books

On the Proper Use of Stars by Dominique Fortier

Like a lot of people, I am fascinated by the doomed Franklin Expedition. Everything about it is horrifyingly captivating: the questionable abilities of Franklin, the dodgy food, the cryptic notes left behind, the overconfidence of the British Admiralty, the determination of Lady Franklin to find her missing husband, and, most of all, what it was like for all those men trapped by ice, knowing there was no way out.

Because of this fascination, I’ve consumed a lot of Franklin Expedition books, articles and documentaries. (I even watched a TV show called The Terror, in which the crew was menaced by a magical polar bear. The cast did their best, but…well, it wasn’t my kind of thing. Let’s leave it at that.)

But somehow I missed On the Proper Use of Stars by Dominique Fortier, which was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award for French Fiction in 2009 (as Du bon usage des étoiles) and then shortlisted again in 2010 for the French to English Translation by Sheila Fischman. I loved it. The poetic language, the flashes of humour, the shifting perspectives, the subtly mounting feelings of dread and hopelessness and helplessness – it’s perfect. Five stars.

Great Women Artists

Because she knows I’m always seeking to improve my art history education, Anna borrowed this for me from the Halifax library and it is a winner. Featuring the work of hundreds of women from all over the world during the last five centuries or so, it was a great introduction to so many fabulous artists I’d never heard of before. I was a teensy bit disappointed by the relatively low proportion of Canadians, but I’ll call it Highly Recommended nonetheless.

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

Shortly after the Second World War, Helene Hanff, a young writer in New York City, sent a request to a used book shop in London and thus began a two decade friendship in letters with an employee of the store, Frank, as well as Frank’s wife, daughter, co-workers and even a neighbour.

I loved the wit and charm of the letters, the take on then-current events, the personal updates, and, of course, all the book talk.

A short volume, but a really lovely read for those days when you have lost all faith in humanity.

“…it was a cruel shame a girl couldn’t ‘ave a bit of fun without a nasty corpse comin’ in through the window to get ‘er into difficulties.”

-from Whose Body by Dorothy L Sayers

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

Boy, it’s great when a book that has been on my to-read list for a long time turns out to be even better than I’d hoped.

Like Madeline Miller’s Circe and The Song of Achilles (both of which I loved) A Thousand Ships is a re-telling of the Greek myths from the women’s point of view – in this case, the Trojan War. It’s both funny and heartbreaking by turns and, while it’s more modern and not as poetic as Miller’s prose, I enjoyed Haynes’ writing style.

A passage near the end of the book from Calliope, the Muse of poetry, expresses the aim of the story better than I ever could:

“…I have sung of the women, the women in the shadows. I have sung of the forgotten, the ignored, the untold. I have picked up the old stories and I have shaken them until the hidden women appear in plain sight. I have celebrated them in song because they have waited long enough…A war does not ignore half the people whose lives it touches. So why do we?”

The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr

This book confirmed every shady thing I’ve ever heard or assumed about the grocery industry and managed to add a whole slew of new horrors to be disgusted by. Unspeakable sanitary conditions? Check. Shocking human rights abuses? Check. Utter lack of regard for the environment? Check. Bribes, payouts and laughably ineffective audits? Check. I could go on, but you get the idea.

Infuriating, depressing and recommended.

Kiss Myself Goodbye by Ferdinand Mount

‘Grimly funny and superbly written, with a twist on every page,’ reads the front cover blurb by Hilary Mantel, who knows a thing or two about grim humour and superb writing. Hilary’s word is good enough for me so I ordered it and, lo and behold, she was right. This is a fascinating, funny book.

I confess I hesitated at first. A whole book about this guy’s aunt? Why should I invest more than three seconds in learning about some long-dead woman who didn’t seem to do much of anything?

Oh, but she did things, all right. Lots and lots of wild lifestyle choices involving multiple name changes, an illegitimate child, secret adoptions and bigamy, just to scratch the surface. Mount spends years digging for the truth – there is a LOT of digging to do – and skillfully places his aunt’s escapades within both her geography and the social environment of the time.

I laughed and I gasped and I learned – my three keys to a really good reading experience. Highly recommended.

The Case of the Murderous Dr Cream by Dean Jobb

For about fifteen years in the late 19th century, Dr Thomas Neill Cream went on a murder spree in Canada, the United States and England, merrily poisoning people wherever he went and moving on when suspicions began to gather. He got away with it for so long thanks to police incompetence and the sexist and classist (but he’s a doctor!) attitudes of the day. (Of the day, I write, as if those things don’t exist any more. Sigh.)

Dean Jobb lays out the case in an enthralling and spectacularly researched fashion that makes it both a pleasure and infuriating to read. I don’t often say this, but all of the hype and five-star reviews and shortlists for awards are well deserved. Wholeheartedly recommended.