The Lazy Reader just finished a delightful novel called The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty. It is a character piece about the relationship between two women. Cora is a sensitive and conservative wife and mother in 1920's Wichita, Kansas. A fictitious character, she offers to accompany a real person, future screen actress Louise Brooks, to New York for dance training. Cora has a personal motive for offering to play chaperone which she is too private to reveal to Louise. I would recommend this to readers who like character driven historical fiction. There isn't a tightly wound plot, but evocative scenes that convey rare moments of understanding between people, and how two people influence each other. I enjoyed the setting of New York in the 1920s, when social mores were shifting.

Review of Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

I read Cheryl Strayed’s book almost the way that Cheryl hiked the Pacific Crest Trail: hard, with not too many stops, and with a devotion that bordered on the maniacal. It is a good book in that it accomplishes what she wants, to bring to life the hardship and wonder of pushing your body to unendurable limits. I mean, the name of her knapsack was Monster, and I would have given it a few more besides if I’d been her. With no real experience of backpacking she hikes for 1100 miles from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State in boots that are too small and a packsack that even veterans of the trail could hardly lift. At times, she believes the spirit of her dead mother is watching her, sometimes helping her. At other times, I would assume that she’d blush to have her mother watching over her, as she rashly decides on one-night stands.

Her old life would catch up to her at the most inconvenient times: when she was 22 her life was veering out of control with a marriage that was over, her mother dead, her family scattered and her drug abuse mounting. To say that she was impulsive is an understatement. How does this all tie up in her memoir? Each chapter is both a struggle with her hiking, (the boots, the endless urgings for Snapple and food, the weight of her pack) and with coming to terms with her past. Each chapter has a person’s name associated with it - her father’s and those memories, her ex-husband’s, her mother’s. Each one is grappled with and then closed as the chapter closes. She finds closure with her past and as she does so her journey becomes bearable.

I wouldn’t for all the world want to come to terms with my grief the way Cheryl did with the endless torture of walking, the way the body breaks down under stress and all the haunting memories, but it seemed to release her from her self-destructive tendencies in a remarkable way. This is what I loved most about this book; there is no psychobabble in it, no big ahah moment, no one to take the camera picture. She is just there, constantly improving with no visible understanding of why.

- Laurie Schut

Gil Scott-Heron was a unique voice during America's turbulent years of social upheaval in the 1970's. Musically, he was way ahead of his time. In the year 1970 he released his debut album, Small Talk at 125th and Lennox, which contained the song The Revolution Will Not be Televised - cited by many people as the first rap song ever recorded. Scott-Heron has been called "The Godfather of Rap" and when he passed away in 2011 pop superstar Usher, among many others, cited him as a major figure in 20th Century music.

So why wasn't he more famous? Part of the answer may be that a drug problem he developed in the seventies made him difficult for promoters, record companies, and other musicians to handle. He went through several configurations of band mates before his record company, Arista, dropped him in the mid-eighties. His strong opinions about politics and civil rights hardly made him a mainstream media darling - in short he was probably just "to hot to handle" for AM radio, which dominated what the public listened to in those times. Despite all of that his music has stood up remarkably well, and I am glad to see that several of his CDs are available for you to check out from the Calgary Public Library.

Also available from the library is "The Last Holiday: A Memoir", a biography that focuses on the time he spent on Stevie Wonder's Hotter Than July tour - a time when Wonder was the strongest voice speaking out for a holiday to commemorate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King. It is an amazing book that will fascinate anyone remotely interested in the social changes that happened through the seventies and early eighties.

So today, Martin Luther King Day, why not check out the words and music of a man who did his part in making this holiday come to pass? Oh, and it wouldn't hurt to listen to some Stevie Wonder or read the words of Dr. King himself. While this may not be a holiday here in Canada, I think we can all agree that the example Dr. King set has had a great positive effect that does not stop at the borders of the United States.

Review of Georgette Heyer’s Regency Romance novels

I hesitate to write of Georgette Heyer’s novels in that they resemble nothing more than pale shadows of Jane Austen at her not very best. Heyer’s novels centre around getting married in the time of the Regent, 1795-1837, in England. The plots are improbable, the dialogue gets tiring and yet, and yet, they are delicious. No less a writer than A.S Byatt, among others, has sung her praises and I can definitely recommend them for those readers who have worn out Pride and Prejudice on their CD players. Georgette never fails.

Let’s be clear. The heroines are always virtuous, if a little careless, and the heroes, are not... That makes for some interesting stories. Kidnappings, near rapes, some interesting duels, getting into scrapes with the law and (more importantly) people of the Ton, getting out of scrapes, getting money, losing money and then, of course, shopping. It is rather dizzying. Heyer is good with details, bad with editing. She goes on at length about the way a ball gown is draped, but neglects to do the one thing that all good novelists should do, move the plot along. So, perhaps perceiving that the reader is lost somehow in the folds of a necktie, she retrieves him, (or her), stuffs her in a coach with her heroine, and drops them in a Vauxhall rout. Wait, weren't we supposed to be eloping with Valdor? Or was it Charles? The other problem with Heyer is that she loves to stuff us full with dainties - characters that are either straight out of Dickens or out of Bronte. A harsh villain may bear a close resemblance to Heathcliff while another father figure seems a tad like Daniel Peggotty. We do love these characters, but perhaps not quite so many in such short novels all enacting such Cheltenam tragedies! Her use of the vernacular of the times is brilliant, I want to be bedeviled, blue as begrim, or perhaps have a fit of the vapors. Life was so much more lived then. There were orgies, balls, duels, gaming, rakes and penitence. Above all, in Heyer, there is penitence.

Laurie Schut Louise Riley Library

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!