Ill Wind by Nevada Barr My rating: 4 of 5 stars Another good read by Nevada Barr. What made me admire her more as a writer is that she had a scene where a lesser author, going for the easy titillation, would’ve thrown sex in. Instead Barr adds credibility and excitement and interest by not…
Blog
Sweet Happy New 2012!
Friends and Readers: May your end-of-year Be happy And 2012 Be blessed And your tastebuds be acquainted with good macarons.
Review: The Dead of Winter
The Dead of Winter by Rennie Airth My rating: 1 of 5 stars OK, it’s rare for me not to finish a book. I’m endemically inclined to finish any book I pick up, even if it takes me years. But this writer has a really annoying habit of jumping around in time. At first, I…
Review: A Superior Death
A Superior Death by Nevada Barr My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book won’t leave my head. I keep feeling the coldness of a Lake Superior summer, the lushness of a temperate climate, the aliveness of the protagonist Anna Pigeon. I’m sure I’ve read Nevada Barr before — I have memories of reading a…
Review: Prisoner of Tehran
Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat My rating: 4 of 5 stars I had heard great reviews of this book, but I found it a difficult read — not style-wise but content-wise. And so at first I read it on and off. “People just don’t talk about it,” [the Iranian woman] said. That’s true for…
My COTA Health Case Manager is Driving me to Chocolate
I have a brain injury. That means, through some incomprehensible bureaucratic logic, I receive social work, occupational therapy (OT), physiotherapy, etc. through my local CCAC or Community Care Access Centre, and case management through COTA Health, which stands for something to do with occupational therapy. And they only talk to each other if CCAC makes…
Review: Homicide Trinity
Homicide Trinity by Rex Stout My rating: 4 of 5 stars The thing about Rex Stout’s writing is that it’s tight, matter-of-fact yet visually, auditorally, and smell-o-vision live. The characters are so strong it’s like they’re standing in front of you. By the time you finish your first Nero Wolfe mystery, you know Archie, Nero,…
Review: The Torso
The Torso by Helene Tursten My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’m enjoying this series set in Sweden. The Torso is rather gruesome but not relentlessly so. Humour, personal conflict, doggies, and vivid descriptions of Goteberg and Swedish life add welcome counterpoints and keep one engaged. I also like the peek this series gives into…
Getting Down to Revising Time and Space, my Third NaNoWriMo Novel
After my first NaNoWriMo, I took only a couple of days off and then got right into revising my novel, while I could still remember it. After my second, I didn’t. Big mistake. Between the inevitable loss of motivation, impetus, and memory issues, revising Aban’s Accension became difficult and almost didn’t happen. And so for…