The Colony of Unrequited Dreams

by Wayne Johnston

I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. The novel is about Newfoundland and centers on Joseph Smallwood, the real-life political figure who ushers the country through confederation with Canada and then becomes the first premier.

In writing a work of the imagination in part inspired by historical events, Johnston wanted “to fashion out of the formless infinitude of ‘facts’…a work of art that would express a felt, emotional truth... Adherence to the ‘facts’ will not lead you safely through the labyrinthine pathways of the human heart.” Johnston was 19 when he met the real Joe Smallwood; he was just starting out as a journalist, and Smallwood was less than complimentary about Johnston’s reporting. Although the politician died only in 1991, little was written about his life before the age of fifty, allowing Johnston some license to imagine his formative influences.

“I wanted to write a big book about Newfoundland in scope and in vision. I couldn't think of a bigger character whose life touched on more themes, involved the whole of Newfoundland more completely than Smallwood did.” Smallwood saw Newfoundland in terms of “unrealized talent and unfulfilled ambition”; his life was somehow emblematic of the land. Moreover, says Johnston, “He was so prone to making mistakes and so fallible, and he combines so many contradictions in his personality. His quest, like that of many great literary figures of the past century, is to overcome these divisions.” The completely invented character of Fielding, meanwhile, “is like me”, says Johnston. “I share her view of Newfoundland.”

The title of the book, Johnston says, evokes “the nostalgia Newfoundlanders have felt for the possibilities of the island, and that they still have for the future. Joe is always searching for something commensurate with the greatness of the land itself, but he can't find it, and it's driving him mad…Newfoundland is that kind of place. It makes you want to live up to the landscape, but on the other hand it offers you no resources to do so. There's always this constant yearning that at least for my part helped me to start writing.”

You can read more of Johnston's essay about Unrequited Dreams by clicking on the link.

Johnston creates a larger-than-life character in Sheilagh Fielding who counterbalances Smallwood's smaller-than-life personality. It was their relationship that most engaged my interest. I was happy to discover that Johnston has written a whole novel about Fielding, titled The Custodian of Paradise. Next to Newfoundland itself, Fielding was the most complex character. She had depth, mystique, struggles and strength. Whereas Smallwood lacked all those traits. And yet, on the surface he appears to be an upstanding citizen and she a retrobait.

Most of the book is told in the1st person narrative with sprinklings of personal letters, Newfoundland history, and newspaper articles written by Fielding. I thought this was a very effective way of helping the reader understand Newfoundland better and to provide other views of events and people than just Smallwoods.

I would love to sit in on book discussion groups all across Newfoundland when they are discussing this book. The treats would definitely take a back seat to the lively and emotional discussion. To many in Newfoundland Smallwood is a hero and to the rest he is a traitor. I can understand both sides. Actually, I would welcome a good discussion of this book with any bookclub.

I would like to have had a map of Newfoundland with major areas and cities highlighted and also a map of St. John's included in the book. I lived in St John's when I was little and visited there this summer, but was unfamiliar with the area called the brow. I am assuming it's the peninsula of land where Ft Amherst Lighthouse is located.

I highly recommend this book. If you have any connection to Newfoundland it's a must. If you don't, I think you'd still be immensely satisfied.

Crossed

by Nicole Galland

It's when I finish a really good book that I most wish I had the skills to write a descent review. To provide a quick overview of the storyline here is the write-up from HarperCollins:

In the year 1202, tens of thousands of crusaders gather in Venice, preparing to embark for Jerusalem to free the Holy City from Muslim rule. Among them is a lowly vagabond Briton, rescued from damnation by a pious knight who burns with zealous fire for their sacred undertaking. And so they set sail, along with dedicated companions—and with a beautiful, mysterious Arab "princess" whom the vagabond liberates from a brutish merchant. But the divine light guiding their "righteous" campaign soon darkens as the mission sinks ever deeper into catastrophe, disgrace, and moral turpitude—as Christians murder Christians in the Adriatic port city of Zara, tragic events are set in motion that will ultimately lead to the shocking and shameful fall of Constantinople.

