The Wonder Trail: True Stories from Lost Angeles to the End of the World by Steve Hely

The Wonder Trail

I checked out Steve Hely’s “The Wonder Trail: True Stories from Lost Angeles to the End of the World” for a few reasons:

1. He’s a former staff writer for “30 Rock”, which I think is one of the funniest North American sitcoms of all time;

2. Los Angeles is featured quite prominently in the beginning and that is a city I’m visiting this coming fall;  

3. I love traveling. 

The book boasts (both on the back cover and inside) that it is a book for those who love traveling and those who don’t, and I think that’s actually a very fair statement. It’s a book that reminded me about everything that is both wonderful and terrible when exploring the world: uncomfortable linguistic mishaps, loneliness, and shiny new people with interesting stories, overrated and underrated sights. It also features plenty of history, which Hely presents alongside his anecdotes in short chapters. You don’t like history? Skip those brief chapters and they won’t detract from the rest of the book. Hely is sharply observant, and while some of his yarns ring slightly self-indulgent, I appreciated the colloquial, relatable way he presents them.

This is a very personal book. Hely knows you can read more technically detailed books elsewhere, so his aim seems to be more about giving an idea of a place alongside a story that demonstrates what he did for fun while visiting. His suggestions for what to do at Machu Picchu, for example, include: “Take stuff in and out of your backpack. Saw a lot of people doing this one. I did it plenty myself…Explore…Feed an apple to a Ilama.”

If you like your educational information with a side of funny personal essay, this book is for you. If you like your funny personal essay with a side of educational information, this is also going to be a happy read. If you want an impartial travel guide with lists of five-star accommodations and local culinary delights, perhaps choose a different book from our travel guide section.

Fifteen Dogs

Fifteen Dogs

 by André Alexis

 I was first intrigued by this book when I saw it on the Globe and Mail’s “Best Books of 2015” list, because it involved two things I really like to read about:  dogs and mythology.  Fifteen Dogs: An Apologue, by André Alexis, opens with two of Zeus’ sons, Hermes and Apollo, wagering on whether animals that are given human intelligence will be happy.  What results from their bet is this often brutal yet thoughtful tale of 15 unsuspecting dogs that are given this “gift.” 

In discovering that they are able to think in human terms, with some of them learning to speak in the human language, the dogs are torn between their canine world with their natural dog instincts, and their new world of human consciousness. This divides the pack into those who embrace the new way and those who shun it and want to revert back to being dogs. Each of the dogs develops their own coping mechanisms to move forward in their new world, some seeking human companionship, others steadfastly rejecting any contact, some welcoming the freedom, others seeking ways to conform. The pack initially sets up their den in Toronto’s High Park, but soon enough the different reactions to their new fate leads to betrayal and bloodshed. At times, this tale reminded me of Lord of the Flies, with its somewhat expected breakdown of the pack as leaders emerge and assert themselves, and throughout it saddened me that this is in fact a statement on the state of affairs of the human condition.

The understanding that comes with the consciousness leads the dogs to a heightened awareness of their place on earth and the workings of the pack mentality send the dogs on their separate journeys. My favourite character was Majnoun, a poodle who ultimately finds a couple, Miguel and Nira, to spend his life with. Nira and Majnoun share an understanding of each other that allows Majnoun to learn many of the nuances of human behaviour, and they develop a quiet, lifelong friendship. I think I enjoyed their friendship the most as I want to believe that all dogs want to be loved and understood by their human companions.

André Alexis takes the reader right inside the mind of the dogs, which makes it a very personal tale of each of the canines. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever wondered what their dog might be thinking, and how your relationship might change if you truly could understand one another.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

the particular sadness of lemon cake

For nine year old Rose, having her mother bake her favourite lemon cake for her birthday is a real treat, until the day she bites into it and can feel all of her mother’s despair and sadness in the otherwise tasty morsel. At first confused, Rose has trouble grasping the incongruence between these feelings and her mother’s outward appearance of a happy can-do woman, but as the story progresses, she learns to deal with what she learns through eating, not only her mother’s cooking, but that of others as well.  The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender is at times a fascinating tale of magical realism. Through Rose’s unique talent the reader is reminded that we are not always as we seem on the outside, who knows what feelings lurk beneath the sunny exterior of the coffee barista, or the unhappy cookie baker.

I did enjoy Rose’s storyline, how she discovered what she could feel in different foods, how she learned to process that as a child and how it affected her relationship with her mother. I found I could really imagine how Rose felt every time she ate something, and I would wonder what she would get from the food she was eating, how it would make her feel.

However, I found the storyline of Joseph, Rose’s brother, a little odd and it took some time to sort out what was going on with him. Joseph frequently just disappears and then reappears, without explanation.  Not only does he disappear, but also he is able to morph into the form of an object in the room. It was, in my opinion, farfetched and did not really add anything to Rose’s story or to the book. Perhaps it is just me that found the ability to taste people’s feelings as plausible, but to understand the mysterious disappearances of Joseph took more belief than I could muster. It is possible that the Joseph story was never really developed or fully explained as why he needed to disappear, while the reader delves deeply into Rose, her feelings and her ability. Either way, it did not add anything to my reading experience.

