This was a re-read for me but when I began sorting through boxes of my childhood books and came across my Lucy Maud Montgomery collection I felt nostalgic and delved into The Blue Castle once more. L.M. Montgomery is, of course, the author of Anne of Green Gables but she also wrote many other books… Continue reading Book Review: The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
If Modern Lovers was a finer novel, I probably wouldn't have found its premise as annoying. If it were more thoughtful - offered a greater challenge to its readers, say - I wouldn't be frustrated by its worldview. For what it is Modern Lovers is not a bad book. It's a fluff read - easy… Continue reading Book Review: Modern Lovers by Emma Straub
While Monkey Beach takes place in British Columbia, the same province in which I live, it really is worlds away. Set in the tiny Haisla community of Kitamaat, we follow Lisamarie Hill in the aftermath of her brother Jimmy's disappearance. The First Nations community (Edited to add: It was brought to my attention that "First… Continue reading Book Review: Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson
Most people get suicide, I guess; most people, even if it's hidden deep down inside somewhere, can remember a time in their lives when they thought about whether they really wanted to wake up the next day. Wanting to die seems like it might be a part of being alive. I've read a few of… Continue reading Book Review: A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
A Visit from the Goon Squad is Jennifer Egan's most celebrated novel (winner of the Pulitzer Prize) and so even though I hadn't really enjoyed her previous novel, The Keep, that much I was looking forward to reading this one. I didn't love The Goon Squad but it was an engaging read. Although the blurbs… Continue reading Book Review: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Welcome! Happy Friday! Friday Favourites are where I spend one Friday a month talking about a book I've read and loved in the past. Ann Patchett is that rare author who straddles the line between literary and popular fiction. By which I mean, she's approachable and readable for that reader off the street who might… Continue reading Friday Favourite: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
My name is Ruth. I grew up with my younger sister, Lucille, under the care of my grandmother, Mrs. Sylvia Foster, and when she died, of her sisters-in-law, Misses Lily and Nona Foster, and when they fled, of her daughter, Mrs. Sylvia Fisher. These first sentences of Marilynne Robinson's novel Housekeeping (aside from being some… Continue reading Book Review: Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
If there's a lesson to be learned from Before the Fall, it might be "Don't be fabulously rich because people will want to kill you." Or, at the very least, "Don't fly on private planes". The characters in Noah Hawley's debut novel (to be released at the end of this month) are rich in a… Continue reading Book Review: Before the Fall by Noah Hawley
There are books that, once you read them, change your view of literature and what it can be. One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of those books for me. This was the first I'd read from Gabriel Garcia Marquez, on an island in the Philippines, more than ten years ago, and the first example… Continue reading Friday Favourite: One Hundred Years of Solititude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
People love others not because they are lovable necessarily but because it takes such a weight off the heart. Having read one previous novel by Elizabeth Hay (Alone in the Classroom), I began to read her latest book expecting a decent read. I'm happy to report that Hay blew my expectations out of the water.… Continue reading Book Review: His Whole Life by Elizabeth Hay
Karissa Reads Books 