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Maylin Scott's 2010 Picks.
Fiction
Canadian Poetry 1920-1960
Edited by Brian Trehearne - New Canadian Library – March 2010
Hardcover: 978-0-7710-8631-1 - $36.95
Trade Paper: 978-0-7710-8634-2 - $26.95
In A Strange Room: Three Journeys
by Damon Galgut – 978-0-7710-3596-8 – McClelland & Stewart – Fiction – August 2010
One used to travel to find oneself; now I think one travels to lose oneself – if one can. These three fictional travel narratives have an eerie, philosophical feel to them that are surreal, edgy and even frightening at times. Our main traveler is by turns the Follower, the Lover and the Guardian, and discovers that human interaction will inevitably intrude into the most far-flung places of either geography or the mind. This is definitely an anti-Eat, Pray, Love read. For fans of Geoff Dyer’s recent Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi.
Tales From the Uncertain Country and Other Stories
by Jacques Ferron, translated by Betty Bednarski
978-0-7710-9404-0 | New Canadian Library | Fiction/Short Stories | August 2010
A “new” classic from the New Canadian Library! This is a collection of 41 short stories and fables, many featuring animals, from a Quebec writer and physician who both won the Governor Generals’ Award in 1962 and founded the Rhinoceros Party. How can you resist a story about an Alberta cow’s ghost who longs for his native Quebec?
On the Proper Use of Stars
by Dominique Fortier, translated by Sheila Fischman
978-0-7710-4762-6 | McClelland & Stewart | September 2010
There have been many books and novels exploring the doomed Franklin expedition to find the Northwest Passage, but this is a delightful and fresh approach. Concentrating less on the historical facts and more on the characters, not only those stuck in the ice, but the women back home in London waiting for news, this is a charming novel about Victorian society, the origins of tea, unrequited love, plum pudding, and yes, how to woo with stars. A film is already in development, directed by Jean Marc-Valleé, the man behind The Young Victoria.
To the End of the Land
by David Grossman, translated by Jessica Cohen
978-0-7710-3634-7 | McClelland & Stewart | September 2010
This is my choice for the big, meaty, literary novel of the season. A novel that will break your heart and stun with the beauty of the writing and the power of the storytelling. It’s a story of war, from the perspective of two generations, as Ora, devastated by her son’s decision to return to the military after his compulsory stint is over, decides to take a long hike across Israel, accompanied by Avram, her son’s biological father and a man still trying the heal the wounds of war suffered two decades ago. It’s both a love story and a very eloquent and moving anti-war novel.
Practical Jean
by Trevor Cole
978-0-7710-2325-5 | McClelland & Stewart |September 2010
Jean is a happily married woman with a staple of long-established friends who become increasingly dear after she watches her mother die from a painful illness. After the funeral, over a few drinks, Jean looks at her friends with gratitude and affection and decides she’s going to give them one “last poem”, a moment of unexpected happiness – and then kill them. It’s out of love, you understand. A quirky, black comedy full of insights into the joys and tensions of long-term friendships.
The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog, and of His Friend Marilyn Monroe by Andrew O’Hagan
978-0-7710-6839-3 | McClelland & Stewart | October 2010
I don’t normally gravitate towards novels narrated by animals but when the dog in question not only loves literature and philosophy but interior decorating as well, count me in. Mafia Honey was a real dog given to Marilyn by Frank Sinatra during the last years of her life when she was trying to establish herself as a serious actress. This is not so much a fictional biography of her life, but a wonderful, witty account of the heady cultural world she moved in. Maf has a true cynical, world-weary voice and a perspective on the sixties like no other. And he can talk to all the animals from Russian bedbugs to butterflies that speak like Nabakov. This is a clever, clever novel and so much fun to read.
Non-Fiction
The Paper Garden: Mrs Delany Begins Her Life’s Work at 72
by Molly Peacock
978-0-7710-7033-4 | McClelland & Stewart | Biography | October 2010
Mary Granville Pendarves Delany lived a fascinating life through most of the 18th century in a cultivated society that included meetings with Handel and Jonathan Swift. But towards the end of her life, at the incredible age of 72, Mrs. Delany invented an entirely new art form – mixed media collage – and created these beautiful reproductions of botanically correct plants and flowers, over 900 in all. This is a lush, lusty, life-affirming biography by a poet in love with language and her subject.
Sissinghurst: A Castle's Unfinished History
Restoring Vita Sackville-West's Celebrated Estate
by Adam Nicholson
978-0-7710-5130-2 | McClelland & Stewart | History | May 2010
Having visited this wonderful estate with its world famous gardens and house, I was fascinated to read more about its history and restoration. This is in part an architectural and gardening history, part curious peek into the literary world from the fringes of Bloomsbury, and part contemporary observations on nature and the challenges of farming.
View more picks from our Dewey Divas and Dudes.
