Author Monnibo
These book reviews have been lingering for a while, so I figured I’d smoosh them together and call it a post. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens I’m embarrassed to admit that I read this nearly a year ago during… Continue Reading →
“I am Moth, a girl from the lowest part of Chrystie Street, born to a slum-house mystic and the man who broke her heart.” So begins The Virgin Cure, a novel set in the tenements of lower Manhattan in the… Continue Reading →
The Night Wanderer: A Native Gothic Novel by Drew Hayden Taylor is a YA coming-of-age story based in the late 90s on a fictional First Nations reserve in Ontario. A sleepy native reserve. A troubled teen girl. A vampire returns… Continue Reading →
I love the flavours of Indian cooking, but I cannot handle the heat of the spices. After researching different types of mild curry, I decided to try my hand at cooking a vegetarian korma. I combined a couple of different… Continue Reading →
Patrick deWitt is being credited with “reinventing the Western genre”, however The Sisters Brothers didn’t really feel like a traditional Western to me. In fact, it didn’t have to take place in a Western setting at all—the horses, the guns,… Continue Reading →
The Little Shadows will be published on September 27, 2011 but is already receiving a ton of buzz (including the Giller longlist Reader’s Choice). And I have to say that the praise is well-warranted. Gentle prose, quiet plot, and enticing… Continue Reading →
As I’ve mentioned, I’m back to school this fall. I’m doing my BA, majoring in communications. I’m attending Simon Fraser University and they have a specific requirement that you take a certain number of credits outside your major. So this… Continue Reading →
“BBAW” stands for Book Blogger Appreciation Week, and 2011 marks the fourth anniversary of the event. Concocted up by Amy of My Friend Amy, I’ve been helping with the BBAW website and graphic design stuff for the past three years…. Continue Reading →
Fruit: A Novel About A Boy and His Nipples by Brian Francis is a heartfelt tale about 13-year-old Peter Paddington, who is overweight, gay, and unpopular. When his nipples poke out and start talking to him—with brutally honest opinions—he tries… Continue Reading →
In general, I’m sort of lukewarm on short stories, so I was pleasantly surprised when I read Up Up Up by Julie Booker. I did not want to put it down; Julie Booker’s writing is eloquent, thoughtful, funny, and tight…. Continue Reading →
A Clash of Kings is the second book ins George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series (aka The Game of Thrones). After becoming absorbed in the first book, A Game of Thrones, I picked up a copy… Continue Reading →
The good news is that I didn’t cry as much reading Voyager (book three in the Outlander Series) as when I read Dragonfly in Amber. But I still fell hard for the story and the characters. Diana Gabaldon just has… Continue Reading →
Tangles: A Story about Alzheimer’s, My Mother and Me is a graphic novel by Vancouver author and artist, Sarah Leavitt. As the subtitle indicates, it’s the powerful and emotional (true) story of Midge Leavitt’s battle with Alzheimer’s and the effect… Continue Reading →
Nearly immediately after finishing Outlander, the first book in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, I picked up book two, Dragonfly in Amber. [Click here for my review of Outlander] The first book had immediately drawn me in to Claire… Continue Reading →
In February I visited a neat secondhand store called FilmGo, located in Vancouver on the edge of Burnaby. This undiscovered thrift store is full of props, furniture and knick-knacks from various film sets which means awesome vintage and era pieces…. Continue Reading →
Off the Highway: Growing Up In North Delta is a memoir by local author Mette Bach and installment 18 in the Transmontanus Series published by New Star Books. The Transmontanus series, edited by Terry Glavin, are “short illustrated books about… Continue Reading →
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon is the first in a historical semi-mythical series which includes war and violence, relationships, family and society, questions of morality, honour, and spirituality, love and sex, adventures, journeys, and violence. Truly, this book has everything I… Continue Reading →
Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman hits all the right buttons on the back cover copy and inside flaps. In theory, it sounds like a great coming-of-age novel dealing with race, culture, immigration, acceptance and adolescent violence. However, I had a… Continue Reading →
I picked up this book when I heard about the series HBO was producing and the guy at the till said “your friends won’t see you for weeks.” Confused, I asked why. “You’ll need to catch up on the entire… Continue Reading →
I finished Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid by Evelyn Lau at least a month ago. I’ve had a bit of blogger-block and had difficulties pinpointing my feelings about this book. It’s very strange to read a non-fiction/memoir that takes… Continue Reading →
Well, you’ve all probably heard the Canadian election results… and the subsequent outrage. What’s done is done, but I can’t help feeling sick to my stomach. So, here is a little pick-me-up: FO reports! First up: Yuletide Gnome [rav link]… Continue Reading →
I bought this yarn from a local designer-friend, Melonhead Knitwear, at Circle Craft Christmas Market in November 2010. She was selling her handknits as well as hand-dyed and handspun yarn by the skein. When I tried on the hats she… Continue Reading →
Last January I read Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen and I recently (finally) watched Pride & Prejudice the movie (2005 version) starring Keira Knightly. This is less of a ‘movie review’ and more of just my thoughts on the… Continue Reading →
Alan Bradley wove another enjoyable and intriguing tale starring Flavia de Luce, the darker, British version of Harriet the Spy. I had already fallen hard for Flavia when reading The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and The Weed… Continue Reading →
Book Review :: Better Living Through Plastic Explosives by Zsuzsi Gartner
Zsuzsi Gartner’s writing is witty, wry, satirical, and very intelligent. In her book of short stories, Better Living Through Plastic Explosives, Gartner scrutinizes everyone. From the real estate agent in her Hummer to the homeless person getting publicly funded plastic… Continue Reading →