Booker Longlist announced. . .

Let the fall award season begin . . .

Here's the first big award - The Man Booker longlist was announced today and I'm thrilled with some of the books that made the list, including A.S. Byatt's spectacular novel The Children's Book (which I'm keeping my fingers crossed for). In addition I've read the Toibin, Waters and Trevor - all worthy contenders. The new Coetzee manuscript has just shot up to the front of my reading pile, and I've had my eye on the Mawer for some time - it keeps staring at me from bookstore tables.

Here's the list in full:

The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt

Summertime by J.M. Coetzee

The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds
How to Paint a Dead Man by Sarah Hall

The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey

Me Cheeta by James Lever

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

The Glass Room by Simon Mawer
Not True & Not Unkind by Ed O'Loughlin

Heliopolis by James Scudamore

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

Love and Summer by William Trevor

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

The shortlist will be announced on Sept. 8th. I'm thinking it will come down to a battle between A.S. Byatt and Hilary Mantel.

Time Traveller's Wife Trailer. . .

The trailer for the movie of The Time Traveller's Wife is now out and can be viewed here. Despite the many delays, it looks pretty good. It opens on August 14th. And Audrey Niffenegger's long-awaited second novel will be out in October. Get your library holds now on Her Fearful Symmetry; I've read the manuscript and loved it - a very different type of novel, but does contain as unconventional a love story as that of Clare and Henry. Can't say more than that for now. . .

Oh, be still my bleeping heart. . .

Do you like being read to? How about by a good-looking British actor who not only has a dreamy accent but looks right at you through the computer screen as he seductively savours every syllable? Penguin UK has teamed up with Carte Noire, a coffee company that seems to be owned by Kraft. This ain't no cheez whiz though. Check it out here.

I highly recommend the reading by Greg Wise of Les Deux Amants - you can get a taste of what Emma Thompson gets to come home to every night. Sigh. Or Dominic West reading Katherine Mansfield's short story Something Childish But Very Natural. Or Dan Stevens reading from one of my favourite books, Jonathan Coe's The Rotters' Club!

And now if you'll excuse me, I have to go swoon somewhere.

Paris, je t'aime. . .

Paris has been on my mind all month. The Tour de France is entering its final week and I've continually been visiting the city on celluloid as Cinematheque has devoted the summer to French movies. So really, the perfect summer read for me has been Gillian Tindall's Footprints in Paris: A Few Streets, a Few Lives.

This book is a lovely combination of biography and history as Tindall tries to reconstruct the lives of several of her ancestors (on both sides of her family), who all came to Paris for different reasons, but were inspired and changed by their experiences. Coincidentally they all gravitated towards the famous Latin Quarter and in addition to the personal stories, is the fascinating history of the city itself and in particular, how that tiny part changed architectually during Baron Haussmann's famous changes to the streets and vistas in the 1860s.

We follow her great-great grandfather, Arthur Jacob, who in 1814 walked over a thousand miles from Edinburgh to Paris to continue his medical training. This section is very interesting on the cultural and political changes brought about by the French Revolution and Napoleon, and their effects on the common working people. Then there's Bertie Tindall, who comes to Paris to learn about the medical bookselling industry amidst the craze for the Bohemian. And Maud, a lonely spinster who nursed in France in WWI and found her "secret garden" - a little bit of freedom - in Paris. The book ends with Gillian's own story. Taking the pseudonym "Julia", she escapes to Paris to forget a personal tragedy, having been fascinated by the city since childhood when her unhappy mother would regale her with wistful tales about her youth spent in the sparkling capital.
Tindall has done some fascinating research and she really makes the streets come alive; this book is a must-read if you're planning a future trip to Paris or just want to get lost among its cobblestones for a few hours. It's a book about how a city buries its past and how Tindall unearths hers. For readers who enjoyed Thad Carhart's The Piano Shop on the Left Bank, or the novels of Edward Rutherfurd. Paris, you've seduced me again.

This book's got bite. . .

Vampire lit is all the rage now, with many authors trying to capitalize on the success of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. This parody made me laugh. Nightlight, by The Harvard Lampoon, promises "a hilarious send-up of the teen literature sensation, complete with a klutzy heroine, a sparkly hero, romance, danger, and a vampire prom."

Here's a sample:

He was the most beautiful boy I had ever seen. Yet there was something about him that I couldn't quite name...something curious about the way he poured ketchup on a doll's neck, then furiously licked it off.

Looks like fun. Out in November.

And even more summer reading suggestions. . .

