Category: Book Reviews All

Three Favourite Reads of 2023

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Recently, Shepherd.com asked for my three favourite reads of 2023. Shepherd is a site created to link readers to books highlighted by authors as opposed to algorithms.

1. The Wolf and the Watchman by Niklas Natt Och Dag.

A captivating whodunit written with literary flare. The descriptions are lyrical yet on point. You get a heartrending page-turner peopled by characters you won’t forget, driven by motivations as dark as a Stockholm winter night.

2. The Sweet Goodbye by Ron Corbett.

What’s a crime thriller without complex perpetrators and victims, powerful descriptive passages that pull me into the action, and subterfuge that keeps me guessing until the end? A book I put down. No danger of that with The Sweet Goodbye.

3. The Tao of Travel: Enlightenments from Lives on the Road by Paul Theroux.

For years, I’ve been rereading my favourite travel writers, such as Robert Macfarlane, Pico Iyer, Jan Morris, and Paul Theroux. In 2023, I reread The Tao of Travel, a compendium of pithy quotes that spans the globe. You can open it at any page and instantly enjoy the banquet you encounter. When you’re hungry again, simply turn the page.

Click the link below to see the full post on Shepherd:

https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023/f/am-potter

Windows into Other Worlds: Book Gifts for the 2023 Holidays

A.M. PotterLeave a comment

To give a book is to give a window into another world. Here are five gift ideas for the 2023 Holidays.

First, two mystery/detective suggestions:

The Wolf and the Watchman by Niklas Natt och Dag, English translation from the Swedish, 2019. The Wolf and the Watchman should please any fan of historical crime/mystery fiction. The novel (set in 1793, in Sweden) presents a captivating tale, beautifully told. The whodunit angle alternates between darkness and light, judiciously balancing good and evil. The Wolf and the Watchman is the first book in the Jean Mickel Cardell trilogy, which includes The City Between the Bridges and The Order of the Furies.

Muskie Falls by Ron Corbett, 2023. The first novel in Corbett’s Detective Yakabuski series, Ragged Lake, revealed that Corbett (from Ottawa, Canada) was a born storyteller. With Muskie Falls, the fourth novel in the series, his story-telling virtuosity becomes even clearer. Muskie Falls is equal parts riveting mystery and stylistic tour-de-force. The plot unfolds on the fictionalized Northern Divide, an unforgettable locale, perfectly rendered. The story is delivered with nuanced authenticity and the rip-roaring drive of a northern river.

All The Colour In The World by C.S. Richardson, 2023. All The Colour In The World is lean, fast-paced, and atmospheric, more prose poem than traditional novel. If your giftee prefers expansive, detailed novels, this won’t likely be their cup of cheer. On the other hand, if they like reading outside the box, this could be their cuppa, a spare yet powerful story, anchored in Toronto but displaying all the colours of the world.

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton, 2023. Birnam Wood is both a beguiling story and a novel of ideas, a crucible of eco-idealism, survivalism, and human striving. The novel transports the reader to NZ’s South Island. Catton, a previous Booker Prize winner, knows how to hook an audience. The plot unfolds slowly (perhaps too slowly for some) but cleverly, reaching a thriller-type crescendo.

The Tao of Travel by Paul Theroux, 2011. Some travel books are timeless. Theroux’s The Tao of Travel is one of them. It contains a collection of evocative quotes whose origins span the globe. The reader can open it at any page. They’ll be instantly transported to the quote’s location. When they’re ready to venture off again, they can simply turn the page.

2023 Giller Prize Windfall

A.M. Potter2 Comments

This year, I fell for two of the five books on Canada’s Giller Prize shortlist: All The Colour In The World by C.S. Richardson and Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton. “Only two?” you say. True. However, for me, two out of five is a windfall. Some years I don’t fall for any.

All The Colour In The World is fast-paced and atmospheric, more prose poem than traditional novel. Birnam Wood unfolds slowly (perhaps too slowly for some), delving deeply into its characters’ motivations. Set largely in Toronto, Richardson’s story deploys short evocative anecdotes; Catton’s relies on lengthy episodic portraits to spin a tale set in New Zealand’s South Island. While All The Colour In The World is a paean to memory and the power of art, Birnam Wood is primarily a novel of ideas, a crucible of eco-idealism, survivalism, and human striving.

