Want to Read: Maryanne Wolf: Proust and the squid [the story and science of the reading brain]

My search for "Reading on the Brain" in the Toronto Public Library catalogue also turned up this book about reading. I'm ready for a reading binge about reading.

Read: Connie Willis - All Clear

"All Clear" is the sequel to "Blackout". A novel of time travel with multiple overlapping timelines and characters, it was initially fascinating for the detail of its time period (England during WWII). And then, just at the end, all the timelines and characters came together in a surprising conclusion - one so perfect it made me burst into tears. I can't wait to re-read them both again, seeing it all from a new perspective.

Want to Read: E.O. Wilson - Biophilia

A talk by artist Robert Bateman reminded me that I hear a lot about E.O. Wilson, but have only read one of his books. I should read more.

Want to Read: Stanislas Dehaene - Reading in the Brain: The Science and Evolution of a Human Invention

I love reading. I love neuroscience. This book brings them together!

Want to Read: Maureen Corrigan - Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading, Finding and Losing Myself in Books

The title reads like my autobiographical twin...

Want to Read: Anne Fadiman

I've read her "Ex Libris" and thoroughly enjoyed it both times. I saw another book by her in a book store while in New York- why haven't I looked up other books by her yet?

Read: Sara Gruen - Ape House

A good book, but not enough time spent with the apes. They're really the most interesting characters, in spite of the author's attempt to make all the humans quirky in wildly divergent ways. I enjoyed it, but I would have enjoyed it more if John Irving had written it - he's got wildly divergent quirkiness down to a fine art.

Read: Steven L. Cantor - Green Roofs in Sustainable Landscape Design

A good overview of several green roof topics (design process; plants, irrigation and specifications; green roofs in Europe) as well as many descriptions and photographs of actual projects around the world. The book describes these as case studies, but the information isn't really detailed enough. Overall a good book for inspiration and trends.

Want to Read: Ross King - Defiant Spirits, The Modernist Revolution of the Group of Seven

I've always loved the paintings of the Group of Seven, and this book sounds like it gives a great historical and social context of art in Canada at that time, and why the Group really was so revolutionary.

Read: Christopher Alexander - A Pattern Language

Better than his previous book - more concrete examples of elements of design in architecture. Could still use editing down. Curious if similar principles were used in "The Not So Big House" - my memories of that book are over a decade old now.

Read: Christopher Alexander - The Timeless Way of Building

Not sure what to write about this one. There are some good ideas in here, but I think he needed a better editor to bring them out. His arguments are made incredibly slowly, and I started to lose momentum before long.

Read: Emma Bull - War for the Oaks

A re-read of a favourite already read many times over. But I couldn't resist - an edit of one of Jenn's recent stories reminded me of this book, and I just had to pull it off the shelf. As lovely as ever - charming dialogue, passionate characters, intriguing mix of urban setting with fantasy elements. It all came to an end more swiftly than I remembered, but it's rather un-melodramatic story arc is one of the things I like about it - it's not really building to the big battle scene after all, but finishes up on a smaller-scale human level.

Read: Jean M. Auel - The Valley of Horses

Like, 'Clan of the Cave Bear', this one is a good book too. In re-reading it, I think it's the best-suited of the series to the author's writing style. With the main character, Ayla, alone for much of the book it's heavily plot-based, with some really great inventions and discoveries. There's minimal character interaction - the other main character, Jondalar, is on a journey for most of the book, so secondary characters pass in and out of the story quickly, minimizing any opportunity for the annoyingly repetitive characterization that mars her later work in the series. Now that I've satisfied myself that the early books really were quite enjoyable, I think I'm done re-reading - no need to rehash the plot of the next two, where we'll get bogged down again in the characters' interactions.

Read: Jean M. Auel - The Clan of the Cave Bear

Well, I'm relieved to say that this book is indeed better than the later 'Shelters of Stone'. It has similar issues of overly simplistic, repetitive characterization - but since it is largely the story of a child raised in a rigid, archaic society, it doesn't seem out of place.