The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Oh man, oh man.  This book really creeps up on a person.  I had heard good things from friends and it won a 2015 GoodReads award for Best Thriller so I shouldn't have been surprised.  It was a little slow going at first and the only thing that kept me going is the fact that the library waiting list was 10 months long.  But it gets to a point where you can't put it down, so not all was lost.

Rachel is an alcoholic who suffers from blackouts.  She has been having a rough couple of years.  Her husband has left her for another woman and they had a baby she desperately wanted.  She's living with a roommate that hates her drinking.  And even though Rachel lost her job, she still takes the train into the city everyday so the roommate doesn't kick her out of the house.  She is obsessed with her ex and often makes drunken phone calls, shows up at their house, etc.  Her daily ritual on the train is to look at the houses in the old neighbourhood and make up fantasies about the couple living a few doors down from her old house.  Something bad happens and fantasy wife with the perfect marriage goes missing.  Rachel knows something about that night but her blackouts make her memory spotty and untrustworthy.  The cops don't take her seriously and all she wants is a drink, back together with her ex-husband, a baby, and another drink again.

So, I think the reason I found it slow going at the first was because I didn't find these characters very likeable.  I could empathize with what Rachel and Megan were going through but it takes almost the whole book to really understand who these people are.  Once you get there, it is totally worth it.

So I guess it was a good thing that I had to wait 10 months to check this one out of the library.

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon

That time of year again. Unfortunately, last year's attempt to participate was a wash due to a business trip. So here is attempt #2!

http://www.24hourreadathon.com/

Sign up now and join me for a day of reading anything and everything!

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon - Reading Plan

This is by no means set in stone... But I figured it would be a good idea to have a list of potential books I might like to read during Read-a-Thon to reduce the amount of thinking required on game day.

Short Stories/Novellas

• The Professor (At The Lake, #1) by Bentley, Bella
• For One Last Kiss (A Grim Reaper Romance, #0.5) by Taylor, Calista
• The Diary of Darcy J. Rhone by Giffin, Emily
• An Etiquette Guide to the End Times: A Novella by Sepp, Maia
• Try Me (One Night with Sole Regret, #1) by Cunning, Olivia

Short and Short-ish Novels

• 12 Years a Slave by Northup, Solomon
• Ru by Thúy, Kim
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Gaiman, Neil
• Stop What You're Doing And Read This! by Haddon, Mark
• BeSwitched by Snow, Molly
• A Gift of Ghosts (Tassamara #1) by Wynde, Sarah
• You're a Horrible Person, But I Like You: The Believer Book of Advice by Spitznagel, Eric
• A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Beah, Ishmael
• A Child of a Crackhead by Speight, Shameek
• Why Not Me? by Kaling, Mindy

And a few books I need to read for different challenges or need to be returned to the library...

• Q
• X
• Authors...A, U, X, Y, Z

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon

Just when you thought you had enough excuses to stay in pjamas all day....

The Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon is scheduled for October 17th.  I'll actually be on a plane flying to India so I'm not sure if this is a good thing or very much a bad thing.  I will have a lot of in-flight hours to kill.

So if you'd like to participate, please visit the GoodReads group Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon.

The Oakdale Dinner Club by Kim Moritsugu

I'm so excited to be the first half of the day before I get a follow back on my way home and watch movies with my life and the other hand is the only thing that would have to go back and I don't think that I have a great way of the day before I get a follow back.....

Sorry, I was just wondering what text the iPad would produce if I choose the middle option guesstimate. Looks like computers won't be writing books for us just yet. But if you broke it up in just the right spots, it might make intriguing poetry. Not that this has anything to do with this week's book.

Or maybe it does. One of the characters has a little bit of writers block and when you are staring at a blank blog post, not knowing where to start, a little inspiration is more than welcome. 

As for The Oakdale Dinner Club, it was a fun book. Sort of a what people feel about marriage after 20 years in. The main character, Mary Ann, the creator of the club, discovered that her husband had an affair with a co-worker and decides she wants to have one too. She decides the club would be a good way to ease herself into the dating pool and to vet possible fling options. 

