I picked this book up several times, read the blurb on the back, and put it back before I finally decided to read it. What turned me off was the description of the main character, Harriet, as "11 going on 30"; in general, I don't enjoy stories about overly precocious, wise-beyond-their-years children. What eventually turned… Continue reading Book Review: On the Shores of Darkness, There is Light by Cordelia Strube
One of the great powers of fiction is to bring history alive. A good, well-written novel can teach the reader more than ten history books. And may access find readers who would never pick up a history book. Like many in North America, I know very little about Chechnya. It's history is long and complicated… Continue reading Book Review: A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
I make no secret of the fact that Ann Patchett is one of my favourite authors. So when I found out she had a new book coming out this fall, I immediately pre-ordered it. I'm happy to report that Commonwealth doesn't disappoint. Patchett's latest novel begins in the 1960s at a christening party. Franny Keating is… Continue reading Book Review: Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
Fans of Maria Semple's previous novel, Where'd You Go, Bernadette?, will not be disappointed by her new offering. Today Will Be Different has all the wackiness, sentimentality, family love, and Seattle adoration that Bernadette brought without feeling like Semple treads ground already covered. (Though readers may find some of it familiar.) Eleanor is our eccentric… Continue reading Book Review: Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple
When The Goldfinch was first released in 2013, I heard many excellent reviews of Donna Tartt's work. Having never read her before though, I was reluctant to commit to nearly 800 pages. It wasn't until I read Tartt's early novel, The Secret History, that I became excited to read more from her. Thankfully, The Goldfinch… Continue reading Book Review: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
I had put off reading Cutting for Stone for quite some time, mostly, I think, from a fear that it couldn't live up to its hype. The good news is, it definitely can and does The book is set in Addis, Ethiopa in the 1950s and 60s. Knowing very little about that time and place,… Continue reading Book Review: Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
I had originally planned to use this month's Friday Favourite to focus on a Russian favourite. But when I realized it fell on Canada Day, it seemed far more fitting to focus on a modern Canadian classic. Joseph Boyden is one of the best Canadian writers currently in existence and his trilogy should be required… Continue reading Friday Favourite: Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden
Welcome! Happy Friday! Friday Favourites are where I spend one Friday a month talking about a book I've read and loved in the past. Ann Patchett is that rare author who straddles the line between literary and popular fiction. By which I mean, she's approachable and readable for that reader off the street who might… Continue reading Friday Favourite: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
My name is Ruth. I grew up with my younger sister, Lucille, under the care of my grandmother, Mrs. Sylvia Foster, and when she died, of her sisters-in-law, Misses Lily and Nona Foster, and when they fled, of her daughter, Mrs. Sylvia Fisher. These first sentences of Marilynne Robinson's novel Housekeeping (aside from being some… Continue reading Book Review: Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
There are books that, once you read them, change your view of literature and what it can be. One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of those books for me. This was the first I'd read from Gabriel Garcia Marquez, on an island in the Philippines, more than ten years ago, and the first example… Continue reading Friday Favourite: One Hundred Years of Solititude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Karissa Reads Books 