Author: jeanne188

Posted: Thursday, April 24, 2025

Weekly Reading Update

Starting This Week

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

This is the story of an older man as he runs his book store in a small town dealing with slow sales and the loss of a prized collection of poems by Edgar Allan Poe. Day after day he spends his days among his books until he receives a small package.

Malice by John Gwynne

Malice is the first book in a four-book epic fantasy series that has at least 7 different perspectives, that is a fight between Good versus Evil, but there are many shades of grey. Corban is a teenager from the land of Ardan the reader sees the most.

LaRose by Louise Erdrich

The book takes place in North Dakota in the summer of 1999. Landreaux Iron shoots at what he thinks to be a deer, when it is the neighbour’s 5-year-old son. From there, it stirs up a community and sense of need for justice.

Continuing This Week

Alligator by Lisa Moore

Teenage Colleen takes it upon herself to save an endangered species through sabotage of machinery, which earns her a charge of mischief and the ire of the men and community who rely on the forestry industry for their livelihoods.

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

Young Blue lives in a household of psychics in Virginia where she befriends the boys attending a prestigious school. They are drawn to the old magic that settlers from the Old World brought with them and how it has taken hold over America.

Posted Thursday, April 17, 2025

Starting This Week

Six Days in Bombay by Alka Joshi

Mira Novak is a painter. She has arrived at a hospital in Bombay to recover from a miscarriage. She meets Sonia the nurse and they form a connection with their identities as half-Indian. Sonia is also eager to hear about Mira’s stories of travel and exploits.

The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright

This generational saga tells about the story of Nell who finds her family history hard to escape as she travels away. It is a story of a mother and daughter. It is a story of family and place even as Nell travels far from Ireland.

The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff

The Gales have magic they’d like to keep in the family. Alysha receives a letter from her Gran telling her she has inherited a junk shop. When she arrives in Calgary, Alysha gets caught up with the local fey community. This is an urban fantasy story by Canadian sci-fi writer that I have read in the past.

Continuing This Week

The Lost Vintage by Ann Mah

This is a leisurely story following Kate as she travels to France to join in the grape harvest and learn more about winemaking, as well as the family connection to World War II. So far, the book is a cozy read even as it looks at a difficult time in 20^th century history.

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas

This is the second book in the multivolume fantasy series by Sarah J Maas. I often will start a book and can take long pauses before returning to them. For me, the first book Throne of Glass read like a funny RPG game, so I can’t take it seriously.

Classic of the Week

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Set during the 1920s and 1940s, the story follows Charles Ryder and his friendship with a family of wealthy English Catholics who live in a lavish mansion. It was made into a television adaptation in 1981, and a film adaptation in 2008. This is a story about forbidden romance. This is the book club pick for the month.

Non-Fiction of the Week

Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad

This is a memoir that details the author’s battle with leukemia. She set out after college to pursue a career as a war correspondent but end up having to fight cancer through countless rounds of chemo, a clinical trail, and bone marrow transplant. She also has to get back into the world, so goes on a 100-day road trip with her terrier dog Oscar.

Literary Fiction of the Week

The Lost Vintage by Ann Mah

Kate is a sommelier in San Francisco. She travels to France to help with a grape harvest in a vineyard. Her mother left a generation ago, so Kate returns and finds a family connection to the second world war through a collection of papers from Nazi-occupied France. There is an aunt that Kate never knew about.

Currently Reading

The Encanto’s Daughter by Melissa de la Cruz

This is the first book in a duology, with the second book released on March 4, 2025. This is a YA Romantasy that follows MJ Robertson-Rodriguez who sets out to find more about the magical world of the encantos and whether she can be worthy being in line to the throne. The story draws from Filipino folklore.

Alligator by Lisa Moore

This is the first novel from Canadian author Lisa Moore published in 2005 that started a career and a genre of fiction called North Atlantic Gothic. Set in Newfoundland, the story follows a family where the daughter has been caught in an act of vandalism, and the mother dealing with the grief for the passing of her husband. It is about modern life, and the environmentalism that has gained popularity as a response.

Posted: Thursday, April 3, 2025

April Reading Possibiities

It is the end of one month and the start of another. Welcome to April. I have a list of books I would like to read. Will I get to them all in one month? Most likely not because I will find more things interesting to be part of. The list is a mixture of different genres – sci-fi & fantasy, literary fiction, etc. Along with reading, I will be watching movies, go to a ComicCon, and selecting music tracks for my radio show. There is so much to do, and it is only spring, or is it winter still as we just had a weekend snowfall. Hope you are having a good day and night, and Happy Reading!!!

1. Moonstorm by Yoon Ha Lee
2. Alligator by Lisa Moore
3. The Brideshead Revisited by Edith Warton
4. Intimacies by Katie Kitamura
5. There There by Tommy Orange
6. Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead
7. Bootleg Stardust by Glenn Dixon
8. I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue
9. The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi
10. The Centaur’s Wife by Amanda Leduc

A Nice Indian Boy

A rom-com starring Karan Soni and Jonathan Groff, A Nice Indian Boy will be released in the United States on April 4, 2025. The production was filmed on location in Vancouver, British Columbia.

It is a heart-warming story about family and acceptance with Naveen bringing home to his East Indian family his boyfriend Jay.

Here are some Red Carpet photos from the Alberta Premiere presented by the Calgary International Film Festival and the Calgary Queer Arts Society

Photos: Michael Grondin

Karan Soni at the Red Carpet in Calgary

Q&A with Roshan Sethi and Karan Soni

The line-up outside the Globe Cinema in Calgary

Posted Thursday, March 13, 2025

Thursday Update

Starting This Week

The Encanto’s Daughter by Melissa de la Cruz

A young woman has been hiding in the real world. She has not told her friends that she is half encanto, and she must return to the king’s court as she stands in line for the throne. The magical court is objecting to her being half-human and not full encanto.

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

Olive Smith is a three-year Ph.D. student and she doesn’t believe in love until she agrees on a dare to go out with the first man she kisses. The man happens to be a hot young professor.

Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper

Otto finds a note from eighty-three year old Etta. Etta has left the Saskatchewan farmhouse to walk across the country to the ocean. Etta wants the adventure she did not have before.

Continuing This Week

The Navigator of New York by Wayne Johnston

A young boy is growing up. He does not know his parents, but he is determined find out more about his father. He sets off gathering clues left behind, but also finding a place for himself in late 1800s.

Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

After his divorce, Toby Fleishman is looking for a new start in the online-dating, but when his ex-wife disappears, he begins to piece together what actually happened to his marriage.

Mystery of the Week

A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The book that introduces the characters Sherlock Holmes and Watson, the crime solving duo who will go on to many investigations, leading to stage, film and television adaptations more than 100 years later.

Posted: Thursday, March 27, 2025

Thursday Update

Starting This Week

The Odyssey by Homer

The Classical Greek story that follows the battles in The Iliad. King Odysseus returns home after 10 years in the Trojan war to find the Queen has suitors at her door. This is the return journey where he visits many lands and encounters magical and mythical beings. There are many beautiful editions with new translations. I just have the slim Dover Thrift Edition.

The Navigator of New York by Wayne Johnston

The story of an adventurer of a man who left his family in Newfoundland to obtain funding and support for his voyage to the Arctic. It is told from the point of view of his son as he grows up and begins to ask questions about his parents. It is set in the late 19^th century.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

The first prequel to The Hunger Games trilogy that is told from the point of view of 18-year-old Snow. How did the villain become who he is later in life when he presides over the tournament when Katniss Everdeen joins the fight?

Continuing This Week

The Theory of Crows by David Robertson

A father dealing with mental health challenges that affects his work and family life. He struggles to have a relationship with his daughter during her teen years. There is also the role of Indigenous traditions on their family.

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

The first book of an epic fantasy adventure series that I have read I was younger and would like to revisit now that I have an genre that I read extensively as a teenager but took a break while in college.

Completed This Week

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

This is the story about how the hobbits and dwarves gather together and prepare to set out on their journey to Mordor. It takes numerous chapters to set the stage and introduce the cast of characters. Then the adventure begins at the end of the volume.

Posted: Thursday, March 20, 2025

Thursday Update

Posted Thursday, March 13, 2025

Starting This Week

Fire Season by Leyna Krow

It is 1889 at Spokane Falls. A fire has damaged a town and there are opportunists ready to take advantage of the situation for their own benefit. Barton Heydale is the manager of the only bank in town who somehow survives and Quake Auchenbaucher is a con man hired to investigate the fire. Roslyn Beck has the ability to see into the future which leads her to drink.

dandilion by Jamie Chai Yun Liew

Lily was 11 years old when her mother walked away. Fast forward a number of years and Lily is now a mother herself. She is determined to find out what happened to her mother Swee Hua. Lily grew up in a small town in British Columbia with only a handful of Asian families. Her family remains silent on the past, but an old family friend provides a clue to her mother’s disapperance.

