The Human Factor - Graham Greene (Penguin Books, 1985) Maurice Castle lives a quiet life. Although he works for the English Secret Service, excitement is behind him and he now performs at a somewhat dull office job. All he wants is to live peacefully with his wife Sarah and their son and look forward to… Continue reading Book Review: The Human Factor by Graham Greene
The Eighth Life - Nino Haratischvili (Scribe, 2019) It feels like a cliché to call a book like this epic but it really feels like the best way to describe this family saga. At over 900 pages, this is a book that brings to life both a family and a country. I'll admit that I… Continue reading Book Review: The Eighth Life (for Brilka) by Nino Haratischvili
As I found when I first read Sally Rooney earlier this year, she once more in her latest novel nails human nature. How people communicate, how they react, how they act when they are alone. In Beautiful World, Where Are You, Rooney focuses on slightly older characters, right on the cusp of change that turning… Continue reading Book Review: Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
An Island - Karen Jennings (Hogarth, 2022) I received an Advance Uncorrected Proof of this book. All opinions are my own. On Sale July 5, 2022. Samuel lives alone on a small island. He is the lighthouse keeper. When bodies wash ashore, no one cares and Samuel deals with them. He has lived on this… Continue reading Book Review: An Island by Karen Jennings
Where the Light Fell - Philip Yancey (Convergent, 2021) If you look at a list of Philip Yancey's book titles, I think you get a good sense of the kind of Christian thinker he is. Titles like Where is God When it Hurts?, Disappointment with God, and What's So Amazing About Grace. Yancey is now… Continue reading Book Review: Where the Light Fell by Philip Yancey
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
The Books of Jacob - Olga Tokarczuk (Riverhead Books, 2022) It is, I think, a testament to Olga Tokarczuk's writing that I undertook to read The Books of Jacob at all. I loved her novel Drive Your Plough Over the Bones of the Dead and she won the Nobel Prize for Literature shortly after I… Continue reading Book Review: The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk
The Sentence - Louise Erdrich (Harper, 2021) This book was so much more than I expected. I went into it knowing that it was set in a bookstore, that the bookstore was haunted by their most annoying customer, and that part of it was set during lockdown in 2020. All of that is present in… Continue reading Book Review: The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
Normal People - Sally Rooney (Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2018) At this point, Sally Rooney probably needs no introduction. All three of her novels have been huge bestsellers and Normal People was turned into a mini-series. I'd sort of written her off as a young Millenial author and as an elder Millenial myself, I assumed… Continue reading Book Review: Normal People by Sally Rooney
Astray - Emma Donoghue (Back Bay Books, 2012) I've loved everything I've read by Emma Donoghue so it shouldn't be surprising that I also loved this short story collection. But I really was blown away. The Wonder showed me that Donoghue excels in historical fiction but I was still so impressed by what she manages… Continue reading Book Review: Astray by Emma Donoghue
