bogeyandruby

Even though I have finished my month of daily blog posts, I simply had to post my complete list of books read in the past year.

I had a heck of a time formatting the numerical list. For example, when I try to number the first book in February as # 13 to follow #12 from January, I lose my list format.

I think it may be because I am blogging on my tablet versus my laptop. Honestly, I use my tablet for most of my personal online work except for when I am uploading photos from my cameras.

Overall, it was a good year for reading and I have two full bookshelves beckoning me into the new year. I’m aiming to read two books a week again this year but that number is not carved in stone. My intention is simply to make reading everyday a priority because it is the activity I love the most.

I hope everyone has some good stories lined up. Unless you do winter sports, nothing beats a good book on a cold and snowy day. Make sure you have a good reading lamp for the shorter days, togs and throws to keep you warm and cozy, and your favourite hot beverages on hand.

I will repost the pictorial gallery of my favourite reads that I included in my New Year’s Eve post at the bottom of this page.

Oh, and do share any books you may have enjoyed or that are on your to-read lists.

January

1. Orbital — Samantha Harvey ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Winner of the Booker Prize in 2024, this book was a Christmas gift from my son. Reading it was like beautiful homage to the our planet, a meditation of sorts. The observations from the perspective of the four astronauts and two cosmonauts living on a space station as it orbits the earth sixteen times in a 24 hour period are gorgeous and lyrical. Each chapter covers a new orbit and the experience never repeats. I also loved the character development and camaraderie of the crew. As much as I love science fiction, the notion of being in space has always terrified me. The explosion of The Challenger did nothing to ease that fear. This small book has succeeded in bringing me some measure of peace. The award is well-deserved in my opinion. Here is the video from the award ceremony: https://youtu.be/VT6BZ6gyYYY?si=EmSTYbNMYBBOTPfV
2. The Rest Is Memory — Lily Tuck ❤️❤️❤️❤️ ❤️Winner of the National Book Award, the author describes this story as a work of fiction based on fact. All that is known about Czeslawa Kwoka is that she is a Polish Catholic girl from rural southeastern Poland who died in Auschwitz on March 12th, 1943 three months after she was sent there accompanied by her mother and neighbours. A decade before writing his story, the author reads an obituary of the photographer Wilhelm Brasse who took more than 40 000 pictures of the Auschwitz prisoners including three of Czeslawa that are included in the obituary. The fictionalized story is woven with what is known to be fact, the latter meticulously researched by the author and footnoted. It is a short but compelling read, one that will forever bore the image Wilhelm Brasse took of Czeslawa all those years ago into your memory.
3. The Moon That Turns You Back (Poems) — Hala Allan ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Hala Allan is a Palestinian-American author, winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Arab American Book Award. This collection of poems effectively experiments with format so that some of the poems could almost be art installations. Themes include displacement and infertility, nostalgia for return. This is my favourite poem in the collection: I’m here to tell you the tide will never stop coming in. – live in the layers
4. What You Are Looking for Is In the Library — Michiko Aoyama (translated by Alison Watts) ❤️❤️👍 A sweet, feel good series of five stories connected by a common thread: a community library run by a larger than life librarian, Sayuri Komachi. I recommend if you like all things Japanese and libraries. 
5. Greek Lessons — Han Kang ❤️❤️❤️❤️ ❤️Winner of this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature and the International Booker Price for The Vegetarian which I have also read. A love story of sorts, not only about human connection but also the love of language. Set in Seoul but moving back and forth between Korea and Germany, it is about the growing bond between a Greek language teacher who is slowly losing his vision and his student, who has lost her mother, custody of her son, and her voice in a short period of time. You will have to read this book slowly and pay attention to the shifts in voices, very cleverly done. I highly recommend this book.
6. The Safekeep — Yael Van der Wouden ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ I read so many great reviews on this book that I splurged on the hardcover copy with the gift card a friend gave me for Pulp bookstore. It was so worth it. This was a compelling read in every sense. A history lesson set in Holland covering the period towards the end of World War Two to the early 1960s combines great character development (I started off intensely disliking the main protagonist and by the end of the book, I was rooting for her) with a tension-building plot. Throw in some twists and a little romance and you have a fab winter read. 
7. Curry: Eating, Reading and Race — Naben Ruthnum ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I loved this small book/long essay, it made me nostalgic for something I never knew growing up: complete immersion in the South Asian diaspora. The author, Canadian born with parents of East Indian background from Mauritius, examines the word curry and how we associate it with brownness as well as the use of tropes in what the author refers to as currybooks, trope-ridden memoirs and novels written for both brown readers and Westerners. The blurb describes the writing as delectable and it really is. I recommend it to anyone with a love of curries and all things South Asian. 
8. The Three Lives of Cate Kay — Kate Fagan ❤️❤️❤️ I picked up this book after reading a lot of great reviews. It was a good read though every short chapter was a different voice which I found a little distracting, not to mention confusing at times if I happened to pause in my reading. I also found it irritating that all the young female characters were described as physically gorgeous, at least by Hollywood standards. The blurb describes the story as an edge-of-your-seat read.  I certainly wouldn’t go that far but it was engaging. 
9. All the Colour in the World — C.S. Richardson ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ We read this book for our Mariposa Bookclub and I absolutely loved it. The book is set between 1916 and 1963, spanning two wars, and reads like a sketchbook, short vignettes that alternate carefully researched art references between a storyline that weaves in and out. If you want to get the most out of the story, you must go down the rabbit hole and google all the art references. Colour and tragedy shape protagonist Henry’s life. Beautifully written with a gorgeous book design. Worth the splurge on a hard copy. Makes me want to take an art history course. 
10. Killing Time — Alan Bennett ❤️❤️❤️ I think this was a Guardian recommendation. The author is a well-known British writer for stage and screen and has authored several non-fiction and fiction books including this one. This story is short (a little over 100 pages encased in a lovely, compact hardcover) and I would say somewhat of a black comedy, set in a senior’s residence during a Covid outbreak. The surviving residents stage a sort of coup by attrition and take back control of their lives and living conditions to which I respond, well done! 
11. The Details — Ia Genberg ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Short-listed for the 2024 International Booker Prize and translated from Swedish, the author recounts, in four separate sections, her relationships with four important people over the course of her life up until now. The writing explores the nature of relationships and the impact they have on the stories of our lives that we tell others. Reading the book is slow-moving with long sentences and passages that will inspire you to reflect on your own significant relationships. 
12. Twisted Love — Ana Huang 🙄🙄🙄 Read for my work bookclub. Lots of cliches and formulaic love-hate attraction scenarios that made me vomit in my mouth, similar to the Harlequin romances I read as a young teen but a lot more steamy and graphic. I appreciate that one of the protagonist’s is Asian. To be clear, I would not have chosen this book for personal reading. I am, however, a firm believer in showing up for a bookclub you’ve committed to. Anyhoo, it’s the discussion that counts and community. 

