This weekend we celebrated Pearl's birthday. We kept it simple, partially because we seem to be raising an introvert here but mostly because she's one and she won't remember this and so we're kind of mostly celebrating the fact that Peter and I made it through a year of parenting! So a simple lunch, some… Continue reading A Birthday Party
Music for Wartime - Rebecca Makkai (Viking, 2015) The Givenness of Things - Marilynne Robinson (HarperCollins, 2015) (Truth be told, I only read half of this before I had to return it to the library. But I really enjoyed what I read and I hope to borrow it again.) When panic on one side is… Continue reading What I Read – February 2016
If you're familiar with Yann Martel's work (and you probably are, because he wrote Life of Pi), you know that he does things a little unusually. He writes books with taxidermied animals as the main characters (read my review of Beatrice & Virgil) and he leaves you wondering about the truth of that tiger in… Continue reading Book Review: The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel
We spend too much time teaching girls to worry about what boys think of them. But the reverse is not the case. We don't teach boys to care about being likeable. We spend too much time telling girls that they cannot be angry or aggressive or tough, which is bad enough, but then we turn… Continue reading Book Review: We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
One year ago today Peter and I were walking (very slowly) around Kerrisdale while I tried to figure out if my contractions were real or false labour (they were false). I can remember sitting in an armchair in a second-hand shop, wondering if the store would charge me if my water broke. We're currently eagerly… Continue reading This Time Last Year…
While I didn't find this to be Lewis' most compelling or convicting book, I think there's still a lot of good stuff here. It's no secret I'm a major C.S. Lewis fan. As well as enjoying his novels, he's one of my favourite Christian thinkers and he's had a major influence on my faith. In… Continue reading Book Review: Letters to Malcolm by C.S. Lewis
This is Rebecca Makkai's third book, following two novels. This short story collection is cohesive, yet diverse. There's reality television and professional musicians and family legend. Indeed, fact and fiction are mixed together here. Spliced in between the fictional stories, Makkai includes interludes of her own family history, namely that of her grandparents. Her grandmother,… Continue reading Book Review: Music for Wartime by Rebecca Makkai
A few years back, during the cold and snowy Chilliwack winter that Peter and I first subscribed to Netflix, I watched the first two seasons of Mad Men. Everyone seemed to be telling us that we had to watch this show. How clever it was, how realistic, how engaging. In the end, I don't think… Continue reading Book Review: The Company She Keeps by Mary McCarthy
After standing strong for many days, I've finally succumbed to the cold Peter's had for the past couple of weeks. I could feel it coming down on me while at work yesterday. Today's a home day for Pearl and I so while it isn't exactly a "day off" for me, I do get to stay… Continue reading Sick Days, Sunny Days, Fort Days
Let the Great World Spin was the best book I read in 2013. The next book I read by Colum McCann (later that same summer) was Zoli, which I also enjoyed a lot. Thirteen Ways of Looking and Transatlantic are McCann's most recent novels, from 2013 and 2015 respectively, and while they're both solid, well-written… Continue reading Book Review: Two Books by Colum McCann
Karissa Reads Books 