Favourite Reads of 2009 Part VI. . .

Today we turn it over to the guys and the library wholesalers - Ron Stadnik from Library Bound in Waterloo and Brad Wojak from United Library Services in Calgary, are two of the most prolific readers in the business and have such a wide range of reading tastes - I look forward to their lists every year because I know I'm going to be introduced to books that have not crossed my radar (plus Ron has chosen one of my own personal favourites this year and Brad is a fellow NYRB Classics fan!)

Ron's Favourite Reads of 2009:

So much for being quirky and esoteric: my choices have never been so mainstream. With books as moving as Dan Baum’s Nine Lives, or as fun to read as Atwood’s Year of the Flood or Born to Run by Christopher McDougall, I’m happy to read popular bestsellers. Special mention for Methland, a book about the life and death of an American small town that could easily be set in southwestern Ontario.

Fiction:

Consumption by Kevin Patterson
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist, translated by Marlaine Delargy
Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
Far North by Marcel Theroux

Non-Fiction:

Nine Lives: Death and Live in New Orleans by Dan Baum
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall
Methland: The Life and Death of an American Small Town by Nick Reding
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
Appetite for Self Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industy in the Digital Age by Steve Knopper
Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller by Jeff Rubin

Ron Stadnik buys and recommends books for national wholesaler Library Bound. More of his favorite books can be found at www.librarybound.com

Brad's Favourite Reads of 2009:

David by Ray Robertson
Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter

This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
Cry of the Sloth by Sam Savage
Stitches: A Memoir by David Small. This is one of the finest graphic memoirs since Maus.
The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower
Thought You Were Dead by Terry Griggs
The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker

A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disasters by Rebecca Solnit

Brad Wojak is the adult book buyer for United Library Services in Calgary.

NYRB Challenge Book #12: Anglo-Saxon Attitudes. . .

I didn't know when I first picked up Anglo-Saxon Attitudes by Angus Wilson that a major section of the novel would take place during a rather disastrous Christmas gathering. Sometimes I'm convinced there's a strange spirit guiding my choices during this challenge; my eyes will just happen to alight upon a title that proves particularly relevant. If anyone is stressing about family reunions during the holidays, I urge you to read this book. It'll make you feel better, I promise - after all, someone's fictional family is always more eccentric, argumentative or just plain embarrassing than your own.

Gerald Middleton is a sixty year old medieval history professor who is respected by his peers, but has never really set the academic world on fire. He has a steady income from his family's business and prefers instead to focus on his hobby of acquiring beautiful art prints. In particular, he is trying to dodge becoming the editor of a history journal despite repeated entreaties from his colleagues (it's just too much work). He's also trying to avoid getting entangled in the endlessly tedious dramas of his family's personal lives.

His estranged and melodramatic wife Inge is still resentful of a long affair in Gerald's past that was conducted openly when his children were still quite young. His conservative son Robin is having an affair with his brother John's voluptuous secretary - and running into problems that strangely mimic his father's experience. It doesn't help that Gerald also finds himself attracted to his son's mistress. His daughter Kay has an annoying husband - also an academic but very bad at job interviews - who can't find a job. And finally there's outspoken John, a journalist trying to expose government corruption who is also romantically involved with a manipulative Irish crook named Larrie. Throw in a slew of comic supporting roles - a former charwoman with some definitely negative (but very funny) views on poinsettias, a crass novelist wanting to branch out into historical fiction, and a dotty female professor of paganism - and you have a wonderful cast of characters that you'll actually want to spend a lot of time with.

Perhaps the most sensible of the bunch is the elderly and eminent Sir Edgar Iffley, head of the Historical Association. He sums up the role of an historian, and simultaneously nails the crux of the plot's ongoing dilemma quite succinctly:

As historians we've got to tell the truth about the past as far as we know it, but that's quite a different thing from searching into the truth of people's lives here and now. All this prying and poking about into what other people prefer to keep hidden seems to me a very presumptuous and dangerous fashion.

But poor Gerald - throughout the novel he will be forced to do both. Though he really doesn't like his wretched family, his shame at being a bad husband and father motivates him to try and make amends - or at least take an interest. He really doesn't want to get involved in editing the history journal, but his decades-long guilt over concealing some evidence about a major historical discovery entangles him into a series of encounters with people from his past, including his old mistress. It all makes for some very funny predicaments; I have to say I grew quite fond of the old codger by the end.

