I picked up Miriam Toews’ newest novel, Women Talking, in the airport recently. I felt very lucky because it ticked so many boxes for me – I had run out of reading material on a work trip so really needed a book, it was in those new resell displays at the news stand so it was discounted enough to get through my NO NEW BOOK PURCHASES embargo, it fits with my vow to read more Canadian literature, and it was published in 2018. Toews has […]
This one I read in 24 hours
I bought this book on a camping trip stopover a few years ago. I wanted to read it so badly, but was always waiting for what seemed like the right time; some books are like that for me. It has been sitting in my TBR pile ever since and it finally felt right to read it this last week, a reward for finally finishing a book I really struggled through. It was an excellent reward; I haven’t been this obsessed with finishing a book since […]
I should have enjoyed this more than I did
This book feels like it is right up my alley – it’s written a Canadian author, it’s clever and well thought out, there is humour, it was nominated for Canadian literature awards. It’s BAIT, but I just struggled to force myself through it after it sitting on my TBR pile for two years. The narrator here is a 500 year old parrot named Aaron, telling the part of his life story he values the most. He tells of “his shoulder,” a young Jewish man named […]
I know why, but why?
I saw this book on Instagram, maybe through the CBR account, and was suddenly desperate to get it. I am not a mountain climber nor am I a follower of mountain climbing exploits, I don’t read an enormous amount of non-fiction, and when I do, it’s not generally DISASTER non-fiction. And yet, I saw this and immediately put in a reserve request at the library. I suspect the last mountain climbing book I read was Jim Curran’s K2: Triumph and Tragedy., which examined the 1986 […]



