Tuesday, August 11, 2015

What is everyone reading this summer? Add to the list.

Jim Foulds: I highly recommend a book entitled The Guernsey Literary and Baked Potato Peel Society. A deceptively "quirky" book that takes place on the English Channel Island of Guersey that was occupied by the Germans during WWII.(It's closer to France than England.)  Gutsy, funny, profound and both heartwrenching and heartwarming, but never sentimental-- with good advice for writers all thown in at the same time. 




Joan Baril - The Back of the Turtle by Thomas King.  This is one funny, clever, perky book that is a great summer read. Only the inimitable Thomas King, a national treasure, writes like this. Gabriel Quinn, sell-out scientist, has created GreenSweep, a chemical that destroyed the environment around a small town. Distraught over his role in the community's destruction, he plans to commit suicide by drowning himself in the Pacific Ocean, but is drawn into a journey of spiritual redemption. Meanwhile, the head of the company that manufactured Green Sweep is fending off more environmental disasters and attempting to fend off depression by buying more stuff. Back in the small town, the locals, all matchless King characters,both aboriginal and white, are trying to cope.



Hang on to your hats. A great list follows sent in by Susan Rogers, avid reader. The Great Gatsby by F, Scott Fitzgerald, Room by Emma Donoghue, Possession by A.S. Byatt, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, Atonement by Ian McEwan, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon,  The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King.  Love this list. Tess of the D'Ubervilles was the book that got me reading the classics and I started with everything by Thomas Hardy. I wondered why I had turned up my nose at the classics before. Perhaps it was because I read such dreary stuff in high school i.e. Sir Walter Scott who could put a stone to sleep.  A further note. This week the state of Florida banned The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time claiming it does not reflect Christian values. Note to USA book banners - grow up!    




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