Everything nonsense now. Those mourners came up. Hands extended. Sons intact. Wearing on their faces enforced sadness-masks to hide any sign of their happiness, which --went on. They could not hide how alive they yet were with it, with their happiness at the potential of their still-living sons. Until lately I was one of them.… Continue reading Quotes of the Week (vol. 3) and Some Snow Day Pictures
I received an Advance e-copy of this book thanks to the publisher. All opinions are my own. The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers will be on sale 13 February 2024. Mari Hawthorne is a ghost writer. She is the unnamed voice behind several celebrity memoirs. She is the one who comes in, gets to… Continue reading Book Review: The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers
This is a book for book lovers and particular those of us who love our local libraries. It is, of sorts, a love letter to libraries and librarians. What You Are Looking for is in the Library consists of 5 unique sections, all linked by a library located in a community house in Tokyo. Each… Continue reading (Audio) Book Review: What You Are Looking For Is In the Library by Michiko Aoyama
Here are a few passages that jumped out at me in my reading over the past week (ok, actually since January 1st): Blessed is the one who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers: but his delight is in the… Continue reading Quotes of the Week
Monsters - Claire Dederer (Alfred A. Knopf, 2023) What do we do with the art of monstrous men? This is the question - a fan's dilemma - that Claire Dederer delves into. It's an important one and a timely one too in the wake of #MeToo and the controversy of so-called "cancel culture". Can we… Continue reading Book Review: Monsters by Claire Dederer
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
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
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
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
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
Karissa Reads Books 