February

1. Blob A Love Story — ❤️❤️❤️❤️ A unique and very funny coming of age story that had me laughing out loud on numerous occasions. It reminded me a lot of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead in that the protagonist in each of these stories is so awkward and I can totally relate to that. The story is about a young woman named Vi Liu who has a Taiwanese father and a white mother. Vi’s boyfriend has just dumped her and shortly afterwards she dropped out of college telling her parents she is applying to the Peace Corps. One evening, on her way to meet a co-worker at a local bar, she encounters a strange blob with black, beady eyes. She takes the blob home, feeds it sugary cereals and watches in amazement as it grows into the perfect boyfriend. Or is it? I highly recommend for a light read. 
2. I died on a Tuesday — Jane Corry ❤️❤️ 👍 Nothing like a good British thriller as an excuse to stay in and read all weekend. This is my second book by this author; I wouldn’t have bothered except it was a staff recommendation. The chapters alternate between the viewpoints of three different protagonists throughout the story. I found some of the twists to be farfetched, even for a thriller, but still a good read. 
3. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase — Joan Aiken ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I subscribe to a weekly column in the New York Times called Read Like the Wind that recommends books from the past rather than current bestsellers. Described as a « small masterpiece » and written for 9-12 year olds. I can’t believe I missed this prolific author growing up. Set in 1832, it features a gothic setting where the wolves come out at night, orphans, a cruel governess and of course, a couple of heroes to save the day. I loved it not to mention the delightful that is « A Puffin Book » featuring a book plate at the beginning of the book, illustrations throughout the story and all sorts of extra features at the end of the book like fun facts, quizzes and more. 
4. On the Calculation of Volume (II) — Solvej Balle (Translated by Barbara Haveland) ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ I made the mistake of reading book two of seven volumes before realizing. It was so riveting, I will circle back to read book one before waiting impatiently for the next instalment to be translated from Dutch. I don’t what to say about this book apart from that it reads like a sophisticated and lyrical ground hog day with November 18th repeating itself over endless days as protagonist Tara Shelter tries to make sense of this looped time. How the author manages to keep the writing fresh and new as time stands still is a feat unto itself. I loved this book. 
5. On Violence — Hannah Arendt ❤️❤️❤️ I picked this book of essays off a table top display at Pulp bookstore, intrigued, because I have read so many quotes by Arendt in recent months by journalists, scholars and other writers of note, that I wanted to read something more comprehensive by her. Arendt was a German and American historian and philosopher according to Wikipedia and was considered to be one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century. To be honest, much of the writing was over my head as I do not have the academic foundation to understand the complexity of the ideas presented, though I did grasp the gist of them and recognized historical context and terminology. Hopefully my Swiss cheese brain absorbed some of her writing and that it makes me a better if not a smarter person. I am passing the book on to my brilliant son, a liberal arts/political science aficionado. 
6. The Dollmaker’s Guide — Larry Levis ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Wonderful collection. I read it slowly over the past month. Larry Levis died young, at the age of 49 in 1996, of a cardiac arrest induced by a drug overdose. A tragic loss. 
7. Khallas —Rayya Liebich ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I received this chapbook of poems on my birthday, having forgotten I ordered it. The return address was the University of New Brunswick which was intriguing. The author’s mother was Lebanese, her family displaced by war in the 1980s. Her father is Polish. Themes include: the challenges of being biracial including the perks of passing for white and the other side of the coin, bearing witness to Islamophobia, war trauma and the pain of displacement, her mother’s enduring love and grief for all that is lost through war and death. It came with a bonus Zine: Movies in Your Head by the Needham Artist Collective.
8. Life Hacks for a Little Alien — Alice Franklin ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Hilarious, fun and charming book about a young girl (the book covers from pre-school age to 15 years old) who is never named but appears to be on the spectrum. Misunderstood by her parents, teachers and peers alike, they completely miss the the fact that she is in fact quite brilliant. Made me think of the books Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman and Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin. A light and feel good read. 
9. It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over — Anne de Marcken ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ I picked up this slim, beautifully written book at Pulp Bookstore in Verdun. I was intent on spending two birthday gift cards and quite frankly, i am a sucker for a book with a crow on the front cover, never mind its backdrop of chartreuse, one of my favourite colours. The writing is simply gorgeous in this strange and deeply moving little book and I savoured each passage. It is clear from the beginning of the story that the main character is no longer alive but is not dead either. Rather, she is trapped in a state of undead with zombie-like urges but fully conscious of her existence and mourning what she has lost and what she must leave behind. Here is a sample passage: « When I was alive, I imagined something redemptive about the end of the world. I thought it would be a kind of purification. Or at least a simplification. Rectification through reduction. I could picture the empty cities, the reclaimed land. That was the future. This is now. The end of the world looks exactly the way you remember. Don’t try to picture the apocalypse. Everything is the same. » I recommend this book to appreciators of beautiful prose. This book will not leave you sad. It will leave you grateful for the beauty of words.

March

1. Famous Last Words — Gillian McAllister ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Another fab thriller by Gillian McAllister. She is one of my fav British authors of this genre, along with Ruth Ware. The only bad thing about finishing it is I have to wait for her next one. 
2. On the Calculation of Volume l — Solvej Balle❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Last month I made the mistake of reading volume two of this book series before volume one. The former was so well-written and the beginning of the story so seamless, it took me a while to realize I had skipped an entire book. Normally, this kind or error would have ruined everything for me and I would have abandoned both books. Instead, I immediately ordered volume one. This book begins on day 122 of main protagonist Tara Selter, an antiquarian book dealer, reliving the same day over and over again, November 18th, her memory of all preceding November 18th(s) intact, her lived cumulative experience of those days carried forward even as the memories of those around her are erased and reset to zero. I am in awe of the author’s ability to stretch this notion in a way that keeps the reader fully invested, even anticipating subsequent days that remain the same yet vary. 
3. Good Material — Dolly Alderton ❤️❤️❤️❤️ My best friend gifted me this book, probably the only person in the world who chooses books for me and gets it right each time. The book is about the break-up of a couple, Andy and Jen, in their mid thirties, and includes all the existential angst, drama and humour you can possibly milk from this kind of life event at that stage of life. Even though I am in my 60s, I could relate to this story in having lived something similar in my 30s. One of the things I appreciated was that most of the story was told from Andy’s perspective, refreshing actually, and very funny. I think the take away from this book, apart from it being entertaining, is that past relationships that ended, even if they ended painfully, can lead to significant personal growth and clarity about who you are as a person and what you want, even if what you want is to be single.
4. Murder in the Dark — Margaret Atwood ❤️❤️❤️❤️ This vintage prose-poetry/mini short-story collection is an absolute gem. My favourite selection is called Making Poison and begins: « When I was five, my brother and I made poison. » I laughed when I read this because when I was about eight or nine, I also made poison, joined in this task by my brother and several other kids in the neighbourhood. It was comprised of mud water, twigs and leaves and the presumably « poison » red berries on the bushes that divided our neighbour’s lawn from the target in question. I went through a rebellious Cruella de Ville period that summer, intent on wrecking havoc (hypnotizing the older siblings of friends into stealing snacks for us, getting rid of potential snitches by getting them to drink mud water in a bucket, etc.) I eventually grew out of it though I still carry the shame of that lost summer with me to this day. 
5. One Day, Everyone Will Have Been Against This — Omar El Akkad ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ This book is now in my top ten best books ever read list. This may not be enough to convince you to read it though because the moral courage and clarity of the writing will make you squirm as you read it, particularly if you are a person of privilege living in the West, one who remains largely silent about events of the global south affected by the systemic brutality and racism of our democratically elected governments. The text, as painful as it is to read, is simply gorgeous. A haunting and painful articulation of the devastation and dehumanization of Palestinians, Muslims, brown people, migrants and immigrants worldwide, as well as an angry and grief-imbued reckoning against our collective complicity, indifference and hypocrisy. 
6. We Do Not Part — Han Kang ❤️❤️❤️❤️ ❤️This is the third book I’ve read by this author who won the Nobel Prize for literature last year “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life”. She is also a past winner of the International Booker Prize for The Vegetarian. This book is set briefly in Seoul, Korea and mostly on Jeju Island, off the coast of South Korea, the site of of the brutal killing of at least 30 000 civilians starting in 1948, by authorities and extreme-right militant groups, in order to stop “communization” of the island. The US played a part in this as well. Here is a better summary of the book than I could write: Han Kang’s ‘We Do Not Part’ counters unimaginable brutality with courage and empathy | WBUR News> This paragraph in the article could describe so many past and current conflicts where one group is dehumanized, the people referred to as animals, insects, terrorists … we never seem to learn. “In a 2017 New York Times opinion piece, Han noted that in war there is a “critical point” when “human beings perceive certain other human beings as ‘subhuman.’” The “last line of defense” against this, Han posits, “is the complete and true perception of another’s suffering.””
7. Peacocks of Instagram — Deepa Rajagopalan ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I really enjoyed this collection of short stories about the East Indian Diaspora. There was lots to unpack in each story and I loved that some of the characters reappear in subsequent stories. We will be discussing this book at our next bookclub meeting. “With an intense awareness of privilege and the lack of it, the fourteen stunning stories in Peacocks of Instagram explore what it means to be safe, to survive, and to call a place home.”
8. Perfection — Vincenzo Latronico (Translated from the Italian by Sophie Hughes ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I picked up this slim novel after reading a couple of good book reviews including in the New York Times. The story follows ex-pats Tom and Anna, digital creatives, who move from Italy to Germany in search of a dream life: perfection. The book spans several years and ends with the couple nearing forty, still in search for perfection. “Vincenzo Latronico paints a stark picture of the conditions that have created a generation’s “identical struggle for a different life”: and Tom will be uncomfortably familiar to anyone who has tried to resist the flattening effects of whatever life is now.”