Continuing This Week

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Bree is mourning the death of her mother. She finds solace being part of a boarding school program for high schoolers that has a secret club that has the task of hunting magical creatures. The story was inspired by King Arthur and the Roundtable, written from the perspective of an American Black teenager.

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

Time has passed since the adventures in the Hobbit, and it is time to travel again to the land of Mordor. It is a journey that Frodo takes in the company of hobbits and dwarves to confront the danger with the assistance from the power of the ring that demands a price from those who choose to wield it. This is a journey through the forests and fields to reach their destination.

Completed This Week

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Blue is a young woman living in a small town outside Baltimore. She lives with her mother and aunts who are psychics. In a ritual, Blue is warned away from the boys in town who attend a prestigious school. The book explores the social dynamic among the group of boys as wealth and status figures into their friendships. The magic is derived from astrology, Welsh mythology, and American imagery.

Monday Update

Posted Monday, March 10, 2025

Book Series I Have Started and Volumes Read

A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin

                The Game of Thrones

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

                The Fellowship of the Ring

The Machineries of Empire by Yoon Ha Lee

                Ninefox Gambit

Red Rising Saga by Pierce Brown

                Red Rising

Shadow and Bone Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

                Shadow and Bone

The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

                Clockwork Angel

The October Day Series by Seanan McGuire

                Rosemary and Rue
                A Local Habitation

Shadows of Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky

                Empire in Black and Gold

Chronicles of Elantra by Michelle Sagara

                Cast in Shadow
                Cast in Courtight
                Cast in Secret

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
                Throne of Glass

Posted Thursday, March 6, 2025

Starting This Week

The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

Alessandra Cecci is 14 years old living in Medici Florence. Her father is a cloth merchant. One day he brings a young painter to paint the walls of the family chapel. At a time when the monk Savonarola holds sway, there is something about the work of the painter that awakens desire.

The Future by Catherine Leroux

In an alternate history of the city of Detroit, a grandmother looks for clues for her missing granddaughters. Her search takes her to the Parc Rouge where the abandoned children have made their own society.

The Wars by Timothy Findley

At 19 years old, Robert Ross joins the army after the death of his older sister. He is pulled into the war that was supposed to end all wars – World War I. A beloved Canadian novel, the author received the Governor General’s Award for this book.

Completed This Week

Klee Wyck by Emily Carr

Better known for her work as a painter, Emily Carr was also an award-winning author. Klee Wyck was her first book in a series of memoirs. This one is about the time Carr spent with Indigenous communities on the West Coast, and how she was given the name Klee Wyck.

Continuing This Week

Ash and Blood by Jennifer Armentrout

The first book in a series that follows Poppy chosen as the Maiden to hold a sacred duty in a society where there is politics at play. Her goal is to find the ones responsible for the demise of her family. Raised for a certain destiny, the world she lives in might not be what it seems.

With the new month ahead, there is more reading to do. Some of these books are from previous TBRs that I did not get around to reading. Many of these are older titles. I keep hearing about new releases, but I have to read what I already have. I look forward to the challenge of reading as many books as possible in March. So far my reading has had some ups and downs. There are classic books I am having trouble keeping awake for, other books are more interesting. I can’t always tell how I will feel about a book until I read them. Sometimes it is as expected, other times I am surprised. I always look forward to a book with great expectations, so when I am disappointed, it feels especially harsh when I had invested a great deal of emotional energy in certain books or areas of interest. These are feelings I can better identify the more I read, and understand myself as a reader. The act of reading is to take in the words, ideas, emotions and imagery, and see how they have impact or difference on myself as an individual and member of the bigger community around me. This is a process I am fascinated by how new ideas and old ideas impact the inner self, and how I perceive the world I live in.

Happy reading!

