Bronwyn and Dave: thumb war over Ava Lee!

The Wild Beasts of Wuhan ~ Reviewed by Bronwyn Dave and I had a thumb war when the advance copy of Ian Hamilton's third mystery arrived. He won, but somehow I finagled the book away from him and read it over the holidays. To be honest, I really had no choice because I LOVE Ava Lee, Hamilton's smart, tough, and quirky character. For those who have not read the series (and you should!) Ava is a "forensic accountant" who follows the trail of big money. She has master manipulating skills to get the money back to her client, and when those don't work she relies on bak mei, an ancient martial art. In The Wild Beasts of Wuhan, the third book in the series, Ava is hired by Wong Changxing, “The Emperor of Hubei” and one of the most powerful men in China, after he discovers that his collection of Fauvist paintings are in fact forgeries. Ava's search for the fraudulent art dealers takes her to Denmark, Dublin, London and New York. Just as in the previous books, Hamilton has every detail pitch perfect. After finishing Wild Beasts, I wished the fourth book was already available because I am desperate to know what happens next to Ava.

Red Means Run ~ Reviewed by David Crime fiction is full of iconic leading men who have reconciled colourful pasts, but Brad Smith has a more relaxed and less obvious character in Virgil Cain. He's has the wild past, but for now he's happy enough just running his upstate New York farm. When police confront him over the death of Mickey Dupree, a criminal attorney found with a gold club through his chest, Virgil finds himself in jail pretty quickly. To make things right, Virgil has to find the real killer. This means breaking out of jail. Things get weird after that... Smith's publisher is billing Red Means Run as 'country noir' and that makes perfect sense, as the title recalls a Neil Young lyric and I think this is a book that the late Warren Zevon would have loved. Brad Smith has had success with his previous books. He shares many similarities with his character Virgil. Both have had a lot of jobs, both are decidedly blue collar, and Virgil is very easy to get to know. I'm sure the same will be true with Brad when he comes to Waterloo on Feb. 1 to join another favourite crime guy around here, Ian Hamilton.

The Perfect Gift Pt.2

Got a Canoeing Fan on Your List?

Part epic adventure, part romance and part true-crime thriller, Coppermine is a dramatic, compelling, character-driven story set in 1917 in the extremes of Canada’s far north and the boom town of Edmonton. The story begins when two Catholic priests disappear in the remote Arctic region known as the Coppermine. North-West Mounted Police officer Jack Creed and Angituk McAndrew, a young Copper Inuit interpreter, are sent on a year-long odyssey to investigate the fate of the lost missionaries. On the banks of the Coppermine River, a few miles from the Arctic Ocean, they discover their mutilated remains. Two Inuit hunters are tracked and apprehended, and the four begin the arduous journey to Edmonton for the trial. The crowded, energetic city is a strange new world for the Inuit, and through their impressions as told to the press they become celebrities, while inside the courtroom the bizarre story of the killing of the priests unfolds.  

Looking for Cutting-Edge Lit?

Hal is a mild-mannered IRS bureaucrat who suspects that his wife is cheating with her younger, more virile coworker. At a drunken dinner party, Hal volunteers to fly to Belize in search of Susan's employer, T. the protagonist of Lydia Millet's much-lauded novel How the Dead Dream who has vanished in a tropical jungle, initiating a darkly humorous descent into strange and unpredictable terrain. Salon raved that Millet's "writing is always flawlessly beautiful, reaching for an experience that precedes language itself." In Ghost Lights, she combines her characteristic wit and a sharp eye for the weirdness that governs human (and nonhuman) interactions. With the scathing satire and tender honesty of Sam Lipsyte and a dark, quirky, absurdist style reminiscent of Joy Williams, Millet has created a comic, startling, and surprisingly philosophical story about idealism and disillusionment, home and not home, and the singular, heartbreaking devotion of parenthood.

For Anyone who Loves Canada: 

Join Will Ferguson as he travels to Yukon in search of gold, to Quebec City in search of a lost love and to PEI in search of someone—anyone—who will criticize Almighty Anne. From his days as a space cadet at the CN Tower’s “Tour of the Universe” to his encounter with a pair of burly Canadian brothers playing semi-pro hockey in Japan. From essays “On Margaret Atwood, and Other Inanimate Objects” to an “Open Letter to Women, on Behalf of All Men.” From lessons of a mini-bar ninja to his misadventures working on the Vancouver Olympics Closing Ceremonies, penning monologues for the likes of William Shatner and Michael J. Fox, to his cross-Canada quest in search of Big-Assed Objects Beside the Highway, this is Will Ferguson at his high-flying best. 

