BOOK REVIEW

By Margot Griffiths

Books my Christmas Giving
Let my temptation be a book ... for books are each a world” (William Words-worth).
Treat yourself and others this season, with the gift of new worlds. This year’s reading list is an eclectic blend of old voices and new, responding to a very serious world.

Fiction
A Sunday at the Pool, by Gil Courtemanche
An eccentric group of the privileged few observe the April 1994 horrors in Rwanda, from the safety of the swimming pool, of the Mill-Collines Hotel in Kigali. Courtemanche writes with consummate restraint about poverty, ignorance and global apathy, in what is being acclaimed the “novel of the year.”

Vancouver, by David Cruise and Alison Griffiths
Spanning a time frame of 16,000 years ­ from the end of the last ice age to the present, this novel mimics the densely layered canvases of Edward Rutherford’s Sarum and London. A diverse cast of characters finds commonality in a city as rich in history as in natural beauty.

Sons of Fortune, by Jeffrey Archer
In the late 1940s in Hartford, Connecticut, twin boys are born to dueling destinies. Separated at birth, one becomes the son of a modest salesman, the other the son of a millionaire. Unaware they are brothers, each runs for governor, in a race that brings truth and tragedy to both.

Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood
Atwood’s foray into science fiction is not wholly fiction. This outstanding novel is all too real in its cautionary portrayal of the future of the planet. Technological triumphs bring on an ecological and genetic wasteland as the last human, Snowman, bears witness to earth’s demise. A stunning work, nominated for prizes too numerous to mention.

The Murder Room, by P.D. James
James’ stock character, Commander Adam Dalgliesh, is trapped in the psychologically twisted world of a copycat killer. He also finds himself trapped in love. Superb story telling from a well-loved a mystery writer.

Vinyl Cafe Diaries, by Stuart McLean
Some needed levity from a master humorist. Twenty more classic stories of Dave and Morley, that seek to answer the burning questions, the likes of What is the dark secret of Morley’s book club? McLean has a keen eye for domestic hilarity, tipped with a bite of satire.

Non-fiction
The Bookseller of Kabul, by Asne Seierstad
It’s spring, 2003, and the Taliban have fallen. The author explores the aftershocks in a traumatized country, where books were once banned. Seierstad spent four months living with a bookseller in Kabul, who defied the ruling clerics with his underground libraries. This bookseller, while passionate about literary freedom, keeps his women under wraps. An intriguing story of paradoxes.

Franklin and Winston, by Jon Meacham
For the history lover, Meacham delivers an intimate portrait of “The greatest friendship of the greatest generation.” Roosevelt and Churchill, who brought their countries through World War II and shared a rare and lasting bond during the most pivotal time of the 20th Century.

Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
In her award winning sports biography, Hillenbrand writes of the timeless appeal of the underdog ­ in this case, a small, crooked-gaited horse. Seabiscuit’s tenacity, heart and spectacular talent made him a hero when America needed one during the harshest years of the depression.

The Voyage of Northern Magic by Diane Stuener
A family of five lives their dream of traveling the world in a sailboat. “Four years, 34 countries, 35,000 miles, and one world.” Wherever they went, they made true friends, and their experiences turned them into humanitarians and activities for global equity. Diane Stuener’s story is uplifting and moving. Though she lost her battle to cancer last summer, her family continues to live out the values she held dear.

Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld, by Hart Seely
Make way, Wordsworth. With wicked wit, Seely has taken Rumsfeld’s ramblings out-of-context and turned them into riotous verse. Word for authentic word, Rumsfeld said it all. Politics aside, we can all use a laugh and this book delivers. Guaranteed to stuff any stocking.

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