The Eyre Affair, By Jasper Fforde
(Anna’s Recommendation): I thought this novel was, for the most part, clever, amusing, and an enjoyable read. Anyone who was a fan of The Phantom Tollbooth in their younger years (or, in my case, still...
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Runaway, by Alice Munro
Well, after being scarred by my awful first year treatment of Alice, coupled with my long standing (though gradually fading) prejudice toward stories about small town ontario, I felt I owed it to Alice...
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An Interrupted Life: The Diaries of Etty Hillesum 1941-1943
To begin, I must thank the lovely Anne Lewis, for introducing me to Etty. Even in the first few pages of her diary, I felt I knew Etty well. She was the kind of woman that transcends time. As a fairly...
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JPod, by Douglas Coupland
I have to say that if I could spend the day in any writer’s head, I’d probably choose Douglas Coupland’s. If this book is any indication (although I’ve also read his Miss Wyoming), it would be a riot....
View ArticleBlindness by Jose Saramago
Jose Saramago’s Nobel Prize winning novel, Blindness, does little to camouflage man’s self-seeking and essentially evil nature. Instead, “man” is observed through the crosshairs of an increasingly...
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10 reasons to read The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
10. Death is the narrator, and if anyone (thing? entity?) can reflect, and reflect accurately, objectively, but strangely still very touchingly on the state of humanity, it’s Death. 9. There are...
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Whylah Falls, by George Elliott Clarke
My first exposure to George Elliott Clarke was when I saw him read from George & Rue at Acadia during my fourth year. But of course “read” is far too mundane a term – he performed. He breathed life...
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tales from outer suburbia, by shaun tan
I love this book. The smell of its pages transports me back to my childhood. Though marketed as a children’s book, it also reminiscent of the graphic novel (although technically it would be a graphic...
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An Imperfect Offering, by James Orbinski
It was appropriate timing that the same day I finished reading James Orbinski’s An Imperfect Offering, that the UN International Tribunal for Rwanda convicted Colonel Théoneste Bagosora and two others...
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King Leary, by Paul Quarrington
As I currently make my way through the last of this year’s Canada Reads nominees, with the encouragement of the last KIRBC meeting, I thought I’d take a gander at last year’s surprise winner King...
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Lighthousekeeping, by Jeanette Winterson
“Tell me a story, Pew. What kind of story, child? A story with a happy ending. There’s no such thing in all the world. As a happy ending? As an ending.” Many books advocate the magic of books or of...
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The Killing Circle, by Andrew Pyper
Last night I woke up at 3:30 am, struck by sudden-onset insomnia. I had only gone to bed 3 hours before, and generally I sleep like the dead, so this was strange. But after a few minutes of groggy...
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Beyond the Horizon, by Colin Angus
I recently agonized that I thought my TTC reading was causing me to fly through books as I travelled across the city, and while that may cause problems for the Jane Urqhart novel I’ll be starting...
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Atmospheric Disturbances, by Rivka Galchen
Disclaimer: the following review deals with material that is highly technical, and some might say is lofty, or pretentious, or even cavalier. I liked it anyway. This is the kind of book that, oddly,...
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The Hours, by Michael Cunningham
It is one of the greatest acts of literary audacity that I can think of not only to write as Virginia Woolf, but to write Virginia Woolf herself. One of the essential modernist writers who reconceived...
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Happy Earth Day!
On this day when we take a little extra time to think about the planet, I thought I’d take the time to rave about my favourite eco-living book (and actually, one of my favourite books period): Adria...
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The Cellist of Sarajevo, by Steven Galloway
“It screamed downward, splitting air and sky without effort. A target expanded in size, brought into focus by time and velocity. There was a moment before impact that was the last instant of things as...
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The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss
At a KIRBC meeting over a year ago, my friend Emily brought in The History of Love. As is tradition, she read us a passage, and I knew instantly that I would love the book. As it turns out, Emily...
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One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding, by Rebecca Mead
This summer I was invited to five weddings. I went to three, and of those was in the wedding party for one. Don’t get me wrong, they were lovely, but at 26, it seems I’m in the wedding prime, although...
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The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls
It’s a running joke that there’s never any food in my parents’ house. My mother lacks the foresight necessary for adequate grocery shopping, although even when my mother was at her most Hubbard, I...
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