T.G.I.M.

Every Monday I look forward to the Globe and Mail's Monday Morning Manager.  Some days are quite engaging and one tidbit today caught my attention.

The headline is "The Eureka-moment myth, and nine more." One of the myths listed is quite relevant: the brainstorming myth.  It states that if you put people in a room, creative ideas will be "unearthed."

I imagine that we can all think of examples when a brainstorming meeting has been a failure. In fact, in my experience, preparation is often the key element that needs to occur before the meeting in order for ideas to come forward.  We call it R & D (Research and Duplicate).

The Globe and Mail article confirms this, and emphasises that creativity is a process, not a moment.  New ideas do not come through a flash of insight as suggested by Archimedes and his Eureka moment (myth number 1 in the article).  New ideas "incubate in our subconscious as we connect disparate notions."  And although the discovery may come in a flash, we have actually been processing the idea for some time.

The following steps are given to ensure your brainstorming meeting is fruitful:

1. You must do the research
2. THEN you can brainstorm
3. Converge on the best idea
4. Test it (a.k.a. pilot project)
5. Lastly, get it into the marketplace

 Good to know we're on the right track for MakerSpaces.

The Four Conversations, by Jeffrey Ford

The Four Conversations: Daily Communication that gets Results

In a busy and progressive work environment, conversations are key for keeping a forward momentum.

This book asserts that there are four productive conversations:

1. Initiative Conversations -- where one shares new ideas, goals, visions and futures with people who can implement and make them real
2. Understanding conversation -- where one builds awareness and knowledge of a new or existing idea in a way that helps people see how to participate in using. or accomplishing it
3. Performance conversations -- where one makes requests and promises that generate specific actions, results, and agreements, and pave the way for accountability
4. Closure conversations -- where one supports experiences of accomplishment, satisfaction, and value.  These conversations strengthen accountability and give people an honest look at the successes and failure encountered on the way to reaching a goal

 Using these conversations at the right time, in the right combinations or patterns, is the trick.

Maddaddam, by Margaret Atwood

Atwood does not disappoint, and once again she demonstrates why she is a literary great.  I finished this book a couple of weeks ago, and it still infiltrates my thoughts.  I keep finding innumerable connections and associations to it during my daily interactions. 

As for the story, it progresses and builds upon the storyline of characters from the earlier works.  Thos pigs --pigoons -- are back and they scare me half to death.  (As a child on a farm, I worked with pigs and recognize how intelligent they are without the any tampering with the frontal cortex.  The idea of these genetically altered pigs make me shudder.) 

As for the story, it is highly engaging, thought provoking, humorous (dare I say hilarious in parts), disturbing and makes we want to start the trilogy all over again.  Definitely not a trilogy for everyone, but definitely a work I want on my book shelves to read again, and again.

Library Journal offers this review:

The compelling conclusion to Atwood's dystopian trilogy opens with a brief synopsis of the series' first two books, Oryx & Crake and The Year of the Flood, then launches directly into the story of the MaddAddamites, survivors of a global pandemic that wiped out most of humanity.

Readers, even those unfamiliar with the human characters and the genetically engineered new species Atwood has created in her futuristic world, will be quickly drawn in and eager to find out what happens to the MaddAddamites and to the Crakers, a gentle, quasihuman species created by Crake.

Their world is full of many dangers, including direct attacks from criminally insane Painballers and from pigoons, transgenic pigs developed to grow replacement organs for humans. Toby, Zeb, and the rest of the MaddAddamites are alive, but will they be able to continue not only to subsist but to build up their small society and, eventually, live alongside the Crakers and even flourish? VERDICT Certainly of great interest to Atwood fans awaiting this third book of the trilogy and for fans of dystopian/postapocalyptic fiction generally, this finale is a gripping read for any reader.

Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman

This book was delightful -- delightfully scary and entertaining.  From the onset, Gaiman expertlly wraps you in intrigue, mystery and other worldly magic.  Luckily, I was able to read most of it in two consecutive sittings (one included a Thanksgiving out of town visit), so I was able to immerse myself in it.  I plan to read it again. 

 

 Here is the summary of the work:
A moving story of memory, magic, and survival in Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy. Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettiee"magical, comforting, wise beyond her yearse"promised to protect him, no matter what. A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. It is a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.

Six Factors of Influence

I'm a fan of Cheryl Stenstrom, professor at San Jose.  She gave a discussion today through FOPL regarding Advocacy and her research.  I particularly enjoyed her overview of Cialdini's Six Tactics of Influence.  The key is consistent and committed message, but one of the most influential factors is "liking" and at the very least being familiar to key stakeholders.  It brings to mind the adage that it's important to be seen.

The six factors are

1. Authority -- hierarchy or by expertise
2. Consistency (and commitment) -- alignment with personal or organizational values
3. Liking -- popularity, familiarity
4. Reciprocity -- prior exchanges, including favours, advice
5. Scarcity -- the possible lack of availability
6. Social Proof -- what would others do

And here is a link to Mind Tool's post on the Six Principles of Influence

It also brings to mind the theory I studied at Western for my Diploma in Public Admin.  The Multiple Stream (MS) framework explains the policy process that takes place under stressful situations -- conditions of ambiguity.  It proposes a theory of political manipulation. The MS identifies "three conceptually separate and usually parallel streams (problems, policies, and politics) flowing through the system as having their own dynamics and rules. At critical points in time, during open “policy windows,” the streams are merged, typically through the efforts of policy entrepreneurs, and combined into a package that enhances dramatically an issue's chances to receive serious attention, especially when all the three streams are coupled through strategic manipulation by skillful, resourceful, and well-positioned policy entrepreneurs."

It was a wonderful way to spend one's lunch!

Cultural change

Here is an interesting discussion in changing a organization's culture.  Very timely since we are going through a new strat plan process at my organization.  I'm hoping our story telling initiative in October will add fuel to the fire of change.

Culture is conversation. To change the culture, change the conversation.

 by Jack Martin Leith |  posted in: Change, Co-creation, Culture, Ethos, Organisation Transformation |  2

Your organization’s culture is nothing more than what individuals say to each other and what they think to themselves. When you shift the conversations, you shift the culture.

Stephen Shapiro, Innovate the Way You Innovate, European Business Review

We define another person’s friendship, courage, or loyalty by talking about that individual in certain ways, both to ourselves and others. Our mental scripts and verbal behavior are powerful – giving useful meaning to concepts that define the very essence of human existence. When groups, organizations, or communities communicate to define these concepts, we get a ‘culture.’ Perhaps, it is fair to say that culture is conversation – both spoken and unspoken.

E. Scott Geller, The Psychology of Safety Handbook

Setting aside legal and aesthetic questions about the nature of creation, it’s clear that we are in a period of ever-increasing co-creation. Updating the neo-Platonists and Mystics of old, we experience creativity as something that emanates and emerges through frisson, friction and inspiration, and often best when in collaboration and conversation with others. We create culture, and all culture is conversation, a creative conversation. So wherever two or more are gathered, the conditions for imagining a future into reality emerge. And this becomes the story of our lives.

Bill Wilkie, Stori / View source of quoted text

Change the Conversation: Change the Future

The strategy for an alternative future is to focus on ways a shift in conversation can shift the context and thereby create an intentional future. Reconciliation of community, or a future different and not determined by the past, occurs through a shift in language. Operationally, this means engaging in conversations we have not had before.

Peter Block, Civic Engagement and the Restoration of Community: Changing the Nature of the Conversation (download pdf)

A more empowering way of thinking about organisational culture

The traditional definition of culture is “The way we do things around here”.

A  more empowering definition might be “The way we talk about things around here”.

