Half-Blood Blues

Half-Blood Blues
by Esi Edugyan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This story of a group of musicians travelling in Europe during WWII was beautifully written. The places and events and emotions came alive on the page in the hands of this master wordsmith. Earlier this year I read Edugyan's Washington Black and was very impressed by how well she created the sound of a 19th century novel. This novel also had a very distinct sound to it which placed it clearly in its time. This is definitely a writer to watch.

“Chip recons that he is charming as hell, and who am I to poke holes in his theory. That means that sometimes lies leave his mouth dressed like truth. He just can’t help it.”

 “The cabbie's eyes sort of glazed over. Canada kills any conversation quick, I learned long ago. It's a little trick of mine.”  

“Baltimore always seems like the kind of city you either leaving or just returning to. Ain't no kinda place to hang your hat. Even as a kid I dreamed of getting out.” 

This is my 13th book completed for the Canadian Book Challenge. It was also on my #10booksofsummer list.

Bad Move

Bad Move
by Linwood Barclay
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Lisa read this in 2014 and she recommended it to me as a quick fun read to help me get to the finish line on this year's Canadian Book Challenge.
Zack, the main character is definitely a jerk, but he is a well meaning jerk and he has enough self-awareness to make his jerky behavior funny. After moving out of the city (what city it is, and even if it is American or Canadian is unclear) into the "godforsaken sterile Wonder Bread and Miracle Whip world" of suburbia Zack begins to realize that all is not as safe and serene as it appears at first glance. His attempts to teach his family lessons (like not to leave their keys in the door) put him right in the middle of a murder investigation.
I enjoyed this book and will definitely read more of the Zack series. This book--crime and comedy and a flawed main character-- reminded me of The Spellman Files. 

This book counts toward the Canadian Book Challenge (author is Canadian); Cruisin' Through the Cozies Challenge  as a cozy of my choice.

Kingdom of the Blind

Kingdom of the Blind
by Louise Penny
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was another excellent installment in the story of Armand Gamache and the Surete du Quebec. Like the others it was well written and presented an interesting puzzle. Something happened at the end that I wasn't very happy about, but that has occurred before and Penny has resolved the issue satisfactorily in the next book, so I will wait and see what happens before I get too upset.
This quote spoke to me (definitely more to do with me than the book):

"Things sometimes fell apart unexpectedly. It was not necessarily a reflection of how much they were valued." (p. 4)

This book counts toward the Canadian Book Challenge (setting and author are Canadian); Cruisin' Through the Cozies Challenge  as a cozy of my choice; and the Mount TBR Challenge since it has been on my shelf since last December.

Bones are Forever

Bones Are Forever
by Kathy Reichs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another adventure for Temperance Brennan. This time she is in YellowKnife and there is a lot of information about Diamond mining in the Canadian territories. I would have liked a bit more about Ryan in this particular book, but overall it was what I expect from Reichs, a solid case with some interesting background info.
I am counting this toward the Canadian Book Challenge.

The Golden Tresses of the Dead

The Golden Tresses of the Dead
by Alan Bradley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At the end of the last Flavia de Luce novel she and Dogger decided to open an agency for "discrete inquiries." This is their first case.  Most of the usual characters are present, though her sisters are decidedly in the background this time. Flavia's young cousin Undine is developing into an interesting character. The resolution of the actual mystery is a bit murky which annoyed me, but the sleuthing and chemistry was up to typical Bradley standards. The way that Flavia sees the world continues to enchant me.

"Lovely day for a funeral" might be a most dreadful faux pas, and "I'm sorry you're dead" could well be etiquettical suicide. The solution was, as it is in so many other instances of British life, to press my lips together and give a microscopic nod and turn to looking out the window. (p. 251)

I love the phrase "etiquettical suicide"!
This book counts toward the Canadian Book Challenge (Bradley is Canadian) and Cruising through the Cozies as a cozy of my choice (it could be historical or outside the US, but I have both those covered already).

Washington Black

Washington Black 
by Esi Edugyan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"From the sultry cane fields of the Caribbean to the frozen Far North, Washington Black tells a story of friendship and betrayal, love and redemption, of a world destroyed and made whole again--and asks the question, what is true freedom?" - publisher's blurb

There is a very 19th-century-novel feel to the style of this book which I thought suited the story very well. Washington Black is an interesting narrator as he moves into greater levels of understanding of the world around him as the book progresses. He has a strong character which allows him to face terrible things without falling apart (and thus to carry the reader through these events as well). This is a skillfully crafted and fascinating novel.

Esi Edugyan lives in Victoria, British Columbia so I am counting this toward the Canadian Book Challenge. Another of her books, Half-Blood Blues, has been on my TBR for a while and I am looking forward to reading it.

When Autumn Leaves

When Autumn Leaves
by Amy S. Foster
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I loved the premise of this book and some of the sections lived up to my expectations, but others seemed too sentimental and not connected enough to the through-line of a process of selecting a replacement for Autumn. There is a romance in the middle of the book that seemed particularly out of place to me. I loved the stories about the 2 women who worked at the newspaper, and would have liked to get into the world of the 3rd one, but that wasn't part of the novel.
The author is from Canada so I am counting this toward the Canadian Book Challenge.

