Book ~ "The Song of Kahunsha" - Anosh Irani (2007)

From Goodreads ~ Abandoned as an infant, ten-year-old Chamdi has spent his entire life in a Bombay orphanage. There he has learned to find solace in his everyday surroundings: the smell of the first rains, the vibrant pinks and reds of the bougainvilleas that blossom in the courtyard, the life-size statue of Jesus, the "beautiful giant," to whom he confides his hopes and fears in the prayer room. Though he rarely ventures outside the orphanage, he entertains an idyllic fantasy of what the city is like – a paradise he calls Kahunsha, "the city of no sadness," where children play cricket in the streets and where people will become one with all the colours known to man.

Chamdi’s quiet life takes a sudden turn, however, when he learns that the orphanage will be shut down by land developers. He decides that he must run away in search of his long-lost father, taking nothing with him but the blood-stained white cloth he was left in as a baby.

Outside the walls of the orphanage, Chamdi quickly discovers that Bombay is nothing like Kahunsha. The streets are filthy and devoid of colour, and no one shows him an ounce of kindness. Just as he’s about to faint from hunger, two seasoned street children offer help: the lovely, sarcastic Guddi and her brother, the charming, scarred, and crippled Sumdi. After their father was crushed by a car before their eyes, the children were left to care for their insane mother and their infant brother. They soon initiate Chamdi into the brutal life of the city’s homeless, begging all day and handing over most of his earnings to Anand Bhai, a vicious underworld don who will happily mutilate or kill whoever dares to defy him.

Determined to escape the desperation, filth, and violence of their lives, Guddi and Sumdi recruit Chamdi into their plot to steal from a temple. But when the robbery goes terribly awry, Chamdi finds himself in an even worse situation. The city has erupted in Hindu-Muslim violence and, held in Anand Bhai’s fierce grip, Chamdi is presented with a choice that threatens to rob him of his innocence forever.

Excellent book! I wasn't expecting to enjoy it but I got pulled into the story right away. Set in 1993, it is told through Chamdi's ten-year-old naive and sheltered eyes.

Book ~ Only in Canada You Say: A Treasury of Canadian Language - Katherine Barber (2007)

From Amazon.ca ~ Ask any Canadian about a distinctly Canadian form of English and most will offer an enthusiastic Bob-and-Doug-McKenzie 'eh' in response. A passionate few might also bring up the colour vs. color debate or our pronunciations of 'out' and 'about'. And some may point to the ubiquitous Canadian toque as evidence of a language that is all our own. If this is your idea of Canadian English, then it might surprise you that Katherine Barber, Editor-in-Chief of the best-selling Canadian Oxford Dictionary and author of the best-selling Six Words You Never Knew Had Something to Do With Pigs, has written a new book filled with nothing but made-in-Canada vocabulary.

Only in Canada You Say highlights more than 1,200 words and phrases that are unique to our neck of the woods. Did you know, for example, that every time you ask for Gravol at the drug store, you're using a word that is unknown anywhere else? That those tasty butter tarts your mother used to make don't exist beyond our borders?

Organized thematically, Only in Canada, You Say covers Canadian English from coast to coast to coast, with sections dedicated to the things we love to do, where we live, how we get around, and what we wear. The entertaining and informative introductions to each section provide a fresh, often eye-opening, perspective on the reality of Canadian English from Canada's own 'Word Lady', Katherine Barber.

This was a fun book to read. I assumed that everyone knew what Gravol is.

I asked Gord if he knew what a scribbler is, assuming he'd know. I used them in school. He apparently didn't.

Do you know what it is?

How about blueberry grunt? Or a boiled dinner? Or pork pies (no, they aren't made with pork). Or a Burlington Bun?

This book brought back a lot of phrases I haven't heard or thought about since I moved to Toronto from Nova Scotia 20 years ago.

Book ~ "Children of My Heart" - Gabrielle Roy (1972)

From Goodreads ~ Set in the prairies in the 1930s, and rich with the author’s own memories of her time there as a young woman, this is a powerful story of an impressionable and passionate young teacher and the pupils, from impoverished immigrant families, whose lives she touches. Children of My Heart bears unforgettable testimony to the healing power love exerts on the wounds of loneliness and poverty.

Interesting and simple stories about various students that Roy (1909 - 1983) taught in a small school in the rural prairies.

I'd recommend it this book.

Book ~ "The Line Painter" - Claire Cameron (2007)

From Amazon.ca ~ It's 1:08 a.m. when Carrie's car breaks down on the highway somewhere north of Lake Superior. It's dark, the road is quiet, her cell phone is down and she is alone. She took off from Toronto that morning, running from grief over the death of her boyfriend, and unable to cope with the truth about the events that led to it. The relief Carrie feels as a truck pulls up soon turns to fear after its driver offers her a lift. Frank, her would-be rescuer, is a line painter, putting lines on the road "to stop people from being killed." But after Carrie gets in the truck, she starts to realize that this will be the road trip of her life - a trip of terror, transformation and forgiveness.

