What we are reading for October, November and December

Please add what you are reading and give it a rating and a description if you would like to do that!

Starting off October with a thriller: Parting Shot, by Linwood Barclay.

I'm reading The Pandemic Century: One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria and Hubris by Mark Honigsbaum, written in 2019 (just before the current pandemic).

Not feeling well, so I have been reading some escapist "magic" fiction for a change. I've enjoyed this author's books so far. Just finished The Return of the Witch by Paula Brackston

Imminent library due dates have me rushing to finish The Big Life of Little Richard, by Mark Ribowsky, and maybe attempting to start Insurrection: Scotland's Famine Winter, by James Hunter.

More comfort reading-back to crime fiction now. Really liked Burial of Ghosts by Ann Cleeves.

I'm about to start The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy.

The Venetian's Wife / Nick Bantock
3.5 stars

Sara works at a museum and isn’t looking for a new job when she is contacted by email, out of the blue, but someone she doesn’t know. This man is offering her a mysterious well-paid job, and their contact is to only be via email. It turns out he would like her to help him find and acquire 4 original sculptures from the 15th century. Meanwhile, she does miss seeing the man at work she has a crush on.

This is something very different, with illustrations peppered on most (if not all) pages; it was part in diary form and part email. This surprised me. I was a bit doubtful about it and could not remember why I added it to my tbr. I’m not that much into art, and it has an odd subtitle. It was good, though. It moved quickly, so was not very long and did not take long to read.

I was able to renew Insurrection (from >5 rabbitprincess:), so I have a bit of time for that. Next up in library reading will be Music Lessons, by Bob Wiseman. But first I will likely read Death Under Sail, by C. P. Snow.

I'm reading Cote-des-Neiges by Alice Parizeau en francais.

More crime fiction-just finished the second in a rather gritty and grim series sent in Aberdeen, Scotland. Dying Light by Stuart MacBride

Started a re-read of jPod, by Douglas Coupland.

I'm reading Bring Her Home by David Bell

I'm reading The Life-Writer by David Constantine

I'm reading The Little Shadows by Marina Endicott

Half Spent Was the Night / Ami McKay
2.5 stars

This is a short story sequel to Ami McKay’s “The Witches of New York”. In this one, our three witches are preparing for Christmas. They are invited to a ball, but they don’t know the host and are unable to figure out why they were invited.

I listened to the audio, and I may not have that summary exactly right, but it’s something along those lines. I caught bits and pieces of the story, but missed much of it. I even went back and re-listened to the second half because I felt I missed all of that half (it was short, the second half was only 41 minutes). I wanted to like it. I like witches and I like Christmas, but it just didn’t hold my attention. Caught a bit more of the second half the second time around, but not much.

I'm reading A Delhi Obsession by M.G. Vassanji.

Did some non fiction reading this week, for a change. Just finished The Body by Bill Bryson. Very interesting read, and I always like Bill Bryson's writing style-not pedantic at all and often quite humourous.

I've started The Innocents by Michael Crummy.

I'm reading A New World Begins: The History of the French Revolution by Jeremy D. Popkin

I've been reading Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!: The Story of Pop Music from Bill Haley to Beyoncé, by Bob Stanley, for the past few days. It reads quickly but there is a LOT of it! And when I'm done, I'm going to have to go back and make a list of some of the songs that sounded particularly interesting so that I can look them up online.

I have an early reviewers book to read that has been delayed for too long now, so it will be that before much else. At night though, I'm still listening/reading fanfiction and ghost stories.

I just finished The Last Train to London by Meg Waite Clayton and thought it was an excellent work of historical fiction, based on the very real Kindertransport pre WWII, and the story of a very brave and amazing Dutch woman who helped facilitate the rescues. Very gripping and moving.

Looking for distraction in cheesy thrillers. Shooting Script, by Gavin Lyall, is fitting the bill.

The cheesy thriller in >24 rabbitprincess: was just what I needed. Now I feel inspired to tackle the universe with The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking), by Katie Mack.

I'm reading Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon

I'm reading Without my Mother: A Daughter's Search for the Mother Who Abandoned Her by Melissa Cistaro.

This morning I started a guaranteed RP-pleaser: Still Life, by Val McDermid, the latest in her Karen Pirie series.

Just finished The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. What an amazing ride! A complex, very detailed, convoluted, clever and original murder mystery.

