"Hunger" by Knut Hamsun

If I had read this book without any context, I would have assumed it was a modernist work highly influenced by Kafka. It's hard to believe that it was originally published in 1890.

The narrative is a first-person account by an unnamed Norwegian writer. He wanders the streets of Christiana (current day Oslo), starving and trying to sell his work to the local newspaper. As he becomes more and more hungry, he loses his grasp on reality and is driven to do some perplexing and awful things. He is a masochist, playing survival as if it's a game of him versus the world.

For those who like linearity, this book should be discounted. The narrator and story move in circles until the very end. This can be frustrating, but there is something mesmerizing about the character that keeps you reading. 

A quote on the front deems the book, "one of the most disturbing novels in existence". You've been warned.

"Zofloya; or, The Moor: A Romance of the Fifteenth Century" - by Charlotte Dacre

"there is certainly a pleasure...in the infliction of prologned torment"

This novel is quite shocking. Even more so when you consider it was written in 1806. Use to the Jane Austenish Romantic novels of sensibility, whereby much is made over refusing to dance with someone, the heroine protagonist of "Zofloya" tortures, imprisons, murders and makes a deal with Satan. 

Poor Victoria. As a girl, her mother run off with a lover, leaving Victoria to shoulder her family's shame. Growing up she is improperly educated and neglected and becomes evil. She eventually marries, but then falls for her husband's brother, Henriquez. She poisons her husband and emprisons Henriquez' lover in a cave in the mountains. Henriquez refuses Victoria's love and eventually kills himself. Victoria, enraged, stabs Henriquez' lover multiple times before pushing her off a cliff.

Dacre is a little wordy and has a loose sense of grammar, but the incredibly depraved and malicious characters are compelling. A fascinating glimpse into another side of Romanticism.

"winesburg, ohio" by sherwood anderson

while for the most part, school feels like penance, occasionally it opens my eyes up to an amazing book i never would have read otherwise.

this novel first came to my attention last semester when a professor told me i should mention it in a funding application as it relates very closely to my thesis. i quickly read it's amazon and wikipedia entry and promptly forgot about it until it appeared on a syllabus for class.

this novel is a collection of short stories that deal with the inhabitants of a fictional small american town. though each story concerns a different character, they overlap and intersect, as happens in these types of intimate communities. the characters are lonely and are written with an incredible sense of sympathy and skill. this novel was published in 1919, but feels way ahead of its time. a quick and beautiful read that is not only revealing in terms of the human psyche, but also shows how simple words and simple stories can create a very real world.

Summer of My Amazing Luck - Miriam Toews

Miriam Toews (pronounced "taves", figure that one out) Governor General award-winning A Complicated Kindness is among my all-time favourite books, so I was a little ashamed when I realized that I haven't read any of her other novels. While looking for a fast and entertaining read that I could sneak in between essays and theory, I came across Toews' debut and thought it would be a perfect fit.

Summer of My Amazing Luck revolves around two single-mom's living in a Winnipeg housing project. There is Lucy, the narrator, who is unsure of who the father of her young son, Dillinger, is; and Lish, an eccentric with four daughters, two of whom were fathered by a travelling fire-eating busker. When lish decides to find the father, the two women and five kids pile into a van for a road trip to Denver. 

I did enjoy this book, but at times, it felt a little like a role-call of all the characters in the Winnipeg housing project. Yes, there's a plot, but this story is more about character than what actually happens. It's nice to see how Toews has progressed as a writer from this first novel to where she is now. Gives me hope.

"louis riel: a comic-strip biography" by chester brown

i think it is appropriate that i finally got around to reading this now that i'm living in winnipeg. louis riel is a hero 'round these parts, with numerous establishments named after him and a couple imposing statues.

a graphic novel portraying part of the very interesting life of manitoba founder and politician, and metis rights activist, louis riel. a beautifully drawn, interesting read, i like this book more for what it is than its literary quality.

"what we all long for" by dionne brand

there's a tenet in play writing of don't show us, tell us, and i think this novel could have benefited from that mantra. the majority of this novel takes place in the character's heads as they ponder their feelings. why couldn't these thoughts be shown through dialogue or action? i guess that's a benefit of writing prose, but i found myself at times getting a little fed up with how internal the story was. 

at its heart, this novel is the story of four friends: tuyen, carla, oku and jackie, who all have complicated family and personal backgrounds. their stories are interspersed with chapters from the perspective of quy, the child tuyen's parents lost when they were immigrating to canada. 

at times, "what we all long for" felt like an advertisement for multiculturalism in canada. all the characters are visible minorities. there are two minor characters who are white; jackie's boyfriend who is referred to as "the german", and carla's mother, who killed herself. i'm not saying that this book is prejudice towards whites, but when tuyen, the vietnamese-canadian lesbian artist, is cycling through little italy and coming across spanish speakers, it was kind of like "ok, great, toronto is a mecca for everyone, let's move on".

i did enjoy this novel, but it's not one i would gush about to others. a quick and enjoyable read.

"boys in blue" by rebecca york, ann voss peterson, patricia rosemoor

this is only the second romance i've read, but i think i've got the formula down. take one strong career woman (lawyer, business owner etc.) with deep-seated insecurities, mix with an archetypal alpha male in the form of a cop or firefighter who is battling with his own demons. have each character save the other, mix in some fleeting glances and incidental touching, one sex scene and a proposal at the end.

this is part of the harlequin "intrigue" series that combines a romance with a mystery. it's broken into three parts that all deal with a different eligible male cop as he and his lady companion, attempt to solve the overarching mystery.

terribly written, but highly entertaining. in the absence of tv, this is my mindless fun.

"Lightning crackled in the sky above him - as though nature has conspired to provide a backdrop for danger."

"She reached out and laid a hand on his arm, which was rock hard under her fingers. She fought the urge to run her hand over the thin cotton of his dress shirt, to massage his tension away."

"Slipping an arm under her back, he lifted Becca so that they were sitting face-to-face and chest-to-chest. She shifted and slid her arms up around his neck, and this time when their lips met, so did their worlds."