Fiction

1. Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare
2. Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
3. This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi
4. The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater
5. The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

Non-fiction

6. Klee Wyck by Emily Carr

7. The Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark

8. The Origins of Political Order by Francis Fukuyama

9. Road Trip Rwanda by Will Ferguson

10. Trudeau by John Ivison

February Reading Wrap-Up

Posted Thursday, February 27, 2025

Poetry

Another Way to Split Water by Alycia Pirmohamed

Sunny Ways by Ryan Fitzpatrick

Air Salt by Ian Kinney

Fiction

The Paris Agent by Kelly Rimmer

Necessary People by Anna Pitoniak

Manga

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Vol. 2 by Naoko Takeuchi

A Selection from the Currently Reading List (My actual list is longer)

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer

The Incarnations by Susan Barker

March Mystery Madness Read

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Thursday, February 20, 2025

Literary Fiction of the Week

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The story follows a couple who leave Nigeria behind during a time of military-rule. They arrive at London first. Years later, they find themselves in America, trying to live and thrive as immigrants, and their new identities as Black Americans.

Real Life by Brandon Taylor

Wallace is attending a university in the Mid-West. He is Black and Queer, as well as from Alabama. The book shows a young person navigating post-secondary life in Contemporary United States.

A Shout in the Ruins by Kevin Power

A multi-generational saga that begins with Virginia during the American Civil War tracing the lives on the inhabitants of a plantation. A hundred years pass by into the 20th century.

Paranormal Fantasy of the Week

Angel’s Blood by Nalini Singh

The story follows vampire hunter Elena Deveraux from the first in an urban fantasy series the author first released in 2010. She is hired by the beautiful Archangel Raphael on a task she cannot fail.

Mass Market Paperback of the Week

Mallworld by Somtow Sucharitkul

In this world, a shopping mall is the size of the planet. There is a bit of the humor and wit from classic sci-fi imagining the world consumed with buying and selling, and all the goods that miraculously appear in the shops and stalls of the marketplace. The book was published in 1981.

Posted on Thursday, February 13, 2025

Starting this Week

Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer

Tycho arrives at a small village. He has left the demands of life at the castle for something quieter. He meets a handsome blacksmith whom he doesn’t expect to fall in love. This a return to the world of the Cursebreakers series.

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

Loose and wayward girls are sent to a home for unwed mothers. In this place, they endure hardship, but they also find a form of magic. This is the latest of books by the author in the horror genre.

Backlist Books of the Week

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

A tale about vampires in Mexico City following along through a journey as a young woman who is more than she appears who navigates through the dark streets, and finds a normal guy.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

The start of the Raven Cycle that follows four boys in a private boarding school. Blue Sergeant lives in the town. Her mother is a clairvoyant. Blue is determined to stay away from the boys, but she is drawn to one in particular.

Non-Fiction Book of the Week

Finding Me by Viola Davis

The movie star recounts her days on Rhode Island and how she made her way to the stage and screen. An acclaimed actor, she looks back at the life she left behind in the old apartment building she grew up in.

Posted Friday, February 7, 2025

Starting This Week

The Paris Agent by Kelly Rimmer

It is 1970. Charlotte’s mother has passed away. Her father has decided to at last tell his story in the war. He begins to look back at his past, which leads Charlotte on the trail of two women spies.

The Incarnations by Susan Barker

Someone gets into the taxi in Beijing. The driver is a man with a wife and a child. This begins a haunting tale from a narrator who seems to know the driver far longer than anyone else would know, but the driver is unaware.

Continuing This Week

The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino

A man has died mysteriously. There is a duel between the police and the suspect to anticipate each others’ moves to reach the tense conclusion that has many shades of grey.

The Theory of Crows by David A. Robertson

A father and teenage daughter find themselves in a difficult point in their lives. While the father is distracted, the daughter is growing up and finding her place in the world. They take a trip to find the family trapline out on the land as a way to understand each other.

Non-fiction Book of the Week

Joni Mitchell: In Her Own Worlds by Malka Marom

A carefully put together book of text, images, and song lyrics with interviews the author conducted with Joni Mitchell over three sessions are transcribed to the page. Released in 2014.

Sunday, January 26, 2025

The first month of the year has gone by quickly and has shown to be eventful. There is so much uncertainty about the year ahead, so I go to where I normally go: my stack of books to read that seem never-ending. Happy Lunar New Year!!!

