another lake, another list

Continuing on with the lake and lists theme, last week I spent most of my time sitting on the dock at the family cottage, reading. 7 days, 4.5 books. Herewith are my thoughts on said books:

1. One Day by Alex Nicholls. One of the reviews on the cover was from Nick Hornby's blog, stating that it is a perfect beach read for people who don't do beach reads. Awesome, because this is me. Great book. Immensely readable as they say. It tells the story of a close friendship between a guy (Dexter) and girl (Emma) who meet on the last day of university in 1988 and it revisits them every July 15th for 20 odd years. It was smart, funny, timely, sad, etc ... everything you want in good fiction. Great characters, although I do think that the way Emma pines after the bad boy shows that she was written by a man and Dexter's feelings for her a bit too predictable. Still loved the book though. This story about it made me laugh, as I did read it in humid weather and now the cover is permanently curled up. Also, it's being made into a movie - starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess.


2. Plague of Secrets by John Lescroart. Paperback mysteries are a guilty pleasure of mine. I have always read them ... especially ones with recurring characters. They are great for a rainy afternoon, a day on the dock or an airplane ride. I figure the fact that I read actual literature makes these flimsy paperbacks acceptable. My go-too authors are people like Michael Connelly, Deborah Crombie, Elizabeth George, etc. This one was pretty good ... I particularly like Lescroart's website which promises "real people ... real suspense."


3. Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. Subtitled "Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime," this book was fascinating. It is a pretty serious book - 400+ pages on politics, but I raced through it like it was an US Weekly. Which I guess is not that surprising, seeing as it has been criticized for veering into gossip (incidentally this review is from Michiko Kakutani, the real life person who reviewed the fictional Carrie Bradshaw's first book on Sex and the City). There are no footnotes, as the book is based on over 300 interviews and rather than naming their contacts, the authors fall back on "deep sources." As a quasi-historian, I appreciate sourcing material when necessary, but this book reads like fiction, and I think footnotes would have gotten in the way. It was a great read. Also makes me wonder if anyone would ever bother writing a book this interesting about Canadian politics. In the era of Harper, I'm thinking not.


4. Family Album by Penelope Lively. I'd never read anything by Lively, but she has written 16 books, including a Booker prize winner (Moon Tiger, which I will now go out and buy). This book was also quite good ... the story of a family of 6 children, as told at various times by various people in the family, not at all linear, slightly chaotic, kind of like the family. At one point it seems like the family secret is going to be much worse than it actually is - the false suspense is kind of a cheap trick, but that is the book's only flaw really. She's a lovely writer and I recommend it for sure.
5. The End of Energy Obesity by Peter Tertzakian. I'm reading this book for both work and because I have a personal interest in how to create a more sustainable energy framework. I haven't finished this book yet ... I would read 2 chapters after completing every other book I read during my holiday. It's a pretty interesting read - the whole point of the book is to figure out how societies can continue to maintain their quality of life while at the same time reducing their dependence on traditional fossil fuels. I've heard Tertzakian speak at a few events and I think he is a very smart man, not to mention a great speaker. The book is not overly academic or dry ... instead it's full of metaphors and examples that apply to everyday life. Makes it much easier to "get." Here's a cool video that summarizes the book.