April

1. Feeding Ghosts — Tessa Hulls ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ A graphic memoir that is getting a lot of great reviews lately, it was on several of my to-read and wish lists when I came across it at local bookstore. More often than not, I zip through graphic novels. Not this one. This memoir is extensive and clearly a labour of love along with a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears. The book features a fascinating backdrop of well-researched Chinese history, mental illness and inherited trauma. Hulls mixes historical context with the stories of her grandmother and mother, reconnecting with her Chinese roots. I highly recommend if you are a fan of this genre. 
2. The Shadow of the Wind —Carlos Ruiz Zafón ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I read the book the first time on my honeymoon in Barcelona in 2017 and really enjoyed it then because I was completely immersed in the setting and it was so cool so be there and read about the place at the same time. My copy of the book has photos at the back (bad ones, mind you) of some of the key landmarks mentioned in the book. This time around, I enjoyed the book but maybe not as much as the first time I read it. I had a hard time reading the small text in my copy of the book for starters and could have done with a kobo or kindle to increase the size of the font. I also found some of the flashback scenes and descriptions of events long winded. (As you get older, you have less time on this earth to waste on unnecessary embellishments and get impatient with these things.) I also felt annoyed with the way Fermin was ogling women despite his other admirable qualities. I mean, I could have done without all the descriptions of women’s bosoms. I was also a bit disappointed that Daniel turned out to be so predictable in the women he fell for. Then again, a man who likes books and reads them is an attractive man. Overall, it was a superb story, well-written, mysterious and cinematic in descriptions with lots of interesting, developed characters and good plot development. It would certainly make a great movie. Makes me think of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
3. Enter Ghost — Isabelle Hammad ❤️❤️❤️❤️ An intense story set in Haifa and the occupied West Bank, it features main protagonist Sonia Nasir, an actress with a Dutch mother and Palestinian father. Sonia lives in London and decides to visit her sister Haneen, a university professor in Haifa, after an affair with a married theatre director ends badly. There she reminisces about summers spent in Palestine and tries to learn more about her Palestinian family’s story. A friend of her sister’s is putting on a production of Hamlet that features actors from all over historic Palestine. The play will be in Arabic. Sonia is invited to take on the part of Gertrude and agrees. The play encounters all sorts of frightening obstacles, a reality for theatre production in the occupied territories. The show must go on, through peaceful protests and communal protests but the reality of constant surveillance, tear gas, arrests and the regular arrests and shootings of participants was almost unbearable to read. 
4. I Was Told There’d Be Cake — Essays by Sloane Crosley ❤️❤️❤️❤️ i am a fan of this author’s writing since reading her recent memoir, Grief is for People. These essays are well-written, witty and laugh out loud funny. A salve for all the bad news out there of late. I may try one of her fiction novels next. 

May

1. The White Book — Han Kang ❤️❤️❤️❤️ A beautiful book, poetic prose really. A meditation on grief, resilience and the colour white. 
2. How to Solve Your Own Murder — Kristin Perrin ❤️👍👍 A cozy murder mystery set in England. It was an easy read and entertaining at times but I don’t think I will continue reading this series. Not that I don’t like cozy mysteries but this one was a bit lacking, i think, in character development and the plot was a bit far fetched ( a fortune-teller … really?) for my imagination. Definitely not in the same category as Agatha Christie though one reviewer thought otherwise. 
3. Assembly — Natasha Brown ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I picked up this brilliant little book from the display table of a local indie bookshop, the type of small bookstore that naturally lends itself to these kinds of discoveries. Actually, it was her latest book that was featured and I found this one in the racks after reading its reviews on the new book’s dust jacket. The narrator of the story is a black, British woman, working in the world of finance. Her boyfriend is white and comes from a wealthy background, the opposite of hers. The title refers to the assembled parts of the narrator, those that she presents to the outside world when confronted with misogyny and borderline (is there such a thing in this context?) sexual harassment at work, systemic racism in her day to day existence and the knowledge that behind the polite, stiff upper-lips of her boyfriend’s parents, they would much prefer their son date a woman of the same class and colour as them. This review by author Will Harris says it best: “Assembly expertly draws out the difficulties of assembling a coherent self in the face of a myriad of structural oppressions. Casting a wry eye at faded aristocrats, financial insiders, and smug liberals, Natasha Brown takes the tics of the conventional English novel—the repressed emotion and clipped speech—and drains away the nostalgia. What’s left is something hard and true.” 
4. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore — Robin Sloan ❤️❤️❤️👍 I loved the bookstore perspective of this story but got kind of lost with the coding. Yes, this original tale manages two combine these two things: vintage bookstore meets Google. If you love books and a bit of lore/fantasy, this story will appeal. Main character Clay Jannon has lodt his tech job due to a recession and lands a job doing the nightshift at a neighbourhood bookstore. Mr. Penumbra’s bookstore is not all it appears to be however, with one section accessible for the general public and a whole other section reserved for a group of eccentric scholars who visit periodically to exchange one book for another. then there are the mysterious logbooks in which Clay must record the books lent or returned along with the description of the borrower’s demeanour at the time of the exchange. I really enjoyed the characters and the story despite the foray into Google land. 
5. The Book of Records — Madeleine Thien ❤️❤️❤️❤️ A beautifully written and profound book that honours the experience of refugees and their stories by weaving those of the characters in the book with historical figures. “We inherit stories never intended for us, sometimes to the surprise of those who left them for us. No matter. Let things fall to the one in need, who takes it upon herself to care for them.” It is a book to be read slowly, with breaks, as it jumps through time and space, not my usual reading style but rewarding overall. I could particularly relate to references to historian and political theorist , Hannah Arendt. I read her collection of essays On Violence earlier this year. I have two other books by this author waiting in the wings. 
6. Dog Songs — Mary Oliver ❤️❤️❤️❤️ A collection of poems that celebrate dogs, specifically dogs the author has known and loved, but with universal themes fellow dog lovers can relate to. This book is particularly poignant for me to read at this time as we say a long and painful goodbye to our beloved Sami, our best dog, always our favourite, though they are all good dogs. 
7. The Retirement Plan — Sue Hincenbergs ❤️❤️👍 Despite a backdrop of a casino, insurance schemes and murder for hire, this book was a thoroughly enjoyable romp. My husband was a little concerned when I told him it was a bout three wives, in their early 60s or thereabouts, who decide to hire a hitman to kill their husbands for the insurance. Add some East Indian thugs and potential mama’s boys for husbands and you’ve got some laugh out loud moments. 
8. Judgement Day — Penelope Lively ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I subscribe to this weekly column in the New York Times called Read Like the Wind written by book critic Molly Young. I have discovered many little gems in this column, treasured reads that I would never have discovered otherwise. This book is no exception. Of note, the author has written over twenty fiction and non-fiction books and is a previous Booker Prize winner for the novel Moon Tiger. This story is set in 1980 or thereabouts in the sleepy English country village of Laddenham and revolves around the life of main character Claire Paling who has recently moved there with her young family. Plenty of drama ensues when Claire joins a volunteer committee for restoration of the local church along with a handful of local characters. The writing is sharp and insightful and carries large themes in the guise of small town issues. I recommend this book and would definitely read this author again. 
9. Loved and Missed — Susie Boyt ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Another gem recommended by book critic Molly Young of the New York Times. It’s a beautiful story about parental love, the complexities of loving a child with drug addiction with the second guessing, the guilt, the attempts at redemption. Second chances occur when main character Ruth seizes an opportunity to care for her daughter’s baby, Lily. 
10. Last Summer in the City —Gianfranco Calligarich ❤️❤️👍 Translated from its original Italian, I simply couldn’t get into this book. To be fair, i was not in the best frame of mind reading it. I found the characters unlikeable, unsympathetic and there was just too much drinking to wade through. I couldn’t wait to finish it and move on to the next book.
11. Lullabies for Little Criminals — Heather O’Neill ❤️❤️❤️❤️  This was a reread for our Mariposa bookclub. I first read it when it first came out in 2006 and loved it then but had forgotten most of the details. For some reason, reading it this time broke my heart, utterly, to the point it was almost unbearable. Maybe that is the sign of a great story. Set in Montreal, the writing is superb, the characters marginal yet vivid, all the people you hurry by when walking on your way somewhere warm and safe. 

