the Book Brothel

Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Trade, 355 pages, 2007

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: I hadn’t yet read Crane’s first novel, Stupid and Contagious, but that’s no reason to delay reading her second book, right?

Synopsis: Jordan Landau is a pushover, and her life seems to be full of people willing to take advantage of that fact: the boyfriend that cheats, the boss that steals her marketing ideas, even her own mother can’t believe she’d do anything worthwhile without her pushy ideas. So when Jordan is hit by a car when riding her bicycle, she does the only reasonable-seeming thing: she decides to fake amnesia. A do-over. Life on her terms, with a whole new attitude. But as Jordan will start to see, ‘fake it till you make it’ isn’t so simple, and despite her dedication to keeping up the act, she may hurt a lot of people while selling herself short…

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Today marks the official launch of Extraordinary Canadians, a series of biographies featuring prominent Canadians put out by Penguin Group Canada. The first three of the twenty biographies to be released (with the rest to follow over the next three years) offer a glimpse into the life of a painter, a feminist, and a press baron: Emily Carr by Lewis DeSoto, Nellie McClung by Charlotte Gray, and Lord Beaverbrook by David Adams Richards.

The series is edited by John Ralston Saul, who has pulled together a team of writers one could argue are just as well-known as the subjects of their biographies. It’s hoped that the books, all of which will be 224 pages or less in the spirit of keeping the subjects accessible, will be followed by a series of documentaries later in 2008.

The other subjects and their biographers:

Rudy Wiebe on Big Bear
Adrienne Clarkson on Norman Bethune
Vincent Lam on Tommy Douglas
Mark Kingwell on Glenn Gould
Andrew Cohen on Lester B. Pearson
John Ralston Saul on Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine and Robert Baldwin
André Pratte on Sir Wilfrid Laurier
Margaret MacMillan on Stephen Leacock
Daniel Poliquin on René Lévesque
Douglas Coupland on Marshall McLuhan
Jane Urquhart on Lucy Maud Montgomery
M.G. Vassanji on Mordecai Richler
Joseph Boyden on Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont
Nino Ricci on Pierre Trudeau

Two new episodes of Titlepage.tv, the literary show hosted by Daniel Menaker, are now available on the website.

The second episode (of six for the season) is titled “You Always Remember the First Time” and features four first-time authors discussing their works and their decisions to plunge either into fiction or non-fiction. The memoirs in the episode are I was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley and Please Excuse My Daughter by Judie Klam; the two authors who opted for the fictional route are Keith Gessen, who brings us All the Sad Young Literary Men and Ceridwen Dovey, who presents her novel Blood Kin.

The third episode, “The Horror, The Horror” focuses exclusively on non-fiction writers, and the discussions cover sex, censorship, film, race, and parenting in a world that features all of these topics and more. The four featured authors are David Hajdu (The Ten-Cent Plague); Mary Roach (Bonk); Louis Masur (The Soiling of Old Glory); and David Gilmour (The Film Club).

Menaker continues to bring together interesting guests for vibrant conversations, and the format of the show itself continues to evolve and improve, in part thanks to viewer feedback. Be sure to tune in - if you don’t mind an ever-growing to-be-read list.

Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Mass market, 482 pages, 1992

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: After having read Connelly’s Harry Bosch series for years I finally decided to start at the beginning of the series.

Synopsis: When Detective Harry Bosch is called to the scene of an apparent overdose, things just aren’t adding up for him. Sure, the deceased, a fellow ‘tunnel rat’ who fought alongside Bosch in Vietnam, had his share of problems after returning from the war, but things had been looking up. Someone wanted this man dead and they were prepared to kill him and do much more to hide their secret, and the renegade cop Bosch might be the only thing standing in their way…

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Trade, 245 pages, 2007

Rating: 10/10

Reason for Reading: The cover; the topic reminded me of The Rhythm of the Road by Albyn Leah Hall, an early favourite of 2007.

