Translated from Finnish into English by Tiina Nunnally, The Winter War by Philip Teir is a novel that will resonate with many people, from many difference cultures. It recounts the slow fracturing of a middle-class family over the course of a winter, focusing a few chapters on each member’s perspective to give the reader a…
It’s Christmas, and I have the perfect way of celebrating: settling down with a cozy mystery featurning my favourite detective, Jessica Fletcher. But Santa has been kind to me this year, and brought not one, but two Murder, She Wrote (MSW) books my way. Murder Never Takes a Holiday features two Christmas-related stories within it:…
Before I began writing the review for Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg, I googled Clegg, just to see what I could find on him, as this can colour my thoughts on a book. I knew for sure that he would have a website, because he’s also a literary agent, so he…
I’ve had Nora Webster by Colm Tóibín on my bookshelf for awhile; it was published in October 2014, which is when I received it for review. I don’t have a great excuse for not reading it until now, other than the fact that I had never read a Colm Tóibín book before so I didn’t know what…
I’m really torn about this book. It’s written by someone I’m not familiar with, Tom Stern, who apparently works in the film business as a writer/director. So, when I was asked to review it, I readily agreed after discovering the author was a writer in a different industry. This, at the very least, assures me…
I live in Calgary, my husband and his family work in the oil and gas industry, and I read books. Clearly, Long Change was written for me. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I’ve never read a book by Don Gillmor before, and I really should have, in fact his last book Mount Pleasant…
A few days ago, I received a lovely email from Donna Bailey Nurse regarding my book review of Marina Endicott’s Close to Hugh. Like myself, she was disappointed it didn’t make the Giller shortlist, but she also wanted to share with me a wonderful piece she did on Endicott for the literary magazine Black Iris. For those…
Not bad for a first novel, not bad at all: that was my overall impression of One Night, Markovitch by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen. It’s part of House of Anansi’s foreign fiction imprint Anansi International, and was translated from the Hebrew by Sondra Silverston. Translations are never the most glamorous of books; many people shy away from…
Happy Halloween everyone! I wanted to dash out this post to you in time for the big night tomorrow to help you get into a spooky mood. I’m back from my European tour, and this was the last book I finished on my travels. There’s a photo of its final resting place (a hotel that…
I don’t typically read poetry, but I always make an exception for the wonderful Canadian poet and icon Lorna Crozier. The Wrong Cat is her latest collection of poetry, and ‘spellbinding’ is one of the best words I can find to describe it. * Obviously I’m going to like it because it features poems about…
So I’m back in Germany (Berlin actually) and I’ve just finished Sarah Leipciger’s The Mountain Can Wait. Before we dive in I should mention that this book came out in summer 2015, so many people have already read it, but if you haven’t you’ll probably want to pick it up. Go. Go now and pick it…
As I continue my journey through Europe, I continue my reading adventures as well. Next up is newcomer Sigal Samuel’s The Mystics of Mile End; a book I started in Switzerland and finished in France (and a side note to the author and publisher: after finishing the book I left it on a high speed train…
