I've long been told that I should read Isabel Allende so I happily picked up this second hand copy at Powell's Books when in Portland. The Japanese Lover wasn't exactly what I expected but Allende didn't disappoint. Her writing is effective, dense, and infinitely enjoyable. Allende packs a lot into this book. The story encompasses a lot… Continue reading Book Review: The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende
I've previously read Chesterton's The Man Who was Thursday (review here), Orthodoxy, and some of his Father Brown mysteries and generally enjoyed Chesterton's writing. So I thought it might be interesting to read his autobiography, first published in 1936. Autobiography is, perhaps, a misleading title. What this book really is is a series of essays,… Continue reading Book Review: Autobiography by G.K. Chesterton
I've read all of Heather O'Neill's published work and reviewed two of them here. (Daydream of Angels and Lullabies for Little Criminals) Obviously, I enjoy her work and thankfully her latest novel didn't disappoint. If you like O'Neill's previous work, then I think you'll be pleased with The Lonely Hearts Hotel. Using Montreal once again as her setting,… Continue reading Book Review: The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O’Neill
I was inspired to re-read Agatha Christie's famous mystery novel And Then There Were None after reading FictionFan's book review. I'd read this short mystery story a couple of times before, years ago, but it had always stuck in my memory as one of the finest mystery novels I've read. Years ago, reading it for the first time,… Continue reading Book Review: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
This year Canada celebrated 150 years of existing as Canada. We are obviously a young country and we would do well to remember that culture existed and people lived on this land for many, many years before European settlers arrived. In 150 years, we as a nation have made a great many mistakes and we… Continue reading Canada Day 2017
This felt like kind of a strange reading month for me. I started off by reading Alexie's memoir and Verghese' back-to-back, while also working my way through Chesterton's autobiography. While I enjoyed each one, it also felt like a lot of male experiences and I was itching for some feminine perspective to balance it out.… Continue reading What I Read – June 2017
A couple of disclaimers first: This book will be released on July 11th by Knopf. I got an Advanced Reading Copy, with no expectation of anything in return. I did not finish reading this book. I made it to page 92/chapter 12 and gave up. I knew I wasn't the target audience of this novel.… Continue reading Book Review: Gork, the Teenage Dragon by Gabe Hudson
June is coming to a hectic end and we are heading full force into July without a break in sight. But the sun is shining and Peter's work schedule will (eventually) slow down so June is also getting really good. We spent a good portion of this past weekend at the beach, including a Saturday… Continue reading Life in June
After a somewhat awkward incident of an acquaintance thinking I'd borrowed his copy of The Tennis Partner almost ten years ago and never returned it, I decided to take it as a sign and actually read the book. (I got it from the library, however.) Having read Cutting for Stone last year, I already knew… Continue reading Book Review: The Tennis Partner by Abraham Verghese
For most of high school, I lived within walking distance of a Sikh temple in East Vancouver. A lot of my friends were Punjabi and so while there's still a lot I don't know about Sikh culture, I'd say I'm fairly familiar with it over all. So I was excited to read Basran's novel of… Continue reading Book Review: Everything Was Good-Bye by Gurjinder Basran
Karissa Reads Books 