The Hanging Valley

The Hanging Valley by Peter Robinson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the 4th installment in the Inspector Banks series by Toronto author Peter Robinson. Chief Inspector Alan Banks works in Yorkshire, England (where the author was raised) and in this novel is investigating the death of a man found in a remote area outside the village of Swainshead.
The mystery in this book was not as well constructed as the previous one I read, but the characters were interesting and Banks takes a trip to Toronto which gave Robinson an opportunity for both description and commentary on "modern" (ca. 1989) Canada.
I am counting this toward the Canadian Book Challenge.

French Exit

French Exit by Patrick deWitt
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is the third book I have read by Patrick deWitt. I found this one less pleasing than the others. They are all quite odd, but in a way I find compelling. My main problem with this one was that I didn't like any of the characters and couldn't really identify with any of them either. There were some good lines though.

"The mist was burning off as he reached the summit and Malcolm stood beneath the dome of the temple watching Paris achieve visibility." (p. 116) 

"Mme Reynard is my name."
"How do you do?"
"I do better than people give me credit for. How do you do?" (p. 172)

DeWitt was born in British Columbia so I am counting this toward the Canadian Book Challenge. 

The Blind Assassin

The Blind Assassin
by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Beginnings are sudden, but also insidious. They creep up o you sideways, they keep to the shadows, they lurk unrecognized. Then, later, they spring." (p, 190)

I read this book in 2002 and I remember liking it--it started my love for Atwood's work--but didn't remember a lot of detail about it. I just re-read it and was completely impressed by what a great writer Margaret Atwood is. The story is the lives of two sisters and mixed into it is the tale of the Blind Assassin (and a few lizard men of Xenor). It is fabulously well-constructed and beautifully written.

"Breakfasts, picnics, ocean voyages, costume balls, newspapers, boating on the river. Such items do not assort very well with tragedy. But in life, a tragedy is not one long scream. It includes everything that led up to it. Hour after trivial hour, day after day, year after year, and then the sudden moment: the knife stab, the shell-burst, the plummet of the car from the bridge." (p. 417)

This book counts toward the Canadian Book Challenge.

An Ocean of Minutes

An Ocean of Minutes
by Thea Lim
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I didn't "really like" this book as I thought it was very sad. However, it is a very well written book and the characters were so well drawn that their sorrows seemed very real to me as I read it.
This is the first novel of a woman who grew up in Singapore and now lives in Toronto. It is about a woman who falls in love and is faced with a decision about her future because she is given the option to travel forward in time in exchange for saving her beloved. How her choice works out for them is the core of the story which moved back and forth between the time before her choice and the time after. There are also a lot of ideas about memory, and objects, and history, and the passage of time.

"I do not know that this is the last time I will ever leave this house. This is where I became myself. I should have gone from room to room touching everything, seizing as much as my memory could hold: the flip clock on the oven, the accordion door always stuck in its track, the dust motes and how they twinkle when I open the blinds. But I don't know." (p. 250) 

I am counting this book toward the Canadian Book Challenge.

Hypnotize a Tiger

Hypnotize a Tiger: Poems About Just About Everything
by Calef Brown
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This collection of poems by Vancouver, British Columbia resident Calef Brown is total nonsense. It is, however, fun nonsense. The illustrations for each poem are 2-color compositions of fun little details and big bold graphics. Running along the bottom of the pages are additional single color illustrations that offer punny asides and commentary on the poems. I liked the very first poem, "Sir Parrot" the best and also liked "Catsup Cats" which has an excellent rhythm. The section of "wordsmashes" was disappointing. Brown starts it off with a reference to portmanteau words, but then just smooshes words together that aren't actually portmanteaus anyone uses. Overall a fun collection sure to appeal to kids of any age who like silly poems.
I am counting this toward the Canadian Book Challenge.

The New Moon's Arms

The New Moon's Arms
by Nalo Hopkinson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

At the beginning of this novel we meet Calamity at her father's funeral. She is a woman of middle-age who is dealing with the changes happening in her body and in how the world sees her. She is also still working on the stuff we come to understand she has always been working on about herself. I really enjoyed Calamity's story and liked her as a character (prickly, stubborn, foolish and all). There was also a magical-realism aspect of the book--sections mixed into the story--about how a group of beings came to where they are (I'm being vague so as not to spoil anything). I didn't find that part of the book nearly as successful. It wasn't clear how it related to Calamity's story for quite a while, and it was too vague to stand alone as a storyline. There was a third strand about a zoo that started off well, with an intriguing character I would have liked to learn more about, but never came to much and didn't connect clearly to the rest of the book. There was a magical-realism aspect to Calamity's story as well. The hot-flashes that are tormenting her as she enters menopause bring unexpected objects back into her world. I thought this element of the novel worked well as it not only gave us peek into Calamity's past, it was also a twist on the idea of the magic of women.
Nalo Hopkinson was born in Jamaica and lived, among other places, in Toronto. I am counting this book toward the 12th Canadian Book Challenge. This is the book for the Summer Edition of the Literary Sewing Circle at Following the Thread. I have an idea for the sewing project to go with this book which, if it comes together, I will be posting about at Urban Quilter.