Impeccably researched and beautifully told, Nicole Galland's Crossed is a stunning tale of the disastrous Fourth Crusade—and of the hopeful, brave, and driven who were caught up in and irrevocably changed by a corrupted cause and a furious battle beyond their comprehension or control.

Galland is a Harvard graduate in the field of comparative religious study. She has researched the Fourth Crusade and uses it for the backdrop of this captivating and witty story. And although the history is brought vividly to life, it's the development of her characters that makes this such an enjoyable book. Oh, and the humor, too.

The story is told in first person narrative by two of the main characters: The Briton tells most of the story with occasional diary entries by Gregor, the knight, son-in-law to Boniface (a real person from history) and the protector of the Briton. This type of narration works beautifully in the telling of the story.

The following are quotes from the Briton:

"I don't like someone having to explain to me why a thing is significant or moving to me to be moved by it. That's why I like music - all you have to do is experience it and you know all by yourself whether you've been moved or not.""The golden glow that suffused his being when he was doing what he knew was expected to him congealed into a tepid, grey fog of indecision when he had to mint his own moral coins."

"If you meet a good man and see him getting pulled into politics, do him a favor and ruin his reputation early on."

". . . the trouble with hindsight is that you never have it until after you need it."

"That's like saying . . ." I tried to think of a metaphor that was worth of my scorn. "You may as well say, here is a king and here is a worm. The both sleep wrapped in silk, so are they not the same creature?"

And finally some good advice from Jamilla to the Briton that I thought would be good for me to remember.

"I think it is best to remain still during chaos. This is chaos now around us, and the next few days are likely to be so. But then things will be calmer, and we can see straight again. Right now, when so much is about to happen, and so quickly, and we know so little, the best action is no action at all. Let us draw breath and see what happens next."

I was going to hold a drawing a give my copy away when I finished reading it, but I've decided to hold on to. Sorry about that. But I do highly recommend this book.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

by Susanna Clarke

Whew! Finished at last. Seems like I spent months on this book but it was really only 3 weeks. I read several other books at the same time because I would get a bit tired of JS&MN and needed other outlets.

I enjoyed the basic story involving the two magicians, the unnamed slave, the gentleman with the silvery hair and the two enchanted women. Much of the groundwork held my interest, but there was just too much. I think the book would have been totally wonderful if some of it had been left out.

I came to a vivid realization that England has a wonderful history steeped in magic. We don't have that in the young country of America. One review I read on JS&MN talked about the mythological references. I probably missed most of that because I don't have a good background in myths. Because of this book, I have an increased interest and that's a good thing.

I appreciated the history and enjoyed this reference to the London servants making fun of some imported servants brought in from Northern England. "...the used words like goosegogs, narrow-grass, betty-cat and battle-twigs, when they should have said gooseberries, asparagus, she-cat and earwigs."

At one point Strange gave Norrell a list of books he wanted to borrow from Norrell's library. "It was not a list to delight Mr Norrell's soul. It was full of first thoughts crossed-out, second thoughts crossed-out and third thoughts put in at angles and made to wriggle around other words that were in the way."

And this commentary on arguments between a married couple.
In the end is it not futile to try and follow the course of a quarrel between husband and wife? Such a conversation is sure to meander more than any other. It draws in tributary arguments and grievances from years before - all quite incomprehensible to any but the two people they concern most nearly. Neither party is ever proved right or wrong in such a case, or, if they are, what does it signify?"

Chunkster Challenge

I vowed I wasn't going to join any more challenges, but this one will fit in without any major adjustments in my reading schedule. I already have several chunksters in the plans for 2008.

The challenge, as issued by Dana from So Many Books, So Little Time is to read 4 chunksters during the year. My list is:

1. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
2. Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston
3. Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
4. Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

Dreams Underfoot

by Charles de Lint
In this collection of nineteen short stories, de Lint introduces us to several characters who appear in his acclaimed Newford series. On his personal website, de Lint says, "The books have all been written in such a way that you should be able to pick up any one and get a full and complete story. However, characters do reoccur, off center stage as it were, and their stories do follow a sequence. The best place to start is the collection Dreams Underfoot. From there they go pretty much in this order:

