BOOK: Seven Days by Deon Meyer

Seven Days by Deon Meyer, 352 pages

RIP 7; review copy from RandomHouse Canada

Benny Griessel gets a little more time in this installment of detecting from South Africa. Last time he only had Thirteen Hours, this time he has a week! He his still sober, but has recently been assigned to The Hawks, a division within the police corps, which is more political.  Unfortunately, he gets assigned a cold case, but under direct pressure from a sniper, who publicly plans to shoot a police officer a day until the case is solved. That's a lot of pressure for a guy just getting his life straightened out. A new relationship with a famous singer struggling with her own sobriety just adds to the pressure.

I've already gone on and on about how much I am enjoying Deon Meyer's police books. Luckily I still have a few older books to read. Seven Days is the latest release, and since Benny is my favorite of his detectives, I was very pleased. The characterization, the plot, and the action makes Meyer's books very satisfying. The endings in this book to both crimes (the cold case and the sniper) were surprising, but were also famous endings from other mystery books that I've read. (I won't let on which they were, but they are the kind of resolution that you don't forget!) 

BOOK: Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane, 369 pages

RIP 7; What's in a Name 6: topographical feature

Super creepy (and a little confusing at the end)! But what a great book! Perfect to read for Reader's Imbibing Peril.

A bounty hunter, Teddy Daniels,  is sent to a secret island off Massachusetts, home to a controversial mental hospital, where a criminally insane woman has escaped. Teddy and his partner land on the island just as a huge storm is about to hit. Ooh, atmosphere! As the men investigate, things are not what they seem. There are conspiracies, scary people, and they take us on quite a ride as they explore and investigate this hospital for the most dangerous of the criminally insane. How did a patient ever manage to escape? Then we gradually learn more about Teddy, and he has some secrets and connections as well that I can't reveal.

As the storm hits, the tension amps up, and then wow, I could not put the book down. Then the ending. Lots of twists, and I wasn't quite sure what had even happened. I talked to a friend at work who had seen the movie, and then I understood, and it was even more well done. Lehane writes superb thrillers (I have already read Mystic River) and I'm looking forward to reading one of his detective books next.

BOOK: Dead Before Dying by Deon Meyer

Dead Before Dying by Deon Meyer, 411 pages

RIP 7

Thesis: Deon Meyer is my new favorite crime mystery writer. 

Supporting arguments:
1. Having mysteries set in South Africa is a unique locale, with the added layer of the racial conflicts and plenty of political conflicts.

2. Great characters!  I like that Meyer has several characters (Benny Griessel, Mat Joubert, Lemmer) that populate his books, and they are all connected, but may not appear in each book. This book was the first Mat Joubert book, with a dash of Benny, previously seen in Devil's Peak, and Thirteen Hours. I read about Joubert in Trackers, but it was his second book.

3. Police procedurals. I am often drawn to mysteries that are more subtlety labeled police procedurals. Beginning with Ed McBain's 87th precinct, up to the Iceland mysteries, and the Swedish Martin Beck books, I like reading mysteries from the police point of view.

4. Twists and turns. Meyer moves the story around, from plenty of perspectives, and new clues appear suddenly. I never have a clue who or what is going on.

5. The classic messed up cop. Joubert is barely coming out of the two year fog after his wife was killed. He is depressed, ruining his job chances, and basically a disturbed individual, like many of the good cops I like to read about. (Louise Penny's Inspector Gamauche is a lone exception to the disturbed cop) And Joubert is more together than Benny - what a mess he is! He spends much of this book in detox.

6. I still have a few older books left to read - Blood Safari, Dead at Daybreak, and Heart of the Hunter. And more excitedly, a new book: Seven Days. I just got it in the mail, and can't wait to read it. It's a new Benny Griessel.

7. The whole package - plot, character, atmosphere, great writing, great conflict. Incidentally, great translating as well, because the English version is very smooth. These are the kind of books that I can't put down, and each one that I've read has been excellent.

