What are we Reading July-December, 2022

Happy Canada Day!

I've started Welcome to Dunder MIfflin: The Ultimate Oral History of The Office by Brian Baumgartner and Ben Silverman.

I just finished The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles and really, really enjoyed it. A great tale and wonderful characters.

I was on a bit of a travel roll this week, reading The Passenger: How a Travel Writer Learned to Love Cruises & Other Lies from a Sinking Ship, by Chaney Kwak; and Fly Girl: A Memoir, by Ann Hood. I should find a railroad book as well ;)

I've started my LTER book, Frances Finkel and the Passenger Pigeon by D.M. Mahoney

I'm reading French Braid by my favourite author, Anne Tyler

I'm reading Unreconciled: Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance by Jesse Wente

They Said This Would be Fun / Eternity Martis
3 stars

The author grew up in the diverse Canadian city of Toronto, but decided to move to the smaller city of London, Ontario for university. Unfortunately, London was not so diverse. As a woman of “mixed” race – her mother was Pakistani and her father (whom she did not have a relationship with) from the Caribbean – she stuck out and had a hard time at her new school. University was supposed to be fun – full of friends and parties. Though she did go to London with a friend, they grew apart during their time there. And Eternity had a number of toxic relationships, and was treated to many microaggressions and abuses.

As someone who went to university about 30 years ago, and even then, wasn’t “into” partying or drinking, I enjoyed her chapters about her family and relationships more than the partying/drinking/campus/student life. The book (though I listened to the audio) read sort of like essays. Obviously as a middle-aged white woman, I am not the target audience! Of course, Eternity brought in some stats to go along with her own experiences. I found the stats easier to swallow, and of course, she went through what she went through, but I questioned some of her generalizations about white people; many of the “stereotypes” or generalizations (about white or black people) she mentioned were things I had never heard of. That’s not to say they aren’t stereotypes, but if they are, I hadn’t heard of (many of) them before.

I feel badly for this kind of review. I hate to criticize, as I know she wrote what she did experience. Am I being a “defensive” white person? I’d like to think not, but I don’t know. The author read the audio herself and did a fine job.

I'm about to start Dual Citizens by Alix Ohlin.

I'm throwing a whole bunch of books onto the pile. Yesterday I started The Apollo Murders, by Chris Hadfield, but today I'll probably zip through Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1, by G. Willow Wilson, because we just finished watching the Disney+ show (which is excellent).

I'm reading On Pluto: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer's by Greg O'Brien.

I'm reading The Glass Universe by Dava Sobel

I'm reading Less by Andrew Sean Greer. It has an unpleasant, nostalgic, heavy feel to it despite the humour. I'm not sure I like it yet.

Once again library due dates are influencing my reading choices: Outside, written by Ragnar Jónasson and translated by Victoria Cribb, is due back on Tuesday and I can't renew.

I've also returned to Serial Reader; now reading Five Children and It, by E. Nesbit.

How to Pronounce Knife / Souvankham Thammavongsa
3.5 stars

This is a book of short stories. She is a Lao-Canadian author, so the stories focus on Lao immigrants’ experiences.

I enjoyed the stories as I read them, so I’m giving this a “good” rating, but like with the majority of short stories I read, I forget them. Even by the end of the (short) book, I have forgotten most of the stories. I give plenty of short story collections an “ok” rating, since I usually find they vary – I like some, but not others – but these (even listening on audio) were almost all ones I liked. I’m not sure if the author meant to set the stories in Canada or the US. I initially assumed Canada, since she is Canadian, but one of the stories referred to all the money being green, so that would be the US. I guess it doesn’t matter, overall.

>14 LibraryCin: I usually have the same experience with short stories. Except for Alice Munro. Some of her stories have stayed with me for years.

I'm starting The Gallery of Lost Species by Nina Berkhout.

>15 LynnB: That's good you've found some that have stayed with you. I'm not sure if I've read any Alice Munro.

I'm reading She's Mine by A.A. Chaudhuri.

I'm reading Regardez-nous danser by Moroccan Leila Slimani. It's the sequel to Les Pays des autres. I'm already hoping there'll be a third volume, these novels are so amazing.