Damned Nations by Samantha Nutt

I just finished this the other night. I was riveted by Samantha's observations after providing hands-on care in some of the world's most violent places. She is the founder of War Child and has lots of experience to back up her intense opinions on war and aid. I was also impressed with her well thought-out solutions. Check out two interviews with her here: 

First Words: River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh

"Deeti's shrine was hidden in a cliff, in a far corner of Mauritis, where the island's eastern and southern shorelines collide to form the wind-whipped dome of the Morne Brabant. The site was a geological anomaly - a cave within a spur of limestone, hollowed out by wind and water - and there was nothing like it anywhere else on the mountain. Later Deeti would insist that it wasn't chance but destiny that led her to it - for the very existence of the place was unimaginable until you had stepped inside it.
   The Colver farm was across the bay and towards the end of Deeti's life, when her knees were stiff with arthritis, the climb up to the shrine was too much for her to undertake on her own: she wasn't able to make the trip unless she was carried up in her special pus-pus - a contraption that was part palki and part sedan chair. This meant that visits to the shrine had to be full-scale expeditions, requiring the attendance of a good number of the Colver menfolk, especially the younger and sturdier ones. 
   To assemble the whole clan - La Fami Colver, as they said in Kreol - was never easy since its members were widely scattered, within the island, and abroad. But the one time of year when everyone could be counted on to make a special effort was in mid-summer, during the Gran Vakans that preceded the New Year. The Fami would begin mobilizing in mid-December, and by the start of the holidays the whole clan would be on the march; accompanied by paltans of bonoys, belsers, bowjis, salas, sakubays, and other in-laws, the Colver phalanxes would converg on the farm in a giant pincur movement: some would come overland on ox-carts, from Curepipe and Quatre Borne, through the misted uplands; some would travel by boat, from Port Louis and Mahebourg, hugging the coast until they were in sight of the mist-veiled mipple of the Morne."



In September 1838 a storm blows up on the Indian Ocean and the Ibis, a ship carrying a consignment of convicts and indentured laborers from Calcutta to Mauritius, is caught up in the whirlwind. When the seas settle, five men have disappeared - two lascars, two convicts and one of the passengers. On the grand scale of an historical epic, River of Smoke follows its storm-tossed characters to the crowded harbors of China. There, despite efforts of the emperor to stop them, ships from Europe and India exchange their cargoes of opium for boxes tea, silk, porcelain and silver. Among them are Bahram Modi, a wealthy Parsi opium merchant out of Bombay, his estranged half-Chinese son Ah Fatt, the orphaned Paulette and a motley collection of others. All struggle to cope with their losses – and for some, unimaginable freedoms – in the alleys and crowded waterways of 19th century Canton.    

-Bronwyn 

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

Several Christmas's ago, I took a copy of Cutting for Stone home with me on Christmas Eve. My favourite memory of that holiday, is being curled up on my rocking chair with a cup of tea voraciously reading the novel. Since then, I have been on the lookout every Fall for my "Christmas Day Book" to continue the tradition. 

I heard all the buzz about Sea of Poppies when it first arrived on the scene, but never gave it more than a glance. That is until the sequel, A River of Smoke, came into the store. I took one look at the beautiful blue cover and knew that I wanted to read this book on Boxing Day. Which naturally means, I need to read Sea of Poppies now! 

The novel (which is actually part of a trilogy) features a glorious cast of characters that come together on a magical boat, the Ibis, just before the Opium Wars took place in China. The ship's destination across the Indian Ocean, is to fight in China's vicious nineteenth-century Opium Wars.

Some of my favourite characters include: Deeti, a widow, along with her lover, who is escaping her brother-in-law's rage. Paulette is the orphaned daughter of a French biologist who can't find a way to fit in with the British colonists, Jodu is the Indian playmate that she grew up with. Zachary is a freed mulatto American slave, now the second Captain after everyone died on the voyage to India. The diverse cast of Indians and Westerners each have an enchanting story to tell. Once they board the ship, they let go of their family ties and caste stereotypes and begin to see themselves as ship-brothers. 

What I am enjoying most about this enchanting book is the different stories of the characters before they arrive on the boat, the various slang that they use, and the lush descriptions of the poppy fields by the Ganges river, the sea that has a life of it's own, and the backstreets of Calcutta and Canton. 