Conclusion: Deon Meyer is the mystery writer that you need to read if you are a fan of twisty, fast moving, police thrillers.

BOOK: Broken Harbour by Tana French

Broken Harbour by Tana French, 533 pages

Ireland Reading Challenge; Series Goals (Dublin Murder Squad #4)

 It's a mystery series, but a most unusual series. The main character changes with each book. Sometimes previous main characters appear, but sometimes they don't. The only pattern I can see is that each main character made an appearance in the previous book. I guessed wrong from the last book, as this book has Mick 'Scorcher' Kennedy for our lead detective. I wasn't really impressed with him in the last book, but  he made a good main character and as more of his background was revealed, his character becomes more understandable.

The horrific murder here is a family that has been butchered, two children and the parents, with the wife hanging on in the hospital. Mick is juggling his own family issues, a mentally upset sister, along with training a new partner. The murder actually occurred where Mick and his family spent summer vacations, and there is some tragedy associated with Broken Harbour.

French writes about modern Ireland, including life after the economic bust after the boom. She can be a tad long-winded, but I am noticing this less with each successive book, and am enjoying her writing more with each book. Broken Harbour was a fabulous read, a touch Gothic, twists and turns, with wonderfully layered characters. As in the first book, In the Woods, there were a few threads left unexplained, but nothing is ever as it seems, and not everything can be tied up neatly. I appreciate this about French's writing. I can't wait for the next book by French.

BOOK: Watermelon by Marian Keyes

Watermelon, by Marian Keyes, 417 pages

Ireland Reading Challenge

Summer cover. Chick lit. Great summer book.

 In what might be one of the toughest set-ups in chick-lit history (the guy has to do  something awful to the girl, leaving her to pick up the pieces), James leaves Claire THE MINUTE SHE GIVES BIRTH. Okay, not the minute, but once the baby is cleaned up and presented to the two of them. Seriously. James certainly starts this book in a desperately deep hole that may be impossible to get out of. Claire gathers her baby, some post-partum symptoms, and a few clothes, and heads home to Dublin from her life in London. Loved Claire's family in Dublin - functionally dysfunctional if you like. [There are several other books about the family, since there are at least five sisters. Maybe more. Someone is in the States. Details aren't vitally important in a book like this.] The mom hasn't cooked in twenty years; Dad does all the cleaning; one sister appears to be a drug addict, but a delightfully wonky one; another sister in uni gathers fellas around her like flies. How convenient, because how else is Claire going to meet a new fellow to help her get over the idiot James?

There is romance, there is growth, there is baby love,  there is the idiot husband returning? What will Claire do? Has she outgrown James? Will she go back with him so her baby doesn't grow up in a broken home? Marion Keyes is a chick-lit writer who will stay on my reading list. Fun and humorous, and set in Ireland.This is give me some light Irish reading to replace my beloved Maeve Binchy.

BOOK: The Paris Wife and A Moveable Feast

A delayed book review from Paris in July. I actually read The Paris Wife in July, but was then inspired to read A Moveable Feast by Hemingway. It is still a popular book, because I had to wait at the library until August. I would recommend that these books be read together and I wanted to review them together. I had very little prior knowledge about Ernest Hemingway, having never read any of his books. I knew he was very masculine with the wars and the bull-fighting, and that his writing themes would most likely not appeal to me. I was aware of him as a cultural icon. I did see Midnight in Paris, with all the artists in 1920s Paris, and read Waiting for Gertrude by Bill Richardson.

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain, 320 pages

 Hadley Richardson, Ernest Hemingway's first wife, the Paris wife, narrates their life together during the five years or so that they were married. Telling the story from her perspective was a nice twist. There are oodles of books about Ernest that McLain was able to research about their life. There was a real romantic quality to their life, living the artist life, poor, in Paris. Ernest and Hadley did what they wanted, travelled around, and worked very little but still managed to get by. They were happy. I really liked this book. I liked the view of that lifestyle, even though it was so hedonistic, so self-indulgent. It makes you wonder about how art is produced - do the artists have to be mad? Does it take that suffering to produce greatness? It was hard to like Ernest, for how he treated Hadley, but he seemed to truly love her, and in his memoirs of Paris, A Moveable Feast, he touches on some regret about Hadley.

