Strange Books.

I felt mildly guilty for not getting to the book I was supposed to read for my book club this month. I got over it, with everything else that has been going on.

I have picked up a few interesting reads of note in the last while. I am trying to read more Canadian lit in an attempt to balance off some of the more grisly titles that I have been going for.

I find it interesting what is considered to be "literature" and what is "mainstream" and what is considered to be "pocketbooks". I guess the thing about books is that there are always a range of opinions out there - I like looking at some of the big booksellers websites and seeing what other folks have to say about what I am reading - I generally tend to do this after I finish, or if I am having a particularly hard time getting through the book in front of me to see if it is worth the time to finish. Generally I do finish what I start so I can have a full and vocal opinion about the work, but if it is that bad or just not my thing, I let it go. Kind of like Lamb's She's Come Undone. Very popular. As far as I am concerned, complete shit and not my cup of tea. I don't think I got through more than 40 pages of that one. And the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, I have tried this one a few times, only to fall off the wagon about 100 pages in. I can't see a third or fourth attempt being tried.

I read the Summer of my Amazing Luck by Toews. It is a quirky, somewhat funny, look in to single parent life in the wilds of Winnipeg. I had no idea of what to expect from this book, but it was a good read, and a pretty fast one at that. This book gives voice to a story you don't often hear, it is a story of survival, and it draws you in.

I also just finishing reading Fall on your Knees by MacDonald. What a strange book. What an incredibly fucked up book at times. There were times I wondered if I could make it through the 700 odd pages of this tome, and times I raced through the pages, wondering what could possibly happen next. Was it as good as some of the critics would have you believe? I don't think so. Is it a complete write-off and waste of time like others suggest?? Nope. It lies somewhere in the middle. There are parts of this book that are beautifully written, and the characters are remarkable, even if they aren't always likable. This is a dark, sad novel at times. It deals with really dark topics - like incest, and rape, and death, sexuality, twisted familial relationships, but it is also about survival, and hope and multiculturalism, and growing up resilient on the east coast of Canada. At times I was shocked and appalled by this book, there were a few things that really didn't need to be written about, but I guess that is the sign of (at the very least) a provocative book. I reacted strongly at times, I was pissed off and frustrated, and I also felt sympathy and sadness, and I think I even laughed a few times. I was relieved when this book was done, to get away from some of the images, and to wonder about why so much Canadian literature is so sad, or deals with such fucked up themes. I couldn't help but recall this one wrong scene of a boy and a cow in another book (Cure for Death by Lightning, a disappointingly weird BC book) and question this twisted thread that seems to run through some so'called big L literary books. I can't come out and say that this is a good or great book, but it is well crafted, it definitely has a story to tell, it is an interesting read, it is hard to stay neutral about this book, and it isn't bad. You could definitely spark off a good conversation about this read, and perhaps at the end of the day, that makes this a worthy read.