Favourite author: Charles Dickens
Favourite Canadian novel: _Green Grass, Running Water_ by Thomas King
Novel I love to hate: _Life of Pi_ by Yann Martel (Sorry to all those who love it.)
Best collection of short stories: _Interpreter of Maladies_ by Jhumpa Lahiri. (Pulitzer Prize winner. Beautiful and powerful. Do yourself a favour and pick up this book!!!)


Just Read:
1/ _All Quiet on the Western Front_. Great novel that really brings home the 'reality' of war for those in the trenches.
2/ _Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing_. Don't waste your time! Truly awful. What was all the fuss about?
3/ _The Catcher in the Rye_. Great for anyone whose been a loner at one time or another.
4/ _Crow Lake_. A good (not great) book. Quick read and poignant story of rural Ontario community.
5/ _A Home at the End of the World_. Wonderful book! (Horrible movie!).
6/ _Airframe_ (Michael Crichton). Fluff, pure and simple.
7/ _Of Mice and Men_ (Steinbeck). Good and sad.
8/ _The Princess Bride_ (Goldman). Always fun to come back to.
9/ _Sarah: A Novel_ (T.J. Leroy). Hmmm, different. Unusual. Interesting. Not great, but I look forward to reading something else by this young author.
10/ _Hornito: My Lie Life_ (Mike Albo).
11/ _In the Heat of the Night_ (John Ball). An enjoyable read. A 'simplier' version of _To Kill a Mocking Bird_.
12/ _Medicine River_ (Thomas King) Definetely a first book. _Green Grass, Running Water_ 100x better.
13/ _The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-step Plan to Live and Finish Rich_ (David Bach).
14/ _1984_ (George Orwell). A novel of stupendous ideas though not stupendously executed.
15/ _Macbeth_ (Shakespeare). Hated it in high school... shows how much a poor teacher can turn you against a wonderful piece of literature.
16/ _A Boy's Own Story_ (Edmund White). Not bad, not bad.
17/ _Fruit: A Novel about a Boy and His Nipples_ (Brian Francis). Funny. Reminds me of David Sedaris.
18/ _The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time_ (Mark Haddon). Quick, funny and insightful read.
19/ _Lord of the Flies_ (William Golding). Hmm... the idea is interesting but I just don't really enjoy the read. Perhaps it brings back bad memories of grade eleven. Similar to _1984_: great idea-book, not so wonderfully executed.
20/ _Eaters of the Dead_ (Michael Crichton). Different from what I have come to expect from Crichton, even though this is one of his earlier novels. Interesting if you've ever read _Beowulf_.
21/ _The Great Gatsby_ (F. Scott Fitzgerald).
22/ _Clockwork_ (Philip Pullman). An enjoyable kid's read. He has a gift at storytelling.
23/ _Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West_ (Gregory Maguire).
24/ _Paranoia in the Launderette_ (Bruce Robinson). A very quick, light read. Fun and mindless.
25/ _Little Women_ (Louisa M. Alcott). Never read this childhood classic. I hope I don't cry when Beth dies ;-)
26/ _The Romantic_ (Barbara Gowdy). Reading it with a student. Enjoying every page; once again Gowdy proves she is awesome at what she does!
27/ _Blue Heaven_ (Joe Keenan). A book club friend lent me this book. So far (6 chapters into it) I cannot say anything good about it. Fluff, fluff, fluff... which I'm not good at reading. Appears to be trying to be a hard-boiled mystery but isn't.
28/ _On Art and Life_ (John Ruskin). An enjoyable book for the art historian, the Victorianist, or the curious.
29/ _Bridget Jones' Diary_ (Helen Fielding). A friend and I watched the sequel and she lent me the book, so I figured I ought to read the first book first. Bought it at the Salvation Army for $1.29.
30/ _The Alchemist_ (Paulo Coelho).
31/ _Real Life: Short Stories_ (Sharon Butala).
32/ _To Kill a Mockingbird_ Harper Lee. If you read this book in highschool and hated it, read it again! It is one of the best books out there.
33/ _The Lord of the Flies_ (William Golding)
34/ _Mean Genes_
35/ _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_ (J.K. Rowling). The best one yet, I think.
36/ _Life of Pi_ (Yann Martel). I was sincerely hoping that I would NEVER have to read this book again. Damn the grade twelve curriculum! Actually, it was better teaching it than it was reading it solo.
37/ _Star Trek: Dreams of the Raven_ (Carmen Carter). *Very* light bus reading. (I'm almost ashamed of myself.)
38/ _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_ (J.K. Rowling). Not as good as Goblet, but very enjoyable.
39/ _The Rice Queen Diaries_ (Daniel Gawthrop). An interesting and quick read, though not academic.
40/ _Hatchet_ (Gary Paulsen). Never read it in elementary school. Thought I'd give it a try. Good bus read.
41/ _Motherless Brooklyn_ (Johnathan Letham).
42/ _Everything is Illuminated_ (Jonathan Safran Foer).
43/ _The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency_ (Alexander McCall Smith). What a fun read. Beautiful descriptions of Botswana, Africa. Makes me want to visit a part of the world I'd never given that much thought to before.
44/ _Tears of the Giraffe_ (Alexander McCall Smith). Not near as endearing as his first novel (#43), but again Botswana comes alive and it is a pleasure to visit in my mind.
45/ _Vinegar Hill_ (A. Manette Ansay).
46/ _And Then There Was Non_ (Agatha Christie). A surprisingly fun read. Total fluff, but quick and easy. Once in a while a candybar can't hurt you, right?
47/ _Deafening_
48/ _The Story of O_
49/ _Tycho's Nova_ (Graham Wood).
50/ _The Hunky-Dory Dairy_
51/ _Portuguese Irregular Verbs_ (Alexander McCall Smith). Somewhat enjoyable, but no where near as fun as The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.
52/ _Murder on the Orient Express_ (Agatha Christie).
53/ _Summer of Discovery_ (Eric Wilson). Rediscovered this book from my childhood.