Blog

Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata

Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata

Travelling influences what I read and a recent trip through Japan made me keen to familiarize myself with Japanese writers. Yasunari Kawabata was the first Japanese author to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature and, as a result, I selected his1959 published book,...

Falling In Love by Donna Leo

Falling In Love by Donna Leo

Would you like to visit Venice? Falling In Love is book number twenty-four in Donna Leon’s crime series set in Venice, Italy featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti. It is about a mysterious stalker who threatens Flavia Petrelli, a fortyish opera singer performing the...

Book Musings: Full Disclosure by Beverley McLachlin

Book Musings: Full Disclosure by Beverley McLachlin

Full Disclosure by Beverley McLachlin Full Disclosure is a legal thriller written by Beverley McLachlin, the former Chief Justice of Canada. Set in Vancouver, Canada, it is about the murder of Laura St. John Trussardi. A forty year old woman of privilege, her husband,...

Food

Food

Food helps an author create an authentic sense of place.

St. Jacob’s Market.

St. Jacob’s Market.

As an author, I hunt for interesting locales. Previous blogs have highlighted Essaouira, Morocco, Africa. This entry will reference St. Jacob’s Market in southern Ontario, Canada.

Essaouira: A Place awaiting a Story. (Part Two)

Essaouira: A Place awaiting a Story. (Part Two)

As an author, I hunt for interesting locales. I’ve cited Mackinac Island, Michigan, USA in a previous blog and this is Part Two on Essaouira, Morocco, Northern Africa. Batbout bread is skillet or griddled cooked and popular for sandwiches.

The Lilacs of Mackinac Island

The Lilacs of Mackinac Island

As an author, I am always on the hunt for interesting locales to set my writing. Over the years, I have often visited Mackinac Island with friends. It has proven a delightful place with myriad experiences and I’ve added it to the list of potential sites for future...

Book Review: The Wonder by Emma Donoghue

Book Review: The Wonder by Emma Donoghue

The Wonder, set in Athlone, a village in the Irish midlands post the 1845-1852 potato famine, unfolds during a two week period in August 1859. It is about Anna O’Donnell, an eleven year old mourning the loss of her older brother, Pat who’d died the previous November....

Book Review: Two If By Sea by Jacquelyn Mitchard

Book Review: Two If By Sea by Jacquelyn Mitchard

A tsunami claims the life of Frank Mercy’s wife and unborn child Christmas Eve on Bribie Island, north of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. Frank, a retired police officer and volunteer fireman, attempts to rescue the occupants of a sinking van. The older lad trapped...

Book Review: The Woman In Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

Book Review: The Woman In Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

Did Laura (Lo) Blackstock witness a woman’s body being thrown overboard in the cabin next to hers? Had she too much alcohol to drink at the reception and her recollection, therefore, suspect or given a history of anxiety issues, this a hallucination? A travel...

Book Musings: Lion/A Long Way Home by Sarro Brierley

Book Musings: Lion/A Long Way Home by Sarro Brierley

How Many Families Do You Have? Book Review: Lion/A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley Lion, previously published as A Long Way Home, is Saroo Brierley’s memoir. Saroo was born in 1981 in Ganesh Tilai, Madhya Pradesh, India. In 1986 while accompanying his older brother,...

Book Musings: The Ex by Alafair Burke

Book Musings: The Ex by Alafair Burke

Why People Do Horrible Things Book Review: The Ex by Alafair Burke Jackson (Jack) Harris, a successful literary writer, is accused of shooting Malcolm Neely, Clifton Hunter and Tracy Frankel in a New York City football field. Malcolm Neely is Todd’s father, the teen...

Book Review: Daughter of Mine by Laura Fabiani

Book Review: Daughter of Mine by Laura Fabiani

What Would You Do To Discover Your Birth Parents? The cover of Daughter of Mine captivated my attention. Pastel buildings against an azure sky perched on a rocky coastline coupled with ruins of a crumbling stone castle cast immediate allure. Since I am the mother of...