Category: Top Reads

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Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell
Signed books in the age of covid. Buy a ticket to a virtual event, and if you’re lucky, receive by mail (that you then quarantine for a bit!) a sticker signed by the author. 😭

GTFO, 2020. 

That’s it for my commentary on the year. Now, onto books.

Since many things now are different than they were in the Before Times, so is this blog. Forget chronological. Now we do this by category. Random and silly – and yes, imperfect – categories. If you also follow me on Instagram, some blurbs repeat from what I posted there (but I’m banking on either you not remembering what I wrote or Insta’s algorithm not having shown you the post, and who are we kidding, both are highly likely.) Continue reading →

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Had It Coming by Robyn Doolittle
Robyn Doolittle SAID she was covered in a film of baby vomit and her hair was dirty, but I don’t buy it. She was totally glam.

One of the unintended benefits of keeping a log of the books I read is, it provides a sort of chronicle of my life.

I can remember what happened in a year by seeing the number of books I consumed. The years I was in school, I did half as much reading for pleasure as usual. The years I moved houses, dismal reading totals. Continue reading →

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Mark Sakamoto is super-nice, but his handwriting leaves a little something to be desired

A belated Happy Holidays, gang! I’m a few days late on this, but that still leaves you with 360 reading days in 2019.

Speaking of holidays, I might move to Iceland. (I know that seems like a non-sequitur, bear with me for a sec.) Continue reading →

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The Heart's Invisible Furies, signed by John Boyne and John Irving
One book, two author inscriptions! My two favourite Johns – Irving and Boyne.

The holiday tradition continues – you know, the one where I bombard you with all the books you should read next year.

Shocker: I did not do a reading challenge this year. But, I joined a book club! So in that way I read a few books that I otherwise wouldn’t have. I had always been reluctant to join one, because I didn’t want to be stuck reading something I wasn’t interested in, and I worried about having to read a book on schedule. But it has worked out so well! I adore our group of ladies. (And only once did I have to take the morning off work to cram in finishing a book in the nick of time for the meeting.)

I hope you’ve got some time on your hands – the list is burgeoning. 151 books consumed, here are the 5-star ones…  Continue reading →

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Inscription reads: For Stacie, Hope the women unleaded some spirit! Marlon James
I made Marlon James smile and chuckle as he inscribed my copy of The Book of Night Women, so that was obviously a highlight of my year.

I don’t think I’ve ever known so many people to be so happy that a year is coming to a close. Didn’t make very many friends, did ya, 2016?

Well, at least there were good books! I heard a stat earlier this year that blew my mind. (Disclaimer: This is not fact checked!) And that is: There are one million books published in the US every year. One million. Apparently, 250,000 are published by the big publishing houses, another 250,000 by small indie presses, and 500,000 are self-published. That. Is. Nuts. No wonder I feel like I can never keep up, no matter how many I read! (96 treebooks + 7 ebooks + 11 audiobooks = 114 on the year.) Continue reading →

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Road Trip Rwanda, by Will Ferguson. Inscription reads: "To Stacie, Some armchair travel for you! Will"
Even Will Ferguson knows I’ll never make it there…

Helllllloooooooooo? Anyone out there? Sorry, I completely disappeared on you. Blame work! I managed to read – not as many books as usual – but no time to blog. But I wouldn’t leave you without my now-traditional musings on my favourite books of the year. Here goes… Continue reading →

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Signed title page of "The Bone Clocks"
One of my favourite inscriptions from this year. Thanks for taking the time for us punters, David Mitchell.

Happy New Year gang! With not much time left in 2014, we’ve come full circle – back to where we started, with a roundup of my favourite books I read throughout the year. It was another mixed bag of reading – genres and topics and locales and time periods galore. I guess if there’s a recurring theme to be spotted in my book choices, it’s war, or the aftermath of war.  Continue reading →

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Title page of my copy of "Milosz," where Cordelia Strube inscribed "It is so cool that you like a lot of different things. Hope you dig this book!"
Cordelia Strube inscribed my copy of Milosz at the 2012 International Festival of Authors. I realize she’s poking fun at me, but she’s hilarious and I love it anyway.

I stated emphatically for days that I wasn’t going to do this, but I’ve had a few requests, so, what the hell, I’m doing it.  Continue reading →