The Red Notebook, by Antoine Laurain, translation by Jane Aitken. Pub 2014. A delicious romantic story about things lost and found - possessions, memories, relationships. This novella (it truly did not seem long or complex enough to call it a novel) takes you into the world of a kind and somewhat lonely bookseller, and the... Continue Reading →
Leaven of Malice, by Robertson Davies. Book report #12 (2017)
Leaven of Malice, by Robertson Davies. Pub 1954. I bought the Salterton Trilogy as a set on my Kindle, so it was a natural flow in to book two once Tempest-Tost was done. I (again) confess that I might not have read this one either in school, as the story was completely new to me.... Continue Reading →
Book report #11 (2017)
Sum, by David Eagleman. Pub 2009 A slim volume of very short stories, the book presents 40 versions of the afterlife - various visions of heaven, hell and everything in between. The stories are very creative, and widely various in their joy and bleakness. I've read this book a few times, and enjoyed it each... Continue Reading →
Tempest-Tost, by Robertson Davies. Book report #10 (2017)
Tempest-Tost, by Robertson Davies. Pub 1951 I confess here – this is the book I was supposed to read in school, but didn’t. It was in Grade 11 (or possibly 12), and it was for Canadian literature with Mrs. Kruk. One of the required books that term was Leaven of Malice, part of the CanLit... Continue Reading →
My Misspent Youth, by Meghan Daum. Book report #9 (2017)
My Misspent Youth, by Meghan Daum. Pub 2001 Tepid, vapid, insipid - are there any other -id words in this vein? They would apply here. I can't remember how I was tricked into starting this book, but if I ever remember or find the culprit, I'll buy them the blandest, most boring and lukewarm glass... Continue Reading →
Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman. Book report #8 (2017)
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. Pub 2017. I picked this one up for a few reasons. One, I’ve always meant to read Neil Gaiman and just never have. Two, I enjoy mythological tales and have never really known the Norse versions. Third, I thought it was published in 2016, so could check that off my... Continue Reading →
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. Book report #7 (2017)
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Pub 1951. A classic of the dystopia genre, I was familiar with the essence of the story but had never read this one, nor anything else by Bradbury. There is much more going on in the story than the burning of books, and a fantastical future world is described. However,... Continue Reading →
The Children Act, by Ian McEwan. Book report #6 (2017)
The Children Act, by Ian McEwan. Pub 2014 A friend who shares my fondness for “authors from the Brit circle”, such as Julian Barnes, sent me this book, a thoughtful and loving get-well gift. I had read just one other by McEwan – On Chesil Beach – which I did not love, or even really... Continue Reading →
The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes. Book report #5 (2017)
The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes. Pub 2011 This is a book I've read before (more than once), which is something I've done with a few books by Julian Barnes. This is a short one - just ~150 pages - but it is as full and evocative as his other writings. The characters are... Continue Reading →
Foodville, by Timothy Taylor. Book report #4 (2017)
Foodville: Biting dispatches from a food-obsessed city, by Timothy Taylor. Pub 2014. This little slip of a book is especially appealing to me as it highlights some of restaurant culture and history in Vancouver over the past 20 years, overlapping exactly with my own time period of dining here. From that point of view, this... Continue Reading →
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