Happy (almost) New Year! I did not mean to disappear on here for much of December but I am alive and well and enjoying some much needed time off with my family. At the end of November, my boss passed away very suddenly and I was thrown into a lot more responsibility at work, all… Continue reading What I Read: 2023
Tag: Karissa Reads Books 2023
Best Canadian Fiction: The 2023 Karissa Reads Books Literary Awards
Hello and welcome to the Sixth Annual Karissa Reads Books Literary Awards! This is my annual occasion of looking back at what I’ve read and choosing the best ones in categories I’ve selected. It’s an entirely arbitrary process as I both choose the categories and the winners and the prize is nothing more than whatever… Continue reading Best Canadian Fiction: The 2023 Karissa Reads Books Literary Awards
What I Read – November 2023
Read: Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston (Harper Audio, 2005) Bangkok Wakes to Rain - Pitchaya Sudbanthad (Riverhead Books, 2019) Girlfriend on Mars - Deborah Willis (Hamish Hamilton, 2023) Stubborn Archivist - Yara Rodrigues Fowler (Mariner Books, 2019) The Wild Heavens - Sarah Louise Butler (Douglas & McIntyre, 2020) Daughter - Claudia… Continue reading What I Read – November 2023
Book Review: Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri
Roman Stories - Jhumpa Lahiri (Alfred A. Knopf, 2023) This is a collection of short stories that aren't necessarily linked but feel like they are. They are all set in the city of Rome and many of them share the theme of outsiders or newcomers to the Italian city. Many of them are told in… Continue reading Book Review: Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri
Book Review: The Wild Heavens by Sarah Louise Butler
The present tense action of The Wild Heavens takes place over a single day but the broader story of the novel is drawn out over many years. We are first introduced to a young seminary student who, after a shocking discovery in the woods of British Columbia, leaves his pursuit of the priesthood and changes… Continue reading Book Review: The Wild Heavens by Sarah Louise Butler
Book Review: Stubborn Archivist by Yara Rodrigues Fowler
Stubborn Archivist by Yara Rodrigues Fowler (Mariner Books, 2019) Stubborn Archivist has a lot of the hallmarks of a debut novel - an unnamed narrator whose life reflects the author's in a lot of ways, a focus more on character and situation than plot, a lot of play with perspective and style including a lot… Continue reading Book Review: Stubborn Archivist by Yara Rodrigues Fowler
Book Review: Girlfriend on Mars by Deborah Willis
Girlfriend on Mars - Deborah Willis (Hamish Hamilton, 2023) Amber Kivinen has been accepted as a contestant for the ambitious MarsNow program. One of 24 selected from hundreds of applicants, Amber will participate in a reality TV Program to pick two finalists who will launch into space and be the first man and woman on… Continue reading Book Review: Girlfriend on Mars by Deborah Willis
Book Review: Bangkok Wakes to Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad
Bangkok Wakes to Rain - Pitchaya Sudbanthad (Riverhead Books, 2019) Even as I was reading Bangkok Wakes to Rain, I found myself thinking, How am I going to classify this book? It's a novel but not exactly. It's a collection of short stories but that's not quite right either. It has sections that feel like… Continue reading Book Review: Bangkok Wakes to Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad
Book Review: Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang
Having read Zhang's previous novel, How Much of These Hills is Gold, I knew to expect a novel that played with reality, one that would introduce strange and wonderful elements and leave me to decide what was real and what might not be. That's exactly what I got with Land of Milk and Honey. At… Continue reading Book Review: Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang
(Audio) Book Review: Away from the Dead by David Bergen
Away from the Dead follows a handful of characters through several years of life in early-20th century Ukraine. Lehn is a young man when he falls in love with Katka, changing the course of his life and involving him with the complicated history of her extended family, including Katka's uncle, a wealthy Mennonite landowner. Unrest… Continue reading (Audio) Book Review: Away from the Dead by David Bergen
Karissa Reads Books 