June

1. Perfect — Ellen Hopkins 👍 👍👍 This young adult book, all 600 plus pages of it, was written in a very simple prose-poetry/free verse form which, happily, made it an easy and fast read. It features a group of four high school seniors, all facing significant crises in their lives, existential included. The story features four distinct narrative voices, identified by the name of the narrator at the top of each section, all striving for perfection, be it physical appearance or performance. It covers eating disorders, including body dysmorphia, substance abuse, racism, sexuality, lgbtq issues and rape. Though the book presents these issues, it never really dives deep into any of these themes, rather glossing over them. Not surprising, really, considering the lack of development of any of the characters with the exception perhaps of Andre, for whom I had a soft spot. Don’t get me started on the parents, caricatures of the worst kind of middle-class professionals, cold and superficial, seemingly incapable of unconditional love and support for their struggling children. I get that young people go through these issues, but the ones that I encounter in my day to day life, including my son and his peers, are so much more complex and interesting than this shallow group of teens. They don’t always get it right, they struggle with perfection and expectations, stuff that my generation had to deal with too, but that are likely magnified many fold by the presence of social media today. The young people I know care so much more about the world around them, about music and art, inclusion and contribution, social justice and policies, etc. They are gender fluid, they are brilliant and they are resilient. Despite their personal struggles and demons, they want to make a difference in this world. This book leaves me hurting for what our youth have to deal with today. That being said, it also left me yearning for a kinder, more generous, and layered representation.
2. Heart Lamp — Banu Mushtaq ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Winner of this year’s International Booker Prize, these stories were written between 1990 and 2023, in the Kannada language of Southern India, and represent the everyday lives of women and girls in Muslim communities there. The writing is rich and nuanced as it describes the patriarchal tensions in these communities. The author is a lawyer and journalist, and one of the founding members of Bandaya Sahitya Sanghatane which means the Rebel Literary Movement. Not all words in the Kannada language are translatable and the translator often keeps the original Kannada words, meaning you will have to read phrases carefully to understand what is being communicated but the nuances and complexities are accessible. What better way to learn about a language and culture than to be fully immersed in the story.
3. To Smithereens — Rosalyn Drexler ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I ordered this book based on a review in the NY Times. The reviewer said she read it straight through. Originally published in 1972, this book is a laugh-ou-loud, hilarious, raunchy love story where art critic meets potential female wrestler after feeling her up at a movie theatre. The author, a brilliant polymath, dabbled in wrestling in her younger days so is writing from first hand experience. She was a contemporary of Andy Warhol and an artist as well as writer. Google her to see some of her art. I loved the book, a nice break from the serious stuff. 
4. The Cat Crosses a Line — Louise Carson ❤️👍👍 My second read by this local author, of the cozy mystery genre. There are 20 plus cats in this book so those with allergies may not appreciAte it. 😂 
5. A Leopard-Skin Hat — Anne Serre ❤️❤️ Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. The story is a series of short scenes describing the intense relationship between “the Narrator” and his close childhood friend, Fanny.
6. On Divorce (Portraits and voices of separation. A photographic project) — Harry Borden ❤️❤️❤️ A book or portraits accompanied by short essays on how the subject experienced divorce. Poignant and relatable, particularly if you’ve gone through it. I really like this photographer. A picture paints a thousand words indeed.
7. Wrongful — Lee Upton ❤️❤️❤️❤️ A clever and well-written literary mystery of sorts, the best feature was its character development, particularly that of its main protagonist, Geneva. A famous novelist dies at a literary festival honouring her writing. Ten years later, the suspects gather again in the same location and super fan Geneva resolves to uncover the murderer. Don’t expect to feel complete satisfaction by the time the mystery resolves. What you will feel is the desire for more writing for this author and a deep affection for Geneva and her allies.
8. The Bigamist — Felicia Mihali ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I picked up the book at the bookstore under the local authors section. Originally written in French, it was translated to English and published by Linda Leith. I enjoyed this story featuring the Romanian diaspora in Montreal and the challenges, solidarity and resilience of immigrants to integrate and find work, if not meaningful work then at least work that covers living costs, in a new place. In between those lines are the threads of relationships made fragile by the strain of incompatibilities, hopes and dreams, under pressure in a new place. 
9. Detective Aunty — Uzma Jalaluddin ❤️❤️❤️ An edgy cozy mystery written by  an author known for writing romance, it features a South Asian community in Toronto. I really enjoyed the story, the familiarity of the culture, food and customs, but especially for the character development of Detective Aunty herself, Kauser Khan, the recently widowed protagonist of the story. I will definitely read the next book if it turns out to be a series, if only to find out what happens with the budding romance of Kauser and family friend Nasir. 
10. Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Yours — Yiyun Li ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I am a fan of this writer since reading her novel The Book of Goose a couple of years ago. I was stunned when I read a recent review on a new memoir of hers following the suicide of her son, James, in 2024, at age nineteen. Her other son Vincent took his own life in 2017, at sixteen. I thought it might be a good idea to start with her first memoir before tackling the more recent one (she actually wrote two books following the respective tragedies). This older memoir is a back and forth, almost stream of conscience, reflection on her beginnings in China, her literary influences and muses, her career switch from science researcher (immunology) to writing, as well as her own mental health struggles. I plan to read the memoir following Vincent’s death first. 

