Category Archives: Book Review

Books I read in 2011

Posted on 12 January 2012 by andyq

With a comment or two, if I felt so inclined. Mary Oliver’s New and Selected Poems Volume 2 (Poetry) – some gems, and better in small doses, I was surprised that I wasn’t taken by the work of this celebrated … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Anne Tyler’s Back When We Were Grown Ups

Posted on 26 November 2011 by andyq

Back When We Were Grown Ups by Anne Tyler My rating: 2 of 5 stars I’ve read a few Anne Tyler novels, way back when, and obviously liked them enough to keep returning to them. She creates memorable, fully-dimensional characters … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Anita Desai’s The Zigzag Way

Posted on 21 November 2011 by andyq

The Zigzag Way by Anita Desai My rating: 3 of 5 stars At university, with the incomparable Geoffrey Eathorne as our professor for our Commonwealth Literature course at Trent University in Canada, I read Anita Desai’s Clear Light of Day. … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Michael Chabon’s Gentlemen of the Road

Posted on 23 October 2011 by andyq

Michael Chabon is one of those names that I scan bookshelves for, all on the basis of one book: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. It was a big, substantial novel with ideas and history, whimsy and sadness, and … Continue reading →

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R.I.P. Visual Library, hello Goodreads?

Posted on 20 October 2011 by andyq

Through facebook I discovered the application ‘Visual Library’ and I really did like it. You typed in a book name, and it showed up on your screen where you could not only click that you’ve read it, or owned it, … Continue reading →

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Book Review: The Emperor of Scent by Chandler Burr

Posted on 11 October 2011 by andyq

A while back, I read an article in The Guardian about two perfume experts who fell in love and wrote a guide called ‘Perfumes: A-Z’. I made a mental note to buy the book sometime. I’m not passionate or well-versed … Continue reading →

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Book Review: My Stroke of Insight

Posted on 13 July 2011 by andyq

Many people are familiar with the TED (Technology Entertainment Design) talk given my Jill Bolte Taylor – a brain scientist who experienced a massive stroke in 1996. What made her experience unique was not only that she was experiencing what … Continue reading →

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Book Review: The Slap

Posted on 7 July 2011 by andyq

I heard the buzz about this book. It was making the rounds of all my friends and the reviews were positive. So, it was a good push for me to give Tsiolkas another try, I’d read “Jesus Man” and found … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Mary Oliver, New and Selected Poems, Volume Two

Posted on 7 July 2011 by andyq

  For someone who has written two books of poetry, I am, perhaps, not as regular a reader of poetry as I should be. I do not keep track of the many vibrant internet publications, nor read literary journals regularly. … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Kyung Ran Jo’s Tongue

Posted on 7 July 2011 by andyq

“Tongue” is Kyung Ran Jo’s first novel to be translated into English, but she’s the author of four short story collections, another novel and a collection of essays. The scuttlebutt on the book is that the author was a judge … Continue reading →

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