>19 Cecilturtle: Look interesting. I've add Les Pays des autres to my wish list.

I'm about to start The Puzzler: One Man's Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life by A.J. Jacobs

>20 LynnB: My parents grew up in Morocco. My mom loved these books and they certainly sound true to the stories that I heard growing up. A wonderful way of learning about Moroccan history post WWII.

I just finished Dead Wake by Erik Larson and really loved it. I learned so much and found it so very interesting. I generally just stick to reading fiction, primarily crime fiction, but one of the 2 men in my current book club (never belonged to a book club before with male participants) really, really recommended this book and I'm glad he did. When we resume meetings in the fall, I'll thank him for the recommendation.

I'm reading The Next Age of Uncertainty: How the World Can Adapt to a Riskier Future by Stephen Poloz.

I'm reading Seven Moves by Carol Anshaw

Reflections of Eden: My Years with the Orangutans of Borneo / Birute Galdikas
4 stars

Birute Galdikas is the Jane Goodall of orangutans. Like with Jane (but 10 or 11 years later), Birute was recruited by Louis Leakey to do field work. So in 1971, Birute and her husband Rod headed to Borneo to study orangutans. Once they arrived, they found that – although illegal – people also kept orangutans as pets. Birute decided immediately that she wanted to also start a sort of nursery/sanctuary/rehab where these once-captive orangutans (mostly infants) could come, then head back to the wild when they were ready. And as with all great apes, the habitat is disappearing around them, making it very difficult for them to survive, so Birute and Rod also tried to get help creating and enforcing the boundaries of the reserve that held many of the orangutans.

The book was published in 1995 and at that time, Birute was still in Borneo doing her orangutan studies. The book also goes into detail about Birute’s personal life – her marriage(s) and children. I’ve read lots about Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, but except for one graphic novel that included all three, this is the first I’ve read about Birute. Her book alternates chapters between some of the orangutans and the other topics in the book (though, of course, they all overlap). Very good book, but know that there is a lot more to this one than “just” the animals.

I'm reading We, Jane by Aimee Wall

Remembering the Bones / Frances Itani
3.5 stars

79-year old Georgie is on her way to the airport as she has been invited by Queen Elizabeth to their shared 80th birthday celebration. Unfortunately, Georgie’s car goes off an embankment and lands in a ravine. Georgie is alive, but too hurt to move from where she landed and she and her car are not visible from the road. As she waits for rescue, she goes through memories of her family and her life.

This was good. The initial crash brought me in and although the memories initially weren’t as interesting, I found it picked up a bit when Georgie got married, so I liked the second half of the story better. I also liked the comparisons to “Lilibet’s” (Queen Elizabeth’s) life and the little royal tidbits brought in that way. I thought it was amusing that all the women in Georgie’s family had names that shortened into “male” names: Phil, Fred (she had an Aunt and Uncle Fred when her Aunt Fred married a Fred), Grand Dan… (ok, not quite all, but most).

>28 LibraryCin: I liked it when she realized the first person to realize she was missing would be the Queen of England!

Tomorrow, I will start Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr.

>29 LynnB: That had actually occurred to me, too!

I just finished The Obituary Writer by Ann Hood. I quite enjoyed it, though the ending was a tad predictable. I know now I could never have fit into the typical life of a married woman in the early 1960's-I would have gone crazy.

I'm finishing a Dorothy Sayers omibus with Five Red Herrings before picking up again None to Accompany Me by Nadine Gordimer.

I just finished Marjorie Her War Years by Patricia Skidmore, It's a sequel to another book she wrote a few years back after she researched her mother's experience as a British child migrant, sent from England in the 1930's to a "farm school" near Duncan, BC. I don't find the author to be a gifted writer by any means, but her mother's story and the telling of the impact on the rest of her mother's family is very moving. I have friends who live a home on the redeveloped Fairbridge Farm School property where the author's mother was sent, so I feel a tenuous personal connection to this story.

