La Guerre, Yes Sir! - Roch Carrier (House of Anansi, 1970) I’ve said it before and I guess I’m saying again, French Canadian fiction is its own entire genre. And it’s not one I really get or can appreciate. I thought I might be on easier footing here because I’ve heard of this book and… Continue reading Book Review: La Guerre, Yes Sir! by Roch Carrier
We Should Not Be Afraid of the Sky - Emma Hooper (Penguin, 2022) A wealthy woman gives birth to 9 identical baby girls. Horrified by the act of giving birth to essentially a litter, she tells her servant woman to take the infants to the river. While two of the babies have died already, the… Continue reading Book Review: We Should Not Be Afraid of the Sky by Emma Hooper
Sea of Tranquility - Emily St. John Mandel (Harper Collins Publishers, 2022) ...this is what the Time Institute never understood: if definitive proof emerges that we're living in a simulation, the correct response tothat news will be So what. A life lived in a simulation is still a life. -Emily St. John Mandel, Sea of… Continue reading Book Review: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Set over three days in a maternity word for pregnant flu patients in Dublin in 1918 - there’s a LOT going on here. And yet this isn’t a book that feels overwhelming. It feels steady. You feel swept up in the unceasing action of a busy hospital. Rarely a moment to rest, life and death… Continue reading (Audio) Book Review: The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
Loved this book. Who is the main character? I'm not sure and I don't even care. Ponzi scheme set in 2008 inspired by Madoff Vincent is an amazing main character - she’s smart and vulnerable, fluid and changing but consistent in her basic character. She feels real. The setting of a remote luxury hotel located… Continue reading (Point Form) Book Review: The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches - Gaétan Soucy (A List, 2016) This was such a weird book. I really don't know what to say about it. I've had it on my TBR for years, added, I think, based on somme list of classic Canadian fiction. It's a work from a Quebec… Continue reading Book Review: The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches by Gaétan Soucy
I received an Advance Readers Copy of this book thanks to the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Publication date was September 1, 2022. Kǫ̀ is a young boy, on the cusp of manhood, growing up in a remote northern community. Along with his community, he is learning to… Continue reading Book Review: This House is not a Home by Katłįà
The Son of the House - Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia (Dundurn Press, 2019) Nwabulu and Julie are thrown together when they are kidnapped on a lonely road in Nigeria. Waiting for their families to pay ransom, they begin to tell each other their life stories. With their own mortality at hand, they are completely honest in ways… Continue reading Book Review: The Son of the House by Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia
Women Talking - Miriam Toews (Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2018) The dominant theme of Miriam Toews' work is the Mennonite people. Mennonites are a unique people group, a religious group that fled Russia many generations ago. Many ended up in Canada as farmers and in time have widely assimilated into modern life. Several of these… Continue reading Book Review: Women Talking by Miriam Toews
When We Lost Our Heads - Heather O'Neill (Harper Collins Publishers, 2022) If you've read and enjoyed Heather O'Neill's novels before then chances are good you'll like her latest book, because you'll know what you're getting yourself into. While I don't know if I'd say I love O'Neill's work, I do have a lot of… Continue reading Book Review: When We Lost Our Heads by Heather O’Neill
Karissa Reads Books 