Ann Ewan
Biographies aren't generally my thing, but I was given this book and did succeed in reading it all the way through. Margaret Atwood is a brilliant writer, and her wonderful descriptions and her wicked sense of humour kept me reading, even though the bio is very long. I liked the first part best, when she was growing up a child in the wilderness.
This book is a quick read. The surpense kept me reading, and I also enjoyed the parts about dolphins. However, the romance was predictable from the start, almost annoyingly so, and I didn't like the main characters' attitude to violence. They seemed to have no problem with killing any number of the bad guy's lackies/minions/henchmen.
I found this book to be quick and interesting to read. The writers' voices and experiences are varied, but they are startlingly honest and direct about the experiences, good and bad, of living with autism. It's inspiring that this diverse group were able to find community through writing a book together.
I didn't really enjoy the book, though the translation work the main character was doing was interesting and there were lots of little insights and questions. How did the Filipinos navigate without a North Star? Who were the Cagots and why were they persecuted? What happened to the Neanderthals? That was the reason I kept reading to the end.
I thought this book would be interesting, and I did enjoy the first story, but it's very episodic and doesn't spend enough time with characters you can get to like. One character that I liked a lot was suddenly 15 years older! I read the whole book but I didn't really enjoy it or get as much out of it as I hoped.
I wasn't sure what to expect, but I loved this book! It was sensitive, gentle, and sweet, and besides the charming Wayne/Annabel, we get to know Treadway, who is almost part of the land he grew up in. Fascinating depiction of an intersex child trying to fit in and an isolated Labrador community that lives by trapping and hunting.
Rockets versus Gravity is a book of short stories loosely tied together by a series of wedding rings, lost and found. As always, Richard Scarsbrook creates a bunch of quirky characters, including Stan and Sheila, the unhappy couple whose rings connect the stories, and teenage Clementine, whose name, like everything else in her life, is recycled. My favourite character was James, the wannabe rock star who always has the soundtrack of his life playing in his head.
The book is a quick read and I enjoyed it more on the second reading than I did on the first, understanding who the characters were and knowing how they would be connected. Some stories are hilarious and some are terribly sad, and, as in real life, not everything is resolved.
I have a story in this book, so I don't think I should review it. Just wanted to say that Heather Wood was the editor, not Ed Greenwood.
My favourite story was ‘The Black Dog' by Sam Agro.
This book is a great intro to linguistics for non-linguists. It makes language theory both fascinating and fun!