MobyLives points us to this blog post from the L.A. Times that lists the top 61 (how do they come up with this optimal number?) postmodern reads. Everything from Tristram Shandy to Roberto Bolano's 2666 is included. What makes this list fun are the annotations. Symbols beside each title will helpfully let the reader know whether this book is Thin (less than 200 pages) or Fat (over 1000 pages), whether it "comments on its own bookishness" or has a "self-contradicting plot". Some interesting choices here, and by no means are they all fiction. Michael Herr's Dispatches, his reportage on the Vietnam War, is here along with a favourite of mine - Geoff Dyer's Out of Sheer Rage - his very funny account of not writing a biography of D.H. Lawrence. Hamlet is even included (it's "thin", "plays with language", "disrupts/plays with form", is a "postmodern progenitor", "includes fictional artifacts, such as letters" and "comments on its own bookishness".

Some other Canadian Divas. . .

Love, love, love this CD that I just discovered. I'm a huge fan of cabaret and so I was delighted to come across this collection while browsing in a classical music store. It's called Carmen Unzipped performed by Toronto duo Jean Stilwell as mezzo soprano with Patti Loach accompanying her on the piano. I've listened to Stilwell many times on the morning show at Classical 96.3 FM and always thought she had a wonderful radio voice, so I was curious to hear her singing voice. And it's terrific - clear, powerful and able to beautifully articulate the lyrics. Cabaret is all about storytelling; it works wonderfully with just a singer and a piano riffing off of each other and the choice of songs is varied and fun with a mixture of old, romantic favourites along with selections from contemporary composers such as Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich. You will laugh out loud at Taylor the Latte Boy, about falling in love with a Starbucks barista. It includes these wonderful lines: "So many years my heart has waited. Who’d have thought that love could be so caffeinated?" And for anyone who has experienced the pangs of unrequited love, the song Apathetic Man is for you. Any decent cabaret album will feature a song by Kurt Weill (one of my favourite composers), and he's represented here by a rendition of I'm a Stranger Here Myself. Stilwell also includes the song Marlene Dietrich made famous - Falling In Love Again - and the CD ends with a powerful and touching rendition of Habanera from Carmen - the role she's most famous for.
The CD notes will explain the meaning behind all her tattoos. And after listening to it, I guarantee you will want to go out and buy a new red dress.

More summer reading recommendations. . .

If you really want to travel the world this summer, Three Percent has just posted a great list of recommended summer reading. All the books are recent fiction published in translation and were culled from suggestions by the panelists who will be judging the Best Translated Book Award. It's an extensive, luscious, intriguing list including my personal favourite - Hans Fallada's Every Man Dies Alone. Gerbrand Bakker's The Twin is also on the list - this novel was recently recommended to me by another international literature aficionado (thanks Brad) and I plan to tackle it soon. You can read the full list here.

Read the Book, THEN Watch the Movie

I'm a big believer in reading a book before seeing a film adaptation, the books being SO much better in most cases. So, in preparation for tomorrow's release of the sixth Harry Potter movie, I've been re-reading Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince. If I didn't have to work tomorrow I would definitely be going to the midnight screening tonight, but as the movie is reported to be 153 minutes long, I decided against it-I just don't seem to be able to function as well on a few hours of sleep as I did in my university days!

The book is just as engrossing upon a second reading as the first- probably better if truth be told, as I'm not in a rush to find out what happens and can relax and enjoy Rowling's storytelling prowess. Darker than the earlier books, this book has more treachery and plotting by Voldemort's legions plus the promise of more romance between the characters. I just wish I had thought to check out the audio edition from the library a few weeks ago. I listened to the audio edition of the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and was incredibly impressed by the production, particularly narrator Jim Dale who was able to create a different voice for all of the characters. I don't have a long commute, so spent quite a lot of time sitting in the parking lot (and my driveway) so I could hear how the chapter ended.

Anyhow, based on early movie reviews like this one from School Library Journal, reading or re-reading the sixth book prior to seeing the movies sounds like a good move. From the review it would appear that this movie (unlike the last one) stays very true to the book. Many characters who were given short shrift in the previous movie do appear in this new one, which might be confusing to those just familiar with the movie.

Potter fans will have the added bonus of getting to see a trailer for the upcoming Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief movie, based on the popular series from Rick Riordan. The movie, which stars Logan Lerman as Percy and a host of well-known actors as various Greek Gods and Goddesses (Uma Thurman, Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean etc) is scheduled to hit theatres in February 2010. I'm going to have to re-read this one, as it has been many years since I've read it, and I don't remember an elevator scene...

