Perhaps you’re ignorant of many famous historical events, like I am. I’m always astounded at what I don’t know and continue to learn as I age. Books are (of course) a wonderful way of educating myself which is why I’m always recommending them. The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue is a great example of why…
I’ve never read a book by B.R. Myers before, but she’s a Canadian writer, and the premise of her latest release The Third Wife of Faraday House intrigued me, so I took a chance on a ‘new to me’ author. It was a fun book to read with lots of elements that promise a good…
I vaguely recall seeing The Lost Tarot by Sarah Henstra on a summer reading list somewhere in my scrolling, so I figured it would be a light read that’s best done sooner rather than later. Henstra is also an award-winning Canadian author who I hadn’t read before, so her latest release coming out this past…
A quote on the cover of Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge by Lizzie Pook loudly proclaims it as escapist fiction, although I’m hesitant to slap that label on it. Yes, it transports the reader to another time and place, but it does more than distract – it educates! Pook herself is a journalist and traveler, and…
Shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, the Amazon Canada First Novel Award and the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas is sure to be on many Canadian bookshelves these days. I was lucky to have received an ARC back when it was first released at the…
I wasn’t surprised to see David Bergen’s latest book Away From the Dead make the Scotibank Giller Prize longlist this year. He’s a serious writer, with seriously impressive award wins and nominations in his past. I last read a book of his in 2014, which you can read my review of here, and I felt…
Continuing on my recent ‘books about books’ kick, I picked up this thick paperback called The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson, which promised a snapping good story. It delivered; on both the good story, and the warm and fuzzy feeling when reading about the power of books and their ability to improve one’s outlook…
I was in need of a lighter story that I knew would whisk me away into a well-developed plot. Also: books about books!!! The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry is a work of historical fiction focusing on the mystery of a lost story and its connection to a lost girl, set…
The blurb depicting The Nightingale Affair by Tim Mason as a “Victorian detective thriller” is what influenced me the most, as I was in the mood to read a classic mystery after a few of the modern domestic thrillers I had been through recently. I was delighted by the moody puzzle of this book; the…
A great big doorstop of a book, Homecoming by Kate Morton was a work of historical fiction I had to prepare myself for. Some people love the prospect of digging into a giant family saga such as this, but I was hesitant about the length. It’s one of those historical books that switches back and…
Because it’s February, I’ve chosen three books to read that all center on the topic of love and marriage for my latest radio segment (it’s showbiz folks, you don’t need to be that creative!). The first was The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell, which I dug out of my bookshelf after reading a very insightful…
Just in time for Christmas, I received the third and latest installment in the Paradise Café Mystery series, Cold Snap by Maureen Jennings. Although not truly a holiday tale (it’s quite dark) it does happen to take place right before Christmas, and as I read it, Calgary was experiencing its own cold snap, so it…
