This weary nicotine-stained lithograph-on-board has pride-of-place in my living room not because it is valuable (certainly not) or noteworthy. This print occupied a similar position in my grandparents' home for as long as I can remember and likely before that, so it is a piece of my own history. This was my pop's parents’ home,... Continue Reading →
There is No Long Distance Now, by Naomi Shihab Nye. Book report #16 (2018)
There is No Long Distance Now: Very Short Stories, by Naomi Shihab Nye. Pub 2011 This is the second book I've read by this author (last year I read her quasi-essays "I'll Ask You Three Times: Are You OK?"). This one is just as quirky as the first, but very different as well. After an... Continue Reading →
The Uncollected David Rakoff. Book report #15 (2018)
The Uncollected David Rakoff, ed. by Timothy G. Young. Pub 2015 I have read all of David Rakoff’s books, and enjoyed them all, so was delighted to find this collection of previously unpublished (or at least uncollected) works. David Rakoff’s essays are brilliant – wry, introspective, prescient, sad, and funny. Most are highly personal, sometimes... Continue Reading →
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. Book report #14 (2018)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. Pub 1884 I was led to re-read this book after watching the Ken Burns documentary about Mark Twain (which was fascinating and highly recommended). A big part of the documentary was about his most famous book and character, and so inspired me to pick this one up... Continue Reading →
The Dip, by Seth Godin. Book report #13 (2018)
The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick), by Seth Godin. Pub 2007 I was led to this brief book via this article. I am dealing with some team issues at work (people leaving), and I was struggling to understand the choices that people were making. I wasn't... Continue Reading →
Item #24: Painted Rocks
Nearly 30 years ago, my mom began painting - first with watercolours but then in a variety of media that, in the mid-nineties, included painting on rock. She collects rocks of appropriate size and texture from the local beaches on Vancouver Island, as well as other locations that she visits in Canada and elsewhere. The... Continue Reading →
Milk and Honey, by Rupi Kaur, and The Other Side of Ourselves, by Rob Taylor. Books 11 and 12 (2018)
Milk and Honey, by Rupi Kaur. Pub 2015 The Other Side of Ourselves, by Rob Taylor. Pub 2011 Poetry time. I finished both of these on the same day, even though I started one a while ago. Insomnia is a great friend to making progress on the reading list. These two books couldn’t be more... Continue Reading →
Warlight, by Michael Ondaatje. Book report #10 (2018)
Warlight, by Michael Ondaatje. Pub 2018 I haven't been an Ondaatje fan, but a duo of events led me to read his latest: first, last week I found myself at a conference in Montreal, having finished the only book I brought with me and discovered that my Kindle battery was in need of a charge... Continue Reading →
Macbeth, by Jo Nesbø. Book report #9 (2018)
Macbeth, by Jo Nesbø. Pub 2018 The last of the recent recommendations, and this was another winner. I've not read any Jo Nesbø before, and looking at his bibliography I likely never would have, so this was a very pleasant surprise (I had a similar surprise with a longtime favourite book The Children of Men,... Continue Reading →
Slade House, by David Mitchell. Book report #8 (2018)
Slade House, by David Mitchell. Pub 2015 Another author recommendation from a the newly-found kindred literary spirit, I chose this book at random from the several available. I deliberately did NOT choose Cloud Atlas as I've made several failed attempts to start that very long book and wanted something I could finish (hopefully) in a timely... Continue Reading →
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