A new chapter (Week 47)
"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies."
My daughter Holly polished off the Game of Thrones books when she was in Grade 8, so she knows about book bingeing. I have yet to crack that series, but I get what author George R. R. Martin means about living a thousand lives. So, with a mittful of Christmas holidays at my disposal, I decided to spend a week adding seven lives in seven days. Of course, I don't think any human could devour seven whole books in that time, so I read the first chapter of each one instead.
The week started in Calgary, where our family cozied up in a condo across the alley from the fantastic new public library. It's been raved about by the New York Times, and is now considered one of the world's greatest public spaces. Oh, and it also has books.
Because I've been heavying up on non-fiction over the past few years, I really wanted to get the flavour of seven different voices told in novel format, so I turned to Val and Holly for advice. It took very little time to arrive at seven distinct titles. There are many unique benefits to reading fiction, from opening your mind and building empathy to improving relationships. So off I went to the CPL, and here are the books I signed out:
1. An Artist of the Floating World - Kazuo Ishiguro - In the first chapter, we meet painter Masuji Ono, who in 1948 has been given a house in a rebuilding Japan. It's a character we love right away, revealing a quiet and even stoic elegance that I wish I possessed.
2. Enduring Love - Ian McEwan - This book was suggested to me because of its unforgettable opening, in which a hot air balloon accident in England sets the tone for what appears to be an obsessive passion. If it's half as good as McEwan's other novels, I am in for a treat.
3. The Tattooist of Auschwitz - Heather Morris - Technically a true story because our hero Lale Sokolov was a real person, this book is still considered a novel. It begins with Lale being shipped off to Auschwitz and getting stamped as prisoner 32407. I know there will be grisly moments in this novel, but I also feel an instant satisfaction from knowing Lale's tale is one of survival.
4. Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng - We know from the get-go this is going to be a heartbreaker, as a family watches their house burn to the ground in suburban Cleveland. It's also clear that this fire is anything but accidental, and so we rush headlong into the next chapter.
5. The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt - I found this engrossing right from the start, and was caught by complete surprise when an innocent enough trip to an art gallery ends with a mysterious and deadly explosion. I chose this one because I have stood in front of the Goldfinch painting at the Frick Gallery in New York, and because Val promised a gut-wrenching surprise.
6. Trickster Drift - Eden Robinson - In this second instalment of the Trickster trilogy, Robinson has crafted a spellbinding novel that opens without a lot of fanfare. With no mystery to lead me on the way the other novels did, I am instead drawn in by her beautiful language and sharp dialogue.
7. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood - As one of the few people who have yet to read this amazing novel, I was sucked in right away by Atwood's subtle prose. The novel opens with women settling into a gym, and only when Atwood reveals that some of the women are toting electric cattle prods do we realize something is grimly amiss here. I already know what comes next, but I am lured into madly flipping the pages to reveal each startling chapter.
I really did feel like I had lived seven lives in those seven days, each as uniquely rich and radiant as the next. Book bingeing is every bit as satisfying as charging through Netflix during the holidays, and more so in a lot of ways. It allowed me to simply curl up in whatever room I liked and disappear into one world after another, blissfully unaware of everything going on around me.
To do this experience justice, of course, I will have to sign out Game of Thrones next and discover what kept Holly so spellbound. So many lives, so little time!
NEXT WEEK: FASTING!
My daughter Holly polished off the Game of Thrones books when she was in Grade 8, so she knows about book bingeing. I have yet to crack that series, but I get what author George R. R. Martin means about living a thousand lives. So, with a mittful of Christmas holidays at my disposal, I decided to spend a week adding seven lives in seven days. Of course, I don't think any human could devour seven whole books in that time, so I read the first chapter of each one instead.
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| Calgary's fantastic new public library |
The week started in Calgary, where our family cozied up in a condo across the alley from the fantastic new public library. It's been raved about by the New York Times, and is now considered one of the world's greatest public spaces. Oh, and it also has books.
1. An Artist of the Floating World - Kazuo Ishiguro - In the first chapter, we meet painter Masuji Ono, who in 1948 has been given a house in a rebuilding Japan. It's a character we love right away, revealing a quiet and even stoic elegance that I wish I possessed.
2. Enduring Love - Ian McEwan - This book was suggested to me because of its unforgettable opening, in which a hot air balloon accident in England sets the tone for what appears to be an obsessive passion. If it's half as good as McEwan's other novels, I am in for a treat.
3. The Tattooist of Auschwitz - Heather Morris - Technically a true story because our hero Lale Sokolov was a real person, this book is still considered a novel. It begins with Lale being shipped off to Auschwitz and getting stamped as prisoner 32407. I know there will be grisly moments in this novel, but I also feel an instant satisfaction from knowing Lale's tale is one of survival.
4. Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng - We know from the get-go this is going to be a heartbreaker, as a family watches their house burn to the ground in suburban Cleveland. It's also clear that this fire is anything but accidental, and so we rush headlong into the next chapter.
5. The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt - I found this engrossing right from the start, and was caught by complete surprise when an innocent enough trip to an art gallery ends with a mysterious and deadly explosion. I chose this one because I have stood in front of the Goldfinch painting at the Frick Gallery in New York, and because Val promised a gut-wrenching surprise.
6. Trickster Drift - Eden Robinson - In this second instalment of the Trickster trilogy, Robinson has crafted a spellbinding novel that opens without a lot of fanfare. With no mystery to lead me on the way the other novels did, I am instead drawn in by her beautiful language and sharp dialogue.
7. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood - As one of the few people who have yet to read this amazing novel, I was sucked in right away by Atwood's subtle prose. The novel opens with women settling into a gym, and only when Atwood reveals that some of the women are toting electric cattle prods do we realize something is grimly amiss here. I already know what comes next, but I am lured into madly flipping the pages to reveal each startling chapter.
I really did feel like I had lived seven lives in those seven days, each as uniquely rich and radiant as the next. Book bingeing is every bit as satisfying as charging through Netflix during the holidays, and more so in a lot of ways. It allowed me to simply curl up in whatever room I liked and disappear into one world after another, blissfully unaware of everything going on around me.
To do this experience justice, of course, I will have to sign out Game of Thrones next and discover what kept Holly so spellbound. So many lives, so little time!
NEXT WEEK: FASTING!
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