The lazy reader is miffed because she was going to recommend Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore, but the Book Snob has beaten her to the punch. Please take this as a warning about the hazards of laziness and set strict goals for yourself in 2013.

The lazy reader has been so busy reading she forgot to write some reviews. Here’s a rundown on some fall reads you might enjoy:

If you liked Bossypants by Tina Fey you might want to try Ali in Wonderland by Alexandra Wentworth. She’s great at delivering punch lines about her life as a rich kid in Washington, actress in Los Angeles, and mother back in Washington. I found her more entertaining than Mindy Kaling, whose Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) is also touted as a successor to Bossypants. Mindy was just too young for my middle age patience. I also tried to like another supposed Bossypants readalike, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson, but her childhood was so sad it was depressing.

If you liked Pride and Prejudice, you will enjoy Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James. This is more successful than other Jane Austen sequels I’ve read because P.D. James has perfect dialogue. And it ends in a marriage, naturally.

If you liked the Graceling/Fire/Bitterblue trilogy of young adult fantasies by Kristen Cashore (aren’t we all stealing out of the YA section these days?) you might want to try Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. Seraphina is half human, and half dragon, and this imaginative story presents an intriguing new world and tough heroine. It’s the start of a series.

If you liked How To Be Good by Nick Hornby, you might like the zany world of Christopher Moore. I zoomed through A Dirty Job about Charlie Fletcher, who discovers he is a death merchant responsible for transferring soul vessels. That plot summary gives a good sense of Moore’s interests. Warning- Moore doesn’t let concerns about losing the reader in gleeful idiocy get in the way of a Badump bump pun.

If you liked Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, you might like The Hare With the Amber Eyes by Edmund De Waal. He’s an artist who researches the history behind his family’s netsuke collection. These small carved Japanese animals and people were collected by his great uncle. He tells the story of the various owners through the 20^th century, as they move around the world.

If you liked The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson, you might enjoy Object of Beauty by Steve Martin. It’s the story of Lacey, a beautiful, smart and amoral art dealer in New York. If you are curious about modern art and/or interested in the life of an ambitious golden girl, you might enjoy it. I also liked it because I learned about the modern art business on the side. It’s always good to get a little nonfiction learning in on the side during a great story!

If you liked A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, you will enjoy the heft and drama of Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. This one didn’t please the lazy reader because it broke the “nothing thicker than a phone book” rule. However, everyone else in book club liked this story about two doctor twins in Ethiopia, so I’ll mention it for those with perseverance.

If you liked Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert you might like Wild by Cheryl Strayed. It’s a nonfiction biography of the author’s life changing hike on the Pacific Coast Trail. However, since Oprah has been promoting the novel, it is unlikely there are many out there who haven’t read this one!

I read The Life of Pi a long while ago, and while I loved the pictures it drew in my mind it was nothing compared to the 3D extravaganza I witnessed when I watched it. The tiger’s paw seems to come right at you in the theatre, while the jump of the whale in the phosphorescence was breathtaking. 3D is the way to go with this film, which is probably why the Empire theatres didn’t show it much in the regular format.

I put on the 3D glasses and waited not knowing what to expect. Would I feel nauseous? Would I become dizzy and have to leave the theatre? None of it, it made me feel a part of the film which I suspect more and more will be the case in the future. Seats that tremble, or pitch, perhaps even one day smells. other than popcorn. Uh, back to the film. I did enjoy it, a boy’s adventure at sea with a tiger to keep him company, and to keep him alive. Seems nonsensical to the reader that a tiger continually trying to attack Pi would keep him alive, but it kept his mind from drifting as he himself drifted in a shipwreck for months. The larger themes of God, evil, the nature of life, and animals’ souls I’ll leave to the viewer when she sees the film. I loved it, it wasn’t the least bombastic, for all those themes; it wasn’t even particularly difficult. Much more than the book, it was entertaining, which is Hollywood, after all.

-Laurie Schut

When I was young and insecure I used to pretend to have read books I hadn't. It started in university in attempts to impress cute English majors and carried over when I started selling books. I felt customers wouldn't respect my opinion unless I could give them my first hand impressions. What a fool I was. Luckily I quickly caught on that people didn't care about what I had or had not read - they just wanted a book they would like. I learned to listen to what friends, co-workers and customers had to say about books and authors I had not read, and soon I was confidently recommending books based on this information.

If I were a bookseller today, I'd be selling bucket-fulls of a novel called Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, by Robin Sloan. Two weeks ago a friend of mine told me that it was the most enjoyable book he'd read in years, then last week another friend recommended it, saying that she really liked all the plot twists and suspense. I trust the taste of both of these friends - they are avid readers who will not recommend something unless it really stands out. They are smart people, so anything they like has got to be well written and if they both praise a book while using terms like "suspenseful" and "accessible", then I know I'm looking at book with wide appeal. It also seems that the public buzz about this particular book is getting stronger - at this moment there are thirty two holds for the copies we have in the library. The last time I remember this much positive word-of-mouth over a book it was shortly afterThe Sister's Brothers was published, and I think this one might even appeal to wider range of people.

