“The Impossible Fortune” by Richard Osman

 I’m probably growing tired of the Thursday Murder Club books. Or perhaps, this title was a weak one in the series. Instead of focussing on the relationship strengths of the earlier books, it introduced new characters, including Joanna’s husband, and Tia, a young juvenile delinquent but with brains and a heart of gold, and Suzy and Kendrick who were Ron’s daughter and grandson etc etc. I enjoyed the earlier books partially because of the ever widening circle of interesting characters, but this particular book has gone too far, introducing new characters at the expense of the old.

“ Still Life” by Louise Penny

I reread this book because it was much too saccharine for me when I read it in 2017, and yet I wanted to get on the Louise Penny bandwagon. It’s nice to be emotionally invested in a good series. 

I enjoyed the book quite a bit more in 2026. It was quite riveting, even though the writing at this stage of her career was a bit unpolished. I can definitely now see the appeal of her books.

“Our Mutual Friend” by Charles Dickens

 This book was quite the slog, and I did not enjoy parts of it because it was filled with unkind people. But Dickens handled the material more gently than a modern writer would have, and for that, I was grateful. The book is dated, of course, in its treatment of women. I was impressed with Dickens’ creation,  Ria, the Jewish “fake usurer”, who turned out to be very kind and wise. And it was amusing to have 2 con artists marry each other, expecting that the other had money. Some of the language in this book was incomprehensible to me… I don’t remember having that problem with Dickens.

"Fugitive Pieces" by Anne Michaels

 I absolutely detest Michaels' writing style. It is much too poetic and not enough story based. Eva told me it did not have much to do with holocaust misery. My reading of the book is that's all it was about. And then, of course, there was redemption from the psychological misery.

It was nice hearing about Biskupin, Poland, since I actually visited the place. I skimmed the last sections of the book because I hated it so much.

“Nosy Parker” by Lesley Crewe

 This is a story about a year in the life of a girl in NDG, during Expo 67. She did not know a thing about her mother, and her father was quite old. She made good friends, the neighbours were very kindly, and there was some darkness thrown in for good measure. The dialog was not very realistic, and an unusual number of characters were unusually nice. But the story was interesting enough that I read it rather quickly (for me).

“All Families are Psychotic” by Douglas Coupland

 A brilliant astronaut daughter with a missing hand because her mother took thalidomide. Two loser brothers and a loser father with new wife. People with aids. Pregnant people. An ultra wealthy Swiss pharmacist. The list goes on. Needless to say, the book was interesting, but I found the writing style to be quite cold and clinical. As a result, I never really got into the book, though I did enjoy the jaded, intelligent mother, who got aids via a bullet which passed through her son. She hooked up with the ultra wealthy and unscrupulous pharmacist, who was able to cure the family of aids, and in the case of the father, of terminal liver cancer.

'The Capital of Dreams" by Heather O'Neilll

 This seemed like an odd book at first. A girl wandering through a war, accompanied by a talking goose, and remembering her life with her intellectual mother. As is usual with O'Neill, the book becomes more complete and moving the closer you get to the end. The goose was a figment of the girl's imagination, to help her cope with having turned her mother in to save herself. The ending is beautiful.

The war theme was moving to me because my parents and relatives lived through a war.