The Disappeared - Kim Echlin

I actually finished this book a week ago (and stayed up far too late one night in order to finish it), but I've had a bad cold this week and have been indulging in L.M. Montgomery re-reads. I'm feeling better now, so time to get back on track with the Giller shortlist.

I knew going into it that a book set in Cambodia in the second half of the 20th century entitled "The Disappeared" wouldn't have a happy ending, but I didn't anticipate just how beautifully it would be written. The book is short (only 228 pages), and there is not one word missing or one word too many. And some of the sentences were so beautifully constructed that I would stop in my tracks and contemplate just that sentence. A lot of the beauty comes from the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas - for example: "The waiters watched and pretended not to see," or "The strangeness of my love for you is that it has made me dead in life and you alive in death."

The plot is very simple - a young girl in Montreal falls in love with a Cambodian refugee in the 1970s. The refugee returns home to Cambodia as soon as the border opens; she follows him 10 years later; they are re-united; and then he disappears. Love found; love lost; love found again; love lost again.

I have never been to south-east Asia, but with the beauty of the writing, I felt as though I had been transported there. Some day I will go, and discover if this book was realistic in it's portrayal.

One quibble with the writing style (and not only in this book, but it seems to be the case in many that are written these days). What is wrong with quotation marks? A simple punctuation mark that indicates external speech. Yes, your writing may then appear to be edgy and modern when the quotation marks are omitted, but it also becomes somewhat ambiguous and hard to follow dialogue. Hopefully this is a trend that will pass, and in the future, scholars will read books and be able to date them to this era by the lack of quotations marks (or other punctuation). And yes, I may be the only one that this bothers - after all, I am the self-proclaimed Queen of the Semicolon, and a Royal Pain in the 'S.

(Stepping off my soapbox now.)

On an unrelated note, I have been dared by my cousin to read Twilight. I have so far managed to avoid the hype surrounding the books/films, partly because the mass-marketing of them doesn't appeal to me, and neither do vampires in general; however there is now a $25 bookstore gift card riding on it. If I like Twilight better than anything else on my TBR book, I will pay up, but if another book is better than Twilight, she will pay me. Twilight will have to be quite spectacular indeed to surpass The Disappeared. I've placed a copy on hold at the local library - stay tuned here for my progress in this challenge.

The Disappeared was read as part of The Canadian Book Challenge at The Book Mine Set.

The Bishop's Man - Linden MacIntyre

I chose to begin my Giller Shortlist read-athon with this book, since it was one that I had previously looked at in the bookstore, and probably would have read eventually even if it hadn't been nominated. And I wasn't disappointed.

Basically, it is a fictionalized account of the abuse that happened in the Catholic church that came to light over the past 15 years or so. And talk about timely. The week before the shortlist was announced, Bishop Raymond Lahey of Antigonish (Nova Scotia), who had previously worked to negotiate deals for people who had been abused by priests, was charged with possession of child pornography. In the book, the protagonist, Fr MacAskill, the "Bishop's Man," is a priest who is the right-hand man to the bishop of Antigonish, and whose main job over the years has been dealing with priests who stepped out of line. Unfortunately, both in the book and in real life, dealing with these wayward priests usually only meant shuffling them to a different diocese, province, or country. The book deals with the fall-out of this, as what happened begins to become publicly known.

While difficult in subject matter, I found this book to be very gripping and easy to read. I was reading it over the Thanksgiving weekend while staying with my sister, and my biggest fear was that I was going to finish it before I got home, and be stranded with nothing to read! (I, in fact, finished it in the Toronto airport on my way home while waiting for my flight to depart.) Admittedly, some of the foreshadowing is a bit heavy-handed, but it is balanced out by the fact that some of the foreshadowing was a red herring so I was surprised when the events unfolded. And I thought that the ending was just about perfect - all of the main loose ends tied up, with just enough ambiguity to make it realistic.

If I have one criticism, it is that the characters were a bit wooden and two-dimensional at times. Yes, Fr. MacAskill is an alcoholic, but you don't have to have him pouring himself a drink or two every second sentence. And he is a bit thick not to have recognized himself as an alcoholic, especially given his past work. And the people that he encounters don't get developed very far, with a few exceptions. But this could be because the story is told as a first-person narrative. If I were telling the story of my life, do I know the people around me well enough to make them come alive on the page? Were the characters in the book flat because the author couldn't make them rounded, or because his narrator isn't able to see them as rounded?

But it was a good read, despite all of that. And as I'm already half way through my next Giller book, so stay tuned for that review.

Thank You for All Your Support!

I finished!

