Although All That Matters is the sequel to Wayson Choy’s first novel, The Jade Peony, it is actually a parallel story. Told this time from the point of view of the eldest son of the Chen family, rather than his younger siblings, the Chens have arrived in Vancouver’s Chinatown in the 1930’s, during the Great […]

All the Single Ladies By Rebecca Trainster From the title, you might mistakenly assume Rebecca Traister’s “All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation” is a self-help tome or maybe a biography of Beyoncé, but it’s actually a well-written and engaging history of the women’s liberation movement in the United […]

  Four homeless people, each with a different story to tell, are brought to life by Richard Wagamese in Ragged Company. These people were drawn into my heart and remained there long after I put this book away. Amelia, Digger, Dick and Timber live on the streets of Toronto, and look out for each other, […]

BarkskinsBy Annie Proulx At one time, forests, seemingly endless and eternal, covered much of North America.  These forests were occupied by aboriginal people who understood the symbiotic relationship between humans and the forest ecosystem.   As the Europeans arrived, wood became more than a source of shelter and heat: it became a commodity.  Annie Proulx’ Barkskins […]

  Commonwealth by Ann PatchettAnn Patchett’s new novel, Commonwealth, grabbed me from the first page. Some stories take a while to get into, but this one had me from the opening section of the novel, set at a family christening party. It flows — from character to character and room to room and even house […]

by Alexander McCall Smith The lovely setting of a train journey between Edinburgh and London lends itself to the tales we hear as we eavesdrop on four travellers who share a compartment in Trains and Lovers by Alexander McCall Smith. These travellers are thrown together by way of train tickets and have no other connection […]

Three Day RoadBy Joseph Boyden The violence and brutality of war are not my idea of enjoyable subject matter.  Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road is indeed a story of war.  But it is also the story of best friends.  Their physical journey from the Ontario bush to the trenches of Europe mirrors their interior journey […]

The Wonder TrailI checked out Steve Hely’s “The Wonder Trail: True Stories from Lost Angeles to the End of the World” for a few reasons: 1. He’s a former staff writer for “30 Rock”, which I think is one of the funniest North American sitcoms of all time; 2. Los Angeles is featured quite prominently […]