Review: Stone Mattress

Stone Mattress: Nine Tales by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"These nine tales owe a debt to tales through the ages. Calling a piece of short fiction a 'tale' removes it at least slightly from the realm of mundane works and days, as it evokes the world of the folk tale, the wonder tale, and the long-ago teller of tales. We may safely assume that all tales are fiction, whereas a 'story' might well be a true story about what we usually agree to call 'real life,' as well as a short story that keeps within the boundaries of social realism. The Ancient Mariner tells a tale. 'Give me a copper coin and I will tell you a golden tale,' the later Robertson Davies was fond of saying." (Acknowledgements, p. 271)

The first three tales in this collection are interconnected as they each focus on a person within a single social circle. I love story cycles like that because you get to see things from multiple angles. I don't usually find short stories very satisfying because it feels like as soon as I get to know the characters the story is over. Cycles like this solve that problem. Another of the tales revisits the women in The Robber Bride, which was like visiting old friends. I loved 'The Freeze-Dried Groom," it was super twisty and odd and I loved the way the narrator kept doing CSI assesments on his day.

I am counting this toward the 10th Canadian Book Challenge.

Home from the Vinyl Cafe

Home from the Vinyl Cafe: A Year of Stories 
by Stuart McLean
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a funny collection of stories about everyday life. It happens to be everyday life in Canada, but it seemed pretty applicable to life in any 1st world nation. 
The stories are all about the fictional Dave and Morley, their 2 kids and their various friends and neighbors. All the stories were good, and easy to identify with. Among my favorite bits:

• Dave's father Charlie singing about an upcoming math test to the tune of Big Spender
• "Labor Days" which focuses on some of the things about being a Mom that challenge Morley. My sister should read this, or maybe just keep her toothbrush in her own room to be on the safe side.

The best part of the stories for me was the insight about relationships. Especially how easily they can go off the rails, or not, based on whether you recognize a landmine before you step on it.

"When someone you love is upset enough to suggest calling the police over a missing smoke bush, you have two choices. You can, if you don't care how the rest of the day goes, say, 'The plant police? We should phone the plant police? Are you out of your mind?" Or you can muster as much affection as possible and say, as Dave did, 'You stay with the plants. I'll call the police." Then you go inside and stand in the kitchen for what feels like an appropriate amount of time before you come back outside and lie. You say, 'They are sending out a car. and if they see anyone with a smoke bush they are going to stop them. On the spot.' Dave considered adding something about how they were going to check the florists in the area, but the thing about a successful lie is not going too far." (p. 104)

Thy Vinyl Cafe was a program on CBC radio hosted by Stuart McLean who lived in Toronto until his recent death. This book counts toward the Canadian Book challenge.

Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang

Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang
by Mordecai Richler

This was a charming, funny story about being little and still being able to do important stuff.

"Most days Jacob Two-Two was happy, but other days, bad days, he was very sad. On bad days, he saw that all the other children in the house were taller and much more capable than he was. His two older brothers, and even his two older sisters, could ride two-wheel bicycles, dial a telephone number, whistle, do joined-up writing, play checkers, and catch a ball." (p.1-2)

The same style of writing--short declarative sentences with a bit of a perspective twist when you aren't expecting it--that I like in Richler's novels was present here. There was also a wry observation to Jacob's view of the world that reminded me of The Phantom Tollbooth.

This book counts toward the Canadian Book challenge.

Review: 206 Bones

206 Bones by Kathy Reichs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Evil backstabbing co-workers and a very different structure from the usual Brennan novel typify this book. Part of it focuses on Brennan's ex-husband's extended family which as a reader of the series I found interesting though it seemed like padding to this mystery. The off-again status of Brennan's romance with Ryan was also a demerit for this installment.
This book counts toward two of my current challenges: it is set in Canada so it counts toward the 10th Canadian Book Challenge and it has a number in the title which is one of the categories for What's in a Name. 

Thrice the Brinded Cat hath Mew'd

Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd by Alan Bradley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The mystery in this novel was fairly complex for a Flavia de Luce story, but I found the final solution unsatisfying. The family interactions were fewer than usual, though Dogger was his usual wonderful self.
This story is set in England where Flavia has just returned after a stint in a Canadian boarding school. The author is Canadian so I am counting this book toward the 10th Canadian Book Challenge.

