That's the Book!

I just finished a wonderful book, it took time for me to really get into it and enjoy but as it progressed it became truely great - The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde.  In this novel Fforde beings his Thursday Next series.  Thursday is a LiteraTrac agent Special Operatives division 27.  Her job is to find incosistancies in works of literature and find those heinous people that defile liturature. 
In her exploits in SO-27 she gets to meet characters for various novels, in this book she encounters many of the characters from Jane Eyre.  When she journies into the novel she changes the story (for the better?) and interacts with almost all characters except Jane because the novel is written in the first person from her perspective so she does all she can to avoid encouters with the title character.
While reading this I recalled a book I have read maybe 4 years ago (could have been longer than that) Headhunter by Timothy Findley where characters of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.  It wasn't until I moved to Manitoba that I began to appreciate Findley's writing which is a little strange given that he lived in Stratford right in an appartment I went past most days to get to and from my various jobs.  Headhunter is best summed up in by Amazon.com:
          When Lilah Kemp, a schizophrenic, unemployed librarian and sometime spiritualist, accidently frees the evil
          Kurtz from the pages of Heart of Darkness, she searches desperately for a Marlow to help her return him before
          it is too late.
I really enjoyed the concept of characters jumping out of books and being able to interact with them or how they would tamper with our reality.  Headhunter gave me my first glips into the conept and Fforde does a lot more with it.  I look forward to read others in the series.  I have the fourth book sitting on my book shelf signed by Fforde. 
Also after reading Headhunter I had a wet appetite for good Canadian lit and have been feeding it ever since.  I've only read two other books by Findley;
    Not Wanted on the Voyage - I think this is my favorite.  It's the story of Noah (of Arc fame) and has a frisky cat.  I'm not a huge fan of cats but this one really gets your attention.  It's also one of the selections for this years Canada Reads on CBC.
    Spadework - I loved this one because it takes place in my hometown of Stratford Ontario.  I loved reading a novel where a street or building was being discribed and I knew exactly where he was.  It was truely amazing. 
Just a few books from the past that I wouldn't mind getting lost in again.

I've decided to stroke another one of my resolutions off by joining The Candian Book Challenge Eh? I'm very much looking forward to reading 13 Canadian books (one from each province and territory). And this also gives me an excuse to post the good ol' maple leave on the blog a number of times. I love CanLit and have been craving more and more of it so here I am ready to read my 13 Canadian books.
I only have three books selected right now and will be adding the other ten as I know what they will be. Here is the list so far;

British Columbia - Shampoo Planet by Douglas Coupland

Alberta - Generica by Will Ferguson

Prince Edward Island - Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

I was a little surprised when I realized I haven't read Anne of Green Gables yet. Things like that make you wonder what you've been doing with you life. I'm sure I've had it read to me at some point and I've seen the film with Megan Follows and saw the Musical while I was in PEI but it's not the same reading it. I'm sure I'll find some more CanLit gems while I'm looking for the other books to read.

I thought that I should put some more effort into reading some Korean literature and other books about Korea while I'm here.  I've read a few but most are about North Korea or have some connection to North Korea (okay, not some but all).  And I've started a new this morning (not having a job right now is great for reading).  So, here are the books in no particular order;
An Appointment with My Brother by Yi Mun - Yol
This was a nice little short story about a South Korean imagining his reuniting with a half brother from North Korea.  I really enjoyed all the cultural references in the book and it made want to read more and more.  There is something about these two countries that you cannot get out of your blood once you've been here.  For anyone interested in some Korean liturate I would suggest you read this one, if you can get your hands on it.  It was translated by Suh Ji-moon and is a collection of Korean short-fiction I'm looking forward to reading more from this collection.

The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History by Don Oberdorfer
This is the non-fiction work that I started this morning.  I haven't got too far in the book but it seems to be well written and can keep my interest.  This is one book that is really introducing me to the full extent of the conflict that has ravaged this country for years.  I just thougth I've been here for almost a year and don't really know that much about the Koreas and this looked like a great opportunity to learn about the country I'm living in.

Pyongyang A Journy in North Korea by Guy Delisle
This is a wonderful graphic novel by a french Canadian who was sent to the North Korean capital to finish a short animated film.  The pictures are great and capture what I think foreigners are allowed to see quite well.  It doesn't take long to read but it was well worth it.  It really got me hooked on the graphic novel thing...I should really join the graphic novel challenge - and it's nice to have pictures sometimes (lol).

The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol Hwan
Kang Chol Hwan is a North Korean defector to the South.  This story is very disturbing but one of the best books I've read in recent history.  The only thing I wanted more of was about his time adjusting to life in South Korea, maybe a new book "The Seas of Seoul"?

I hope to read more Korean liturature so if any of you have any suggestions I'm open to them.  Pass anything you have on to me, the more the better.  What I've read so far I've loved and it's got me craving more.

I started this one at the end of last year and I felt like it was difficult go many times while reading it.  David Michaelis attempts to put way too much information in Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography especially when he could have left out some of the asides he tells.  It's interesting and very informative but this could have easily been wittled down from the 566 pages it ended up being. 
Instead of discribing some of the strips that Schulz created Michaelis should have just provided us with the strip.  Let the strip talk for itself as it were.  Also, he printed a couple of the strips twice.  I'm not sure why he chose to do this Schults created over 17,000 I don't think there is much of a need for repeats. 
Let me put all this grumbling aside and say that I did enjoy the book.  It was a great insite into the creator of the beloved Peanuts gang.  The pictures that Michaelis provided were helpful in picturing the rather large cast of characters in Charles M. Schulz's life. 

Last time I talked about Bookleaves and the book Water for Elephants, but I cannot recall if I mention the missing photo in chapter 21 (or was it 23?)  anyway, I've been wanting to send an email to Sara Gruen but I only see the option of writing to her publisist and I'm not sure I want to do that but I think it's my only option.  I'm determined to find out why this photo is missing!!
And speaking of Bookleaves, I finished The Kite Runner.  Wow, what a wonderful book.  It was almost as enjoyable as A Thousand Splendid Suns (also by Khaled Hosseini).  There were times I wanted to go outside and fly a kite myself [erhaps something we could do after bookclub on Sunday;)].  There were many wonderful images of Afghanistan in the novel and contuned to help me appreciate the greater world. 

Well, it's already 2008 how quickly 2007 went! I usually don't keep track of all the books I've read in a year and so with this being a new year I plan do to exactly that this year. That is just one of a number book related resolutions I've made for the new year. Here is the list of book resolutions I have for this year:
1. Keep a record of the books I have read in 08 including the number of pages I've read.
2. Read 100 books within the year. This shouldn't be too difficult, at least I don't think it will be.
3. Try a few challenges that are out there. And with someone like Susan Jackson Bybee as a friend and lover of books I don't think it will be difficult to find a few challenges.
4. Read more non-fiction. I tend to read a great deal of fiction so I hope to expand by reading more non-fiction. With the two books I'm reading now this shouldn't be difficult as they are both non-fiction (Schulz and Peanuts and