For what did I know?

January
1. December 24 – January 1: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Steig Larsson
2. January 1 – 24: A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
3. January 13 – 16: The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis
4. January 16 – 17: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
5. January 17 - 25: The Horse and his Boy by C.S. Lewis
6. January 18 – 27: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
7. January 21 - 22: The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl
8. January 27 – 28: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
9. January 28 – 30: Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

February
10. January 30 – February 1: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
11. February 1 – 7: Bone Worship by Elizabeth Eslami
12. February 7 – 10: Buddha by Deepak Chopra
13. February 8 – 12: The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
14. February 10 – 22: Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally
15. February 20 – 21: Plainsong for Caitlin by Elizabeth M. Rees

March
16. February 23 – March 3: From Copper to Gold by Dorothy Freeman Gilstrap
17. March 5 – 10: The White Masai by Corinne Hofmann
18. March 14 - 16: True Notebooks by Mark Salzman
19. March 16 - 20: If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor
20. March 19 - 21: The Abortionist’s Daughter by Elisabeth Hyde

April
21. March 23 - April 4: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
22. April 4 - 9: They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children: The Global Quest to Eradicate the Use of Child Soldiers by Roméo Dallaire
23. April 9 - 11: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
24. April 11 - 13: Burned Alive: A Victim of the Law of Men by Souad
25. April 23: Invisible by Hugues de Montalembert

May
26. April 14 - May 10: Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
27. May 10 - 12: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
28. May 14: Various Positions by Martha Schabas
29. May 17 - 18: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
30. May 18 - 20: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
31. May 20: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
32. May 21 - 23: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
33. May 23 - 29: Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer

June
34. May 29 - June 6: The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness and Greed by John Vaillant
35. June 6 - 10: The Quiet Room: A Journey out of the Torment of Madness by Lori Schiller
36. June 10 - 14: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
37. June 10 - 19: Quarantine by Rahul Mehta
38. June 14 - 19: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
39. June 19 - 25: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
40. June 19 - 26: Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home by Rhoda Janzen

July
41. June 26 - July 1: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
42. June 26 - July 2: Not Quite What I was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs from Writers Famous and Obscure compiled by Smith Magazine
43. July 2 - 10: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
44. July 11 - 15: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
45. July 15 - 21: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

August
46. July 22 - August 8: The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vaillant
47. July 27 - August 8: They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan by Benson Deng, Alephonsion Deng, and Benjamin Ajak with Judy A. Bernstein
48. August 9 - 12: Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
49. August 13 - 18: Room by Emma Donoghue
50. August 17 - 19: Birthmarked by Caragh M. O’Brien
51. August 20 - 24: Maze Runner by James Dashner
52. August 23 - 29: The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
53. August 24 - 30: Belle de Jour: Diary of an Unlikely Call Girl by Anonymous

September
54. August 30 - September 3: Franny and Zooey: A Novel by J.D. Salinger

October
55. September 3 - October 3: The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
56. September 26 - October 11: Portals to Freedom by Howard Colby Ives

November
57. October 11 - November 3: Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi

December
58. November 22 - December 7: The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
59. December 15 - 22: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
60. December 7 - 23: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
61. December 23 - 27: Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden

1. November 22 - December 7: The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
2. December 15 - 22: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
3. December 7 - 23: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
4. December 23 - 27: Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden

This is a novel that I have picked up and started many times, but never actually finished. Again, I’m not sure why. I think there are times in our lives when we are not ready to read and fully comprehend books. Maybe I was never ready to read Nineteen Eighty-Four until now, who knows.

I really enjoyed reading this novel, and I’m glad that I was finally able to complete it. It raised a lot of questions for me. It touched on issues of our relationships with other people and with our search for the truth; where our loyalties lie, and how steadfast we are in them. It’s really depressing to think that our thoughts can be so easily manipulated if we are not constantly searching for the truth. If we take everything that is told to us by the powers that be as true, we will lose ourselves. It is terrifying to think that our belief systems, our values and morals, can be changed through manipulation by the state. We are so susceptible to this, and we don’t even know it. I truly believe that it is the duty of every member of society to constantly question everything; to challenge those things that run counter to what he believes is right.