Among the most important ‘things’ that need to be talked about are possibilities—what might be brought into being to generate value for customers and other stakeholders; how essential resources might be acquired; how obstacles might be surmounted; how the product, service or project might enrich society.

Some categories of conversation that contribute to a culture of innovation

Conversations for relationship

“Who are you? What do you care about? Can I trust you? How can we deepen our connection?”

Conversations for possibility

“What might we create together? What more is possible if we accomplish our goals? What is the bigger game we want to play?”

Conversations for purpose

“Why are we considering creating something together? What is our joint or collective purpose? How does this contribute to the organisation’s overarching purpose?”

Conversations for co-creation

These are conversations for collaborative action.

“How are we going to create this together? What action is called for?”

“Yes, but how do we shift the conversations in our organisation?”

I don’t know how to respond to this question without sounding glib and superficial.

Here are my initial thoughts. For the purposes of this article we’ll imagine that you are the CEO of the organisation in question.

Read Peter Block’s essay, Civic Engagement and the Restoration of Community: Changing the Nature of the Conversation, and heed its content.

Commission the services of a leadership coach. He or she will need to be highly skilled, wise, courageous, and have a possibility mindset.

If you do not know such a person, I recommend my three colleagues at InterBe, a UK-based transformation practice.

Seek the wholehearted commitment of each member of the senior leadership team, and the collective commitment of the team as a whole.

Each senior leadership team member will need to acquire a possibility mindset.

Invite the senior leadership team, the next tier of managers and a large sample of employees to a co-creative conference. During this conference, the participants engage in conversations for possibility, and commit to creating an organisation in which each person coaches, and is coached by, another.

A cadre of coaches is established.

Each member of the cadre establishes a new cadre.

This process is repeated, rippling through the organisation until every employee is:

• Coaching another.
• Coached by another.
• A member of a cadre, which functions as a community of practice.

The work I have described is reinforced by further co-creative conferences, internal communications programmes and a reinvented performance management system.

There you have it. Those are my top-of-the-head thoughts.

I’m acutely aware that I’ve made culture transformation seem very easy. It may not be easy, but it is possible. And when you believe it to be possible, and others share that belief, it becomes possible.

Further reading

• What Is Organizational Culture? And Why Should We Care? by Michael Watkins, in Harvard Business Review
• Start Changing Your Organisation’s Culture Using Storytelling & Startup Techniques (video by Jonathan Kahn)
• The Four Conversations: Daily Communication That Gets Results, by Jeffrey D. Ford and Laurie W. Ford
• Coaching ‘Triple A’ Leaders to Become More People-Focused, by Kristin Cobble (discusses conversations for relationship, possibility, action and results, referencing Fernando Flores, J.L. Austin  and John Searle)
• Fernando Flores Wants to Make You an Offer, by Lawrence M. Fisher, in Strategy+Business
• Changing Conversations in Organizations: A complexity approach to change, by Patricia Shaw | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Google Books
• Civic Engagement and the Restoration of Community: Changing the Nature of the Conversation, by Peter Block (download pdf)
• Good Companies Are Storytellers. Great Companies Are Storydoers. By Ty Montague in Harvard Business Review

Mount Pleasant, by Don Gillmor

This book's premise intrigued me: an middle aged man shocked to discover that his anticipated inheritance ended up being a few thousand dollars as opposed to the anticipated million plus.  Once again, an unlikable main character, but very timely and relevant.

Summary:
Harry Salter, a middle-aged man born into wealth but living with ballooning debt, is counting on his inheritance to rescue him financially and maybe even save his crumbling marriage, but when his father dies and the will is read, all that's left for him is $4,200. Unable to believe that his father, whose estate should have been worth millions, had died broke, Harry sets out to discover exactly what happened to the money.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce

This is a delightful, and emotional tale set in Britain. The two main characters, Harold and Maureen have to deal with two absent characters, David, their son, and Queenie, a past coworker of Harold's.

As the story develops, more details are revealed, and along with them, the dramatic character development of Harold and Maureen, and their relationship.

