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I’m ecstatic to report that as of Monday, October 8, 2012, I turned the final page on my 50 Book Pledge. For those doing the math, that’s nine months, seven days, eleven hours and twenty-eight minutes.

I still can’t believe I did it because when I first set out I wasn’t entirely convinced I could. I considered fifty books in fifty-two weeks a tall order, especially since I’ve never read that many books in a single year before. My greatest fear could be summed up in a single word: Time.

What a fool I was. Time wasn’t a factor at all. In fact, my biggest dilemma ended up being what to read next. But, obviously, that didn’t last very long.

4     # of classics I read

2     # of series I started

3     # of poetry books I read

1     # of books I stopped reading

15   # of books I read by HarperCollins Canada

43   # of authors I read for the first time

The amazing part about participating in the pledge was how it turned me into a literary monster. With every book I finished, I found that my hunger for reading grew exponentially. I couldn’t get enough! In the words of George R.R. Martin the reader in me wanted to live “a thousand lives.” (Now I’ve only got 950 to go.) And that’s precisely why I’m going to continue reading and why I’ll be taking the pledge again next year.

Looking back it’s hard to pick a favourite because I read some truly phenomenal books. Instead, here’s just a small sampling of books that knocked my socks off:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Now that I had finished, the beauty of my dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart …

The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary by Andrew Westoll

Dignity begins when an animal feels that she is the chief instrument of change in her life.

100 Selected Poems by e.e. cummings

i like my body when it is with your body.

It is so quite new a thing.

Muscles better and nerves more.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.

It wants the truth.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Once, in my father’s bookshop, I heard a regular customer say that few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart. Those first images, the echo of words we think we have left behind, accompany us throughout our lives and sculpt a palace in our memory to which, sooner or later—no matter how many books we read, how many worlds we discover, or how much we learn or forget—we will return.

A huge thank you to The Savvy Reader for making 2012 the best reading year of my life!

On Friday, September 7, 2012, Graeme Paton of The Telegraph published an article called “Children ‘too embarrassed’ to pick up books, study says.” Paton’s article is the latest in a long line of reports that brings to light a growing trend: Today’s children aren’t reading. Here’s just a sampling of what the National Literacy Trust found:

[T]hat 38.1 per cent of pupils read in their spare time when the study was first carried out in 2005. This dropped to 37.7 per cent in 2007, 32.2 per cent in 2009 and 30.8 per cent in the latest poll completed in 2011.

[T]hat 54 per cent of those questioned preferred watching TV to reading.

Of those who did read outside class, 47.8 per cent said they read fiction, down from 51.5 per cent in 2005.

As disheartening as the above statistics are, I don’t find them nearly as disturbing as the following:

[O]ne-in-six children admitted they were too embarrassed to read in front of their friends for fear of being labelled a geek.

Knowing this breaks my heart because I make the conscious decision each and every day to pick up a book and read. Why? Well, I’ve got the typical answers of enjoyment and escape. But there’s far more to it than that. The truth is, I read just as much to find myself as I do to lose myself.

Courtesy of How to Self-Publish (Blog)

The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary by Andrew Westoll taught me that I’m an animal rights activist to the point where I’m willing to put my money where my mouth is. And herein lies the power of reading: It can help you see yourself and your place in the world more clearly, especially when it calls on you to make a choice.

Gloria Grow doesn’t really think only 2 percent of us are truly conscious or caring. She understands how many things in the world need changing, and she doesn’t resent those who choose to champion another cause or fight another fight. All she really wants is for people to make a choice, to become a champion or learn how to fight—to use the gift they’ve been given.

“As long as you care about something,” she says. “Something beyond yourself.”

The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary helped me find myself as a person and Phil Hall’s Killdeer helped me find myself as a poet.

It is by such encounters – brash – rude – naïve foolhardy or accidental – that we discover or select our lineages as writers

(I think – too – of Dorothy Livesay – late in life – stooping to touch my daughter’s hand – blessing her)

Margaret Laurence touched the hand I write with – otherwise my pen might belong nowhere – have no family – be part of no continuance

She touched many – deeply – & me merely in passing – but without her touch I might be as if one-armed

I would have to hit myself to clap

I might be silent

I read because the one thing I don’t ever want to be is silent.

On Friday, May 4, 2012, @HarperCollinsCa posted this tweet to its followers: “We’re heading into a planning meeting. Help us out, what makes you take a chance on a new author/book?” Obviously, the first things that come to mind are the cover and the title; however, neither one factors heavily for me. Instead, I rely on the tag line, synopsis and buzz in my decision-making process.

The tag line is an art form that’s incredibly difficult to master. Why? Because you have to sum up an entire novel in a phrase of no more then ten words. A single line that must illustrate the mood and tone flawlessly. A line that has to make you want to read. One of the best tag lines I’ve come across this year comes from This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel: The purest intentions can stir up the darkest obsessions. Dark and intense, just like the story of Victor Frankenstein and his Monster. Now that is a home run.

My next book is A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash. I chose this book because of the following line that appears as part of the book’s synopsis: “A Land More Kind Than Home is a modern masterwork of Southern fiction—one that is likely to be held in the same enduring esteem as such American classics as To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, and A Separate Peace.” To say that I adore Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is an understatement. In fact, Atticus Finch is the best literary character ever written. I’m inclined to read A Land More Kind Than Home just to see if it’s worthy of such a generous accolade.

Any author and publisher will tell you that reader buzz is invaluable when it comes to selling a book. Nothing trumps word-of-mouth. Earlier this year, readers were talking about The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary by Andrew Westoll. For weeks I heard praise after praise for this book that I knew nothing about. I finally decided to see what all the hype was about. I’m glad I did. Like I sa

50 Book Pledge | Book #7: The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary by Andrew Westoll
 

For your reading pleasure, I present HarperCollins Canada‘s This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel.

This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel

Let me begin by saying that I was skeptical about reading This Dark Endeavour. Here’s why: I read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein first and I was in awe of her masterpiece. I couldn’t see how Kenneth Oppel, or any writer, could do justice to the most well-known work of horror fiction in literature. However, the truth is, that This Dark Endeavour: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein was phenomenal.

For me, Oppel’s greatest achievement is the foundation he builds for Shelley’s Frankenstein. The stepping stones he lays are not only believable but also insightful. There’s nothing that’s straightforward about young Victor Frankenstein. In fact, he’s a complicated mess. He doesn’t quite know what it is that drives him. Thus, his personal struggle is absolutely engrossing. Readers of all ages will undoubtedly relish every gripping page of Oppel’s masterful prequel.

This Dark Endeavour is the definition of must-read.