This is the type of biographical fiction I like, based on real facts but brought to fictional life with clear readable prose. Clearly McLain did her research, and reading A Moveable Feast afterward made me like The Paris Wife even more.

 A Moveable Feast, by Ernest Hemingway, 213 pages

A series of essays, published after Hemingway's death, about his time in Paris in the 1920s before his first novel was published. So, the same time as The Paris Wife. Ernest writes about the people, and his writing process, and his family. He devotes some essays to Ford Maddox Ford, and F Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda and Gertrude Stein. The essays are in some ways vague, with no linear connection, other than his thoughts and impressions. Having read The Paris Wife, I knew what he was writing about most of the time. It impressed me even more about how McLain took that knowledge and wrote so clearly about their lives.

 I also appreciated Ernest's writing style after reading about the process he was going through, and what he was trying to achieve. I think I am ready to read a novel by Hemingway, based on the knowledge I know have about him. I am also ready to visit Paris, if it could be the Paris of Hemingway. Kind of like Owen Wilson did in Midnight in Paris.

CHALLENGE: Readers Imbibing Peril, Edition VII

Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings is hosting the RIP VII for September and October, reading creepy and scary books. My favorite kind! I've participated almost every year and these are my favorite kinds of books.

Mystery
Suspense
Thriller
Dark Fantasy
Gothic
Horror
Supernatural


Books In My Pool I'm Looking At
Dead Before Dying by Deon Meyer (reading now)
Seven Days by Deon Meyer
Black Skies by Arnaldur Indridason
Duma Key by Stephen King
1222 by Anne Holt
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffennegger

and from last year's list:
 The Reapers by John Connolly
 The Black Echo by Michael Connelly
 The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe
 Undone by Karin Slaughter

plus assorted ongoing mystery series by : Per Wahloo, Jo Nesbo, Peter Temple,

Books I Read:
1. Dead Before Dying - Deon Meyer
2. Black Skies - Arnaldur Indridason
3. The Red House Mystery - AA Milne
4. Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane
5. Seven Days - Deon Meyer
6. The Calling - Inger Ash Wolfe
7. The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag - Alan Bradley
8. The Black Echo - Michael Connelly
9. Stiff : the curious lives of human cadavers - Mary Roach

BOOKs: Larry's Late Night Party in October

A few Canadian books with some quick thoughts:

Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay, 363 pages

Canadian Book Challenge 6; Giller Prize Winner 2007

I found this one a bit disjointed - a WKRP staff (but not comical) at a radio station in Yellowknife in the 1970s. There were a lot of characters and stories overlapping, and I can barely remember any of them. By spreading the focus around, I didn't find any one person to identify with. The first part of the book led up to the final section - a canoe trip by four of the characters through the wild. I liked the canoe trip, but the foreshadowing that had occurred earlier was too heavy handed for what actually happened.

The love of the north and its wild beauty comes through. There was a Northern Commission going on during the book, and I really liked that aspect of it.  I read this for a book club, and even after the discussion, I didn't have any better feel for the book. Sometimes when I read a book that I don't 'get', a discussion with other readers, or even a debate helps me understand the structure or meanings in the book. I was still pretty confused still after our discussion.

October, by Richard B Wright, 241 pages

Giller Prize Longlist

I loved Clara Callen by the same author and had high hopes for October. I'll lump this into my category of 'old men remembering their youth' books. However, at least the main character was remembering a unique time - during the war in Gaspe Quebec. He was able to touch on several aspects of Canadian history - the war, French and English differences, rich and poor in rural Quebec. The main theme however was death - James is called to England to visit his daughter and deal with her terminal cancer. On the way home, he runs into an old friend (from summer in Gaspe) who is on his way to die. James is confronted on all sides with dying, and that's what sets off his remembering the summer of his youth.

