my summer of amazing luck

I really loved A Complicated Kindness, and Miriam Toews is one of Kristen's favourite authors. So, the other day when I was trying to decide which book to read next, Kristen suggested My Summer of Amazing Luck. I wasn't sure I was in the mood for it (I had already spent over half an hour looking at all of Taylor's, Kristen's and my books and hadn't been into anything) but Kristen suggested I read the first page and see. I started reading standing up, and by the end of the page I was in bed, ready to start the book.

I really enjoyed it, possibly more than A Complicated Kindness. I think A Complicated Kindness had more great one liners, but My Summer of Amazing Luck has a far better plot. This book is basically a litany of tragic lives, somehow presented in a good light. The narrator moves into a housing project, and most of the books ends up being the sad life stories of everyone who lives there. But it's not what you expect, because it's not so much tragic as inspirational. The characters in the book are great. I guess the book's sort of about the shitty things that happen in life, but that there's still happiness and hope, in small things. It's about being poor and being a mother and being in and out of love and knowing full well that all men are useless.

"Do what makes you happy because there is no sure thing. Just because you can pick out four-leaf clovers doesn't mean you'll get lucky."

"The first part of the song is so beautiful because the second part is so sad. We can't have one without the other. It doesn't turn out like we thought. But still it's a beautiful song."

It was a really great book - Miriam Toews has such a different, engaging style of writing.

A Complicated Kindness

Book number fourteen, A Complicated Kindness, is a book I've been recommended by many people. I've heard that you either love it (like Kristen) or hate it (like Laura). I loved the beginning and the end, I wasn't sure about the middle. Of course, this could be because I've been reading it for a couple of weeks and therefore the middle was interrupted.

The book is really about being left behind. Physically, emotionally and culturally. I think it's something that anyone can relate to. What I loved most about the book was that the metaphors are so effortless. You'll read a line that's just a line and then realize that she isn't just talking about sand or a road or a piece of chalk, but about life. It's beautiful.

The characters voice is great too. Have the time you think Nomi is insane, the other half your heart aches for her.

The book wasn't what I thought it was going to be, in the best possible way.

Some favourite lines, as per usual:

"I had a thought, on the way home from the rock field, that the things we don't know about a person are the things that make them human, and it made me feel sad to think that, but sad in a reassuring way that some sadness has, a sadness that says welcome home in twelve different languages."

"I folded my hands and pressed the top knuckle joints of my thumbs hard into my forehead. Dear God. I don't know what I want or who I am. Apparently you do. Um... that's great. Never mind. You have a terrible reputation here. You should know that. Oh, but I guess you do know that. Save me now. Or when it's convenient. We could run away together. This is stupid. What am I doing? I guess this is a prayer. I feel like an idiot, but I guess you knew that already, too. My sister said that god is music. Goodbye. Amen. I lay in my bed and waited for that thick, sweet feeling to wash over me, for that unreal semi-conscious state where the story begins and takes on a life of its own and all you have to do is close your eyes and give in and let go and give in and let go and go and go and go."

"I wondered if I could spend my entire life in two gears, neutral and fourth. I was so tired of shuffling."

Again I want to say that Canada is home to some of the worlds best writers. That's all for now.