A few years back, during the cold and snowy Chilliwack winter that Peter and I first subscribed to Netflix, I watched the first two seasons of Mad Men. Everyone seemed to be telling us that we had to watch this show. How clever it was, how realistic, how engaging. In the end, I don't think… Continue reading Book Review: The Company She Keeps by Mary McCarthy
Let the Great World Spin was the best book I read in 2013. The next book I read by Colum McCann (later that same summer) was Zoli, which I also enjoyed a lot. Thirteen Ways of Looking and Transatlantic are McCann's most recent novels, from 2013 and 2015 respectively, and while they're both solid, well-written… Continue reading Book Review: Two Books by Colum McCann
Life After Life was probably my favourite read of 2014 so I was excited and nervous to find that Kate Atkinson had written a sequel to the novel. Excited because Life After Life was so rich and unique and enjoyable. Nervous because I wondered if a sequel was necessary and if Atkinson could recapture the… Continue reading Book Review: A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
In the age old question of cats versus dogs, I definitely fall in the dog category. (This was true even before I developed a cat allergy.) I've spent my fair share of time around dogs in the past thirty years but I'm looking at them a little differently after reading Fifteen Dogs. In the vein… Continue reading Book Review: Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis
This book is ridiculous. And I mean that with great affection - the way a small child might tell you an outrageous story. That kind of ridiculous. Charming and more than a little crazy. Our narrator (unnamed) is an alien. He's arrived on Earth to take over the life and body of Andrew Martin, a… Continue reading Book Review: The Humans by Matt Haig
In the womb, you hear people talking and their voices sound like someone you're in love with talking in their sleep. from "Heaven" Heather O'Neill excels at creating metaphors that are both etirely unique and powerfully, strangely accurate. This skill - seen in her novels (Lullabies for Little Criminals and The Girl Who Was Saturday… Continue reading Book Review: Daydreams of Angels by Heather O’Neill
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
Some authors wow you with their debut novels and then disappoint with the follow-ups. With others, it works the opposite way and you're able to see their writing improve. White Teeth (Penguin Books, 2001) is Zadie Smith's first novel but the third one by her that I've read. While I enjoyed White Teeth I don't… Continue reading Book Review: White Teeth by Zadie Smith
I'm Scottish in the way that a lot of Canadians are. Meaning, a couple hundred years ago some people came from Scotland and had children and they had children and on down the line until I was born. And, like most Canadians again, the Scotishness got mixed up with other Europeans and folks from around… Continue reading Book Review: Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (Reading with Pearl)
Coincidentally, I began reading The Omnivore's Dilemma around the same time that my daughter began eating solid foods. Food was on my mind. I quickly realized I was being more discerning about what Pearl ate than I ever am about my own diet. Thinking and planning what my girl should eat, and how she should… Continue reading Book Review: The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Karissa Reads Books 