After recently finishing Not Wanted On the Voyage, I wanted to revisit another novel I have about the same story. I first read The Preservationist not long after it was published and enjoyed it enough to seek out David Maine’s other novels (the best of which is Fallen). My current version was recovered from a... Continue Reading →
Matrix, by Lauren Groff. Pub 2021
Another recommendation from my fellow bookclubber, I was looking forward to this book after enjoying Groff’s Fates and Furies last year. While Matrix was good, it wasn’t great. The novel tells the imagined story of Marie de France (who may have been a few other Maries of the 12th century), a quasi-noblewoman in the court... Continue Reading →
Item #32: Fridge magnets
Most people use the face of their fridge* as a kind of bulletin board, photo album, directory, and home for miscellanea: kids artwork, school and vacation photos, take-out menus, business cards for plumbers and electricians, bills, brochures for events, timetables, mementos, oven mitts, note pads, recipes, utensils. While most of those items are ephemeral or... Continue Reading →
Liberation Day, by George Saunders. Pub 2022
This was part of the Christmas bounty from my sister in 2022. I recall starting this in early 2023, and then abandoning it for something a bit lighter. It felt like a book that needed vacation time to devote to it, and so now was the right time. This collection of nine stories is good,... Continue Reading →
Small Things Like These, by Claire Keegan. Pub 2021
This book is on the NYT “Best 100 books of the 21st century so far”, and the author came highly recommended by my fellow book-clubber. I found it during a summer book browse at a favourite shop in Victoria, and when I needed a break from a longer book, I decided this short one would... Continue Reading →
The Nightingale Won’t Let You Sleep, by Steven Heighton. Pub 2017
This book was an accidental purchase. When I read last year about the death of Canadian poet and writer Steven Heighton, including a few moving elegies about his impact on CanLit, I ordered two books of his poetry. Or so I thought. This book is a novel, and I found the premise intriguing. Plus, I... Continue Reading →
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, by Wayne Johnston. Pub 1998
I recall buying this book >10 years ago at a favourite used book shop in Victoria. I had previously read The Custodian of Paradise, and while I enjoyed it, I realized too late that it would have been enhanced by having read this book first. While I made a start on Colony back then, it drifted on to... Continue Reading →
The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Pub 1911
This is one of those "I can't believe I've never read it" books, one that it seems everyone has read except me. I was moved to read this after a conversation about books with a coaching client, who said that this was their favourite book ever. I decided to give it a try ahead of... Continue Reading →
On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder. Pub 2017. Graphic edition, with illustrations by Nora Krug. Pub 2021.
This book has popped up on reading lists and various sites over the past few years. I expected it to be a weighty slog (turns out, it’s quite short), but the graphic edition makes for an easier, if just as sobering, read. Snyder is a professor of history and human sciences. Krug is an award-winning... Continue Reading →
Trespassing, by Usma Aslam Khan. Pub 2003
I’ve had this book on my shelves for a long time. I bought it after reading Fallen by David Maine (and a few of his other books), and reading in the author notes that his wife was also an author. For whatever reason, I never got around to reading this one until now. Trespassing is... Continue Reading →
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