This book surprised me. I was surprised to find a first time novelist who could balance so many characters and tensions so skillfully. I was surprised that there hasn't been more hype over Lauren Owen's debut. And I was surprised because the blurb on the book jacket is so completely not what this book is… Continue reading Book Review: The Quick by Lauren Owen
Tag: Book Recommendations
Book Review: Every Good Endeavor by Timothy Keller
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
Book Review: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
I'm very low-key about my hair. I get it cut maybe twice a year. I don't colour it and I rarely use product in it. I go to the drug store and I buy whatever shampoo and conditioner is on sale. I've never given much thought to the privilege this represents. There is an eye-opening… Continue reading Book Review: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Book Review: Going After Cacciato – Tim O’Brien
"The soldier is not a photographic machine. He is not a camera. He registers, so to speak, only those few items that he is predisposed to register and not a single thing more. Do you understand this? So I am saying to you that after a battle each soldier will have different stories to tell,… Continue reading Book Review: Going After Cacciato – Tim O’Brien
Book Review: If I Fall, If I Die by Michael Christie
A few years ago I heard Michael Christie read from his then new short story collection, The Beggar's Garden. I enjoyed the stories and so was curious to read more from him, now in novel form. If I Fall, If I Die doesn't disappoint and I found it even more readable and enjoyable than his… Continue reading Book Review: If I Fall, If I Die by Michael Christie
Book Review: The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli
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
Book Review: The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney
This is a book with a surprisingly tight plot. I say surprisingly because there are a lot of plot lines going on here and yet each one is compelling, thoughtful, and well fleshed-out. There's a murdered French trapper, a remote Hudson Bay Company fort, a Norwegian religious community, the twenty year disappearance of two young… Continue reading Book Review: The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney
Book Review – Alone in the Classroom by Elizabeth Hay
Alone in the Classroom (Emblem 2011) begins with a murder and the tension grows from there. In fact, the rate of revelation and tension in this novel is infinitely impressive. Our narrator, Anne, begins with the story of the death of a young girl, occurring when her own mother was young. It is also the… Continue reading Book Review – Alone in the Classroom by Elizabeth Hay
Book Review – A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans
This is a book I've been wanting to read for a long time and it did not disappoint. I was familiar with Rachel Held Evans' writing through her blog - mostly posts circulated by friends. And while I've never followed it religiously (pun!) I've generally appreciated what I've read from Evans. A Year of Biblical… Continue reading Book Review – A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans
Book Review – Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Gilead (HarperCollins, 2004) is a novel that shouldn't work but does. And masterfully so. There's not much action and there's even less dialogue and yet Robinson keeps the tension tight and the reader engaged. John Ames is in his late seventies and he knows he will die soon. He doesn't have much in the way… Continue reading Book Review – Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Karissa Reads Books 