As I’ve mentioned before, I’m trying to read more non-fiction (and I haven’t been very successful). But once in a while I come across fantastic narrative non-fiction that is more exciting than many novels, and enlightening to boot. John Vaillant’s The Tiger is that kind of book.

Set in Russia’s Far East, a suspected poacher’s remains are found near his destroyed cabin. His body, and his belongings have been brutally destroyed. An investigation by Yuri Trush, the lead tracker and conservationist with Siberia’s Inspection Tiger, reveals that it was not a random attack: the tiger was methodical and seemingly vengeful.

With fascinating insight into Russia’s social history, as well as the magnificent, endangered Siberian Tiger, this is an engrossing, informative story of man and nature, and our struggle to coexist.

Learn more about the tigers at the author’s website:  http://www.thetigerbook.com/.

Check out this video with the author:

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wTC9Wo-Ohbs?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param></object>

 We Have Always Lived in the Castle - my favourite Vicious Circle book club pick yet. Fabulous, atmospheric gothic novella by Shirley Jackson.

 Stanley Park by Timothy Taylor - the perfect book for my flight to Vancouver.

 Red Hook Road by Ayelet Waldeman - a moving look at how two very different mothers cope with a tragic accident.

 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - what can I say? I didn't want to be the very last person on earth to read this. I did quite enjoy it.

 Hopefully I'll finish Michael Crummey's Galore in time for book club on Tuesday.

 I plan to get back to posting reviews here very soon. In the meatime, here's a few pics from Vancouver.

 Hope your summer has been grand!

       

Click here to download:

August_Update.zip (8413 KB)

The program has been fantastic, and I’ve learned lots. Doing P&Ls has been a huge eye-opener for me.  Our list is far more commercial than I ever would have thought going in, and it’s because we decided from the beginning that we wanted to keep the lights on.  So we ended up with a wide range of titles, from a big blockbuster, to our quirky underdog, Sticking Needles in Kittens (you wouldn’t believe how we fought for this title!)

Doing covers was so much fun. A team of 3 designers had just a couple of days to turn around 28 covers! They did an amazing job.  I will post ours in a few days.

Tonight we’ll be rewarded for our hard work with a boat cruise in the harbour. There’s a big fireworks competition going on right now and we’ll have a spectacular view. We’re all picking up extra booze, so there’s no chance of running dry. It should be a fine finish to an intense two weeks.

We’re just about to start week 2 of the Book Publishing Immersion Program at SFU. I finally had a little free time yesterday, which I spent outside by the water recharging (it was so very necessary).

It’s kind of hard to convey how intense this is. We worked until midnight a few nights last week, running on coffee and adrenaline. There were a couple nights when I was coming up with new books and writing TI’s for them at 10 pm, barely able to form a coherent sentence. Friday night was the worst; we were all exhausted, and had some drama in our group (someone quit) so we threw up our hands and went to the pub.  It was exactly what the doctor ordered.  Saturday we got it together, and we finally have a list we’re really proud of. It’s crazy, these books become so real in our minds—I’m going to be sad when I don’t see them in bookstores.

This week we make covers (can’t wait!) and we end with sales conference. I have some fun ideas for sales conference, and I think it will be a blast.

Now, back to work!  Will try to update again in a few days.

  Day 1 was intense! After a full day of lectures, our newly formed groups headed to our offices to nail down our Publishing company profiles, and identify our objectives. Then we had to come up with 4 of our 6 titles and write TIs for them by 10 pm.  It was a flurry, and truly finished under the wire. By the end of the day I could barely form a sentence (and definitely not a coherent one).

  Despite the demands, I'm loving it so far. Will probably not have much time for updates, unless I keep waking up ridiculously early (let's hope not).

 

I brought this home because Kerry Clare loved it, and I loved the title and cover. Now that I’ve read it, I’m finding a prominent place on my shelf (as I acquire more books I’m getting more picky about what makes it to the shelf).

Rose Edelstein’s mother makes her a lemon cake for her ninth birthday. She takes a big anticipatory bite, and is surprised and devastated when she tastes her mother’s despair.  Rose soon learns she has a special gift—she can taste the emotions of everyone who prepares her food. At first her gift is a curse, and she eats factory-prepared food to avoid knowing too much about her family. But as Rose matures, she learns how truly unknowable our loved ones are, and as she comes to terms with her ‘gift’ she begins to understand the art of acceptance and forgiveness.

