I really enjoyed Orlean's previous book, The Library Book, so was looking forward to her writing on animals. I didn't appreciate until I started reading it that this is a) a collection of essays rather than a focused book and b) said essays range from 1995 to 2021, with most being more than 10 years... Continue Reading →
The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles. Pub 2021
Another from the Christmas gift bounty, this is the third novel by Amor Towles, and he is three-for-three in delivering fantastic novels. His novels are getting longer, but unlike how I feel about John Irving (ahem), I do not begrudge Towles a single page. Spanning just 10 days (not including flashbacks and backstories) in the early summer... Continue Reading →
Can’t and Won’t, by Lydia Davis. Pub 2014
This was another gift in my Christmas bounty. I don't recall where I heard about Lydia Davis - likely on some other blog or podcast. This book includes many very short stories - some only a few lines or paragraphs. It reminded me of a book I read several years ago - There is No Long... Continue Reading →
The It Girl, by Ruth Ware. Pub 2022
This was part of my Christmas book bounty, chosen as it kept coming up on reading suggestions from the book shop and elsewhere, and I liked the idea of a modern Agatha Christie-type book, which indeed this was. Hannah and April are fresher roommates at a (fictional) Oxford college. Near the end of their first... Continue Reading →
The Gargoyle, by Andrew Davidson. Pub 2008
I read this book when it first came out in 2008, and was blown away by it then. While it's been one I often think of as being an old favourite, I had never reread it, and actually had little memory of what it was about other than some specific details - tattoos, sculpting, fire,... Continue Reading →
Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus. Pub 2022
I received this book as part of my Christmas book bounty from my sister. Unlike all the others, this one was not on my wish list, but I had heard about it online. It seemed like a nice light story, so I dove in ahead of some other weightier tomes on this year’s reading list.... Continue Reading →
Banned Books, by DK. Pub 2022
This was an impulse purchase while Christmas shopping, inspired by last year's quest for a banned book. I was hoping this might provide some better suggestions than Googling does, and it did achieve that along with some learning about the hows and whys of banning through the ages. There are 87 books covered here (clearly an incomplete... Continue Reading →
2023 Reading Challenge
Another year, another list. 2023's reading list takes us to 40 (!) items, with some more new categories to keep things interesting. The list is below. For this year, we removed the category "read in school", (partly because that list was actually quite short and had even fewer that we wanted to reread), amalgamated "recommended"... Continue Reading →
How to Stop Time, by Matt Haig. Pub 2018
I've had a few Matt Haig books in mind over the past year, mostly because his The Comfort Book is always prominently displayed at the bookstore, and his The Midnight Library has been popular in best-books lists the past few years. A few months ago, when depositing some books in the local little free library, I saw this one... Continue Reading →
Dave Cooks the Turkey, by Stuart MacLean. Pub 2005
A gift from Christmas 2021 (thanks, Mom!), this seemed like a good holiday read for this year. Although very brief, it was a delight. For more than 20 years, Stuart McLean was the creator, writer, and host of a Canadian treasure called The Vinyl Café. Part story-telling, part variety show, the radio program and accompanying... Continue Reading →
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