady job in academia as his detractors thought that his research was more sensational than truthful. Lepore details Marston's involvement with various causes before he became involved with the creation and writing of Wonder Woman. In Lepore's view, Wonder Woman was the product of the work of early feminism. Marston believed in the superiority of women although his personal life seemed to be the opposite. Lepore devotes part of her work to the theme of bondage ( although Wonder Woman always escapes) that was a significant part of Wonder Woman stories under Marston's direction. After Marston died another director took the Wonder Woman story in another direction where she was more subservient to men. Her role mirrored what happened to women after World War II and in the 1950's.This is a fascinating study that reveals the " secret history" of not only Marston and his family but Wonder Woman herself. A great read.

4. Outline by Rachel Cusk A writer is travelling to Athens in order to lead a course on writing for a week. We never learn her name until the end of the novel. However, this woman concocts with friends, and her students as well as a man who she sat beside on the plane. Each chapter brings out the most intimate stories about the lives of these people. The language and the thoughts on life are beautifully expressed. The reader learns a little about the life of the narrator, although we do witness her brief relationship with the man from the plane who takes her swimming on his boat. A wonderful read and interesting insights on the nature of relationships.

5.Coming Ashore by Catherine Gildiner. I just finished this very entertaining memoir. It is actually the third book that the author has written chronically her life from childhood to marriage. In this volume the reader follows Cathy and her life in college at Oxford,her studies in Toronto and we view the choices that she made. The book is very funny in places.At Oxford, the author rides a bicycle through a post office window, learns how to behave at high table at the college, helps her friend plot to sleep with Jimi Hendrix and understands the problems of class in English society. In Toronto, Cathy studies at Victoria College at the University of Toronto,and lives at Rochdale College in the ashram of a drug dealer in the early 1970's. Rochdale was a failed experiment in independent learning that turned into a very interesting place for alternate living. The reader learns how the author changes her studies and finds the love of a good person. I studied at University of Toronto in the late 1960's -early 1970's so I recognized the references, places and some of the situations. This was a good read and I must go and read the first two memoirs.

6. Slade House by David Mitchell. This brief ghost story was perfect for a gloomy afternoon. Mitchell is one of those great storytellers to me. I enjoyed his tale of two " spirits" whose lives depended on the souls of a certain kind of person lured to their home every nine years. The characters and the description of their lives as well as those who tried to fight back were interesting. The book is set up for a sequel in my opinion. Now I haven't read The Bone Clocks that apparently has a connection to this novel. But I enjoyed the story.

>16 torontoc: I came over to visit your thread as I saw your review of Coming Ashore on another thread. I have read all three of her memoirs and her mystery too which I loved Seduction. In the mystery she makes so many references to Toronto that it was fun (as I used to live there too). Anyway I loved all her books and found them very interesting especially her early life growing up in Niagara Falls. I went a long time ago to a writer's festival in Sechelt B.C. and heard her presentation. She is a Psychologist and a very interesting person. She had 3 kids under 3 and at the same time did a PhD. reading all Freud and Darwin. That's what gave her the plot for Seduction. She was wonderful to listen to and its wonderful to read her books. I studied at U of T in the early 70's too!

I have to get her other books- I put them on my "wish list"

7. Nixon in China: The Week that Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan. MacMillan has written an account of the historic trip that Richard Nixon took in 1972 to visit China and meet Mao Tse-tung. There was more to this one week trip as Henry Kissinger had prepared the way by taking secret trips to China.On Nixon's direction, Kissinger initiated the changes in American foreign policy that would lead to the signed memorandum by both countries at the end of the trip. The work done by Kissinger, Nixon and Chou En-lai started a new direction for the United States and China as they confronted their common foe, the Soviet Union. MacMillan takes the reader both back and forward in time from that trip to provide a comprehensive background on the histories of the leading players, the changes in foreign policy and some startling revelations. ( to me at least) The work on foreign policy and changes in agreements that involved Viet Nam, Japan and Taiwan was done by Nixon and Kissinger as Nixon cut out his own State Department and the Secretary William Rogers. Kissinger gave the Chinese top secret information on the Soviet Union. MacMillan describes the momentous changes that would shape China and affect the United States.
A very interesting history!

I also saw the film "Carol" yesterday. It was beautifully photographed with great costumes ( the ugly stuff of the 1950's looked really good!) But- and here is the but- I didn't think that the performances were outstanding or that the story was best picture material, I enjoyed and liked "Spotlight", "The Big Short" , 'The Danish Girl" and 'Trumbo" better. I think that I may be in a minority about "Youth"- I thought that it was outstanding ( some of my friends hated it)

8. The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel. I read the title story in the New York Times Book Review section about a year or so ago. The rest of the stories vary -from troubled families dealing with anorexia, infidelity, and couples mismatched with each other. There is a writer put up in a terrible hotel before a book reading, a new immigrant dealing with a nightmare situation at her last job and more. The stories are expertly plotted , although in most cases very grim.Still, I was happy to read Mantel's work while waiting for the last book in the Wolf Hall series to be published.

9. 20 Under 40 Stories from The New Yorker edited by Deborah Treisman This collection was published in 2010 and has been hiding in my TBR piles. I enjoyed the various stories. I did recognized some as excerpts from novels that I have read by Gary Shteyngart and David Bezmozgis I must admit that many of the stories were extremely depressing. So, I wondered- what is it about the short story format that leads to these very gloomy outcomes? The authors are very accomplished and I have followed some of them-Nicole Krauss, Tea Obreht, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Yiyun Li and Jonathan Safran Foer.

10.Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck This slim volume reads like a poem. The author writes about the history of a house in Germany. The various owners are described and their actions in changing and designing the house, boat house and garden. In fact the gardener is the only character whose presence is described throughout the whole story. The only characters who are named are Jewish. the author follows them as they disappear into the killings of the Holocaust. The authors uses repetition, and descriptions of the garden and house to trace the life of the people who inhabit the house during the 20th century. A very interesting book. If readers like W.G. Sebald, they will like this book.

11. The Children Act by Ian McEwan I reread this novel for my book club meeting, On second reading it is still so well told and heartbreaking. There are certain books where the language and plot are seamless and lead the reader through the story in a very satisfying way. this is one of them.

>25 torontoc: I really liked The Children Act too.

>26 mdoris: Same here.

I saw the documentary on ballet star Misty Copeland last night.
A Ballerina's Tale- the story of American Ballet Theatre dancer Misty copeland - the first African American woman to become a principal dancer with a major ballet company.
The film was very good with amazing access to rehearsals and performances.

12. Two Gun & Sun by June Hutton This novel is about a feisty new publisher of a newspaper or really, a news sheet, Lila Sinclair, in a small mining town in the Pacific Northwest. The reader sees Lila arrive in the town to take over the newspaper that had been run by her late uncle. Lila meets the famous Morris" Two Gun" Cohen, a character based on the real Canadian adventurer who did work with Sun Yat-sen in China. The town is filled with interesting characters from the Chinese workers who live in their own section of town and mange a hidden garden, the prostitutes and the travelling opera company. Lila hires a Chinese printer, Vincent who has secrets of his own. Lila is impulsive and manages to make some really bad decisions. The story is interesting but the writing does take some detours with puzzling town descriptions at the beginning. The various plot lines do tend to run riot near the end of the book. I enjoyed the book but have to admit that the structure of the story was not clear at times.

13. Lady Katherine Knollys The Unacknowledged Daughter of King Henry VIII by Sarah-Beth Watkins. It is always interesting to read about people in history that major biographers have ignored. Sometimes there are just not enough original sources and documents that can tell us their story, I believe that this is the case for Katherine Knollys, daughter of Mary Boleyn and most probably King Henry VIII. The author gives the reader as much information as she can but really there are not enough documents to track a very detailed study of Katherine Knollys' life. In this brief account, the reader learns about the relationships of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII, his later wives where Katherine was a lady in waiting and her position with Elizabeth. I think that the author has added some information that really doesn't tell us much about later periods in Katherine's life. There are too many letters reproduced that could have been placed at the end of the book near references. Interesting but too brief.

14. Tokyo Decadence 15 Stories by Ryu Murakami. I actually interrupted my reading of this book of short stories to look up reviews and information on the author. I still couldn't figure out why this author is highly regarded-but I think that my taste is different. Some details in the stories seem to come from the author's life. Murakami did go to art school, lived near an American army base in Japan and has a liking for Cuban music. I didn't like the repetition of women portrayed as call girls, graphic sexual content and the use of verbal abuse against women by the key male figures in the stories. Many of the male characters were compelled to insult the women that they became attracted to. Many of the young men were supported by their families who thought that they were going to school although they were not and just indulging in bands that failed or dealing drugs. Some of the stories were linked by the same characters. Some of these stories have been published in earlier periodicals.

15. My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl. This is more than a cookbook. The author had been editor of Gourmet Magazine. The famed magazine was abruptly closed by the publisher. and Reichl writes about the year that followed. In a way this book of recipes was Reichl's way of healing after the shock of losing her job and great colleagues. The narration chronicles Reichl's life as she lived in her upper New York state house, survived power blackouts, broke bones in her foot and wrote about the great produce and recipes that followed. I like her explanations for cooking- she also gives some good directions for handling basic ingredients. I want to cook asparagus and make devilled eggs using her methods. The book should win awards for design and photography- it is beautiful to look at as well as read.

>32 torontoc: I just put this book on reserve today at our library as she is coming soon to our city to promote the book. Thanks for the book review. Now I'm really interested in getting it soon!

I have read most of the Ruth Reichl's memoirs and enjoyed them!

16. Ivory Vikings The Mystery of the Most Famous Chessmen in the World and the Woman Who Made Them by Nancy Marie Brown. The subtitle of this book is kind of misleading. The author does admit that her theory of who made the famous Lewis chessmen is based on a little bit of evidence and is not definitive. In her quest to promote the theory that the chessmen were originally made in Iceland, the author does provide the reader with a history of early Iceland, Vikings and the connections between many northern Scandinavian countries. That aspect I found very interesting as I had no idea of the depth of culture and civilization of Norway, the Hebrides, Greenland, Iceland and parts of present day Ireland and Scotland from the 800-1200 AD time period. The history of the kings, bishops and their battles does get complex with the betrayals and many killings. The role of women in the society of Iceland was an eye opener to me- the author's description of Margret the Adroit of Iceland and her accomplishments does make her a good candidate for the creator of the chess pieces. One of the problems of this book is the lack of photos of the places and object that she describes. Each main chapter does have a different photo of the chessmen but I needed more. Still a good introduction to the early history of the north Atlantic countries.