Fiction

1. The Other Americans by Laila Lalami
2. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
3. Flood of Fire by Amitav Ghosh
4. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
5. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
   

Non-Fiction

1. The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914
   by Christopher Clark
2. Trudeau: The Education of a Prime Minister
   by John Ivison
3. Joni Mitchell: In Her Own Words
   by Malka Marom
4. Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism
   by Thomas Brothers
5. Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City
   by Tanya Talaga

First 2025 Book of the Year

Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

The latest book from sci-fi and fantasy writer Nnedi Okorafor who spends time in Nigeria, as well as in the U.S.A. The story follows a Nigerian American woman. She writes a novel that brings her fame, but she no longer has control of the narrative. Her fate is now tied to the whims of the reading public. The way she lives her life is no longer the same as before.

Library Books On Loan

Happy Place by Emily Henry

A couple has broken up but they pretend to their friends that they are still together. They go on vacation and try to figure out if they still want to be together.

The Paris Agent by Kelly Rimmer

Charlotte has heard her father’s stories about being in the war. She has also heard about two women spies and she begins to follow their trail to find out what happened to them. The answers she finds might be more shocking than she realizes.

Books Started in 2024

The Fair Fight by Anna Freeman

Young Ruth lives in a brothel and does not expect more from her life until she meets a man who sees her potential. He encourages her to fight bare-knuckled in a ring, which changes the course of her life.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

The first book in His Dark Materials trilogy, the story follows two children Lyra and Will who begin a journey through the magical otherworlds and encounter witches and armoured bears along with other creatures.

Friday Reads

January 24, 2025

Books Started This Week

The Theory of Crows by David A. Robertson

Mainly a children’s author, David A Robertson wrote The Theory of Crows a few years ago for older readers. It follows one Indigenous family in Manitoba, Canada.  There is a father, mother and two teenage children. Holly is a high school student on her school swim team. The father seems preoccupied with another romantic interest. In a time of change for the family, how can the family stay together even when the children are growing up and the adults in their lives seem restless.

Robertson released a nonfiction title this week, All the Little Monsters: How I Learned to Live With Anxiety.

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

Persephone Fraser returns to Prince Edward Island after 10 years away. She is there to revisit her family’s past, taking time from her current life in a stylish apartment in Toronto. It appears to be a fun summer vacation, but there is more than meets the eye.

Books to Start this Week

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

The death of a woman leaves behind an unusual inheritance for her two children. It is a black cake a food from the Caribbean along with a voice message with her life story as well as a family recipe.

The author will have a new book released next week on January 28 called Good Dirt about an affluent Black family.

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

The narrator is a piano player whose parents left China during the Cultural Revolution. She takes a job at a high-end beauty and wellness shop in New York City.

The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher Clark

A history book on WWI, the revolutions taking place in the Old World, and how small acts of violence brought many nations into war.

Books to Complete

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas

The second book in the Throne of Glass series following a young woman assassin. Many critics forget this series was intended for young adult or teenagers, but the series have been re-released for older readers.

The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino

A mainstream and popular author in Japan with the first in his mystery thriller novels to be translated to English. It is a difficult story to tell about the lives of women and sexual politics in Japan.

It is already New Years Day. I have set my Goodreads goal at 100 books. This seems like a large number to me. I have only reached 100 books once. Now that I am busy with other projects, I might not get a chance to read that much. I have the books, but maybe not the time. I just like the number 100 as a solid number to aim for in my reading for the year 2025.

Thanks for stopping by and happy reading!

January TBR:

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

Necessary People by Anna Pitoniak

The Break by Katherena Vermette

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi

Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay

The Lost Century by Larissa Lai

5 Authors to Read More of in 2025
Thursday, December 26, 2024

There are 5 authors I have read before that I would like to spend time reading more from in 2025. I will be spreading the books out throughout the year, in order to read other books as well. I don’t like to read too many books that are too similar at once, so this will help keep my interest, as well as to better appreciate the words and stories on a page. These are authors I have collected a number of books from over the years, and I am making an effort to read in the new year.

In no particular order, the authors and their books are as follows:

Ruth Ware

The It Girl

Zero Days

The Perfect Couple

The Woman in Suite 11

Kate Quinn

The Alice Network

The Huntress

The Rose Code

The Diamond Eye

The Phoenix Crown (with Janie Chang)

Pierce Brown

The Golden Son

Morningstar

Dark Age

Iron Gold

Light Bringer

Leigh Bardugo

Siege and Storm

Ruin and Rising

Six of Crows

Crooked Kingdom

Ninth House

Colson Whitehead

The Underground Railroad

Harlem Shuffle

The Nickel Boys

Crooked Manifesto