More than just confectionary, this pretty package delivers a sweet, sad and satisfying coming-of-age story.

I kept hearing about Tom Rachman’s The Imperfectionists and the premise intrigued me, so I moved it to the top of my pile.

Set in Rome, this debut novel centres around a struggling international English-language newspaper. With each chapter telling the story of a different character—reporters, foreign correspondents, editors, executives—the book reads like a collection of short stories. The narratives interspersed with short chapters on the paper’s 50-year history, the novel also explores recent challenges to the newspaper business: technology, loss of advertising, competition for readers’ attention.

Perfectly structured, with compelling, memorable characters, The Imperfectionists is intelligent, ironic and perceptive.

This author is young! Here’s his bio (from his website): Tom Rachman was born in 1974 in London, but grew up in Vancouver. He studied cinema at the University of Toronto and completed a Master's degree in journalism at Columbia University in New York. From 1998, he worked as an editor at the foreign desk of The Associated Press in New York, then did a stint as a reporter in India and Sri Lanka, before returning to New York. In 2002, he was sent to Rome as an AP correspondent, with assignments taking him to Japan, South Korea, Turkey and Egypt. Beginning in 2006, he worked part-time as an editor at the International Herald Tribune in Paris to support himself while writing fiction. He now lives in Rome, where he is working on his second novel.

Follow Tom on Facebook.

I tend to read mostly "literary" fiction these days, but I was drawn to The Passage when someone described it as “The Stand meets The Road” which really is an apt description (I read a lot of Stephen King in my twenties). Cronin creates a vivid post-apocalyptic world, with colourful characters and really, really scary vampires (he calls them "Virals"). I hadn't read an epic book like this in a long time, and I’m so glad I loved it because I think it’s going to be BIG. And it’s the first in a trilogy, so lots more to come.

There are two websites for The Passage: check out http://enterthepassage.com/ to learn more about the book.  Visit http://www.findsubjectzero.com/ if you’ve already read it (and check out the scary video--if you watch frame by frame you get a glimpse of the Viral).  You can follow Justin Cronin on Twitter here.  See a transcript of a live chat with Cronin here: http://live.nationalpost.com/Event/Live_Chat_Justin_Cronin_author_of_The_Passage.

Speaking of vampires, I’m so happy True Blood is back! Just in the time for its return is Becca Wilcott’s True Blood Companion, Truly, Madly, Deadly. Wilcott has written a really interesting, comprehensive package, with exclusive interviews (including author Charlaine Harris), episode guides as well as extensive essays including a look at the literary and cinematic histories of vampires, and an examination of themes of True Blood, such as the politics of race, sexuality, and gender.

See an interview with Becca Wilcott here: http://arts.nationalpost.com/2010/06/09/becca-wilcott-is-ready-to-get-meta-on-true-blood/.

Follow Becca on Twitter here.

   

Click here to download:

I_3_Fangs.zip (40 KB)

Our first read was Shadow Tag  by Louise Erdrich.  Irene regularly visits her local bank to record her thoughts in the Blue Notebook, stashed in a safe deposit box. At home, she writes in the Red Journal, a hidden diary she knows is being read by her controlling husband Gil. In the Red Journal, Irene fabricates her life to manipulate her husband: she describes the moment she fell out of love with Gil (he’s a big believer in defining moments); she invents three different fathers of their children. As Irene and Gil’s relationship becomes increasingly violent and hurtful, their children suffer the consequences: fourteen-year-old Florian copes with booze and pot; eleven-year-old Riel plans for the coming apocalypse; sweet six-year-old Stoney creeps into his siblings’ beds for comfort. Irene plots to leave with her children, but is stymied by alcoholism and lassitude.  

The book club met last night, and we had pretty mixed reactions to Shadow Tag. Most of us agreed it is well-written, but the characters are just so unlikable it’s really hard to give a shit about them. And we all hated the names of the children. I mean, Stoney--seriously?

I liked the book. I found it darkly compelling and thought the co-dependent dynamics between husband and wife were pretty interesting. I learned later that there are some autobiographical elements to the novel, and I wish I’d known that when I started reading.

See Bronwyn’s video intro to the book here.

Browse inside the book here.