LET’S TALK BOOKS

I love reading books. I’ve always loved reading books. I think this love came from my mother who taught me to read before I went to school. She had a bookcase headboard crammed with yellowing thrift store paperbacks—some you wouldn’t expect your mother to read like Messalina and Peyton Place—along with fat, hard-cover, Reader Digests. My mother was an armchair adventure who got “tight” after one glass of wine, giggled, and crossed her legs. Sorry, Mom, but I love that memory of you.

My criteria? If I like a book, I write about it. So, naturally, my reviews and musings end up here. I know what it takes to write a book, the endless hours, the sleepless nights; so I don’t write about a book if I don’t connect with it.

I’m a proud Canadian and have been writing reviews of fellow Canadian authors for the Ottawa Review of Books for the past few years. This has allowed me to discover some brilliant writers. They may not be New York Times Bestselling authors—because Canadian publishers cannot submit to the NY Times—but they’re wonderful just the same. So, if you like to discover new authors too, read on. Oh, interspersed you may find some superstar authors, like Maggie Stiefvater, who lives in the state of Virginia, and I read just because I wish I could write like her. Literary Envy. Argh!

Grit and Grist for the Nautical Mystery Lover

Grit and Grist for the Nautical Mystery Lover

If you’ve never read Jackie Elliott’s Coffin Cove cozy mysteries you’re in for a salty treat. Each story in this, currently four-book series, builds off the last and draws us deeper into the endangered and fearsome lives of Coffin Cove’s venturesome journalist/sleuth,...

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A Druid Psychotherapist’s Answer to Insomnia

A Druid Psychotherapist’s Answer to Insomnia

For most of us insomniacs the night is no gift. Even if we’ve done our best to follow a sleep-inducing routine, we may not fall asleep or stay asleep. Many of us sleep soundly until two or three a.m. only to awaken and lie tossing and turning until morning. What...

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Travel Back in Time with The Railway Children

Travel Back in Time with The Railway Children

Over the holidays, I discovered this used book in our local bookstore and decided to read it. This is the kind of story one can call delightful. It was written by Edith Nesbit who wrote under the pen name E. Nesbit. Her biography says: "She was a mischievous,...

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Is this the End of Ruth & Nelson?

Is this the End of Ruth & Nelson?

Please no. This might well be my favourite Dr. Ruth Galloway mystery. Book number fifteen in a succession that spans twenty years of the characters’ lives, also reads as if it may be the last. The way things land between Dr. Ruth and DCI Nelson both romantically and...

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Plagues, Suicides, Isolation, and Lockdown

Plagues, Suicides, Isolation, and Lockdown

If you’re a fan of British cozy mystery author Elly Griffiths, you’ll know that she’s been writing one Ruth Galloway archaeological mystery each year for over a decade. This is book fourteen. When the pandemic hit, she had to make a decision. Do I set this story in...

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Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

Can you believe it? I found this book sitting on the very end of the free shelf at my local library this morning. I'd checked it out and returned it last week, which means, that I was the last person to read it. How do libraries decide what ends up in the slush pile?...

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