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September always feels like a time of new beginnings... long after our school days are over.

What you are reading? what have you recently enjoyed and what is next?

My first book of Fall- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. I'm so deeply engaged already- I can tell why this won the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023. Wow, this character is one that I just know will stay with me long after the story is over.

I've got an ECW Press Advanced Reading Copy of He Wasn't There Again Today by Candas Jane Dorsey on the go at the momemt. It's a light, quirky mystery, which I'm enjoying very much. The third installment of "An Epitome Apartments Mystery" series. Think Girl with the Dragon Tattoo .... but without all the graphic sex and violence .... and with a dab of gentle (sometimes sardonic) humour.

I just finished Learned by Heart
Loved it! Historical fiction based on real women. A beautiful story about first love and the lengths we go to for it.

I'm reading The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less

I have been reading along with my daughter's sci fi university class... not my comfortable genre but really enjoying the discussion with her. so far we have read:

Dark Matter which I enjoyed and am still ponder
The Left Hand of Darkness by the late Ursula LeGuin which I struggled through but is thought provoking

Next is
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? which was the basis for The Blade Runner Movie
The Marrow Thieves which I have read before

I am also reading Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier after hearing about this author on a Simon sinek podcast.

I just finished an absolutely gripping read by Canadian author and historian Ken McGoogan called Fatal Passage: The Story of John Rae, the Arctic Hero Time Forgot. It was written in 2001 but I have just recently become interested in Arctic exploration. It was a real page-turner (especially the part about cannibalism!)

The author has written six books on this topic including his brand new book, Searching for Franklin: New Answers to the Great Arctic Mystery. Franklin’s two missing ships were only discovered on the ocean floor in 2014 and 2016. Why don’t we know more about our own history? It’s the eternal Canadian lament.

Oooh, I just read and enjoyed The Terror, a fictionalized account of the end of the Franklin expedition, will have to check those out too!

I just finished When We Lost Our Heads by Heather O'Neill who is probably my favourite Canadian author. I love her quirky characters!! This book in particular I found so interesting as to her nods to real people - Marie Antoinette and the Marquis de Sade and I think Maxmillian Robespierre. Lots of twists, loved the women uprising, and parallels to the French Revolution. So entertaining!

That's been on my list for a while. I like Heather O'Neill too. Guess When We Lost Our Heads deserves a bump up! Thanks for the review!

HI all- I am sorry for the slowness of this thread... I, for one, have been in a bit of a reading slump lately... lack of focus and too much to do have impacted reading this fall.

I just finished and LOVED, All the Colour in the World.

@Lisa - When We lost our Heads was a secret sender gift for me last year and I loved it as wll. she sure does have quirky characters!!

Heather O’Neil had been my favourite young Canadian writer-I’ve read all of her work except the most recent. I can’t bring myself to read the latest because the violence never ends. I do think she’s a great writer,too much violence though. I loved her book of short stories.

Over the weekend, I devoured Moon of the Turning Leaves. Really recommend it, especially for those who liked Moon of the Crusted Snow. I think it's a little weaker than the first, mainly due to some pacing issues - it started quite slow and then the end felt rushed. But Crusted Snow was a 5 star read for me, and this was probably 4.5.

For other Can con, I'm also currently working my way through C.L. Polk's Kingston Trilogy, starting with Stormsong. Solidly enjoyable fantasy and good enough to keep me going through the series, though I wouldn't say I'm enthralled.

I really enjoyed If an Egyptian Cannot Read English. I didn’t even realize it was my second of the Giller finalists last year. I thought it was very moving and very intelligently written except for the last part which felt like a huge mistake.


I’ve stoped three audio books in the last three days. One of them was Hello Beautiful which I thought was a very highly acclaimed work. It wasn’t poorly written nor read,it was just so non-essential and bland. There is so much trouble in the world that reading a book which sounded like an episode of the Brady Bunch seemed so pointless. I’ll return to it but it just didn’t grab me.

I'm currently reading a mystery novel called Blood on the Breakwater by Victoria journalist Jean Paetkau. Apparently it's doing well locally, but being from BC (the mainland, but we also had to take a ferry to get there) I thought I'd try it. I love the cover photo, although the thumbnail doesn't do it any justice.

Wanda wrote: "My first book of Fall- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. I'm so deeply engaged already- I can tell why this won the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023. Wow, this character is one that I just know..."

Great novel. Loved every page of it.

I'm 200 pages into Peter Maththiessen's "Shadow Country". It's a consolidation and rewrite of three of his early novels about the notorious outlaw E.J. Watson. A massive work at almost 900 pages so it will take some time to finish it. But I'm fully absorbed in it.

I finished Hotline yesterday. It was a Canada Reads finalist and a Giller finalist at some point.I listened to it on audio and enjoyed it quite a bit. Because the novel is told from the point of view of a woman I assumed it was written by a woman. I was very surprised when I got really close to the end and discovered it was actually written by a man.

Nice to have a big challenge, Michael

I enjoyed hotline too Alan - it was one of those "don't judge a book by it's cover" stories!

I just finished Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things by Adam Grant which was inspiring and will now be a work "book club" discussion as well as a re-read of The Glass Castle. I had met the author at the Grimsby Author Series and can sure see how she used content from her own life in Hang the Moon.

I am trying to finish up a bunch of half finished books before the end of the year but probably will not meet my goal of 100 books this year.

I finished The Porcelain Moon today, and it was a really nice find from a Canadian author :)

Woo hoo!! Dates announced for Canada Reads!!! Long list coming Dec 13 and short list Jan 12. New threads posted!

That’s actually a great idea to get the long list out before Xmas so that people can read a title or two over the holidays (and also buy as gifts).

Susan wrote: "That’s actually a great idea to get the long list out before Xmas so that people can read a title or two over the holidays (and also buy as gifts)."

I agree.

The most recent Canadian book I read is a y /a time travel romance called Woke Up Like This by Amy Lea