:: inspired reading :: Nikolski with guest blogger deanna

indie finds inspired by the book Nikolski

:: top :: geekel + gbrosseau  + holli 

:: middle :: maverick photo +  donnageissler + sushipot

:: bottom :: jenwildcat + blurrylens

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i've asked a dear friend, deanna, to be my first-ever guest blogger! she's always inspiring me with her wisdom + wit, kindness + generosity, supermommying + love of handmade. she's a delight & i know you'll love her too. in her series: inspired reading, deanna shares & discusses a fabulous book,  as well as some beautiful indie-finds garnered by her reading of it. yay to  great books & great friends!

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Have you ever felt that life was getting a little too ordinary, predictable, or just plain dull? 

I started the summer off in a bit of a rut. The sun was shining but laundry and dirty dishes seemed to pile up as fast as they could be done. One day, while chatting about books, a friend mentioned Nicolas Dickner's debut novel Nikolski, which had somehow eluded my notice in spite of its numerous literary awards. Fortunately I took up this recommendation the next day.

Nikolski tells the story of three young Montrealers. There is Joyce, a fishmonger with pirate ancestors who also freelances as a dumpster diver. Noah is an archeology student who spent his childhood as a nomad, traveling across Western Canada with his mother in a 1966 Bonneville station wagon named Grampa. And there is also an unnamed used bookseller with an heirloom compass that points towards Nikolski, Alaska.

The novel is imaginative, beautifully written, and terribly funny. More than once I was reminded of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Márquez. As with Márquez, the ordinary laws of physics and probability don't always apply in Dickner's fictional world. Magic is commonplace. Coincidence reigns. Noah awakes one morning to find the ghost of his great-great-grandfather sitting at the kitchen table. One night Joyce discovers the perfectly mummified body of an office worker in a downtown dumpster. The booksellers' flooded basement transforms into an icy sea complete with shells, urchins, and a Leviathan.

Nikolski is one of those novels you don't want to end. Even now, weeks after I turned the last page, I still find myself thinking about its characters and their stories. After finishing the book, life seemed a little more mysterious and amazing. In short, it was the perfect cure for my summer rut, and left me feeling as if one morning I too might find a distant ancestor sitting at my kitchen table.

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about the author: Deanna does most of her reading in Guelph, Ontario, where she's a stay-at-home Mom to a spunky 5-year-old daughter. Besides reading, she spends her time writing, baking, and hanging out at the park.

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wonderful! thanks so much dear deanna!

so how about you?

have you read nikolski? 

what did it inspire in you?

read a book that's inspired YOU lately? 

please tell us! we'd love to hear!

have a magical weekend, nicies!

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