- Bronwyn 

The Perfect Gift Pt.1

For the person on your list who has everything:

This book takes a dramatically original approach to the history of humanity, using objects which pervious civilizations have left behind, often accidentally, as prisms through which we can explore past worlds and the lives of themen and women who lived in them. The book's range is enormous: it begins with a chopping tool from Africa (one of the earliest surviving objects made from human hands) to a solar powered lamp and charger made in modern-day China. MacGregor (who is the director of the British Museum) shows how these objects were and still are significant. This is on of the most engrossing and unusual history books published in years.

  

  

           
For the history buff on your list:Award-winning author Tim Cook turns his narrative powers to the conflict between two towering Great War figures: Sir Arthur Currie, Canadian Corps commander and a brilliant, morally brave general and innovator who overcame many of the challenges of trench warfare, and Sir Sam Hughes, Canada’s war minister who accused Currie of being a butcher, a callous murderer of his own men. Set against the backdrop of Europe’s battlefields and Canada’s political tumult, The Madman and the Butcher is a powerful double biography that explores the nation’s discomfort with heroes, the need to place blame, and the very public war of reputations that raged on after the guns fell silent. Using newly uncovered sources, Cook creates a haunting portrait of our greatest battlefield general and the man who tried to destroy him.

For the grown-up Harry Potter fan: "The Magician King" is a grand voyage into the dark, glittering heart of magic--an epic quest for the Harry Potter generation. It also introduces Julia, a powerful new voice whose angry genius is thrilling. Once again Grossman proves that he is the modern heir to C.S. Lewis, and the cutting edge of literary fantasy.

Jan Brett for Christmas!

Every year I look for a new Christmas book to share with my children. A book featuring magical illustrations that evoke a feeling of childhood innocence and an equally inviting story sharing the wonder of Christmas. It is now our family tradition to read this book before our kids get tucked into bed on Christmas Eve.

This year I can not decide between two Jan Brett titles: The Night Before Christmas (the 10th anniversary edition) and Home for Christmas. Both are equally lovely and fit all my Christmas book requirements. I have always enjoyed sharing Jan Brett's picture books with children. Her art work is wonderfully detailed and always features smaller pictures in a border that tell another aspect of the story.

In her version of The Night Before Christmas, two elves have hidden in Santa's sleigh and are watching Santa deliver gifts to all the homes. The side-bar illustrations of their captivated faces is precious and adds so much delight to Clement Moore's poem. The new version includes a DVD with music by the Boston Pops and narrated by Jim Dale.

The inspiration for Jan's latest, Home for Christmas, came from a trip she took to Sweden. The pictures depict a Scandinavian landscape with many of the animals and traditional clothing she discovered there. Rollo is a naughty little troll who runs away from his family because he doesn't want to do his chores. He tries to find a new family by living with different animals. First he lives with an owl family, then some bears, and finally a herd of moose that he travels with at the beginning of winter. Rollo starts to miss his family - will he be able to find them before Christmas? The side-bar pictures in this case show what his family is doing while he is away from them.

Both of these are a delight and perfect for cozy cuddling on Christmas day - or before. We love them so much that we ended up creating a beautiful window to celebrate Jan Brett's work.

- Bronwyn

Mark McEwan's FABBRICA

For a few years now, Words Worth has been teaming up with Uptown 21 in throwing our “Words Worth Eating” events. We have had several memorable evenings with a variety of notable cookbook authors. None of these have been as well received as the event we did with Mark McEwan last year. Mark is the owner of several excellent Toronto restaurants: North 44, One, Fabbrica, and the upscale food store McEwan.

It was delightful to spend not one but two evenings with the man and learn about his life in food and restaurant culture. He talked about his love for Italy – it’s his favourite cuisine and favorite place to escape his hectic life and have some downtime. So it doesn’t surprise me that his newest cookbook, Fabbrica, is a celebration of all of the Italian dishes that they serve up at this restaurant.

The book is gorgeous – I love the paper quality and almost every page features a full colour photo of the recipe. And each recipe has a short introduction about what inspired it. Here is a list of the recipes that I am looking forward to creating in the coming weeks:

Pg. 32 Charred Octopus with Chickpeas

Pg. 56 Stuffed Cherry Peppers

Pg. 97 Pesto Pizza with Clams and Shrimp

Pg. 136 Ricotta Gnocchi with Heirloom Tomato Sauce

Pg. 157 Risotto with Sugar Pumpkin and Pancetta

And for dessert Pg. 245 Vanilla Panna Cotta with Streusel and Figs

MMMM…Yum! Bonne Appetite! - Bronwyn