I went for this book specifically because it won the 2024 International Booker prize, and so knew it would fulfill a booklist category. Otherwise, I knew nothing about this book, other than its original language was German. The title Kairos refers to the Greek god or characteristic of a chance encounter. This is how the... Continue Reading →
Dickens and Prince, by Nick Hornby. Pub 2022
Short version: Dickens may not be your cup of tea. Ditto for Prince. So the short version is: I really enjoyed this book, learned a lot, and found the comparison to be a fascinating look back at two artists of different mediums and times. If you are interested, but not so much you want to... Continue Reading →
The MANIAC, by Benjamín Labatut. Pub 2023
I got this book as part of a vacation bookstore binge earlier this year. After loving the previous book by Labatut (When We Cease to Understand the World), I was looking forward to this one, and saved it up for some quieter reading time. Almost double the length of Cease, The MANIAC takes its name... Continue Reading →
The World According to Garp, by John Irving. Pub 1976
It was the summer of 1982. I was 15ish and, while waiting for the bus at the corner of Portage Avenue and Vaughan Street in Winnipeg, I saw the marquee of the theatre across the street advertising the film The World According to Garp. I think I had seen a trailer for the film earlier... Continue Reading →
The Awakening, by Kate Chopin. Pub 1899
I first heard of this book on the podcast Backlisted, and then again in a book about banned books. The podcast praise made me interested in reading it, but I was hesitant due to comparisons with Virginia Woolf. Then the book was displayed at a bookshop during a recent shopping trip, so I took it... Continue Reading →
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Other Jazz Age Stories, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Pub 2009
Last year, I listened to an episode of Backlisted (a favourite podcast) about American fiction, where one of the panelists recommended the story, “The Diamond as Big as The Ritz”. I was interested enough that I sought out a collection of 19 Fitzgerald stories that included this story, and was surprised to find that he’d... Continue Reading →
Knife, by Salman Rushdie. Pub 2024
I have only ever read one Salman Rushdie before – East, West, published in 1994. I don’t recall much about it, other than where and when I bought it – in 1994, in London. My copy is autographed by the author, something I thought extraordinary since he was still very much in hiding at that... Continue Reading →
We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin. Original pub 1924. Translation by Clarence Brown, pub 1993
This selection was driven primarily by the need to complete the banned-book category, but also by several pieces in The Happy Reader (issue #10) which made me dig it out of my bookshelves. Briefly, the story is set in the future - the 26th century. After a 200-year war, civilization has settled down into a... Continue Reading →
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Pub 1859
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, rendered into English verse by Edward Fitzgerald. Originally published in 1859 (1st ed.), my copy from 1960. My current favourite podcast is Backlisted, and I may shortly breakdown and get a paid subscription just so I can get some of my favourite features, including a list of all books mentioned on the... Continue Reading →
Mrs. Bridge, by Evan S. Connell. Pub 1959
This was a recommendation from two years ago from my book club partner. I got it a few months later and made a few false starts on it last year. This year, I got stuck in and enjoyed it. The novel has 117 short chapters that provide vignettes and vantage points to an ordinary and... Continue Reading →