A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali by Gil Courtemanche

A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali by Gil Courtemanche
Genre of book

Valcourt is a Quebecois that moved to Rwanda in hopes of opening up a television station there with the blessing of the Rwanda government and the help of the Canadian government. However both kept dragging their feet and Valcourt turned his efforts toward creating a documentary about AIDS. While staying in the famous Mille Collines, he spends his days in Kigali, interviewing those with AIDS. Valcourt befriends many Hutus and Tutsis, but falls in love with a server at the hotel named Gentille. Gentille is a Hutu by birth, but is tall and beautiful so that any Rwandan would mistake her as a Tutsi. Obviously, not what you want to be mistaken for at the start of the Rwandan genocide.

Valcourt and Gentille plan to get married but want to marry in Rwanda, as Valcourt has adopted this as his new home. His Tutsi friends start to get murdered and tossed at the side of the road, yet Valcourt and Gentille still stay in Rwanda. Despite their explanations, I can't understand why anyone would put themselves in this type of danger. There are horror stories about mutilations and dehumanization that leave you in shock.

The first chapter of this book doesn't do the book justice. I was thinking that I was going to have to pass on the book because of the poor first chapter. If you do decide to pick this book up, don't let the first chapter get to you! The book gets far better once the author picks up a story line and follows it. It's a touching story of love in a horrible time and there's even a bit of a twist at the end!

First Line: "In the middle of Kigali there is a swimming pool surrounded by deckchairs and a score of tables all made of white plastic."

Rating:

(4.5/5)

the curious incident of the dog in the night-time

the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by mark haddon
Non-genre

Christopher Boone is autistic. He is a math genius but hates the colours yellow and brown. His neighbour's dog is killed and Christopher decides to investigate. This book is not a straight path to the killer but rather a delightful quirky meandering path. Along the way we learn some math problems and about Christopher's school. We find out about his parents' quarrels and his daily life.

Christopher is emotionally distant and takes everything very literally. This leads to the most inventive investigation and a most interesting read

Rating:

(4.0/5)

The Puzzle Bark Tree

The Puzzle Bark Tree by Stephanie Gertler
Non-Genre

Grace and Melanie grew up with parents who showed them no emotions. The only love they got was from their housekeeper,Jemma. When their parents commit suicide only days before Christmas, they face a journey of uncovering the past and unearthing their parent's true spirit.

Grace inherits an island in upstate New York which she and her sister have never heard of let alone visited. Grace decides to go there after the funeral instead of to Aspen with her sterile husband.

Grace has suffered from some nightmares of her drowning and her parents abandoning her. At Sabbath Landing Grace finds Luke who helps her to understand her troubling memories and her background. This is a story that is spell-binding. I found myself in tears at the end and that has not happened in a long time

I also wanted to add that the cover art is beautiful

Rating:

(4.5/5)

The Puzzle Bark Tree by Stephanie Gertler

The Puzzle Bark Tree by Stephanie Gertler
Literature/Fiction

Grace Hammond and her sister Melanie grew up in a home with very little emotion. Their mother would sit for days on end in her room, not talking to her children. Their father was a busy lawyer and spent most of his time at home consoling his wife. Grace and Melanie grew to love their housekeeper, Jemma, like a mother.
When Grace and Melanie are grown up, they make a tradition of seeing their parents during the Christmas holiday. Jemma decides to head to the Hammond household a couple days before Christmas to help them get ready but makes a shocking discovery. They are both sitting in their bed, dead. When the will is read, Grace discovers that her parents left her a house on an island that she never knew her parents had.
Grace tries to cope with finding out why her parents lived as they did, why she never knew about this island, reoccurring dreams of her and her sister drowning, and a very emotionally detached husband.
This book really brings you in to the characters' lives. Though it is fairly easy to discover the Hammond's secret past, you want to find out why and how. This story is about grief and loss, but there are moments of happiness and finding true love that makes the book as much of a non-genre as it does a romance. The romance isn't cheesy like typical romance books, but quite beautiful.
This book gets your attention at page one and you will have troubles putting it down. This really is a great book! One of the better one's I've read in the past couple of months.

Where this book was before me: Denver, Colorado -> Me!

Rating:

(4.5/5)

Recent Duds

The last two books I tried reading I got about 60 pages in and had to give up. :(

The Empire of the Wolves by Jean-Christophe Grange
Mystery

I tried, but I really couldn't get into this one. Although things were looking promising with Anna going through tests for her memory loss, the book was moving way too slowly. Also, quite a few characters were introduced. Since the book is based in Paris, the characters have long, hard to pronounce names that I couldn't easily remember.
Life is too short and there are too many good books out there to spend time on the ones that don't capture your interest right away!

Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian
Non-Genre Fiction

I got 60 pages into this one and had to stop. It was just too slow and there wasn't really any build in the story. I do have to admit however that it is beautifully written. The descriptions are amazing. Unfortunately the wonderful writing isn't enough to save this book. The author writes in both first and second person, which is kind of hard to understand. The "You" of the book keeps telling different Chinese folk stories while the "I" of the book seems to tell more of adventures.
I don't seem to have much luck with award winning books. They are all too literary enough for me, and don't give me enough motivation to continue reading the story.