It was a wonderful story, rich with the stories of other individuals. It is a celebration of life, and all that it has to hold. If you liked, The 100 year old man... I imagine you'll enjoy this book, as well.

Here is the summary of the book. Recently retired, sweet, emotionally numb Harold Fry is jolted out of his passivity by a letter from Queenie Hennessy, an old friend, who he hasn't heard from in twenty years. She has written to say she is in hospice and wants to say goodbye. Leaving his tense, bitter wife Maureen to her chores, Harold intends a quick walk to the corner mailbox to post his reply but instead, inspired by a chance encounter, he becomes convinced he must deliver his message in person to Queenie--who is 600 miles away.

The Light Between Oceans, by M.L. Stedman

Although it has a lovely cover, I did not enjoy this book.  The premise is that a childless couple find a baby washed ashore along with a dead man, presumably the father.  They decide to bury the dead man, and raise the child as their own.  They make the mental leap that the mother must also be dead.  Of course, the mother is discovered to be alive and the story comes to an inevitable end.  Thankfully, I didn't slog through the chapters and chapters of angst but instead read the last number of pages.  It was suffice to say, it will forever remain as a completely forgettable book.  What does stay with me, is the poignant description of a returning soldier from the Great War.

Summary
A novel set on a remote Australian island, where a childless couple live quietly running a lighthouse, until a boat carrying a baby washes ashore.

A novel set on a remote Australian island, where a childless couple live quietly running a lighthouse, until a boat carrying a baby washes ashore - See more at: http://miltonpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/542857039_the_light_between_oceans#sthash.q9GWBghK.dpuf

Up and Down, by Terry Fallis

He did it again. Terry Fallis wrote another engaging and endearing book.  This time he took on Canadian US relations in the crazy world of the public relations industry. Mix it with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency and you get a winning combination. Was it great literature? No, but it was wonderful to read such a Canadian book.  To date, I think The Best Laid Plans is a stronger work, but I love politics and what could be funnier than Canadian politics.

Summary:

avid Stewart has left his job on Parliament Hill to join the team at a dog-eat-dog international PR firm in Toronto. Within his first few moments on the job he is assigned to a major project with the Canadian Space Agency and NASA to revitalize the public's interest in the CSA and NASA. David suggests the most out-of-this-world idea imaginable: hold a contest where two regular, Joe-Blow civilians accompany a shuttle mission for an orbit around the Ear - See more at: http://miltonpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/541995039_up_and_down#sthash.4KVv1jp2.dpuf

Beach Strip, by John Lawrence

This book confirms that the mystery/ detective genre is not for me.  I heard good things about this book, but I found it a bit of a tough slog.  I wanted to like it because the author is from Burlington, Ontario -- it's always good to support Canadian writers.  I read half of the book, then jumped to the end just in time to read the denouement and an explanation of how everything unraveled.  No big surprises, may I add. 

Here is the publisher's blurb:
I'd rather laugh in bad taste than cry in good taste." That?s how Josie Marshall deals with the death of her detective husband, Gabe, found naked outside their home on the beach with a bullet in his brain. Everyone calls it suicide. Josie knows it isn?t . . . but fears it could be. After all, she had provided Gabe with a motive. The clues are so strong that even Josie begins to believe Gabe shot himself. But when a horrific slaying occurs literally at her feet, she knows Gabe was murdered, and her determination to prove it carries her toward dark corners of the beach strip and exposes the darker sides of its residents. Fending off her fears with humour and outrage, she encounters a drug-crazed drifter, an organized-crime boss with romance on his mind, a woman with a murderous past and a pervert who?s been frequenting her garden shed. When a chance remark leads Josie to the astonishing truth of Gabe?s death, her story takes a shocking turn that no one could have seen coming.

