When Lillian Leyb's whole family is killed in a Russian pogrom - brutally slaughtered by their neighbours simply for being Jewish - she boards a ship to a new country and ends up in New York City, sharing a cramped apartment with a cousin and a rotating cast of other roommates. A job at a… Continue reading (Audio) Book Review: Away by Amy Bloom
As before, this will be less of a book review and more a way to share my experience of re-reading childhood favourites with my own children. For reference, my kids are ages 7 and 4. Little Women is such a classic story and one I've read and watched so many times that I have trouble… Continue reading Reading With Pearl & Rose: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Heartbroke - Chelsea Bieker (Catapult, 2022) I received an Advance Reading Copy of this book. All opinions are my own. Publication date: 5 April 2022 As many do, I tend to picture California as a land of wealth and excess. Sun, surf, beautiful people. But of course California is large and full of many regions… Continue reading Book Review: Heartbroke by Chelsea Bieker
The Mothers - Brit Bennett (Riverhead Books, 2016) When Nadia Turner loses her mother to suicide, her grief and anger turn into rebellion, culminating in a relationship with the son of the pastor at her father's church. Nadia is seventeen, almost finished high school, while Luke is twenty-one, floundering after an injury ended his promising… Continue reading Book Review: The Mothers by Brit Bennett
None but the Righteous - Chantal James (Counterpoint, 2022) I received an Advance Reading Copy of this book. All opinions are my own. On sale now. I've been pondering this novel since I finished it, trying to decide whether or not I enjoyed it. Our main character is Ham (short for Hamilton, not in honour… Continue reading Book Review: None but the Righteous by Chantal James
Seeking Fortune Elsewhere - Sindya Bhanoo (Catapult, 2022) I read an Advance Reading Copy of this book. All opinions are my own. On sale February 15, 2022. There are a variety of characters, settings, and difficulties at play in these short stories but they share more in common than they are different. Each explores an… Continue reading Book Review: Seeking Fortune Elsewhere by Sindya Bhanoo
We Run the Tides - Vendela Vida (Ecco, 2021) We Run the Tides is set in San Francisco, the wealthy neighbourhood of Sea Cliff, in 1984-1985. This is San Francisco pre-tech boom, a place of wealth but also a hippy city set on the ocean, where the inhabitants have acquired their wealth in a variety… Continue reading Book Review: We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain (Canterbury Classics, 2012) Huckleberry Finn is our hero and our narrator in this adventure novel that is really so much more than an adventure novel. Huck lives in Missouri, some time in the mid-19th century. The story begins after The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and we find Tom… Continue reading Book Review: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Transcendent Kingdom - Yaa Gyasi (Bond Street Books, 2020) Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi was one of my top reads of 2020 so I went into reading Transcendent Kingdom with very high expectations. While Transcendent Kingdom has a lot in it that is beautiful and thoughtful, it does suffer by comparison to Homegoing and it was… Continue reading Book Review: Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
White Ivy - Susie Yang (Simon & Schuster, 2020) The blurb for this novel tells us that Ivy Lin is a thief and liar. And while these are certainly true of the main character of White Ivy, it doesn't tell the whole story. Ivy Lin is someone who wants more. At a young age, while… Continue reading Book Review: White Ivy by Susie Yang
Karissa Reads Books 