THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel
by David Wroblewski

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In the backwoods of Wisconsin, the Sawtelle family—Gar, Trudy and their young son, Edgar—carry on the family business of breeding and training dogs. Edgar, born mute, has developed a special relationship and a unique means of communicating with Almondine, one of the Sawtelle dogs, a fictional breed distinguished by personality, temperament and the dogs’ ability to intuit commands and to make decisions. Raising them is an arduous life, but a satisfying one for the family until Gar’s brother, Claude, a mystifying mixture of charm and menace, arrives. When Gar unexpectedly dies, mute Edgar cannot summon help via the telephone. His guilt and grief give way to the realization that his father was murdered; here, the resemblance to Hamlet resonates. After another gut-wrenching tragedy, Edgar goes on the run, accompanied by three loyal dogs. His quest for safety and succor provides a classic coming-of-age story with an ironic twist.

Started reading this in Illinois and decided to bring with to Canada. I really enjoyed this read. I didn’t want the book to end. I knew this was the story of Hamlet so the ending was not a huge suprise. Edgar sees his father’s ghost and knows his uncle (Claude) has killed him. Gar tells Edgar to look for something – it’s the syringe used – Claude lost it in the barn. Edgar, crazed, is trying to tell him mother but cannot, instead, he accidentally kills the veterinarian, Dr. Papineau. His son, Glen Papineau of the state police, tries to accost Edgar to ask what happened to his father but Edgar blinds him with quicklime. Trudy (mom) goes pretty much insane as the barn burns and Glen holds her down as she watches both Claude and Edgar die. Claude is trapped in the barn with Gar (ghost). Edgar is killed by Claude with his toxin.

The dogs are an interesting mix. Almondine is Edgar’s soulmate and I’m not sure what she and the other dogs represent to Hamlet. I loved the early scene’s of Edgar and Gar with Almondine. Edgar naming and training the new pups. Edgar’s life before Claude. I’m not sure what Henry represented either and the fact that two of the dogs stayed with him.

THE COLOUR OF MAGIC

The Colour of Magic
by Terry Pratchett

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Twoflower (tourist) Rincewind (wizard) Ends with Rincewind falling off the planet and Twoflower in a rocket.

THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET

The Invention of Hugo Cabret
by Brian Selznick

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From Selznick’s ever-generative mind comes a uniquely inventive story told in text, sequential art and period photographs and film. Orphaned Hugo survives secretly in a Parisian train station (circa 1930). Obsessed with reconstructing a broken automaton, Hugo is convinced that it will write a message from his father that will save his life. Caught stealing small mechanical repair parts from the station’s toy shop, Hugo’s life intersects with the elderly shop owner and his goddaughter, Isabelle. The children are drawn together in solving the linked mysteries of the automaton and the identity of the artist, illusionist and pioneer filmmaker, Georges Mli’s, long believed dead. Discovering that Isabelle’s godfather is Georges Méliès, the two resurrect his films, his reputation and assure Hugo’s future. Opening with cinematic immediacy, a series of drawings immerses readers in Hugo’s mysterious world. Exquisitely chosen art sequences are sometimes stopped moments, sometimes moments of intense action and emotion. The book, an homage to early filmmakers as dreammakers, is elegantly designed to resemble the flickering experience of silent film melodramas. Kirkus

Neat book. The beautifully detailed drawings told the story. The plot ultimately has much to do with the history of the movies, and silent film which mirrors the drawings.

MURDER IN THE DARK

Murder in the Dark
by Kerry Greenwood

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Audio – not my favorite Phryne Fisher mystery.

DEATH BY WATER

Death by Water
by Kerry Greenwood

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I listened to this Bolinda audio read by Stephanie Daniel. There were two separate mysteries going on. One involved jewel thieves (the West’s) and the other involved Mr. Singer who killed a man who worked on the Titanic. His wife and children died on the ship and Singer was trying to take down those involved.

