Sep28

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight

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This is the story of how Phil Knight found his purpose in life, and grew one of the world’s best-known brands around it.  In addition to being the epitome of a successful entrepreneur, Phil Knight is a skilled writer.  I have read many biographies about fascinating people who just don’t have the gift of good writing, so it is a rare treat to get both in one book.

The story starts in the late 1950s when Phil is a fresh college graduate who likes to run.  He weaves a great deal of personal and social history in to the story of his business.  Knight talks about how running wasn’t the common leisure activity it has grown into today.  When he started in the shoe business his market was college, high school and serious track athletes.  He dreamed of a time when people would wear his shoes to the grocery store, or to take their kids to school.  If you own a pair of Nikes you know that dream has come true!

Another key part of the Nike story is Knight’s work networking and working with business people in China and Japan, and how shoe factories evolved. The history of the iconic Nike swoosh is included in this book, as well as the easy to spot bright orange shoe boxes.  One aspect of Knight’s story I found interesting was how he built his core team of trusted colleagues.  His former track coach, who he both admired and feared, was his first business partner.  This man had been tinkering with track shoes his whole life, and was fascinated with the developments that were possible to make his athletes run faster.  Knight engaged others who were keen marketers, savvy negotiators and tireless innovators.

shoe-dog-cover

 

Sep23

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

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I have been a huge Kate Atkinson fan since “Life after Life”, and so it was that I picked up this older title full of expectation.  I wasn’t disappointed!!  Case Histories is exactly that: the history of 3 cases of retired police inspector turned private investigator Jackson Brodie.  Thirty years after incident of the first case (a missing child), Brodie begins to make connections with case two (young daughter is randomly slaughtered in her father’s law office) and case three (a new young mother finds being a wife and mother not to her liking).  Brodie’s own life overlays the complexities of these cases – he is divorced and has a young daughter with whom he is trying to keep connecting.

Jackson Brodie, Atkinson’s investigator, headlines in 3 more of her novels.  He is a likeable and sympathetic character who gives you laugh-out-loud moments, as well as empathetic head-shaking.   Relationships are at the heart of this novel, not the crimes committed, and the development and interconnectedness of these relationships are what make this a great read. Atkinson is a true architect of story building.  The layers of each story – told from multiple viewpoints and varying points in time – add to the reader’s growing understanding of these relationships, the characters’ motivation and actions as each case develops.  As a result, this is not easy reading and some readers may find it confusing. But the end result is worth the effort, and hopefully you will find yourself, like I, looking forward to Brodie’s antics in book two – One Good Turn.

This title received a 3.5 star rating out of 5 on Goodreads: an online community of readers.

Barb Philp is a librarian with the Thunder Bay Public Library (www.tbpl.ca)

Sep7

Interview with Amy Jones

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Amy Jones photoAmy Jones won the 2006 CBC Literary Prize for Short Fiction and was a finalist for the 2005 Bronwen Wallace Award.  She is a graduate of the Optional Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia, and her fiction has appeared in Best Canadian Stories and The Journey Prize Stories.  Her debut collection of stories, What Boys Like, won the 2008 Metcalf-Rooke Award and was a finalist for the 2010 ReLit Award.  Originally from Halifax, she now lives in Thunder Bay, where she is associate editor of The Walleye.  Follow her on Twitter @AmyLauraJones.

Her debut novel, We’re All In This Together, has been chosen as the Thunder Bay Public Library’s first One Book: One Community title.  Be sure to check out tbpl.ca/onebook for more information,  and for details about our upcoming events and reading challenges!

Shauna Kosoris: What inspired you to write We’re All In This Together?

Amy Jones: I always knew I wanted to write a novel set in Thunder Bay, ever since I moved here. I had been working on a few ideas, but nothing really stuck. We had visited Kakabeka Falls quite a few times, and every time I was there I would always wonder if anyone had ever gone over, either on purpose or accidentally. We would come up with scenarios, like, if you fell in here, would you be able to swim to shore? Do you think anyone could survive this? And one day it all just came together and I was like, this is it, this is what I need to write about. It just made sense, that this place that inspired me so much in life would provide me with the inspiration for my first novel.

You always knew you wanted to write a novel set in Thunder Bay – why is that?

