Best Books I Read in 2011

It's time for my annual "Best Books I Read Last Year" list, this time featuring 13 works of poetry, novels, nonfiction and anthology. As usual, these books didn't necessarily come out in 2010; that's just when I read them. This year, you should too. [Click on the picture to find out more about the book.] Happy reading!

Poetry

Goyette’s imagery is evocative, precise, tangible yet layered with meaning:


I'm beyond biased here because I've got two poems in this anthology of Halifax guerilla poetry, and I like the idea so much I've written a feature about it. But I was genuinely impressed by the quality of work from my town's closet poets:

Nonfiction

Rogers elucidates how the failures of "green" or "natural" capitalism are the failings of capitalism itself:


Paradoxically dense and sprawling, but worth the effort. You know when people say, "This is how the world really works!" Well, this is part of it:


It's actually a novel interspersed among reflections on a campaign to ban uranium mining in Nova Scotia. I never quite figured out how they fit together, but the former is engaging and entertaining and the latter is inspirational and thought-provoking:




Fiction

Rushdie, having accomplished everything a writer could hope for, seems to be just having fun now. And it's a lot of fantastical fun to read too:



This novel was a rollicking fantastic adventure through the idealism of the 60s and the coming of age bestowed by Vietnam. Above all, it had an enormous sense of wonder:


Counter-intuitive to the title, for me these stories resonate with the sad truth of being a grownup:


MacDonald is a natural story teller and he connected all the emotional dots, providing a poignant tale of cultural change, the erosion of old ways and the maturation of young talent and pride:


The lady dialing 911 for love with all the wrong paramedics, the crack-addicted mathematician scoring rock for Robert Oppenheimer, the single condo-dwelling web designer more easily accepting the flaws of his Andalucian woolfhound than those of human companions – all serve Christie well as he masterfully illustrates the interwoven highs and lows of urban isolation:


Takes you right there, with the protagonists, feeling their fears, anxieties, pain and stress:


This is a good old-fashioned slog that probably wouldn't be published in the modern Canlit scene. It's prose is poetry and it's best scenes are heart-wrenching. In its entirety it is an unforgettable, honest portrait of rural life, its hardship and its absolute dependence on community even when community gets nasty:


Once again I'm totally biased because I have a short story in this one. But once again I was genuinely impressed to find myself in such accomplished company:

Literary Longlist

Hey folks,

Great news today: Drive-by Saviours has been longlisted for a ReLit Award, "The country's pre-eminent literary prize recognizing independent presses," according to the Globe and Mail. Check out the ReLit blog for the complete longlists. If past year's are any indication, there should be a shortlist by the end of the month. Wish me luck!

Chris

Upcoming Reading Events

I'll be reading from and signing copies of Drive-by Saviours on the following dates at the following locations:

Saturday, January 22, Wolfville, Box of Delights, 466 Main Street, 2 pm

Saturday, February 5, Mahone Bay, The Biscuit Eater Cafe and Bookseller, 16 Orchard Street, 2 pm

Please spread the word!

Chris

Xofa Xmas

Chris has a short piece of holiday fiction in today's Coast. Thought I'd share it and wish all happy holidays. Click the image below to read the story.

May we have peace, love, joy, justice, sustainability, creativity and healthy communities in 2011.

Suokojamin/Benautio Family

Book Tour Video

This is a highlight reel from my recent book tour. I had fun making it and revisiting all the joy of celebrating a new book in the world! Hope you enjoy it too:





Chris

Drive-by Saviours is Apparently Essential

Exciting news all - Drive-by Saviours made the Canada Reads longlist of "Top 40 Essential Canadian Novels of the Decade."

And we the people will decide which books make the top 10 list. You only get one vote.

If you want to vote Drive-by Saviours, just go to Canada Reads and click the circle next to Drive-by Saviours by Chris Benjamin, scroll down and click the vote button. You have until Nov 7 - but really why wait until Nov 7 what you could do right now?

Btw, here is the Top 40 list, and there are some damn fine books there. What say you, dear reader? What books should have made the list but didn't. Any on the list that you don't think are so hot?

A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews

Bottle Rocket Hearts by Zoe Whittall

Clara Callan by Richard B. Wright

Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant

Conceit by Mary Novik

Crow Lake by Mary Lawson

Drive-by Saviours by Chris Benjamin

Elle by Douglas Glover

Essex County by Jeff Lemire

Far to Go by Alison Pick

February by Lisa Moore

Galore by Michael Crummey

Heave by Christy Ann Conlin

Inside by Kenneth J. Harvey

Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill

Moody Food by Ray Robertson

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson

Room by Emma Donoghue

Shelf Monkey by Corey Redekop

Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki

Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb

The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis

The Birth House by Ami McKay

The Bishop's Man by Linden MacIntyre

The Bone Cage by Angie Abdou

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan

The Fallen by Stephen Finucan

The Girls Who Saw Everything by Sean Dixon

The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaeghe

The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart

The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden

Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden

Twenty-Six by Leo McKay Jr.

Unless by Carol Shields

Thanks,
Chris Benjamin

Doing the Bookstore Hustle

I met Ivan Prokopchuk the other night, in person. He's long been one of the most colourful personalities I've met as a blogger, and a character who consistently captures my imagination.

But there he was in the Lula Lounge, in full colour, three dimensions, in the flesh, across the table from me with his book, The Fire in Bradford, in hand. "I'll show you mine if you you show me yours," he grinned.

[That's me in the pink shirt, reading to an enthusiastic crowd at the Lula Lounge.]

But with Another Story Bookshop on hand selling Drive-by Saviours I didn't have any swap copies. The swap had been my suggestion, but with all the insanity of travel, visiting family and friends, organizing book launches and an Eastern Canadian book tour, I'd forgotten. I promised to send Ivan a copy in the mail and he gave me his book, shook my hand and heartily congratulated me. And he was gone, making way for the next in line.

It was one of a series of surreal encounters I've had lately with old friends. The support has been overwhelming - people I haven't seen in years, people I've only met online, have come out to my two book launches in Halifax and Toronto to celebrate my accomplishment.

And now, writing from a friend's home in East Toronto, planning to head up to Kent Bookstore in Lindsay Ontario in a few hours for another reading and more old friends (and to meet a boisterous one-year-old), I'm feeling a deep easy happiness in that willingness to celebrate what others among us do.

At the same time, I ache for my wife and son, who flew back to Halifax yesterday morning at about crack o'clock, and I long for my own bed where I could properly nurse this worsening cold. Suddenly I'm a lone drifter again, something I missed and didn't expect to experience again so soon. Last time I was a young man, full of abstractions and equipped with an eager pen and ink-hungry notebooks. It all seems a little more businesslike this time - I'm a drifter with a mission, a product to move. I feel like a huckster with a money-bulge in my pocket.

That's not a complaint. I'm loving meeting people, sharing my art with them, and experiencing their kind and enthusiastic responses - their questions, comments and cash. Living the dream for me has moved beyond sloganism and into reality.

Upcoming Readings, Book Launches, and Media Clips

Hi folks,

First, a huge thank you to everyone who came out to the Halifax book launch on Wednesday. We crammed more than a hundred people into the Company House (with a stalled line out the door at one point) and Bookmark sold out the 60 copies of Drive-by Saviours it brought. (Sorry to those who didn't get one, but stores are well stocked and you can buy online here). It was so heartwarming to have all those great people out to celebrate my book and hear great local music and reading.

On Saturday, Sept 25, 7:00 pm, I'm presenting the Percy Prize for best unpublished Atlantic Canadian novel (the award I won in 2008) at the Jane Buss gala. It's at Alderney Landing in Dartmouth. Should be fun.

Then on Sunday I'll be reading at the Main Stage at Word on the Street Halifax, Victoria Park, at 11:30am. I'll be sharing the stage with Russell Smith, so it should be interesting. And I'll be signing books all day at the Roseway/Fernwood booth.

On Monday I leave for my book tour. Some of the dates have changed so please take a look at http://www.chrisbenjaminwriting.com/chris-benjamin-writing-blog/updated-book-tour-schedule-for-drive-by-saviours to see when I hit your town. And a few more Nova Scotia readings will be added later so I'll keep you posted on that.

In the meantime I've already had some fun media coverage. You can hear my interview on CKDU's Book Club at http://129.173.68.249/20100921.13.30-14.30.mp3. I come in at 22:00 minutes (about 1/3 of the way through), and it gets cut off at the end, but it gives you a good chunk of it.

Also, I got to go on haligonia.ca this week with Silver Donald Cameron. We interviewed each other about our new books. The clip is up at http://live.haligonia.ca/halifax-ns/soundbites/16248-sound-bites-a-meeting-of-literary-minds.html.

Aside from the novel, I have a couple other publications coming out this fall. First is my short story, The Law Won, which will be in the literary journal Descant's prison issue. If you're in Toronto you can attend the launch at Revival (783 College Street) on Wednesday, Oct 06, 2010, 7:30 p.m. But I won't be there - I'll be up in Lindsay reading. However, Hurricane Rubin Carter will be there, and it's a shame I'll miss the chance to meet such a passionate advocate for justice. You can learn more about the issue at http://www.descant.ca/issues/d150.html.

My short story, Gifts from the North, also appears in a new anthology out this month, called Airbourne, published by Third Person Press in Cape Breton. The launch is on, wait for it...October 6, 6:30-8:30pm, at the McConnell Memorial Library, 50 Falmouth Street in Sydney, Nova Scotia. More on the Airbourne Anthology at http://www.thirdpersonpress.com/.

Happy reading,
Chris

My Big Day Downtown

I was given $100 by the Downtown Halifax Business Commission to spend on anything I wanted, as long as I documented the experience publicly. I, naturally, chose books. Here's a video (shot by Miia, edited by me, with music by my brother) of the experience:

Book Launches & New Video

The Halifax launch of my novel, Drive-by Saviours, will be September 22 at The Company House on Gottingen St. We'll likely kick things off around 7 pm, but I'll confirm that later. There will be live music and likely some spoken word. Here's hoping we get half of Nova Scotia in there!

Second, the Toronto launch is tentatively booked for October 4 at the Lula Lounge on Dundas West, so if you're in Toronto please mark that on your calendar. I'm still working on the music (if anyone has any ins with hot Toronto bands please let me know) but I'll keep you posted.

Also, thanks to a grant from the Province of Nova Scotia I'll be doing a book tour starting right after the Toronto launch. I'll be hitting Peterborough, Port Hope, Kingston, Ottawa, Montreal, Fredericton, and Charlottetown. If you know any good bookstores or other reading venues (libraries etc.) between Toronto and Halifax, please let me know about them.

Lastly, here's a new video on the themes of the book (ecology, international development, helping professions, indigenous cultures, Western culture, individualism, collectivism, community, Canadiana, Indonesia, and immigration).



Hope to see you all at a launch or reading soon.

Drive-by Saviours Trailer

Hi folks, here's trailer I made (with help from my brother) for my forthcoming novel:

Novel News

I've been quite busy with the novel lately, first doing final edits then thinking marketing. To that effect, I've created a myspace page and put up a clip of me reading from the novel there, as well as some fusion-y music my brother created for a trailer we're working on. Click my face below to listen to those:
I've also created a website for the book. Below is what the cover will look like. Click on that for the website (not a lot of content there yet but stay tuned for some video I'm working on regarding the book):


The publisher, Roseway (an imprint of Fernwood), also has a website for the book. Click the Fernwood logo to see that site:



Lastly, I've been remiss with posting my columns. Here are the last three, respectively called Coastal Disaster, Population Bomb, and Lorincz on Environment:

Drivin and Fishin and Farmin

Hi folks, below you can click the pictures to read my last four stories in The Coast - they each have to do with transportation or fish.

I also have a piece in this month's Rural Delivery Magazine about the struggle to legalize chickens in Halifax. It's not online but if you live in Canada you can probably find one at any store with a good magazine rack.

Happy reading!

-CB

If Earth Day Mattered

Hi folks,

Bit more news on the writing front. My short story, Your Mental Superhero, will be published this fall in the Airborne Anthology by Third Person Press. Amazingly, this makes 6 short (literary) stories of mine slated for publication this year, in addition to my novel. When it rains...

Also, my annual earth day rant is up at The Coast - click the picture below for that:


Also, click this next picture for a recent column on an inspiring movement toward real change, one town/neighbourhood at a time:


-CB

Writing Stuff

Hey folks, great news:

Yesterday I signed a contract with Nimbus Publishing to write my first nonfiction book, which is currently titled Green Soul: a tour through the lives of Atlantic Canada's sustainable trailblazers. It will come out in September 2011.

Also, I've been doing some writing on Silver Donald Cameron's new project, The Green Interview. It's a subscription website but if you're keen to be a smarter mammal I highly recommend it. The site features one-hour interviews with the most brilliant, radical thinkers of our time (including the man who sounded the climate change alarm, the woman who fights bio-pirates in India, and the man who fights illegal whaling operations worldwide). Click the picture below to take a gander:


Speaking of Green Interviews, I interviewed Jim Merkel, author of Radical Simplicity, when he was in Nova Scotia last week. You can see my column on him by clicking this picture:


And, uh, here are three other columns I didn't get a chance to post until now:

1) War on Earth: Against the people's wishes, governments and the war industry choose destruction over protection:

2) Gas tax dodge: Sin taxes on driving, meant to be spent on green initiatives, are instead going to build more roads:


3) More Jobs Per Green Buck: If the Nova Scotian government seeks to bring balance to the budget, it must let the funds flow to green infrastructure:

Delia and Phil

Hi folks,

I'm excited to announce that my short story, Delia and Phil is now available from Rattling Books as an audio download read by a great Newfoundland actor, Charlie Tomlinson, who did a great dramatic job with the reading.

You can download it (for $2.95). Just click on the picture below and download directly once there.
(The story is about half an hour long).

Happy reading!
Chris

Five Things

Hi folks, five things:

1) My short story, "It's Muhammad", placed third in the Atlantic New Cultures writing competition. They'll be putting the story up on the website at some point.

2) A short arts piece about a new social justice literary award, which I wrote for The Coast - it was late hitting the website but here it is:3) My column, Wasting Away, about the astounding amount of time, energy, money and natural resources we throw away in the form of perfectly good food - all part of a very sick food system - is at

4) My column on high cancer rates and environmental exposures is up at:

5) Is Sable Island National Park a natural disaster waiting to happen? Find out more at:

Cancer Rates & Environmental Pollutants in Communities

Why to Ban Pesticides

A Bunch of Recent Publications

I've been remiss about posting my publications here lately, so here's five of them in one go, in case you missed them and were having trouble sleeping at night. Click the picture to get the story:

1) Control Your Technology: Excessive dependence on technology impacts stress, productivity and the environment [published in Your Workplace Magazine]:


2) Round and About: Halifax's most notorious intersections aren't so bad on a beautiful winter's day at noon, but should we be investing in safer alternatives? [published in The Coast]

3) Biomass Mess: Professors make recommendations that could turn NS into a renewable energy maven, including one that could moonscape the province in the process [published in The Coast]

4) Branding the Environment: If environmentalists don't change mainstream hearts and minds, they won't make a lick of difference [published in The Coast]

5) Tragedy of the Common: If the Common is so Common, why can't common people decide how to use it? [published in The Coast]