Synopsis: 13-year-old Luli can’t take her bleak home life any longer and bolts, gunning for Las Vegas and the unusual dream of finding a sugar daddy once she’s there. Coming across drifters, cheaters, schemers, perverts and the occasional glimpse of goodness, Luli fights to grow up,
while the reader roots for her not to grow up too fast.

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Trade, 327 pages, 2008

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: While I never personally experienced having an over-the-top soccer mom, I witnessed a few through teammates when I was in grade school so this seemed like it could be a funny read.

Synopsis: Annie Fleming is out of a job - but not out of ambition. So what better way to channel it than into her twelve-year-old daughter’s soccer ‘career’? Between her daughter and her completely insane coach, her attempts to revive her corporate career, and the growing distance between her husband and herself, Annie is discovering that not having a steady job is somehow proving to be much harder to handle than her ‘real’ job…

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover, 278 pages, 2007

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: I like books that are set in unusual locations, and Indonesia qualified.

Synopsis: Mata Hari sits in her Paris jail cell, accused of spying for Germany during World War I. While waiting for her trial, her life story pours out like an offering: her childhood, her marriage to an impossible man, tragedies, and a re-invention of herself into something more sensual and free - the self that will lead to her imprisonment and possible punishment…

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Today marks the launch of a revolution in the world of books - a literary show on the internet called Titlepage.tv. Its engaging host and editorial producer is Daniel Menaker, a long-time editor for The New Yorker, an author, and until recently the Random House editor-in-chief - so you know he knows (and loves) books.

The show features groups of writers discussing their new books in a roundtable format. The debut season will include six episodes, the first of which is entitled “All Over the Map” and features Richard Price (Lush Life), Colin Harrison (The Finder), Susan Choi (A Person of Interest) and Charles Bock (Beautiful Children).

“‘Titlepage’ is the perfect way to share my enthusiasm for books and their authors - in an instantly and permanently accessible format - with as many readers as possible,” said Menaker. “I’ve always sought out literary conversations, and I think we can make them surprising and entertaining for anyone who might want to stop by. Editors, particularly editors who are also writers, like nothing more than to share their love of books with others - although the occasional royalty check is also pretty enjoyable.”

Head over to the webpage to watch the first episode (with its tv-quality production), download it as a podcast (available shortly), discuss the show and its authors, and explore even more books. The show is a fantastic idea to keep the world of books relevant and conveniently at your fingertips - expect to add a lot more books to your ‘want’ list after watching. And there’s lots more to come, according to founder and executive producer Odile Isralson:

‘Authors with new books of all kinds will appear on the program in the coming months. We are aiming for the greatest possible diversity and variety. We are looking to have poets, novelists, journalists, Americans, foreigners - we will talk to anybody, about anything to do with books, as long as it strikes us as worth talking about, timely, and deserving of a wide audience’s attention.’

The Gotta-Have-It Book of the Month: Carpool Diem by Nancy Star

The Tease:

‘Pardon me?’ Annie said.
‘That’s the town league,’ Charlotte explained. ‘It’s the Rec League that I was in. Only, Winslow West calls it the W-R-E-C-K “Wreck” team.’
‘I tell my parents all the time, B does not stand for bad,’ Gerri said. ‘Now I have to convince them C does not stand for crappy.’
‘I’m fine with B or C,’ Charlotte said.
‘I knew you were going to be my favorite new player,’ Gerri said. ‘I’m fine with B or C too.’
Annie didn’t understand a lot of what Gerri said. But she knew she was not fine with B or C. How could Charlotte be fine with that? C wasn’t an okay letter for anything. If she was fine with a C team, would she be fine with a C grade? What about a C job? Or a C life?

Available: March 13, 2008

Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover, 377 pages, 2007

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: A fondness for both women in historical novels and books set in the Middle East.

Synopsis: In seventeenth century Persia, a young woman experiences a devastating loss that destroys her future prospects and finds her transplanted from a small village to a big city, learning to create stunning rugs and also attempting to weave a life of her own out of nothing.

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