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I'm still processing this book and its themes.  I keep having images of Robert Redford's face -- a flashback from my childhood -- and it bothers me how incongruent his image is based on my impressions from the book. What a cast of characters -- so many unlikeable people.  I know it's a commentary about the "American dream" but the beliefs of the very priviledged were also examined. I may just have to re-read it one more time...  A perfect book for summer vacation.

Indian Horse, by Richard Wagamese

How many superlatives can I give this book!?!  It is the best book I've read in a long time, and should be a required reading for Canadians.  Never has hockey engaged me so much, nor the horrors of residential school been more disturbing.

Here is a review from the Quill and Quire.

Speaking from Among the Bones, by Alan Bradley

Flavia is at it again, and she is in fine form.  Her intellect in this book aptly describes her as "genius" and she is all the more lovable for it.  The best part (worse part)
of the book? The cliff hanger ending!  Now I have to wait until April to find out what happens next! 

Wonderful.

Summary:

hen the tomb of Saint Tancred, the patron saint of Bishop's Lacey, is opened on the five-hundredth anniversary of his death and the body of the missing church organist, Mr. Collicutt, is discovered inside, eleven-year-old amateur detective Flavia de Luce launches her own investigation into his deat - See more at: http://miltonpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/551588039_speaking_from_among_the_bones#sthash.89m8qx7M.dpuf

hen the tomb of Saint Tancred, the patron saint of Bishop's Lacey, is opened on the five-hundredth anniversary of his death and the body of the missing church organist, Mr. Collicutt, is discovered inside, eleven-year-old amateur detective Flavia de Luce launches her own investigation into his deat - See more at: http://miltonpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/551588039_speaking_from_among_the_bones#sthash.89m8qx7M.dpuf

hen the tomb of Saint Tancred, the patron saint of Bishop's Lacey, is opened on the five-hundredth anniversary of his death and the body of the missing church organist, Mr. Collicutt, is discovered inside, eleven-year-old amateur detective Flavia de Luce launches her own investigation into his deat - See more at: http://miltonpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/551588039_speaking_from_among_the_bones#sthash.89m8qx7M.dpuf

hen the tomb of Saint Tancred, the patron saint of Bishop's Lacey, is opened on the five-hundredth anniversary of his death and the body of the missing church organist, Mr. Collicutt, is discovered inside, eleven-year-old amateur detective Flavia de Luce launches her own investigation into his deat - See more at: http://miltonpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/551588039_speaking_from_among_the_bones#sthash.89m8qx7M.dpuf

Triggers, by Robert J. Sawyer

An intriguing story that I was enjoying, but I ran out of time and had to return it. Damn two week loans at the Library. Harrumph. The summer is coming and surely I'll get my hands on it again.  In the meantime, I'll watch for Red Planet Blues.

Summary:
On the eve of a secret military operation, an assassin's bullet strikes U.S. President Seth Jerrison. He is rushed to hospital, where surgeons struggle to save his life. At the same hospital, Canadian researcher Dr. Ranjip Singh is experimenting with a device that can erase traumatic memories. Then a terrorist bomb detonates. In the operating room, the president suffers cardiac arrest. He has a near-death experience-but the memories that flash through Jerrison's mind are not his memories.                                                                                                                                         

It quickly becomes clear that the electromagnetic pulse generated by the bomb amplified and scrambled Dr. Singh's equipment, allowing a random group of people to access one another's minds. And now one of those people has access to the president's memories-including classified information regarding an upcoming military mission, which, if revealed, could cost countless lives. But the task of determining who has switched memories with whom is a daunting one, particularly when some of the people involved have reasons to lie...

The Headmaster's Wager, by Vincent Lam

I'm not sure if I didn't like this book because of the topic -- war -- or if it was the work itself.  I guess it says a lot in the fact that I finished the book, but it was tough.  I skipped torture pages and other areas that seemed to be filled with more words than substance.  Again, I'm not sure if I'm criticizing the writing or just the terrible infliction of war onto my psyche. 

