Here are the five books I plan to read this summer:
Pyongyang: a journey through North Korea (M)
by Guy Delisle
P.E.I. recently announced Guy Delisle’s Burma Chronicles as the latest selection for their One Book – One Island reading initiative. Intrigued by this selection of a graphic novel, I picked up a copy and have now become a big fan of Guy’s work. I loved his matter of fact observations of the Burmese, seemingly without judgement. I feel like I learned a lot about Burma as well as being quite entertained. Given that success, I am going to read more of his work, starting with Pyongyang: a journey through North Korea:
“Pyongyang documents the two months French animator Delisle spent overseeingcartoon production in North Korea, where his movements were constantly monitored by a translator and a guide, who together couldlimit his activities but couldn’t restrict his observations. He records everything from the omnipresent statues and portraits of dictators Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il to the brainwashed obedience ofthe citizens. Rather than conveying his disorientation through convoluted visual devices, Delisle uses a straightforward Eurocartoon approach that matter-of-factly depicts the mundane absurdities hefaced every day.” Publisher’s Weekly
The Cloaca (M)
by Andrew Hood.jpeg)
“The stories included in Andrew Hood’s latest collection are messy, beautiful,gross, funny, personal. The Cloaca is a train-wreck of awesomeness.It’s your high school gym teacher, drunk and dishing dirt on all the other teachers on the cross-town bus – a stomach-turning spectacle that’ll make you laugh out loud now, feel bad later. You won’t beable to put this book down or look away for an instant” – publisher
The Violinist’s Thumb: and other lost tales of love, war and genius (M)
by Sam Kean
“In The Disappearing Spoon, bestselling author Sam Kean unlocked themysteries of the periodic table. In The Violinist’s Thumb, hee xplores the wonders of the magical building block of life: DNA. There are genes to explain crazy cat ladies, why other people have nofingerprints, and why some people survive nuclear bombs. Genes illuminate everything from JFK’s bronze skin (it wasn’t a tan) toEinstein’s genius. They prove that Neanderthals and humans bred thousands of years more recently than any of us would feel comfortable thinking. They can even allow some people, because of theexceptional flexibility of their thumbs and fingers, to become trulysingular violinists. Kean’s vibrant storytelling once again makes science entertaining, explaining human history and whimsy whileshowing how DNA will influence our species’ future” -publisher
Sky Waves: a novel (M)
by Michelle Butler Hallett
“Critically acclaimed novelist Michelle Butler Hallett rolls out her raucousbrand of satire in this tender exploration of the human need for communication, communion, and love. Skywaves is set against the development of radio in Newfoundland and Labrador, and told in 98non-linear but interconnected chapters. It crackles with comedy,modulates through history, and toys with a new signal-to-noise ratio. Sky Waves is definitely a lively and sometimes demented “aural”culture novel. Butler Hallett worked in radio for several years and has long been haunted by the story of a cousin who crashed his planewhile looking for a lost child.” -publisher
When I Left Home: my story (M)
by Buddy Guy
A book for my guitarist son and I to share: 
Source: http://www.thereader.ca/2012/07/5-books-i-want-to-read-this-summer_15.html