>30 torontoc: There's still a difference of opinion as to whether Katherine was actually Henry's child or not... He acknowledged his illegitimate son, and acknowledging a daughter wouldn't have been a big deal, in terms of the succession (and in the context of the mores of the era, who cared? Mary Boleyn Carey was his acknowledged mistress...) Does the author get into that at all?? Queen Elizabeth certainly treated Catherine/Katherine as her cousin, but via their maternal ties, not because she viewed her as a half-sister, by all accounts. It's possible she was (though her brother probably wasn't Henry's son) but it does beg the question of why no acknowledgement -- does the author get into that at all? She didn't marry notably well -- a gentleman, but not a knight -- so even though she had been at court in the early 1540s, and was related to the duke of Norfolk, no one was making a glittering match for her as they might have done for an illegitimate king's daughter. Still, she led an interesting life, and it's a pity the bio short-changed her.

The more I hear of Ryu Murakami, the less interest I have in reading his work.

The author really didn't add more to Katherine's or her mother's story unfortunately.

17. The Short Strange Life of Herschel Grynszpan A Boy Avenger, A Nazi Diplomat and a Murder in Paris by Jonathan Kirsch Unfortunately this is another book where there are not many new documents to support the story. The story of how a very young illegal immigrant to France manages to kill a Nazi diplomat at the German embassy in 1938 is astonishing. Herschel Grynszpan is described as a very impulsive and immature young man who has made his way to France with the help of his family. His anger at the removal of his parents to Poland from Germany fuelled his plan to kill a German diplomat. The story of the plans for his trail by his French lawyers and then his German captors explain the ulterior motives that outsiders attributed to his motive for the killing. No one knows when Grynszpan was killed in Germany. The information on the young man's transfer to prisons in the south of France when Germany had invaded the country is puzzling.He actually had to opportunity to escape but didn't. The reader has to wonder at his lack of maturity. An interesting read but still- I have questions.

18. The Relic Master by Christopher Buckley This was a great book to read during a very cold spell. I really enjoyed Buckley's take on an attempt to steal what would become the Shroud of Turin when it was housed in Chambery in Savoy. The reader follows Dismas, a relic hunter who works for two rivals in 1517-Frederick the Wise of Saxony and Albreacht, the Archbishop Bishop of Mainz. Frederick has complicated relationships in the European Catholic world by protecting the renegade monk, Martin Luther. Through a series of mishaps, Dismas has to steal the Shroud of Jesus from Chambery for Albrecht. He is accompanied on his quest by three nasty soldiers and his friend, the artist Durer. In fact Durer may have got him into trouble by some of his actions.This troop rescues a young woman who has been accused of witchcraft on their journey as well. The plot has elements of Monty Python, blood thirsty behaviour, greed and humour about religious practices in the 1500's.

De-lurking to say that that last one sounds really good!

It was a lot of fun to read!

I've got it requested from my library, now just have to be a little patient (I don't think the list is terribly long). I really like Buckley's style and sense of humor.

Karen O.

19. Born With a Tooth by Joseph Boyden I have liked the two books by this author that I have read in previous years. This book of short stories is actually his first book published. All the stories concern Native or Aboriginal characters and their lives in Northern Ontario. Boyden uses the themes that have governed and possibly ruined many -the effect of the residential schools on indigenous peoples and their children and the discrimination and stereotypes that have followed the inhabitants of the north. The positives that are revealed in the stories are the strength and resolve of the women and men to maintain their culture and the healing and important place that aboriginal practices have in their community. Some of the stories are difficult- The Legend of the Sugar Girl traces the lasting effects of diet and life in the residential schools. The last stories are told from different characters seeing the same events. A really interesting group of stories.
*for those who don't follow Canadian history-the residential schools were run by Christian groups for Aboriginal children in the 20th century. The authorities took children away from their parents and put them in these schools. The aim was to destroy natives customs and language and turn the children into mainstream citizens. The abuse was horrific- in fact only in the past number of years has the Canadian government recognized the terrible nature of this policy- There has been a Truth and Reconciliation Commission -the recommendations were not acted upon by the past government but the new government is making steps to address this and implement the report.

Great review of Born With a Tooth, Cyrel. I haven't read and don't yet own anything by Joseph Boyden, so I'll keep my eye out for this book.

>43 kidzdoc: I liked Three Day Road the best that I have read of his work so far.

20. Arvida by Samuel Archibald and translated by Donald Winkler. This book of short stories was on the 2015 Giller Prize shortlist. I liked the use of language ( a very good translator) and the variety of subjects. Every story centred on life in a small town in Quebec-Arvida. The stories cover ghosts, hunting, hockey, bad relationships, complicated family histories and more. There is also incest, ritual mutilation in one of these tall tales and mystery. I must admit that I can admire the skill and imagination while not liking the direction of some of the stories. An interesting book.

Congratulations on reading so many books thus far. I'm stopping by to wave hello.

Hi! Nice to hear from you!

21. The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure. Two people that i know really liked this book. I thought that while the main plot was very interesting, the character development was not. The story is about an architect, Lucien Bernard, who is asked to create hiding places in Paris apartments for Jews in 1942-3 Paris. Lucien does not want to do this at first because of the risk he faces but he gets lucrative contracts to design factories for the Germans in return. We do see some development in Lucien's empathy for those in hiding. However, the dialogue and situations that occur are... hmm, too facile and improbable.

22. Basic Black With Pearls by Helen Weinzweig This book was reissued to mark the centenary of the birth of the author and the 35th anniversary of first publication. The book won the Toronto Book Award in 1980. The writing is very good in my opinion although the plot is kind of surreal. A middle aged woman arrives in Toronto to meet her mysterious lover who may be a spy. She has met him continuously in various cities around the world. Their meetings are always part of a puzzle that the woman must solve to find their rendezvous point. Toronto is this woman's hometown although she had abandoned her husband and children an unknown number of years ago. The woman searches for her meeting point with the lover and remembers part of her childhood- she was an immigrant who lived with an unstable mother in parts of Kensington Market and perhaps the Ward area. The reader must wonder how much is truth or fiction. An accomplished book but I was not sure about the artifice of the woman's present life.

>42 torontoc: Very interested to read your review of the Joseph Boyden book of short stories. As he is selected for the Canadian Author challenge I had scouted for available books of his and managed to add The Orenda and which I am now very much looking forward to.

I have to read that one too- I put it off for a while because I hear that there are some torture scenes -but I do like Boyden's work. My favourite so far- is Three Day Road

23. The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz The author is continuing the saga of Sherlock Holmes and his able friend and biographer, John Watson. ( I believe that Horowitz was either commissioned or given permission by the Conan Doyle estate to write additional books about the great detective -readers- correct me if I am wrong). This adventure is complex and starts with a threatening stranger and ends up as a sinister conspiracy that shields a vast evil empire of vice. Sherlock investigates a number of murders and is imprisoned himself and he escapes in a very clever way.This book was a lot of fun to read and I hope that Horowitz writes more.

24. Empress of the Night A novel of Catherine the Great by Eva Stachniak I did read the wonderful biography of Catherine by Robert Massie and found this fictional account of her life to be somewhat puzzling. The author had written an earlier book about a young woman in the Russian court who does make a brief appearance in this novel. I thought that the focus of the book- the life of Catherine near the end of her life- to be not as interesting as the events of Catherine's problems in her marriage to Peter and her relationship with Empress Elizabeth. Her lovers were also not used enough in the plot to my liking. I thought that the author skipped some of the most dramatic parts of Catherine 's life.

25. Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper This was a wonderful read. Etta decides at the age of 83 to walk across Canada from Saskatchewan to the sea on the east coast. She leaves her husband Otto and his best friend Russell on their respective farms. The story weaves back and forth from the time that Otto joins the army, the meeting of Otto and Etta, the relationship between Russell, Otto and Etta and the events that change their lives. Etta walks with a coyote who talks to her , James. The story is well told and I enjoyed every moment.

26. A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler. I felt as I was reading the work of a master storyteller in this novel. Tyler writes about four generations of one family and their lives in Baltimore. The reader meets Abby, her husband Red, and their four children. The reader meets Denny, first, as we see his problems and inability to settle and make a life for himself. Abby is endearing as the mother who has her own issues of aging and sickness. We see what makes Denny so bitter and learn the secrets of Red, his sister Merrick and their parents , Junior and Linnie. The family is dysfunctional but perhaps no more than others who work out how to deal with sickness, death and problems of life. The plot shows the reader past and present generations and how they cope with bad situations. A great read and I am sorry that I haven't read kore of Tyler recently.

27. Bettyville by George Hodgman This is a book that was a very good read but I am telling some of my friends who are dealing with aging parents to avoid it now. The story of how the author goes back to his hometown of Paris, Missouri to care for his 90 year plus mother, Betty can be a very painful experience. Hodgman uses this book as not only a chronicle of the frustrating times he has with his very stubborn mother but it is a story of his own life and problems. Hodgman could never come out as a gay man to his parents- their lifestyle in a small town could not assimilate this knowledge. He writes about his family's history and also about the destruction of small town America with businesses dying or gone. Betty can be funny and the reader admires her drive to be independent although she really needs more help that she will admit. This is a very frank book about mother and son. The reader can see the frustrations and also the love. A timely book that will speak for the many people going through the same dilemmas with their own families.

>49 torontoc: The Orenda was the only one I could find in the shops in London last December.

Have a great Sunday, Cyrel.

Thank you!