July

1. Margot’s Got Money Troubles — Rufi Thorpe ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I really enjoyed this book, well-written and funny with flawed but endearing characters, including an ex-pro wrestler named Dr. Jinx, the father of main protagonist, Margot. Nineteen year-old Margot has an affair with her married English professor, Mark, who seduces her with praise for her writing. She falls pregnant and decides to keep the baby even as family and friends warn her it will ruin her life. Soon after son Bohdi’s birth, the prophecies appear to come true. Her life in shambles, she reaches out to Jinx for help and he comes through. Resilient Margot uses her ingenuity and creativity to start an unlikely business venture that will provide for her and her son. My favourite line(s): “Because that’s all art is, in the end. One person trying to get another person they have never met to fall in love with them.”
2. A Novel Murder — E.C. Nevin ❤️❤️ A cozy literary murder mystery that had a few too many twists and turns for my liking (one reviewer warned against whiplash) and an out left field ending that left me somewhat disappointed. The story takes place at a crime fiction festival in an English village and features a cast of amateur sleuths as well as an array of odious suspects. The author used to work in publishing and uses the book to criticize that world. 
3. The Woman in Suite 11 — Ruth Ware ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I’ve read everything by this author and this book doesn’t disappoint. It’s actually a sequel to her first novel, The Woman in Cabin 10, a sort of homage to her readers who wanted to know what happened to some of the characters, especially main protagonist Lo Blacklock, in that first book. Admittedly, I have vague recollections to the references in this book so if you haven’t read Cabin 10, I suggest you start there. Ruth Ware is simply the best when it comes to thriller tension and character development for the genre. The book starts off in the US where Lo is happily married to an American journalist and they have two small boys. It quickly heads over to continental Europe and ends with a gripping finale in the UK. Would make a great vacation read. 
4. Death on the Island — Eliza Reid ❤️❤️👍 I heard this Canadian author interviewed on CBC and was intrigued enough to buy her debut fiction novel. She is the sister of an author I like, Iain Reid. This murder mystery is set on an Icelandic island, no surprise considering the author is a former First Lady of Iceland. I enjoyed it for the most part, there’s something intriguing about books set in that part of the world, and would read book two if it ever came about.
5. Don’t Let him In — Lisa Jewell ❤️❤️❤️❤️I’m keeping my reading light this summer and this book was no exception. I tend to avoid the thriller genre unless I’ve experienced a tried and true author (Ruth Ware and Gillian McAllister come to mind). Lisa Jewell is a happy discovery. After snubbing her bestsellers for years, I am hooked. This book was compelling, intricately layered and clever, with endless twists and turns that culminated in a grand, if somewhat unbelievable finale. Nick Radcliffe comes across as the perfect man, and that’s how he gets a foot in the door. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is. 
6. 84, Charing Cross Road — Helen Hanff ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ I gifted this to my husband for Father’s Day, based on someone’s recommendation. He loved it and promptly left it on my side of the bed to read. It is a collection of delightful letters that outline the correspondence between Helen Hanff, a New York writer, and a London book seller, Frank Doel, between 1949 and 1969. The book is an absolute treasure. I wept with emotion and nostalgia at its conclusion, for the lost era of letter-writing and beautiful books that could be bought for under five dollars. I highly recommend this book, particularly if you are one of those exclusive readers who still swoon in the presence of physical books and thrill before beautiful bindings and gilded pages.
7. Valentine in Montreal — Heather O’Neill ❤️❤️❤️ I bought this book because … it’s by Heather O’Neill. It is the compilation of her serialized novel, published weekly in the Montreal Gazette, a little while ago. I knew that Charles Dickens had written serialized publications, one of the best known one being A Tale of Two Cities. O’Neill points out how this format of fiction “sold in green covers or in newspapers and magazines”, gave access to an an increasingly literate portion of the Victorian population who could never afford the high cost of books. It also featured characters the average reader at the time could relate to: the poor and the down and out. The book using the backdrop of the metro system to tell its story, with vivid descriptions of the design and features of each metro station. In spite of the choppiness of the storyline, it works, and I found it to a delightful and charming romp in O’Neill’s Montreal. The illustrations by her daughter Arizona add that special touch. I do wish they had been in colour though. I predict a future graphic novel. 
8. The Family Upstairs — Lisa Jewell ❤️❤️❤️ The second thriller I’ve read by this author this month but not quite as thrilling as the first. Still, I’d read her again. Plenty of tension and evil depravity, a wee bit of romance, and set in England. Good enough for me.
9. All Kidding Aside — Jean-Christophe Réhel (translated by Neil Smith) — ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Full disclosure, i received this advanced reader’s copy from publisher QC Fiction an imprint of Baraka Books. I am very grateful to Blossom Thom who reached out to me eighteen months ago to ask if I would like to be on a mailing list of readers willing to read and review books published by Baraka. Sadly, Blossom died last April leaving a community of writers, poets and no doubt her colleagues at Baraka mourning her loss. She was a well-loved and respected friend to many. I have received two arcs since, one misplaced in my ever-growing to-read pile and the latest, this book by a local writer. Is there nothing more delightful than reading a story that is set in your home town but in a completely different neighbourhood? I live in the largely anglophone west end of the island of Montreal and the book is set in east end Pointe-aux-Trembles. It features the small family unit of Louis who is queer and works at a local Tim Hortons, his brother Guillaume who is schizophrenic and their father Sylvain who has a glioblastoma brain tumour. Louis wants to be a stand-up comedian and spends all his free time watching you-tube videos of his favourite comics. He has taken over responsibility for Gui’s monthly injections that control his hallucinations and the two brothers somehow muddle along to manage their father’s illness while the latter spends most of his time chatting up prospects on various dating apps. I truly loved the book and highly recommend it. I probably haven’t done justice to the cast of characters but trust me, as far fetched as it all sounds, this story is the perfect combination of poignancy and laugh out loud moments. What better way to read about such serious themes as poverty, mental illness, and grief. The original French version is La blague du siècle.
10. A Galaxy of Whales — Heather Fawcett ❤️❤️❤️❤️ A lovely read for 9-12 year olds and certain sappy, nostalgic adults. Set in a small Salish Sea community, it’s the story of eleven year old Fern whose family runs a whale-watching business and who has the same passion for photography as her late father. This interest prompts her to enter a local photography contest and team up with Jasper, the boy next door who happens to be the son of a rival tour company. Themes include the pain of changing friendships, grief, nature conservation and small town life that includes lots of interesting and quirky characters.  

August

1. Baldwin, Styron and Me — Mélikah Abdelmoumen (translated from the French by Catherine Khorduc) ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ I bought this book based on a review I read in the latest edition of mRb or Montreal Review of  Books, picked up at my favourite coffee shop in town. The book is a memoir and begins with a quote by Haitian filmmaker and director Raoul Peck, who made the 2016 film I Am Not Your Negro, about the life of James Baldwin and race relations in the United States. I have ordered Peck’s 2020 book J’étouffe so that I can read more. Abdelmoumen was born in Chicoutimi to a French Canadian mother and Tunisian father. The family moved to Montreal when the author was four but kept close ties to her mother’s family in the Saguenay. Despite her strong connection to Quebec, she describes the feeling of exclusion growing up. of being the Other, when reckoning with the nationalist definition of nous, les Québécois. « Something in me couldn’t grasp or relate to the idea that in order to defend an identity we feel is under threat we need to protect it from the identity of others— » Her parents split up and her father moves to France. The author eventually moves there as an adult, marries and has a child. It is there that she discovers the writing of James Baldwin and becomes fascinated by Baldwin’s close friendship with William Styron, author of Sophie’s Choice and the controversial The Confessions of Nat Turner which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. To quote the book jacket: « Considering questions of identity, race, equity and the often contentious public debates about these topics, Abdelmoumen works to create a space where the answers are found by first learning how to listen—even in disagreement. » I highly recommend this wonderful book.
2. Maggie; or, A Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar — Katie Yee ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️I loved this book so much. A delightful read from the unique writing voice of the protagonist to the witty and insightful observations about life, kids and a marriage disintegrating over the confession of an affair. A real gem of a debut. I will be looking forward to more from this author.
3. Hum — Helen Phillips ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Excellent dystopian-tinged book about the consequences of climate change AI gone too far. What’s frightening is that there is enough in this story that will ring true, that is already familiar, in terms of our dependence on and addiction to our devices. Whereas we may take our children to a technology museum for a field trip, protagonist May splurges (she has recently lost her job to AI)for a family getaway to an artificial botanical garden in order for her children to experience what is a luxury for the times: greenery, fresh fruit, wildlife, and clean water. She insists on them leaving their devices behind, something that costs her by the end of the vacation. Hum refers to the intelligent robots that inhabit this world, gatekeepers of a sort. 
4. The House We Lived In — Lisa Jewell ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I rejoined my local library after a very long hiatus and was trying to think a book or author to look up and take out and this author came to mind. There were only two books available and I’d read the other one. This makes the third book i have read by this author in a little over a month. I wouldn’t exactly call it a thriller, but definitely a book with building tension and suspense, plenty of family drama. It’s set in the Cotswold mainly and touches on the pathology of hoarders. A great read; i zipped through it. Perfect for vacations or a weekend at the cottage. May encourage you to do a little decluttering. 
5. Fox 8 — George Saunders ❤️❤️❤️ A short story told from the perspective of a Fox who has learned to speak “Yuman”. It is described as “a darkly comic fable about the unintended consequences of our quest to name the natural world.” In this story, the foxes natural habitat is razed for the development of a mall (or “mawl” in yuman-speak) with deadly consequences. Fox 8 tries to connect with humans by learning their language only to discover their inherent meanness. Tragedy ensues. I’ve been wanting to read Lincoln In the Bard by this author for ages. Definitely on my to-read list now. Don’t be fooled by my three heart rating which is due to my irritation with the phonetic spelling of the yuman-speak.
6. We Could Be Rats — Emily Austin ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I am a fan of this Canadian author and have read her two previous novels: Everyone in This Room Will One Day Be Dead (my favourite to date) and Interesting Facts about Space. All her books feature quirky characters, square pegs that don’t quite fit in with their families, school, work and socially. The results are a mix of tender and laugh out loud moments and lots of descriptive imagination that will make you reminisce about your own childhood and adolescence. This story is about the relationship of two sisters : Sigrid and Margit, and how they navigate and cope with academic challenges, poverty, parents whose fights are violent and ugly and grief. The book is divided into segments, the longest one a series of letters by Sigrid, explaining why she took her own life. I won’t spoil the ending but it isn’t the doom and gloom you would expect. 
7. Death With Interruptions — José Saramago (translated from Portuguese by Margaret Jill Costa) ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ This was among the first books I took out after renewing my library card recently. I was actually looking for the book Blindness (it won the Nobel prize for literature) by the same author which wasn’t available. This is not writing you can skim through. Dense with few breaks in the form of paragraphs or chapters, it requires the reader to be fully alert and concentrated. The story starts with the announcement that there are to be no more deaths in a particular territory after midnight on a particular date. This has been decided by death (small « d » death), aka the grim reaper. After the initial celebration by the local population (excluding groups like religious leaders, morticians and doctors), on the achievement humanity’s goal of eternal life, dismay sets in as the burden of caring for the perpetually dying becomes a reality, life-insurance policies becoming meaningless and funeral parlours must resort to burials for domestic pets (excluded from immortality). Reflecting on the havoc her decision has created, deaths will now resume, decrees small « d » death, but the future dead will now receive a week’s notice to give them the opportunity to plan ahead, tie up loose ends, live the life of Reilly for a week, etc. The story is absolutely brilliant throughout, but the best part is towards the end with the humanization of death, classified clearly as female, who leaves her scythe in charge of administrating the letters, assumes a human form, and finds herself falling for the cello player who refuses to accept the letter announcing his impending death. I highly recommend this book but do read it early in the day, under good light, with a caffeine source. 
8. Bilbliophobia — Sarah Chihaya ❤️❤️❤️❤️ You’ll love this literary memoir if books seduce you, if being around them makes you absolutely giddy, alters you on a visceral level, has made into the person you are today. It is for people who drool at thought of reading about books, who read copious amounts of literary reviews and compile endless lists of books to read. This is also a book about racialized identity and mental health. From the jacket: « Bibliophobia, alternately searing and darkly humorous, is a story about breakdown and survival told through books. » I loved it, have read many of the books referenced, and have added still others to my to-read list. 
9. The Girls in the Garden — Lisa Jewell ❤️❤️❤️ My third book by this author in that past two months. I will eventually make my way through all of them. They are well-written quick reads with plenty of suspense if you like that kind of story. Somewhere between thriller and murder mystery, I would say. The story is set in London in what is described as an idyllic community garden surrounded by houses that are inhabited by in some cases, generations of the same family. This is where Claire and her two daughters, Pip and Grace, move after the girl’s father suffers a schizophrenic break. One night after a neighbourhood party, Pip finds her thirteen-year-old sister Grace lying unconscious and bloody. An investigation ensures, turning up some dark neighbourhood secrets in the process. 
10. J’ÉTOUFFE — Raoul Peck ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I ordered this book after reading a quote from his text in the book: Baldwin, Styron and Me — Mélikah Abdelmoumen. See above, #65, for a review. Haitian-born Peck made the film I Am Not Your Negro which is about James Baldwin. J’étouffe was published for the first time in l’hebdomadaire Le 1 numéro 301, under the title  « Être noir en France ». The book is beautifully and aptly designed to make its point: black with simple white lettering. A slim volume that packs a punch. Peck specifically calls out French nationalism and racism. He says it is not for targeted minority groups to  educate the perpetrators of racism, nor is it okay to minimize                 the persistent micro aggressions that racialized people endure on a regular basis. J’étouffe refers to what Cedric Chouviat repeated seven times in 2015 as he was pinned down by three police officers while another filmed in Paris. He died two days later in hospital. The autopsy revealed a broken larynx. In 2016 Adama Traoré would repeat the same words in police custody and die a similar death. 
11. The Hounding — Xenobe Purvis ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️I loved this debut novel, a moody, atmospheric book set in the small English village of Little Nettlebed in the 18th century. I would definitely categorize it as gothic (think Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë or Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë), a favourite genre of mine in my teen years. The story features five sisters, the Mansfield girls, who are not much liked in the village for their aloofness and self-containment. Rumours start to swirl when local ferryman, Pete Darling, a man prone to drink and making up stories, claims to have witnessed the girls transform into hounds. You can imagine the type of small-town fervour that ensues. The book kept me in suspense from beginning to end. I cannot wait for her next novel. 
12. Then She Was Gone — Lisa Jewell ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Another excellent thriller from this author, my third this month, the perfect salve for serious topics bringing you down. This author has a way of making details that initially seem farfetched, ring true. I read it in a day. Looking forward to the next one by this author. 
13. The Inextinguishable — Poems by Michael Lavers ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I discovered this wonderful poet via my favourite poetry blog, Ordinary Plots by Devin Kelly. Here is the blog post that featured this poem. https://open.substack.com/pub/ordinaryplots/p/michael-lavers-the-happiest-day-of?r=3vomu&utm_medium=ios. I proceeded to order the book and have been delighting in it to such an extent that I have read it cover to cover, something I rarely do with poetry books, preferring rather to space out and savour the selections. Take these lines for example from the poem Filter Queen: “Without the miracle: he takes it from its case and sets it down. Pours dirt onto the rug, then waves his wand and takes the dirt back up, changing the rug’s dull blue to something I did not know blue to be. From cold dishwater to a pool of flame.”