Which one would I read again? Both of them.

A Down-East Tale with a Faustian Bent

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The Untimely Resurrection of John Alexander MacNeil (sequel to The Unlikely Redemption of John Alexander MacNeil) by Lesley Choyce, 2023.

Reviewed by A.M. Potter. ® 2023

John Alexander MacNeil, aka John Alex, lives in a remote, rundown farmhouse in Nowhere, Cape Breton, an arduous yet idyllic setting. Add a cast of quirky Cape Bretoners and a dance with Death, and you have the makings of a potent Down-East tale with a Faustian bent.

The novel opens with John Alex dying and coming back to life, whereupon he meets Death, whose form resembles that of a local doctor. Being a feisty ninety-year-old, John Alex tells Death to take a hike. He goes on to spurn Death a few times. The man may need to pee constantly, but his blood doesn’t carry a dram of fear. His ancestors were Scottish Highlanders who had nothing to lose.

When Death tries to make a deal with John Alex, saying he’ll spare the old man and instead take someone from his circle, John Alex gives Death the metaphorical finger. JA is not a man for Faustian bargains. But neither is he a typical hero. His knees creak, he loves to nap. As he says, “Anyone would think that by the time you hit ninety, you would have some things figured out. That you might look back on your life and see the sense to it. That you might have a kind of wisdom garnered by years of experience …. But that was certainly not my case.” Regardless, JA is utterly determined. He’s not ready to die. He has people to help.

Windows into Other Worlds: Gifts for the 2022 Holidays, North American Authors

A.M. Potter1 Comment

To give a book is to give a window into another world. Here are five gift ideas for the 2022 Holidays. Today, North American authors. See last week for British authors.

First, a mystery/detective suggestion:

The Sweet Goodbye by Ron Corbett, 2022. Corbett has been nominated for both the Edgar and Arthur Ellis awards. The Sweet Goodbye is a complex tale of deceit and retribution set in the wild timberlands of Maine. Like Ian Rankin, Corbett doesn’t dish out genteel whodunits. However, Corbett’s fictional violence isn’t gratuitous; it’s part of life in the hinterland. [NB: The Sweet Goodbye may not suit fans of cozy mysteries.]

On Foot to Canterbury: A Son’s Pilgrimage by Ken Haigh, 2021. Shortlisted for the 2021 Hilary Weston Prize (Nonfiction). Do you have a traveler, hiker, or lover of English history and literature on your gift list? On Foot to Canterbury recounts a walk from Winchester to Canterbury, England, hiking the Pilgrims’ Way. The book delves deeply into England’s past. Haigh weaves together three main threads — travel memoir, English literature, and English history — producing a vibrant tapestry. 

Stray Dogs by Rawi Hage, 2022. Shortlisted for the Giller Prize. Stray Dogs is a collection of sharply-etched stories ranging from Beirut to Montreal to Baghdad. All are sparsely told; all unfold with a quick, addictive pace. Full disclosure: A few of the stories didn’t grab me, but I’m hard to please. 😉 Regardless, Stray Dogs delivers far more delights than disappointments.

American War by Omar El Akkad, 2017. El Akkad won the 2021 Giller Prize for What Strange Paradise. American War is told with taut, clean prose. The novel’s apocalyptic post-oil storyline brings to mind Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The plot is inventive and disquieting. The post-oil world is artfully rendered. NB: The first 100 pages get mired in a few ruts. After that, the novel takes off.

A Season on Vancouver Island by Bill Arnott, 2022. Arnott is the award-winning author of numerous travel books and novellas. If your prospective giftee has visited Vancouver Island or plans to, present them with A Season on Vancouver Island, a travel memoir for all seasons. Arnott’s writing is humorous, poetical, and illuminating. For those yet to visit one of the world’s most majestic islands (and its surrounding archipelago), the book will whet their appetite and inform their journey. For those who’ve been there, the book will bring them back – to, as Arnott describes it, the language of ravens and the sound of sea-wash.