28. If I had a Gryphon by Vikki Vansickle and illustrated by Cale Atkinson. This children's book is really sweet. The rhyming story seems to be calling out for an adult to read a young child. The illustrations are very appealing as the artist shows many imaginary beasts that the young girl in the story considers for a pet. In fact the simple story contains a cautionary tale for thinking about something that would be better that what you have already. The young girl in the story has a hamster. She thinks about having a more "fabulous " pet but with each creature she realizes the problems- from the havoc a hippogriff would cause in the park to the fire sneezing dragon. At the end of the story the young girl appreciates the pet she has- a very nice hamster.

29. The Lady from Zagreb by Phillip Kerr. I get very excited when a new Bernie Gunther adventure is published by the author. Although I really liked the earlier mysteries when Gunther was a detective in pre-war Berlin, these new stories are very readable. Kerr uses some of the history from the former Yugoslavia in this episode. Gunther has to help Joseph Goebbels persuade a film star, Dalia Dresner to continue working in a new film. In order to do this Gunther has to go to Zagreb and find her long lost father, who might in a monastery in an area of fighting. Kerr shows the inhumanity of the killing in this area as Gunther looks for Dalia's father. The events of the search also lead to more tasks for Gunther. He is hunted down by opposing groups in Switzerland, solves a few murders that implicate the Swiss in Germany's war and he does escape. I am looking forward to the next adventure- this book has the beginning chapters of the next story at the back.

30. Ostend: Stefan Zweig, Joseph Roth and the Summer Before the Dark by Volker Weidermann and translated by Carol Brown Janeway I have to thank Chatterbox who had reviewed this book. I was intrigued and put it on my wish list. I think that for those readers who have read some of work and history of both Zweig and Roth, this account certainly enriches the stories of their characters. I really enjoyed reading about their friends and lovers and how they used the seaside town of Ostend as a way to forget briefly about the problems of censorship and loss of their respective home countries. The issues of exile and how that impacted on German speaking and writing authors was a continuing theme. Another was hopelessness of surviving when your reading audience is reduced by politics. A very satisfying read!

31. Our Hearts Were Young and Gay by Cornelia Otis Skinner and Emily Kimbrough. This is a reread that I really like. The authors were college friends who went on a trip to England and Paris in the 1920's. The story of their adventures on the ships that brought them to the continent are hilarious. This is one of the few books that has me laughing out loud at some of the incidents-Emil,y on hearing the warning " man overboard" throws a deck chair overboard and knocks out the man ( who was trying to swim ashore as they were just in the St Lawrence Seaway at that point. The stories of two very innocent and impressionable young women are funny and remind the reader of a very different time.

>54 torontoc: I agree with you on the Bernie Gunther books, Cyrel. One of my favourite current series - I would also recommend the Lennox series by Craig Russell which is set in Glasgow right after the second world war which is in the same vein really.

Have a wonderful Easter.

thanks for the recommendation and kind thoughts!

32. 17 Carnations The Royals, the Nazis and the Biggest Cover-up in History by Andrew Morton-hmm touchstones not working this morning-
The somewhat sensational title does give the reader a sense of the style of this none-the-less interesting story about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Morton is known for his book on Princess Diana. This time he concentrates on part of the life of the Duke of Windsor. The author's contention is that Edward was really not fit to be king in the first place. Although very popular, he was not interested in the preparation or constraints of being a king.He was also very sympathetic to the Fascist politics of Germany and Hitler. Edward is shown to be very self centred and after meeting Wallis Simpson , determined that she would be his wife and queen. The book details how Edward abdicated and later how he made very bad choices in his selection of friends. Morton shows Edward making declarations about deploring the war between Germany and Britain and offering to work with groups that would sue for peace and stop the war- this might mean that he was open to being King again. His relations with the Germans may be seen as treasonable today. Edward may have passed on information to the Germans that betrayed certain war plans of France and Britain. as well. His actions in 1940 come under scrutiny. Whether he would travel from Lisbon to the Bahamas or go back to Spain under the protection of Spanish and probably German forces is an important section of this story. Morton then writes extensively about so- called damaging "Windsor File"- an accounting of actions by the Duke and the German government during the 1940 period found in a German government archive. The British government wanted to Americans to agree to destroying the file. The politics involving historians and officials in both countries is traced by the author. Whether the Duke of Windsor was active in participating in treasonous activities or whether he was a naive dupe is considered. I have read other histories that do touch on this area. This book was interesting in the research done on the groups that worked on either publishing or hiding the Windsor file.

33. The Mathematician's Shiva by Stuart Rojstaczer. I enjoyed this novel about a Russian( and Polish) American woman, her death and shiva( seven days of mourning where the family stay in one place -the deceased's house sometimes-and friends and relatives come to visit.) The narrator, Sasha is Rachela Karnokovitch's son. He is a professor in Alabama and both his parents are mathematicians and professors in Wisconsin and Minnesota Sasha's mother is the most brilliant scholar-she divorced her husband years ago. After her death from cancer, Sasha, his father, his uncle and his cousin are tasked with organizing the funeral and shiva. Complications arise as hundreds of mathematicians want to come to the funeral and sit shiva with the family. Sasha is sure that the reason is that they want to find the proof to one of the most difficult questions in mathematics that Rachelal is rumoured to have solved. The mathematicians propose that eight of them sit shiva with the family. The plot relates the past histories of Sasha and his mother. The reader meets Anna a Russian ballerina who Rachela convinced to defect many years ago and Shash's long lost daughter and granddaughter- both mathematicians as well. The story is entertaining and interesting and sometimes very funny.

34. Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon This is a very good thriller and spy story. There are some melodramatic moments but the plot moves very fast and is like most historical fiction, interesting to me. Alex Meier is a former German Jewish refugee who lived the in United States after leaving Germany before the second world war. He is caught up in the anti-communist witch hunt in the US and in 1949 moves back to Germany where he is welcomed by what would become the East German state. He actually is acting as a spy for the US in exchange for clearing his name. Alex renews friendships with old friends and is set up in a comfortable flat by the government as he is a noted writer. The story of his life, his meeting with an old girlfriend, his interactions with the secret police and his escapes make for good reading.

35. History's People Personalities and the Past (CBC Massey Lectures) by Margaret MacMillan i really like reading the books that come out after the Massey Lectures. A notable person ( past lecturers and writers include Lawrence Hill, Adam Gopnik, Douglas Copeland, Wade Davis, Margaret Atwood, Ursula Franklin, George Steiner) gives a series of lectures in the fall in different cities in Canada. These lectures are broadcast on CBC radio and later a book is produced. MacMillan introduces the themes of Hubris, Daring, Curiosity, and Observers. She then discusses a group of personalities, both well known and obscure, who have stood out for her in some way. This book covers Hitler,Stalin, Margaret Thatcher, Richard Nixon, Elizabeth Simcoe, Samuel de Champlain and Harry Kessler to name a few. The result is a very interesting talk on why these people contributed to the stories of history and in some cases their bad decisions. A very good read.

36. Forty-One False Starts Essays on Artists and Writers by Janet Malcolm I think that I found this book from Cariola's thread ( thank you). It is a wonderful treat to read long essays on specific modern and "postmodern" artists and writers. Malcolm does not spare her subjects- she is honest in her opinions and assessment of their culture and influence. I like the longish piece on ingrid Sischy and the magazine Artforum ( I, too, use to buy it and not read it). I was astonished at the material on Gene Stratton-Porter , author of Girl of the Limberlost and had to agree with Malcolm's critique. I enjoyed the history of the Bloomsbury group. This collection of essays led me to look again at selected authors and artists.

Nice review of Forty-One False Starts, Cyrel. I'll keep my eye out for it.

Thank you- it was a good read- I like the way Malcolm expressed her opinions on her subject.

37. Granta 26 Travel. This book was on the bottom of one of my TBR towers-it is dated ( 1989) but I enjoyed reading pieces by some of my favourite travel writers- Bruce Chatwin, Colin Thubron and Ryszard Kapuscinski. Political situations in many countries around the world don't seem to have changed much- maybe the geographical location is different but the situations seem to be the same. I find that this issue of Granta was both informative on countries that I had not read about ( Taiwan) and interesting in recounting incidents of interest-( Kapuscinski's account of Idi Amin's Uganda.)

38. Call Me Sammy by Sammy Luftspring This is a very old memoir that I read for background - I am leading new walking tours in the area that is prominent in this book. The book was ghostwritten but was very interesting in the beginning when the author talks about his childhood and upbringing in the Kensington Market area in Toronto. The latter part of the book is about Luftspring's career as a boxer in the 1930's and later activities.

39. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I did like this book- it was a little too long but the structure of two stories that did come together was very good. Both the stories about Werner, the young German soldier and Marie-Laure, the blind French girl certainly did give the reader a sense of the life that both characters led in wartime Germany and France. The author creates some very interesting traits for both- the interest in science, mathematics and engineering. These interests did change their lives in some way. Doerr traces the moral character of Werner and Marie-Laure in his story. There are villains and the endings are not too happy. Some of the language is really touching. A good read for me-

40. The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth StroutDid I like this novel? I must admit that I put it down for a week and then came back to it. Jim is the more successful of the brothers- he is wealthy and noted for his work as a lawyer. His younger brother, Bob, is a public defender and not as polished and his private life is a bit of a shambles. This could be explained as apparently when Bob was four he was behind the wheel of a car that killed his father. This incident has haunted and probably influenced his life. Bob's twin sister, Susan still lives in their small home town in Maine. A crisis occurs when her son Zach is accused of throwing a pig's head into a mosque in the town. Jim and Bob travel from New York to help their sister and nephew. The stories of how they both react and help and hinder is told along with description of the Somali community and the reactions of the town. The reader learns about the problems in Jim's life and how Bob learns to cope with his issues and relationship with Jim. There are surprizes. Susan, Bob and Zach show more strength and wisdom as their lives change and together they help Jim resolve a major crisis that he faces.

