What I Read – December 2022

Read: The Promise - Damon Galgut (Europa Editions Audio, 2022) How It Went - Wendell Berry (Counterpoint, 2022) The Glass Hotel - Emily St. John Mandel (Harper Collins Publishers, 2020) Around the Hearth - L.M. Montgomery (Nimbus Publishing, 2022) The Colony - Audrey Magee (Farrer, Strauss, Giroux, 2022) Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr (Scribner,… Continue reading What I Read – December 2022

(Point Form) Book Review: The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

Loved this book. Who is the main character? I'm not sure and I don't even care. Ponzi scheme set in 2008 inspired by Madoff Vincent is an amazing main character - she’s smart and vulnerable, fluid and changing but consistent in her basic character. She feels real. The setting of a remote luxury hotel located… Continue reading (Point Form) Book Review: The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

(Point Form) Book Review: The Promise by Damon Galgut

South African author, winner of the Booker Prize follows one family over several years When their mother dies, she makes their father promise that he will give their servant, Salome, her house to own Apartheid South Africa, the family is white, Salome is Black...we see where this is going, right? Father does not honour the… Continue reading (Point Form) Book Review: The Promise by Damon Galgut

(Point Form) Book Review: Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

newest book from the author of Little Fires Everywhere and Everything I Never Told You Set several years after a national crisis Kind of like the Covid-19 pandemic and fallout but not exactly the Covid-19 pandemic and fallout. Like our pandemic though, the result was increased racism against Asian-Americans Hopefully unlike any of our governments,… Continue reading (Point Form) Book Review: Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

2022 Highlights: December (pre-Christmas)

As predicted, December has been busy! No complaints here though - we have managed to stay pretty healthy (mostly) and had lots of fun things going on. We are now officially on winter break from school though my job continues to be extra busy. On my last highlights post, I had just celebrated my birthday.… Continue reading 2022 Highlights: December (pre-Christmas)

Best Fiction: The Fifth Annual Karissa Reads Books Literary Awards

Hello and Welcome Back to the final installment of the Fifth Annual Karissa Reads Books Literary Awards! Undoubtedly, most of what I read is fiction so this final category is the Big One. I have my top 5 below but some other titles I greatly enjoyed reading in the past year are (in no particular… Continue reading Best Fiction: The Fifth Annual Karissa Reads Books Literary Awards

Best Non-Fiction: The Fifth Annual Karissa Reads Books Literary Awards

Hello and Welcome Back! Today's category of the Karissa Reads Books Literary Awards is focused on the best non-fiction books I read in 2022. I am definitely a fiction reader. It takes a lot for a non-fiction book to really jump out at me and onto my TBR. When I do read non-fiction, I tend… Continue reading Best Non-Fiction: The Fifth Annual Karissa Reads Books Literary Awards

Best Canadian Book: The Fifth Annual Karissa Reads Books Literary Awards

Hello and Welcome Back! As a Canadian and an avid reader, I like to read a lot of books by Canadian writers. I personally think that books are one of the few media that remains unique in Canadian. Our movies, our television, and our music is largely dominated by our American neighbours but in literature,… Continue reading Best Canadian Book: The Fifth Annual Karissa Reads Books Literary Awards

Book Review: The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

For approximately two-thirds of The Other Black Girl, I felt like I was reading a smart, contemporary novel about young women in the workplace, modern publishing industries, and the issues that Black women deal with. Then, quite suddenly, the book turned into something far more nefarious and confusing. To the point that I had the… Continue reading Book Review: The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris