"pride and prejudice" by jane austen

this classic of english literature concerns itself with the bennet family. the matriarch, mrs. bennet spends the whole novel attempting to get her five daughters (from eldest to youngest), jane, elizabeth, mary, kitty and lydia, hitched. the two eldest are the primary concern and most of the storyline centers on them and the two gentlemen whom they are interested in, mr.bingley and mr.darcy respectively.

in standard 19th century lit form, nothing very exciting happens. there's a lot of gossip and parties and dinners and long walks but no car chases, sex, duels or deaths. things were simpler and more dramatic in those days. also, it's perfectly acceptable to marry your cousin.

this book is widely considered to be the prototype for the romantic comedy. while there definitely were moments where i smiled, i couldn't always tell whether certain situations and characters were meant to be funny or if i was just interpreting them that way.

this book successfully fulfilled my quota for a classic for this year. 

"the ravine" by paul quarrington

poor phil mcquigge. once a successful television writer and producer, he now spends his time drunk-dialling and writing an autobiographical novel. his wife is leaving him, he can't connect to his daughters and he feels guilt over the mysterious death of his former show's star. he narrows his life's misery down to a childhood incident in the titular ravine and embarks on figuring out the missing pieces of the event.

paul quarrington is incredible. his writing is effortless, flowing seamlessly from past to present. he has an uncanny ability for dialogue, directly transporting his readers to a specific time and place. the aspect of meta-fiction is also interesting as quarrington is writing about a writer who is writing a book.

a great and quick read. definitely recommended.

"when you are engulfed in flames" by david sedaris

when i discovered david sedaris a few years ago, i was almost livid that no one had introduced me to his work before. here was a writer i wanted to be; how easy, i thought, to simply write funny moments from your life, turning them into stories that are as enjoyable as they are intelligent. i attempted to write my own personal anecdotes, but i never came close to sedaris' brilliance and realized that he has a superhuman talent for turning the ordinary into the extraordinary.

his newest collection of essays suggest a wiser and more mature sedaris. he's settled down, stopped smoking and recalls his days of drinking and drugging rather than living them. while his sardonic wit and wonderful observations are in tact, i found myself not often laughing out loud or smiling as i had when reading his other books. as i sped through this book in a few days, there's no question it's immensely readable, hilarious and entertaining, but perhaps this older sedaris is mellowing out, preferring subtleness to extravagance. and i'm ok with that.

"the glass castle" by jeannette walls

"the glass castle" is another one of those jaw-dropping hard-to-believe-it's-true memoirs. however, it's compelling and moving and well-written and easy to read.

jeannette walls' childhood involved getting severely burnt at the age of 4 when cooking hot dogs for herself, making her own braces, colouring her legs with markers in an attempt to hide the holes in her pants, sewing a gash in her father's arm with needle and thread, eating food found in trash cans at school and sleeping in a cardboard box. to say her parents were laissez-faire would be an understatement; the walls' believing in self-sufficiency and learning from your mistakes. often full of tales of neglect and abuse, jeannette never plays the victim and the story comes off as a unique and entertaining memoir overflowing with life lessons and truths.

"water for elephants" by sara gruen

this book had a quote comparing it to john irving on the front. if that's not a prelude to disappointment, i don't know what is.

90something jacob jankowski recalls his days as a vetrinarian in a circus during depression-era america. he makes good friends, mortal enemies and falls in love with the star of the equestrian act, marlena, and a polish-understanding elephant, rosie.

the story took me a while to get in to, but i commend gruen for the painstaking research she evidently required to realistically portray not only the 1930's, but a travelling circus in the 1930's.

"do travel writers go to hell?: a swashbuckling tale of high adventure, questionable ethics and professional hedonism" by thomas kohnstamm

like many lovers of travel, i always thought writing for the lonely planet would be a dream job. if i got anything from thomas kohnstamm's book is that the reality of being a lonely planet writer is far from the fantasy in my head. the money you're paid and the time you are given are not enough to cover the extensive research that's expected to put together a guidebook.

the book follows kohnstamm on his first lonely planet project as he attempts to cover the entire north-east corner of brazil in an impossibly short time frame. during his travels, he drinks to excess, parties until all hours, sleeps with random women and even resorts to selling ectasy to tourists to help his funds.

a quick and entertaining read, "do travel writers go to hell?" squashed my lonely planet writer dream, but perhaps that's for the best. one less option to consider.

"lamb: the gospel according to biff, christ's childhood pal" by christopher moore

you can figure out the jist of this novel from the title. the story of jesus' first thirty years told from the perspective of his best friend, levi who is called biff. joshua (aka jesus) knows he's the son of god from an early age when he can resurrect the lizards his brother kills. in an effort to find out how to be the messiah, josh and biff embark on a journey to visit the three wise men present at joshua's birth who will hopefully be able to shed some light on the quandry. it is from the wise men that joshua and levi learn about confucianism and hinduism and other 'be nice to your neighbour, don't attach yourself to material things" sentiments and return to israel 15 years later to spread the word.

i think if i new more about jesus' life and the new testament, i would have liked this book more. i have a feeling there's a lot of nudge-nudge wink-wink's that i didn't get just by not being familiar with the quirks of the apostles, the teachings of jesus and the stories behind christianity's celebrations. the book is funny, having some killer one-liners and hilarious dialogue, but these get less and less frequent as the story progresses and joshua heads towards his demise.

a strong novel, but not my cup of tea. perhaps i'm wrong, but it often felt like christopher moore forced situations in order to put in some tidbit of jesus' life in the story. the story dragged on in parts and i would frequently get the characters mixed up and not understand what was going on. maybe i should have paid more attention.