The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor
October 15, 2010
CBC Radio One’s annual program “Canada Reads” provides a forum for five Canadian titles to be debated and defended by five noteworthy Canadians. After each debate, a novel is voted out of the running until only one remains. This selection is deemed the essential novel for all Canadians to enjoy together. If you’ve not tuned in before, the debates are entertaining, witty, and occasionally feisty. Jian Ghomeshi as the host is brilliant at directing the conversation and unveiling unique perspectives and impressions. The tenth edition of Canada Reads will air in February 2011. In honour of this anniversary, rather than simply announce the 5 novels to be debated, Canadian readers have been asked to submit their choices for a list of “Top 40 Essential Canadian Novels of the Decade” (published after January 1, 2000). This list will be narrowed down over the next few months and the top selections will be debated.
I count many Canadian books among my favourites but a particular standout for me published in the last decade is The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor. It was one of our book club selections and our members were unanimously enthused. The novel, as the title suggests, follows the many incarnations of one Charlotte Taylor – an amazingly resilient woman and pioneer as she ventures forth and establishes herself in early Canada. The Ottawa Citizen states: “The sweep is epic, a romantic narrative filled with passion, rebellion, adventure, heartbreak, triumph, legacy. It’s a heck of a story.” Sally Armstrong, a founding editor of Canadian Living magazine and editor at Homemaker’s and Macleans magazines, has taken her family’s lore relating to a great-great-great Grandmother and with wonderful imagination filled in the archival gaps with memorable characters and adventures. The fact that the tale itself is based on a woman whose pluckiness inspired generations to recount and share the legend of her just adds to the charm of the book.
I will submit my request for The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor to be considered as a Canada Reads Top 40 Essential Canadian Novel … but in the meantime I hope you get a head start and enjoy it yourself!
Reading … “at Tiffany”
June 9, 2010
Found a robin’s egg in the woods this morning! I gathered it up and carried it home … not sure why except I don’t think we city folk see these little treats of nature very often. My wee egg is a bit crumpled but I was pleased when the boys came home from school and gave the little egg the high praise of both a “swee-eet!” and “coo-ol!”. For the record, not much merits both a “sweet” and a “cool”. Today’s note to you isn’t about bird books or books by people named Robin it’s more of a stretch … While that lovely blue is tiny treasured egg shells in my mind, it’s a tried and true Tiffany blue for others. So today it’s about location, location, location: Tiffany, Tiffany, Tiffany!
Summer at Tiffany – Marjorie Hart (memoir) – Found this on a discount table some time ago and have been saving it for a lazy summer day. It’s been a while … yoo hoo lazy summer day where are you? Here’s the synopsis from publisher Harper Collins:
Do you remember the best summer of your life? New York City, 1945. Marjorie Jacobson and her best friend, Marty Garrett, arrive fresh from the Kappa house at the University of Iowa hoping to find summer positions as shopgirls. Turned away from the top department stores, they miraculously find jobs as pages at Tiffany & Co., becoming the first women to ever work on the sales floor—a diamond-filled day job replete with Tiffany blue shirtwaist dresses from Bonwit Teller’s—and the envy of all their friends. Hart takes us back to the magical time when she and Marty rubbed elbows with the rich and famous; pinched pennies to eat at the Automat; experienced nightlife at La Martinique; and danced away their weekends with dashing midshipmen. Between being dazzled by Judy Garland’s honeymoon visit to Tiffany, celebrating VJ Day in Times Square, and mingling with Café society, she fell in love, learned unforgettable lessons, made important decisions that would change her future, and created the remarkable memories she now shares with all of us.
Sundays at Tiffany’s – (novel) James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet – Known for his best selling thrillers this is a bit of a departure for Patterson.
Jane Margaux is a lonely little girl. Her mother, a powerful Broadway producer, makes time for her only once a week, for their Sunday trip to admire jewelry at Tiffany’s. Jane has only one friend: a handsome, comforting, funny man named Michael. He’s perfect. But only she can see him. Michael can’t stay forever, though. On Jane’s ninth birthday he leaves, promising her that she’ll soon forget him. Years later, in her thirties, Jane is just as alone as she was as a child. And despite her own success as a playwright, she is even more trapped by her overbearing mother. Then she meets someone–a handsome, comforting, funny man. He’s perfect. His name is Michael… This is a heartrending story that surpasses all expectations of why these people have been brought together. With the breathtaking momentum and gripping emotional twists that have made James Patterson a bestselling author all over the world, SUNDAYS AT TIFFANY’S takes an altogether fresh look at the timeless and transforming power of love.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote (novella) – Ahhhh the original. An entire culture has evolved around this short tale. Read it or watch it – it’s a classic.
The novella tells the story of a one-year (autumn 1943 to autumn 1944) friendship between the main character Holiday (“Holly”) Golightly, and an unnamed narrator. The two are both tenants in a brownstone apartment in Manhatten’s Upper East Side. Holly Golightly (age 18-19) is a country girl born in fictional Tulip, Texas, turned New York café society girl, who makes her living coaxing dollars off of rich, older gentlemen. The narrator, who lives in the flat above her, is an aspiring writer. Golightly, who likes to stun people with carefully selected tidbits from her personal life or her outspoken viewpoint on various topics, slowly reveals herself to the narrator who finds himself fascinated by her curious lifestyle. In the end, however, Golightly fears that she will never know what is really hers until after she has thrown it away; she subsequently abandons her friend and comfortable lifestyle to seek her ever elusive goal of finding both riches and a place to call home.
So whether it be breakfast, Sunday, or summer take a little trip to New York City and spend some time at Tiffany!
(Don’t forget to send in your Summer reading list ideas … )
