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Recently read

• if nobody speaks of remarkable things, Jon McGregor (UK)
  A suspenseful, lyrical, cinematic, and brilliant piece of fiction. McGregor's helf-prose, half-verse shines a light on the minutia of daily existence, uncovering a startling beauty in the everyday, while at the same time unravelling the minutes that lead up to a single traumatic and life-changing event. It left me overwhelmed and speechless. One of the best novels I've read.
  
  
• Persuasion for a Mathematician, Joanne Page (Canada)
  In poetry and loose prose, this novel tackles the question "Why live?" The collection opens with a short series of poems dedicated to personal losses; then it moves into a dialectical (and existential) exchange between a poet and a mathematician about suicide, and then a collection of poems on Leonardo da Vinci set on opposing pages to the plain words of a lonely, insulated woman who cleans the houses of bankers and scholars. Challenging read.
  
  
• Stay, Aislinn Hunter (Canada)
  From Books in Canada: "This is a story of complicated relationships, of love, loss, abandonment, failure, hope, all skillfully twined together."
  
  
• Blood, Janice Galloway (Scotland)
  The inside of Janice Galloway's head scares me. Blood is a bizarre but mesmerizing collection of strange short stories, unsettling almost-plays, and uncomfortable snapshots of human nature. Her words walk that sharp line between brilliance and madness, and you are never quite sure what side you have landed until it's much too late. These stories are clever and brutal. Twisted things happen to a menagerie of misfits. Simple, everyday events are carefully braided together into something with which you will end up flagellating yourself after a few pages. And there are never more than a few pages; you don't know if you really want there to be more pages. But, really, you do. A staggering collection of slightly chilling, raw, emotionally-charged short stories, punctuated with a strange and unsettling novella. Brilliant, albeit disturbing, read.
  
  
• Original Bliss, A.L. Kennedy (Scotland)
  A deliciously twisted collection of short stories, concluded by a novella that is a melange of the metaphysical and sexual, of violence and acceptance and love. A review from the Richmond Review.
  
  
• You Never Know, Isabel Huggan (Canada)
  
  
• The Story of the Night Colm Tóibín (Ireland)
  From Amazon.ca: "[Tóibín] breaks new emotional ground with the story of a gay man coming of age in Argentina during the Falklands War. Tóibín weds his two themes--the ongoing Argentinean struggle toward democracy and the personal journey of a man coming out--with intellectual deftness and literary agility."
  
  
• You Are Not A Stranger Here, Adam Haslett (US)
  These are wonderfully engaging stories, rich with a menagerie of misfit and off-beat (but next-door-neighbour type) characters, each moving through depressive and manic events and circumstances, narrated by an exquisitely-familiar voice. Most of the mini-masterpieces deal with suppressed homosexuality, mental illness taking various shapes and forms, love unrequited, and the curses of extra-sensory perceptions. If only this brilliant wordsmith Haslett had more than one book. The best collection of stories I have read in a long time.
  
  
• The English Harem, Anthony McCarten (UK)
  In addition to an interesting (albeit a bit far-fetched in spots) plot with genuine characters, the novel also offers an everyperson's guide to the Muslim faith and relationships, and brings to light some of the racism encountered by Muslims in England.
  
  
• A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (US)
  A self-absorbed, self-aggrandizing, completely heartbreaking autobiography delivered in an addictive stream- of-consciousness rush. Within five weeks, the narrator loses both of his parents to cancer, and he is left to look after his seven-year old. Surprisingly humourous, and unexpectedly uplifting.
  
  
• The Fall of Light, Niall Williams (Ireland)
  A delicious blend of tragedy, myth, gypsies, swans, Irish drizzle, and the persistence of the human and animal spirits -- and the spiritual world that dabbles in each. A great sweeping story.
  
  
• Love and Sleep, Sean O'Reilly (Ireland)
  From the first word, this novel begins to spiral downward toward the bowels of despair. Dark, dismal, hopeless, and emotionally drowning. Taking all of that into account, it's a great read - if you're not already depressed.
  
  
• The Trick of It, Michael Frayn (England)
  A clever and funny, short, epistolary novel about a brilliant, (and comedically) self-centred academic's obsessive study and pursuit of the author whose work he teaches to his classses.
  
  
• Whatever Love Means, David Baddiel (England)
  Don't let the title scare you off. The story is a slow start but the details are necessary as the story unravels into an rivetting tale of love, infidelity, friendships, and the secrets that begin with the death of Princess Diana.
  
