“The Agency” by William Gibson

 I enjoyed the book for its decent pace and its idea of stubs, which were machine-created alternate timelines. The idea of communicating across stubs digitally in drones etc was amazing. I missed out a bit by not having read the first book in the Jackpot trilogy, but I think I’ve had enough Gibson for awhile. .. His ideas are genius!

“Bel Canto” by Ann Patchett

 A book inspired by a hostage taking incident in Peru hardly sounds like something I would want to read. But I ended up enjoying this book very much. One of the best books I’ve read in awhile. .. one of its messages was, rich or poor, we are so busy living/surviving that we lose sight of/ or never find, our true happy selves.

“Troubled Blood” by Robert Galbraith

 I enjoyed this book, but it was definitely bloated. It would have been a much better and effective book if the editor had taken a firm hand. Not surprisingly, Rawling thanked her editor at the end of the book.

“Gods of Jade and Shadow” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

 I enjoyed this book for its strong feminist bent, for its kind moral underpinnings and for the Mayan mythology.

“Trickster Drift” by Eden Robinson

 Volume 2 of the TrIckster trilogy is an interesting read but it takes awhile to get going. The author seems to glory in writing about the mundane... drinking coffee, cooking stuff, etc etc. And there is quite a bit of unhappiness as well as love.

“All Tomorrow’s Parties” by William Gibson

 The writing style, with chapters that were mostly 2-3 pages long, was very choppy so it took me a long time to finish this book. As usual, with Gibson, the original ideas made it worth the read. I particularly liked the image of all those people living on the disabled Sean Francisco bridge.

“The Tokyo Zodiac Murders” by Soji Shimada

 I enjoyed reading this translated murder mystery by a very famous Japanese crime writer. But I won’t seek out any more books by him. His focus is on solving the puzzle of a crime, whereas I’m more interested in psychology and care very little about the clues.

“Mexican Gothic” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

 I quite enjoyed this book. The Mexican setting and the fungal explanation made it a different take on the traditional gothic novel. And who knew that being a socialite provided survival skills? I read through the night compelled to finish this book. It’s a long time since I’ve had the joyful pleasure of being that interested in an outcome.

“Son of a Trickster” by Eden Robinson

For the most part, I found this YA book to be difficult to get through. The writing style was very choppy and the book teetered from one unpleasant incident to another. I also thought the magical aspect was a bit too diffuse and abstract. Nevertheless, to my surprise, I’m interested enough to want to read the other books in this trilogy.

“Anne of Ingleside” by Lucy Maud Montgomery

What a disgusting sexist saccharine book. Dogs are for the boys, and the role of daughters is to be brides. My least favourite of Montgomery’s books so far.

“Anne’s House of Dreams” by Lucy Maud Montgomery

This was just the unrealistically pleasant book that is required during a pandemic.

“Permanent Record” by Edward Snowden

Now I know more about that very intelligent fellow, Edward Snowden.

“Circe” by Madeline Miller

A bit draggy in parts, but an enjoyable read, especially if you like Greek mythology.

"Talking to Strangers" by Malcolm Gladwell

This was a very topical book in light of the George Floyd protests which are taking place around the world. Interesting to know the origins of police using the flimsy excuse of traffic stops to check out people for possible criminal activity. And interesting to know that people's facial expressions are not as transparent as sitcoms would have us believe.

"Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens

A lot of people love this book, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. The human interactions were not very pleasant, and the author is poor at dialogue and motivation. She made the characters seem stilted and unbelievable. It's a pity she's not a better novelist because the close relationship between Kya and nature was a very nice idea. The fact that her entire family abandoned her and that her mother was unable to get her back does not ring true.

“The Windup Girl” by Paolo Bacigalupi

I found this book harder to get into then “The Waterknife” because it was written on a more intellectual level, with a great deal of talk. Additionally, it took place in Thailand and so used a number of foreign words, and the world that Bacigalupi introduced was filled with concepts that we are not used to in current society. He did not explain those concepts. You come to understand them as the book progresses.

“The Starless Sea” by Erin Morgenstern

This book had beautiful imagery and was a pretty good read. But it was too long and too abstract/fantastical for most tastes, I think.

“The Good Soldier” by Ford Maddox Ford

Supposedly, this is a perfect novel. Perhaps it is, but it’s not very pleasant.

“The Unbearable Bassington” by Saki (H.H. Munro)

For the most part, this was an amusing and clever satire. Then it be lightly boring and then it ended by being poignant. I’m glad Eva recommended this book to me.

“Watermark” by Christy Ann Conlin

I enjoyed these dark short stories by an East Coast Canadian writer.

“A Brightness Long Ago” by Guy Gavriel Kay

I quite enjoyed this book about an Italy-like place during the time of city states. At times I thought it was meandering, but it tied everything together quite nicely. And the meandering style quite suited the fact that these were the reminiscences of an older man.

"Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead" by Olga Tokarchuk

I guess this book is very modern because it touches on ecology and protecting animals etc etc. But based on the 2 books I have read by Tokarchuk, I would never have guessed that she is worthy of a Nobel Prize in literature. She does not write beautifully so I guess the powers that be approve of her modern world view.

‘Daybreak - 2250 AD” by Andre Norton

I bought this title in a used book store because it impressed me greatly when I was around 11 years old. I loaned it to my cousin George at the behest of his parents, and never got it back. They told me he didn’t understand it.

Reading the book over 50 years later, I must admit it has lost much of its magic. Nevertheless, it has an atmosphere that sticks with you. And it’s kind of fun that some scenes bring back faint whispers from my childhood. The ideals in the book are very nice, but somewhat naive in our modern world.

“Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen

The writing style was prosaic. For the most part, Jacob’s circus memories felt flat though I was fond of Walter, the dwarf. I most enjoyed Jacob’s thoughts as a 93 year old. They felt very real indeed and gave me insight into ancient old age.

“The Swallows of Kabul” by Yasmina Khadra

This is a novel about the horrible psychological, social and economic effects of Taliban repression/oppression on the people of the once bustling city of Kabul. Women are totally objectified in their burkas. Men and children are often vicious. Yikes!!!

“The Devil Amongst the Lawyers” by Sharyn McCrumb

Of all the Sharyn McCrumb books I have read, this is by far my least favourite. Apart from Nora with her psychic abilities, none of the reporter characters were appealing. The desire of the big city reporters to tell a story rather than bother with the truth was pretty disgusting, considering it meant portraying the locals very incorrectly as hillbilly yokels.

“The Peace Machine” by Bob Shaw

I found this author to be quite original and I enjoyed his ironic sense of humour.  How amusing that the main character’s desire to save the world was spurred on by his relationship with his very jealous wife. And how sadly real that his efforts resulted in more spending on weapons, depriving the world of money for good causes.

“Blood of Elves: A Novel of the Witcher” by Andrzej Sapkowski

To my pleasant surprise, I enjoyed this fantasy sword and sorcery novel and will continue reading the series. Sapkowski is a thoughtful writer and I can see why he has become popular world wide and why a Witcher video game was created. I read this book to prepare myself for watching the Witcher series on Netflix, which is apparently confusing due to multiple timelines. I was also intrigued because the books are translated from the Polish.