41. By Chance Alone by Max Eisen Max Eisen has written a remarkable memoir about his early life with his family in a farming town in Czechoslovakia (later it became part of Hungary) and his experiences as a teenager in Auschwitz. He lost his whole family to the gas chambers. This book serves as a memorial to his parents and grandparents and shows how he survived. Sometimes it takes a " small kindness' to ensure survival. ( I heard this phrase from friends who had parents who were Holocaust survivors). Max Eisen describes the life he led with his parents in a small town- he then details the forced labour, and finally the expulsion from the town and the subsequent life he alone led in the concentration camp. The author was forced on a " Death march" as the Russians were closing in on Auschwitz at the end of the war- very few survived the journey to a town in Germany where they were finally rescued by the American army. What is also interesting is Eisen's account of his journey back to his home town, what he found there and his later travels to get an education and how he got to Canada.
Max Eisen is in his eighties- he regularly lectures to students and he was a witness at the trail of an Auschwitz guard.
His determination to tell his story is admirable. A very good read.

All of your last three reads are on the shelves and looking rather askance at me that they are not slated for service in May.

Have a lovely weekend, Cyrel. xx

Thanks , Paul!

42.Treachery by S.J. Parris I had lost track of this series until recently and was thrilled to read the latest instalment in the adventures of Giordano Bruno. In this story, Bruno has joined with Sir Philip Sidney to travel to Plymouth and visit Sir Francis Drake. Drake is about to launch a major voyage to plunder Spanish colonies. However, first he must deal with the unexplained death of Robert Dunne- a gentleman travelling on his ship. Bruno and Sidney look into the death to determine whether it was suicide or murder. Drake also wants Bruno to look at an ancient book that may alter the story of Christianity. The adventures, betrayals, kidnapping, poisoning and the appearance of an old enemy, all contributed to a wonderful read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

43. H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald I really enjoyed this memoir and sort of semi biography of a part ofT.H. White's life. Macdonald had recently lost her father. She was also training a goshawk. The book is the story about how the author deals with her grief and her thoughts on her getting to know her goshawk , Mabel. There are chapters that talk about T.H. White- his life and how his early childhood experiences directed his decisions. White failed at training a goshawk. He wrote about it and used his experience in his books on Merlin and Arthur. Macdonald writes in great detail about the feeling of being part of her goshawk's life in hunting and then killing. She did learn how to separate herself from the feeling that she was part of a wild creature's life. The book was very satisfying to read although there were very graphic details about a predator's ( Mable) life and hunting process.

44.Run You Down by Julia Dahl I had to read the second in this series of mysteries featuring reporter Rebekah Roberts. In the first book Invisible City the reader is introduced to Rebekah, a reporter in New York City who had been raised by her father in Florida. Rebekah's mother, Aviva had run away from her Haredi orthodox family to be with Rebekah's father, a gentile. Aviva then left both her baby daughter and boyfriend to go back to New York and an uncertain future. In this novel, Rebekah investigates a murder that will implicate Aviva's brother ( and her uncle). Aviva tells her own story in alternating chapters as Rebekah gets closer to solving the murder and linking her own unknown family to the victim as well. The story is not so much about the Orthodox world but it is about those who leave this life and try to make a new one. There is a mix of murder, racial hatred, dealing with sexual abuse in the Orthodox world and more. I think that I liked the first book better than the second although I was still anxious to find out what happens in the story.

45. Degenerate Art The Attack on Modern Art in Nazi Germany 1937 edited by Olaf Peters I saw this art show at the Neue Galerie in New York two years ago. I had to get the catalogue and did a few months later. This is the first time that I read the various essays. The topics covered the history of the confiscation of art and the naming of artists who were considered degenerate. The attitude of Emil Nolde was surprising to me-his work was banned although he considered himself sympathetic to the aims of Nazism. The essays track the exhibits in various German cities of so-called "Degenerate" art, the war on Modernism in art and the aftermath of reclaiming work after the war. That story is very interesting in the activities of art dealers who sold artworks to American museums with the proceeds going to Nazi accounts. This book is a very interesting resource as well as having rest reproductions of the art.

>75 torontoc: Degenerate Art sounds interesting; thanks for your review of it, Cyrel. I think I heard about that exhibition, but I wasn't able to see it.

>75 torontoc: Like Darryl, I think the degenerate art exhibition book sounds good.

I'm also tempted after your review of By Chance alone , will see if I can get hold of a copy. Thanks!

The book/catalogue of Degenerate Art was very thought provoking besides having great visuals!

46. Neither Here Nor There Travels in Europe by Bill Bryson I started reading this account of the author's travels in Europe in about 1991 and realized that I had read it before about 10 years ago. I found the first chapters on Bryson's travels in Norway and Sweden hilarious- the kind of laughing out loud funny. However, the accounts of his further travels in Italy, Belgium and the Balkans- not so amusing. Bryson was following the route he had traveled with an eccentric friend-Katz - years before. In fact it looks like Bryson was in the former Yugoslavia just before the savage wars that took place in the later 1990's. I like travel writing and did like reading about Bryson's adventures. His point of view can be caustic with good reason!

We are pretty much neck and neck this year reading wise Cyrel. 46 each.

Have a great weekend.

Thanks, Paul!

47. Reader, I Married Him Stories Inspired by Jane Eyre edited by Tracy Chevalier. The editor asked a number of women writers to take the phrase from the last sentence in the novel Jane Eyre and create a story. I liked most of them as the diversity of ideas was really interesting to think about after reading.
There were stories narrated by Grace Poole, Mr. Rochester himself, a modern Jane Eyre and more. There were hasty decisions about accepting proposals, tragedies and comedies. I enjoyed the stories and have to thank Cariola for drawing my attention to this book.

>80 torontoc: Sounds great - and even better, there's a copy at my local library.

It was a good read and like all collections of short stories- some I liked better than others.

48.The Hill Top by Assaf Gavron ( no way to get right touchstone tonight) I found that this story about an illegal settlement on the West Bank was satirical but really too long. I thought that while I liked most of the many characters, the author needed a better editor. Gavron uses this story to comment on the surreal connections and disagreements between the various departments of the Israeli government, and Orthodox and Secular Jews. The reader follows two brothers from their kibbutz childhood to life in Tel Aviv, New York City and finally the small religious settlement of Ma'aleh Hermesh C. Gavron uses satire to deliver a message about the conflicts in Israel. The lives of the settlers are complex and messy. I enjoyed the writing but liked Gavron's first book Almost Dead better.

49. The Night Stages by Jane Urquhart I find that I am "drawn into" all the novels by Jane Urquhart. even if I feel that I don't like the plot initially. This was that kind of book. Urquhart follows the stories of Kenneth Lochhead, the Canadian painter who creates the large mural in the Gander airport, Tam, a woman stranded in the airport after she has left her lover Naill and finally and perhaps most importantly Kieran, Naill's estranged younger brother. The story of Kieran is most dominant in this book. Urquhart uses Kieran's story to describe the geography and folklore of Ireland. Kieran is sent at a young age to live his family's house keeper. Kieran's birth is a traumatic experience for his mother- whose early death is perhaps set off by the circumstances of her drug addition. Kieran has very little contact with his family- as a young man he does manual labour and trains for an important bicycle race that runs through Ireland. Naill's actions are not very commendable in his treatment of his wife or his lover and ultimately his brother. In fact the reader with a contemporary sensibility may wonder about Tam's behaviour considering that she was a pilot during World War Two , ferrying planes between airports in England. Tam's reliance in the men in her relationships seem to paralyze her from living a good life. The novel is set in the fifties- so that might explain her choices. Kieran's story becomes so interesting in the way he grows into maturity. He is betrayed by his brother bur continues his life on his own terms. The ending does not tie up loose ends in the plot- but the descriptions of the lives of all the characters really connected with me, the reader. A great read .

50. Granta 61 The Sea I read this issue for the Non-fiction Challenge on 75 books read - the theme is environment/science. This issue seemed to be on topic. Unfortunately the only article that really talked about environmental concerns was one by Neal Ascherson on " The Case for Butterfish" describing the pollution of the Black Sea. Now this book was published in 1998. I think that today there is a greater understanding of how the environment has been changing. The majority of the articles and stories were about the power of the sea as well as works on ships and fishing. There was a poignant description of the effects of a tsunami in "The Seventh Man" by Haruki Murakami I think that this issue of Granta is also interesting in thinking about how different this topic would have been handled today.

51. The Book of Aron by Jim Shepard This is a hard book to read and then very hard to put down. The author has created the life of a boy living in the Warsaw Ghetto who eventually joins the orphanage of Dr. Janusz Korczak. Korczak was known as an educator and promoter of children's rights. The boy. Aron lives a life of extreme poverty with his family in a small town before they relocate to Warsaw. Relations with his family are not good. Aron grows up in the streets of Warsaw as he joins with other boys to smuggle and steal goods. He makes friends of a sort but soon all family and friends die or are sent to labor camps. The terrible decisions that Aron has to make would be unimaginable to society today. In fact the story is told from the immature point of view of a child. The reader does get a sense of the humanity of Korczak and the sacrifices that he makes. ( he rejects all offers to save him alone and leads his orphanage to the gas chambers of Treblinka) A sobering look at a terrible time in history.

52. The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson. I enjoyed the author's account of his trips from the south to the north of England. Bryson had written a book Notes from a Small Island twenty years ago about similar travels and this new book was really an update. Bryson is a committed walker and many of this small towns and sites were seen by hiking on paths as well by train and car travel. Bryson is an American who lived in Britain for many years ( and recently he took out British citizenship) so his comparisons and comments on the differences of both countries are interesting and amusing. He is not happy with the changes in the British landscape- he sees a destruction of the life of small towns and rural sites. Bryson is not as grumpy as Paul Theroux can be in his travel books- but he still can be caustic when he describes bungling in the train system and customer service. A fun travel read and a bit of a travel memoir as well.

>85 torontoc: I bought that one recently and will bump it up the queue a fair bit based on you excellent review, Cyrel.