Nineteen Eighty-Four really cemented my beliefs in place. Obviously, it wasn’t the deciding factor. I’m pretty staunch in what I believe in, and not much can change it. It just made it that much clearer to me that these things are important, and that we can’t waver in our convictions even for a moment.

Margaret Atwood can do little wrong in my mind. I initially started reading this book because I’ve been kind of loving dystopian fiction lately, although it’s been a while since I read one. I thought that The Year of the Flood was a stand alone novel. About halfway through, I realised that it was a prequel to one of my favourite novels, Oryx and Crake. Such a good surprise. Ok, so back to the book.

The western world has been obsessed with the demise of humankind for a while now. There are many different speculative ideas about how our eventual decimation will occur. In The Year of the Flood, Atwood chooses plague.

The Year of the Flood follows two women who managed to survive the plague through very different means. Toby was in isolation after undergoing plastic surgery to disguise herself from a tormentor. Ren was also in isolation after the strip-club where she worked was attacked. The novel follows these women’s lives, and their intersections, both in the past and in the present. Eventually ending where Oryx and Crake ended, answering some long overdue questions.

Like all of Atwood’s books, or the one’s I have read at least, this novel gives you what you want. There are underlying themes throughout the book that really relate to our lives today. You can choose to consider these ideas and their implications, or you can just discard them. Either way, I think that everyone should read Atwood’s work.

While Nafisi’s account reaches back to the early days of the Revolution when she was a professor at the University of Tehran, it mostly takes place in the late 90s when she decided to host a literature class in her home for seven specially selected students.

The novel is divided into four parts each focused on a different author or work, and each is related back to a specific aspect of life in Iran.

The subject of higher education in Iran is one that is very dear to my heart. People who speak out against the Islamic Republic are punished by being denied higher education. Among these people are the Baha’is. Baha’is are the largest religious minority in Iran, and unlike Jews and Christians, they are not recognized as a separate religion and are heavily persecuted for their beliefs. Among the persecutions of Baha’is is the denial of higher education, something that has been happening to them for a long time. I thought of the friends in Iran a lot while reading this novel.

I experienced so many contrasting emotions while reading this novel: joy, sadness, anger, hilarity, sympathy. It is definitely a thought-provoking read and one that is worthy of everyone’s attention

1. October 11 - November 3: Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi

I was first introduced to this book while participating in a youth project in the city that I would very shortly move to. The novel chronicles Howard Colby Ives’, a Unitarian minister, meetings with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and journey towards the Bahá’í faith.

From 1910 to 1913, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the son of Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í faith, journeyed from Palestine to the United States of America and Canada. Portals to Freedom introduces the reader to the astounding figure of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and brings him to life and magnifies His message. As well, it describes Ives’ own investigation of the faith and details the spiritual transformation that an already religious man experienced once confronted with the power of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh.

The stories of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Portals to Freedom bring a new light to the life of such a figure. They personalize Him and enable the reader to relate to Him on a more personal level. Instead of this debasing His station, it raises it. To read these stories and realise that He was capable of performing such acts so far ahead of their times, is truly inspiring. Portals to Freedom will inspire you, it will pierce your very soul.

1. September 3 - October 3: The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
2. September 26 - October 11: Portals to Freedom by Howard Colby Ives

It is rare that a work of fiction will cause me to think as much as Andrew Davidson’s debut novel, The Gargoyle did. The book opens at the scene of a terrific car crash where the protagonist is almost burned alive. The crash leaves him with disfiguring scars over his entire body. The protagonist had previously been a pornographer addicted to drugs. During his stay in the hospital, Davidson allows him to redeem himself, becoming, by the end, someone who may be seen as admirable.

During his stay in the hospital, the protagonist encounters a woman, Marianne Engel. Marianne is a psychiatric patient who believes that they have met multiple times in previous lives and that it was destiny for their paths to cross again. Throughout his recovery, Marianne spends her time telling the him stories of their previous lives together. The way these stories are seamlessly woven into the broader narrative is powerful and thought-provoking, leaving you shaking your head.

Everything about this novel is amazing. The characters are rich; they are each distinct in their own right, even the minor ones. The imagery is breathtaking and the narrative is thought-provoking.