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Hello Bookmarkable listeners: Before I forget, here’s where you can signup for April 26th’s Vancouver Book Crawl - or just drop by Cross & Crows bookstore at 1 pm: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/vancouver-book-crawl-tickets-1322842340049. I hear there will be contests and prizes too, plus a popup of a new local romance bookstore, Perfect Match.

Reflections on comfort genre (bliss) reading - my conversation with Cathy Needham. In this episode we talked about or I mentioned a few writers and books including:

Elizabeth George Thomas King’s Thumps DreadfulWater series Tommy Orange Richard Wagamese Tana French - Faithful Place Peter Robinson’s Alan Banks’ series Louise Penny Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) Agatha Christie Colin Dexter (Inspector Morse series) Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt Gregory Ashe, (Hazard & Somerset series) Ruth Ware, One Perfect Couple Ann Cleeves - The Rising Tide Elizabeth Strout Alone by Megan E. Freeman Hatchet by Gary Paulsen A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson Kate Atkinson, Jackson Brodie mysteries, as well as Life After Life and A God in Ruins The Love Wager by Lynn Painter Stay by Elle Kennedy and Sarina Bowen The Rule Book and Beg, Borrow or Steal by Sarah Adams Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave and Sean O’Hagan Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes American War by Omar El Akkad Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams

Love sharing the book love with you!

Here are the books I mentioned in this episode:

Stolen Focus by Johann Hari Piranesi and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark One Day Everyone Will Have been Against This and American War by Omar Al El Akkad Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter PS: I Hate You by Lauren Connolly First Time Caller by BK Borison Under Your Spell by Laura Wood Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell Deep End by Ali Hazelwood Promise me Forever by Debbie Macomber Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young

I also mentioned the podcasts:

Reading Glasses Fated Mates The One You Feed

If you enjoy listening, please let me know, give me a rating. If you have ideas for shows or books, send me an email at readfionaread@gmail.com.

Thank you for listening and many happy blessings for reading journey!

Wherein I seek to patch together meaning with the insights, gleaned from my latest reads, that point the way with many signs that might mean something. To sum up: reading might not always give you answers but it helps.

Here are books mentioned in this episode:

Kill for Me, Kill for You by Steve Cavanagh I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes Burn Out: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski All My Rage and Ember in Ashes by Sabaa Tahir  Is She Really Going Out With Him by Sophie Cousens Wildfire by Hannah Grace Good Boy by Elle Kennedy and Sarina Bowen Evie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes Butcher & Blackbird, part of the Ruinous Love Trilogy by Brynne Weaver Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention — and How to Think Deeply Again, by Johann Hari Breakfast of Champions and Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss The Life Impossible, by Matt Haig How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane,  An Academy for Liars by Alexis Henderson On Freedom by Timothy Snyder Faith Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave and Sean O’Hagan

Reach the show by emailing: readfionaread@gmail.com

It's a new year and I'm here and making it through January. Books are always there for comfort, guidance and reflection, showing the way. But you still need to read them (or listen to them). What circumstances help you feel like you can read more challenging titles and in hardcover? It's not just about having enough time. Waiting for tips: I need role models...

Here's books I mention on this show:

The Message and Between the World and Me by Ta Neishi Coates

Martyr by Kaveh Akbar

The Land of Lost Things by John Connolly

Whiskey Tender by Deborah Jackson Taffa

Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave and Sean O’Hagan

Beautiful, Beautiful by Brandon Reid

I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes (audio by Christopher Ragland)

Roar and Next Level by Stacy T. Sims

I look back on my year of reading with more gusto, and starting this podcast in May...and share my latest reading adventures from the month of November. Books or authors mentioned or discussed include:

Read Dangerously: the Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Time by Azar Nafisi

Beneath the Surface of Things by Wade Davis

Sarah J. Maas

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Grief is for People, by Sloane Crossley

A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall

How we Named the Stars by Andres N. Ordorica

Somewhere Beyond the Sea and House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes (read by Christopher Ragland)

The Martyr by Kaveh Akbar

There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

Knife by Salman Rushdie

If you have ideas for future shows, books you recommend or want to share anything else, you can email the show at readfionaread@gmail.com.

Claudia is a local (Vancouver) business owner, entrepreneur, community leader, and all round wonderful, fun and caring friend to many.

She is also a big reader and shared with me the long impressive list of books she's read with her book club -- but we also delved into some of the many more books she reads and enjoys beyond that list. We followed a list of questions to uncover what she likes and doesn't like and heard what she's come to know is important for her in reading, and the power of the story for all of us.

We looked for a couple of books we'd both enjoyed reading and settled on these two Canadian reads, the novel Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese and the memoir in essays, Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations with a Body of Memory by Sarah Polley.