This is a marvellously entertaining and perceptive novel that is definitely for readers of David Lodge, Malcolm Bradbury or Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim, but also for those who have enjoyed more recent novels of spatting family sagas such as Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections or Zoe Heller's The Believers. In its portrayal of homosexual relationships (the novel was first published in 1956), it anticipates Alan Hollinghurst's A Line of Beauty. It's also a great novel to recommend to history buffs for its comic skewering and yet astute questioning of the discipline.

All in all, if you make it through the Christmas pudding, I'd say this is the perfect book to escape with on Boxing Day.

New York Times Best Books of 2009. . .

This is an annual list that actually has a huge effect on book sales, even in Canada. I always find their selections unique and interesting. Here's what the editors picked for this year (links are to the Canadian editions):

Fiction

Both Ways Is The Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy

Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem

A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore

Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

A Short History of Women by Kate Walbert

Non-fiction

The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes

The Good Soldiers by David Finkel

Lit: A Memoir by Mary Karr

Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed

Raymond Carver: A Writer's Life by Carol Sklenicka

Favourite Reads of 2009, Part V. . .

Today we go to Kitchener Public Library where Laura Reed, Coordinator of Children’s & Teen Services, gives us her favourite picks of the year. If you love animals and children's books - this is the list for you!

Laura's Favourite Reads of 2009:

Where’s Tumpty? by Polly Dunbar
Who can resist Pru, a chicken who really knows how to accessorize, Tiptoe a bunny with impossibly long ears, and Tumpty an elephant who believes if he closes his eyes no one can see him? Not me! Tilly and Friends are a perfect cure for a bad day, no matter your age.

Gertrude is Gertrude is Gertrude by Jonah Winter, illustrated by Calef Brown
Every year there is a picture book I secretly believe was written just for me. This year it is Gertrude. It fills me with joy every time I read it (usually to myself, but sometimes to other adults). I love that it was published, that it made its way to the shelf, to my desk, to unsuspecting children.

Yummy: Eight Favorite Tales by Lucy Cousins
These eight retellings are simple, direct, and surprisingly authentic feeling. They are just right for reading aloud, especially to preschoolers. The illustrations are bright and simple, making even the image of the hunter hacking off the wolf’s head rather amusing.

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Well written prose, the $20,000 Pyramid, A Wrinkle in Time, and mental gymnastics… what more could you want from a book? I loved the workout this book gave me, the questions it left unanswered, and the fact it may bring children to the shelf looking for Madeleine L’Engle.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Okay, I admit it, I didn’t read this book when it was released; I didn’t even read it when it won the Newbery Medal. It just didn’t grab my attention. Then I read Neil Gaiman’s acceptance speech in a recent issue of Horn Book, and it inspired me, and I am very glad it did. I thoroughly enjoyed this read, I appreciated Gaiman’s playfulness and wicked sense of humour. Bod is a truly memorable character, and ever since finishing it I have been looking for an opportunity to stroll through a graveyard.

The Cuckoo's Haiku and Other Birding Poems by Michael J. Rosen; illustrated by Stan Fellows
Beautiful. Of Northern Cardinals – first feeders at dawn/ paired like red quotation marks/ last feeders at dusk. Beautiful. A joy to revisit.

The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams
I admit I had low expectations when I started this book (don’t get me started on celebrity children’s authors), but I was pleasantly surprised. Walliams simple, cheerful text, accompanied by Quentin Blake’s lively illustrations make for a lovely read. I just wish it wasn’t such a leap from reality, that a 12 year boy could really wear a dress without soul-crushing consequences.

Pigs Make Me Sneeze by Mo Willems
I love elephant and piggy. I really love books that include sneezes. Sneezing is one of my best skills. Sneezing always makes kids laugh, every time. Even in the time of H1N1, this is my “open in case of programming emergency” book… we just sneeze into our elbows.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
…because sometimes you just need to read an adult book. And, if you are going to read an adult book, it should be big and dense and oh so satisfying. And, if Henry VIII can be there all the better! Happy memories of a weekend spent with Thomas Cromwell.

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
This is my book of 2009, because this is the year I fell in love with it all over again. First, it came out on top of Elizabeth Bird’s 100 Best Picture Books list on her Fuse #8 Production blog. Then there was the movie - the achingly brilliant movie from the brains of Sendak, Jonze and Eggers. It is like meeting your first love twenty years later and he is single, has all of his hair and loves cats.

Laura Reed is the Coordinator of Children’s & Teen Services at the Kitchener Public Library. She has been a children’s librarian for over fifteen years, and she is still excited by children’s literature everyday and thinks children’s books make the best Christmas gifts for people of all ages.