September

1. The Midnight Library — Matt Haig ❤️❤️❤️👍 Read for my work bookclub. An enjoyable read that will likely make you reflect on your own life: choices made, roads taken or not, and oh, the many regrets. Protagonist Nora is in a bad place. Both her parents are dead, her brother isn’t speaking to her, she cancelled her wedding and ended things with her fiance, her cat dies and she gets fired from her job. She begins to see her life as an endless series of bad decisions that result in a series of unfortunate events and decides to opt out. But instead of oblivion and a peaceful demise, she ends up in the Midnight Library, a place between life and death, run by Mrs. Elm, someone she knew when she was younger, who was kind to her. Nora’s book of regrets is in this library but so are all the other stories of what her life could have been. Now she has the opportunity to live them.
2. The Periodic Table — Primo Levi ❤️❤️❤️❤️ This author was a Jewish Italian chemist from Piedmont, a survivor of Auschwitz and a writer. Someone recommended it for one of my book clubs and though it did not win the vote, I took note of it. His name came up again during an interview featuring Gabor Mate and I have since ordered his memoir Survival at Auschwitz at my local library. I enjoyed this book, each essay named for an element on the periodic table. In his last essay “Carbon”, Levi concluded that book is not a chemical treatise, nor an autobiography, but he concedes that it a micro-history of his life. I should have been more interested in the chemistry aspects of the essays than I was. My college chemistry days long past, my eyes glazed over a few times. And I didn’t care for the two essays written in italic text somewhere in the middle of the book, the ones that hinted of magical realism or such. But I did love the descriptions of the characters, his wonderful sense of humour, his humility, frankness, and humanity in writing about encounters and connections, even for those who held him captive.
3. None of This Is True — Lisa Jewell ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Another great thriller by this author. This one is about a successful podcaster, whose idyllic life is turned upside down by a woman who has the same birthdate as her. I will eventually make my way through all of her books. Luckily, she has a lot of them.
4. The Double — José Saramago (translated from Portuguese by Margaret Jill Costa  ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Here is another author I am obsessed with. Tertuliano Maximo Afonso is a divorced, rather depressed secondary school history teacher. To cheer him up, a colleague recommends he rent a particular video. He is unimpressed the first time he watches it but is woken up later that night by the feeling of another presence in his apartment. Upon investigation, he finds the video replaying itself in the living room and this time he notices that one of the actors is his exact double. From that moment on, our protagonist goes down an investigative rabbit hole trying to determine the man’s identity and whereabouts. The reader is invited along this journey. This book reads like one long run-on sentence, the kind of writing style I usually avoid, but this author does it brilliantly. 
5. Remarkably Bright Creatures — Shelby Van Pelt ❤️❤️❤️❤️ We read this for our Mariposa Bookclub. A thoroughly enjoyable read,  worthy of all its accolades. I think the character of Marcellus the Octopus was everyone’s favourite, worthy of his own fan club or at least a teeshirt. Pair the book with the Netflix documentary My Octopus Teacher and anything but Octopus for dinner (I refused to eat octopus before reading the book and nothing since has changed my mind) and you are all set. There are many interesting themes in the book; grief is certainly one of them. The ensuing discussion was lively and engaging. A great pick for bookclub or otherwise. 
6. Mother Mary Comes to Me — Arundhati Roy ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ This memoir was so good, gripping with utterly gorgeous sentences, that I didn’t want it to end. What a life she has led. I wept at the last chapter, felt her grief palpably, missing my own father terribly. I feel like reading her Booker prize winning novel The God of Small Things again. I can see it on my bookshelf from where I am typing this review. I may do that or instead read The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, her second work of fiction that miraculously, I have not read yet. I highly recommend this book if you are fan of Roy’s and want some insight into the complexity and beauty of India. 
7. The Family Remains — Lisa Jewell ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Sequel to The Family Upstairs. So, so good. I am weaving her thrillers through my reading schedule when the world gets to heavy because I don’t believe in happy endings or world peace anymore. 
8. The Secret Book Society — Madeline Martin ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I really enjoyed this book. Set in London in 1895, there were shades of the regency romances I used to read as a teenager throughout the story but with a much darker edge. Known for historical fiction, the author has researched what it was like for women during the Victorian era; they were discouraged, even restricted, from reading unless it was material that would make them better wives and mothers. There was also a trend to diagnose women with hysteria when convenient, at times for something as minor as being disagreeable and have them committed to the local lunatic asylum. Women had very little control or agency over their lives, even over their choice of clothing. 
9. Sympathy Tower Tokyo — Rie Qudan ❤️❤️❤️ I had a bit of a hard time getting through this book, translated from the Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood. The story revolves around the design and construction of a new, innovative skyscraper in Tokyo designed by acclaimed architecture Sara Machine, that will provide housing to criminals, a form of radical sympathy towards them, a new societal trend. I did enjoy one of the underlying themes on the importance of language, specifically as it relates to Japanese. The back and forth with AI kinda made my eyes glaze over. 