THE FAULT TREE

The Fault Tree
by  Louise Ure

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Despite our best efforts and intentions, things go wrong—as 31-year-old Cade nce Moran knows all too well, eight years after a car accident that blinded her and killed her cousin’s three-year-old daughter. A skilled auto mechanic who relies on touch, sound, and smell to do her work, she lives in the sighted world without a seeing-eye dog or even dark glasses. So when she’s the sole witness to a burglary that ends in murder, she becomes a target for the killers (known to readers from the start), who continue their killing spree while two detectives (one of whom doubts the value of Cadence’s sensory clues) undertake a harrowing cat-and-mouse chase. The detailed descriptions of dogged police work, including the gathering and use of forensic evidence, bring a gritty realism to Ure’s second novel (after Forcing Amaryllis, 2005). But it’s the compelling characters, the masterful storytelling, the vivid depiction of Tucson, and the underlying theme of human frailty that mark this mystery as something special and Ure as a writer who deserves to be on crime-fiction fans’ A-list. Booklist

I liked the protagonist and the emotion she brings to the story. She was blinded one day while driving her 3 yr old neice home from a family party. Her niece died. There is guilt and living and getting by. Unbeknownist to her, she witnesses a murder and and the killers track her down. The two try to escape via an airplane with Cade as hostage but Cadence can sort of fly and she lands safely, the boy dies (diabetic) and the girl is in shock.

THE SPELLMAN FILES

The Spellman Files
by Lisa Lutz

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Isabel Spellman has family issues. Her parents are a mismatched pair of private investigators who routinely run credit and background checks on their older daughter’s dates. Her Uncle Ray survived a bout of cancer and now makes up for lost time, drinking, smoking and disappearing for days on end. Her amoral baby sister, Rae, negotiates everything for cash or candy, and her brother, David, is distressingly perfect. In its own way, this dysfunctional family works, and 28-year-old “Izzy” works with it, literally, as a PI for Spellman Investigations. A formerly wayward teen, known for her own lost weekends, Izzy has found herself in the nuts and bolts of PI work, from surveillance to lock-picking. But once Izzy falls for ultra-normal Daniel (he’s a dentist), she begins to question her lifestyle, with its constant undercurrent of deceit and suspicion. Not that it doesn’t fit her misfit personality, with its twin preoccupations of drinking and Get Smart re-runs. “I had always loved the job,” she realizes in a moment of clarity. “I just hadn’t always liked who I became doing it.” But her exit strategy is complicated when her parents stick her on a dead-end case that excites her investigator’s instincts; her best friend, Petra, starts acting oddly normal (and having tattoos removed); and Rae disappears. Written in a conversational first-person that includes Izzy’s “files,” such as her list of ex-boyfriends and their exit lines, these various mysteries all come together in a rush of humor and chaos. It’s all casual, swift and hip. But an underpinning of reality, the complex emotions of growing up and letting go, shows through occasionally, warming up this hilarious debut.

Rae, is ‘kidnapped’, late in the story. Actually, she uncharacteristically, ran away from home when she thinks Isabel is behavingly badly. This was an odd story line. Uncle Ray dies at the end in an afterward.

THE CLOTHES THEY STOOD UP IN

The Clothes They Stood Up In
by Alan Bennett

When life is pared down to the bare essentials, one can grow spirituallyAor shrink into one’s basic instincts. Though profound statements as such are not to be found in British playwright Bennett’s charmingly subversive and very amusing cautionary tale, his characters illustrate the principle in surprising ways. Mr. and Mrs. Ransome return to their London flat after a performance of Cos? fan tutte (Mozart’s comic opera about changing identities) to find the place totally stripped. Even the casserole left warming in the oven is gone, along with the oven, all other appliances and every stitch of clothing. Mr. Ransome, a stodgy, misanthropic solicitor who is fussy about correct diction, is mainly concerned about the loss of his CD player and the earphones with which he has always insulated himself from his wife. Formerly cowed and repressed, Mrs. Ransome is surprised at her pleasure in replacing their lost possessions with a few inexpensive items. The burglary liberates her personality, allowing her to inch cautiously toward new interpersonal connectionsAfirst with an Asian grocer, then with the man who, the Ransomes eventually discover, has been living with their furniture and clothing in a storage facility, then with another man who holds the key to the bizarre thievery. Her social awakening occurs in counterpoint with her husband’s more selfish gratifications, until a funny and fitting denouement permanently turns the tables between them. Bennett carries off his terse, surreal comedy with witty aplomb, adding to risibility with apt comments about the foibles of contemporary society and the consumer economy. (Feb. Forecast: English readers familiar with Bennett’s plays (The Madness of George III, etc.) snatched up this novella to the tune of 140,ooo copies. The premise of being left without any possessions is provocative enough to entice readers on these shores, and the small size of the volume (4x 6) reinforces the idea that simplicity can be liberating.

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BOOKS TO READ

School of Fortune
Swim to Me
God is Dead
The Collection (Diliberto)
Donna Andrews series
Accidental Time Machine
Book of Joby (Mark Ferrari)

BOOKS TO READ

In a Pickle by Jerry Apps
ToeHold by Stephen Foreman
Contractor by Charles Holdefer
Welcome to Eudora by Mimi Thebo