I'm about to start The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton.

I keep picking things up and putting them down. Today I've picked up The Hog's Back Mystery, by Freeman Wills Crofts. Some classic British crime might be what I'm after.

The Pull of the Stars / Emma Donoghue
3.5 stars

This is set in Ireland in 1918, during the influenza pandemic. Julia is a nurse in a maternity ward, so we follow her at work for a few days with the flu being a constant threat. Bridie is an orphan (an adult now) who comes to volunteer in the hospital, so Julie and Bridie get to know each other while helping the women in the ward.

I listened to the audio and thought there was a bit too much detail in the birthing of babies than I like to read/hear about. Ugh! The story was good, but I was a bit disappointed in that the influenza seemed more of a background than the main part of the story, which was the women having babies. There was an author’s note at the end, and I was interested to learn that the woman doctor was the one real person as a character in the book.

I'm reading The Answer Is....Reflections on my Life by the much-missed Alex Trebek. I admire his love of learning, his obvious pride in being Canadian, and the way he made learning and intelligence cool. RIP, Alex.

>33 LynnB: Me too! I'm listening to the audio, read partly by Alex and partly by Ken Jennings.

I'm sticking with Jeopardy-related stuff, and reading Planet Funny: How Comedy Ruined Everything by Ken Jennings.

I just finished Normal People by Sally Rooney and quite liked it. I'd previously watched the TV series on CBC's Gem app and really enjoyed that-especially that lovely Irish lilt in the conversations; I also thought the 2 young actors in the main roles did an amazing job. The TV series was very true to the book, so reading the book was just like watching the TV show again in many ways.

>35 LynnB: I adore his memoir Brainiac, about his Jeopardy! appearances and about the trivia scene in general. Haven't got to Planet Funny yet.

>37 rabbitprincess:, I liked Brainiac, too. Planet Funny is his examination of humour in today's society.

I'm reading Redhead by the Side of the Road by one of my very favourite authors, Anne Tyler.

I'm reading Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikova.

Ended up not finishing my ER book. It was just not engaging enough to me. I've picked up Fangirl again and I'm determined to finish it now. It's getting better but I think that I might not be the right audience for all of it.

Now I'm looking at my new Ray Bradbury The Illustrated Man because I heard it referenced on an Elton John special that Mom watches constantly.

I haven't picked up "Vas" in a while though. That's the other book haunting my unfinished pile.

I've been attempting to read Lancaster, by John Nichol, which is normally in my wheelhouse but I'm having a bit of attention-span difficulties. Also I find the book physically hard to hold, which is a shame because the cover is beautiful.

Not much reading in my near future-I foolishly? decided to get a new puppy to raise now that I'm retired- very exhausting when you live alone and in a pandemic with social restrictions. Hope I survive this! Anyway, I managed to finish Her One Mistake by Heidi Perks and I enjoyed it.

>43 ted74ca: I want a puppy! But I just have is all this reading.

I'm in a good and bad spot for getting through stories. I started new meds so instead of staying up all night listening to books, I start falling asleep shortly after and end up shutting my phone off. (Last night it was 20 minutes of Christopher Lee narrating Edgar Allen Poe before I realized I have no idea what was happening in the story anymore.) I feel like I need to actually plan to read instead of just doing it when I'm too tired to do anything else.

>44 WeeTurtle: Ooh, Christopher Lee narrating Poe sounds delightful!

Started reading The Informer, by Liam O'Flaherty. Apparently this was made into a movie by John Ford.

I'm reading Marilyn Monroe: The Private Life of a Public Icon by Charles Casillo.

The Boat People / Sharon Bala
4 stars

In 2009 or 2010 a boat of refugees arrived in British Columbia. There were over 500 people aboard, coming from Sri Lanka. This really happened, and this book is a fictionalized version of this. The refugees were “detained” (basically, jailed) until they had their initial hearings (just as to whether or not they were allowed into Canada at all; later hearings determine whether or not they can stay.)

Mahindan is a mechanic and has arrived with a young son (5 or 6 years old); unfortunately, his son is not allowed to be detained with his father, so he is initially sent with some of the women detainees and their children, and later placed with a Canadian foster family. Priya is studying to become a lawyer; she wants to be a corporate lawyer, but is assigned to help as counsel for the refugees. Grace has been assigned as an adjudicator for the hearings; she has been informed by a government minister of (I think) public security to be wary and watch for the terrorists who are aboard, because he is certain some of them are.