Paul, it was good and after reading a number of Holocaust survivor memoirs -this book does feel "authentic".( if someone who was not there can make a judgement)

53.The Last Painting of Sara De Vos by Dominic Smith. I liked the story and structure of this novel. The author tells the story of a Dutch woman painter, Sara De Vos, in the year 1631. In 1957 a young woman, Ellie Shipley, paints an exact copy or forgery of a painting by Sara De Vos. Ellie knows that her work will be part of a switch with the real painting-now in the collection of a private individual. Marty De Grout, a wealthy businessman discovers that his painting was switched with this forgery and works to find out who was involved. In the year 2000. Ellie is now a curator at a gallery in Australia and is confronted with two loans to her upcoming exhibit on Dutch women painters-two owners with the same Sara De Vos painting.The story moves through three time periods effortlessly as the reader finds out how Sara lived and painted and who eventually owns the real painting. The only elements of the novel that I wanted better resolution with are the actual heist of the painting and the moving of real to fake and back again. Still a avery enjoyable novel.

54.Davy The Punk by Bob Bossin I read this book today because I saw the author give a talk last night. Bob Bossin is a great storyteller. He wrote a book that he calls a memoir about his father, Dave Bossin or "Davy the Punk". Bob Bossin's father died when he was a teenager. He did have some memories but investigated and interviewed friends, relatives and some of his father;s associates. Dave Bossin was a bookie's bookie in Toronto in the 1930's to 50's.. He was connected with some powerful American underworld figures although Bob can never get the whole story . His father never spoke about his connections to his son although Bob did hear some stories. The book has more than the life of Dave Bossin. The underworld figures that he associated with are discussed along with anecdotes. I liked the stories of Bob's grandfather and his father's early life. The reader learns about the corruption in Canadian and American police in the 1930's and the change that occurs later in the 1950's. The book was really interesting in connecting local and personal histories.

55. The Best of Sholom Aleichem by Sholom Aleichem edited by Irving Howe and Ruth Wisse I reread this book for my book club. I also went to a wonderful lecture on this writer given by Miriam Udel from Emory University. Reading the stories again and looking at them with a " different lens" so to speak was very different than my first read ( many years ago) Sholem Aleichem writes about the Jews who lived in small towns in the Ukraine and Poland in the late 1880's. His use of the short story format is interesting. There are many interjections from the storyteller or narrator and the climax is not necessarily at the end of the piece. Sometimes there is no resolution. The reader will not always find out what happens in a story.There is the theme of the " swindle" in many of the plots. ( the pious young man dissevered with chicken bones in his pocket on a fast day, the stranger who lost money in the synagogue but later disappears) The editors have a long discussion on the works selected for this book. Two of the most famous of the writer's works are his stories about Tevye the Milkman and the adventures of Mottel the Cantor's son. The selected stories about Tevye give the reader a sense of the real life of a village Jew. The stories are very different than the " Fiddler on the Roof" version. There is more "bitter than sweet". Mottel is a young boy who goes along with his brother's ideas for earning money- usually they don't work out. I think that there is more than humour in these stories- there is both tragedy and hope in the continuing existence of a people.

56. Epitaph A Novel of The O.K. Corral by Mary Doria Russell The author has followed up her previous novel about Doc Holliday ,Doc , with this wonderful story about all the people who had a role in the lead up to and aftermath of the shootings at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone , Arizona in 1881. The reader is introduced to Josie Marcus the young Jewish woman who lived with Johnny Behan and later Wyatt Earp. All the Earp brothers, Morgan and Virgil and their women, the Clanton family , the McLaurys and many of the people living in Tombstone figure in this story of politics, rivalries, and revenge. I loved this book- the language and the characters in this novel seem so real and certainly the author presents a very different picture than the one I saw on TV as a child. ( who knew that the women in saloons were more than " hostesses" -they were prostitutes.) This si a very engrossing story about the west.

57. Look Out For The Fitzgerald-Trouts by Esta Spalding I must admit that as an adult reading this book for young readers I had some problems. The premise of four young children who live in a car on an island, go to school , and take care of themselves is a troubling one for me. I can see the adventure and resourcefulness of the characters. They are all likeable and admirable in how they survive on their own. The creepy part for me comes with the background of being abandoned by the parents who still live on the island and drop by with money every once and a while . The two parents who leave the children on their own and leave bother me as well. ( the family tree is complicated- there are two mothers and two fathers) The book is supposed to be upbeat but the issue of abandonment is further emphasized for me with ( SPOILER) when one of the mothers leaves a newborn baby for the Fitzgerald-Trouts to take care of as well. There might be a resolution at the end but still- do I want to give this book to my eight year old great niece? I might have her mother read part of the book before we make that decision.

58. Collapse How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond Whew! It took me over three weeks to finish reading this book. ( Although I also had a terrible cold for most of July that turned into pneumonia) Diamond writes with incredible attention to detail as he make his points about various societies-past and present-and how they deal with environmental factors that produce failure or success. Diamond covers islands in the Pacific, the Viking colony on Greenland, ancient Native American colonies,present day Montana, the Dominican Republic and Haiti, Australia and China. He shows how various geographical features led to early success and later failure as forests were cleared, and bad choices were made in terms of grazing animals and crops. Essential features of soil that could not sustain crops over a number of years and cycles of good and bad weather are important factors that have led to the demise of certain societies. Although the book was written in 2005 , the material is relevant today as we see the rapidly changing climate and the damage that has been done. Diamond does write about some success stories- New Guinea is one- where the population has constantly looked at changing the way they plant and conserve on the land. There was a little too much repetition for me especially in the section on Greenland but that could be the cold virus talking!

59. The Pursuit of Pearls by Jane Thynne After the heavy reading of my last book this one was fun- the author does create a menacing atmosphere in this series about Clara Vine- a half British and German film actress working in Berlin in 1939. Clara has been working for the British Secret Service and is asked to find out anything about a possible German-Soviet alliance. She is involved with a number of people who may betray her. The author does keep the reader guessing as well as present a few ambiguous figures from history. My favourite is the real Olga Chekhovah a mysterious either Soviet or German spy or both. There is a murder in the plot as well and some new glimpses of Clara's family back in Britain.

60. When Everything Feels Like the Movies by Raziel Reid. This very brutal short novel is about a very damaged teenager who is gay and does not fit into his small town life or school. Jude's life is not perfect, with a mother who strips for a living, her sometime live in boyfriend Ray and his absent father. Jude is friendly with Angela- who is almost as damaged as Jude. Jude has a crush on a boy in school, Luke who is resolutely not interested in him . Jude is attacked and hurt many times as he chronicles his life as though he is in a movie. This book was a finalist in the last Canada Reads and the author won a Governor General Literary award. It is brief and shocking with casual violence and fascinating in the depiction of a teenager who does not fit in and makes very bad decisions.

61. The Nazi Officer's Wife by Edith Hahn Beer and Susan Dworkin This memoir is another source on how a Jewish woman was able to survive the Holocaust with the help of a good friend. Edith Hahn's story is unusual in that she married a German man working for the Nazis while in disguise- she did admit to him that she was Jewish but they still got married. Edith's good friend in her home town of Vienna pretended to lose her papers and was able to give them to Edith. Born in Vienna, the author describes her life in pre-war Austria, her experience in a forced work farm and paper factory in Germany and her life after the war. She and her husband were divorced and she and her daughter went to live in England. A very interesting account.

62. Just Send Me Word A True Story of Love and Survival in the Gulag by Orlando Figes Lev Mishchenko and Svetlana Ivanova were sweethearts in Moscow before the second world war. Lev joined the Russian army, was captured by the Germans and spent time in a concentration camp. After the war, Lev was charged as a traitor and sent to the Gulag for 10 years. Both Lev and Svetlana kept up an extraordinary correspondence that they managed to save. This collection of love letters was given to the Memorial Archive in Moscow- the letters are considered the biggest known collection of private letters "relating to the history of the Gulag". Figes has given the reader a narrative of the lives of Lev and Svetlana along with many examples of their letters. Svetlana visited Lev in the Gulag a number of times. Figes describes the everyday life in the Gulag, the many prisoners and friends who helped the couple and their reunion and marriage in 1955. This is a good story -the letters are true love letters between the two. It is also a history of the life in Stalin's Soviet Union in the late 1940's and early 1950's. A great read that I will go back to again and again- the letters reaffirm faith in humanity.

>97 torontoc: Uncle Joe was not much better than Adolf was he? Almost as many people suffered at his hands and nearly as systematically. I dread to think what would have happened if Hitler had not decided to turn on the Russians in the last war with only Great Britain and the Commonwealth nations still in the fray?

Have a lovely weekend, Cyrel.

>98 PaulCranswick: Yes, I read a very good history on that very subject three years ago-Bloodlands Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder

63. The End of Days A Story of Tolerance, Tyranny, and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain by Erna Paris This is a reread for me. The author divides the book into two parts. In the first section, Paris describes the history of the Jews, Muslims and Christians in early Spain. She shows how there was a real golden age of learning in literature, languages, philosophy medicine and more. Paris traces the change that occurs as the Christian kings conquer Spain and take over from Muslim rule. The role of Christian religion, the beginnings of violence, and forced conversions lead to the establishment of the Inquisition and finally the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. In the second part of the book Paris tries to understand how Spanish society moved from tolerance to hate. She draws comparisons with Germany and the Nazis. This is a very thought provoking book and I was interested to revisit it again.

>99 torontoc: I haven't heard of that book Cyrel, but, it becomes yet another I must task myself to seek out.

Have a lovely Sunday,

>100 PaulCranswick: It was very inspirational to read the letters!
Thank you!

64. The Love song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce This book is the sequel to the author's first-The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. It really helps to read this book first so that Queenie's story makes more sense and you, the reader, can tie up loose ends. The story of Queenie and why she leaves the brewery and does not have any contact with Harold for over twenty years is explained in this novel. The reader learns of her illness and stay in the hospice along with some very interesting patients and nurses. So while Harold is walking to see her, Queenie is writing out the story of her life and the things that she did not tell Harold. ( spoiler if you haven't read the first book) Harold and his wife Maureen were devastated by the suicide of their son, David. In Queenie's letter that she writes in the hospice, she talks about her relationship with David and what she never told Harold. I thought that the author used an unfortunate plot twist in the last page of the book-it did spoil part of the plot for me. Was the book as good as the first-they both were very touching but the first book had more interest for me.