The Castleton Massacre: Survivors' Stories of the Killins Femicide / Sharon Cook, Margaret Carson
4.5 stars

In May 1963, Robert Killins, a very intelligent man and a former United Church minister, murdered his (estranged) wife, his daughter, his sister, and his wife’s youngest daughter. He’d been stalking his wife and daughter for years since wife Florence tried to leave and travelled across the country from B.C. to Ontario to get away. His wife and daughter were both pregnant at the time of the murders. Two more of Florence’s children watched in horror as the murders happened, and were able to get away. They were 12- (Margaret) and 10-years (Brian) old at the time.

The book backs up in time to give a biography of both families – beginning with Robert’s and Florence’s parents, then Robert and Florence and their siblings and everything leading to 1963. It also included a section after the murders where Margaret and Brian came to live with their Uncle Harold and his wife and their youngest daughter (a teenager, the only child still living at home), Sharon, and the two tried to come to terms with what had happened and what they’d witnessed. The last bit of the book also talks about domestic abuse in Canada, in general. Margaret and Sharon are the authors of the book. They undertook a lot of research and got oral histories from many of the people still alive who remember it.

Wow! First a bit of advice – don’t read the chapter that describes the murders close to bedtime! It was terrifying and violent. With one of the authors having been there and the oral histories given by her brother who was also there and a couple of other people who tried to help, all put together, you get an awful feeling of being hunted (as I’m sure both Margaret and Brian felt)! That being said, I am a fan of true crime, and I do like biographies, so all put together, a very very good book. And murders I had never heard of before this.

I'm reading The Strangers, Katherena Vermette's follow up to The Break.

This morning I started The Great Stewardess Rebellion, by Nell McShane Wulfhart.

I've just started Nothing but the Truth: A Memoir by Marie Henein

Currently reading some Ross Macdonald: Meet Me at the Morgue.

Re-reading A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman for a book club.

Five Little Indians / Michelle Good
3.5 stars

This book follows a few First Nations people who went to a residential school in B.C. when they were young. It follows them from the school, as they leave, and as they try to make lives for themselves after the traumas they experienced at the school. They wind in and out of each other’s lives.

Lucy is 16 when she is put on a bus to Vancouver from the school; luckily she knows Maisie who left the school a year earlier; unfortunately, she does get into a sticky situation before making it to Maisie’s place. Kenny managed to escape the school when he was younger, but he and Lucy had crushes on each other back then. Carla is a friend of Maisie’s. Howie gets into trouble with the law when he encounters “Brother” from the school as an adult.

I listened to the audio book. It was good. I wasn’t as interested in Carla’s story, so I missed a few things there. I also don’t think I liked Carla very much; she was very pushy. The book jumped between characters, and it often jumped forward large amounts of time, so at the start of some of the chapters I needed to try to figure out how many years later it was (and there was one bit with Carla that felt like the timing was out of sync with her character vs the rest of the story… but I’m not sure – that’s where I lost a bit of interest and missed a few things). And of course, there were memories of the school for all of them. There was at least one event that I think I missed altogether and when it was mentioned later in the book, I wondered what exactly had happened about that, so not sure if I missed it or it just wasn’t detailed or what happened there.

I've finished Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs, perfect for travelling in the summer.

Started another manga series with Natsume's Book of Friends, Vol. 1, by Yuki Midorikawa.

I've just started Songs Upon The Rivers: The Buried History of the French-Speaking Canadiens and Metis from the Great Lakes and the Mississippi across to the Pacific by Robert Foxcurran, Michel Bouchard and Sebastien Malette

Just finished a mystery novel in one of my favourite series by Elly Griffiths: Now You See Them. Set in Brighton England in the early 1960's, when the Beatles were becoming better known. I've enjoyed all of Elly Griffiths' novels.

Today I finished one mystery (The Arsenal Stadium Mystery, by Leonard Gribble) and started another (Edge of the Grave, by Robbie Morrison).

I've started The Promise by Damon Galgut

I'm reading The Honey Bus: A Memoir of Loss, Courage and a Girl Saved by Bees by Meredith May.

Just finished a novel that was a favourite read of one of my book club members. Yellow Wife by Sadequa Johnson. Sometimes difficult to read the graphic details, but a good book nonetheless.