The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult

The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult
Non-Genre

Trixie Stone thought she had it all until her boyfriend dumped her. In an effort to do anything to get him back, she lies to her dad to go to a party where Jason will be attending. But at the party, Trixie is raped. The book looks at the relationship between Trixie and her parents, as well as their relationship, and exposes all of them as liars. They lie to each other and lie to themselves.
I felt the most sympathetic towards Daniel, Trixie's father. He did everything he possibly could for his daughter and in the one moment where he gets distracted by his wife's affair, Trixie gets hurt. I wasn't sure how to feel about Trixie because it was unclear as to whether or not she lied about her rape. But that being said, after being told by so many people that she was a liar, she showed tremendous courage by keeping her ground.
I didn't much like Laura. I felt she was much too self-centred. Although the whole parallel with Dante was very interesting. That also parallels the graphic novel that Daniel has written. However I felt like the graphic novel would have had more impact if it was a bit more detailed. The illustrations were quite amazing, even though I thought I was looking at Wolverine from X-Men on the first page.
It would have been nice to know what happened with Willie and Trixie after her parents got her. There was obviously chemistry there, would they continue to be in contact with each other?
As usual, Picoult's books are hard to put down and the characters are very involved. A good read!

Rating:

(4/5)

The Thirteenth Tale

Th Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Non-Genre

This is an exceptional story. The writing is wonderful with prose so good you can feel yourself there. There is always that something extra in a story that is so well written.
This story is about a biographer finally writing the true story of a profilic and beloved author, Vida Winter. Winter had given out numerous accounts of herself in the past but never the 'real deal'. This story unfolds chapter after enchanting chapter with a little bit more revealed each time. I must admit I never saw the ending coming and still have trouble believing something like this could happen. The book interweaves twins throughout. Setterfield writes about the powerful connections of twins. Sometimes overdoing it a bit. This is the only minor flaw in a story so captivating.

Rating:

(4.5/5)

The History of Love

the History of Love by Nicole Krauss
Non-Genre

I do not give up on many books but this is one I just could not get into. It is very confusing with the different narratives. Also by page 120 the stories still weren't connected. There are too many books I would rather be reading

Rating:

(2.0/5)

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Non-genre/Fiction

This book is Setterfield's debut novel, and quite a magical one at that. The Thirteenth Tale explores the life of famous novelist Vida Winter. Winter has worked with many different biographers before and given each one of them a different tale about her history. Once she gets sick, however, she selects Margaret Lea to come write her real biography. Margaret wonders why she, an amateur who has only written about dead people, has been selected by one of the most famous novelists in the world.
The relationship between the two character is at time strained but it eventually blossoms into respect and friendship. Margaret herself has some life issues to work out. A secret she found out when she was young has changed everything for her. The relationship with her mother is strained. I didn't feel like I quite understood the relationship when I was reading the book. Infact I thought that Margaret was avoiding her mother until I was specifically told otherwise in the book. It would have been nice to get that a little clearer towards the beginning of the novel.
Looking back on the book, the plot line was fairly complicated. But Setterfield gives you just enough information for you to be able to figure things out on your own, if you're smart enough! I love the way she very slowly peels back the layers until the truth is exposed underneath.
Some of the desciptions given in the book are fantastic! I think my very favourite was when Margaret was at Miss Winter's house and looking out the window when it started to rain and her face started to melt with the rain. It was such a great description of something that you see all the time but never really pay attention to.
I would definately recommend this book and will be looking out for Setterfield's next book.

Rating:

(4.5/5)

A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews

A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
Canadian Fiction

Touted by the CBC last year as being a book all Canadians should read, I was expecting something, ANYTHING from this book! Nomi, a teenager growing up in a Mennonite town in Winnipeg, is dealing with not only Menno life, but also with the fact that her sister and her mother no longer live with her. Her sister rode off with her biker boyfriend and her mother left for unknown reasons, both never to be seen again. So it's just Nomi and her father, and all the quirky residents of the town, including "The Mouth" who is Nomi's uncle, but also the minister at the church. Nomi describes life as a Mennonite and how there are so many rules which makes the kindness of the city complicated.
I thought that Toews did a fantastic job of capturing the essence of Nomi and making the reader believe that we really were listening to Nomi's thoughts. But one part of the book really ticked me off. I don't care what happened to the mother and the sister, they are family and I would expect them to try and keep in touch with their daughter/sister in at least some form. Even if it's through unmarked postcards, I'm sure Nomi could figure out who they were from. That part bothered me throughout the entire book, and was even confirmed at the end. It seems that this family is the type that is perfectly ok with abandoning each other and then making up excuses as to why that abandonment is ok. Maybe I'm missing the point of the book (knowing me, I probably am). But reading to me is about how I perceive it.
I also felt like the story went further backwards than it did forwards. There wasn't that much movement in the book. Just random thoughts from Nomi. And the ending wasn't enough of a revelation to justify the pace at the beginning of the book.

Rating:

(3/5)

Jessica

Jessica by Bryce Courtenay
Non-Genre

I really enjoyed this book. It is about a young girl's abuse in the Australian Outback. Jessica's own mother mistreats her so that her other daughter can marry a wealthy station owner. Jessica overcomes so much in her young life. I love the way she fights her battles. She also makes friends with an aboriginal woman which would have been frowned upon in that era (1910+) and helps her get back her own children from the government. Another great read from one of my favourite authors
Favourite Character: Jessica. I love her persistence and sense of justice and her independence
Least Favourite Character: Hestor, Jessica's mother. What a contemptible woman
Best Part of the Story: When Jessica gets out of the insane asylum
Least Favourite Part of the Story: Jessica's pregnancy
What was missing: nothing

Rating:

(4.5/5)