Also coming to the big screen this October is Whip It based on Shauna Cross' book Derby Girl. This one stars Canadian Ellen Page (Juno) as a smart-mouthed teen who doesn't want to be a pageant queen (as her mom wishes) and rebels by sneaking off and joining a roller derby team. It is directed by (and co-stars) Drew Barrymore. A trailer was just released. The book came out in hardcover in Fall 2007, so copies should be available for those who want to read up before the theatrical release.

Also coming this Fall is the hugely anticipated movie adaptation of New Moon (November). The filming out in B.C. has been the fodder of many a tabloid lately, and the trailer seems to indicate that the new movie will have plenty of action and angst. Little Brown Books for Young Readers has released the cover image of the movie tie-in paperback. Looks great!

Summer reading. . .

Hope everyone's summer is going well and you've found some great reads to dip into, preferably by a lake, on an airplane to somewhere exotic, or just under a shady tree in the backyard. If we tend to have less book reviews on the blog at this time, well, to be honest, we're tired. If there is any "down" time in the book industry, it may just be these few slim weeks in July and at least in my case, there are a lot of fun activities out there competing with my reading time. I'm out on my bike every chance I get, and spending many of my evenings at the Cinematheque watching clever French New Wave films. And this is a great time to catch up on reading other publishers' books. And the classics.

Still, I haven't been entirely idle and have just posted my summer 09 reading picks. You can access them here. Some of the books won't be available until August, but you can put your holds on them now and have them to hand for the Labour Day weekend (sorry, shouldn't have mentioned the "l-word"). Happy summer reading.

Sunburst Shortlist announced. . .

And the shortlist for the Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic has been announced. There are categories for both adult and YA novels and in addition to the shortlists, the jurors have also listed several honourable mentions. Lots of great reading suggestions for your fantasy lovers. You can see the full lists here. The winners will be announced in September.

In Praise of Cycling. . .

It's Tour de France time again, and I'm up at the crack of dawn every weekend to watch it live on the internet (rooting for Bradley Wiggins and Alberto Contador this year). Biking has become a bit of an obsession with me this summer ever since I acquired my latest baby a few months ago - a Dahon foldable bike. I have the Speed D7 model and I absolutely love it. You can see in the photo above how compact it is when folded - perfect for my tiny apartment hallway, and despite the small wheels, it goes surprisingly quickly and the seven gears easily allow me to tackle hills (albeit slowly). I'm trying to do the 40km of my roundtrip work commute at least once a week.

Now I wear sports gear and change at work, but a friend of mine (thanks Ron!) who is a serious cyclist, sent me this link to the annual Brompton (another foldable bike company) World Championships, taking place near Blenheim Palace, not far from Oxford. It's a 13km race open to both sexes - the fun part is that there's a dress code! Blazer, shirt and tie are mandatory. I think I've just added another item to my bucket list.

Ron also points me to The Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne (of Talking Heads fame) coming this fall. It chronicles his adventures and thoughts as he cycles around the world's greatest cities - seated on his foldable bike. I'll definitely be reading this one.

Win a trip to Antarctica. . .

This is a very cool contest (worth about $25,000) open to Canadian teachers and professors (except in Quebec). The winner will join author and environmentalist Robert Swan on his November trip to Antarctica. To enter, you need to write a 500 word essay on why you want to go and how you would incorporate what you learn on the trip into your classroom. You have until September 4th to enter. You can find all the details and entry forms here.

Swan has personally walked across Antarctica and he is passionate about promoting the continent's preservation against the perils of climate change. His new book, Antarctica 2041: My Quest to Save the Earth's Last Wilderness will be published in October.

Reading for the zeitgeist. . .

Thanks to My Tragic Right Hip for pointing me in the direction of this recommended list in Newsweek of the fifty books - new and old, fiction and non-fiction - to read in order to understand the global issues affecting our lives. Books that deal with the economy, environment, war, religion, and culture are all here and it's a pretty darn good list either for your own browsing, or to recommend to patrons. My favourites among them are Bill Buford's Among the Thugs (which I'd never have picked up if my male colleagues hadn't raved about it - and they were right, it's a very compelling and unforgettable read) and Muriel Barbery's lovely novel The Elegance of the Hedgehog. You can read the full list here.

Two fascinating documentaries. . .

I blogged a few days ago about the DVD release of Alain Resnais's film Last Night in Marienbad. So I went out to buy my copy this weekend and was thrilled to discover that the extras include two of Resnais's short documentaries - one of which - Toute la mémoire du monde, a 20 minute look at France's Bibliothèque Nationale - I've been wanting to see ever since reading film critic David Thomson's description in his New Biographical Dictionary of Film. He calls the documentary one of Resnais's most compelling films and writes that the director, "grasped the surrealist futility of archives and made the library a Borges-like image of our obsession with memory."
This gorgeously shot black and white documentary takes you into the subterranean depths of the library, where (at least in 1956) there were sixty miles of shelves, and up to the beautiful vaulted ceilings of the reading rooms. It follows a book from its arrival in the post, to its (pre-computer) cataloguing and its assigned place on the shelves. What really makes this documentary quite beautiful (and oh, so French) is the accompanying voice-over narration. Here's what happens when a library patron requests a book (the camera follows the entire process):

And now the book marches on toward an imaginary boundary, more significant in its life than passing through the looking glass. It is no longer the same book. Before, it was part of a universal abstract, indifferent memory where all books were equal and together basked in attention as tenderly distant as that shown by God to men. Here it's been picked out, preferred over others. Here it's indispensible to its reader, torn from its galaxy to feed these paper-crunching pseudo-insects, irreparably different from true insects in that each is bound in its own distinct concern. . . Here we glimpse a future in which all mysteries are solved. . . when this and other universes offer up their keys to us. And this will come about simply because these readers, each working on his slice of universal memory, will have laid the fragments of a single secret end to end, perhaps a secret bearing the beautiful name of "happiness".

Can't get that on a Kindle now, can you?

The second documentary on the DVD is Le chant du styrène - a quirky and colourful look at the industrial origins of a red plastic bowl. Like the first one, the voice-over text (here narrated by French author and OULIPO member, Raymond Queneau), makes this journey seem epic. If you liked the documentary Manufactured Landscapes, you'd enjoy this as well.

Alain de Botton's latest book, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work also delves into this subject as he takes a philosophical, aesthetic and frequently amusing look at factories and offices. As de Botton explains, he is attempting, "a hymn to the intelligence, peculiarity, beauty and horror of the modern workplace and, not least, its extraordinary claim to be able to provide us, alongside love, with the principal source of life's meaning." It will make you think twice about industrial sites, shipyards and the origins of objects we take for granted. It is also a beautifully designed book with black and white photographs scattered throughout, including a photo essay tracing the origins of tuna steaks. I found the chapter on biscuits also fascinating - who knew that "biscuits are nowadays a branch of psychology, not cooking"?

(and no, de Botton isn't French - he's Swiss-born and lives in England. But he's written a book about Proust and I have no doubt he's fluent. He's probably also spent a lot of time at the Bibliothèque nationale).

Twitter

So I just Twittered our Blog. I am feeling very PO-MO right now.

Of all the 21 folks/groups I am following on Twitter, Drawn and Quarterly is the most interesting (as well as my cousin Sam). I took Seth around a few weeks ago and it was delightful. I love showing people around Toronto (even though he had lived here for many years).

I am always highly impressed with authors (and illustrators) like him who are able to take themselves away from what is essentially a very solitary occupation, and talk very articulately about what they are doing. It really must be quite difficult. Interestingly, he told me in the comics world, cartoonists are not edited as they are in other forms of publishing. Suffice to say I was amazed. If I was a writer, I am pretty sure every word I wrote would be heavily edited. Ah, well, I suppose I will just stick to talking about books and not writing any. John Irving is safe ;)

Janet Evanovich Event

As promised, I'm posting a few shots from the Janet Evanovich signing this past Wednesday, which was held at a Chapters store on the Queensway in Toronto. I'm a big believer in first impressions, and you just know that an event will be fun when you are greeted near the door by a person in a chicken suit...

About 375 fans lined up to meet the author and get their copies of Finger Lickin' Fifteen signed. While they waited everyone was kept entertained by a DJ spinning catchy tunes, free balloons (featuring favorite characters from the series), and was kept fortified by some absolutely incredible mini cheesecakes! For those who asked where we got them, they are made by a bakery in Bolton called Mercato Fine Foods Bakery and Deli.



Because I know that there are a lot of Janet Evanovich fans out there, I did make a point of getting an extra copy of Finger Lickin' Fifteen autographed for one lucky blog reader! If you are a librarian (Canada only) and would like the chance to win a signed book , please send me an e-mail with Finger Lickin' Fifteen in the subject line. Please make sure to include your full name and the mailing address of your library. I'll collect entries until 9:20 a.m. EST Monday July 13th. It's a strange cut off time I know, but for some reason 9:20 seems to be the earliest I can make it to the office on a Monday morning! Good Luck!

If you are a fan of the series, you might also want to check out the new animated Burg website that the publisher of the series has created. It features an interactive map where you can visit various locales from Stephanie Plum's neighborhood- her apartment, the bond office, her parent's house- and learn more about Stephanie's life and friends.
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NB: This contest is now closed. Thanks to those who entered & congratulations to the winner!

Bog Child wins Carnegie Medal. . .

Bog Child by the late Siobhan Dowd has won the 2009 Carnegie medal, awarded annually for an outstanding book for children. This is the first time the award has been given posthumously. Both Lahring and I have been big fans of Dowd's beautiful writing; her previous books - A Swift Pure Cry, and The London Eye Mystery have also been Dewey picks. Her last book, Solace of the Road, will be published this October. You can read tributes and more about the award at The Guardian's coverage here.

And if you are Terry O'Reilly fan. . .

Saffron and I didn't plan this - but after reading her post below, I can't help but add that if you are also a fan of the show, you'll be excited to know that Terry O'Reilly and Mike Tennant will have a new book out this fall - The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture.

My New Favourite CBC Show!

I love listening to Terry O'Reilly's Age of Persuasion. The CBC program he hosts is all about how marketing intercedes with all aspects of our life. Even though I think I may have not an interest in the subject he has chosen for that week, he always draws me in. The show I have linked is all about Brand Loyalty. He starts off by talking about everyone's favourite journal: Moleskine which for many is a way of life and goes on to discuss everything from the Beatles, Apple and Harleys. I love the fact that I can listen any time I want because really, who can commit to listening to something on a regular, steady basis. Smart and funny. Take a listen and enjoy!

Great book and movie combo. . .

The recent release from Criterion of Alain Resnais's amazing film Last Year in Marienbad - which has a secure place in my list of top 20 films of all-time - allows me to give another pitch for the novel that inspired the film - Adolfo Bioy Casares's The Invention of Morel, translated by Ruth L. C. Simms, and easily in my list of top 20 favourite NYRB Classics. This may not be a very helpful blog entry, as it's completely impossible to truly describe either the novel or film and do either of them justice. They are both simply unique and brilliant "experiences" that explore the mysterious nature of reality, love, the sense of place and time, and the wonder, suspense and illusion that lies behind all fiction and film. Over on the Criterion website, you can watch the excellent trailer of Last Year in Marienbad here which may - or may not - give you a sense of what the film is about. But if it leaves you intrigued and the summer blockbusters are boring you to death, do pick up Casares' slim little novella and pair it up with the movie over some weekend this summer. A good bottle of wine and some friends wouldn't go amiss - you'll have lots to discuss afterwards. I'll definitely be purchasing a copy of the DVD - it's a stunningly beautiful film to watch.

Using your noodle. . .

In winter, my starch of choice is always mashed potatoes, but in the summer there' s nothing quicker and more comforting than a good bowl of noodles. I'm currently craving soba noodles, perhaps because they taste so darn good, hot or cold. Boil them up, add some cooked chicken, green onions, a dash of soy sauce and a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds and I'm in heaven.

But I'm ready to expand my Asian noodle universe and so I'm having fun making my way through Noodle Comfort by Kentaro Kobayashi. With chapters devoted to a variety of noodles including Chinese, udon, yakisoba, pho, rice vermicelli and even traditional pasta, this cookbook is providing me with lots of different sauce and flavouring options, along with some good cooking tips. For example, I didn't know that if you are going to chill your noodles, you need to cook them slightly longer as they firm up when soaked in ice water. There are also instructions for making your own noodles from scratch, should you have the time. Design wise, it's not the most polished cookbook you'll ever come across, but there are decent photos for all of the dishes and it does give substitutions for some of the Japanese ingredients if you can't find them in your local supermarket. If you live in a major urban centre, you shouldn't have any problems.

It's part of a new Easy Japanese Cooking series from Vertical Press. Other titles include Donburi Mania, devoted to dishes over rice, and coming soon will be Bento Love, Veggie Haven and Appetizer Rex.

Janet Evanovich is Coming to Toronto!

The new chronicle of the chaotic (and extremely funny) life of bounty hunter extraordinaire Stephanie Plum, Finger Lickin' Fifteen hits stores and library shelves across the country tomorrow, Tuesday June 23rd.

We are extremely lucky here in Toronto, as Janet Evanovich herself will be in town on Wednesday June 24th. If you are in the Toronto area and would like to meet the lovely and talented author in person, she will be doing a signing at the Chapters Queensway store at 6PM (1950 The Queensway in Etobicoke). It sounds like a great time- there will be cheesecake, balloons, a DJ and more fun stuff.

Check the blog later in the week for event photos (and perhaps a giveaway or two)!

Hope to see you there!

The Fables series continues - in novel form. . .

I know that there are many fans out there of The Fables graphic novel series (and its various offshoots) written by Bill Willingham. The series takes familiar characters from fairy tales and throws them into the contemporary world and modern situtations. Coming this fall, in an interesting twist, will be the first, stand-alone Fables novel - Peter & Max. DC Comics and its imprint Vertigo have posted the first chapter online at its new blog Graphic Content. You can read it here. And to keep abreast of all that's new in the graphic novel world, check out their blog here.

Are you headed for The Unit?. . .

This is truly the most disturbing and terrifying novel I have read this year - and I mean that in a good way.

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist, translated by Marlaine Delargy, is a dystopian novel, but like all great books in that genre, it succeeds brilliantly because the events that occur feel like they could happen next week. Our heroine Dorrit - not unlike myself - is a woman who early on in life was warned by her mother of the importance of being financially and intellectually independent. Career first - worry about men and babies later. Dorrit has taken this advice and become a writer, and though she's a struggling one she genuinely enjoys her life. However, society - still a free democracy - has radically changed its values. At the opening of the novel, Dorrit is preparing to go to The Unit, where all women who hit the age of 50, and men when they turn 60, have to go - but only if they don't have children.

On the surface, The Unit is a lovely place, an enclosed community where Dorrit gets her own apartment, has free access to restaurants, fitness centres, spas, museums and parks. Everyone is cheerful and she quickly makes friends with a group of other childless women. There is of course a library in The Unit, and a very up-to-date one; you can even sign out an e-reader. And the librarian works a lot of overtime because there are so many intellectuals in the Unit. "People who read books," he says, "tend to be dispensable. Extremely."

Scared yet?

Of course there is a political reason why Dorrit and childless men and women live in The Unit (and here I'm not revealing any spoilers you can't find on the jacket of the book). During their stay, they will be used as human guinea pigs for a roster of medical experiments and gradually become organ donors for those living outside The Unit - i.e. parents. They will be asked to donate what they can, bit by bit, until the final donation of a heart or lung. They get excellent medical care, but as you can guess, the life expectancy is not long in The Unit.

In addition to a cracking, well written story, this novel would make an incredible book club pick. It contains a minefield of ethical questions to discuss, not only around issues of organ donation (who deserves a kidney more - a perfectly healthy sixty year old man who may have another thirty years to live, or a thirty year old mother of two?) but also the role and economic value society places (or not) on childless citizens (who, I must mention are, ahem, often the ones covering maternity leaves). It's also very much a look at how the relationships and friendships between women change when children come into the picture. And about how married parents judge singletons, and the childless judge mothering skills. If we're honest, we've all been guilty of one or the other. The Unit may remind you of Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go and certainly if you enjoyed that novel, you will like this one too; I think it more closely continues the feminist and fertility debates that Margaret Atwood explored with The Handmaid's Tale, or even those that Aldous Huxley detailed in Brave New World. And this is definitely not just a female read - remember, childless men get sent to The Unit as well.

Shortly after finishing this unforgettable novel, I read a news report that the birth rate among Western women was declining at a rate that could have some major economic repercussions. Ninni Holmqvist is a Swedish writer, from a country famous for its progressive policies towards daycare and maternity leaves. And though my rational side tells me not to get freaked out by fiction, there's a part of me that wonders - what do the Swedes know that we don't yet? I've made a conscious decision in my life not to have kids (which I've never regretted - how do parents ever find the time to read?) though I'm happy to play a role in the lives of my friends who do. SO DON'T SEND ME TO THE UNIT!

(And of course, if you did, I couldn't offer up a few extra galleys of this amazing book, which I do now. Sorry, but this offer is only open to Canadian librarians, library staff and teacher-librarians at either public, school, or academic libraries. Just send me an e-mail at mscott@randomhouse.com with The Unit in the subject line, and include your library mailing address. I'll accept entries for a week, until noon EST on Thursday, June 25th, and do a random draw then. Winners will be notified by e-mail.)
N.B. Thanks to everyone who entered the draw. This giveaway is now closed and winners have been notified.