This book is a good read for those who enjoy a bit of surrealism and secrecy mixed with a bit of magic.

For other popular reading suggestions check out Richmond Public Library's Web site at www.yourlibrary.ca/goodbooks/. 

Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton

Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton

I read this book in a day. I got home from work and sat down on the sofa with a cup of tea and this book to pass time before dinner. When I finally looked up and away from the page, the sun was rising.

Every sentence was perfect.

The book is set in the Falkland Islands, twelve years after the war with Argentina. It’s a very small community surrounded by a beautiful but dangerous landscape, so when a child goes missing, everyone assumes it must have been a terrible tragedy. But then another child goes missing, and then another. Suddenly an accident doesn’t seem so likely. The town slowly descend into mass hysteria with everyone trying to help or find someone to blame. Even Catrin Quinn, the island recluse, ends up involved in the searches.

Catrin wasn’t always a recluse. She used to have a happy life: a husband, two lively sons, and a best friend. Catrin and Rachel have been best friends since childhood. Whenever one would go, the other would follow. They were more like sisters than friends. Until the day Rachel accidentally killed both of Catrin sons in a horrible accident. Now Catrin bears only a passing resemblance to her old vivacious and compassionate self. All she feels nowadays is hate and anger and a terrible hunger for revenge.

Living in the small and remote community, Catrin can never escape seeing her former best friend. She sees her in the local dinner laughing and holding her third son. She sees Rachel’s other three sons playing in their backyard, alone and vulnerable…

To say that this book is a page turner is an understatement. Bolton is a master when creating suspense. There was never a good stopping point in this book, and it just kept getting better and better. If you like mysteries and suspense, this is the book for you.

Eating Dirt

Eating Dirt

By Charlotte Gill

Imagine a life of dirty, tough work out in the backcountry.  Imagine that the wilderness is home for eight months of the year and that you can’t have a proper shower or get any real privacy during this time.  Then imagine that this is the life you choose for yourself.

This is Charlotte Gill’s reality and in Eating Dirt, she details the gritty life of the tree planter – a life she has led for 20 years.  Although most tree planters only last a couple of seasons, Charlotte Gill and others return to tree planting for years on end.

Despite being Gill’s career, she questions the efficacy of planting trees to repopulate a thousand-year-old forest.  Describing the intricacies of the old growth ecosystem, she is heartily aware that filling the space with saplings will not return the landscape to its former glory.  Gill paints a vivid picture of the forest environment that begins in the bacterial life of the soil and spans to the top of the majestic canopy.  Microscopic life, insects, rodents, birds, large mammals, predators and prey make the forest their home but also create the forest; their very existence carves the forest into the environment they require.

As such, we are but intruders in the forest.  Humans have used wood to build our cities, castles, boats and furniture since time immemorial.  We have used wood to keep warm and dry for millennia.  But we have used it far beyond our means to maintain it.  Gill describes how many parts of the world were cleared of forest hundreds of years ago, leaving the landscape inalterably changed. 

The Middle East, for example, was once covered with forest.  The cedar forests of Lebanon were essential to many civilizations, such as Babylon and Phoenicia.  But once these forests were decimated, the soil eroded and created the desert that we know today.

Gill notes that North America is the final bastion of great forest which we cut down with impunity, all the while “hiding” the clear cuts away from major highways and tourist attractions.  Many have protested, and many of us continue to visit old growth sites like Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island and the Redwoods in California, perhaps searching for a lost heritage.

Whatever we may think of logging practices, wood usage and the attempt to repopulate our forests, Eating Dirt is a fascinating read.

The Buried Giant

The Buried Giant

The Buried Giant, by Kazuo Ishiguro, is a fantasy novel that covers the journey of Axl and Beatrice, a couple who set off on a journey to find their son, who they have not seen for some time, and actually do not remember very well. As the story moves along with their journey, we discover that there are in fact a lot of things that Axl and Beatrice, and other characters they meet, do not remember. There is a mysterious mist hanging over their post Arthurian England that has caused the inhabitants to lose memories. We feel part of the mist covered tale as the writing penetrates the scenes and the foggy remembrances of Beatrice and Axl.

Along their journey they meet an Arthurian knight, a warrior and a strange boy, all of whom are on a quest to slay a dragon that has supposedly caused the mist that sucks away the memories. As their paths cross and separate, it is sometimes difficult to tell who is on whose side, who can be trusted, and who is up to what. Many side characters that Beatrice and Axl encounter lead them astray and into danger, and even those who appear to lead them to safety may not be whom they at first appear. This all helps to give the feeling of lethargy and mystery that comes with the mist.

This is the first of Ishiguro’s books that I have read, his most famous being The Remains of the Day, and I must say it was an enjoyable read. The writing puts you right in the feelings of the characters, you feel like all is not as it appears and you wonder what is real and what is not, as do the characters. I had an ominous feeling about what the return of the memories would do to Axl and Beatrice, did they need to remember everything, what was it they were really forgetting? 

The Buried Giant will appeal to readers who want to immerse themselves in alternate worlds as well as readers interested in the process of memory and how memories affect our lives.