Archives for posts with tag: should i read it

Heart Berries cover _ March 2018

 

Heart Berries, the debut memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot, went straight onto the bestseller lists when it was published in Canada last week. But should YOU read it?

My review for CBC Day 6 >> listen here

Holiday Reads 2017

 

I made a list, Day 6 gifted it twice!

Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, YA, a music biography and (not pictured) an adorable picture book for kids.

What will you find in your stocking this year … ?

Listen to the audio here.

Hanks Weiner SIRI

 

Tom Hanks (of Academy Award-winning actor fame) and Matthew Weiner (of Sopranos and Mad Men fame) have both just released their debut books.

Should you read them?

The “Should I Read It?’ segment gets two for the price of one this week. My review for Day 6 on CBC Radio One >> listen

Into the Water

 

This weekend’s # 1 bestseller is the sophomore novel from The Girl on the Train author Paula Hawkins. But should you read it?

My review on CBC’s Day 6 >> listen here.

Summer Reads 2016

 

Mid-June = time for my annual list of beach reads for Day 6 on CBC Radio One.

Listen to the audio here.

This year’s selection includes three debut novels, and has history, mystery, spies, spooks, and … well also quite aa lot of sadness. Sorry about that.

The five novels (pictured above) are:

  • Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett
  • Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
  • On the Shores of Darkness there Is Light by Cordelia Strube
  • I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
  • The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

 

 

Don DeLillo has a new novel out. And after a few teeny tinies in recent years, this one is, say his publishers, his greatest work since 1997’s Underworld.

So … should you read it?

I reviewed it for CBC Day 6, here.

 

Don’t panic…but there are only five shopping days left until Christmas. Listen here for my annual Holiday Gift Guide for CBC’s Day 6, a selection of six great books for a variety of readers on your list (hint: said books are stacked in my arms right up there /\. Look how happy I am to be recommending them!). Remember, folks: books are easy to wrap. Happy Holidays!

 

More than half a century after modern classic To Kill a Mockingbird was published, a new manuscript by its reclusive and media-shy author came to light under mysterious circumstances. Mystery or not, the world went mad for it, and on July 14, 2015, it landed.

The new novel is called Go Set a Watchman. It has raised many, many questions, and spawned many, many reviews. It has an initial North American print run of 2 million copies.

I’ve been doing a segment called “Should I Read It?” on CBC Radio One’s Day 6 for the past five years. We review high-profile, much-talked-about books. We’ve never done one quite as talked about as this.

Go Set a Watchman: should you read it? Here’s my review.

 

Mark Z. Danielewski has both dazzled and confounded readers with his high-concept novels that utilize font, colour, footnotes within footnotes, and sometimes turning the book upside down every few pages to tell a story.

His latest book, The Familiar: One Rainy Day in May, is presented as Volume 1 of a projected 27 volume series, of which new volumes (or “episodes”) will be released every 6 months. It’s unlike any book you’ve picked up before. But should you read it?

My review on CBC Day 6 >> listen here.

Conveniently timed to air on the longest day of the year (thank you, June 21, for falling on a Saturday), I’m pleased to present my annual summer reading list for Day 6 on CBC Radio One.

Here I am (up there, look!) balancing in my skinny arms my complete set of books to suit all summer reading tastes.

Moments after this photograph was taken I overheard a man sitting at the other end of the table (yes, I am on a patio drinking early summer beer) telling his friends that he likes reading crime fiction by British writers. I gave him my copy of The Farm, thus lighting my load by one book for the journey home.

>> Listen to my summer reads conversation with Day 6 host Brent Bambury here.

>> Read my suggestions for EVEN MORE reading at CBC.ca, here.