October

1. A Truce That Is Not Peace — Miriam Toews ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️I am a big fan of this Canadian writer. I read this recent memoir of hers ahead of hearing her talk at the upcoming Vancouver Writer’s Festival in about two weeks time. The book begins by the author being asked the question, “Why do you write” by the organizer of a literary event in Mexico City. Her attempts at answering prove to be unsatisfactory and she is dropped from the event. The memoir reads like a collage of journal entries, bits of writing—hers and others—layers of grief and guilt woven into a timeline that jumps from past to present as she revisits her sister’s suicide in 2010, almost twelve years to the day after her father took his own life. Both stepped in front of a moving train. I highly recommend any of her books. My favourite is Swing Low. Her novel Women Talking was made into a movie. 
2. Watching You — Lisa Jewell ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Another fab thriller from this author. Making my way through everything she has written.
3. Auschwitz Testimonies 1945-1986 — Primo Levi with Leonardo De Benedetti ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Primo Levi was an Italian Jew, a chemist by profession, from Turin. This collection of testimonies includes reflections and historical accounts of Primo Levi’s arrest as a member of the anti-fascist group and his subsequent deportation to Auschwitz and his harrowing internment. Out of a trainload of 650 deportees, only fifteen men and nine women survived. Most were sent to the gas chambers upon arrival during the selection process. I was looking for another book by Levi at the local library when I stumbled upon this one. He writes about his experiences as a scientist might, observations with a sense of detachment. He writes clearly, insightfully and humanely, providing details that exclude the gore without minimizing the suffering.
4. You Will Not Kill Our Imagination — Saeed Teebi ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ A beautiful, haunting and brutally honest reflection on growing up as part of the Palestinian diaspora. Teebi unpacks the trauma of exile, his grandparents were expulsed from Jaffa during the Nakba of 1948, violence and Palestinian identity, passed down through the generations of his family. I had already read his acclaimed book of short stories: Her First Palestinian and will be attending his talk at the Vancouver Writer’s Festival next week. Teebi describes book talks being set up and ultimately cancelled, even prior to October 7th, 2023, simply because his book portrayed Palestinian stories. The reason given?  Concerns over the psychological safety of some members of the firm that had organized the event. One of the privileges I appreciate the most in selecting my reading material is that no one can cancel what I read. The sharing of literature, art, culture, any form of education really, is dangerous to ideology, propaganda, conformity. That is why the sources of knowledge and record keeping: libraries, universities, etc., are often destroyed during war. This is a must-read book. The writing is simply gorgeous. It will stay with you and it will change you. Check out Goodreads for more reviews. I simply cannot do it justice. 
5. October 7th (Searching for the Humanitarian Middle) — Marsha Lederman ❤️❤️❤️❤️I read this book in preparation for the author’s talk at the Vancouver Writers Festival. It was good to read it right after the above book by Saeed Teebi, a reminder of the deep trauma of the Jewish diaspora following the October 7th attack by Hamas in Israel. As the title suggests, Lederman, a columnist for the Globe and Mail and author of Kiss the Red Stairs: The Holocaust, Once Removed, attempts to find the middle ground in her past columns, acknowledging the trauma and suffering of Israelis and Jews but also validating the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and world wide. She does a decent job of this, humanizing Palestinian suffering and grief, all the while acknowledging her own bias. It is a fine balancing act which makes the reader pause and consider, but does not offer any solutions moving forward. Another issue I have with the book is that the collection of essays does not extend beyond October, 2024 when so much has happened since, particularly in the further destruction of gaza and in the increasing death toll. The middle section of the book covers other columns predating the October 7th attack, not necessarily related, but clear examples of anti-semitism that feed into the current rise of anti-semitism worldwide. The question remains, how do we tackle anti-semitism while defending the rights of innocent Palestinian civilians? Lederman suggests a gentler, more thoughtful approach but I can’t help thinking that contrary to what she is suggesting, peaceful pro-Palestinian protest is often being equated to anti-semitism. I recommend the book but balance it with a Palestinian perspective. I have Kiss the Read Stairs on my to-read list. 
6. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny — Kiran Desai ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️I might have waited for the paperback copy of this 670 page tome but I wanted to read it in preparation for the author’s talk at the Vancouver writer’s festival October 26th. I had read her previous two books, Hullaballoo at the Guava Orchard from 1998 and her Booker Prize-winning novel The Inheritance of Loss from 2005 and enjoyed them both. To be fair, books by Indian writers can do no wrong in my eyes as they almost always stir a misty nostalgia in me that camouflages any flaws the writing may have and this story was no exception. The book is set in New York City, India and Mexico with a pitstop in Italy. It is an epic family saga and love story set just before and slightly after 9-11. Lots of laugh-out-loud caricatures and dialogue woven with a sobering reflection of the traditional patriarchal system and misogyny that exists to this day not only in India but the world at large. I recommend this story if you love India or at least the idea of it, as I do. 
7. We, the Kindling — Otoniuya J. Okot Bitek ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ I heard this author speak at the Vancouver Writers Festival at a talk called Blood in the Pen: Stories, Crisis, Repair and the Writer, featuring Madeleine Thien and Saeed Teebi. I bought her book after the talk because I simply had to. I finished it and will leave it for my friend. I cannot do justice to a review in my own words so here is the Goodreads review: “A concise, searing novel centred around the unforgettable voices of schoolgirls in Uganda who survive capture by the Lord’s Resistance Army.In northern Uganda in the 1990s, girls as young as eleven were abducted from schools and homes by the Lord’s Resistance Army and thrust into the horrors of war. Facing long, perilous treks, gun battles, and underage marriages, while forced to be pawns in political machinations they did not understand, many did not survive. Those who did make it through continue to bear the physical and psychological weight of these terrors.As We, the Kindling begins, we meet Miriam and Helen, two survivors who are now in their twenties but haunted by their years in forced servitude to the Army. In spare, graceful, yet unflinching prose the novel weaves past with present, layering folk tales with taut realism to reveal the rhythm of the girls’ lives before the war, unspooling the circumstances of their abductions and tracing their harrowing journeys home again. Reminiscent of The Buddha in the Attic, this is a luminous novel, full of life and care, that insistently refuses to spectacularize brutality and tragedy.”
8. Death in Spring — Mercè Rodoredo (translated from the Catalan by Martha Tennent) ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I picked this book up from independent bookstore Iron Dog Books when I was visiting Vancouver, recommended by staff member, Birinder. I read it on the plane ride home, despite having to sit next to an obnoxious young man from Australia who repeatedly blocked my light with his inability to sit still, who crossed the imaginary line that divided his leg space and mine, not to mention mention poking his elbow into my flank, who yelled through the seat crack to his parents sitting behind us what a sh*t airline this was charging for meals and a sh*t country that made him pay for parking and then his obnoxious mother took off her running shoes and rested her stinky bare feet on my aisle arm rest. I finished this beautiful and disturbing book that has been compared to Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery with focus and intent and deep calming breaths. It is the story of a disturbing society living in a nameless town as seen through the eyes of a fourteen-year-old boy trying to make sense of the strange customs and rituals of this place. The occurrences are dark and violent yet tempered by the gorgeous writing. The perfect read with Halloween around the corner. 

