I just read a string of particularly grim books so the thought of sinking into the pleasantries of a cozy mystery (by a Calgary author no less!) was more than appealing. The Silver Shooter, A Rose Gallagher Mystery by Erin Lindsey was released in 2020, and although it has been on my shelf for over…
A morbid curiosity first drew me to this book, but The Shaytan Bride by Sumaiya Matin also stood out to me as a memoir that every feminsit should read. There are also elements of the supernatural, as the Shaytan is a spirit from Islam that supposedly possesses women, forcing them into bizarre behaviors and lovesick…
Although it sounds cliché, I can’t think of better way to describe this book other than ’emotional rollercoaster’. Perfect for book clubs, or a reader who’s ready for some family drama, What Could be Saved by Liese O’Halloran Schwarz is a fairly length story all about the secrets we keep from one another. It’s literary…
Anything Cale Atkinson writes and/or illustrates tends to go over well in this house. His graphic novel series for early readers is a new favourite of my kids because it’s not too text-heavy and the pictures are super cute. Simon and Chester first appeared together in the picture book Sir Simon, and now that they…
Lots of bloggers participate in Novellas for November, which is basically just an annual campaign to read more novellas this month. It’s a worthy cause because so many novellas are overlooked simply because they aren’t considered serious enough with their shorter page count (why do we consider books that are super long ‘serious’?) I’d like…
After finishing the last page of this book, I released a great big sigh. Not because I was relieved it was over, in fact, I had hoped Swimming Back to Trout River by Linda Rui Feng would go on longer past its 260 pages. Instead I let out a sigh of contentment because this is…
Happy Halloween! Today is the perfect day to curl up with a spooky read (really, the entire month of October is) and I’ve got a stellar recommendation for getting you into the Halloween spirit. The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke landed on my doorstep towards the end of this month, so I squeezed it in…
A Beginner’s Guide to Murder by Rosalind Stopps seems like a cozy mystery at first glance; a bunch of little old ladies plotting a murder together to save a friend. This appeals to the Murder She Wrote lover in me because I relish the idea of getting older but not losing my ‘spunk’. But as…
This is my second-to-last Halloween book that I’ve got on my shelf, and now that I’ve been reading horror for a few straight weeks, I’m feeling a bit sensitive to all the violence I’ve been exposed to, but I’m also more attuned to the critiques of society that this genre often employs. The Book of…
I was in search of a new Canadian-authored Halloween book to read during October, and had trouble finding something, as I typically do. Luckily, I stumbled upon this terrifying little novella, Nothing but Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw, who was a new-to-me author living in Montreal. Just looking at this frightening cover (which I had…
As soon as October 1st hit, we were decorating our house orange and black. Not only do we bring out the ghosts and spiderwebs, we focus our reading on Halloween books to get the kids excited (in a sugar-free way) about the coming holiday. Below I summarize the 4 books we received, and my kids’…
Although it sat on my shelf for a few months, Astra by Cedar Bowers wasn’t pushed to the top of my stack until it appeared on the Scotiabank Giller Prize Longlist. I wish my reading wasn’t a slave to the prize lists, but I must admit it helps me narrow down my selection when faced…
