Book Reviews
I typically post between two and three book reviews a week. Please refer to my review policy if you’d like to submit a book for consideration. I invite you to subscribe to my newsletter to get a summary of my reviews every three weeks.
Book Review: Bellini and the Sphinx by Tony Bellotto
Are you a fan of 'noir fiction' ? Do you even know what 'noir' means? There are various definitions for it, but I found this wikipedia listing pretty thorough, and the first sentence does enough for my purposes here: "In its modern form, noir has come to denote a...
Book Review: The Waiting Hours by Shandi Mitchell
There's always a few jobs out there that one knows for certain they could never handle. Personally, I could never be a teacher because I can barely manage my own two children and I find all their questions annoying (sorry not sorry). But for some reason the monumental...
Book Review: Lampedusa by Steven Price
Dear reader; I wanted so much to like Lampedusa by Steven Price. At the time I'm writing this, it was announced as a shortlist contender for the Giller Prize, and because so many people in Canada are forming their reading lists based on this prize alone, I may be one...
Book Review: Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? By Caitlin Doughty
So it's been awhile since I posted to booktube-my bad! I've made it up to you with a funny/timely/fascinating book about death/cremation/burial, set against a Halloween-ish backdrop in my home. Bundle up for a six minute video about why I love Will My Cat Eat My...
Book Review: Toil & Trouble by Augusten Burroughs
I think I may have found myself a new favourite author, probably because the brilliance of his writing reminds me so much of my original favourite author, David Sedaris. Toil & Trouble by Augusten Burroughs is a memoir about being a witch, i.e. having special...
Book Review: Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta
Can I get a hurrah for linked short story collections? Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta is a quiet yet decisive book that doesn't gloss over the first and second generation immigrant experience in Canada. And instead of getting a disjointed look at these...
Book Review: The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
My faithful readers will know all too well how much I love a Ruth Ware book. I've had my minor complaints about them over the years, but it's never enough to put me off reading her. I still get excited each and every time I hear she's written another, and thank god...
Book Review: High School by Tegan & Sara
I was first introduced to the music of Tegan and Sara by an old (and short-lived) boyfriend from my university days. He loved them, and their hit song "Walking with a Ghost" was one I immediately added into my playlist. I still have a few of their songs on my iTunes...
Book Review: The Institute by Stephen King
The Institute by Stephen King is the perfect book to mark the beginning of the spooky season, and even though there are no ghosts in his latest release, there are more than a fair share of ghouls that are terrifying enough to haunt your dreams. Fair warning to those...
Book Review: The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
I wasn't really planning on reading The Testaments by Margaret Atwood for a few reasons; it had been ages since I'd read The Handmaid's Tale, I hadn't seen the television adaptation of it, and I figured everyone else would be reading this book, so why should I? But...
Book Review: Sleepless Night by Margriet de Moor
Written by the “grand dame of Dutch literature”, Sleepless Night by Margriet de Moor is 122 pages of reminiscing and remembrance. Translated from the Dutch by David Doherty, it follows a widow over one sleepless night as she bakes a Bundt cake in the dead of winter,...
Book Review: Elevator Pitch by Linwood Barclay
I read Elevator Pitch by Linwood Barclay in a place far far away from any kind of elevator. I was staying in a cabin in Northern Ontario, dodging mosquitoes but blissfully distant from any and all high rises. Barclay’s name is well known to me, as I’ve read previous...