Claire Cameron has created a unique portrait of Carrie, a young woman whose actions are driven by grief and shame, her personality a beguiling combination of naïveté and streetsmarts. Frank is equally sharply drawn, his flashes of humour and tenderness disguising the wreckage within. Written in spare, unvarnished prose that brims with menace against the forbidding backdrop of a northern landscape, The Line Painter takes us on a riveting trip down a twisted road of memory and redemption.

I read a favourable review of this book on a blog. Since Carrie is from Toronto, I thought I'd check it out.

I enjoyed the writing style. It was a quick pace and didn't take me long to get through it.

I didn't like Carrie and I thought the decisions she made, before and after her car broke down, were dumb. I didn't find Frank likeable either.

So I would recommend this book for the writing style. Let me know if you like the story better than I did.

Book ~ The Birth House - Ami McKay (2007)

From Amazon.com ~ When Dr. Gilbert Thomas, self-proclaimed expert in hygienic, pain-free childbirth, opens a practice in a Nova Scotia coastal village during the World War I years, it sets the stage for a classic conflict between long-held traditions and modern medicine. Seventeen-year-old Dora Rare, the only Rare daughter within five generations, improves her lot in life by becoming the apprentice of Marie Babineau, the independent but caring Acadian midwife who helped bring several generations of Scots Bay residents into the world. The women of the village (not to mention their husbands) grow bitterly divided when Dr. Thomas calls the health and safety of expectant mothers into question. His vengeful actions toward Dora herself, a young woman looking for guidance with her own love life, turn particularly personal as well. McKay has fashioned what she terms a "literary scrapbook," reproducing and re-creating historical news clippings, advertisements, and letters within the text. This sensitively written novel of women's birthing rituals, strengths, and friendships will appeal to readers who enjoy gentle humor and plenty of homespun wisdom.

What attracted me to this book was that it is set in Nova Scotia, where I'm from. And the story sounded interesting. And it was.

The characters were believable and I was rooting for Dora to beat Dr. McKay!

I enjoyed this book. Definitely worth a read if you are looking for something different about the way it was a long time ago in a small town. It was interesting to read about the natural tonics to cure whatever ailed them.

The author's webpage

Book ~ "When Hell Freezes Over" - Rick Blechta (2006)

From Amazon.com ~ Michael Quinn is stopped at a red light one night when his passenger door is wrenched open and a woman jumps in. Three thugs are pelting down the street after her, so he races off into the night, but doing so sets in motion a chain of events, which ultimately turns his life upside down. First, a close friend is brutally murdered and then the girl disappears. He hires a private investigator who begins to discover she is not what she seems. The situation becomes deadly serious when the thugs come looking for Michael. Only by finding her can he answer the questions and maybe, just maybe, get out of a hole that's getting bigger with every passing moment.

What attracted me to this book was (1) it was a mystery and (2) it partly takes place in Toronto. As it turns out, Quinn lives a couple blocks SW of us (if he was real).

I enjoyed the writing style of this author. It was fast-paced and kept my interest. I'd recommend this book and am looking forward to reading others by this author.

Book ~ "Driving Minnie's Piano: Memoirs of a Surfing Life in Nova Scotia" - Lesley Choyce (2006)

From Goodreads: Novelist Lesley Choyce weaves together his real-life adventures living by the sea at Lawrencetown Beach on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore. He writes of his love for the rugged coast and tells tales of the ordinary and the extraordinary. His story includes accounts of what it's like surfing in the Canadian North Atlantic through all four seasons including the frigid depths of winter. 

 Also threading its way through this narrative is the story of Minnie's piano. There is music here in word and spirit along with the lessons learned from the old and the young. Driving Minnie's Piano is an eloquent personal memoir about the precious and fateful moments that change our lives. It is an exploration of what makes us tick and prompts us to be both heroes and fools in the daily enterprise of living.

What attracted me to this book was the title - because Sister Sarah and I had seen surfers in Nova Scotia in May 2005. At the time, I thought it was an odd sight.

I grew up in Nova Scotia and remember how cold the Atlantic Ocean is even in the summer ... I can't imagine surfing in it in the middle of winter! But Choyce does and loves it!

I enjoyed Choyce's writing style ... laidback and down-to-earth. It's obvious he loves his home (he's originally from New Jersey), Nova Scotia, his life and nature. He loves fog and will do all he can to save another breathing being.