For a couple of reasons. One, I really believe in the importance of representation, and I feel like the more books and movies and art that are set in Thunder Bay, or recreate the artist’s experience of Thunder Bay, the better understood Thunder Bay will be. It’s also important for people to see their own experience reflected back to them in art, and the number of people who have come up to me since the book has been published, so excited to read about a place they know, just proves that to me even further. Two, one of the themes I really wanted to explore in the novel is the idea of “home,” and that whole push-pull it exerts on all of us. One thing about Thunder Bay that stands out to me is how rooted people are here, how strongly they are connected to their families, and yet how many people have to leave in order to find work, or for school, or whatever. People want to go out and make their own way, but also the north always seems to draw people back. So it was the perfect place to explore those themes.

That’s very true! When reading We’re All In This Together, one of my colleagues noticed that you name some Thunder Bay restaurants (like Norma Jean’s and Nippers) but not others. Was there a reason for that?  Did you have to get permission to use the real names?

I use real names for places that don’t figure as prominently in the story, but I make up names for places that I don’t want to be beholden to reality when describing. For instance, Barkley’s is based on a specific bar but it’s not exactly that bar, and by naming it something else I can make it fictional, and therefore do what I want with it (no one can argue, for instance, about how “at the real bar, the bathrooms are on the OTHER side of the room!”)

I sure hope I didn’t have to get permission! I think my publisher would have told me.

I’m sure they would have! How many of the houses in your book are based on reality?

Most are based in some reality. I set the Parker’s house quite near my own for the same reason I made Finn and Nicki close to my age: laziness (it’s much easier to figure out years or distances that way!) But their house is not a specific house on Victor Street, it is more an amalgam of a few houses. Same with the house Katriina buys. I take elements I like from each house and put them together.

Remaining true to the way Thunder Bay people speak, your characters say things like “camp” instead of “cottage.”  Why did you decide to use this distinction, especially since your book is being read by people who may not be familiar with Thunder Bay colloquialisms?

It was really important to me to get things “right” about Thunder Bay, especially the feel of the place, the atmosphere, the certain culture. I don’t think any of the references I make are so obscure that people who are not from here wouldn’t understand what they were (or if they are, I make sure they are explained somehow). I remember during the editing process my editor asked me about a character saying that her friend moved “down south.” She thought it meant, like, Florida or the Caribbean (as I did, before I moved here!) But when I explained to her that this is how people from Thunder Bay refer to Southern Ontario, she was like, okay, it should stay.

We’re All In This Together has ten different characters who all get chapters as the narrator.  Why did you decide on so many narratives?

I didn’t really decide on it more than it just kind of happened. The novel began as two short stories, one featuring Finn and the other featuring Katriina. When I realized that there were similarities between the two, I thought, okay, this can be a longer narrative. Then as the story progressed, it became important to me for Kate to have a voice, because I didn’t want her story to be told only by others. Then London pretty much insisted on having a voice, too. After that, it became important to have the others in order to balance out the story, in order to show things from many perspectives. So much of the book is centred around perception, and how we all (especially within families) remember things differently, have different views of the same event. Having the multiple narrators allowed me to explore that further.

Did you have a particular character you identified with more than the others?

A lot of people tell me that they pictured me as Finn, maybe because she is the one who moved away from her family. And I definitely had a lot in common with London when I was younger. But if I were to pick a character I identified with the most, it would be Katriina—her constant over-thinking of things, of wanting to keep everything together for everyone. I find it hard to read over her scenes sometimes, because of that.

Okay, I have to ask – was the idea of the shark in Lake Superior based in reality at all?

Haha, no, it wasn’t! It’s just another of those things we always talked about, whether or not the possibility existed, if it had ever happened. I think I might have seen something on television about it once, probably on Shark Week. It became a joke between me and my boyfriend, because he is really afraid of sharks. And then, like everything else in my life, it just became fodder for fiction.

So what are you working on now?

A new novel! It’s in the very early stages right now, so I don’t want to jinx it, but I definitely feel like I want to keep up the momentum with the novel writing.

Good luck!  Let’s finish up with a little bit about what you read.  What book or author inspired you to write?

I don’t think it was just one… when I was a kid I loved to read, and would often invent new endings for books that I felt didn’t end the way I wanted them to (in fact, until I was an adult I always thought the blank pages at the end of books were there so you could write your own endings). When I first decided to try to write as a profession, I read a lot of contemporary Canadian and American short fiction: Lisa Moore, Barbara Gowdy, Annabel Lyon, Lee Henderson, George Saunders, Lorrie Moore, Aimee Bender, Rick Moody, Amy Hempel, Grace Paley. All of them inspired me in different ways.

Is there a book or author that you think everyone should read?

