Before I started reading The Half Brother, I scanned the blurb on the inside cover, quickly assuming I was going to be embarking on a thriller. Why did I think this? I seemed to recall Holly LeCraw’s last book The Swimming Pool being of that same genre, and I incorrectly assumed her sophomore effort was…
A spacious, well-made house with a wrap-around porch full of family and laughter. This is the idyllic setting of Anne Tyler‘s latest, A Spool of Blue Thread. I know I’m not the only one who has pined over a house with a huge porch and shiny swing where people congregate and socialize; apparently, I share…
I’ve been missing in action on this blog for a few weeks, and I’m sorry about that, although I did just have a baby a few weeks ago, so I’m going to assume that’s a valid excuse for my lack of posting. Speaking of children, this is a great segue into my next review: Michael…
I read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn a few years ago, and really liked it. For those of you unfamiliar with the book (or the subsequent movie), it’s essentially a thriller rooted in marriage difficulties, with lots of twists and turns. It was enormously successful when it came out, so much so that a movie…
As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust is another Flavia de Luce masterpiece by the prolific and always humble Alan Bradley: a Canadian author that we are all too proud to call our own. I think it’s safe to begin comparing Bradley to Alexander McCall Smith now; both create wonderful mystery novels with enduring female detectives that…
So, Landing Gear by Kate Pullinger has a really interesting premise: a man drops out of the sky, onto the roof of a woman’s car in a grocery store parking lot. He doesn’t just drop out of the sky magically, he’s actually falling from the landing gear of a plane, which he was stowed away…
I haven’t read much Ruth Rendell in my day (in fact, this may be the first book of hers I’ve ever read!), but her name is always mentioned alongside other major mystery novelists, so I knew I was in a for a good read when I picked up No Man’s Nightingale. If you enjoy Peter…
I am a big fan of Alexander McCall Smith. Granted, I’ve just started making my way through his most famous series, but I love it already, and I know there’s only months of delightful reading ahead of me when it comes to his novels. However, his foray into the ‘romance’ genre has left a little…
A woman who is so obsessed with Michael Jackson she roasts her chicken on the ‘clean’ setting of her oven because she’s distracted by listening to his music, a man who wears a t-shirt that says “Thank you for Having Me” at a wedding, a married couple who met at a peace movement but have…
Some may already be familiar with this book; it was first published in 1976, and at the time, it was considered very controversial, although it still won the Governor General’s award for fiction that same year. It has been re-released by Penguin/Random House Canada in 2014, and although not as shocking as it was in…
A beautiful, short book about getting trapped in a library; what more could a girl ask for? Books, mystery, illustrations and a small word count-it’s perfect for me! Quite clearly, The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami is right up my alley. The book is gorgeous-as many Murakami fans are aware, only Chip Kidd is allowed to…
‘A fairy tale for adults’ is the best way I can describe The Table of Less Valued Knights by Marie Phillips. This book has it all: unicorns, knights, magical swords, princesses, and of course, lots of swear words. It reminded of why I loved fairy tales so much when I was a kid; you had…
