I was inspired to re-read Agatha Christie's famous mystery novel And Then There Were None after reading FictionFan's book review. I'd read this short mystery story a couple of times before, years ago, but it had always stuck in my memory as one of the finest mystery novels I've read. Years ago, reading it for the first time,… Continue reading Book Review: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
If you've read Sherman Alexie's work before, particularly The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (which I reviewed here) then you likely know a bit of Alexie's story already. His writing is infused with his own life experiences, particularly growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. You Don't Have to Say You Love Me… Continue reading Book Review: You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie
While Angie Thomas' first novel is being marketed as a young adult novel. I would greatly encourage all readers interested in modern America, racial issues, or violence among youth to read it. The book is probably most appropriate for older teen readers (15+) due to violence and some language. It's a fairly easy read but… Continue reading Book Review: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
I've been to Beijing and stood in Tiananmen Square three times in my life. The first time was, I believe late 1988 or early 1989, before our family moved to Canada at the end of 1989. I would have been about three years old on that first trip and I have no memories of the… Continue reading Book Review: Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien
We Should All be Feminists was the book I had with me in the hospital when I gave birth to my daughter. We didn't know whether we were having a boy or a girl before Pearl was born and, to be honest, the thought of a girl scared me. Boys seemed straightforward. Girls seemed hard… Continue reading Book Review: Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This book will be available for sale in July 2017. I read an Advance Uncorrected Proof made available by the publisher. The Unwomanly Face of War was first published in the Soviet Union in 1985 and translated into English in 1988 but, as far as I can tell, has been out of print in English… Continue reading Book Review: The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich
A quick disclaimer to say that I know Deborah Willis but only a little bit. We were in the same program at university but she was a couple of years ahead of me and we briefly worked at the same coffee shop and then we worked at rival bookstores. I read her first short story… Continue reading Book Review: The Dark and Other Love Stories by Deborah Willis
The novel opens with Sadie Woodbury, elementary school student, finding herself face-to-face with a would-be school shooter. Sadie (and, presumably, the entire school or at least the secretary the shooter came to kill) is saved by teacher George Woodbury, also her own father. This is a rather heavy-handed way of letting the reader know how… Continue reading Book Review: The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall
She had watched other women with infants and eventually understood what she craved: boundless permission - no, the absolute necessity to hold and kiss and stroke this tiny person...Where else in life, Mabel wondered, could a woman love so openly and with such abandon? Eowyn Ivey brings a powerful edge to this re-telling of a… Continue reading Book Review: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Kevin Chong writes about a Vancouver I recognize. While the city isn't necessarily a major player in the novel, it's an important background and well-evoked with a few simple settings and descriptions. And though this is what drew me to read Beauty Plus Pity I enjoyed the novel greatly for its characters and plotting. Malcolm… Continue reading Book Review: Beauty Plus Pity by Kevin Chong
Karissa Reads Books 