Favourite Reads of 2009 Part IV. . .

Today we're also going north. Usually by this I mean Barrie (I know, I'm a hopeless Toronto-centric city girl), but we're actually going even further than that. Jonathan Lewis is a librarian at the Atikokan Public Library in Northern Ontario. Here are his reading picks.

Jonathan's Favourite Reads of 2009:



Little, Big by John Crowley
Smokey Barnable journeys to an old family estate where for many years people have interacted with another world that exists within our own.

Lunar Park by Brett Easton Ellis
The author makes himself the main character and is tormented by frightening events that seem to have emerged from his earlier novels.

Thunderstruck by Eric Larson
This is the true story of Marconi's development of wireless radio and how it helped to catch an English murderer.

Ice by Vladimir Sorokin, translated by Jamey Gambrell
Some people who live among us are not human and they search for others of their kind by identifying their speaking hearts with a hammer of ice.

Alice in Sunderland by Brian Talbot
This graphic novel explores the whole history of the city of Sunderland, England, including all of its legends and famous personages.

A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
A powerful tycoon sends an advertising man on a bizarre quest to find a unique sheep that could be the key to a decades old mystery.

The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas
A student locates a legendary book that allows its reader to enter the consciousness of others.

Ada, or Ardor by Vladimir Nabokov
On an alternate Earth where North America is Russian, an aristocratic young man has an intermittent love affair with his cousin.

The Spiritual Brain by Mario Beauregard and Denyse O'Leary
A neurosurgeon shows how the subjective mind cannot be explained as just the physical brain.

Drood by Dan Simmons
Wilkie Collins narrates the final years of Charles Dickens including disturbing encounters with a horrifying figure named Drood.



J


Jonathan Lewis is CEO Librarian of the Atikokan Public Library in the township of Atikokan in Northwestern Ontario. He is a member of the JASI steering committee and the local Municipal Cultural Planning committee. He prefers not to read newly released books right away so that they can stay on the New Books shelf for others.

Favourite Reads of 2009 Part III. . .

Over to Manitoba for today's list, from Danielle Pilon who works at the Winnipeg Public Library.

Danielle's Favourite Reads of 2009:

Queenpin by Megan Abbott
A wonderfully seedy period piece that puts a new twist on the classic noir triangle.

Wild Seed by Octavia Butler

I’m embarrassed that it took me so long to discover this classic of SF.

The House of Lost Souls by F.G. Cottam
Do not read this old-fashioned ghost story of creeping dread while alone late at night.

Blonde Roots by Bernardine Evaristo
A fascinating journey through an alternate, Africa-centric world in which Doris tries to escape from slavery.

Powers by Ursula K. LeGuin
The essence of her repeated themes -- trust, power, the origins of violence -- distilled into a deceptively simple masterwork of fantasy.

Bayou vol. 1 by Jeremy Love
Gorgeous, haunting artwork and a story that squeezes your heart like a fist. Read the first 4 chapters in the new print collection, then race through the webcomic.

The Factory Voice by Jeanette Lynes
A fresh, funny, and vivacious historical novel with a cast of quirky but real characters.

Danielle Pilon is a Reader Services Librarian with the Winnipeg Public Library. She still reads while brushing her teeth but, after a few near-accidents, no longer reads while walking.

Canada Reads 2010 titles announced. . .

It's a great line-up this year (I'm so thrilled to see Nikolski on this list!) Here are the five books that will be battling it out during the week of March 8th, 2010:

The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy

Generation X by Douglas Coupland

Nikolski by Nicolas Dickner, translated by Lazer Lederhendler

Good to a Fault by Marina Endicott

Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie Macdonald

To see more about the books and their defenders, check out the CBC's website here.

Favourite Reads of 2009 Part II. . .

Next we have two lists from our wonderful friends at the Ottawa Public Library who have been enthusiastic supporters of the Dewey Divas for many years.

Our first comes from Diana Pepall, the Manager of Collection Development Services. Then scroll down to see Teen Librarian Allison Hall-Murphy's picks of teen books that are also great to recommend to adults.

Diana's Favourite Reads of 2009:

The Wife’s Tale by Lori Lansens
Mary Gooch is 300 lbs, lives in small town Ontario, and works in a pharmacy. When her husband leaves her on their 25th wedding anniversary she embarks on a road trip of self-discovery that ends up in California. Lansens is an excellent storyteller and her books are filled with likeable and sympathetic characters.

