All in Together Girls / Kate Sutherland
Saskatoon : Thistledown, c2007.

Blackouts / Craig BoykoToronto: McClelland & Stewart, c2008.

The Spirit of the Times / Olena Pchilka & Nataliya Kobrynska; trans. by Roma FrankoSaskatoon, SK : Language Lanterns, c2001.

It is that time of year, isn't it? I've been seeing round-up posts popping up everywhere, and there is something quite satisfying about quantifying what you've been doing all year. Of course, this time of year also makes me realize I will never have enough time to read all the books I want to, probably not even all the books I have on my shelves. But I will keep trying, nevertheless. 2007 was a good year for reading - all the encouragement and suggestions from bloggers and our many challenges kept me picking up one book after another. How pleasant!

Books Bought 2007

The Gipsy's Baby / Rosamond Lehmann
London: Hesperus, c2006.
foreword by Niall Griffiths

I searched out this book because it was by Rosamond Lehmann, unaware that it was a collection of short fiction, that it was in fact the only short fiction she ever published. It is made up of five stories which she wrote in the 40's for her brother's journal, New Writing.

Since it's Halloween, I'll feature a fun ghostly collection by one of my most beloved authors. It's L.M. Montgomery's Among the Shadows, a collection of ghost stories she wrote for various magazines, which were later gathered up to form this book. To find out more about it, you can read summaries of all the stories over at Tickled Orange, a good LMM page.

I've been reading quite a lot of Ukrainian writing, in preparation for my trip to Ukraine, coming up in a few weeks. I've read a few collections of historical fiction, some history, and looked through travel guides and language cds. Here is some modern Ukrainian writing I discovered through serendipity -- and I've just finished: From Three Worlds : New Ukrainian Writing (Somerville, MA : Zephyr Press, c1996.) It's part of a series of collected Soviet writing, thus the title; influences come from the 3 worlds of Ukrainian, Russian, and Western/English literature. It's a great collection, full of stories of all types, traditional, surreal, serious, blackly humorous, as well as photo essays and quite a lot of poetry.

The second collection I'd like to point out is one of Frances Itani's older books. I've raved about her latest novel before, and went back to read this collection, published in 1998. It's a novel in short stories, but each story can stand alone, and in fact some were published in literary journals previous to this book's publication.

A Hard Witching / Jacqueline Baker
Toronto : HarperCollins Canada, 2003.

Up on the Roof / P.K. Page
Erin, ON : Porcupine's Quill, c2007.

Earlier this week, I completed reading a very special book called "Listening is an Act of Love." It is a compilation of stories put together by StoryCorps, which has been recording stories of every day people since 2003.

In July of 2005, I did just that for my friend Joyce. I spent nearly an hour with a facilitator from StoryCorps and remembered my friend. StoryCorps has now recorded thousands of people who talk about their lives and their loved ones. Every session is preserved at the Library of Congress.

Today I want to mention a story collection I first read years ago, and have reread numerous times since. Ethel Wilson's Mrs. Golightly and other stories is one of my favourites. First published in 1961, it was made available in this New Canadian Library edition in 1990. From the back of the book:

Treading Water / Anne DeGraceToronto : McArthur & Co., c2005.
This is my choice for British Columbia, for the Canadian Book Challenge -- which, I might say has been a challenge far more interesting and indepth than the insipid Canada Reads debates this week. But, to get back to the point; Anne DeGrace has here written a novel in short stories, with a few of the chapters being published separately before the novel. The story deals with the fictional town of Bear Creek, which was founded in 1904 and then flooded out of existence with the construction of a dam in 1967. (it is inspired by the story of the BC community of Renata).

The Secrets of a Fire King by Kim Edwards

I've had The Secrets of a Fire King on my wishlist pretty much ever since I read The Memory Keeper's Daughter (read my post). Now that I've read it, I'm wondering why I didn't try to get my hands on a copy sooner. I loved the varied settings of the stories, Edwards' vivid descriptions, and her sympathetic characters. In this collection, Edwards is subtle and strong. Her words are mesmerizing. And, while there were some stories that I cared less for than others, there were none that I wanted to write off (which is rare in a collection, I think).