  
• More Bread or I'll Appear, Emer Martin (US)
  Beginning in Ireland and moving through Japan, the US, Hawaii, Mexico, and Honduras, the book unravels the story of four siblings -- all suffering from some degree of compulsive
  behavior -- in global pursuit of their missing oldest sister.
  
  
• The Nature of Water and Air, Regina McBride (US)
  A gorgeous and lyrical story about a girl who loses her mother and twin sister to water and to air, and how she proceeds with her life -- one that is precariously balanced between myth and reality. An emotional and all-encompassing read. Set in Ireland.
  
  
• Snatch, Judy MacInnes Jr. (Canada)
  "Open the pages of Snatch and you'll find girlhood bestest friends, bonnie bell lipsmacker and chomping vaginas -- just the sort of things you'd expect to litter the first creepy collection of pseudo-poems by Surrey grrrl Judy MacInnes." -- NOW On review
  
  
• The South, Colm Tóibín (Ireland)
  A woman tries to escape her Irish upbringing and failed marriage by taking up painting in Spain. And even after immersing herself in her art -- and a Spanish man obsessed with his own troubled past -- Ireland still manages to find her. Naked and straightforward, Camus-like prose.
  
  
• Amsterdam, Ian McEwen (Canada)
  A tale of the four distinctly different lovers of Molly Lane and how their lives intertwine after she has died. More a comedy of manners than a rich story, but it's a good, quick read. Winner of the 1998 Booker Prize for Fiction.
  
  
• Under the Skin, Michael Faber (Scotland)
  Strange. Caught somewhere between Animal Farm and a Janice Galloway short story, this book works on several levels. Animals exist as humans -- and vice versa -- with humans being hunted, drugged, caged, mutilated, and carved up as a highly-desirable form of food for the elite.
  
  
• The Pornographer's Poem, Michael Turner (Canada)
  Being inside the narrator's head and sexual pysche is an eye-opening experience on so many levels. Pornography is a both a small and a large part of what's going on -- and it plays with reader's mind. Definitely not for the shy or sexually squeamish reader.
  
  
• Plainsong, Kent Haruf (US)
  Thumbs-up. The book has strong, solid characters, and an ordinary plot told by an extraordinary voice. Everything fits together and effortlessly becomes a story. Simple and beautiful.
  
  
• Fits Like a Rubber Dress, Roxanne Ward (Canada)
  A good enough read. The story is somewhat engaging (especially at the beginning, but not terribly rivetting. Not enough plot to wrap around the sex scenes.
  
  
• Mercy Among the Children, David Adams Richards (Canada)
  Invigorating and excruciating to read. Richards tackles the extreme faith of a father and the faithlessness of a son in the face of poverty, ridicule, betrayal, and death. A life-changing read. There's a reason why it won the 2000 Governor General's Award for Fiction.
  
  
• The Blackwater Lightship, Colm Tóibín (Ireland)
  When she finds out that her brother is dying of AIDS, a woman must face a disquieting family past at an uncomfortable gathering at their grandmother's small, cliff-side, Irish home.
  
  
• House of Sleep, Jonathon Coe (England)
  Intriguing plots of sleep and insomnia that unravel and weave together into a brilliant finale.
  
  
• Wide Open, Nicola Barker (England)
  Barker's melange of the absurd, the poignant, the painful, and the just plain strange make for an excellent read. Definitely one of my favourites.
  
  
• As It Is In Heaven, Niall Williams (Ireland)
  The inescapable bonds created by family, land, and passion make this Irish novel a belief-suspending and intense read -- despite the grocery store title.
  
  
• The Trick is to Keep Breathing, Janice Galloway (Scotland)
  Spectacular read. Enter the life and mind of a woman gradually slipping from overwhelming grief into depression and dementia (and better understand the Garbage song).
  
  
• High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (England)
  Could there be a better representation of at least three men you know? This book is witty, pathetic, true-to-life, and ten times better than the movie (it takes place in London, and not Chicago).
  
  

Other great books on my bookshelf

• Inconceivable, Ben Elton
  
• Memoria, Louise Dupres
  
• Commencing Our Descent, Susannah Dunn
  
• The Lost Salt Gift of Blood, Alistair MacLeod
  
• We So Seldom Look on Love, Barbara Gowdy
  
• Away, Jane Urquhart
  
• Small Holdings, Nicola Barker
  
• Fox's Nose, Sally Ireland
  
• Eucalyptus, Murray Bail
  
• Four Letters of Love, Niall Williams
  
• Grey Area, Will Self
  
• The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories, Tim Burton