65. Stalins' Daughter by Rosemary Sullivan This is indeed a chunkster at 623 pages but still fascinating. The author ( whose work I really like) has pulled together the story of Stalin's daughter , Svetlana, from her early privileged life, to her defection to the US and her various involvements with men and various personalities. I didn't realize that the widow of Frank Llloyd Wright plotted to marry Svetlana to Wesley Peters, the chief architect at Taliesin West in order to get access to her supposed fortune. The plot did work but Svetlana got out as she did with all her marriages. The details of life in the Soviet Union, her escape to the US not one but two times and her habit of moving constantly suggest the problems with her upbringing and expectations. I enjoyed this biography.

66. Smoke by Dan Vyleta I am a fan of the novels by this author. And I wasn't disappointed in his latest novel. Vyleta creates a distopian vision of a vaguely early 20th century ( may late Victorian) Britain. When people sin or have wicked thoughts a Smoke comes from their bodies. The society is sharply divided into an upper class that live mainly in the country and control all industry. The lower classes barely survive in the mines or in London- a cesspool of sin (and soot) and anarchy. This plot has many components that remind me of the work of Charles Dickens. There is the boys school where two of the main characters -Charlie and Thomas study and are bullied by the sinister Julius, the Christmas visit to estate of Thomas's aunt and her rebellious daughter Livia, the near assassination of the boys, and the quest to find out what Smoke really is and the plot to change English society. A great story that I really enjoyed!

67. The Glory of the Empire A Novel, A History by Jean D'Ormesson This is a very intriguing book- it reads as a sombre history of the great empire set somewhere near present day Turkey( maybe) that ruled over much of the known civilized world. There are footnotes and references to real historians, philosophers and diarists. The book gives the reader much information on the emperors, the disputes between rival cities, and the conquests. However, the book is all fiction- the story and detailed drawings and maps are all inventions of the author. So in a sense this book describes a vast fictional empire. The author uses his knowledge of the past to integrate his fictional array of rivalries, and royal families into a complex plot of the development of a great civilization. An interesting read.

68. We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo. This novel was terrific- the author tells the story of a young 10 year old girl-Darling - who is living in the new Zimbabwe. Her family had gone from a comfortable existence with university educated parents to subsistence living in a hut with perhaps a grandmother and mother- the father had gone to South Africa. Darling and her friends don't go to school as the teachers all left the area and they spend their time stealing guavas from a wealthy area and making up games that could be dangerous. The contrast when Darling is sent to the United States to be with her aunt in Michigan is striking. Yet Bulawayo regrets the exodus from her native land and the life that she once led. The descriptions of life both in Zimbabwe and the United States shows how this group of refugees or really, survivors exist. The never ending work in the United States and the striving for university education for the young generation is told with sensitivity. I thought that the ending was a little abrupt ( maybe the author will write a sequel) but enjoyed the writing and story.

69. The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes. I thought that this novel about three incidents in the life of the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich was excellent.Also I did read the article by music scholar Richard Taruskin in the New York Times. Taruskin finds fault with the portrayal of the composer as a victim and doesn't like the two main sources of information on Shostakovich's life that Barnes uses. I must admit that after reading the book I thought that the criticisms were not really fair. Barnes portrays the composer as someone who understands the humiliations that he has gone through in order to survive and knows that he also prospered by doing so. The attack on Stravinsky in New York, and the forced joining of the Communist party were accompanied by thoughts in this book on how these actions would be seen by a larger audience. However the doubts and anxiety of living in the Soviet Union are important themes to me in this novel. The language in this work is excellent.

>69 torontoc: Nice review of The Noise of Time, Cyrel, and thanks for mentioning that article in yesterday's NYT. I'll probably start reading this book tomorrow or Wednesday.

>107 kidzdoc: Thanks- I enjoyed that book.

70. Alexandrian Summer by Yitzhak Gormezano Goren I enjoyed the idea of this novel as opposed to the actual work itself. Let me explain. The introduction by Andre Aciman places the story in Egypt in the early 1950's just before the majority of the Jewish population had to leave the country. Aciman talks about his own experience and that of the author. The lifestyle of this Jewish community would never be the same again. The longing and memories of the community are best described to me in Lucette Lagnado's memoir The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit. This story really doesn't touch on the tensions that led the most Jews to leave although two of the brothers in one family have moved to Israel and the round about way that they send letters to their family is described. The story is about a number of families that board in a residence in Alexandria for the summer- there is the daughter who refuses the proposal of the handsome young jockey. We meet the many elderly women who speak a variety of languages- Ladino, French and Greek- and the young boys who indulge in forbidden activities. In fact the reader doesn't learn enough about some of the characters as the author moves on to another person and their partial story. I would suggest other authors if there is an interest in the life of Egyptian Jews in the 20th century.

71. Caspian Rain by Gina B. Nahai This novel was so well written and so sad. The narrator is a young girl living in Tehran at the time of the Shah,Yaas. Yaas tells the reader about her parents- Behar and Omid. Behar is 16 years old when she meets Omid. Behar's family are poor Jews who have a son who is an opera singer who doesn't sing and an abused married daughter who does not complain. Behar is an impressionable school girl who does fall for Omid, a wealthy young man who has just been left by his fiancé. Omid is determined to marry Behar although his wealthy parents object. The resulting marriage is not happy as Behar is not able in that society to continue school. She is isolated in a house in a not so good area of Tehran and ignored by her new in-laws, their friends and Omid himself. He becomes obsessed with a beautiful Muslim woman who is the lover of a wealthy man. The daughter Yaas has a disability that is hidden by her mother and the result is tragedy. Omid himself abandons his wife and daughter to leave Iran with his mistress. The humiliations suffered by the women in this novel probably reflect the norms of that society. Today the reader will recognize that the suffering in this work still take place in some societies. I wasn't prepared for the ending but I was drawn into the story.

72. Cry of the Peacock by Gina B.Nahai I do like this author's writing style but not all of this story. Nahai relates the history of Persia/ Iran while she is describing a Jewish family from 1796 to 1982. The story involves characters associated with the power of foretelling the future. The various women and men suffer from deprivation in the ghetto or power when they leave and associate with rulers of Persia. The women suffer from early marriages, infidelity, desertion and more. The people of this novel are not all good and usually make bad decisions.

73. A Future Without Hate or Need The Promise of the Jewish Left in Canada by Ester Reiter The author writes about the group of organizations that combined to become the United Jewish People's Order. They were known for their adherence to communist principles and ideas-many of the leaders were members of the Communist party, although the author points out that the organizations were not directly controlled by the Communist party and deviated from some of their directives ( and the author is taking about the history from about 1920's and earlier to the 1960's and later) This group was and is by no means the only leftist group in North America. So the organizations that were on the left but rival groups to the UJPO are not described. The author does concentrate on the many activities that attracted Jewish workers to the UJPO summer camps, afternoon schools for childen choirs, mandolin orchestras and reading circles. The emphasis on Yiddish culture and language was an important part of all the cultural groups. Now, there is one problem I have with this book. There were a number of leaders within this group that left in about 1956 when Khrushchev gave his "secret speech" - the murder of many Soviet Jewish writers was shocking to some of the party faithful. I thought that those who left in the 1950's ( and formed their own organization) should have been acknowledged for their pioneering work for this group from 1920's to the 1950's. However the split was so acrimonious that UJPO members still cannot talk about those who left the organization without bitterness. The camp in Ontario is still operating and there still is an UJPO organization. But the many cultural groups are gone and the school system is not as it was in the twentieth century. The other leftist groups are also not what they were. The leaders of all the leftist groups that were important have all died. Their children remain. The book is an interesting history about one of the many leftist organizations that helped Jewish workers in the early and mid 20th century.

74. The Illuminated Life of Maud Lewis by Lance Woolaver. After I saw the film based on the life of Maud Lewis, I rushed out to get a book on her paintings and life. This book provides both. the illustration of the paintings are wonderful. Maud Lewis had a hard life- she had very bad arthritis and was partially crippled as she became older. She had a child " out of wedlock" as the old saying goes and never reconnected as the child was adapted. Maud lived with an aunt and then answered an ad for a housekeeper for Everett Lewis. They married and Maud and Everett lived in poverty in a very small house ( 12 ' x 12' ) with no electricity or plumbing. Maud painted near her front window and sold her paintings from her house. The author 's father was one of Maud's supporters. The house was painted with Maud's work from the door to the walls- it is now on display at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. This is a great book to view!

75. Conspiracy by S.J. Parris This adventure is the latest in the series featuring Giordano Bruno. Bruno is now in France having left England. He had to leave because he was no longer welcome by the new French ambassador to England. In this very complex story Bruno is asked to find the killer of a priest who in turn was part of a group that hated the present King of France. Henri, the king also was interested in finding the killers as popular sentiment viewed him as the reason why this priest was murdered. However, Bruno becomes involved in the solving of two more murders that directly threatened the French Royal Family. At the same time he was looking for Sophia, a young woman who he had helped in England but who in turn betrayed him. Add to this the request by Walsingham to keep an eye on some suspicious people in the English embassy and.. there is a complicated set of plots that Bruno does solve. In this adventure, Bruno does make some mistakes that land him in trouble but I still like the series.

Congrats on hitting 75!

Thank you!

76. Rules of Civility by Amor Towles Sometimes I come across a narrative that is so easy to read and understand. This novel is one where I was immediately interested in the life of Katie Kontent, a young woman working in New York City in 1938. Katie and her friend Eve meet a young man who seems to be one of the upper class New Yorkers with friends and money that give access to the right clubs and homes. Tinker and Eve eventually get together as a result of a bad car crash and travel to Europe. Katie was a secretary in a big legal firm but she leaves and gets a job as an assistant for a fashionable magazine. The story is about the truths that Katie learns as she has a series of relationships with men of upper social classes. In a way two of these men change their destiny by leaving the society that they grew up in and make decisions that give a them for better or worse a sense of contributing to mainstream society. Katie is helped by some of the people that she believes live better lives than she ever could but she realizes how much she has changed by her association with them. a good book

77. The Mother Tongue English and How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson I enjoyed this book about the origins of the English language, and the differences in American and British words. Bryson also covered names, word games and pronunciation.

