Once Upon a Bookshelf

Joanna and her friends are all at that stage in their very late twenties where they are starting to make their way in the real world after college, when Lucas’s uncle commits suicide and he inherits Stoneborough Manor. Lucas intends for this large property in Oxford to be the place for their group of friends to get together every weekend, but things don’t always go as planned.

Soon the malevolent atmosphere surrounding the house starts to have an effect on everyone there – especially Joanna and Lucas. Lucas has also become obsessed with films that he found in the house of his parents, uncle, and their friends at the same age where Lucas, Joanna and their group of friends are now. When Lucas starts living at the house full-time, things really start taking their toll on him – he has become, to say the least, unstable. Things continue to get worse for him when he uncovers the secret between his father’s and his uncle’s deaths.

While I enjoyed this book, I had the feeling throughout the whole thing that it wasn’t quite as good as it could have been. It was just creepy enough, didn’t push the boundaries of creepiness. There was almost thick atmosphere that you could taste, but it was only almost there. Then, at times the narration felt extremely awkward. Whitehouse seemed to merge the present with memories of what happened in the past without a noticeable break, which lead to confusion until I realized what was going on. I got used to it as the book progressed, but it never flowed really well for me in those instances.

There were, however, certain redeeming qualities about the book. The characters were well developed, and the growth they went through during the year that the book takes place was sometimes frightening, and sometimes invigorating. The house itself had a characterization that overtook the whole book as well. Rather intense at times (though not as eerie as I had hoped it to be).

I did enjoy this book, even though it wasn’t everything I hoped for. It was a good fluffy read, perfect for the rainy weather we’ve been having recently.

This is my thirteenth, and last, book for the Canadian Book Challenge; I heard about it earlier during this challenge as another participant read it. As soon as I saw that there was a butter tart featured on the cover of the book, I knew I was meant to read it. (Slight tangent: Butter tarts are one of my all-time favourite dessert-ish foods, and I feel only the greatest pity for anyone who is not living in Canada and cannot get one whenever one darn well pleases. Best Things Ever.)

Only in Canada, You Say is a collection of words that are truly Canadian – whether they are words only Canadians use, or whether they have developed a different meaning than what is typically associated with the word. It’s pretty much a glorified dictionary, with words separated into different themes – politics, food, sports, etc. I was surprised, not only by the number of words that I didn’t know (as they came from different parts of the country), but also by the number of words that I did know – I would never have thought if I used them elsewhere in the world (or possibly even elsewhere in the country) that no one else would understand what I was talking about. For example, a stag and doe is apparently an event that typically only happens around here (or at least by that name) – an event to help a couple raise money for their wedding by having guests buy drinks, pay to play games, etc.

It was very informative, and could be used as a great conversation starter. I was reading it while visiting my parents this past weekend, and don’t even know how many times I had to pause and relate to my parents the newest word I had discovered was a Canadian word or had a truly Canadian meaning that we never would have supposed. A little dry at times (as I said it was pretty much a glorified dictionary), and the introductions to each section sounded like they were meant to be funny but weren’t… but other than that, it was quite fun, and I’ve already passed it on to my grandparents, who not only have fabulous taste in books as it is (my grandfather was talking about Will Ferguson this weekend!) but who will also enjoy this book as much as I did.

Based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty is the story of three girls working at a drive-through coffee shop for the summer. Geena, our main Betty of the story, is determined to have a fabulous summer. But things don’t go according to plan – her best friend, Amber, and her cousin, Hero, hate each other at first meeting. When they do start getting along, it seems that it’s only to trick Geena into believing the boy she has always had a rivalry with actually likes her. Then, someone posts nude photos of Hero on MySpace – except, Hero didn’t actually pose for any nude photos. This of course causes the boy that Hero loves to ditch her because she is, as he says, a “hoochie.” Now, it’s up to the Geena to get to the bottom of this, and try to put everything to rights before the summer is over.

Teen girls would love this. It’s a good summer book – thoughtless, entertaining and fun. As for me… it was cute, but I didn’t find it phenomenal. It was amusing, but it wasn’t laugh-out-loud funny. It had good parts – Geena’s numerous names for her dad’s girlfriend, for one. It was a very fast read, and kept me entertained, but it doesn’t strike me as one of those books that is particularly memorable.