What I Read – April 2023

Read: Two-Part Invention - Madeleine L'Engle (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1988) Notes from Underground - Fyodor Dostoevsky (Vintage Classics, 1994) (translated from Russian by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky) Instructions for the Drowning - Steven Heighton (Biblioasis, 2023) The Memory of Animals - Claire Fuller (Tin House, 2023) Shrines of Gaiety - Kate Atkinson (Little,… Continue reading What I Read – April 2023

What I Read – May 2020

READ: They Said This Would Be Fun - Eternity Martis (McClelland & Stewart, 2020) The Penguin Book of Mermaids - edited by Cristina Bacchilega and Marie Alohalani Brown (Penguin Books, 2019) Behind the Scenes at the Museum - Kate Atkinson (Picador, 1995) Hold on to Your Kids - Gordon Neufeld & Gabor Mate (Vintage Canada,… Continue reading What I Read – May 2020

Book Review: Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

Behind the Scenes at the Museum - Kate Atkinson (Picador, 1995) I've loved the three previous novels that I've read by Kate Atkinson - Life After Life, A God in Ruins and Transcription so when I found a secondhand copy of her first novel a few months ago I happily brought it home. While the… Continue reading Book Review: Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

Best Fiction Book

Despite my sporadic posting, two more categories remain in The Second Annual Karissa Reads Books Literary Awards. Today we focus on the Best Fiction Book read in 2019. This is a big category because fiction makes up the largest chunk of what I read. I started out with a list of 15 books and have… Continue reading Best Fiction Book

Book Review: Transcription by Kate Atkinson

Transcription - Kate Atkinson (Little Brown & Company, 2018) This was the second book I've read in the past year that deals with England in the post-World War Two period and touches on the subject of spies and secrets. (Warlight by Michael Ondaatje was the other.) And while there are a lot of books written… Continue reading Book Review: Transcription by Kate Atkinson

What I Read – February 2019

Read: When Breath Becomes Air - Paul Kalanithi (Gale Engage Learning, 2016) Divided Loyalties - Nilofar Shidmehr (Astoria, 2019) Fathers and Sons - Ivan Turgenev (Penguin Books, 1975) (translated from the Russian by Rosemary Edmonds) Minster Without Portfolio - Michael Winter (Hamish Hamilton, 2013) The Bellman's Secret - Heidi Barnes (Rare Bird Books, 2019) Quiet - Susan Cain (Crown Publishers, 2012) Miss Burma - Charmaine Cragg… Continue reading What I Read – February 2019

Book Review: A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson

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

What I Read – January 2016

Daydreams of Angels - Heather O'Neill (Harper Collins, 2015) Transatlantic - Colum McCann (Harper Perennial, 2013) The Humans - Matt Haig (Harper Collins, 2013) Fifteen Dogs - AndrĂ© Alexis (Coach House Books, 2015) A God in Ruins - Kate Atkinson (Doubleday Canada, 2015) Thirteen Ways of Looking - Colum McCann (Harper Collins, 2015) The Company… Continue reading What I Read – January 2016

Book Review – Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

I loved this book. I loved the premise, I loved the characters, I loved the setting. Truly excellent. Ursula Todd is born on 11 February 1910. She dies immediately, unable to take her first breath due to the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. Ursula Todd is born on 11 February 1910.She grows up to… Continue reading Book Review – Life After Life by Kate Atkinson