November

1. The Sandcastle Girls — Chris Bohjalian ❤️❤️❤️ I read this book for my work bookclub, suggested by a member with Armenian ancestry. The book is part historical fiction though it does jump back and forth between the present (as recounted by the narrator, the granddaughter of an Armenian genocide survivor, Armen, and his American wife, Elizabeth) and 1915, during the First World War. The past is set mainly in Aleppo, Syria, where Armen and Elizabeth first meet. Elizabeth has volunteered to help Armenian refugees by providing medical aid and delivering food when she meets Armen. Armen has lost his wife Karine and baby in the genocide. The passages describing what happened to Armenian citizens during this period are harrowing and difficult to read. The atrocities committed by the Ottoman Empire at the time included massacres, death marches, concentration camps, rape and forced conversion to Islam. It is estimated that up to 1,5 million Armenians were killed. According to Wikipedia, 34 countries recognize the Armenian Genocide, excluding Turkey. I appreciated the book for the opportunity to learn about the genocide in the context of a story. That being said, I found the back and forth between time periods confusing at times as it was difficult to keep track of all the people. A family tree or genealogy guideline would have been helpful. My other criticism was the wartime romance. Love at first sight is possible, I suppose, but so soon after losing his wife and baby? Hmm. Maybe I am just old and cynical. In the afterword, the author explains that most readers told him they knew nothing of the genocide prior to reading this story. This quote in particular struck me where the author explains, among other points I won’t include here, why he wrote this book: “I was writing it for my own ancestors, some of whom lost their lives and some of whom lost their histories. I was writing it because the last stage in a genocide is denial—which is invariably the seed for subsequent slaughters.” The book was written in 2012. That last sentence is chilling in the context of current world events. 
2. The Cat Laughs — Louise Carson ❤️❤️❤️ This is the third book I have read by this author. It is the best kind of cozy mystery complete with quirky characters, cats, baked goods, a ghost and of course, a murder. 
3. The Woman in Black — Susan Hill ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ This book was recommended by a friend who enjoys reading a good horror/ghost story around Halloween. It really is the perfect gothic, haunted yarn featuring main protagonist Arthur Kipps, a young solicitor from London, sent to the faraway town of Crythin Gifford by his employer on a mission to attend the funeral and settle the estate of a client, Mrs. Alice Drablow. The writing is atmospheric and the suspense almost unbearable at times. I highly recommend it if you like ghost stories without the gore. 
4. Bunny — Mona Awad ❤️❤️❤️ This book was nuts! A dark fairy-tale woven into what initially seems like the trials of normal campus life for graduate English writing student Samantha but which soon morphs into some kind of twisted Alice in Wonderland, hyper focused on bunnies in the shape of the creepiest clique ever. I read it because of all the hype and am still trying to sort it out in my head. Will I read the sequel? Hell, yes! 
5. Don’t Believe Everything You Think — Joseph Nguyen ❤️❤️❤️ This was an excellent and practical little book with the subtitle: Why your thinking is the beginning & end of suffering. What was telling is that I had a hard time trying to rein in my thinking in order to concentrate on the subject matter. Distracted much? I am a chronic over thinker with a tendency to imagine worse case scenarios (in fairness because I have known a few) in order to prepare myself for the inevitable apocalypse. When things actually work out I feel enormous relief, a temporary high, but at great cost to all the time lost worrying and to my partner who has to suffer through the details of my doom and gloom ruminating. I will pass this book on to my overthinking son. 
6. Linghun — Ai Jiang ❤️❤️❤️❤️ A novella about grief and ghosts and the heavy toll the living pay when stuck in past memories. A sad and thought-provoking meditation. 
7. Born a Crime — Trevor Noah ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Read for the Mariposa Bookclub, this delightful and thought-provoking memoir reads exactly how the comedian, political commentator and former host of The Daily Show sounds. Not only is it a glimpse into the challenges Noah faced growing up in apartheid South Africa as a biracial person, but is also a history/sociology lesson on the systems of oppression, racism and segregation that existed there as a result of colonialism. It is also an homage to Noah’s mother: her rebellious nature, religious conviction, her courage and love, and her fierce determination that her son break the cycle of poverty he grows up with. 
8. The Ferryman’s Wife — Frode Grytten (translated from Norwegian by Alison McCullough)❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ This was such a gorgeous read, an account of ferryman Nils Vik’s last day on earth. As he travels the familiar route along fjord, he encounters his old dog, Luna, as well as many other important people from his past. The person he is really waiting to be reunited with though is his beloved wife, Marta. It is a quiet story, beautifully told, about grief, regret, and the reckoning that comes with approaching death. 
9. The Ha-Ha — Jennifer Dawson ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ A brilliant little book written in 1961, it was award-winning and ahead of its time then and is making a comeback today. Like the main protagonist, Josephine, the author was studying at Oxford University in the 1950s when she suffered a breakdown and was subsequently hospitalized. This is a fascinating study on mental illness and coming of age, a story told without sentimentality but plenty of philosophical musings. Is the inability to fit into society a sign of mental illness? What does one do with the label of a mental illness diagnosis? Josephine asks the doctor at one point if she can be cured and he replies, « If you stabilize by the time you’re thirty … » In this story it is actually a fellow patient, Alasdair, who shows Josephine the path to healing and worthiness. A ha-ha, by the way, is « a turfed ditch used to keep grazing livestock out of a garden or an estate. »
10. The Night She Disappeared — Lisa Jewell ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I read this in a 24 hours, anticipating a pyjama day. Another great thriller by this author.

December

1. The Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts — Margaret Atwood ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️I can’t say enough good things about this memoir. I am a true fan girl and gushing. What a life she has led up to now. Her contribution to the Canadian Literary world is unmatched, not only in her writings but in her behind the scenes support for writers. It is a long read but well worth it. I simply could not wait for the soft cover, well worth the splurge.
2. Small things Like These — Claire Keegan ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Re-read for work bookclub. I love everything about this slim book, the perfect story to me. The message is in the simple back and forth dialogue: a man’s mid-life crisis of sorts, the restlessness of someone who has known great sorrow in childhood but also love and privilege.  It is because of this love that he longs to give love back in the form of an act of resistance against the complicity of a whole town, likely at great cost to himself and his family. The story is set against the backdrop of Ireland in 1985, and the tragedy of the Magdalene Laundries, where thousands of girls and women were imprisoned over decades. A slim book that may lead you down a rabbit hole of historical context. I highly recommend the movie adaptation as well starring Cillian Murphy.
3. Death of the Author — Nnedi Okorafor ❤️❤️❤️❤️ A Christmas gift from a dear friend last year that I resolved to finish before the coming New Year. This author writes in a genre she refers to as africanfuturism or africanjujuism, terms that she coined. Generally though, her books are categorized as science fiction and fantasy. The story’s protagonist, Zelu, is a young American writer and university professor with Nigerian roots, who is inspired to write a different kind of book after her latest novel is rejected and she loses her university position. Suddenly inspired, she decides to write a science fiction story about androids and AI following the extinction of humanity. Okorafor’s story features sections of Zelu’s book within her book, woven into the story line until at some point, the stories intersect and science fiction becomes a reality for Zelu. It’s kind of tricky to explain … Anyway, I appreciated the backdrop of the Nigerian culture with its colourful textiles, customs and family dynamics. Also, Zelu has a disability and is wheelchair bound, an interesting vantage point for a main character. 
4. Pilgrims — Devin Kelly ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️Devin Kelly is a poet and high school English teacher in New York City. He also has a Substack blog called Ordinary Plots, one of my absolute favourite blogs, which features a weekly meditation on poetry. I love his writing so preordering his first novel, Pilgrims, was a no brainer. Having read Devin Kelly over the years, I suspect there are elements of auto fiction in this story. Two brothers run away, one to a monastery, and the other disappears off trail during a race, veering off the beaten path. The brothers were abandoned by their mother at a young age and brought up by their father. Their respective journeys are attempts at understanding, resolution and forgiveness. I recommend reading this book during periods of uninterrupted stillness. It does not go well with a frantic life. 
5. The 12 Days of Murder — Andreina Cordani ❤️❤️❤️ This was on a list of recommended murder mysteries to read over the holidays. It was pretty good actually, with a few twists for a grand finale. I also have her second book, Murder at the Christmas Emporium, that I may save for next Christmas.