History “Lessons” with Ian McEwan: A review of McEwan’s latest novel
Book Reviews / British / historical / The Latest

History “Lessons” with Ian McEwan: A review of McEwan’s latest novel

The novel follows the life of Roland Baines, and the novel swaps between Roland’s formative years at an all boys boarding school in the U.K. and his adult life as a single father to his son Lawrence, after his wife disappears one day. Continue reading

A Review of “Small Things Like These” by Claire Keegan: a powerful historical fiction about teen pregnancies
Book Reviews / Irish / The Latest

A Review of “Small Things Like These” by Claire Keegan: a powerful historical fiction about teen pregnancies

Keegan is an Irish author who grew up in Ireland but she has also lived in the United States, Wales, and is now back in Ireland. Her writing, like all Irish writing seems to have to beauty and softness about it that I can’t quite explain, but truly love to read. I’ve written about my love of Irish authors a lot on this blog and one of my favourites is Niall Williams’ This is Happiness. You can read my review of Williams’ book here. Continue reading

5 Life and Writing Lessons From A World Famous Author – Haruki Murakami
Book Reviews / Japanese / nonfiction / The Artistic Process / The Latest / writing

5 Life and Writing Lessons From A World Famous Author – Haruki Murakami

His latest work though is a very different kind of book. Instead of creating worlds in a well or alternate universes through tunnels, Murakami has released a book about his experiences as a career author, and in it, he details all the highs and lows of what it is really like to write books for over 35 years. In this book, he talks about each section being a speech rather than an essay or memoir, and I feel like that is perhaps the best way to think of this book. It does feel like Murakami is talking to you – delivering a speech at a graduation or event. Considering that Murakami rarely makes public appearances, he does this kind of speech writing well. Continue reading

A Book Review of “The Moonballers” by Jeffrey Sotto: Queer tennis will never be the same
American / Book Reviews / Canadian / comedy / queer / The Latest

A Book Review of “The Moonballers” by Jeffrey Sotto: Queer tennis will never be the same

NOTE: This novel was sent to me for review purposes. All opinions are my own. There are so many things to talk about with Jeffrey Sotto’s novel The Moonballers: A Novel About the Invasion of a LGBTQ2+ Tennis League … by Straight People. I love comedy, and I was extremely curious when I was asked … Continue reading

15 Black Feminist Books to Read After “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois” by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
African / American / Australian / Book Reviews / feminism / The Latest

15 Black Feminist Books to Read After “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois” by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

It is no secret around here that I absolutely loved Honorée Fanonne Jeffers’s novel The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois. It was just such a beautiful story. There is so much to take in, and there is so much to think about. While I was reading the novel, I kept thinking of different Black … Continue reading

A Review of “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois”: Race, gender, and the pecan tree that watches it all
African / American / Book Reviews / The Latest

A Review of “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois”: Race, gender, and the pecan tree that watches it all

Nations are fiction. The U.S. is fiction. Australia, my home country, is fiction. The stories that are celebrated and told about these nations do not speak to the true history of these lands. They begin at an arbitrary point, picked by and for white supremacy. They are stories told over and over again, like water over stone. They are stories about collective groups that change and form over time. But they are just that – stories. Continue reading

A Review of Peg Conway’s Memoir “The Art of Reassembly”: grief will always linger
American / Book Reviews / nonfiction / The Latest

A Review of Peg Conway’s Memoir “The Art of Reassembly”: grief will always linger

Note: This audiobook was provided by Books Forward for review purposes. Thank you to the team at Books Forward and the author for sharing their stories with me. This review is my own opinion, and while I was gifted the book to review, I was not paid for anything that I have written here. The … Continue reading

A Review of Anna North’s “Outlawed”: “The Handmaid’s Tale” Meets the Wild Wild West
American / Book Reviews / fantasy / queer / The Latest

A Review of Anna North’s “Outlawed”: “The Handmaid’s Tale” Meets the Wild Wild West

I was drawn to the cover of this book. I know what they say, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but here we are. Outlawed by Anna North is a dystopian gunslinging wild west meets Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. It was a really fun genre mash-up, and I loved reading it. Outlawed … Continue reading

Climate Change Fiction (Cli-Fi): A review of Clare Moleta’s “Unsheltered”
Australian / Book Reviews / The Latest

Climate Change Fiction (Cli-Fi): A review of Clare Moleta’s “Unsheltered”

I recently figured out I have been reading books of a very specific genre – dystopian novels and climate disaster novels which one could argue are a subgenre of dystopias. I didn’t recognise that I was in this pattern until I looked over my recently read books on Goodreads. I find it strange that I … Continue reading

A Review of Sally Vickers’ “The Gardener”: A novel about siblings, small country towns, and the power of gardening
Book Reviews / British / The Latest

A Review of Sally Vickers’ “The Gardener”: A novel about siblings, small country towns, and the power of gardening

After many twists and turns, two adult sisters, Margot and Halcyon also known as Hassie, find themselves living together in a rundown Jacobian house in Hope Wenlock – a small village in the Welsh marshes. The two sisters seem to be completely different. And their relationship is civil but also very cold at the beginning of the novel. The sisters, almost unbeknownst to themselves, want to reconnect. They just don’t know how to do it. Continue reading