No, I haven’t suddenly switched teaching subjects – this is a collection of stories by Italian Jewish author Primo Levi. It was recommended to me by James, one of the current crop of PGCE students at school, as a more ‘manly’ read – he was a bit taken aback by the titles being bandied about [...]

OK, now I love this magazine. I first discovered it when visiting Krista and Carson, and hanging out in Chapters one fine afternoon. Carson was looking for the latest issue – and he was kind enough to give me a whole stack of back issues that he had lying around the house.
What’s not to [...]

I decided to get ‘Toast: The Story of a Boy’s Hunger’ by the TV chef Nigel Slater for a couple of reasons – first, I seem to have this obsession with toast recently – see The Interesting Thoughts of Edward Monkton and Jasper Fforde’s creations – but also I thought perhaps it would [...]

I can’t believe it myself.
Upon finishing an extremely good ‘Anansi Boys‘ by Neil Gaiman this afternoon, I have officially read 50 books this year.
I either need to get out more, or get a new hobby…

I’ve just finished a remarkable collection of stories by a Taiwanese author called Cheng Ch’ing-Wen called ‘Three-Legged Horse’. Those of you who read my entry on ‘The Jade Peony‘ will already know of my fascination for Chinese culture; this collection goes further in my exploration of that.
The stories in ‘Three-Legged Horse’ do seem odd [...]

Just a quick note to draw your attention to the newest page on the blog. I’ve added a page with my reading log on it, so you don’t have to trek all the way over to BookCrossing to see it – but please do! BookCrossing needs more crossers!!
I’ve included a Ratings Guide, as well as [...]

Chinese and Japanese culture has fascinated me for quite a while – I think ever since my brother first became interesed in the samurai’s intricate code of conduct – and when I can combine it with my love of reading, I’m a very happy person indeed. For example, I devoured Cloud of Sparrows as well [...]

Remember how I waxed lyrical over Gregory Maguire’s rewriting of ‘The Wizard of Oz’, ‘Cinderella’ and other well known fairy tales? I’ve found another author who does the same for nursery rhymes. And fairy tales. And any other literary reference he can cram into a sentence.
I ordered Jasper Fforde’s newest book, ‘The Big Over Easy’ [...]

First, two things.
One – I apologise for not appearing more often on the blog! Life has taken over any spare time that I once had…
Two – if you are reading Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, but haven’t finished yet, skip this post! I will be revealing all!!
So – The Dark Tower. As a long [...]

It must be the proximity to Canada Day, but I feel rather nostalgic for all things Canadian at the moment. Flipping through my reading journal, I came across an entry for a rather good collection of stories by a broadcaster on the CBC called Stuart McLean. He has a radio show called Vinyl Cafe, and [...]

Book thoughts on Gregory Maguire