A Year in Reading in Review

The year is capping off and so is my year of reading. Please refer to my July posting on A Year in Reading:
http://piedsnusenete.blogspot.com/2011/07/year-in-reading.html

As promised  to a dear (and most lovely) pieds nus en hiver avid follower, here are my brief reviews of the books I have read in 2011:

January - 
Woman's World by Graham Rawle
http://www.amazon.com/Womans-World-Novel-Graham-Rawle/dp/1582434638/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1324494027&sr=8-10
-Interesting fact: Rawle assembled 40 000 fragments of text snipped from 1960's women's magazines and created a text collage. It took him five years to produce this book.
-Tone: dark with a certain sadness to it.
-Time:  1960's (epoch of the domestic goddess).
-Overall: There's a twist! I didn't expect it, so it came as a surprise. Visually interesting. Descriptions are extensive, colorful and comedic at times.
-The concept and the story are unforgettable.

February - 
Atonement by Ian McEwan
 http://www.amazon.com/Atonement-Novel-Ian-McEwan/dp/038572179X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324494171&sr=1-1
-Tone: tragic
-Format: divided in four parts
-Time and place: England, 1935; Northern France, 1940; London, 1940; London, 1999.
-Style: exquisitely written. Lyrical descriptions. Very visual. Not a lot of dialogue. My favorite parts were Part 3, followed by Part 1.
-Themes: childhood, love, shame & forgiveness, morality, class, war, writing.
-Feel: provoking.


March-
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
http://www.amazon.com/Help-Deluxe-Kathryn-Stockett/dp/0399157913/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324494230&sr=1-1
-Time and place: 1962. Jackson, Mississippi.
-Narration: three narrators; all strong women.
-Feel: engrossed by this read. Couldn't put it down.
-Characters: well-developed and complex.
-I shed a tear at the end.

April - 
Millénium 1: Les hommes qui n'aimaient pas les femmes de Stieg Larsson
http://www.amazon.com/Millenium-Paperback-Hommes-Naimaient-French/dp/2742793097/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324494456&sr=1-1
-Mon premier polar (thriller).
-Malgrès l'immense popularité de cette série, je ne voulais pas trop l'aimer. Aveu: l'histoire m'a agrippée dès le début.
-L'intrigue était contemporaine. Les personnages disfonctionnels. Un mystère à résoudre. Une saveur européeenne.
-Lisbeth Salander et Mikael Blomkvist font une bonne équipe.
-à noter: ll y a des scènes de violences qui sont assez dérangantes.
-The French title is more appropriate than the English one and more similar to the Swedish.

May - 
The Birth House by Ami McKay
http://www.amazon.com/Birth-House-Novel-P-S/dp/B002QGSX7S/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324494543&sr=1-1
-Time and place: WW1, Scots Bay, NS. Canada.
-Very Canadian feel.
-Entertaining and quick read.
-Glorifies midwifery (yeah!) and honours women and choices they make.
-A forgettable read. But good for what it was.

June - 
Tempest-Tost by Robertson Davies
 http://www.amazon.com/Tempest-Tost-Modern-Classics-Penguin-Robertson/dp/0143054910/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324494625&sr=1-1
-Amateur theatre group is rehearsing The Tempest. Right up my alley!
-Set: Salterton, a fictional place. Kingston? A University town.
-Many characters. I had to keep track of them (jotting notes in the inside back cover of the book). All very colourful and flawed. I would have preferred a focus on another protagonist. Hector Mackilwraith, the math teacher, wasn't my favourite.
-Funny, laugh-aloud lines.
-A great pick for the summer.
-"A theatrical company, however ill-assorted or however amateur, is bound together by ties which are incomprehensible to outsiders".

July - 
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
http://www.amazon.com/Room-View-Edward-Morgan-Forster/dp/146103986X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324494775&sr=1-1
-I was really looking forward to this book. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.Perhaps I didn't get the witty humour, I don't know... I'm not really into satire. Was that what it was?
-I wasn't attached to Lucy Honeychurch. I didn't get her.
-Time and place: Edwardian times, Florence.
"Women like looking at a view; men don't."

August - September - 
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
http://www.amazon.com/Never-Movie-Tie--Vintage-International/dp/0307740994/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324494963&sr=1-1
-Moving. I shed a few tears. I went back to the beginning of the book once I finished it. (that's a good sign)
-Intimate narration.
-A portrait of adolescence, childhood dreams, rebellion, acceptance, destiny, lost innocence, mortality.
-Feel: disquieting.
-Reminded me of A Handmaid's Tale; a  "humane" science fiction read.

 October -
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
http://www.amazon.com/Night-Watch-Sarah-Waters/dp/B000P29HYI/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324495029&sr=1-2
-Format: division in three parts - 1947, 1944, 1942. Going back in time.
-Time and place: London, during the war.
-When finished, I went back to the beginning.(good sign)
-Entertaining. Illicit liaisons. Dark. Secrets. What's not to like?
-A glimpse into the harshness of WWII reality of the women who worked in the city. Really interesting time period and subject. We never think about the women; it's always about the men who fight in the war...

November - 
The Waves by Virginia Woolf
http://www.amazon.com/Waves-Annotated-Virginia-Woolf/dp/B005K5YHVI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324495394&sr=1-1
-Superbly written. Poetic. Lyrical. Just beautiful.
-I pictured it as a stage play. I think that there was a recent adaptation in London, am I correct?
-A lingering book. To be read slowly. To sip.

December - 
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
 http://www.amazon.com/Night-Circus-Erin-Morgenstern/dp/0385534639/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324495689&sr=1-1
-Fun. Magical. Makes me smile. What a world!
-I don't want it to end, so I'm dragging it out.
-Format: short chapters. Titled + date + place.
-The plot isn't really complex. I didn't get attached to any particular character.
-This read wasn't recommended. I bought it on a whim after reading a review. I do not regret it. Very Decemberish!



Also, the Women's Bio Book Club* selections this year were:
Sisters in the Wilderness: The Lives of Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill  by Charlotte Gray. (Winter read)
Audrey Hepburn by Barry Paris (Spring read)
The Education of a Woman: The Life of Gloria Steinem by Carolyn G. Heilbrun (Summer read)
A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard (Autumn read)

*We read four books a year.