78. Kay's Lucky Coin Variety by Ann Y. K. Choi This novel is set in Toronto. Mary is a first generation Korean Canadian- her parents own a variety store and the family ( her parents and brother) live in an apartment above the store. Mary's life consists of school and helping her parents run the store. She wants to be a writer and is resentful at her treatment by her mother who has her own ideas about Mary's future. Mary is a bit of a rebel, surviving an attack in the store and charting her own relationships with her friends. Mary does learn about her mother's past after a trip to Korea. She also becomes involved with a boy who her parents would like her to marry. There are several traumatic events that involve Mary, her family and friends that lead her to find her own future.This is a really nice coming of age story complicated by Mary's feelings and discoveries about her family's past.

>117 torontoc: That sounds like an interesting read, Cyrel. I'll keep my eye out for it.

I see that you ghosted beyond 75 whilst I was away in the UK and Ghana. Congratulations, Cyrel, even though, you seem well behind your normal reading numbers this year.

Have a lovely weekend.

>119 PaulCranswick: - yes, recently I had a very bad summer ( pneumonia and awful cold) and had two cataract operations- but I see much better!

79. The Edge of the World How the North Sea Made Us Who We Are by Michael Pye. This history outlines how the people who lived in towns centred around the North Sea were responsible for practices that have influenced civilization today. Pye believes that there were a number of accomplishments developed during the so-called Dark Ages that are an essential part of modern society. The author looks at the role of women, the Hansa traders, the development of a stable currency and the development of trade and investment markets. He covers the role of the Vikings and merchants in Flanders, England, Norway and Iceland. I found that this book covered areas of history that I was not aware of including how the plague changed later working conditions and traveling customs for tradesmen and peasants. This was a very compelling read for me.

80. The Old Gringo by Carlos FuentesThis novel imagines the fate of the real American writer Ambrose Bierce- who disappeared in Mexico during their civil war. He is personified as the " Old Gringo" a man who travels to Mexico to die. He finds one of the rebel groups although not that of Pancho Villa and travels and fights with them. The Old Gringo meets a woman who is with this band of fighters because she had travelled to Mexico to become a teacher with a wealthy family. The family fled leaving her at their estate. Harriet Winslow has her own secrets and becomes involved with both the Old Gringo and the Mexican fighter General Arroyo. The story is told in a very poetic kind of prose as the author relates the stories of the Mexican peasants and what made them revolt. The reader hears about the histories of all the main characters and the inevitable end of the Old Gringo is described. This very interesting book is composed like a sort of epic poem.

81. The Darkest Dark by Chris Hadfield This book is beautifully illustrated and the story is suitable for young children. Astronaut and author Chris Hadfield writes about a little boy who is afraid of the dark and has trouble sleeping. He does want to go into space however and dreamed of becoming an astronaut. One night when he and his parents are vacationing on an island, they are invited to view astronauts on the moon on a neighbour's television. This feat inspired the boy to view darkness positively and to think about the power of the universe. The book ends with Chris Hadfield's own story about dreaming and the steps he took in his career to become an astronaut. In fact the book has photos of Hadfield in space and as a young boy. I think that the illustrations are so important in this story as they add to the theme of the wonder and mystery of outer space. A very good book for children.

82. Fracture Life and Culture in the West , 1918-1938 by Philipp Blom This book is a social history of the years between the two world wars. Blom covers an amazing range of topics- from dance to jazz to film to science and art. He also gives a brief description of the major historical events in Germany, Spain, Russia, Italy and the United States. Blom writes about the range of political events, the economics of the period and the contrast of innovation and despair that describes the time.This book gives a very good overview of the culture and politics of Europe and the United States during the 1918-1938 time period.

83. Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson.This novel won the 2007 Impact International Dublin Award- I had heard of it and had the book in my book pile. Having read it, I was so impressed with the creation of characters, the description of the isolated woods where most of the action takes place and the story. The reader learns about the life of an elderly man ( not so old really), Trond, as he establishes himself in an isolated cabin in the far east of Norway. He is alone after the death of his wife although we learn that he has almost abandoned his daughters and their families. He reminisces about his summer in 1948 as a fifteen year old living with his father in a cabin also isolated but close to the border with Sweden. We learn about a number of traumatic acts that take place that summer and the role of Trond's father in the resistance to the Germans during World War Two. Really, one of the major themes in this novel is abandonment and the effects on the younger generation. The effect that Trond's father's actions during that summer certainly shape this young man and his later actions as an older person. a very worthwhile read for me.

84. Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing by Tomson Highway This play was written in 1989 by a noted Indigenous playwright in Canada. The author had previously written another play The Rez Sisters about women living on a reserve in Ontario and Dry Lips is considered a companion piece - with the men on the reserve as the main focus. The story covers the rivalries for love and more in this expressionistic view of life on the reserve. The women- never seen except for one character who is both goddess and specific women- have formed a hockey team. The audience follows the action from the viewpoint of the men. The concerns are tragic and funny at different points in the story. Highway uses a combination of music, mime and dance to explore the concerns of indigenous people who live on the reservation in the late 1980's. I must find and read The Rez Sisters now.

>125 torontoc: What a great name for a writer. I guess the critics said he was heading nowhere!

Have a lovely weekend, Cyrel.

85. Bloomsbury Ballerina by Judith Mackrell Hmm the touchstone has the author name spelled incorrectly in the book heading..
This biography relates the history of a very interesting woman- Lydia Lopokova- a Russian ballet dancer who danced with the Ballet Russes directed by Diaghilev and who later married John Maynard Keynes-the noted economist and member of the " Bloomsbury" group of writers and artists. The author shows how Lopokova worked with many of the early ballet great names- Massine and Nijinsky- and later was instrumental in establishing a ballet group that was the forerunner of the great British ballet companies. Lopokova travelled and lived in the United States after she left the Ballet Russes and later lived in England for the rest of her life. This is a very interesting history that covers early 20th century ballet history as well as the biography of JohnMaynard Keynes and Lydia Lopokova.

86. The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart. This was a nice book to read. The author lives in Paris and he rediscovered his passion for pianos and playing music. Carhart was always curious about a piano repair shop in the area where he lived. However, it was either closed or he was rebuffed in his attempts to see the pianos. Carhart learned that he needed an introduction from a former client to gain entrance to the shop. After he got one from a friend, Carhart was able to start a friendship with the owner, Luc. The reader also learns about the history of piano making, the various qualities of the different manufacturers past and present of pianos, and Carhart's own purchase of a piano and new work in learning how to play after many years away from lessons. Some of the sections in the book seem a little choppy as the actual science of the piano is explained along with some past history of Carhart's piano lessons. I did enjoy the book.

87. The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber This novel has a science fiction theme but the ideas and characters are more -hmm- universal? Peter is a minister who is travels to a planet many light years away from earth. The natives have requested a priest who can continue the religious work that was started by a previous pastor. Peter's wife, Bea plays an important role in this story as she writes to Peter about the disintegration of Earth and her feelings about their relationship. A corporation had established a base on the planet and were dependent on the natives or Oasans for food products. Peter is revealed to be a very directed person as he concentrates on building a church for the Oasans and translating the bible for them. He has a religious intensity that governs his actions. The Oasans do not give up their secrets- all the reader knows is that many are intense believers in Christianity and that they have a need for the drugs that the people from Earth can provide. Peter neglects his own health and the reader learns how important Bea is to him- emotionally and practically. There are many mysteries in the story- what happened to the first minister and what exactly is the purpose of the base. How have the disasters on Earth impacted on the mission to this planet. Peter has a choice to make and at the end the reader is left with the unknown-the same as Peter . This was a very interesting book-

I read The Book of Strange New Things and had similar reactions to yours--don't you feel kind of unsettled, kind of unsure how to describe the book? You did a great job! but it is difficult to explain, I think. I was glad I read it. I wonder what else Faber has written (hmm...I may have to do some research).

Karen O.

Yeah, that was a tough one to pin down. Good, though.

I agree- I actually liked the ending-

88.Lesson of the Masters by George Steiner ( touchstone doesn't work this morning) I read this book as part of the monthly Non-Fiction Challenge for November. Have you ever been to a lecture or read a book ( this book ) where you don't understand 70% of the references and have a hard time following the argument? However what I did retain is fascinating. Steiner wrote and lectured on this topic as part of the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University in 2001-2. Each chapter covers a different aspect of the topic. Steiner explores the very nature of teaching and begins with the Greek scholars. He talks about the ability to impart great ideas and the intense relationship between what he calls Master and disciple. Steiner covers the idea of rebelling or surpassing the Master and knowing when to leave. The references cover such a wide group -Abelard and Heloise, Faust, ( I did know this reference well having seen many operas) Virgil and Dante, Socrates and Alcibiades, the gifted piano teacher and master- Nadia Boulanger, Saul Bellow and the Baal Shem Tov Rabbi and his disciples. There are many more. Steiner really examines the nature of teaching and the importance of oral discourse in addition to the written word. This is a volume that I can return to again.

89. Granta 109 Work edited by John Freeman I am catching up on some old issues of Granta. The theme of work is demonstrated by memoires of life in Africa, stories of life working in a factory and a friendship with one employee, and an interview with an inventor of robots. This are many more authors writing about personal experiences of work and life in many diverse countries.

90. My Promised Land by Ari Shavit I read this book because it will be reviewed by my book club this month. Shavit has just got himself into trouble recently with claims of harassment by female journalists in Israel. Not that present behaviour made a difference in my understanding of this book. Shavit gives the reader a highly personalized history of Israel. He interviews people he considers key in certain events that took place that he believes shaped the country. He starts with the visit of his great grandfather, Herbert Bentwich to Palestine in 1897. Shavit looks at the beginnings of Jewish settlements, the effects on neighbouring Arab villages and the resultant events that shaped the country. He writes about the various wars, the development of the nuclear reactor at Dimona and the rise of the Sepharidic Orthodox right wing party Shas . Shavit assigns blame to all groups for the past and present conflicts- right and left, Arabs and Jewish settlers. In a way he provides for and doesn't give answers to some of the contemporary issues that plague the region. A troubling but well worth reading of the issues.