The story is told from all three viewpoints. Priya has a Sri Lankan background, but does not speak the language. Grace’s background is Japanese and her family has been in Canada for a few generations now (her grandparents and parents were interred in the Japanese concentration camps during WWII. The two women learn more about their families’ backgrounds, as well.

This was really good. I was really frustrated with Grace for – what I felt was – relying too much on Fred’s (the minister’s) rhetoric. I guess I wanted to believe all of their stories. I wasn’t as interested in Mahindan’s background in Sri Lanka – well, some was interesting, but I did lose a bit of focus when talking about his courtship to his son’s mother. Without giving too much away, I really had no idea how it would end, and yet I was still surprised.

The Quintland Sisters / Shelley Wood
3.75 stars

The Dionne quintuplets were born in a small town in Northern Ontario in 1934. It was amazing that they all lived. However, not long after they were born, they were taken from the parents to live across the street in a building built to keep them safe and healthy. 17-year old Emma was there when they were born to help the midwife. She becomes a nurse and is one of a revolving door of nurses and teachers (in addition to Dr. Dafoe and others) to help take care of the girls. They’ve immediately become sensations, being so rare. People come from all over to see the girls in their purpose-built play room, so the girls are visible to outsiders, but the visitors aren’t visible to the girls.

The story is told in diary form from Emma’s point of view up until the girls are 5-years old. It is interspersed with real newspaper articles. It’s a sad story, as the parents rarely had access to see their daughters. Since this is fiction, I don’t really know what the parents were like, but I waffled between feeling bad for them and really not liking them, as they were very strict and the father seemed more interested in the money and control of the girls’ lives.

I did appreciate the historical note. Emma was, as I’d suspected, not a real person. I was surprised at the end, but she did put a bit into the historical note that might help explain. I definitely want to find and read some nonfiction on the Dionne quintuplets.

I finished Fangirl! (it actually ended stronger than it started, which is kinda nice. I had a spate of unsatisfactory endings the last while).

I think I'll pick up Kafka on the Shore now. I'm staring at two short story books right now as well: An old copy of "Tales of Suspense" that has the short story "Birds" (or "The Birds") that was the basis for the Hitchcock film, and Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man.

I'm also listening to Quiet: the power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking in ebook in my car. It's been fascinating so far, if not that entertaining. Starts with business (and a short history of self-help, etc), then goes into some biology, and psychology. I'm half way about, now. It's close to 10 hours if I recall correctly.

I'm about to start The Shanghai Free Taxi: Journeys with the Hustlers and Rebels of the New China by Frank Langfitt.

Just finished Amorality Tale, a Doctor Who novel by David Bishop that is set in London during the Great Smog of 1952. If I'd planned this better, I could have read the book on the days when the book is actually set (December 5 through 7).

Next up will probably be a crime novel. Maybe The Less Dead, by Denise Mina.

Ended up reading The Glass Room, by Ann Cleeves, instead. Before I jump into another crime novel, I will explore some train history with Railway Nation, by David Laurence Jones, which is the history of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Managed to finish another book, despite my new puppy running me ragged! (I sit on a chair at her naptime, beside her crate, and murmur soothing words to get to her sleep, while reading a bit.) A horror story, and not a great one-- but I finished a book! The Residence by Andrew Pyper

Still working on Railway Nation. Next up in fiction is Stalking Point, by Duncan Kyle, a WW2 thriller involving airplanes, so I'm covering lots of transportation in my reading.

>55 rabbitprincess:, since we can't actually go anywhere, it's nice to "travel" by book, isn't it?

I'm reading Murdered Midas: A Millionaire, His Gold Mine, and a Strange Death on an Island Paradise by one of my favourite authors, Charlotte Gray.

>56 LynnB: It is indeed! Amusingly, Stalking Point is at least partly set in Canada. Kingston, to be specific. I didn't know that when I bought the book.

>57 LynnB: I gave that one to my mum last Christmas. If I'm able to visit by spring, I'll borrow it from her ;)

>58 rabbitprincess:, I'm really enjoying Murdered Midas...you should definitely borrow it!

Plowed through Murdered Midas....I love Charlotte Gray's work. I'm on to Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez. Sadly, this book was written last year, not in the 1970s.

