In our last year at university, my friend and I joined the University Singers, an amateur choral group supporting the more advanced singers within the School of Music. I think we saw a poster advertising the group’s plan to perform Handel’s Messiah that fall, and so we signed up. Thus began a lifelong love of... Continue Reading →
Stop Reading the News, by Rolf Dobelli. Pub 2019. Translation by Caroline Waight, pub 2020.
The title of this book spoke to me, in light of many conversations this year about the depressing imposition the news represents, and the goal of reclaiming my attention from the whirlpool of online sites. According to Dobelli, the only way is cold turkey - as the title says, stop reading the news – and... Continue Reading →
Do/Pause, by Robert Poynton
I wish I could remember where I heard about this book. I suspect it was an impulse purchase on a bookshop online store, where the lovely cover illustration and tagline appealed to me: You are not a To Do list. Part philosophy, part self-help, this manifesto advocates introducing conscious and deliberate pauses into one’s day... Continue Reading →
Useful Not True, by Derek Sivers. Pub 2024
I had read Sivers’ Anything You Want a few years ago, and found it to be a good inspiration and guide to being true to oneself when starting a business. The main takeaway from AYW is an important touchstone for me: “You can’t live someone else’s expectation of a traditional business. You have to just... Continue Reading →
In Covid’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us, by Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee. Pub 2025
Short version: In Covid’s Wake presents an excellent overview of the policies and actions in several regions of the world (primarily the US) during the Covid-19 pandemic, evaluating these for lessons learned for future crises. The authors do an excellent job analysing the rationales for the various approaches and the outcomes and impact on the... Continue Reading →
A Way to Be Happy, by Caroline Adderson. Pub 2024
This book was a birthday gift last year, from a good friend and colleague with whom I meet regularly for lunch and discussion. For our birthdays, we often exchange books, and I always find something new and interesting in these gifts. Short stories are a tricky space. The author must get the reader engaged early... Continue Reading →
Wizard and Glass, by Stephen King. Pub 1997
Book 4 of the Dark Tower series was an epic in both storytelling and proportions – nearly 900 pages, and covering several significant storylines. Continuing where book 3 left off, our merry band of travellers survives the murderous train ride to find themselves walking a yellow brick road in Kansas and discovering an emerald castle... Continue Reading →
We Do Not Part, by Han Kang. Pub 2021. Translation by E. Yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris, Pub 2025.
I got this book when I read that the New York Times had selected it for its book club in March. I had also vaguely heard of it at my local bookshop, and with the added imprimatur of the Nobel Prize in 2024, it seemed like a good bet to try out this new-to-me author.... Continue Reading →
The End of the Affair, by Graham Greene. Pub 1951
This book was part of my September binge of favourite bookstores in Victoria (specifically, Russell Books and their terrific selection of used and remaindered). I’ve enjoyed my previous Greene novels, and since this one is well known for its film versions (neither of which I’ve seen) and for being Greene's best (indeed one of the... Continue Reading →
Changing My Mind, by Julian Barnes. Pub 2025
Upon seeing this new volume by Barnes, I instantly ordered it, raced down the bookshop when it arrived, and made it my next read. I confess to being disappointed when I got it – it is so small – 57 small pages. But it’s Barnes, so it was, to me, essential reading, even if it... Continue Reading →
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