I'm reading Fearnoch by local author Jim McEwen

I'm reading The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel by Kati Marton

I'm reading Old Lovegood Girls by Gail Godwin

I'm reading Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas

I finished Premier sang by Amélie Nothomb and working on Mercy by Jodi Picoult, which I would say is my most disappointing read by her so far.

I'm reading Foregone by Russell Banks

Just started Death on Gokumon Island, by Seishi Yokomizo, translated by Louise Heal Kawai.

I usually really enjoy Sophie Hannah's mystery novels, but this one didn't really appeal to me.: Perfect Little Children.

The Testaments / Margaret Atwood
4.5 stars

This sequel to “The Handmaid’s Tale” takes place 15 or 16 years after the first book. In this one, we follow three characters: Aunt Lydia and two teenaged girls, one in Gilead and one in Canada. Early in the book, both girls lose their mothers. Agnes’ (in Gilead) father, Commander Kyle, marries Paula, who is awful to Agnes. Daisy in Canada has actually lost both her parents in an explosion, and she is a bit lost as to what to do next until someone gives her some information she hadn’t previously known and helps her with where to go next. With Aunt Lydia, we find out more about her pre-Gilead, and how she became an aunt. The three stories do converge as the book continues on.

I listened to the audio and it was really good! The actress who plays Aunt Lydia in the tv show also narrated the character’s storyline in “The Testaments”. Although I loved the audio, and would recommend it for those who listen to audio books, it was harder to tell Agnes and Daisy apart, especially when the storylines converged; earlier in the book, you can tell by the other characters and what is happening around them. The narrators are different and their voices are different, but I still couldn’t remember which voice was who. BUT that did not detract from how much I liked the book. I also liked an added bit (can’t recall if it’s called such, but it’s an epilogue) at the very end. I’ve read “The Handmaid’s Tale” twice and I liked this one quite a bit more.

I'm reading The Mystery of Right and Wrong by Wayne Johnston

Wow! the Mystery of Right and Wrong by Wayne Johnston was amazing. One of my top 5 favourites EVER.

Next up will be The Escape Room by Megan Goldin after I settle down from Mystery.

I confirm that Mercy by Jodi Picoult was a disappointment!
I've also finished Le Livre des soeurs by Amélie Nothomb which was typical of her style.
I've started Klara and the Sun. I usually really enjoy Ishiguro and so far so good!

>60 LynnB: Good to hear about Johnston's book! I got worried when I saw something about it being based on family history and sexual abuse! I've met his parents (his youngest sister was a roommate and best friend for a few years a long time ago) and had to look things up to see it's his wife's family! Whew!

I'm reading Snowdrops by A.D. Miller

I'm reading Namwayut: We Are All One: A Pathway to Reconciliation by Robert Joseph

The Innocents / Michael Crummey
2 stars

When Ada and Evered’s parent both die, they are still young. It’s the 19th century and they live in an isolated area in Newfoundland. They do what they can to survive.

I listened to the audio. It was slow-moving and I couldn’t get interested, though the Newfoundland accents and phrases are fun. I missed much of what happened in the book, but I didn’t really care, either. I’m not sure how old the kids were when their parents died and not sure how old they were at the end of the book, either. It was a bit ugly as they became teenagers with no one else around, though. When I saw this book was nominated for a few awards, that explained it for me (my not liking it).

I'm on a Sherlock Holmes kick: just read Sherlock: Chronicles, which is about the BBC series, and am now picking up an Enola Holmes mystery, The Case of the Gypsy Good-bye.

I'm reading Defending Jacob by Willam Landay

I'm reading Marple: Twelve New Mysteries, a collection written by modern authors. It's uneven but very fun.

The War in the Country / Thomas F. Pawlick
4 stars

The author of this book is looking at life in rural areas with a focus on eastern Ontario. More specifically, he is looking at family farms vs factory farms, as well as mining rights vs indigenous land claims and sub- vs surface rights of landowners.

It seems the government is making things more and more difficult for smaller operations. Large corporations not only get subsidies, but smaller operations are hit with regulations they couldn’t possibly afford to meet, and in a lot of cases, regulations that just make no sense for what they are doing.