What is behind all this interest? The publisher's blurb reads as follows: A gleeful and exhilarating tale of global conspiracy, complex code-breaking, high-tech data visualization, young love, rollicking adventure, and the secret to eternal life—mostly set in a hole-in-the-wall San Francisco bookstore. Sounds like The Da Vinci Code crossed with the kind of hip writing that fans of Jonathan Letham or David Mitchell have come to love. The names of other authors have been mentioned in comparison as well: Eco, Murakami, Calvino. The adjectives I most commonly hear applied are quirky, smart and (most importantly) fun.

Of couse few, if any, books appeal to everyone, and since I don't know you (you being whoever may read this blog) I can't guarantee this will be your next favourite book. But if you are a book nerd (and if you are reading this I have to assume you are a bit of a book nerd) the chances are pretty good you will like this a lot. So get a copy - ask for it should anyone pester you for last second gift suggestions. Or check it out from the library; just make sure to get your name on the hold list right away. That list is only going to get longer, I suspect.

RILEY LIBRARY CHILDREN'S

Books of the Month

No, David! by David Shannon

When author and artist David Shannon was five years old,
he wrote a semi-autobiographical story of a little kid who
broke all his mother's rules. He chewed with his mouth
open, jumped on the furniture, and broke his mother's
vase. As a result, all David ever heard was "No, David!"

It's Christmas, David! by David Shannon

Christmas gives more opportunities to admonish the
irrepressible David in this familiar story that nonetheless
feels fresh with the added holiday trappings.

Enchantment Emporium

So- I came across a booklist called: Calgary Reads - Fiction Set in Calgary that someone had kindly put together and there was one fantasy/science fiction title on it; “The Enchantment Emporium” by Canadian author Tanya Huff.

I thought ‘Nice! My patriotic book duty will soon be fulfilled.’ I tend (for no good reason) not to read Canadian books by Canadian authors, unless they have fantasy or faery content, for example: I can’t get enough of Charles de Lint and his urban faery tales. In his books it’s so easy to step between worlds and something about that really catches my interest. I have to know more! They make me want to make travel plans to walk down the same streets as the characters and see if the café that they ate at has the same feeling as was emoted in the book.

Yep, bit of a nerd that way. :D

Anyways, I’ve read Tanya Huffs’ “Blood” novels and really enjoyed them, (what a thrill to see colourful Canadian money in her “Blood Ties” TV series!) and I thought it would be interesting to try out this recommendation. A fantasy book set in Calgary! I picked up the MP3 audio version so I could listen to it in my car and by the time the main character had reached Calgary and was on a whirlwind taxi ride through the downtown core headed towards the antique/junk shop in Inglewood that she had inherited from her grandmother, I was hooked. I haven’t finished the MP3 yet but I’m really enjoying its quirkiness - also, today while unpacking brand new paperbacks – I noticed that its sequel “The Wild Ways” has just been published! More magic in Calgary!

So - time to plan a trip to the antique shops in Inglewood, a walk down Atlantic Ave S.E. in search of a good cup of coffee from a fellow named Kenny and check in at Fort Calgary, just to make sure there aren't any stray portals into the faery realms... You never know :)

On a hunt for magic!

Review of The Cloud Atlas movie

The Cloud Atlas comes at you from every angle. Based on David Mitchell’s 2004 novel, it is a very ambitious film. Not only does it veer between epochs, it also manages to veer between character’s stories in a very convincing way. That is to characters appear and disappear, themselves somehow intact but in a different epoch, with different families and sometimes *gulp* in different bodies. How are we to discern who’s who? A tattoo, for one thing; there is a small comet with a trail that is etched on one character so that we can recognize him in different bodies and even at times in different genders. Whaaat?

This is a mind-bender of a "what would happen if" movie. Science fiction based on the concept of karma; if you do this in this lifetime, then something like this will happen to you next time. That you are not dead and over with is patently clear when characters return to reenact their problems with different settings...and what settings! Seoul Korea 2144 to the South Pacific 1849 to San Francisco 1973. Each time we are treated to an entirely different story with a different cast - except that these people have known one another in different lives. It gets a little tiring as the movie is around 3 hours long and we are treated at the end to a post apocalyptic scene in the Hawaiian Islands with Tom Hanks channeling Laurence Olivier using patois. I liked it for the same reason I hated it; Too ambitious, too long and too much information. Sounds a little like 2012 to me.

-Laurie Schut

Susan Fae and Cathrine Greene are both currently showing their lovely art at Louise Riley Library until the end of December - you'll want to make sure you pop by to have a peek so you don't miss their beautiful imagery!

Get into the spirit of the season by taking in the soft drawings and seasonal prints of Cathrine and Susan in the children's area, and if the winter white and cold outside is starting to get you down, come into our cozy branch, curl up with a book or magazine and enjoy the bright, summery floral paintings from Susan hanging on the walls!

If you enjoy the linocut prints of Susan’s that you see on our walls, you might want to check out her “Dogs & their Walkers” on display at Thornhill Library for the month of December. If her art has sparked your interest in how it’s made check out her website www.thearttree.biz for more details or look into her classes on Linocut & Printmaking in February, 22, 23 & 24, 2013.