Shy Creatures - Clare Chambers (Mariner Books, 2024) Helen Hansford is an art therapist, working as an art therapist at Westbury Park, a psychiatric hospital. The year is 1964 and art therapy is still something of a new idea. Helen enjoys her work and is challenged by it but psychotherapy is on the cusp of… Continue reading Book Review: Shy Creatures by Clare Chambers
The Mythmakers - John Hendrix (Abrams, 2024) Two of the greatest literary voices of the 20th century - and certainly two of the most influential voices in the realm of fantasy literature - are undoubtedly J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. There aren't many readers in the Western world today who haven't been influenced by their… Continue reading Book Review: The Mythmakers by John Hendrix
The Stolen Bicycle - Wu Ming-Yi (translated from Mandarin by Darryl Sterk) (Text Publishing, 2017) This was such an unexpected, playful, thoughtful, and informative book. It reads more like a non-fiction story rather than a novel, perhaps because it’s hard to tell at times how much is based on the author’s actual life. And perhaps… Continue reading Book Review: The Stolen Bicycle by Wu Ming-Yi
Intermezzo - Sally Rooney (Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2024) An intermezzo, in music, is a short instrumental movement between larger acts. In chess, it refers to an unexpected move that forces an immediate response. Reading these definitions after I finished Sally Rooney's most recent novel, it struck me immediately what a fitting title the book… Continue reading Book Review: Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
The Empusium - Olga Tokarczuk (Riverhead Books, 2024) (translated to English by Antonia Lloyd-Jones) The Empusium - a strange sort of novel set in a sanitorium, health resort town in the early 20th century with a mysterious, plural-voiced ghost-like narration - is a tricky book to describe. I like Tokarczuk's work quite a lot -… Continue reading Book Review: The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk
The Coast Road - Alan Murrin (HarperVia, 2024) I received an Advance Readers Copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own. Book is on sale now. Without quite intending to, I've found myself reading quite a bit of Irish writing this past year or so. I don't know if I can… Continue reading Book Review: The Coast Road by Alan Murrin
The Fox Wife - Yangsze Choo (Henry Holt & Company, 2024) It's so nice when you pick up a book expecting to enjoy it and it lives up to all of your expectations. I was very hopeful for The Fox Wife as it had a lot that gave it points in my mind: 1) Historical… Continue reading Book Review: The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
The Capital of Dreams - Heather O'Neill (Harper Collins Publishers Ltd., 2024) I received an Advance Readers' Copy of this book. All opinions are my own. Publication Date: 9 October 2024 I've read all of Heather O'Neill's fiction (see some reviews here) over the years, starting with the debut novel that launched her into CanLit… Continue reading Book Review: The Capital of Dreams by Heather O’Neill (20 Books of Summer)
The Whalebone Theatre - Joanna Quinn (Alfred A. Knopf, 2022) In parts, this felt like two stories joined together. There is the story of three semi-feral children, related to each other in complicated ways, growing up in a crumbling English estate in the last days when such places existed. Then there is the story of… Continue reading Book Review: The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn
Point form book reviews are reviews where I have something to say about a book I've read (or, in this case, listened to) but I don't have enough coherent thought around to write a full review. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would Did not know it was split into two parts, set… Continue reading (Point Form) (Audio) Book Review: The Damages by Genevieve Scott
Karissa Reads Books 