The Dreaming Place
A Whisper To A Scream (originally credited to "Samuel M. Key")
I'll Be Watching You (originally credited to "Samuel M. Key")
Memory And Dream
The Ivory And The Horn
Trader
Someplace To Be Flying
Moonlight And Vines
Forests Of The Heart
The Onion Girl
Seven Wild Sisters (also available in Tapping the Dream Tree)
Tapping the Dream Tree
Spirits in the Wires
Medicine Road
The Blue Girl
Widdershins
Make a Joyful Noise (chapbook)
The Hour Before Dawn (collection)
Old Man Crow (chapbook, forthcoming)
Little (Grrl) Lost (novel, forthcoming)
Promises to Keep (short novel, forthcoming)
Dingo (short novel, forthcoming)

The Dreaming Place and The Blue Girl are YA novels. A Whisper To A Scream and I'll Be Watching You are, respectively, a horror novel and a thriller; they're darker fare than the other Newford books and aren't really that integral to the underlying, ongoing backstory that takes place off center stage in so many of the books and stories."

I plan on reading more of de Lint's books, so I thought it would be handy to have this list posted where I can refer to it again.

The stories in this book are classified as urban fantasies - the set is 'real life' but at the periphery is magic. I like the stories and I like de Lint's writing. I'm afraid I've marked too many passages that I especially enjoyed, but I did, so let's get on with it:

". . . somehow my unearned beauty gave me an intrinsic worth that far overshadowed Emma's cleverness with her schoolwork, or Betsy's gift for music. It always seemed unfair to me. My value was based on an accident of birth; theirs was earned. Those are assets with which a body can grow old."

". . . if stories have any worth, they carry within them a deeper resonance that remains long after the final page is turned, or the storyteller has come to the end of her tale."

". . . everything he said continued to pull a kind of tickle out from deep in her mind so that while she didn't completely understand him, some part of her did."

"The past scampers like an alleycat through the present, leaving the paw prints of memories scattered helterskelter-here ink is smeared on a page, there lies an old photograph with a chewed corner, elsewhere still, a nest has been made of old newspaper headlines. There is no order to what we recall, the wheel of time follows no straight line as it turns in our heads."

"Beauty isn't what you see on TV or in magazine ads or even necessarily in art galleries. It's a lot deeper and a lot simpler than that. It's realizing the goodness of things, it's leaving the world a little better than it was before you got here. It's appreciating the inspiration of the world around you and trying to inspire others."

"A name can't begin to encompass the sum of all her parts. But that's the magic of names, isn't it: That the complex, contradictory individuals we are can be called up complete and whole in another mind through the simple sorcery of a name. And connected to the complete person we call up in our mind with the alchemy of their name comes all the baggage of memory."

A few of the stories started with a quote from someone other than the author. These three caught my attention:

"The road leading to a goal does not separate you from the destination; is is essentially a part of it." -Romany saying

"I pretty much try to stay in a constant state of confusion just because of the expression it leaves on my face." -Johnny Depp

"What unites us universally is our emotions, our feelings in the face of experience, and not necessarily the actual experiences themselves." -Anais Nin

My Grandfather's Blessings

by Rachel Naomi Remen
I started this book many months ago, but didn't get far. My husband lent the book to his sister, who read it and then her husband read it. I finally got it back and finished reading it. It's a great book to pass around and share with friends and family.

This is the perfect 'bathroom' book. Short sections of 2 or more pages provide meaty kernels of wisdom. It's the type of book you'll want to own because you'll want to highlight many passages. My husband read this book first and highlighted in yellow. I loved pausing and considering the parts he marked. I used a soft lavender crayon-type marking tool to differentiate mine from his. Of course, there was lots of overlapping. I could fill pages with the quotes, but I will choose just a few for this review.

A blessing is not something that one person gives another. A blessing is a moment of meeting, a certain kind of relationship in which both people involved remember and acknowledge their true nature and worth, and stengthen what is whole in one another.

Many times when we help we do not really serve. When we help we become aware of our strenght because we are using it. Others become aware of our strength as well and may feel diminished by it. Service is a relationship between equals. A helping relationship may incur a sense of debt, but service is mutual. Serving is also different from fixing. When we fix others, we may not see their hidden wholeness or trust the integrity of the life in them. Fixers trust their own expertise. When we serve we see the unborn wholenss in others; we collaborate with it and strengthen it. (italics are my own)

Whenever someone has found the courage to live more deeply, more courageously than before, no matterhow short a time it may be, theyhold open that door for anyone who tries to follow.

