Shopaholic & Baby by Sophie Kinsella

The Dial Press 2007

Hardcover, 368 pages

I have a love-hate relationship with the Shopaholic books...well, maybe more of a like-hate relationship. I have read all of them - yes, all of them! - but every one makes me so irritated with the protagonist that I can hardly stand it. If you haven't read these books, they are centred around Becky Bloomwood, a young Brit who must have the IQ of a potato. She started out as a financial journalist who had no idea of how to manage her own finances, and spent ridiculous amounts of money on shopping, spa treatments, and the like, racking up huge credit debts. Of course she meets a handsome, rich, intelligent, and charming man who, miracle of miracles, falls in love with her, and the series has followed her love life as well as her struggles to kick the shopping habit.

The most frustrating thing about these books is that Becky spends huge amounts of money, and yet always manages to get herself out of every predicament without too much trouble. I resent the implication in the later books that her husband is likely bailing her out of her financial woes, and although in every book it seems she has mended her ways, she always goes back to her foolish, superficial self.

This book chronicles Becky's pregnancy, and of course there are doubts and confusions (is Luke having an affair?) and lots of shopping for completely over-the-top designer baby gear. It's pretty predicable stuff, really. And yet by the end of the book Becky has not only come out as a workplace hero (despite her apparent aversion to work and complete lack of business sense) but with a perfect husband and baby, to boot. Towards the end of the book Becky confronts her husband Luke, who has been spending far too much time with an old flame who is seemingly a better match for him in every way, with the big question - "Why did you marry me?". Of course Luke comes up with a very romantic answer which wasn't believable to me in the least. But it was the question I constantly ask myself as I'm reading these books. He sounds like quite a catch, and I can't believe that he would put up with all the ridiculousness.

Although these books drive me crazy, I will very likely keep reading them - they're good fluffy reading in between the more serious stuff, and I'm kind of curious to see how things turn out. It's like those really painful episodes of Frasier, where everything is degenerating into sillier and sillier situations and you just want to strangle the characters, but it's kind of fun to see where it ends up. I will be interested to see whether motherhood changes Becky in the least; my gut says "no", if for no other reason than she probably wouldn't sell nearly as many books if she actually acted like a normal human being.

Only two stars from me...but I'm embarrassed to say I'll probably read the next book too!

The Fearsome Particles by Trevor Cole

McClelland & Stewart 2006

Hardcover, 352 pages

Governor-General's Literary Award nominee

I spotted this on the shelf of my friendly neighbourhood library and picked it up on a whim, although I hadn't heard anything about it. I did the same thing a few years ago with Cole's debut novel, Norman Bray, in the Performance of His Life, and I loved that book - although I must admit I can't remember anything about it now. Anyway, when I saw he had another book on the shelf I decided it was definitely worth a read.

This book is about a Canadian family in crisis. The only son, Kyle, has recently returned from Afghanistan, where he volunteered to serve as a civilian water engineer. He returned home in shame after an "incident" which is not explained to his parents or to us until near the end of the book. His father Gerald is a window screen executive (could there be a more boring sounding job?) and, although he has been successful in his career and, at least outwardly, in his family life, he is incapable of taking any risks in either setting. His wife Vicki is a stager for high-end real estate, and stages her life in a similar way, glossing over all unpleasantness and never going beyond surface-deep. When Kyle returns home, the family is unable to discuss what happened to him and his parents cannot do anything except pretend life is as normal.

Although the subject matter is fairly grim, Cole is a very witty writer and manages to make real life quite hilarious at times; I laughed out loud often while reading. The title of the book is derived from an idea at Gerald's company: with the firm desperate to gain market share, a junior employee comes up with a new and daring idea to make window screens that not only keep out insects, but which are impermeable to even the smallest dangerous particles that float through the air and endanger families. The fact that these screens would also be opaque and block the light and view does not deter Gerald, who for once decides to take a leap of faith in pushing the somewhat ridiculous product forward. The fact that he feels his own family is "under attack" and that his own inability to take risks is at least somewhat to blame is of course at the root of this decision, and "protecting one's family" becomes the key to the marketing campaign.

Although it was somewhat depressing, I did really enjoy this book. Its major downfall, in my opinion, was the "big reveal" of Kyle's experience in Afghanistan. After waiting so long to hear what happened, I found the description quite confusing, and I must admit I'm still not entirely sure what occurred. However, I would still recommend this book, if for no other reason that the writing is really amazing, and the ideas it brought up will stay with me for quite awhile.

I'd give this book three and a half stars, and will keep Trevor Cole on my "to watch" list for the future.

.5

Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam

Anchor Canada, 2006

Hardcover, 368 pages

Winner of the 2006 Scotiabank Giller Prize

I'm not usually a big fan of short stories - not sure why, except that I prefer to get more involved in characters' lives than is usually possible in a short story. I put this on my reading list after reading a couple of great reviews, and I'm glad I did. Vincent Lam is a Canadian emergency physician; this is his first book. The stories in the book revolve around four medical students (later doctors), and although we do get to know each character, their differing paths both during and after becoming doctors are not the main theme of the book. Instead, the stories examine what it is to be a doctor - the burdens they face, the impacts on their personal lives, and the critical decisions they constantly make. These seem like lofty themes, and the book could have fallen into the "stories about noble doctors" trap, but for me, the themes were approached very obliquely and the stories instead examined the humanity and fallability of medical professionals.

Although I did really enjoy the book, I realized I'm still not a huge fan of short stories; there were at least a couple of stories that could easily have made full-length books and I hated to be left wondering what happened to the characters. The stories that stay with me the most are Winston, about a mentally ill patient who believes he is being poisoned, and Contact Tracing, describing fictional events around the 2003 SARS outbreak in Toronto. Winston left me with too many unanswered questions - I was intrigued by the idea that the patient was not as ill as everyone assumed, and I wanted a better explanation of his sickness and the true events that led to his "delusions". Contact Tracing was a scary reminder of the SARS outbreak: the descriptions of the terror felt by doctors and nurses, the alienation they and their families experienced, and the constant media commentary was very interesting to read. But I was disappointed at the end of each story to find the plot abruptly cut off and to be thrust into a new story with no tying up of loose ends.

I'd give this book four stars out of five, and I will definitely watch for Vincent Lam's next book to be released.

First Post!

What a pathetic title for my first post on this blog.

Even though I know probably no one will ever find it, I decided to make a new blog to write about the books I'm reading and what I think of them. I've always been a very fast reader, and although this has its positives (getting through lots of books very quickly), a big drawback is that I forget almost immediately not only what books I've read, but anything about the plot, characters, etc. This is OK much of the time, but once in awhile I want to actually talk to someone about a book I've read, and I can never remember enough of the details to sound remotely coherent or intelligent. It's also a pain when I'm reading books in a series, because by the time the next book comes out I've completely forgotten everything that happened in the last one.

Anyway, all of this is a long way of saying that I'm starting this blog to keep track of the books I've read, and a bit about what I've thought of them. I'll categorize the posts by genre, and I'll title the posts with the book titles so they should be relatively easy to track down later. I should also note that I am signed up as an Amazon Associate, which means if anyone actually clicks any of my links and decides to buy a book using the links, I'll get an infitessimally small payment/credit from Amazon...fair warning. I'll see how it works out and how well I do at keeping up with it...here goes!!