So I know Halloween is over, but I’m the type of person who likes to read spooky stories all year around, especially in the winter when I’m curled up by my fireplace. Agnes, Murderess by Sarah Leavitt landed on my doorstep unexpectedly, so the good folks...
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...
I’ve always been aware of Ernest Hemingway’s ‘not-so-positive’ reputation. I studied him in school, and was vaguely aware he had a bunch of marriages and an obvious drinking problem, so I had always thought of his personal life as a bit dark....
I love the suspense that a storm brings to the fore in a fictional book; as the winds change, so do our expectations as a reader. This story begins with a storm, and ends with the same storm, pushing the reader in all different directions and time periods, raging...
Has anyone else noticed the spate of ‘women in war’ books lately? Not that I’m complaining, but when you read a few novels that are all very similar in topic, you tend to judge them a little more harshly without intending to. I wasn’t...
How do you feel about books that jump from one time period to another? Is it jarring? Does it annoy you when it’s in a suspense novel especially? Of course it does, when you’re on the cusp of a cliff (hanger), you want to leap to the next page as quickly...