Adam Johnson is best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Orphan Master's Son, which is set in North Korea. Johnson returns to the subject of North Korea in the title story of this collection, Fortune Smiles, but that story and the others here are very diverse. Johnson's slightly cynical style and his frequent focus… Continue reading Book Review: Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson
This book suffered from what I've come to think of as "my 2:30 am problem". That's where I start reading a new book in the middle of the night while up nursing. A good book is typically how I stay awake for these sessions (and if a book is really good I've been known to… Continue reading Book Review: The People’s Act of Love by James Meek
This is one of those books that dwells in my mind for days after I finished it. So while it might not be the most literary or the most well-written, it certainly succeeds on some level. The novel is a not-at-all thinly veiled re-telling of the murder of Meredith Kercher. If that name doesn't sound… Continue reading Book Review: Abroad by Katie Crouch
This is a surreal, fantastical tale set in a crumbling prison. It's about life and death, corruption, and a little bit of love. Our narrator is a prisoner on death row - both his name and his crime are kept from us until the end. We learn that he is a selective mute, a voracious… Continue reading Book Review: The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld
Agnes Magnúsdóttir was the last person to be sentenced to death for a crime in Iceland. She died by beheading in 1830. In Burial Rites, Hannah Kent offers a fictional idea of what Agnes' last months might have been like, as well as what the truth may have been surrounding the murder for which Agnes… Continue reading Book Review: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
I made an attempt on a Henry James novel once before and didn't get far so I didn't have high hopes for this book (not to mention that it's about 800 pages long). Fortunately, I was very pleasantly surprised and was drawn in by the characters and plot almost immediately. (Warning: I always try to… Continue reading Book Review: The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
It's kind of an odd choice to read a book about work at this stage of my life. I'm a stay-at-home parent and I love it. I feel a lot of value in what I do and so I try to do it to the best of my ability. Which is really what lies at… Continue reading Book Review: Every Good Endeavor by Timothy Keller
My year in books... What I Loved: Fiction: Half of a Yellow Sun –Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Vintage Canada, 2007) The Portrait of a Lady – Henry James (Modern Library A Very Long Engagement – Sébastien Japrisot (Plume, 1994) Beatrice & Virgil – Yann Martel (Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2010) The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet… Continue reading What I Read – 2015
No Great Mischief - Alistair MacLeod (W.W. Norton & Company, 2000) The Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan (Penguin Books, 2006) ...however we choose to feed ourselves, we eat by the grace of nature, not industry, and what we're eating is never anything more or less than the body of the world. Ru - Kim Thúy… Continue reading What I Read – December 2015
This book was dangerously over-hyped for me. When I start to hear over and over again how great a book is (or anything really) my stubborn heels begin to dig in and I am ready to dislike it. Which is a silly reaction, I know, but a difficult habit to shake. Fortunately, I still enjoyed… Continue reading Book Review: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Karissa Reads Books 