What I Read – September 2025

Read: The Hand that First Held Mine - Maggie O'Farrell (Headline, 2010) The Golden Age - Kenneth Grahame (Dover Publications, 2005) The Accidental Favourite - Fran Littlewood (MacMillan Audio, 2025) (narrated by Fiona Button) Divisadero - Michael Ondaatje (McClelland & Stewart, 2007) Heart the Lover - Lily King (Harper Collins Publishers, 2025) (narrated by Rebecca… Continue reading What I Read – September 2025

20 Books of Summer 2024

This will be my second year participating in Cathy's annual book reading challenge. I like it because of how incredibly relaxed it is. Choose 20 books that you want to read in June, July, and August and then read them and report. You can choose fewer than 20 too and at the end nobody judges… Continue reading 20 Books of Summer 2024

What I Read – January 2023

Read: The Marriage Portrait - Maggie O'Farrell (Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2022) The End of the Affair - Graham Greene (Heinemann, 1966) The Pull of the Stars - Emma Donoghue (Harper Avenue, 2020) Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owen (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2018) Classic Crime Short Stories (Canongate Books, 2007) The Three Lives of… Continue reading What I Read – January 2023

Book Review: The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

The Marriage Portrait - Maggie O'Farrell (Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2022) Lucrezia is the youngest daughter of Medicis of Florence. Raised in luxury but strictly watched over by her mother and father, her life as a young girl in the 1550s is dictated for her from birth. Yet there is a wildness to her, something… Continue reading Book Review: The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

What I Read – December 2022

Read: The Promise - Damon Galgut (Europa Editions Audio, 2022) How It Went - Wendell Berry (Counterpoint, 2022) The Glass Hotel - Emily St. John Mandel (Harper Collins Publishers, 2020) Around the Hearth - L.M. Montgomery (Nimbus Publishing, 2022) The Colony - Audrey Magee (Farrer, Strauss, Giroux, 2022) Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr (Scribner,… Continue reading What I Read – December 2022

Best Fiction – The Third Annual Karissa Reads Books Literary Awards

Fiction being what I read the most of, I always feel like the Best Fiction category is the best reflection of my favourite books of the year and I would say this year is no exception. So far this year I've read 62 novels. I narrowed the least down to sixteen, then down to five,… Continue reading Best Fiction – The Third Annual Karissa Reads Books Literary Awards

Book Review: Hamnet & Judith by Maggie O’Farrell

Hamnet & Judith - Maggie O'Farrell ( In the 1580s, a couple living in Henley Street, Stratford, had three children: Susanna, then Hamnet and Judith, who were twins.The boy, Hamnet, died in 1596, aged eleven.Four years or so later, the father wrote a play called Hamlet.Hamnet & Judith - Maggie O'Farrell With this historical note… Continue reading Book Review: Hamnet & Judith by Maggie O’Farrell

What I Read – September 2020

Read: Family in Six Tones - Lan Cao and Harlan Margaret Van Cao (Putnam, 2020) God in My Everything - Ken Shigematsu (Zondervan, 2013) Hamnet & Judith - Maggie O'Farrell (Knopf Canada, 2020) The Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead (Bond Street Books, 2020) The Apothecary - Maile Meloy (Puffin Books, 2011) How Much of These… Continue reading What I Read – September 2020