by Keith HoustonNothing could sound more boring than a book about the question mark and that weird paragraph symbol (It’s got an actual name, this symbol. It’s called a pilcrow and it looks like this: ¶)  But it’s actually oddly interesting.  This is almost a history of publishing as much as the stories of the symbols […]

By Jacob TomskyI picked up this book all because of the title. I could not resist a look behind the scenes of the hotel industry. Jacob Tomsky has worked in the hotel industry for most of his life and this book is a funny and intriguing account of his experiences. There were times when I […]

By Nancy CocoFrom the “Candy-Coated” series of mysteries comes “ToFudge or Not to Fudge.” Do not be fooled by the playful title. This is a great little mystery. The characters are intelligent and relatable. The mystery is not dumbed down at all, there was two points that I was taken by surprise and did not […]

by John JoblingU2 is one of the biggest bands in the world, going strong pretty much from their start in the late ’70s with hardly a break in between.  This new biography spans their whole career up until late 2013, so it doesn’t cover their controversial Apple-funded release of their newest album. That said, it’s […]

The Miniaturistby Jessie BurtonExcellent! The lyrical, inviting writing of author Jessie Burton lulls you into the story of Petronella Oortman. The description of Amsterdam in the 1600s is intriguing and so alive you feel you are walking along the cobblestone paths and smelling the tantalizing sugar loaves while keeping one eye out for the ever […]

Annabel by Kathleen WinterSet in the unforgiving landscape of Labrador, Annabel tells the story of a child who is born both male and female.  His father, Treadway, immediately decides the baby will be a boy and his name will be Wayne.  His parents, with the help of the medical community, raise Wayne as a boy and hide the […]

 by Randall Munroe By the writer of the webcomic xkcd, this book follows the same idea: use hard science as humour.  Munroe doesn’t dumb it down, either.  The concepts are challenging. In this book, he takes reader submitted questions and examines what would happen if: a baseball were thrown at near the speed of light; […]

by Haruki MurakamiI’ve been reading books that are a little more light-hearted so I thought it would be a good time to switch it up a bit. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his years of pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami is definitely not light-hearted, but it is a fantastic read. Friendships, love, regret, openness, and death are […]

by John ShirleyBased on the video game series BioShock, this novel stands very well alone as a story in its own right. Set in the underwater utopian city of Rapture, BioShock: Rapture tells the story of the founding and Ayn-Rand-type vision of a city where all people are equal, paid each according to their contributions […]