I don’t think so, actually. Reading is such a personal thing, and it really breaks my heart when I try to match up someone I love with a book that I love and it doesn’t work. I don’t think there is one book out there that will speak to everyone, but as long as there is one book that speaks to you, that’s what matters.

And what are you currently reading?

I’m on a huge mystery kick, so I’ve been reading a lot of Laura Lippman, Tana French, Megan Abbott. I’ve just started the new Megan Abbott, You Will Know Me. I’m also really looking forward to the new Louise Penny at the end of the month!

We're All In This Together cover photo

Aug31

Bad Singer: The Surprising Science of Tone Deafness and How We Hear Music by Tim Falconer

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Everyone knows him – the child in the grade school choir who is asked to mime along when the class is singing. Or perhaps you are him and you know that you really are a good singer deep down but for some reason others seem not to agree. The author of Bad Singer: The Surprising Science of Tone Deafness and How We Hear Music is author and journalist Tim Falconer, and is both of these. He loves music but has to admit to being a “bad singer” and so he embarked on a journey through the worlds of music and medical science to first get a confirmation that he truly was bad, and then to find out if there was hope to get re-trained and improve. Unfortunately, he turned out to be one of the 2.5 percent of the population that has amusia – he is scientifically tone-deaf. Fortunately for us, he is a great writer and investigator and he is able to take the reader through his personal odyssey to learn what that means, and what there is to know about this phenomena.

It turns out that there is much more to tone-deafness than simply not being able to hit the exact pitch. There is rhythm, timbre, tone, the arch of the melody and other intangibles that he tries to identify through the scientists and music experts he sees. Musicality is not just a function of the voice, or the throat or the ear – it is truly experienced and translated in the brain and it is the brain at fault for the author and others’ inability to reproduce sounds in pitch or to hear when there is a difference.

It is a fascinating book and one comes to really root for Falconer who is so determined to understand his weakness and to become a more proficient singer and ultimately, to sing on stage for an audience.  I won’t ruin the ending for you but I will highly recommend this informative and highly entertaining book which can lead one to a better understanding of why some can sing arias on the stage and others can sing their hearts out (but perhaps only should when they are in the shower.)

To find out if you might have amusia, look for the web-based sites he lists for self-testing.

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Angela Meady
Thunder Bay Public Library

Aug16

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami “Life is Beautiful, Messy, Strange, and Chaotic”

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Haruki Murakami is a difficult author to write about. He is one of my favourite writers, who surprises and delights me each time I begin a new novel of his. If there is one commonality that ties his novels together, it’s the fact that his body of fiction defies categorization. Murakami frequently writes about people’s intimate life experiences while they deal with love, loss, growth, pain and revelation. Often these stories are set within a certain point in history, which adds a human dimension to our understanding of that time.

Murakami’s “Norwegian Wood” is just that novel. Published in 1987 to critical acclaim, “Norwegian Wood” has been cited as his best novel. “Norwegian Wood” tells the story of Toru, an introspective young man studying in Tokyo during the sixties. The story follows Toru’s coming of age while he navigates his new life in Tokyo as well as coming to terms with the unexpected death of his best friend, Kizuki. As Toru tries to understand Kizuki’s senseless passing as well as determine what path, both personally and academically to take, he rekindles his friendship with Kizuki’s girlfriend, Naoko.

Toru and Naoko soon realize that their feelings for each goes beyond friendship, which is further complicated by Naoko’s own inability to cope with Kizuki’s death. Naoko’s fragility makes it difficult to maintain a relationship with Toru, who eventually ends up falling equally in love with his classmate, Midori. Midori is radically different from Naoko, and Toru finds himself torn between the two loves of his life. As the plot delves deeper into Toru’s romantic and existential pain, Murakami effectively conjures the mood and atmosphere of the sixties, complete with historic and pop culture references.

The details of Toru’s experiences ultimately add up to Murakami’s sentiment that life can be beautiful and sad, tragic and unpredictable. Each and every one of us is on our own paths seeking truth in our lives and relationships. As we follow and listen to Toru’s first person narrative, Murakami reveals not only Toru’s thoughts, anxieties, and questions about life, but our own.

 

 

 

 

 

Aug8

If I Forget You by Thomas Christopher Greene

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Picture this scene; a beautiful spring day in the city of Manhattan, a man is walking down the street when suddenly he sees the woman he fell in love with 21 years ago only to watch her quickly run away from him after they make eye contact. I don’t read a lot of romance novels but Thomas Christopher Greene’s novel If I Forget You grabbed me with this romantic scene in the first chapter.  Why did the girl run away from him? What happened between these two lovers that caused them to separate? Will they get back together in the end?

