Monday 31 May 2010

Forest Fires, Oil Spills and Suggestions for Reading to Get away from the News

In the night we were awakened by the strong smell of smoke: winds from the north were sending smoke south from forest fires burning 400 to 500 kilometers away so that it was blanketing Montreal as well as regions as far away as Maine.

Then I opened Le Devoir to see the extent of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Not a great way to start the day...

So it's time to look at the second half of that list of good reading for the summer and beyond. (Thanks again to Carol Greene for compiling it.)

Mawer, Simon The Glass room (faction–Mies van der Rohe)
McCann, Colum Zoli (based on true story)
McEwan, Ian Solar
Meek, James We are now beginning our descent
Meloy, Mail The Good thief
Michaels, Anne The Wintervault
Morton, Kate The Forgotten garden
Müller, Herta The Appointment; The Lane of purple plums
Munro, Alice Too much happiness
Nevo, Eshkol Homesick
Novik, Mary Conceit
Oren, Ram Gertruda’s oath: a child, a promise, and a heroic escape
Pamuk, Orhan Museum of innocence
Penny, Louise The Brutal telling (mystery–Eastern Townships)
Roy, Anuradha Atlas of impossible longing
Russo, Richard Old Cape Magic
Sansom, C.J. Winter in Madrid; Revelations
Saramago, Jose Death with interruptions;
The History of the siege of Lisbon

Seraji, Mahood The Rooftops of Tehran
Swan, Mary The Boys in the trees
Sweatman, Margaret The Players (Restoration UK)
Thomas, Joan Curiosity (“faction”– Mary Anning)
Thomas, Michael Man gone down
Trevor, William Love and summer
Waugh, Alex The House of Wittgenstein
Wroblewski, D. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
Zhang, Wei The Ancient ship
Zweig, Stefan The Post office girl (Classic, first time in English)

3 comments:

lagatta à montréal said...

I'm just commenting on the environment, though I read the booklist with interest. Hope I find the Zweig in German - there is a photo book with a bit of text about "Zweig et Vienne" at the Outremont Library. Don't buy it, it is fluff and some of the photos are stupidly small on a large white page - oh, design!, but it is worth a look or borrow. I ache to go to Vienna and see not only literary cafés but extraordinary social housing built for workers' families in the early 20th Century.

BBC says the cloud of smoke is now shrouding Boston, which is quite a bit southeast of here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10206296.stm Guess that is what they mean by "350 miles away", as Boston is a hell of a lot more than 350 miles or the metric equivalent from Wemotaci.

Mary Soderstrom said...

Meant to post a reply sooner, but life got away with me.

Stefan Zweig is indeed a terrific writer. More or less by chance I picked up Beware of Pity the summer I had radiation for my DCIS and found it compelling enough to read through my waiting room visits. And that's a recommendation!

At least since the rain the smoke is gone--and the plants are very happy!

Mary Soderstrom said...

Meant to post a reply sooner, but life got away with me.

Stefan Zweig is indeed a terrific writer. More or less by chance I picked up Beware of Pity the summer I had radiation for my DCIS and found it compelling enough to read through my waiting room visits. And that's a recommendation!

At least since the rain the smoke is gone--and the plants are very happy!