Big Feelings, by Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy. Pub 2022 I chose this book based on the social media hype and discussion about it. Many will be familiar with the illustrations and comics by this pair of workplace and development consultants. This is their second book (the first was No Hard Feelings from 2019, which looked... Continue Reading →
Excellent Women, by Barbara Pym. Book report extra #6 (2022)
Excellent Women, by Barbara Pym. Pub 1952 I heard about Barbara Pym on a most excellent podcast that I listen to called Backlisted https://www.backlisted.fm/ from which readers are directed to excellent books and authors who are under-appreciated or overlooked and deemed worthy of praise and an overdue audience. With one description being a kind of 1950's... Continue Reading →
The Growing Season, by Nelson Boschman. Book report #25 (2022)
The Growing Season, by Nelson Boschman. Pub 2022 I find myself in contemplative mood a lot these days, and in recent months feeling drawn to consider some spiritual additions to my daily life. Perhaps for the ritual, but more I think for answers to "why" and "what else" questions. Reading The Madness of Grief was perhaps a... Continue Reading →
And a Dog Called Fig, by Helen Humphreys. Book report #24 (2022)
And a Dog Called Fig, by Helen Humpreys. Pub 2022 I have read (almost) everything fiction and non-fiction that Humphreys has written, and each book has been wonderful. Back in 2019, I read her Machine Without Horses, an interesting combination of novel and writer's memoir, and I enjoyed the memoir part and noted that it... Continue Reading →
Rosary Made of Air, by Joseph Massey. Book report #23 (2022)
Rosary Made of Air, by Joseph Massey. Pub 2022. I was led to this book through the circuit of poets and artists and other writers that I follow on Twitter (remarkable that Twitter can be a coming together rather than a sundering). Brief snippets of poems and insightful comments intrigued me and felt like gifts... Continue Reading →
Triumph and Disaster & Genius and Discovery, by Stefan Zweig. Book report #22 (2022)
Triumph and Disaster, and Genius and Discovery, by Stefan Zweig. Pub 1927-1940. Translation by Anthea Bell. These editions published 2016, from translations published in 2013. Reading these was inspired by two previous reads: Stefan Zweig last year, and Benjamin Labatut earlier this year. I really enjoyed Zweig last year, and so wanted to read more,... Continue Reading →
A Thousand Ships, by Natalie Haynes. Book report #21 (2022)
A Thousand Ships, by Natalie Haynes. Pub 2021 Along the lines of Madeline Miller (author of past favourite Circe), Haynes' speciality is historical fiction and Greek mythology from the perspective of lesser-known characters, especially women (see last year's discussion of The Children of Jocasta). In A Thousand Ships, Haynes gives voice to the stories and... Continue Reading →
The Feather Thief, by Kirk Wallace Johnson. Book report #18 (2022)
The Feather Thief, by Kirk Wallace Johnson. Pub 2018 I first heard about this story and book in an episode of the podcast This American Life. It is one of those stories of a seemingly oddball crime by an oddball character that takes the journalist and ultimately the reader to some fascinating places and times.... Continue Reading →
A Lethal Lesson, by Iona Whishaw. Book report extra #4* (2022)
A Lethal Lesson, by Iona Whishaw. Pub 2021 In Book 8 in the Lane Winslow series, the Darlings have returned from their honeymoon and are starting their lives together in King’s Cove when – of course – mysteries begin. As Christmas approaches, a local schoolteacher is found unconscious amidst the wreckage of her own house... Continue Reading →
A Match Made for Murder, by Iona Whishaw. Book report extra #3* (2022)
A Match Made for Murder, by Iona Whishaw. Pub 2020 Book 7 in the Lane Winslow series features the honeymoon of the Darlings, as well as the emergence of leadership from newly minted Sergeant Ames. The Darlings head to Tuscon, AZ for their honeymoon and, as one would expect from Lane, murder and mystery abound.... Continue Reading →
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