Life wastes nothing. Over and over again every molecule that has ever been is gathered up by the hand of life to be reshaped into yet another form. The molecules in you and me and indeed in everyone are secondhand, borrowed for the occasion and returned when outgrown. How strange to think that great pain may be impermanent. Something in us all seems to want to carve it in granite, as if only this would do full honor to its terrible significance. But even pain is blessed with impermanence; slowly, drop by drop, it may be worn away until even the most devoted searchers cannot find it unless they look for compassion or some other form of wisdom.

Meaning is dynamic. Over time, new meanings may evolve that are far less universal and more our own. It is important to revisit our woulds to see what new meanings may have grown there. If we become frozen in anger and pain, it may be many years before we recognize what these are.

Spiritual awakening does not change life; it changes suffering.

The Buddhists say that one of the signs of true enlightenment is the experience of a vast, immutable joy that underlies the personal joys and sorrows of this life. The Cosmic Giggle suggest that for those in the know, the essential nature of life is such goodness that the only possible response is joy.

The House of Spirits

by Isabel Allende
I have read Zorro and Daughter of Fortune by Allende and enjoyed them. When I saw The House of Spirits on the Banned/Challenged Book list I decided to read it for the Banned Book Challenge. I expected it to be good. It was not! I would have quit reading it around page 100 but I was reading it for two other challenges - the Chunkster Challenge and the TBR Challenge. Besides another blogger highly recommended it. And it was one of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.

Over 400 pages of drama, love, lies, relationships, dictators and mystics and yet, the book never engaged my emotions. I never really cared about the characters or the story. I have tried to figure out how this story could be told and not engage the reader. What was it specifically that Allende did or didn't do that made this story so unpassionate? I can't come up with the answer.

There were times when she would be describing someone and I would have a picture in my mind and then she would write something that jarred with the picture. A contradiction of what she had just described. For instance, on page 179 Estaban Trueba was describing himself - "I was as strong and as healthy as I'd been as a young man. I could spend the whole day horseback riding, sleep anywhere . . . " He mentions he didn't have an ounce of fat on him. Only 1 1/2 pages later he says, "I no longer had the strength to grab a sturdy peasant girl by the waist and swing her up onto my saddle, much less rip her clothes off and enter her against her will." I didn't make a note of the other times this happened, but I did think several times, "Where was the editor?"

One passage I liked: "Clara believed that by giving problems a name they tended to manifest themselves, and then it was impossible to ignore them; whereas if they remained in the limbo of unspoken words, they could disappear by themselves, with the passage of time." My mother tried to teach me this concept - that sometimes it's better to leave some things unsaid, because once they are spoken you can't take them back. I think there are definitely times people need to communicate to solve problems, but I also thing there are times, probably many times, when something should be left unspoken so we don't wound with our words. If left unspoken, that harmful thought can just dissipate.

At another point in the book Clara was talking to Alba about some of the mentally handicap children Blanca helped. "In almost every family there's a fool or a crazy person." "But there's no one like that in our family," replied Clara. "No. Here the madness was divided up equally, and there was nothing left over for us to have our own lunatic." That last comment made me smile.

Well, that book is over with. Done. Sigh of relief!

Something Rotten

by Jasper Fforde
Book 4 in the Thursday Next series

I get the biggest kick out of this series. Fforde has a phenomenal imagination and he tells a great story. If you plan to read this series be prepared to suspend reality and enjoy a gripping, hilarious journey in an alternative 1980's England where there are chronoguards, bioengineered dodo birds and literature holds a prominent place. These books are mysteries, sci/fi, fantasy, drama, comedy with a bit of romance. Absolutely delightful.

In this episode Thursday Next returns to Swindon and her former job as a Literary Tech. She fights to prevent Goliath from from becoming a world dominating religion led by a fictional character. Her husband was eradicated from history in an earlier book and Thursday tries to get that eradication reversed. You can read a very nice review here.

