So Misguided

What books are on your radar? What are you reading that’s fantastic?

I heard Diane Schoemperlen has a new book out, anyone reading it? Is it good? I loved Our Lady of the Lost and Found.

Tonight I’m going to get back into Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens. I’m liking it a lot so far.

I’m currently reading Michael Chabon’s “The Yiddish Policemans’ Union”, which is fantastic. Yesterday I read a line that went something like:

“He woke up as sober as a cod in a bathtub.”

I recently enjoyed “Born Standing Up”, Steve Martin’s memoir of his time in stand-up comedy. Also the aforementioned Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road”.

On the audio book front, I’ve just started “Made to Stick”. The jury is out on that one.

Having just finished reading two books about publishing, ‘Penguin Special: The Life and Times of Allen Lane’ (the founder of Penguin Books) and ‘At Random: The Reminiscences of Bennett Cerf’ (founder of Random House), I’m now reading a third: ‘Stet’ by Diana Athill which is about her life as an editor. I am such a nerd…

I’m excited about ‘Lush Life’ the new novel by Richard Price the author of ‘Clockers’ and ‘Freedomland’. And I keep hearing great things from my book-selling friends about Roberto Bolano’s ‘The Savage Detectives’ too…

Am I allowed to talk about books I’m working on? Harcourt have two new great books coming in April - ‘All Souls’ by Christine Schutt, which is really stylish and reminded me of Paula Fox’s ‘Desperate Characters’ (only set in a high-school), and ‘Lavinia’ by Ursula K Le Guin is truly excellent.

I just finished reading “The Witch of Cologne” by Tobsha Learner.  I really didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did.  It is set during the Inquisition and has a lot of religious overtones but also a love story. The end was a bit of a surprise, which is fantastic since I love it when I can’t predict the ending!

Darren: Make to Stick is on my read-it-in-print list, but maybe I’ll try audio to mix things up.

Dan: I really liked Stet. I didn’t expect to but found it really interesting. Is Somewhere Towards the End her new book?

The Guardian last week had a funny quote from her about VS Naipaul: ‘I simply could not allow myself not to like him.’

Laurena: You should read Ursula K Le Guin’s Lavinia next. If you haven’t read her before, you’ll love her.

Hey Monique, yes ‘Somewhere Towards the End’ is the new Diana Athill. I think it will be in stores in a couple of weeks…

Actually, whilst I’m on the topic of books Raincoast is distributing, I can also recommend ‘Pavel & I’ by Dan Vyleta. It’s a great cinematic literary thriller set in post-war Berlin. All you really need to know about the plot is that involves a frozen Soviet midget. Oh and Dan V. lives in Edmonton, AB too so it’s Canadian in a round-about kind of way. There’s a Q & A I did with him here: http://tinyurl.com/2y57mq

Sorry for all the shameless plugging of Raincoast. If you’re looking for something I’ve had nothing to do with, I’d recommend Canadian Darwyn Cooke’s two volume graphic novel ‘The New Frontier’ published by DC. Yes it’s superheroes, but it’s really terrific and has this awesome retro 50’s thing going on. V. cool.

aaah, what am i reading.  i always have a gazillion books lying around wherever i go - but am noticing that i am getting pickier and pickier.  right now i’m on a bit of a terry pratchett thing, and am rereading a book by kerr cuhulain, a vancouver police officer and wiccan warrior.