Detective investigates suspicious disappearance: man-eating couch.

Title: Down to a Sunless Sea---Short Stories
Author: Mathias B. Freese
ISBN: 9781587367335
Publisher: Wheatmark/2007
Pages: 134

Mathias B. Freese offered me this book for reviewing and I gladly accepted it. It is a collection of 15 stories and fairly a thin book. I wouldn't call it an easy read. One needs to concentrate while reading. The mind deviates and one has to go back.

Smuggling Donkeys / David HelwigErin, ON : Porcupine's Quill Press, c2007.

Title: Twelve Read Herrings
Author: Jeffrey Archer
ISBN: 0006490484
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers/1994
Pages: 324

At one time, I used to read Jeffrey Archer like crazy. I do like the way he writes. I won't call those masterpieces, nonetheless, his books hold interest.

I've really been enjoying National Poetry Month this year; all the different types of poetry I've been reading (old and new, by men, by women, Canadians and others) are just sloshing around together in my brain. I don't usually read quite so much poetry all at once -- fiction is more my Thing. But it's been a great month of exploring poems and poets, so to meld the two, here is a booklist of novels about/including poets:

1. Possession / A.S. Byatt
This is quite a stunning book, featuring two modern grad students racing to find information on two Victorian poets; the variety of poetry and letters and papers Byatt produces is dazzling. Plus the Victorian story is lovely and romantic...

2. Sarah Binks / Paul Hiebert
I've mentioned this one before, but the humour in this imaginary biography of the "Sweet Songstress of Saskatchewan" is a delight.

3. Mean Boy / Lynn Coady
A recent novel set in a creative writing program at a Maritime university, this is a look at a young man's eye-opening experiences with Poets and his own poetic aspirations. It's funny and spot on for anyone who has ever been either to a creative writing class or been an arts undergrad.

My Grandmother, who turned 91 this November, passed away last Sunday. She touched a lot of lives and was loved by a lot of people, though I don't know if she ever knew that. She wasn't always the easiest person to be around. She was blunt, and sometimes almost severe with her words. She lived a hard life that was full of struggles and frustrations. No matter how sometimes obnoxious she could be, people loved her. We all saw through her hard exterior and loved the person we saw inside.

Book Number 46: The Red Tent, tells the story of Jacob and his family through the eyes of his obscurely known daughter Dinah. The bible only says that Dinah was rapped and her brothers avenged the rape by tricking and killing her rapist and all of his family. The Red Tent tells the story though through the young girls point of view. The main point I got out of the story is that this was a story about celebrating women and mothers. We each have a story to tell and we deserve our moment to be heard. All over the world there are red tent events where women gather together and tell their birth stories as well as other activities. Its goal is to educate and empower women and girls. To learn more about it, click here. As for the book I enjoyed the fictional female perspective of the story.

Stars: ***

I received this book from Tundra Books for review and read it during the Read-a-thon.

First Times is a collection of stories about “first times” but not the usual ones you read about, with a few exceptions. First time falling for pervert’s trick, first crime, first time seeing a dead body etc.. Not for young children that’s for sure. I’d say 13 and up at least.

For the RIP II challenge I thought I'd read some Ray Bradbury that I hadn't read before. So I picked up Something Wicked this way comes and From the dust returned, thinking either would be a good choice. But I can't have an unread Bradbury at hand and ignore it; so I read both.

Here's a meme I saw Danielle and Kate do this week, and it is intriguing to look back at this time of year, so I'll give it a go also. The purpose of this one is to post the first lines from each month's first post, and see what results.

January: Audrey Thomas' Graven Images is one of those books that just appeared in my collection somehow; I was intrigued enough to read it, even though I'd never heard of it.