Sweetness in the Belly, by Camilla Gibb

I’m not sure how to describe Sweetness in the Belly, except to say that you really have to read it. It was a book club selection at one of my favourite online hangouts, chicklit.com , and I was disappointed that I didn’t get it from the library in time to have it read before author [...]

Deafening, by Frances Itani

I became aware of Deafening when it was Maureen McTeer’s selection for this year’s round of Canada Reads. It’s the story of a deaf woman, Grania, who lives in a small Ontario town at the beginning of the twentieth century. Grania loses her hearing at age five due to an illness, learns to lip-read [...]

The Constant Princess, by Philippa Gregory

Philippa Gregory is sticking with what works for her — the Tudors. Though she has been a longstanding writer of historical fiction set in various eras, Gregory seems to have “made it big” a few years ago with her novel The Other Boleyn Girl (that would be Mary, who possibly got lucky with Henry [...]

In the Company of the Courtesan, by Sarah Dunant

Sarah Dunant’s follow-up to her highly acclaimed historical novel The Birth of Venus is every bit as enjoyable, in my opinion. In the Company of the Courtesan tells the story of a Venetian courtesan of the sixteenth century, Fiammetta Bianchini, as told through the eyes of her male dwarf companion Bucino. I thought it was [...]

Small Island, by Andrea Levy

Cool. I figured out how to make the book cover pics bigger.
I had heard several good recommendations for Andrea Levy’s Small Island but it took me awhile to get around to reading it. I’m glad I did. It’s the story of a Jamaican couple who move to England in the 1940s and the English couple [...]

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See

It’s great when a book can transcend your pre-conceptions. I love historical fiction about woman, but if you had asked did I want to read a book about women’s lives in nineteenth-century China, I would have said, “Probably not.” However, I read a great review of this book by my online friend, writer Katrina Stonoff, [...]

Riding the Bus with my Sister, by Rachel Simon

This is a simple but memorable memoir about a professional woman in mid-life who has to come to terms with her relationship with her mentally retarded sister. Rachel agrees to spend a few days each month for one year riding the city buses with Beth — this being Beth’s favourite occupation. Along the way Rachel [...]

Leaving the Saints, by Martha Beck

I’ve been waiting for quite awhile to read this book, as it seemed to take forever to come into my library. I enjoyed Martha Beck’s earlier memoir, Expecting Adam, when I read it last summer, and naturally I was interested in her account of how she parted ways with the Mormon church and also [...]

An Audience of Chairs, by Joan Clark

(This is the third time I’ve written this review because Blogger consumed the last two. I hope I’m getting more concise and pithy each time).
Joan Clark is a writer for whom I have great admiration, not just professionally but personally as she has always been most encouraging and gracious to me as a younger writer. [...]

The Wreckage, by Michael Crummey

The Wreckage is one of the most acclaimed Newfoundland novels of the past year and was shortlisted for the Newfoundland Book Awards. It richly deserves the attention it’s gotten, and more. I think of Michael Crummey first and foremost as a poet, but the problem I often have with novels by poets is that the [...]