The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British by Sarah Lyall
Lyall is a New York Times reporter who moved to England in the 1990’s to be with her now husband. Each chapter of The Anglo Files is on some amusing aspect of British life. Her chapters on Parliament and the British press are particularly hilarious.

The Secret River by Kate Grenville
A multi award winning historical novel about the settling of New South Wales by British convicts.
Searching for the Secret River: A Writing Memoir by Kate Grenville
The Secret River started out as a nonfiction book about Grenville’s ancestor. When she could not find enough details about him she turned it into a work of fiction. This book charts that process and gives a fascinating insight into the writing and researching of a novel. You share her delight when she discovers documents in both large and obscure little libraries in England and Australia.

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Traces the lives of a number of enthralling characters as they live through the Biafran civil war in Nigeria. Winner of the 2006 Orange Prize. A very gripping story.

What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman
The only mystery on my list. A woman who is arrested for leaving the scene of an accident claims she is one of the two sisters who were kidnapped thirty years earlier. A real page turner that makes you not want to do anything else but read it.

Juliet Naked by Nick Hornby
The always hilarious Nick Hornby does not disappoint in his latest book. The lives of an obsessed fan of an obscure 80’s musician and his girlfriend, who live in an English seaside town that has seen better days, are juxtaposed with the life of the 80’s musician who lives in the US. Nick Hornby writes frequently about popular music. He is a huge fan and it shows.

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
Another novel revolving around music. This one shows the redemptive power that music can have even in the midst of such appalling conditions endured during the siege of Sarajevo.

Lucky Girl: A Memoir by Mei-Ling Hopgood
Hopgood is an American journalist who was adopted from Taiwan when a baby. Here she recounts her reunion with her birth family and the shocking events of their lives.

That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo
A new Richard Russo is always a treat. This one takes place during 2 weddings a year apart and contains lots of flashbacks. The main character is a dissatisfied college professor who is hounded by his mother and carries the ashes of his father around in the trunk of his car.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
I never really thought of myself as a fan of historical novels and yet I have four on my list. The Lacuna is the story of a young man who has an American father and a Mexican mother. He spends time in both countries. While in Mexico he works as a cook for artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo and maintains a lifelong friendship with Frida. Kingsolver is a wonderful, original, writer and this maintains her very high standard.

Allison's Favourite Reads of 2009:

Tales of the Madman Underground by John Barnes

Karl “Psycho” Shoemaker has 5 jobs, an irresponsible party girl for a Mom and a reputation as a bunny murderer. This hilarious and sad book chronicles a year in the life of Karl and his circle of friends who are brought together by their participation in a school therapy group. Colourful 1970s details abound but don’t distract from the story. I’m giving this to my 22-year-old brother for Christmas.

Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr

A thoughtful portrait of a young woman questioning her faith in god and the world as she faces both her parents’ weaknesses and a community tragedy.

Liar by Justine Larbalestier

Micah’s secret boyfriend was just murdered in Central Park and she doesn’t have a clue who did it or why. You can’t trust a thing she says, though, because Micah has a habit of lying about everything…

Diary of a Chav by Grace Dent

Shiraz Bailey-Wood is the funniest fictional teen diarist since Adrian Mole. Includes handy glossary of British slang!

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Hundred of years after the zombie apocalypse, what’s left of humanity is still under siege. This book has gory zombie action, it’s set in a religious dystopia and there are love triangles galore--complex love polyhedrons, really. You should read it, and buy it for the Twilight lover in your family.

Andromeda Klein by Frank Portman

Andromeda Klein is hard of hearing, brittle of bone and a devoted scholar of the occult. She has just lost her only friend to cancer and her older boyfriend has cut off all contact. When Andromeda realizes that her local library is weeding the rare occult books she loves and selling them on ebay she realizes she must come up with a plan to save them. This is a weird and wonderful book.

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

This book reads like a combination of Norma Klein and Madeline L’Engle. The year is 1979. Miranda, age 12, lives in New York City with her Mom, who is training to be a contestant on The $20,000 Pyramid. After school one day, Miranda finds the first in a series of mysterious notes that seem to predict the future and provide a list of instructions for her to follow. This book explores the mundane difficulties of friendship in the middle grades as well as some pretty mind-blowing metaphysical questions.

The Secret Lives of Great Authors by Robert Shnakenberg

We’ve probably all heard about the debaucherous exploits of Lord Byron, and maybe even the excesses of Balzac, but were you aware that Louisa May Alcott was an opium fiend and Shakespeare cheated on his taxes? Amusing cartoon-style illustrations and a breezy, salacious tone make this a hard book to put down.

