Louis Riel

Louis Riel - Chester Brown

For Canadians, the title of this book will already have reminded you of some long ago history class in school. This one is no dry history text - it's a collection of comics that retell the basic story of Louis Riel, with remarkable accuracy, and very simple drawings. I enjoy reading about Riel and the Red River Rebellions, so that was a plus. I don't usually enjoy comics, so when the hubby recommended I read this one, I was skeptical. However, the simple black and white sketches worked for me, because I could almost ignore them to read the text. It makes Canadian politics seem a lot more conniving and intriguing than most people would think. I recommend this one, but like Letter Perfect, I don't really expect anyone I know to pick this up and read it.

September 2006.

Doga - Yoga for Dogs

Doga - Yoga for Dogs - Jennifer Brilliant and William Berloni

This is a reread, but such a cute, fun book, that it is always worth a revisit. Normally, this rests on an end table in our guest bedroom, to encourage visitors to thumb through the pages. Basically, it is photos of 6 different dogs doing various yoga poses, with their "dogi wisdom" captioned alongside the pictures. Consider this gem from Kessie, practicing her corpse pose (or savasana, for the yoga keeners): "Do not allow outward disturbances ('do I hear the mailman?') or private worries ('are we going to the vet today?') to distract you. Let it all go."

Fun for people who love dogs. If you also enjoy yoga, so much the better.

September 2006.

Phantom

Phantom - Terry Goodkind

Excellent book! I loved it. And of course, I am now bitterly disappointed that it will be 2008 before the next and final book in the Sword of Truth series is published.

I don't want to spoil any critical plot points, so I'll keep my comments general. I did get a little sick of Kahlan's reminiscences about the statue that Richard had carved, but fortunately, they didn't last long. The hubby grew frustrated with the 100 pages or so that talked about, then described, then reenacted life under Emperor Jajang. I burned through that quickly enough that it didn't bother me. Our consensus - slower readers will chafe here, faster readers won't really notice the repetition.

For people who can keep track of old plot threads from earlier books, this one neatly tied up the Lothain/Temple of the Winds storyline from several books back. And it didn't feel like a cop-out.

So now I am left to wait for the next installment, which will also end the series. Excited and bummed out all at the same time.

September 2006.

Letter Perfect

Letter Perfect - David Sacks

Let me start by saying, I loved this book. I didn't love all of the charts in it (I'm a reader, not a visual person), but I really enjoyed it. It took a bit longer to read than my usual fare, because it is the history of the alphabet. This Canadian writer documented the history of the alphabet! From the Egyptian "letter" symbols, to the first Semitic alphabet, to Phoenician, to Etruscan, to Greek and so forth. The charts really were a little dry for me, but the examples were cool, and I loved learning the histories of various typefaces. The book starts out with an overview of the history of the whole alphabet, and then goes into letter by letter detail.

I've been sprinkling references to this in coversations for a week now, and as I suspected, no one I know will ever ask to borrow this from me. I may be the only person to read it. If anyone reading this blog has read it, please comment, so I don't feel so nerdy and alone!

September 2006.

Reluctant Mistress, Blackmailed Wife

Reluctant Mistress, Blackmailed Wife - Lynne Graham

Yes, I succumbed. Another Harlequin. At least the guy asked for a paternity test before he believed his ex-mistress (who showed up with his lovechild). I can't help myself - it's like those potato chip commercials. When I get trashy romance novels, I can't stop after just one! This was my final August read, and it brought me to 8 for the month, 61 books year-to-date.

August 2006.