Some examples include the vegetarian restaurant told they needed to replace their cedar counter with stainless steel, stainless steel being needed for meat… but they don’t serve meat; but they might one day; well we’ll get stainless steel if that happens; nope, too bad, you need to do it now. Or the small butcher shop that doesn’t serve food to eat inside his shop but is suddenly required to install washrooms. These are just the tip of the iceberg. Both these businesses were asked to do much more than this, as their own expense, of course. Growing organic food is much more difficult than it should be, etc.

The author does end the book with lots of suggestions to fix these issues, but the political will is needed to do it and that’s currently not there, with large corporate lobby groups holding the purse strings of many politicians. Urban folks are asked to become educated to help rural folks stand up for these things.

I'm starting China Unbound: A New World Disorder by Joanna Chiu

I'm reading True Biz by Sara Novic

I've just started Grey Bees by Andrei Kourkov. The setting is Ukraine at the time of the previous Russian invasion of the Crimea.

I'm reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. I love the energy and originality of the plot.

>73 Cecilturtle: I read that in 2008 and loved it. This is a story you can get lost in. Which is fitting, since the main theme is escape...and escaping from the prisons you construct around yourself.

I'm reading Beyond the Two-State Solution by Jonathan Kuttab

I'm enjoying Bad Girls Throughout History: 100 Remarkable Women Who Changed the World by Ann Shen.

I'm reading A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson

I'm reading Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte

I'm reading an old Perry Mason - The Case of the Dangerous Dowager

I've been away visiting family for over a month, and the only book I got finished was a "light" mystery novel in a series I quite enjoy. This one was Murder on a Summer's Day by Frances Brody

I've recently read Thanks a Thousand: A Gratitude Journey by A.J. Jacobs and am currently reading Murder in the Family: How the Search for My Mother's Killer Led to My Father by Jeff Blackstock

>74 LynnB: Yes! I'm finally finishing it and I loved it!

I've also finished The Eye of Minds by James Dashner, a piece of sci-fi, YA lit to pass my lunchtimes at work.

Not sure what I'll pick up next.

I'm reading Is There Bacon in Heaven: A Memoir by Ali Hassan

I've been exploring Métis futurism in Buffalo Is the New Buffalo, a collection of stories by Chelsea Vowel.

I've started Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro and I'll be picking up Le cahier rouge by Michel Tremblay. I've been ignoring Canadian writers for too long!

I'm reading Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton

>86 LynnB: That's in transit for me at the library! I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm reading Lady Cottington's Fairy Album by Brian Froud

I've started Speak, Silence by Kim Echlin

I'm reading The Series: What I Remember, What It Felt Like, What it Feels Like Now by Ken Dryden

I'm reading Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker

I'm reading The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler. Although I've never seen the film, the characters of William Hurt and Geena David were perfect: I have no problem imagining them in their roles!

I'm half-way through The Relatives by Camilla Gibb

I'm reading Eternal Life by Dara Horn

I found myself bookless in Kanata with only the pharmacy open! So, unusually for me, I have two on the go. In addition to Eternal Life by Dara Horn, I'm also reading A Good Mother by Lara Bazelon.

I've finished Poèmes saturniens by Paul Verlaine and am now starting Des bleus à l'âme by Fançoise Sagan, catching up on French classics.

I'm also reading Canadian journalist, Elizabeth Renzetti, Shrewed, which I'm not finding insightful, funny or particularly well-researched. It just reads like Renzetti on a soapbox.

It's the new Thursday Murder Club for me: The Bullet That Missed, by Richard Osman.

I'm about 3/4 way through The Ghost Woods . I'm really enjoying it! I'm not much into the supernatural, but this is really entertaining.

I'm reading Just Like You by Nick Hornby

I've finished Une Femme by recent Nobel Prize winner, Annie Ernaux. The book is her mother's biography, written shortly after her death, both as a homage and a way to heal. It is short (about 100 pages), but extremely powerful. I'd read some of her books before, but after this read, I definitely would read more of her works.

I've finished Hiss and Hers by MC Beaton, my first of the Agatha Raisin series. A nice, fun cozy mystery.