I'm also biased as I like novels with rich characters. I was getting pretty frustrated with Percival Chen and his inability to grow.  He was not a good father, but he proved to be loving, in the end.  I just wonder if his son actually knew he was loved so passionately.  Some of the other characters were stock types.  Mak appeared to be such until Lam gave the reader an opportunity to see his conflict as he had to torture Percival. 

I'm glad I finished the work, but I am ready for something completely different. Below is a review from Publishers Weekly:

Lam's latest (after Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures) is a masterfully paced exploration of a world convulsed by war, wherein faith and reason no longer hold sway. Percival Chen, an affluent Chinese English instructor in late 1960s Saigon, is determined to escape the politics of war-torn Vietnam, profiting from the sidelines instead. He instructs his son, Dai Jai, to remain faithful only to their Chinese heritage, not realizing that even this allegiance has become a deadly liability. Obeying his father's edict, Dai Jai is arrested by Vietnamese authorities, and Percival exhausts his shady connections in his attempts to rescue Dai Jai from the brutality of the police. Meanwhile, Percival falls in love with Jacqueline-a mixed-race prostitute with ulterior motives-despite the objections of his loyal friend Mak, a man embroiled in his own mysterious affairs. Lam marshals his characters with humor, suspense, and tenderness as the fall of Saigon looms. Even as Percival navigates the minefield of shifting ideologies, treachery, and paranoia-incurring one inconceivable cost upon another-his devotion suffuses every page. Lam depicts a world caught in an implacable cycle of violence, leavened only by the grace of a father's love.

February, by Lisa Moore

1982, by Jian Ghomeshi

Reading this book was like flashing back to the 1980s. It was so much fun to be able to connect to all the pop culture references (e.g. Culture Club) and get transported in time.  The writing was simple, light hearted reminiscing and thoroughly enjoyable.  It was also thoroughly forgettable.  I "experienced" the 1980s a few times through Ghomeshi's remembrances, but did not feel compelled to finish it.  I like this CBC personality, but I'm so interested as to read all these small nuances of his adolescent year.

State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett

I'm not sure how I came upon this recent work -- it certainly wasn't from the book's cover.  I do remember reading Bel Canto a number of years ago and enjoyed it.  This books did not disappoint and it would be a good book club title as it deals with a number of issues. 

Book club topics of discussion could include:

• Western medicine versus "shaman" cures. 
• The role of well meaning groups who interact with indigenous peoples. 
• Pharmaceutical research practices
• When is a woman too old to be pregnant? 

Then there are the issues about people's actions in the book.

• Who  had Easter's best interests?  Did Dr. Eckman, Dr. Swenson or the main character, Dr. Marina Singh?  Did Easter best belong with the Lakashi people or with the Hummocca
• What about Dr. Swenson's statement that one does not give the truth to strangers?

And the book moved me.  It was heart wrenching when  Marina had to give the news to Karen, Dr. Eckman's wife, that her husband died in Brazil.  And the ending (I almost gave away the ending) was also poignant.

Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis

One of my favourite books.

Summary:
Selected as the 2011 CBC Canada Reads Winner! This book beat out work by Douglas Coupland and Will Ferguson because it is very, very good -- a terrific Canadian political satire. Here's the set up: A burnt-out politcal aide quits just before an election -- but is forced to run a hopeless campaign on the way out. He makes a deal with a crusty old Scot, Angus McLintock -- an engineering professor who will do anything, anything, to avoid teaching English to engineers -- to let his name stand in the election. No need to campaign, certain to lose, and so on. Then a great scandal blows away his opponent, and to their horror, Angus is elected. He decides to see what good an honest M.P. who doesn't care about being re-elected can do in Parliament. The results are hilarious -- and with chess, a hovercraft, and the love of a good woman thrown in, this very funny book has something for everyone.

The Hundred-yar-old man who Climbed out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

What an engaging and funny romp through history. I thoroughly enjoyed this work and its interwoven tale.  So much fun and engaging.  Even the following reviews

Library Journal


Swedish author Jonasson received rave reviews in Europe for this first novel, a best seller there. But this picaresque tale with its deadpan humor is not your typical American--style blockbuster. Allan Karlsson, the centenarian who sneaks out of his nursing home, is an expert on explosives who has led an outsize life. In his travels, he has not only met just about every famous and infamous world leader but has inadvertently played a significant role in many world events. The book has been compared to both Forrest Gump and Zelig, but while this novel is not sentimental like Forrest Gump, neither is it as funny as Zelig. Chapters alternate between Allan's big adventures in the past and in the present, where he gets mixed up with a zany bunch of Swedes and a former circus elephant as they try to avoid both cops and gangsters. VERDICT This quirky novel is a sly, satirical look back at international relations in the 20th century through the eyes of an old man who has seen it all.


Publishers Weekly

Jonasson's laugh-out-loud debut (a bestseller in Europe) reaches the U.S. three years after its Swedish publication, in Bradbury's pitch-perfect translation. The intricately plotted saga of Allan Karlsson begins when he escapes his retirement home on his 100th birthday by climbing out his bedroom window. After stealing a young punk's money-filled suitcase, he embarks on a wild adventure, and through a combination of wits, luck, and circumstance, ends up on the lam from both a smalltime criminal syndicate and the police. Jonasson moves deftly through Karlsson's life-from present to past and back again-recounting the fugitive centenarian's career as a demolitions expert and the myriad critical junctures of history, including the Spanish Civil War and the Manhattan Project, wherein Karlsson found himself an unwitting (and often influential) participant. Historical figures like Mao's third wife, Vice President Truman, and Stalin appear, to great comic effect. Other characters-most notably Albert Einstein's hapless half-brother-are cleverly spun into the raucous yarn, and all help drive this gentle lampoon of procedurals and thrillers.

Home by Toni Morrison

Once again, Toni Morrison demonstrates her ability to weave a tale that is so strong and moving that it envelops you.  Her prose is like poetry, and I love to linger over the pages.  I would not, however, suggest you listen to the book on CD.  Morrison narrates and although I love her soft, slow paced voice, and introduction to the work would have sufficed.  I found it frustrating to listen to her for the entire book and abandoned the attempt. Keep to the written word and be filled with this story.

From Publishers Weekly:

In Pulitzer and Nobel Prize–winner Morrison’s immaculate new novel (after A Mercy), Frank Money returns from the horrors of the Korean War to an America that’s just as poor and just as racist as the country he fled. Frank’s only remaining connection to home is his troubled younger sister, Cee, “the first person [he] ever took responsibility for,” but he doesn’t know where she is. In the opening pages of the book, he receives a letter from a friend of Cee’s stating, “Come fast. She be dead if you tarry.” Thus begins his quest to save his sister—and to find peace in a town he loathed as a child: Lotus, Ga., the “worst place in the world, worse than any battlefield.” Told in alternating third- and first-person narration, with Frank advising and, from time to time, correcting the person writing down his life story, the novel’s opening scene describes horses mating, “[t]heir raised hooves crashing and striking, their manes tossing back from wild white eyes,” as one field over, the bodies of African-American men who were forced to fight to the death are buried: “...whatever you think and whatever you write down, know this: I really forgot about the burial. I only remembered the horses. They were so beautiful. So brutal.” Beautiful, brutal, as is Morrison’s perfect prose.

The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott

I always feel that it's a good practice to try new authors but I consistently show a weakness for a book with a pretty cover.  This book, The Dressmaker does indeed have pretty cover.  Unfortunately, the cover was the most artistic and intriguing part of the book.

Summary:
Just in time for the centennial anniversary of the sinking of the "Titanic" comes a vivid, romantic, and relentlessly compelling historical novel about a spirited young seamstress who survives the disaster only to find herself embroiled in the media frenzy left in the wake of the tragedy.