A Tasty Book (well, at least for me). . .

I may not drink a lot of beer, but I grew up with Marmite (the yeast extract left after the brewing is done) and while I totally agree it's an acquired taste, I absolutely love the stuff! Spread on toast or on unsalted crackers with a bit of cold butter - it's total comfort food for me. And it's chock-full of vitamins! So I'm delighted there's a new book out: The Mish-Mash Dictionary of Marmite by Maggie Hall, full of fun facts and trivia about this delicious spread. You can read a funny account of an intrepid Washington Post reporter going to the booklaunch here. Hall even has a blog devoted entirely to Marmite!

Two Awards, One a Little Less Than Kind. . .

Two of my Dewey picks this year have just picked up prizes - one of them definitely more infamous than the other.

First, congratulations to Evie Wyld for winning the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for the best work of literature written by someone under 35. Her debut novel After the Fire, A Still Small Voice is a beautifully written story about three generations of Australian men all suffering from the effects of war, and how painful the road is to healing, not only for them but also their families. You can read more about Wyld and her novel here.

And then Jonathan Littell has just picked up the 2009 Bad Sex in Fiction Award for a passage in his novel The Kindly Ones, that reads in part, " I came suddenly, a jolt that emptied my head like a spoon scraping the inside of a soft-boiled egg". Well, this book has also won tons of literary awards - what's a few questionable sentences in a 992 page novel that is in every other way a powerful and unforgettable read? The judges do note that this is the first novel in translation to garner this prize.

Favourite Reads of 2009 Part I. . .

Over the next few days we'll be posting lists of Favourite Reads of 2009 from librarians and library wholesalers across the country. The rules were simple - these had to be books that were read in 2009, although they certainly didn't have to be published this year, allowing for classics and books that were out in paperback. We did ask for books that were still in print though, so all of these great suggestions are available at your local library or bookstore. A big thanks to everyone who contributed.

Today's list comes courtesy of Barbara Love from Kingston Frontenac Public Library.

Barbara's Favourite Reads of 2009

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
Drenched in atmospheric fifties detail, this novel tells the story of a young Irish woman who is sent to America to make a better life for herself. My favourite book of the year and one I stayed up all night to finish.

Small Wars by Sadie Jones
Set in Cyprus during the Suez Crisis of 1956, a young British officer and his wife are deeply affected by the independence-minded Greek Cypriots who wage a terrorist campaign that bears a striking resemblance to the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan today. Plus ca change…

Old City Hall by Robert Rotenberg
A mystery set in Toronto in which a Peter-Gzowski-like radio host confesses to killing his wife and then won’t speak another word to anyone, including his lawyer.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
At the dawn of the Civil Rights era in Jackson, Mississippi, an aspiring young writer gets a job on the local newspaper, writing the household hints column and has to turn to her friends’ black maids for advice. The audiobook version of this wonderful novel is one of the best I’ve ever heard.

Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant
Who would have guessed that a novel set in Newfoundland with a talking tortoise as one of its main characters would be as fresh and funny and full of fantastic word play as this is? One after another of our library staff has read and fallen in love with this book.

My Abandonment by Peter Rock
A young girl and her father live in a cave on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon and manage to look after each other and get along quite well until the authorities are alerted and set about improving their lives. A compelling read with a heart-stopping ending.

Indignation by Philip Roth
In the early fifties, as the Korean War looms large, a young college student whose overbearing father threatens to smother him with worry for his safety, abandons his familiar Jewish New Jersey surroundings for a small mid-Western college where he is a distinct outsider.

Home by Marilynne Robinson
A woman and her long-estranged alcoholic brother reunite at their childhood home to help care for their aged, ailing father and try to resolve their past differences. A hauntingly beautiful novel.

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
A Japanese woman goes to work as a housekeeper and caregiver for a once-brilliant mathematician who suffered a brain injury and whose short-term memory only lasts for 80 minutes at a time. Math lessons mixed in with a great read.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
The prickly concierge of an elegant co-op building in Paris hides her light under a bushel and only slowly reveals her intelligence to a suicidal young tenant through the intervention of a wealthy Japanese businessman who moves into their building. Get out your handkerchiefs.

Barbara Love is Manager of Adult Services and head of Collection Development for the Kingston Frontenac Public Library. She is a founding member of OLA’s Evergreen Committee and a long-time fiction reviewer for Library Journal.