Once Upon a River - Diane Setterfield (Bond Street Books, 2018) In the late 19th century, the Swan pub sits on the banks of the River Thames. It is known for its storytelling, a place where people gather to share a drink, to tell a story. One winter night, solstice, a man bursts into the… Continue reading Book Review: Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
New From Here - Kelly Yang (Simon & Schuster, 2022) I received an e-book Advance Reader's Copy of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. New From Here will be on sale March 1, 2022. When I read Kelly Yang's Front Desk, I… Continue reading Book Review: New From Here by Kelly Yang
Out of the Sun - Esi Edugyan (Anansi, 2021) Esi Edugyan is best known for her award-winning fiction - Half Blood Blues and Washington Black - but in this non-fiction book she tackles the subjects of Race and Storytelling. The book is divided according to geographical areas as well as topics: Europe and the Art… Continue reading Book Review: Out of the Sun by Esi Edugyan
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
A Womb in the Shape of a Heart - Joanne Gallant (Nimbus Publishing, 2021) Like many women, Joanne Gallant expected to get pregnant easily and never questioned her own fertility. Happily married and in her late twenties, Gallant and her husband Joey eagerly planned for the family they wanted. A paediatric nurse, Gallant knew more… Continue reading Book Review: A Womb in the Shape of a Heart by Joanne Gallant
Strange Beasts of China - Yan Ge (Melville House, 2020) (translated from the Chinese by Jeremy Tang) Our unnamed narrator lives in the city of Yong'an. It is a city where humans live side by side in a tremulous peace with various kinds of beasts. Some of these beasts are frequently present in the humans… Continue reading Book Review: Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge
Mexican Gothic - Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey, 2020) Noemi is a young socialite in Mexico City in the mid-20th century. She likes parties and dancing and socializing. Noemi is smart and therefore aware that some of her greatest power lies in her place in society as a flirtatious, young woman. When a strange and confusing… Continue reading Book Review: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
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
Five Little Indians - Michelle Good (Harper Perennial, 2020) At the age of sixteen, Lucy ages out of the residential school that she has attended for the last ten years. Put on a boat and given a bus ticket to Vancouver, she arrives on the Downtown Eastside with no world experience and a deep history… Continue reading Book Review: Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
Jesus and John Wayne - Kristin Kobes Du Mez (Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2020) The word "evangelize" means, simply, to preach the gospel. To preach what Christians refer to as "the good news". This is something Christians are instructed to do, by Jesus Christ, in a Biblical passage commonly referred to as The Great Commission. (Matthew… Continue reading Book Review: Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes Du Mez
Karissa Reads Books 