After reading a number of slow, reflective reads lately, I needed something a bit easier and faster. The Pull of the Stars fit the bill nicely. It was easy to read, even with the rather detailed 1918 midwifery and autopsy scenes that left me gasping and wincing in sympathy! In keeping with my current Plague … Continue reading The Pull of the Stars | Emma Donoghue #IRLfiction
My work has been a bit crazy this year. And during August and September it was hectic and full of changes. So a lot of the hype surrounding the sequel to The Handmaid's Tale passed me by. I saw some excited chattering on blogs, twitter and goodreads. I heard some of the discussion around it's … Continue reading The Testaments | Margaret Atwood
Reading Washington Black by Esi Edugyan was like eating a big bag of sweets. Some were good, some not so good. And after gorging myself on the first half, I found the second half a bit too much take.The first half of Washington Black was unputdownable. I loved the engaging voice of the child narrator. His … Continue reading Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
When I was in my twenties and thirties, my friends and I spent a lot of time discussing and dissecting each others dreams (#lifebeforesocialmedia)! We read books, kept dream journals and wondered about the significance of what happened in our heads in the middle of the night. We were searching for meaning and trying to … Continue reading Motherhood by Sheila Heti
Patrick DeWitt is a Canadian author who now lives in Oregon, USA. The Sisters Brothers won the 75th Canadian Governor General's Literary Awards and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the 2012 Walter Scott Prize.The Man Booker shortlist synopsis states that,this dazzlingly original novel is a darkly funny, offbeat western about … Continue reading The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt
The things we never say aloud and so they end up here, in diaries and notebooks, in private places. By the time we discover them, it’s too late For four days I've been trying to write a review that would do this rich, engrossing, mosaic of a book due justice. It wasn't so much writer's … Continue reading Do Not Say We Have Nothing | Madeleine Thien
A whole swath of shortlists have been buzzing around the bookish world lately. Some have got me bibliograpically excited but some have left me scratching my head. Kim @Reading Matters alerted me to the Canadian literary award - The Giller Prize. It has been around for twenty years and recognizes 'excellence in Canadian fiction'. For a … Continue reading Stories & Shout Outs #11
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