That leads us into a whole cast of characters that make-up the club.  Like Alice, a single mom, who is not the marrying kind but it has been 4 years since she's hooked-up and perhaps it's time to make a connection. Or Sam, a stay-at-home dad who is trying to write his first novel and in a marriage that is not doing all that well. Like I said, this book is fun and airy and if you're not looking for deep angst, this is the book for you.

It is never too late to figure out who you are and if unhappy, make a change. I know I can relate some days.

Some other reviews of The Oakdale Dinner Club:
National Post
CBC
Sukasa Reads

The Girl Who Was Saturday Night by Heather O'Neill

This is the book that made me take the BookRiot article seriously. I've finished it over a week ago and it has stuck with me. Especially with our local government coming under fire for separate buses for French students. This book helped me see this issue from a totally different perspective.

This story takes place in Montreal, told from the point of view of a child star all grown up and trying to figure life out.  Nouschka's father was a famous folk singer who would use his children on the tv/radio stage to help his image. They filmed Christmas specials that they still aired 20 years later; their lives are still tabloid fodder. She and her twin brother are living with their elderly grandfather and it is a year before the referendum to decide if the province will separate from Canada. They have a very bad relationship with their father, he can't talk with them unless he wants something from them.  Nouschka is trying to get her life in order, going back to school to get her high school diploma and finding talent in writing. 

The best thing about this book is the writing. O'Neill is amazing. She makes the best word choices, vivid imagery, sharp characters. She made me want to binge on this book until, sadly, it was over. I have a feeling I'll be following this authors career for many years to come. Plus I can take solace in the knowledge that she has a debut novel to get caught up on. 

So if you want to read a book that is super Canadian, this is the book for you. Not only that, it is Quebec French Canadian and for some of us Anglo Canadians, it could be a positive learning experience. We need to be reading more books that give different perspectives on the Canadian identity, shine a spotlight on what's wrong with our country, maybe start a discussion. 

Perhaps a little naive but can't we just get along?

For some real reviews/info on this great book:  The Walrus; CBC Books; Montreal Review of Books; The Guardian; The Star; The Globe And Mail

Heather O'Neill's Tumblr Blog... and when I was there, I found out that she is has a new book coming out in April! Even more good news. 

Are you ready for the challenge? Am I?

I haven't visited or posted for way too long... But I happened by this post in my gmail promo folder and it made me feel like I should get out of my den of isolation. I've been trying to read more books but haven't given much thought in who I've been choosing. Mostly ones getting the most promotional attention by the kobo/Chapters/Indigio/Amazon marketing team.

Take a read of this and come on back to see if you are on the same page...

Book Riot: Support Rad Lady Authors

So, now you see why I broke my silence?  I like that there wasn't a lot of finger pointing.  Just some thoughts on how we could be more thoughtful in how we choose our next read.  Try to dedicate a month to female authors, or even dig deeper by picking female authors or colour, minority groups, etc.  I really should try that challenge, might be telling. Also, get the word out. Review, blog, book club them, etc.  My book club rarely meets but I can blog.

So let's try to revive my blog.  If you visit and want to post a review of an awesome book, please send it my way. Or have a link to a review you've posted elsewhere, send those too. And I'll try to post more reviews.

Strangers in Paradise Volumes 1-6 by Terry Moore

This is a review two to three years in the making.




I'm not sure when I started reading Strangers in Paradise but I loved them so much, I had to take a break before reading the last in the series. Once I finished volume 6, it would be all over. I knew Terry closed off the series at the end of volume six. I didn't want to live in a world where there was no more SiP left to read. Perhaps it was a holdover from the shock of no more Harry Potter but still, it would have been a sad state.

Strangers in Paradise was a long running comic book brought together in graphic novel form. Mostly it is about love and loss and all our crazy issues that keep ourselves from finding our true happiness. Katchoo is secretly in love with her best friend Francine who is with a horrible guy named Freddie. Katchoo meets art fan, David, and he seems to have a thing for Katchoo to give us a lovely love triangle. Then we find out that Katchoo has a mafia past and in the next six volumes, it all plays out in so many different and surprising ways. It felt a little soap opera in parts but it was written at a time when the mere idea of these complications of love would never have dared been breathed on national television. Not to mention, the story was told in a semi-nonlinear fashion that really appeals to me.

