Pearl's favourite books are the ones with the stock photos of babies. You know the ones, generic babies of various ethnicities doing generic baby things like taking baths and wearing hats. She loves them and coos over those babies like she's looking at herself. (Which I guess is the point.) I, on the other hand,… Continue reading Reading with Pearl: Home by Carson Ellis
I had originally planned to use this month's Friday Favourite to focus on a Russian favourite. But when I realized it fell on Canada Day, it seemed far more fitting to focus on a modern Canadian classic. Joseph Boyden is one of the best Canadian writers currently in existence and his trilogy should be required… Continue reading Friday Favourite: Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden
A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby (Riverhead Books, 2005) Monkey Beach - Eden Robinson (Vintage Canada, 2001) Modern Lovers - Emma Straub (Random House, 2016) The Blue Castle - L.M. Montgomery (McClelland & Stewart, 1989) Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace (Back Bay Books, 2006) Last Child in the Woods - Richard Louv (Algonquin… Continue reading What I Read – June 2016
I knew before I began Last Child in the Woods that I was likely to find myself agreeing with Richard Louv. Children today play outside less than previous generations. Children today should play outside more. Playing outside - especially unstructured outdoor play - has a myriad of benefits for children and their families. This is… Continue reading Book Review: Last Child in the Woods – Richard Louv
If you are a Canadian reader of poetry chances are good that you know and admire Lorna Crozier. If you are everybody else in the world, you've probably never heard of her. Lorna Crozier is one of the best living poets today. She's written more than twenty books, mostly poetry. Her poems are lyrical and… Continue reading Poetry Monday: Lorna Crozier
Where do I even start to talk about Infinite Jest? This book is over one thousand pages long. Almost two hundred of those pages are footnotes; extensive, detailed footnotes that you absolutely cannot skip reading. This book took me months to read and it probably wasn't until I was halfway through that I felt like… Continue reading Book Review: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
This was a re-read for me but when I began sorting through boxes of my childhood books and came across my Lucy Maud Montgomery collection I felt nostalgic and delved into The Blue Castle once more. L.M. Montgomery is, of course, the author of Anne of Green Gables but she also wrote many other books… Continue reading Book Review: The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
If Modern Lovers was a finer novel, I probably wouldn't have found its premise as annoying. If it were more thoughtful - offered a greater challenge to its readers, say - I wouldn't be frustrated by its worldview. For what it is Modern Lovers is not a bad book. It's a fluff read - easy… Continue reading Book Review: Modern Lovers by Emma Straub
While Monkey Beach takes place in British Columbia, the same province in which I live, it really is worlds away. Set in the tiny Haisla community of Kitamaat, we follow Lisamarie Hill in the aftermath of her brother Jimmy's disappearance. The First Nations community (Edited to add: It was brought to my attention that "First… Continue reading Book Review: Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson
Last summer, shortly after we bought our house, my parents also moved. Since we were moving into a larger place and they were down-sizing, they brought me a few boxes from my childhood, mostly books. Being in the middle of moving and having a newborn, those boxes went into our crawl space where I mostly… Continue reading Reading with Pearl: Puppies Are Special Friends
Karissa Reads Books 