How to Pronounce Knife - Souvankham Thammavongsa (McClelland & Stewart, 2020)On Reading Well - Karen Swallow Prior (Brazos Press, 2018)Land-Water-Sky/Ndè-Tı-Yat’a by Katłıà (Roseway Publishing, 2020)Eggshells - Caitriona Lally (Melville House, 2017)Indians on Vacation - Thomas King (Harper Collins Publishers, 2020)Salt Houses - Hala Alyan (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017) Currently Reading: Tom Jones - Henry Fielding A… Continue reading What I Read – February 2021
Our big highlight of the week is that Pearl turned 6! Hard to believe a year ago we threw a full blown party for her (With people! We served food! People travelled from out of town!) but we've done a few things this week to mark the day and have more fun planned for the… Continue reading 2021 Highlights: Week 8
Indians on Vacation - Thomas King (Harper Collins Publisher, 2020) Blackbird Mavrias, better known as Bird, and his wife Mimi Bull Shield are on vacation. Residents of Guelph (it's in Ontario, Canada), they have spent recent years travelling through Europe, sightseeing and exploring as tourists. They are ostensibly tracing the path of Mimi's Uncle, who… Continue reading Book Review: Indians on Vacation by Thomas King
Eggshells - Caitriona Lally (Melville House Publishing, 2018) Vivian lives alone in the city of Dublin, inhabiting her great-aunt's house after said great-aunt's death. The house is fusty, crowded, and has too many chairs. But it suits Vivian who is what we might call "an odd duck". Very soon after the book opens we watch… Continue reading Book Review: Eggshells by Caitriona Lally
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,the world offers itself to your imagination,calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -over and over announcing your place in the family of things.Mary Oliver, "Wild Geese" A snowy Saturday! A quiet holiday Monday at home.A sunny Tuesday walk and a picnic at the park park.… Continue reading 2021 Highlights: Week 7
On Reading Well - Karen Swallow Prior (Brazos Press, 2018) In On Reading Well, Karen Swallow Prior examines the idea of virtue by examining twelve works of fiction, one for each virtue. The book is divided into three sections: The Cardinal Virtues (Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Courage); The Theological Virtues (Faith, Hope, and Love); and… Continue reading Book Review: On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior (+ a new reading challenge)
This book was provided to me as an e-ARC from the publisher and NetGalley. All opinions are my own. There's a lot to appreciate about this debut novel. It brings the northern region of Canada and the traditional lands of the Indigenous people there to life with all its natural power and beauty. The story… Continue reading Book Review: Land-Water-Sky/Ndè-Tı-Yat’a by Katłıà
To Do Lists. To Do Lists basically help me function. I have a weekly To Do List and then write daily To Do Lists and I put the dumbest stuff on my daily lists. Stuff that I am absolutely going to do whether or not it's on my list. But I mix it in with… Continue reading 2021 Highlights: Week 6
How to Pronounce Knife - Souvankham Thammavongsa (McClelland & Stewart, 2020) How to Pronounce Knife is the most recent winner of the Giller Prize, probably Canada's most prestigious literary award. It is a collection of short stories, a common thread running through of The Outsider. More specifically, these are stories that detail elements of the… Continue reading Book Review: How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa
A Treasury of Short Stories ed. by Bernardine Kielty (Simon & Schuster, 1947) This is a collection of short stories, spanning two continents and over one hundred years. The stories are organized first by century (19th and 20th) and then by region (European and American). Let's talk first about the flaws here because though they… Continue reading Book Review: A Treasury of Short Stories ed. by Bernardine Kielty
Karissa Reads Books 