Beautiful books

It's a cold, gloomy day at the farmette. We're a bit glum too, given that the Blue Jays lost the World Series and the cats didn't let us sleep that extra hour that so many others got.

I've been reading like a fiend. Widely. So I thought, on the eve of the cold, wintery weather, I'd share a few of the juicy ones. Like everyone, I have encountered some clangers, and some that were good, but just not my jam.

These are the corkers.

The Paris Bookseller is a work of historical fiction about Sylvia Beach, who opened an English language book store and lending library in Paris just after first world war. It became so much more. Beach is a real life person who published James Joyce's Ulysses, much to her personal and financial sacrifice. Her bookstore became a salon of sorts for the literary elite. Kerri Maher is the author, and she adeptly captures the mood of the time. If you're a voracious reader, you'll love this, because some of the most famous poets and authors are assembled in the panoply of characters. Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway all make an appearance. And, of course Joyce, who was a temperamental and selfish bastard, but Beach stuck with him nevertheless. Highly recommend.

Another historical fiction which is soooo much more than its genre is Still Life by Sarah Winman.

This book got me good. Set between the end of the second world war and the 1980s, it is a sweeping tale of love, loss, triumph and tragedy. It follows Ulysses Temper, a young soldier who tries to pick up the pieces of his life. From Tuscany to London and back to Florence, his story is interlaced with many extremely well-drawn characters and relationships. He meets Evelyn Skinner, an older lady who's an art expert and possible spy in a bunker near the beginning of the book, and she changes his life. Old man Cressy is a central figure who dispenses wisdom and humour throughout. Peg is the cranky love interest who's beautiful but so troubled. And Alys, or Kid, is her illegitmate daughter who becomes Ulysses' heart. A ripper of a read.

Friendly Fire is by Lisa Guenther, who was one of my clients when I was freelancing. She's the editor of Canadian Cattlemen magazine and a very fine author.

Her main character is Darby Swank, who's a young woman trying to find her way in the prairies. Lisa's able to represent the caring, complicated, sometimes frustratingly secretive world of small town western Canada.

She also threads in the healing power of music and how the young woman tries to sort out her conflicting emotions and urges. Guenther peppers the prose with windows into the world of horses, cattle ranching and the perils of wildfires.

I'm in the middle of Guenther's second book, All That's Left, and can't wait to see what Darby gets up to next.

So that's it for the book review post. Always love finding new authors and the stories they tell. Until next week.

Gratuitous cat photo courtesy of Hobbes, who is soaking up the last of the warm sunshine on a cold fall day.