I finally got a book read-this month's selection for our local book club. The book was historical fiction, based on true events and was gloriously gossip, with many scandals. I felt guilty for actually enjoying it! The Woman Before Wallis by Bryn Turnbull

I'm starting Polar Vortex by Shani Mootoo

Just finished The Castleton Massacre by Sharon Anne Cook and Margaret Carson. A grim tale of a mass murder in small town Ontario in the early 1960's-a tragedy I'd never before heard about.

I'm enjoying The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin. It's with his signature Inspector Rebus and there's the charged political backdrop of the G8 in Edinburgh (2005): a real page turner.

I'm reading How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

Up next: The Fall of the House of Wilde: Oscar Wilde and His Family by Emer O'Sullivan

I'm still working on The Fall of the House of Wilde: Oscar Wilde and His Family and am also reading Keeper of the Lost Cities by Sharon Messenger

I'm reading Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë, still very relevant. Apparently, human nature does not change much.

I recently finished 2 books, both great reads in their own right. Our book club selection this month is Born A Crime by Trevor Noah, whom I'd never heard of before I picked up the book. His childhood stories are shocking, humourous, sad, and full of love at the same time. I really recommend this one. Next I read Remembering the Bones by Frances Itani and was very moved by this beautiful telling of a unremarkable, quiet life. Really recommend this novel too, especially for us women who are on the far side of fifty. Beautifully written.

Fountaineville / C. A. Simonsen
3 stars

In the late 1950s, Davis is the youngest of four (living) siblings in a rural area on the Prairies (Saskatchewan, I think). His oldest brother died in Korea. His only sister, Gracie (whom he is closest to) is dating the local minister’s son. He has two twin brothers. Davis is 11/12 years old, I believe. There is an older neighbour whose yard Davis passes by every day who intrigues him. But Davis sees something very unusual (and a bit scary for him) one day. Davis spent a lot of time with the elderly people in town (a “witch” he met who was telling a “story with a story”, as well as some of the men at the local Legion Hall), while at the same time dealing with things happening at home.

This was ok. I rarely enjoy stories within the main story. This one took up a lot of the book, and I ended up skimming through much of it (the story within, that is). Of course, it did mean something in the end. I found the family issues more interesting than either the additional story or the time spent with the older people.

The Wife's Tale / Lori Lansens
3.5 stars

Mary is obese and much of her thought is taken up with her weight and food. On their 25th anniversary, her husband “Gooch” (Jimmy Gooch) has left her with no notice. He just didn’t come home. Mary, although she has never or rarely left her small hometown in Ontario, takes it upon herself to follow clues first to Toronto, then to California, to try to find him.

The first half of the book was hard to read with all the moaning about her weight and food, etc. But maybe that is accurate for some people battling obesity? It’s nice to see Mary become somewhat independent (with the help of people in the small town in California she ends up in). The ending was left a little bit open, but I suppose in doing that, that might mean something, too.

I've finished The Cat Who Played Post Office by Lilian Jackson Braun - I'll definitely keep reading this charming series.

I've picked up Une étincelle de vie (A Spark of Light) by Jodi Picoult, about abortion. It was written in 2018 so it'll be interesting to see how it holds up now that the States have made that awful ruling.

I really enjoy the Kate Shackleton mystery series set in Yorkshire after WWI. Just finished the sixth one in the series: Death of An Avid Reader by Frances Brody

I'm starting A Convergence of Solitudes by Anita Anand

All Together Now / Alan Doyle
4.25 stars

Alan Doyle, lead singer of Great Big Sea, was missing performing when COVID hit. In the summer of 2020, he wrote some stories, as if he’s in a pub telling friends, and published it in this book.

I listened to the audio read by him, and I think that’s the way this story should be “read”. He is telling the stories as if he’s in a pub, and one of them, in particular (my favourite) – I just don’t see how it would translate on paper. It was the story of “dying laughing” and I was! The way he tells it – with his own laughter (fake laughter, but he does it so well...) – is just incredible and the laughter is so infectious! Other stories focused on Newfoundland itself, as well as some of his travels with GBS and the other famous people they met. It’s fun to hear how starstruck a star themselves can be sometimes. One of the stories just didn’t interest me much, but the rest were really good, so 4 stars, overall, for the book, but the extra ¼ star (as I do) for an amazing audio book.