91. Guilt About the Past by Bernhard Schlink I also pulled this book out of the TBR pile for the November Non-Fiction challenge. Each chapter covers a different aspect of coming to terms with the past- in this case, mainly, the Holocaust and collective responsibility. All six chapters were based on the Weidenfeld Lectures delivered at Oxford University by the author. Bernhard Schlink has a legal background and his arguments are based on close definitions of past guilt and the effects on present and future generations.I must admit that I found it easier to follow the author's reasoning when he used example as opposed to talking in theory only.

92. My Mother's Sabbath Days a memoir by Chaim Grade This book was translated from the Yiddish. Grade writes from the viewpoint of his mother, Vella, living in poverty in Vilna before the Second World War and then from his experiences fleeing from the Nazi invasion to Soviet Russia. The language is so inspiring-the reader experiences the fervent religious feeling of Vella as she celebrates the Sabbath after backbreaking work as a poor seller of fruits and vegetables outside a gate in the city. Vella lives in one room in a Smithy- her husband died and the relatives were not generous to her. Her husband was married before and the complex number of step children were grown up and living in different cities. The story follows the tradespeople and the problems and uncertainty that they faced in Vilna. Vella's only son- Chaim was a Torah scholar before he decided to stop studying and become a writer. The reader learns of Chaim's marriage to a nurse Frumme-Liebche and the actions that they take when the Germans invade. Both Chaim's mother and wife believe that only Chaim is in danger- they thought that women and children were safe from the invaders. Chaim flees to Russian and we learn about the hardships faced by the many refugees and their fate in Russia. The last part of the book has Chaim coming back to Vilna after the war and trying to find out what happened to Vella and Frumme- Liebche. Chaim's despair, guilt and mourning provide the reader with the enormous sense of the tragedy of loss. A beautifully written book and very sad story.

93. What Went Wrong The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East by Bernard Lewis. This slim volume offers a description of the differences between Western and Muslim governments and resulting civilizations. Lewis was trying to look at the differences in cultures. He looks at the time when Islam was the power in science, discovery and military achievement and the West was considered more primitive. Lewis described the shift when the West became dominant and the Islamic civilization was no longer the leader in the areas of military dominance in the world and intellectual discovery. A very interesting examination-

94. The Hidden Keys by Andre Alexis. Alexis was last year's Giller Prize winner but this new book is not in the same category as Fifteen Dogs-although the writer does use his characters to talk about quality of life. This book is about a mystery and a puzzle. Tancredi Palmieri is a talented thief who carries on his " trade" in Toronto. He meets a heroin addict, Willow Azarian. Willow is very rich and is obsessed with the gifts that her late father gave to each of his children. Willow is sure that the various objects have clues that will lead to a significant treasure. She asks Tancredi to steal the objects and help her figure out the puzzle. Tancredi agrees and his actions lead him to a number of adventures-sometimes aided or hindered by a nasty drug dealer and his psychopath friend, a mysterious taxidermist and a policeman friend. The book was fun to read-but the plot was easy to figure out.

95. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. This young adult story has a Holocaust theme and I have mixed feelings about it. Bruno is a young boy who moves with his family from Berlin to a house in the middle of many fields and fences. ( the reader finds out later that the place is Auschwitz). He is unhappy until he meets a young boy named Shmuel behind a fence. They become friends and Bruno learns a little about the camp that his father is in charge of-and the ending of the story is very sad. I figured out what was going to happen very early in the story. Was the writer exploiting the facts of the Holocaust for his novel? Are the memoirs of survivors more powerful than made up fictions about the events of the war? Do we need fictions rather than history to remind us of what happened? I don't have the answers but have to think about these queries after reading this novel.

96. Swan Lake by Mark Helprin and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg This book has beautiful and very traditional illustrations. The book is the author's take on rewriting the ballet Swan Lake and creating a new story. The story is really not for children and is very adult. There are all of people dying( spoiler) with a little bit of hope at the end. The Swans are integrated into this work in a very satisfying way. I am not sure whether the author was trying to use the idea of fairytales that are not all "Disney happy". An interesting reread.

97.Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood The author has rewritten and interpreted Shakespeare's play The Tempest. The story of revenge takes on a new meaning when the main character, Felix Phillips presents a new version of the play in the Fletcher County Correctional Institute. Felix used to be the artistic director of the famed Makeshiweg Theatre Festival but was pushed out of his job by his assistant. He had been living in an exile for a number of years before he gets a job teaching theatre and specifically Shakespeare in the prison. Like Prospero, Felix plans his revenge carefully. His students in the prison take on plays and present new versions using video. Eventually Felix is able to confront his enemies and reach a very satisfactory conclusion. For most of his life in exile Felix has been haunted by the spirit of his daughter Miranda-who died at a very young age- she seems to help him through the worst of his own exile until he achieves stability. The plot also involves the characters giving the reader new interpretations of good and evil and the life of The Tempest after the end of the play. I found a lot to think about. I also liked the author's tribute to the late Robin Phillips- the long time artistic director of the Stratford Shakespearean Festival.

98. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett The author has created a fractured family of step brothers and sisters that begins when Bert Cousins goes uninvited to a christening party and kisses the mother of the child. The split leads to six children who live alternately in California and Virginia. A tragedy separates the families and the reader learns about the lives of the parents and children over many decades. The structure of the novel is skillfully organized by the author. There is another key plot device-Franny the grownup child whose christening party set off the series of events that changed the lives of the families- has a long affair with a famous author. He takes the story of her family and turns it into his comeback novel. This book also sets off a reaction that helps some members of the family examine their conduct in the face of tragedy. A very complex and interesting novel.

99. The Wonder by Emma DonoghueThe last three books that I have read were really good! Donoghue has taken stories of " the Fasting Girls"- women who survived without food- and she has created a story that shows the best and worst of the excesses of blind faith and redemption of the soul. Lib is a nurse who was with Florence Nightingale in the Crimea. She has taken a brief leave from her post at a hospital in England and travelled to Ireland. Lib, along with a nun with nursing experience, will observe a young girl who has refused food for four months. The job is to see if Anna, the eleven year old, is really existing on a few teaspoons of water a day. The church, the village and Anna's parents believe that this miracle is true but a committee of village elders wants to validate this , perhaps , miracle. Lib finds a family that is very religious and believing of their daughter's sacrifice. Anna's health deteriorates at an alarming rate. Lib is skeptical and tries to find out why Anna wants to take on this act and what the sins of her recently deceased brother have to do with her decision. What Lib finds out is shocking and she is helped by a visiting journalist who has been trying to see Anna. The novel looks at the issues of sin and blind faith that led a young girl to feel that she must give herself up to this dangerous act. A really good story!

>143 torontoc: Looks like a winner to me too, Cyrel. I have seen some mixed reviews of it but the synopsis looks very interesting.

Have a great weekend.

Great review of The Wonder, Cyrel. I'll add it to my wish list.

100. Nutshell by Ian McEwan A number of authors have taken on the challenge of using a Shakespearean play as the starting point for a new story. McEwan uses the story of Hamlet to create a new story and what a story. The narrator is an unborn baby in the womb of Trudy- a woman who is having a torrid affair with her husband's brother, Claude. Claude and Trudy are plotting to get rid of the father-John- and sell his valuable but crumbling house. John is a poet and author who has moved out of this same family house to give Trudy some space. The plot to kill John is horrible- and the narrator-the baby- sees and hears all the details but is helpless to do anything. There are some complications set in place by John. The plot is both funny and horrifying at the same time. This is a fast paced story and well written take on the Hamlet plot. I enjoyed it very much.

Looks like a great book to bring up your 100th this year Cyrel.

Nice review of Nutshell, Cyrel. I may be able to squeeze it in this month if next week isn't too busy.

Congratulations on reaching the century mark (in books, not years)!

Wouldn't it be nice if 2017 was a year of peace and goodwill.
A year where people set aside their religious and racial differences.
A year where intolerance is given short shrift.
A year where hatred is replaced by, at the very least, respect.
A year where those in need are not looked upon as a burden but as a blessing.
A year where the commonality of man and woman rises up against those who would seek to subvert and divide.
A year without bombs, or shootings, or beheadings, or rape, or abuse, or spite.

2017.

Festive Greetings and a few wishes from Malaysia!

Thank you!
101.Berlin in Lights The Diaries of Count Harry Kessler ( 1918-1937) This is the second volume of the diaries. I read Kessler's first set last year and this book focuses on the author's political participation right after World War One. Kessler was at one point the Ambassador to Poland right after the war. He was very involved in promoting the concept of a League of Nations and did take part in some negotiations regarding Germany's reparations. Similar to the first volume , Kessler seemed to know everybody from the sculptor Maillol to the most important writers and playwrights in Germany, France and England. He was the owner of the Cranach Press and produced beautiful volumes illustrated by some of the most noted artists of the time. He wrote about the disintegration of the political system in German and the rise of Hitler. in fact in 1933 he was advised to leave Germany because of his political views. Kessler died in 1937. His diaries invoke the lost world of the late 19th century. A very good read.

102. Adolfo Kaminsky A Forger's Life by Sarah Kaminsky This is a very interesting memoir/biography written by the subject's daughter. Sarah Kaminsky learned slowly about her father's exploits during the Second World War. She knew that she had a step-sister and brother that were 30 years older than her. But for most of her early upbringing she had parents who had jobs and raised her and her brothers like an ordinary family in Paris. She asked her father if she could write about his life story as more details were made known to her. He agreed and this story was written and has been translated from the French into many languages. The author writes as if she were her father ( who is alive and in his nineties) as she was not happy with writing about him in the third person. Adolfo was trained as a dyer and learned about chemistry on his own. During the Second World War he joined the French Resistance and forged all kinds of identity papers. After the war, he did work as a photographer but helped many groups with forged papers- and never asked for money. The list is amazing. Adolfo Kaminsky forged documents for groups from all over the world- and did so until 1971. He sacrificed his own personal life in order to save many people with his work. The book is well written and if the reader wants to hear from the author- google "Sarah Kaminsky" and listen to her 2010 Ted talk in Paris about her father.The talk is , like the book, very inspirational.

Looking forward to your continued company in 2017.
Happy New Year, Cyrel