This has been an amazing season for me. With all your generous contributions, I raised over $2800 and counting for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! At last night's inspiration dinner, we had a fabulous speaker who is in remission from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (and whose parents both are Hodgkin's lymphoma survivors!). She talked about how sometimes patients need more than just moral support - they actually have real needs. LLS was able to fill those needs for her by providing $1,000 to help with her copayments and other medical bills. She was just out of college and only had a major medical plan because her employer did not offer health benefits. She said to always remember that when you make a donation or raise money, it is not going to a faceless organization. It is actually going to one person, and it is meeting that person's needs. So rest assured that your generous contributions are making a difference in the life of a blood cancer patient.

Around 5,000 TNTers competed in the Nike Women's Marathon today, together raising the equivalent of $500,000 per mile. And you folks made that happen!

Of course, I have gotten something out of this as well. I have met many inspirational cancer survivors, family members, and even patients undergoing treatment. I have gone from running 0 miles to running 13.1 miles! But of course I had my setbacks. Between my sprained ankle at the end of August and my bout with h1n1 at the end of September, my training was less than adequate. I have not run more than 3 miles at once in over six weeks, and I had never run more than 6 miles in my life! Because of my illness I didn't even go to the gym for nearly 2 weeks.

But I finished! And I did it, I think, in approximately 11 minutes per mile, which is just a bit slower than the pace I was hoping for pre-injury and -illness. And while I am exhausted now, it was a fabulous experience! A couple of weeks ago I was not even sure I could finish, and this morning I was not even sure I could run the whole thing. But I did it, thanks to all your support. I did not want to let my donors down!

And I owe special thanks to my wonderful husband who supported me during training, waited on me when I sprained my ankle and while I was sick, and showed up on the race course at 8 miles and at the finish line while still under the weather.

Thank you again for all your support and your generous donations to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

(And just to show that it wasn't all fun and games when I finished the race, I'm even letting you see this picture.)

I want my minutes back

Is there anything more frustrating than trying to deal with your cell phone company???

My current phone is one of the oldie-but-goodies, with no Qwerty keyboard. So it's a pain to text anything on. I'm supposedly eligible for a FREE upgraded phone. Supposedly -- but I have tried and failed.

I have spent all morning trying to fix my upgrade order (an order which also ate the better part of a morning). The first phone I ordered was back-ordered — I figure since it was free, it is a bait and switch deal. So I decided that I would swallow the bait and order another one that I actually had to pay for. Only, since The Dear Husband is the primary account owner, he had to call and give permission to change my phone order.

Then I carefully researched phones, chose one and called and waited and waited for “the next available representative,” only to be told that the phone I wanted required a stripped down data plan. So then she suggested I order another phone, for $49, but I’d have to change my plan, as it would not work. She assured me the plan was the same price.

Only, when I went to do it, it totaled an extra $10 a month — for no more benefit. Aaargh.

So then I called BACK and waited and waited and waited, only to have another guy try to explain how the new plan really WASN’T ten bucks a month extra, but you had to order it a different way. Riiiiighht. Color me cynical, but I’m still trying to apply new math, old math, any sort of math to make it work out.

Finally I got frustrated beyond belief at the amount of time I’d wasted on this, asked if the other phone I’d ordered (and was apparently in eternal backorder) would work on my current plan. "Yes," he said, sounding disappointed. I figured that if he sounded disappointed, it must mean I was choosing wisely for my pocketbook.

"OK," I said. "Let’s just go back to that one." I may never get the phone, but if I do, it’s free, and it will work with my current plan.

One thing I won’t ever get back is the time I could have spent writing this morning. Wonder if I could send the wireless company a bill for Premium Weekend Writing Minutes consumed ...

UK CLOSE TO BUST

Britain is in danger of going bust, warns EU
By James Chapman
15th October 2009
Out of money? The EU warns that the UK economy is 'high risk'
Britian's economy was consigned to a list of those at 'high risk' yesterday because of the spiralling national debt. The European Commission issued a humiliating warning that the worsening budget deficit poses 'serious concerns' that the country will be unable to meet future spending commitments, such as pensions.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1220508/Britain-danger-going-bust-warns-EU.html#ixzz0U0g0SCBU

Perhaps its time for the UK to pull out of the EU which is for sure the most expensive political club in the world. We are currently paying in £5 billion pounds each year. For what?

Could the legacy of are involvement in the EU mean a broken Britian? Destroyed financially, socially and politically.

Only God can help us now.

The Happiest Place on Earth

(Photo taken by Bernie)

I never told you about Disneyland! I will do so now so I can think about happier times before h1n1 visited our little household.

We went to Disneyland for Matt's 30th birthday, because, well, Disneyland is free on your birthday and I have been wanting to go there for years. I feel bad that Matt did this for me, but he is a grown man and I can't stop him. At least he enjoyed spending time with the children!