Review: Break No Bones

Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This Tempe Brennnan story takes place in South Carolina (not her normal patch) and includes her Montreal homicide detective boyfriend in much of the story. This wasn't one of the better structured mysteries and there was a lot of emotional angst in the story which seemed to dominate the story. Canadian author Kathy Reichs can spin a taught tale of cat and mouse police work, this wasn't one of her best.

Review: The Penelopiad

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am not a huge fan of mythology, but I do really like stories you think you know told from a new perspective and I love Margaret Atwood's writing.
This book, part of The Myths series from Canongate, tells the story of Odysseus from the perspective of Penelope who was waiting at home for him to return.
It is a mixture of Penelope's narrative--which is classic Atwood in tone and style--and poems and songs and such from the chorus of the twelve maids murdered by Odysseus. The mixture works very well as the early chorus sections review the basic tale and then offer alternate views and variations as the story unfolds.
This book counts toward the 10th Canadian Book Challenge.

Review: Hag-Seed

Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This novel is part of the Hogarth Shakespeare project. It is a retelling of 'The Tempest' and is largely a story about revenge and second chances.
Atwood sets her novel in a prison where a program uses drama, specifically Shakespeare plays, as a tool for teaching literacy skills to inmates. We are seeing the action unfold from the point of view of the teacher who is plotting his own revenge against foes from his past.
The inmates create a production that integrates several very cleverly constructed raps into the play. I thought Atwood integrated the analysis of the play into the story--it is an assignment for the inmates to analyze their characters--was clever.

This book is both set in Canada and by a Canadian so I am counting it toward the 10th Canadian Book Challenge.

Review: A Great Reckoning

A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This novel was mostly about the past: that of Armand Gamache, of Three Pines, and the Academy of the Surete. Penny wove the various tales together beautifully and once again crafted a compelling, thought provoking novel.

"There is always a road back if we have the courage to look for it, and take it. I'm sorry. I was wrong. I don't know. I need help. These are the signposts. The cardinal directions." (chapter 43)

This book counts toward the 10th Canadian Book Challenge.

The Robber Bride

The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the story of three very different women who are bonded by a common enemy. It isn't that simple though because the enemy is very different to each of them and the events of each woman's past and her other relationships color the way she perceives events. This is a complex and wonderful novel filled with the details that Atwood renders so well.
"It's after dark. There's a fine chilly drizzle, and the storefronts with their lit-up windows and the black streets with their red neon reflections have the slick, wet look that Tony associates with plastic raincoats and greased hair and freshly applied lipstick--a dubious, exciting look. Cars sizzle past, filled with strangers, going somewhere unknown. Tony walks." (p.397)
This book counts toward the 10th Canadian Book Challenge as it is set in Canada and Atwood is Canadian.

Bones Never Lie

Bones Never Lie by Kathy Reichs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the 17th book in the Temperance Brennan series, which I have been listening to as audiobooks in random order based on what was on the shelf at the library. This one revisits an earlier case as the psychopath Pomerleau appears to have resumed her reign of terror. There was a good bit about Tempe's mother in this story, which was interesting, but otherwise the lives of the various characters were not a big part of the book. The mystery itself was disappointing as I (and my husband who was listening with me on a road trip) figured out the solution to the case very early in the book. This was not my favorite of the Reichs novels.
I am counting this toward the 10th Canadian Book Challenge as the author is a part-time Canadian and part of the book takes place in Montreal.

Review: The Nature of the Beast

The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was concerned when Gamache left the city to live in Three Pines that the series was going to go off the rails, but so far so good. This tale of obsession and the past coming back to haunt folks was a solid story which I thoroughly enjoyed. I listened to the audiobook which was the first one with the new reader for this series and he did a good job.
This is my first book for the 10th Canadian Book Challenge.

Happy Canada Day!

The 10th Canadian Book Challenge Begins today. The goal is to read 13 Canadian books between now and Canada Day 2017. Details are at The Book Mine Set.

Review: Cross Bones

Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Great audiobook (love Barbara Rosenblat as a narrator). There was a ton of biblical archaeology in this novel which I knew nothing about before and which was fascinating. The story starts with a murder in Quebec and leads Tempe and her handsome policeman beau to Israel and a tangle of Biblical scholars and raided tombs. 
 
I am counting this toward the Canadian Book Challenge. Speaking of which, the 10th Canadian Book Challenge starts on July 1, 2016, so the time to sign up is now.