The title of the book comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet - "There's something rotten in the state of Denmark." It describes a situation of corruption. Since the character Hamlet accompanies Thursday Next back from the world of fiction and Denmark is being blamed for all England's woes, the title is clever and appropriate. Also, the fictional character who is presently serving as Chancellor of England is embroiled in illegalities in order to rule the world. Something rotten, indeed.

This little description caught my attention: "Destiny's inelegant toe creaks the boards to your door."

Voyager

By Diana Gabaldon
I really love this series! Voyager is book 3 in the Outlander series. All the books are thick. In fact, I read this one for the Chunksters Challenge. I'm also counting it for my 1990 Decades Challenge book and for the TBR Challenge.

Originally this series was going to be a trilogy, so Voyager would have been the end. Thankfully, due to the great success of her books, Gabaldon has written 3 more books and turned the trilogy into a series. Book 4 is Drums of Autumn.

Definitely a romance, but also fits into the historical novel genre and then there's the time travel that takes Claire from 1940 back to the 1740's. I skipped a few pages here and there because I don't love detailed intimate moments in my literature. The rest of the adventure is spell binding.

A Prayer for Owen Meany

by John Irving
Some books are harder to read than others; some books have a bigger payback than others. Even though it took me 15 days to read this book and there were times I thought I'd never finish, I really enjoyed A Prayer for Owen Meany.

The main character, Owen Meany, is unforgettable. Everything about Owen grabs your attention: his size, HIS VOICE, his determination, his faith, his life and his death. Owen's best friend, the narrator, plays a supporting role in the story and, even though he seems bland, he is very necessary to the story and to Owen's life and heroism.

This book has 'classic' written all over it. Irving is an excellent writer. At one point in the book Owen tells his best friend, ". . . any good book is always in motion - from the general to the specific, from the particular to the whole, and back again. Good reading - and good writing about reading - moves the same way." Irving writes like that. From the first sentence we know that Owen was instrumental in his best friend's mother's death. The specifics come later. Early on we learn that Owen Meany is going to die, but we don't learn the specifics until the last few pages of the book.

A few passages that I made note of. There are quite a few. Don't feel like you have to read them all. I write these because I want to read over them again someday, not to bore people.

We don't enjoy giving directions in New Hampshire - we tend to think that if you don't know where you're going, you don't belong where you are.

Your memory is a monster; you forget - it doesn't. It simply files things away. It keeps things for you, or hides things from you - and summons them to your recall with a will of its own. You think you have a memory; but it has you.

Mr. Merrill was most appealing because he reassured us that doubt was the essence of faith, and not faith's opposite.

Rev. Mr. Wiggin's sermons were about as entertaining and convincing as a pilot's voice in the intercom, explaining technical difficulties while the plane plummets toward the earth and the stewardesses are screaming.

They were a couple with a theme - sadly, it was their only theme, and a small theme, and they overplayed it. (we all know people like this, don't we?)

What do Americans know about morality? They don't want their presidents to have penises but they don't mind if their presidents covertly arrange to support the Nicaraguan rebel forces after Congress has restricted such aid; they don't want their president to deceive their wives but they don't mind if their presidents deceive Congress - lie to the people and violate the people's constitution!

THE DISCIPLES ARE STUPID - THEY NEVER UNDERSTAND WHAT JESUS MEANS, THEY'RE A BUNCH OF BUNGLERS, THEY DON'T BELIEVE IN GOD AS MUCH AS THEY WANT TO BELIEVE, AND THEY EVEN BETRAY JESUS. THE POINT IS, GOD DOESN'T LOVE US BECAUSE WE'RE SMART OR BECAUSE WE'RE GOOD. WE'RE STUPID AND WE'RE BAD AND GOD LOVES US ANYWAY. (This is Owen speaking. He always speaks in capital letters because he has a unique, gravely voice.)

This is a NY Times Newspaper heading, May 30, 1987.
Reagan Declares
Firmness on Gulf;
Plans Are Unclear

Thanks to my daughter, Alyson, for recommending this book. It took me a while, but I finally got to it. I can see why it's your favorite - so much symbolism, foreshadowing, meaty characters, and very good writing. There is a lot to think about with this book. And I'll be thinking about it for a long time.