I really enjoyed Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Someone lent me Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump, so I guess I'll read it after all.

Today in print will likely be More Than a Woman, by Caitlin Moran. It has 36 people waiting for it at the library and it's due back tomorrow. (The library *is* waiving fines during the pandemic because they are quarantining returns for a few days, but I still like to maintain the discipline of returning things on time, as much as I can.)

I'm reading The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel.

>64 LynnB: I had that one out from the library but ran out of time for it. I hope it's good!

Currently indulging in a re-read: An Overdose of Death, by Agatha Christie. A Poirot, but not one of the ones I read obsessively in my preteen years.

I wasn't paying attention to my library loan period and Quiet got returned on me so I need to wait another week or two to finish it.

>67 WeeTurtle: that happens to my sister all the time! Very frustrating.

I really enjoyed this little book Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson. Very nice prose.

This morning I started The Role I Played, by Sami Jo Small, former goalie for the Canadian women's Olympic hockey team.

I'm going to start my ER book, All that We Carried by Eric Bartels.

I'm slowly heading into Kafka on the Shore but might also pick up Wayward Son again, since it aligns with the year for me. It's an emotionally strong book, but that's a good distraction sometimes.

I will feel like an intruder in this group, but maybe that will be okay? I am reading Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout and listening to Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee, and reading A Better Man by Louise Penny. One is an e-read; one an audio read; and one a hand-held real book.
The last book I read was Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club by Megan Gail Coles. I would give it 3 stars. There were times that I felt it was just a little too much (not an upbeat pre-Christmas read) but when I finished it, I felt glad to have read it. It shifted my thinking about some of the hooded street characters I pass downtown, or some of the restaurant employees. Her writing is powerful, but not easy. But at the beginning we are forewarned that it will not be easy. I also just finished A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman which I would easily give 5 stars. It was the second time for this book and read so I can lead a book club. Just a wonderful and satisfying book.

welcome >73 lamplight:! I, too, liked A Man Called Ove and my book club is reading Anxious People by the same author next month. I also liked Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club once I got into it.

>73 lamplight: Welcome! :) I am looking forward to reading the Louise Penny on my next visit to my parents (whenever that is possible...).

I just finished the deeply interesting Answers in the Form of Questions, by Claire McNear, all about the inner workings of Jeopardy!.

I've read Ken Jennings' Brainiac on the same subject. I've also got Prisoner of Trebekistan: A Decade in Jeopardy! on order.

>73 lamplight: I'm curious about the "Coward Gun Club" book, largely to do with the title. What's the setting like?

It takes place in one day and one place (a restaurant, not a gun club!) with lots of flashbacks to what causes all the misery in the people stuck together in the one day and the one place. The stories are sad and horrific but believable. They are stories that I know exist in my own safe little world. However, they are hard to take it one gulp! A worthwhile read, if you have the stomach for it.

I'm reading Songs for the End of the World by Saleema Nawaz

I'm re-reading Famous Last Words by Timothy Findley.

From the Ashes / Jesse Thistle
4 stars

Jesse and his two older brothers (Metis-Cree) were abandoned by their parents when Jesse was only 3-years old (older brothers Jerry and Josh were 4 and 5). They spent a short time in a foster home before their paternal grandparents in Ontario came to get them. Jesse did not do well growing up – he got into trouble with alcohol and drugs, stealing, and he was off-and-on homeless. He was in and out of jail a few times before he eventually turned his life around.

This was really good. Jesse also writes poetry and it is sprinkled throughout the book. The chapters are short and overall, the book is fairly quick to read. So many times I shook my head, and thought: ok, this has to be rock-bottom, when you’ll turn your life around. But it wasn’t. So many times. I also wondered occasionally how he remembered as much as he did looking back on his life, given all the drugs and alcohol, but he addressed this in a note at the end.

Finished two books today: Moon of the Crusted Snow, by Waubgeshig Rice; and Shockwave, a Doctor Who audio by James Swallow (read by Sophie Aldred and Ian Brooker).

I also started Thin Air, by Ann Cleeves. I'm off for the rest of the year so hoping to get lots of reading done!

I'm reading Anxious People by Fredrik Backman for a book club.

Next up: A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe.

I finished Becoming Michelle Obama on New Year's Eve Day. Even though I loathe American politics, I really liked her story.