If I Forget You is the story of Henry Gold and Margot Fuller who fell in love during their college years.  But due to circumstances beyond their control and conflicting family status, Margot is the daughter of a wealthy family and Henry the son of a poor working class family, they are forced to separate.

Alternating between the years 2012 and 1991, the story is told from the perspective of both characters, a writing style that many authors have embraced lately. I enjoy this type of writing style because I find it keeps the story interesting. Switching between different eras and character voices allows the story to build at a slower pace as the reader learns more about the lives of Henry and Margot in the past and present.

Greene’s novel, as well as his characters, is not complex. It’s a simple, sweet love story beautifully written in lyrical prose. Therefore, if you are looking for something quick and light to read during your summer vacation, then pick up a copy of Greene’s novel If I Forget You.

 

Lindsey Long

Aug3

Interview with Emma Hooper

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Picture of Emma HooperRaised in Alberta, Emma Hooper brought her love of music and literature to the U.K., where she received a doctorate in musico-literary studies at the University of East Anglia and currently lectures at Bath Spa University.  She comes home to Canada to cross-country ski whenever she can. You can find her online at emmahooper.ca.

Shauna Kosoris: What inspired you to write your debut novel Etta and Otto and Russell and James?

Emma Hooper: The characters of Otto and Etta are inspired by, and loosely based on, my maternal grandparents. My maternal grandmother taught in a small prairie schoolhouse, like Etta, and my maternal grandfather came from a farm family of fifteen kids, like Otto. His hair all did turn white when he was over in Europe for the war. It’s a family trait, actually. I’ve got a natural white streak, and my brother does too… .

Etta’s journey has a very Forrest Gump-like feel once other folks start to follow her and bring her supplies.  Was this intentional?

Ha! No, I can’t say any Forrest Gump relation was intentional, but I’m certainly not the first, or last, one to use this type of ‘inspirational journey’ plot… it’s a good one!  I think it’s pretty much inevitable that people will find another book/movie/story like yours, no matter what you’ve written. There are only so many basic plots and basic character demographics, so I don’t mind so much. The content, the details, the style and the tone of the writing are the distinctive features, I believe.

Thinking of the details, why does Etta decide to go east to the Atlantic ocean?

Two quick answers for that: 1) Personal history (retracing Otto’s steps) and 2) The Rocky Mountains…

Oh yes, the Rocky Mountains would be a rather big obstacle when travelling on foot! While Etta is off on her adventure, Otto bakes through her recipe book.  Are these recipes from a family cookbook?

Yes they are. They are my grandmother’s, and, like the ones in the book, the originals were full of little coded shortcuts and amendments that made it difficult for anyone but my grandmother to really get them right! Like Otto, I’ve tried the cinnamon buns so many times…though I wouldn’t say I’ve succeeded! Matrimonial cake/squares I’m better at. I’ve never tried the flax flower paste though…

You’ll have to give the paste a try!  Along with writing books, you’re the solo musician Waitress for the Bees and a member of the string quartet The Stringbeans.  Has music had any influence on your writing?

I think my musical background makes me overly sensitive to things like rhythm and pacing in my own writing. I can spend ages labouring over one sentence that’s perfectly okay in terms of grammar and content, but doesn’t have quite the rhythm, quite the right tempo. It pushes prose a bit more in the direction of poetry, I think (although I also think there’s no definite line there, no black and white. I like the idea of prose that reaches into poetry sometimes and vice versa).

So what are you working on now?

Putting the finishing touches on book two! It’s got mermaids…

That sounds exciting – I can’t wait! To finish up I have a few questions about what you read.  What book or author inspired you to write?

One of the first ‘big kid’ books I remember reading was called My Daniel; it had something to do with dinosaur bones and the loss of a brother. I remember crying and crying as I read it and LOVING it. With that came the realisation that writing, books, could have this hugely potent impact that readers could let themselves go into.

Nowadays, I admire writers who play with magic and reality, and who embrace joy as well as suffering in their books. Examples are Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Karen Russell and Jonathan Safran Foer.

Is there a book or author that you think everyone should read?

Not exactly, no, I think everyone is allowed to have different tastes and things that will speak to them more or less. However, I do think that everyone should READ something! So, I guess my answer to the question is: Anything and everything!

That’s totally fair.  Finally, what are you currently reading?

A nonfiction book, actually, which is fairly rare for me, called Bad Singer: The Surprising Science of Tone Deafness and How We Hear Music.

Etta and Otto and Russell and James cover