Gone With the Wind

by Margaret Mitchell

I read Gone With the Wind for my 4th book in the classics challenge , my 2nd Chunkster challenge book and for my 3rd TBR challenge. It makes me feel much better about reading this book that I can kill 3 birds with one stone.

The size was daunting, but it was the racial slurs that made this book so hard to read. I understand that this was realistic for the 1860's and, probably even for the 1930's when this book was written, but to read these derogatory terms today assaults my sensitivities. It was interesting to learn there was a class of whites, just above the po' white trash, that were called Crackers (with a capital C). I don't know why but I thought that was a more current term.

I found that I really did not like Scarlett, Rhett or Ashley in the book, whereas I did like them in the movie. Scarlet was so selfish and self-centered. Every action and every decision was made based on what she would get in return. Even when she appeared to be doing something nice, there was ulterior motives. I found myself forgiving Rhett some of his 'rascalness' towards the end of the book. Or maybe what I really felt at the end of the book was pity for everyone, except maybe Melanie, who I felt sad for because of the happiness she might have had if it were not for Scarlet and Ashley.

Gone With the Wind was the only book Margaret Mitchell wrote. It was published in 1936, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937 and was made into a movie in 1939. Mitchell's work relates the story of a rebellious Georgia Southern belle named Scarlett O'Hara and her experiences with friends, family, lovers, and enemies in the South during the antebellum period, the Civil War, and the Reconstruction era.

I'm glad that I finally did read this classic in American literature, but I will not be joining the ranks of those who reread it. I thought it was a splendid work, but it is so terribly tragic.

The Woman in White

by Wilkie Collins
Rating 5/5
I've finished my first classic! Thanks to so many other bloggers for their glowing comments about Wilkie Collins. Without your comments I may never have heard of or read any of his works. I loved this book and found myself comparing it to another gothic novel that I read recently, The Thirteenth Tale. I rated TTT a 5 as well, but I must confess that there is NO comparison. The Woman in White is masterfully written, drawing the reader's interest from the start and holding through every phase of the story.

The mystery of The Woman in White is told by various narrators, who each reveal to the reader only those parts of the story they know or have discovered. The main narrator is Walter Hartright, who is employed by the odiously hypochondiac, Mr. Fairlie to instruct his two nieces, the half-sisters Laura and Marion.

A couple of the characters are so well formed that I'm sure they will stay with me for years. Although I don't fully understand Marions intense devotion to Laura, she is a very likeable person. She is intellegent, loyal and charming. Another powerful figure is Count Fosco, who is a large jovial man with a lust and love of life that you cannot help liking him even if you don't trust him.

I do not want to discuss the book too much. I knew nothing about the storyline, the characters, or even the genre of The Woman in White and, so was pleasantly surprised on all accounts. I know there are several who are reading this for the classics challenge and I'm anxious to hear how others felt about it.

The Chunkster Challenge

Another challenge - Hip, hip hooray! These challenges help me branch out and to get books read that are piling up on my shelves or on my TBR list. So I'm grateful for the instigators and their encouragement to 'get it read!'. This challenge is a doosey! Thanks go to Bookfool for coming up with the term and the challenge - CHUNKSTER. Don't you just love it?

I picked out 12 books for this challenge before I knew it was only going to last 6 months. So I'm going to post all 12 and then I'll choose 6 from the list as the whim hits me when it's time to pick up a new book. Maybe if I get in the habit of really really BIG books, I'll continue to read all 12 by the end of the year. More likely, I'll chuck the Chunkster in favor of slim books! Anyway, here's my list:

Woman in White by Wilke Collins

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Voyager by Diana Gabaldon

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (I've read this book, but it's been awhile and I feel like I need to read it again before reading Inkspell.)

Inkspell by Cornelia Funke

Dreams Under Foot by Charles deLint

Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth

Quincunx by Charles Palliser

The Way the Crow Flies by Anne-Marie McDonald

The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea

Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher

Green Darkness by Anya Seton

A Traitor to Memory by Elizabeth George or The Snow Fox by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer

These are all books I own, so it will feel great to read some and then pass the books along to somebody else. That way I free up shelf space for NEW-TO-ME books.