Wright did the Canadian history part very well again, as in Clara Callen (1930s Ontario). Regular people leading regular lives, albeit flawed like everyone.  I was less impressed with the characters this time. James was no Clara Callen! However, I have one more book by Wright to help me decide whether I am a huge fan of him, or just Clara Callen. The Age of Longing is waiting.

Larry's Party by Carol Shields, 352 pages

Orange Prize Winner 1998; Giller Prize Shortlist 1997

Carol Shields does such a great job of writing about everyday people. Larry is just an ordinary guy - growing up in Winnipeg, marrying young, growing and changing. He evolves from a florist to a world renowned maze designer. Mazes become the metaphor for life - the different paths and types of mazes, and she writes the same way, ultimately moving forward in Larry's life, but sometimes backtracking. Shields keeps the reader somewhat distanced from her characters, and yet reading the daily events is satisfying. Similar to The Stone Diaries, but I liked this better. Instead of writing from cradle to grave, we only watch Larry for twenty years of his life.
I've only got one Carol Shields' novel left to read, The Republic of Love, along with some short stories and non-fiction.  I read this for 1morechapter's Carol Shields Month and for Orange July.

BOOK: Revenge of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz

Revenge of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz, 374 pages

series goals

Every time I read a Spellmans's book, I remind myself to read these more often. So much fun! Isabelle is attending her second set of court ordered therapy, living in her brother's basement without his knowledge (except someone knows and is blackmailing her), and has been given an ultimatum regarding taking over the family business. She seems a little thrown by the changes that are happening around her - Morty, her geriatric lawyer may be moving to Florida, Milo the bar owner doesn't want her working for him anymore, and Henry is dating the delightful Maggie. Izzy's life is a bit of a mess.

I just adore Lutz's humour. Her book Heads You Lose was beyond hilarious, and the asides and footnotes in the Spellman's keep me giggling. Every time Izzy references a past situation from the previous book (now available in paperback!) is included in the footnote. I read this book wondering if it was Isabelle who was just immature and paranoid and causing all the trouble, but no, the whole family is wonderfully dysfunctional.

Reading this book is part of my series goal this year, to get caught up on a some series' that I am reading. I still have two more Spellman's to read, but the second one just came out this year. These books are like popcorn - yummy and tasty and I gobble them down.

MEME: It's Tuesday, Where Are You?

It's still beautiful here on PEI - a wonderful summer, if you don't need the rain to water anything. It's getting a little dry now, with fire bans, and even talk of conserving water for city residents. That is completely unheard of around here - not watering your lawn or washing the car? However, the weather is allowing us to enjoy many softball and soccer games and we were so busy in June that we didn't even get a vegetable garden planted, so we aren't affected by the conservation request. I have a few herb planters on the deck, enough  to satisfy a tiny green thumb.


I've actually read a few books not set there, but in my new book, I'm still in Paris! Now it is the 1920s and I'm part of that lost generation, those artists who all palled around, as seen in the Woody Allen movie Midnight in Paris. Sad that the movie is my reference to that crowd, but what can I say? (The Paris Wife, by Paula McCain)


Where is reading taking you today? Leave a comment, or write a post. Join the fun!

BOOK: State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, 351 pages

Orange Prize Shortlist 2012

Engrossing read focusing on scientific research into fertility drugs in the Amazon. It's been described as a retelling of Heart of Darkness as Dr Marina Singh is sent to the Amazon in search of her former mentor, Dr Swenson, after Marina's colleague died on his visit. Past relationships and a terrible person in Swenson make the relationships as tenuous as the jungle. Patchett sets the location so well; the jungle is wrapping around you as you read. My one course in anthropology came back to me during the encounters with the indigenous tribes.