Moore trusts his audience to have a brain and isn't afraid to craft his story around that notion. He drew all the art himself and I love how much he mixes up styles to match the scene. Frantic, intense moments are drawn with a quick lack of detail that hurry you to the next panel. Quiet moments make you want to pause and take in all the detail that he has provided on that single page before moving on. I realize that is likely graphic artist 101 but it never gets tired.  He mixes light and dark and never wastes either to make his statement. The scariest part is his ability to write women so well that everyone should be able to find a character they identify with or wished they were.

So now my beloved SiP is all over. Surprisingly, you can choose to hold onto the last volume for three years and jump right back in as if you read the previous five just last week. As much as I liked having that one volume left to read and hold onto, a person has to move on. I'm sure I'll find something else to love just as much and I can always revisit my books any time I need a Katchoo fix.

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

Another finished book. Long weekends without any definite plans and a lot of stuff around the house you are trying to avoid doing will give you good reading motivation. Long weekends are great.


But I really don’t have much to say about The Reader. I had seen the movie when it was in the theatres and loved it. A friend lent me the book and it has lived on my shelf for way too long. I’m going through my books and trying to make progress on what I have and what I need to return to people. At least I have one less borrowed book.

As for the book, it was beautifully written. Not a long piece and it gives an interesting perspective of the effect of the war on the German people, even to those in the next generation. Though it was a short read, every chapter felt like a piece of the puzzle that defined that man’s life in three acts to display how one person can become interwoven into the fabric of their character.

That might be a very bad description of what the book was about. I highly recommend the book and the movie. The movie was a faithful representation of the book and you could choose one over the other and not feel cheated out of the story experience.

Now, must find a happy novel to read.

Staked by J.F. Lewis

Vampires are back. Well sort of. You see them all over, especially when a new movie is out but those aren’t real vampires. Vampires are monsters, just like werewolves, sea creatures, goblins, etc. Making your vampires cute and cuddly is an affront to the monster community and they should take a stand for their rights to be seen in an unflattering light. They should garner the respect that only true fear can accomplish. Anything less goes against the monster code.

There. Got that off my chest and I think I should be awarded points for not using the word glitter. It was hard but I suspect everyone knows what I’m talking about anyway so I won’t bore you with that.


As for today’s novel choice, we have a book that I only picked up because I wanted something as ridiculous and schlocky as I could possibly find. I chose Staked because it came with a scantily clad woman on the cover with a gun in her hand. Not to mention a summary on the back that sounded like the guy version of chick-lit: girlfriend pressuring him into turning her into a vampire, business trouble at his co-owned strip club, and after a weird turn of events, the local werewolf pack is after him. Is it every guy’s dream to own a strip club? For the record, I don’t really want an answer to that question but I can’t imagine anything more depressing.

As for the book, it runs pretty much exactly like the back summary describes. The only surprise is that he turns the girlfriend pretty close at the first of the story and it isn’t a pretty sight. Blood and gore and they really should make an informational video on it ‘cause it would make anyone not to want to go through something so gross. Not to mention, character-wise, I can’t imagine why he would want to choose to spend eternity with this person, nor why she with him. Perhaps in that sense, they are made for each other. After the whole turning, they really didn’t spend all that much time together and the story splits off into two directions: Eric dealing with his werewolf issues and Tabitha getting Vampire 101. Basically, I spent a lot of the first half of the book asking myself why I was still reading.

It wasn’t a completely horrible book to read. It was starting to get good when it abruptly ends. I suspect the author wrote a really, really long book and the publisher decides to cut it off there to split it into two books to be more profitable. It included the first chapter to the next book and that little bit of plot really needed to be in the first book. Not sure what happens after that little piece but the ending just seemed awkward to me after finally starting to like the characters a little bit.

If you are willing to invest into a new vampire series and read more than just the first book, then I can recommend. If you like your books more stand-alone so you can move on to other things, I’d leave this one on the shelf. J.F. Lewis gets extra points in my book for making his vampires (or werewolves or whatevers) monsters in the truest sense. They are not nice, they kill, are not to be trusted, and make choices out of personal gain. And that makes them monsters, just as much as humans can be.

Now I’m off to do something productive and perhaps unmonster like. Cross fingers.