I'm starting Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel.

I'm reading The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi

Elevator Pitch / Linwood Barclay
4 stars

When there are elevator mishaps in New York City three days in a row – mishaps where people died in each one – the mayor must take drastic steps. Meanwhile, there is a reporter, Barbara Matheson, a single mom to a now-adult daughter (though her parents raised her daughter), who seems to have a grudge against the mayor. The mayor did approach her to write a biography about him, which she rejected.

I wasn’t quite as interested in the political aspects of the book with the mayor, though it was important to the book. I was more interested in Barbara’s and her daughter’s lives. The POV did switch around with each chapter. Through most of the book, I would have rated this 3.5 stars (good), but it really ramped up in the last 20% of the book. It was very suspenseful at that point and I didn’t want to put the book down (and I didn’t) until I finished! That was enough to increase my rating. Overall, although it turned out really good, it is not one of my favourites by Barclay.

Ballgowns & Butterflies / Kelley Armstrong
4 stars

This is a novella to follow the first in the author’s series “A Stitch in Time”. (Possible spoilers for the first book - am marking them, but they are only spoilers if one hasn’t read the first book.) In this one, Bronwyn is back in England to spend Christmas with William. She is now 6 months pregnant, and exhausted, but is looking forward to the holidays with her husband in both the current day and in William’s time period, Victorian England.

It was fun to “experience” the Victorian Christmas with Bronwyn. I also loved the cover! There were a few things that happened that will likely extend into the next book (though I’m sure it will be briefly explained there, too), so it was nice to see how those things happened, but I really liked the Christmas/holiday them of this one! (I actually don’t read very many Christmas-themed books.)

I'm finishing One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnesll, perfect vacation reading.

All the best for the Festive Season.

I'm reading The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

I just finished the latest in Ian Rankin's long running Rebus series: A Heart Full of Headstones. I've read all the Rebus novels and really enjoyed most of them, but must admit I'm growing weary of him. Time to wrap up this series, I think.

I’ve spent most of today zipping through The Mystery of the Lost Cézanne, by M. L. Longworth. The Verlaque and Bonnet series scratches the cozy-mystery itch well for me.

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth / Chris Hadfield
4 stars

The title of this book makes it sound – in part – like a kind-of self-help book: “...guide to life on Earth”. But it’s really not. It is primarily a memoir about Chris Hadfield’s life as an astronaut and his three trips into space.

I really liked that it was more about his life and his trips to space (and the huge amount – years! - of preparation for it. Oh, the amount of planning is incredible – particularly focusing on (all) the worst case scenario(s). There were bits of “advice” here and there that can be taken for life in general. I just found the planning and the trips to space so interesting. (I hadn’t realized he’d also done some youtube videos, so I’ve had to take a look – very entertaining!)

I've had a couple of false starts and decided to settle on Hiver arctique by Indridason, a bit glum for the season but a good mystery.

I'm reading one of my Christmas presents, Everyone in this Room will Someday be Dead by Emily Austin.

Spent a quiet day reading another in one of my favourite mystery series-the Kate Shackleton Mysteries, set in northern England post WWI. This one was Death in the Dales by Frances Brody.

The Wicked Awakening of Anne Merchant / Joanna Wiebe
3.5 stars

In book 2 of the trilogy, Anne is back at school, but she knows more about what is going on around her at this so-called boarding school. Possible book 1 : The students are actually dead and “vivified” (brought back to life via a deal with the parents). And the teachers are demons. . But there’s more that Anne hasn’t learned yet about herself. She has come back to get revenge on the person who is the new headmaster.

I don’t think it was as good as the first one, but overall it was still good. There was a recap, but it was quick and I was still trying to get back into the “world” and was a bit confused. There were also a couple of characters with similar names I kept mixing up. But when we got away from the odd vocabulary and I was able to get more into the story, it got better for me.

Just managed to finish one more book before midnight last night and it was one in a mystery series set in Ireland that I really enjoy. The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan