Soul Mountain
Gao Xingjian
    This novel was written up in the Globe and Mail, and it peaked my interest more because of the author's life story than because of the story in the book. In 1983, the author was diagnosed with lung cancer and was forced to abruptly face his own mortality. Happily, six weeks later he found out that it was a mistaken diagnosis, but he was changed. He was about to be sent to a prison farm for being the author of a number of controversial plays, so he fled Beijing. His travels along the Yangtze River for the next 5 months inspired this novel.
     The character we follow in the novel is a persecuted middle-aged Chinese author who is travelling along the Yangtze hoping to find the place that is translated to mean "Soul Mountain". His descriptions of the scenes and the people he meets are breathtaking. The inner dialogue is very honest and unafraid, but it's tinged with a longing or sadness. I was compelled to find out where his journey led him.
     Wonderful.

Coming Through Slaughter
Michael Ondaatje
I read this novel, because I had to in university. I now count it among my favourite novels of all time. Anyone who has spoken with me at the store knows that I push this book whenever I get the chance. It's not for everyone though.
    The younger Ondaatje chose to fly in the face of convention and challenge the traditional format and content normally contained in a novel. I find it causes you to pause and think when you see an unusually placed white space, or a line repeated over and over again throughout the text, like a chorus of a song. But, understandably, some might simply find it annoying and cumbersome.
    The subject is a trumpet player, who actually lived in New Orleans in the 20's. Ondaatje constructs a fictional life around the facts, and addresses the notion of biography, and if it really can exist. Once into the story, you're carried into the jazz life and madness of the late Buddy Bolden. I must recommend this book to anyone who loves to read.

Self
Yann Martel
    I picked this novel from the shelf because the unusual premise intrigued me. The main character awakens one day to find his gender changed. When reading, if you can suspend your disbelief regarding the gender switch, which is treated very lightly, you'll find that Martel's insight into human nature is deep and unafraid. He writes all ages and sexes with equal skill and ease.
    The story follows the main character's life from childhood to the present. The style is very involving. It draws you in with the changing formats, and even different languages (translated, of course), so that your attention is always focused on the details at hand. The details of the life of this individual are so aptly captured, that it seems sometimes that Martel might be the first author to discover: embarrassment, or procrastination, or loss. This is what a novel should be.

Slapstick
Kurt Vonnegut
    From what I can tell, this is one of Vonnegut's lesser known novels. Without a doubt, it's one of his most original. As usual, he tackles a wide variety of aspects of our human condition, but with the humour also comes melancholy this time. When I first read this a few years ago, I was surprised to come upon genuinely heartbreaking imagery. But he handles it beautifully, and balances it gracefully with his trademark observational cynicism.
    The premise is absurd. A fraternal twin, genius-idiot, pediatrician, giant, and former President of the United States recounts the major events of his challenged life, through his own deep-set eyes. The story still manages to be intelligent, funny and touching. Personally, with all the peripheral craziness, I consider it a feat of literary mastery.

The Alchemist
Paulo Coelho
    A magical allegory of a shepherd boy who travels from his home in Spain in search of a treasure buried beneath the Egyptian Pyramids.
    “It’s a wonderful fable that could eliminate many self-help books”.

The Mistress of Spices
Chita Banerjee Divakaruni
    Admittedly, I chose this book for the cover, originally. I'm a sucker for pretty colours. But, once inside, I discovered an earthy, magical world of food, spices, love, temptation and commitment. The book's namesake, Tilo, is endowed with magic, and an unbelievable knowledge of the power of spices. These things conflict with her human urges and needs, and the story captures her struggle to be who she is, while still doing the job she is there to do.
    The style is easy, and flowing, and invites you to relax and listen to the story all in one sitting. The language is full of sensory/sensual description that will engage all of your senses.

The Dying Animal
Philip Roth
   This book is sharp. I found myself getting drawn in by the main character's anarchistic views on love and sex and marriage. At a certain point, I became aware of the problems inherent in trying to intellectualize these things. He managed to do it for most of his life and was not only quite sophisticated in his career, but as well, in his rationalizations.
   Roth looks at the power of sex and all of its facets. Although the commentary is bleak, it is comforting to see, in black and white, a superbly reasoned treatise on modern relationships that most of us could have contributed to at some point in our lives.

Identity
Milan Kundera
   Unlike most readers, Identity was the first of Kundera's books that I got around to reading. I've since read many others, but I still remember the excitement I felt while reading this, that I found yet another favourite writer.
   He defies the storyteller's convention of elaborate description and background to involve the reader. Instead, he practically paints the characters' thoughts and feelings on the page. Without being literal and boring you to death, he makes you absolutely aware of what they are going through.
   If you've never read Kundera before, I'll say that this is not a love story. It is more of an examination of romantic relationships, and how they impact the individual. His voice is rich with experience and melancholy.