My favorite rides were Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, the Jungle Cruise, and Tom Sawyer's Pirate Island. The first two are probably obvious - the closest thing to roller coasters and other real amusement park rides. The Jungle Cruise is funny because of all the ridiculous jokes cracked by the guide, and of course it was more funny because Bernie thought it was so hilarious. Some of the content is rather offensive and seems a bit racist though... Tyler also thoroughly enjoyed the ride although he was standing up at the beginning of it (with the assistance of Uncle Matt) and got into a bit of trouble with the guide.

I can't even remember what the island is really called, but I think it has something to do with Tom Sawyer. I enjoyed this because I am basically 5. There are "caves" to explore, things to climb, shade trees, fun bridges, and all sorts of other things to explore. I could have stayed longer, but alas, the real children and their parents had already grown tired of it. Also by that time my ankle was about the size of an orange...

Anyway, yay for Disneyland! We also had fun at the beach and pool with even more friends, and the Dodgers came was a raucous delight.

Now if only the fires hadn't existed and my ankle hadn't been destroyed, the weekend would have been even more fabulous.

Too Much Happiness - Alice Munro

I love Alice Munro stories. In small doses. A single volume = a small dose. The summer I tried to read a 700-page (small print) "Selected Stories" anthology, I had to take a break 2/3 of the way through or else I would have become suicidal!

Too Much Happiness is her newest collection of short stories, and I was able to detect many familiar Munro-vian themes - loss of childhood innocence, marriage break-down, aging, inter-generational misunderstanding. However there are a few changes - I noticed more male protagonists (though I will have to look back through her other recent books to see if this is a new thing), and some of the stories end more optimistically than is her wont.

I think that what I love most about Alice Munro is her ability to draw you right into the mind of her protagonist so that you see all events happening from that character's point of view, and often to the point where you, the reader, are blind to the character's weaknesses. Then often there is a twist at the end (possibly a moment of self-revelation for the character) where you get a glimpse of them from the point of view of another.

My favourite story in this collection? "Wood." This is one of the stories with a male lead - an older man whose wife snaps out of a major depression in a moment of crisis. Just a beautifully told moment of every-day life that left me smiling at the end.

My least favourite story in this collection? The title story, "Too Much Happiness." I didn't enjoy this story as much, as it is not a typical Munro story. First of all, she took a real person (albeit one who lived more than 100 years ago), researched her life, and then told the story of the final days of her life with flashbacks to her earlier life. I think that the historical detail weighed her down too much as it was being written - it kept alternating with the very personal, character point of view that I mentioned above, with some paragraphs of bald, clumsy, fact-telling. And the title is definitely ironic, as the story does not end with the character experiencing too much happiness.

So I guess if you are a Munro fan (as I am), you will probably enjoy this newest collection; but if you are not a fan of hers, then you probably aren't going to pick this book up in the first place!

2009 Giller Prize

So the shortlist for this year's Giller Prize was announced today, and I'm none too happy. The 5 books on the list are:

The Disappeared - Kim Echlin

The Golden Mean - Annabel Lyon

The Bishop's Man - Linden MacIntyre

Fall - Colin McAdam

The Winter Vault - Anne Michaels

Now of the books on the shortlist, the only one that I've read so far is The Winter Vault, but I picked up copies of the other ones today so will comment as I finish them. The winner will be announced on November 10 so I should be done reading the shortlist by then.

What I am upset about is the omission of The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood which, if you read my review, you will see is one of the best books I have read recently. And with Alice Munro removing her name from the running (my review of her latest book should be up here tomorrow), the field is reduced from what it should be. The Giller Prize is given to recognize excellence in Canadian fiction, and I usually really enjoy the winning book, but if 2 of my favourite books of the year aren't on the shortlist... But I guess I have 4 more books to get though before I pass judgement!

Ben Franklin Rests In Peace Again

Well, I say he is. I'd been following on various blogs and websites the travesty of Philadelphia's libraries being threatened with closure. The day of doom was to have been Oct. 2.

Public libraries closing? In Philadelphia? Where Ben Franklin, the first person to open a lending library, lived?

I'd thought it was bad enough that my own library had begun closing at 2 p.m. on Saturdays. But to not have a library at all? Yikes.

I credit public and school libraries for helping feed my voracious reading habit. As a relatively poor kid, I found my reading pace outstripping my wallet's ability to pay for books. The library is where I find new authors and try them out before I put them on my auto-buy list. When I need to research something, I go to my library. It's where I find the audio-books that I must have if I'm going to drive any distance at all.

The best part about public libraries is their egalitarian spirit. Anyone with a library card can check out a book -- any book they like. And mid-list authors' books cozy up to the volumes of best-sellers with no threat of returns to publishers.

Libraries aren't just another line item in a budget, to be slashed in hard economic times, even if some elected officials seem to think so. I'm glad to know that Philadelphia's bibliophiles fought back and won -- and the libraries in the city continue to be open to the public.