On Animals, by Susan Orlean. Pub 2021 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... Continue Reading →
The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles. Book report #6 (2023)
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... Continue Reading →
Can’t and Won’t, by Lydia Davis. Book report #5 (2023)
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... Continue Reading →
The It Girl, by Ruth Ware. Book report #4 (2023)
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)... Continue Reading →
The Gargoyle, by Andrew Davidson. Book report #3 (2023)
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 actually about other... Continue Reading →
Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus. Book report #2 (2023)
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... Continue Reading →
Banned Books, by DK. Book report extra #1 (2023)
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... 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. Book report #1 (2023)
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... Continue Reading →
Dave Cooks the Turkey, by Stuart MacLean. Book report extra #8 (2022)
Dave Cooks the Turkey, by Stuart McLean. 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... Continue Reading →
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