Overall, it was a good read, but Patchett kept me a little removed from the characters. I cheered for Marina as she comes to grips with her life, and grows up a bit. Swenson infuriated me, as her narcissistic self controlled so many people, and with  her ability to twist everything to her selfish point of view. A few things happened at the end that were strange or abrupt, but I did like the book ultimately.

Both of Patchett's books that I've read (this and Bel Canto) had a similar distance from characters. I liked the books, but they are never the type that make me thrust upon others, or make me rave.  If you are looking for another book like this to read, Intuition by Allegra Goodman is also an Orange Prize nominee, and looks into scientific research.

BOOK: The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker, 269 pages

Random Reading Challenge: Debut Authors

Of all the calamities that we imagine happening to the earth (global warming, extinct animals, over-population) the worst one will be the one we aren't expecting. Karen Thompson Walker imagines that the Earth will slow in its rotation. Days, and nights, become longer, with repercussions to all living things on Earth.

What I liked about the story was that this catastrophe on Earth was simply the backdrop, the main story was a coming of age remembrance of a twelve year old girl, Julia, in California. She is looking back as a young woman, on this tumultuous time in her life. Navigating the usual almost-teenage time of friends changing, figuring out who your parents really are, and finding your place in the world. The challenges she faces - her grandfather's strange reaction to the changing world, a new possible boyfriend, best friends that outgrow you, are all the same, she just had the added problem of longer days and nights. She becomes aware of political effects - the real timers versus the clock timers.

Unfortunately, taking this focus meant that the Earth slowing effect isn't dealt with very much. It just became the new reality for Julia, and she mentions some of the science (gravity is slightly stronger for example) but mostly how it affects her. Because she led a relatively privileged life - her father is a doctor, less weather fluctuations in California to begin with, the effects on her were still mostly teenage problems. Imagine how this Earth slowing would have affected a poor child in Canada, where weather is already more extreme, and who wouldn't be able to buy a greenhouse to grow their own food? But, that is a different book, and Walker did a great job of the book she wrote, telling the story of Julia the way she wanted to.

also reviewed: rhapsody in books weblog; lindsay's mom at reeder reads;

I read this book for the Random Reader Challenge: Debut Authors. Check out the link to see what books you can read for this challenge.

MEME: It's Tuesday, Where Are You?

Interesting, as I resurrect Where Are You? for the summer, there is no place I'd rather be than Prince Edward Island. We are having a stretch of weather that is exactly what I picture when I imagine the summer - sunny, warm, slight breeze. Watching soccer or softball outside with just a few bugs to contend with in the evening has been lovely.

In reading, I am still in Paris, but now I am searching for my nephew. (Foreign Bodies, by Cynthia Ozick)

Where is reading taking you today? Leave a comment or write a post. Enjoy!

BOOK: French Lesson by Ellen Sussman

French Lessons by Ellen Sussman, 236 pages

Paris in July

It's Paris in July, and since I am not there, I had to read a book. I was looking for a light read after my last two books, Late Nights on Air and State of Wonder. Both were good, but heavy. French Lessons, a book I won last year from carrie at nomadreader after last years Paris in July, was the perfect palate cleanser.

I really liked the structure of the book. Three French tutors who are hired out by their school to (usually) Americans to practice their French, meet in the morning of one particular day. There are some liasons amongst the two men and one woman, and these young twenty-somethings are looking for love. Then each tutor meets with their opposite sex client and they spend the day. Each of them are struggling with love - a teacher whose married boyfriend has recently died, a neglected wife who has moved with young children and her husband to Paris, and the husband of a big movie star. The tutors each get entangled in some way, and all realize what they want from love. Each day ends at the same scene where the movie star is filming a scene.

Nothing too deep in this book, but a great sense of place - including the walking maps of each tutor. Wonderful start to Paris in July.

also reviewed: carrie at nomadreader;

CHALLENGE: Random Reader Challenge: Debut Novels

The next edition of the Random Reader Challenge focuses on Debut Novels for July and August. I missed the last challenge (John Irving novels) but there are a couple on this list I'd like to read. If this looks interesting, check out the blog page.  You don't need to sign up, just leave a link with your review. I think prizes are only available to Canadians though, but anyone can participate.

