Book One

While I'm not a fan of new year's resolutions, it has recently occurred to me that I don't read nearly enough. The most recent indicator was when someone asked me about my literary influences and all my references were from something like 10 years ago.

Like, if you were to ask me about what's influencing me NOW it would be less "literary greats" and more a mix of 16 and Pregnant and The West Wing.

Don't get me wrong, I READ, okay? But I certainly don't read enough.

So my resolution for NOW, and for as long as I can remember to maintain it, is to read at least one book a month. You know, obviously, more if it comes up/happens.

So this month I started with Emma Donoghue's ROOM, which has been nominated for a zillion awards (shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize (for best Canadian novel). It has also been a finalist for International Author of the Year (Galaxy National Book Awards) and the Governor General’s Award.). Actually, if you go to Emma Donoghue's site, there's a ton of stuff about the book, Donoghue's research, and the list of awards noms I just copied and pasted.

I have to say, I was not thrilled by this book for the first few chapters. I was kind of... annoyed by it. I think my initial take on that was that I didn't like being stuck in this little five year old boy's styilized narrative. After a few pages it felt like being stuck in a room with the Teletubbies and a bunch of moms and kids watching kids tv. Although, later a friend of mine picked up the book and she noted that you're kind of immediately immersed into it, like immediately your put right into the middle of the situation Jack and his Ma are in. And as I kept reading it felt like a very effective approach to pulling the reader into this place, this ROOM.

I got frustrated with this kid, kind of hated this kid at times, but I was also pretty hooked by the middle of the book.

And, hey, symbolically, possibly an odd choice for the beginning of the year but ultimately a really good book I thought.

Next I have:

Just Kids by Patti Smith
Player One by Douglas Coupland
and
FAT VAMPIRE by Adam Rex.

So a bit of a mixed bag.

I'm off to Montreal to hang with the Scandelles while they're in Montreal - come see Neon Nightz at the Centaur if you're around.

mariko