If I say "Dickensian London" the English reader generally knows what I mean. Industry, soot, fog, poverty. Children working dangerous jobs for little pay. Jack Maggs has just arrived back in London after what was supposed to be a life sentence to Australia. When the man he desperately seeks, Henry Phipps, is nowhere to be… Continue reading Book Review – Jack Maggs by Peter Carey
After reading The Lotus Eaters (read my review here), it seemed fitting to read something about the Vietnam War from a North Vietnam perspective. The Sorrow of War was written by Bao Ninh, who served as a teenager for North Vietnam. While the book is fictional, it's easy to imagine that it's based on a… Continue reading Book Review: The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh
Reading books for children and youth as an adult means you start to see the same things over and over again. There are tropes common to many books intended for children. So when you read a kids' book with some fresh ideas, you really notice. Adam and Cressida Bloom are brother and sister and, like… Continue reading Book Review: The Talent Thief by Alex Williams (Reading with Pearl)
Although not as widely known as some of other Tolkien's books (have you heard of The Lord of the Rings?), Roverandom is one of my favourite reads on a sick day. So when Pearl recently had her first cold and wanted lots of cuddles, we snuggled up together and I read this to her. It's… Continue reading Book Review: Roverandom by J.R.R. Tolkien (Reading with Pearl)
Remembrance is a short book, more of an essay, really than maybe even a story. I read it in one middle-of-the-night baby-feeding session. It's the story of three David MacDonalds; father and son and grandfather. The focus is primarily the first David MacDonald, who left his pregnant wife and young daughter to serve with the… Continue reading Book Review: Remembrance by Alistair MacLeod
My birthday present to Peter this year was tickets to Hey Rosetta! in Vancouver and so this past weekend, we headed over to the Big City. There was a time when going to an event in the city was an easy occasion. Throw a change of clothes in a bag, pull up to the ferry… Continue reading Weekend Travels
Sometimes you reach the end of a book and you have to go into the other room and simply sit and stare at your sleeping baby for a few minutes. Yann Martel is, of course, best known as the author of The Life of Pi. A book that powerful is a hard act to follow… Continue reading Book Review: Beatrice & Virgil by Yann Martel
The Lotus Eaters begins with the following quote from The Odyssey: Those who ate the honeyed fruit of the plant lost any wish to come back and bring us news. All they now wanted was to stay where they were with the Lotus-eaters, to browse on the lotus, and to forget all thoughts of return.… Continue reading Book Review: The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli
For the first time in the years we've known each other, Peter and I co-ordinated our costumes. Who knows what we are? A narwhal, a baby narwhal, and an Arctic explorer - that's right! (Does your face look kind of like Pearl's face right now?) This costume was borne out of the fact that Peter… Continue reading
Let's talk about story. And narration. And unreliable narrators and memory and aging. Each of these subjects is what Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending is really about. The plot is really more of an excuse to examine these topics. That's not to say there is no plot or that the plot is no… Continue reading Book Review: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
Karissa Reads Books 