Buy, borrow, download (but don’t steal!) and read any ONE of the following books (yes, audiobooks count too!):

Magnified World by Grace O’Connell
A Cold Night for Alligators by Nick Crowe
Touch by Alexi Zentner
Every Time We Say Goodbye by Jamie Zeppa
Shelter by Frances Greenslade (Check out the video trailer!)
Care of Wooden Floors by Will Wiles
Every Day, Every Hour by Natasa Dragnic
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker (Check out the video trailer!)

Touch and The Age of Miracles are the two that I'd most like to read, but I'll have to check out some of the other debut titles.

MEME: It's Tuesday, Where are You?

Once upon a time, I hosted this meme every Tuesday. Then I stopped, but I'm going to try it for the summer. The idea is just a way to share what you are reading, by setting. You can answer in the comments, you can make your own post on your blog, what ever you like!

I am in Yellowknife, at a radio station that somewhat reminds me of WKRP (with God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly). I haven't been here in Yellowknife long or often, but what little experience I have says that there will be some interesting characters. People who move North tend to be, well, unique. (Is this true John Mutford?) (Late Nights on Air, Elizabeth Hay)

Where is reading taking you this summer day? Write a post, leave a comment.

CHALLENGE: Orange July 2012

It's that time of year, time to read some Orange Prize nominated books. The list for this years' prize has been one that has intrigued me the most, as already this year, I've read 7 books from the longlist, including the winner, and have plans to read at least two more. Check out the host site to sign up, and visit Jill often, as she's got a book give away every day! There is also the Facebook page, and a group at Librarything. Lots of places to talk about the Orangey goodness.

Some books I'd like to read:

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, (2012 SL) 
Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (2012 LL)
There but for the by Ali Smith (2012 LL)
Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick (2012 LL)

Larry's Party by Carol Shields (1998 winner)
Small Island by Andrea Levy (2004 winner)
plus several more I have here if I get ambitious

Books I Read July 2012

1. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
2. Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick
3. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
4. There But For The by Ali Smith
5. Larry's Party by Carol Shields

CHALLENGE: The Canadian Book Challenge 6

John Mutford at the Book Mine Set is hosting once again (6 times!) the Canadian Book Challenge. All you need to do is read 13 Canadian books in a year, running from Canada Day July 1st. Last year I read 24 books, including 4 by Carol Shields and 2 by Louise Penny and Helen Humphrys.

Books leftover from my list last year:

  Doing Dangerously Well by Carole Enahoro
  Rockbound by Frank Parker Day
  Larry's Party by Carol Shields (Orange Prize winner 1998)
  Microserfs by Douglas Coupland
  Diamond Dreams by Stephen Brunt
  Getting Over Edgar by Joan Barfoot
  The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe

Books I've bought home or noticed since the last challenge:

 Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay
 The Age of Longing by Richard B Wright
 October by Richard B Wright
 Bachelor's Brothers Bed and Breakfast by Bill Richardson (reread)
 The Republic of Love by Carol Shields
 Dressing Up for the Carnival by Carol Shields
 Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro
 The Fire-Dwellers by Margaret Laurence
 Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel
 In the Skin of the Lion by Michael Ondaatje
 the next Louise Penny mystery

Books I read during challenge: 

1. Late Nights on Air - Elizabeth Hay
2. Larry's Party - Carol Shields
3. October - Richard B Wright
4. Touch - Alexi Zentner
5. The Film Club - David Gilmour
6. Our Daily Bread - Lauren B Davis
7. The Calling - Inger Ash Wolfe
8. The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag - Alan Bradley
9. The Beautiful Mystery - Louise Penny
10. Ru - Kim Thuy
12. 1982 - Jian Ghomeshi
13. A Red Herring Without Mustard - Alan Bradley
14. I Am Half-Sick of Shadows - Alan Bradley
15. Whirl Away - Russel Wagnersky
16. Dressing Up for the Carnival - Carol Shields
17. Astray - Emma Donoghue
18. Speaking From Among the Bones - Alan Bradley
19. The Firebird - Susanna Kearsley
20.

BOOK: The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje, 301 pages

Canadian Book Challenge 5; Man Booker Winner 1992

My "not so much review as comparison to the movie" review:

This might be one of those rare books that the movie is better than. Or that I understood the movie better. Although the book helped me figure a few things out in the movie. But I did like the book, because I already knew the characters. Hmm. They just really go together!

I am not usually a fan of the tragic love story, like Romeo and Juliet. I am much more pragmatic. However, The English Patient (the movie) worked for me. I bought the love story, tragic ending and all. Ralph Fiennes helped a lot! With that background, I quite enjoyed the book. The major difference I noticed was that the movie was about the English Patient and Catherine, his love. The book is more about the nurse and the bomb-defusing Indian soldier, the awesome dude from Lost.  Another reason I liked the book was because I really liked those characters and their love story as much as the English Patient's. After reading the book, I am even more impressed with the movie and how it was put together.

This is one of those modern classic novels I've been wanting to read and I would try another Ondaatje novel. He wrote amazingly intricate characters, about the after effects of war on all kinds of people from war, all in spare yet easy to read prose. Ondaatje gathered this Commonwealth of characters with connections and challenges that are so damaged, physically and emotionally.

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Summer TBR Books

This Top Ten List worked so well for me in the spring, that I'm going to make a summer list as well. I'll try to go with the same mix of new releases, older books, mysteries, and in honour of Canada Day on July 1st, Canadian books.

My spring list was a great motivator. I read seven of the nine I listed by name. One of the ones I didn't read, The Age of Doubt didn't arrive until the end of May, and the other one, 1222 by Anne Holt, is still on request at the library. I moved from 11th to 6th spot since March! I don't think I'll add it to the summer list as it looks unlikely that I'll get it before the summer is over. The last title I listed was just Orange Longlisted books, and I managed to read 5 of them (The Sealed Letter, The Island of Wings, Gillespie and I, The Forgotten Waltz, and The Song of Achilles).

What books are you looking forward to reading this summer? Head on over to The Broke and the Bookish to link up and to see what everyone else is saying!

1. The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
I received this one from Randomhouse. Love dystopian novels - the world has begun to slow down in its rotation. Can't wait to read this one!

2. Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay
Giller Winning Canadian novel that is the next book for my book club. A book about the north of Canada should be just the thing on a hot summer day.

3. Until Thy Wrath Be Past by  Asa Larsson
This will be my Scandi-crime novel in place of 1222.I have it from the library right now.

4. The Unnaturalists by Tiffany Trent
My first steampunk novel! This young adult book will be released in the summer, and it looks like a fun book.

5. French Lessons by Ellen Sussman
I have to have something for Paris in July on my list. Carrie (nomadreader) sent me this book last year after Paris in July and I've been holding on to it for this summer.

6. Duma Key by Stephen King
A big ole Stephen King is perfect for summer reading. I can stay up late, get scared, read and snooze on a lawn chair the next day. How perfect does that sound?

7. Deon Meyer: either Dead Before Dying or Blood Safari
Great mysteries with characters I've read before: Mat Joubert and Lemmer. Meyer does great, complicated mysteries with well developed characters, all set in South Africa. He's becoming my new favorite mystery author.

8. Broken Harbour by Tana French
This is going to be my 'new summer book' buy, as I seldom buy newly released books. It is released the beginning of July, and will be the fourth book in the Dublin Murder Squad series.

9. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
I think I get this one mixed up with another book, The Boy in the Suitcase? I've had this one for a while, so let's get it on the summer reading list.

10. Assorted Orange July books - a continuation of reading the 2012 lists (Foreign Bodies, State of Wonder, there but for the..) and other books that I have been planning to read. ( Larry's Party, This is How, etc)