Other books that came up in our discussion were:

Women Talking by Miriam Toews The Paying Guest by Sarah Watts The Alchemist by Paolo Coehlo The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield The Secret by Rhonda Byrne Books by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) -- the Cormoran Strike detective series Iona Whishaw Lane Winslow mystery series Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell Olive Kitteridge, Olive Again, My name is Lucy Barton and Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles Doppelgänger by Naomi Klein

Children’s books: Jumanji and The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg One Halloween Night by Mark Teague Norman the Doorman by Don Freeman

Host of Vancouver Co-op Radio show Why a Duck? (that features classical and jazz music and lighthearted conversation), Kerry Regier, joined me for a book conversation on October 13.

My apologies for some uneven audio levels on this recording.

Here's what and who we mentioned:

Poems of Miroslav Holub, Czech poet and immunologist. Kerry read his poem: “Half a Hedgehog”

Solaris and His Master’s Voice by Stanisław Herman Lem 

The Game by Ken Dryden Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese The Hockey Sweater by Roch Carrier The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery Moby Dick, Pierre and The Confidence Man by Herman Melville Blindsight by Peter Watts Bomber by Len Deighton Diaspora by Greg Egan IQ84 by Haruki Marukami Erasure by Percival Everett The Three Cornered World by Natsume Sōseki

Authors mentioned: Theodore Sturgeon (originator of “Sturgeon’s Law: 95% of everything is crap”) Yasunari Kawabata, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, O. Henry, Anton Chekhov, Franz Kafka, Ernest Hemingway, Jeremy Bernstein

Films mentioned: Europa Report directed by Sebastián Cordero and written by Philip Gelatt, American Fiction Surrealist filmmaker mentioned Luis Buñuel

Do you struggle to read? Is it hard to be a reader these days? Join me for a short check-in about my thoughts of the struggle to do quality reading with a busy life, in a time of many distractions. But fear not: reading can still help you out.

Books I mention are:

The Wedding People by Alison Espach The Husbands by Holly Gramazio Margo's got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner What Alice Forgot by Lianne Moriarty

Beyond by Stephen Walker Unbroken by Angela Sterritt

James by Percival Everett

I had a fun but brief conversation with my good friend and book lover John Vekar on a warm summer evening, focused on the book Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey. This is definitely a part-one of our conversation.

Other books mentioned:

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Ordinary Monsters by JM Miro

This Summer Will be Different and Meet me at the Lake by Carley Fortune

The Goblin Emperor by Sarah Monette

A Cure so Dark and Lonely, Heart so Fierce and Broken and A Vow so Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kimmerer

The Last Love Note by Emma Grey

One Day by David Nichols

Mr. Wrong Number by Lynn Painter

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand 

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown

The Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan

Go as a River by Shelley Read

21 Things you may not know about the Indian Act by Bob Joseph

The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth. 

(Title reference to short story writer Raymond Carver and his story collection, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love and Haruki Murakami’s play on that in his memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running).

Books mentioned:

Just Last Night by Mhairi McFarlane Holly, Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers and The Outsider by Stephen King The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher Dark Matter by Blake Crouch The Age of Magical Overthinking by Amanda Montell The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jouad The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro (Steven Price) (Also mentioned Esi Edugyan) The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King The Darkest White: The mountain legend and the avalanche that took him by Eric Blehm James and Erasure by Percival Everrett The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ni Ghriofa A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer The Caretaker by Ron Rash  I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue  Beautyland by Marie-Helen Bertini The Body in Question by Jill Cement  If You Only Knew by Kristin Higgins The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown A Thousand Doors of January and Starling House by Alix E. Harrow Spellbound by Allie Therin The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin Slippery Creatures by K.J. Charles Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti Funny Story by Emily Henry Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

This was such a fun conversation on a hot summer day with a deep dive into the lure of Irish writing, the need to prune what we read to find what's next (with Karen’s own special formula for choosing what to keep reading), and a bit of an examination of the joy of the reading experience.

Here are the books and authors we mention:

A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving The Diviners, Margaret Laurence A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry Becky Chambers (Sci Fi author) A Study for Obedience, by Sarah Bernstein Fayne, by Anne-Marie MacDonald (loved in audio read by author) The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy The Fraud by Zadie Smith

Irish writers and books:

Sally Rooney Ann Enright Tana French (mystery writer) Donal Ryan

The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe Brooklyn and Nora Webster, by Colm Toibin Bina, by Ankara Schofield A Ghost in the Throat, by Doireann Ní Ghríofa Apeirogon, by Colum McCann Small things like these, by Claire Keegan Snow, by John Banville Soldier, Sailor, by Claire Kilroy Checkout 19 and Pond, by Claire Louise Bennett Scottish writers and books: Robert Louis Stevenson Ian Rankin Mungo by Douglas Stuart

Fiona Jackson shares her conversation with Nena Rawdah of East Vancouver's Cross & Crows bookstore and a few updates on her latest reads and whats on her next up TBR list.

Books mentioned on the show include:

All the works of Jane Austen Shakespeare's play: Much Ado About Nothing, Othello and The Taming of the Shrew

Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem, "Pied Beauty"

Authors: E.M. Forster, George Eliot (pen name of Maryann Evans), David Chariandy, KJ Charles, Freja Marsk and Danny Ramadan Broughtupsy by Christina Cooke Glyph, Erasure and James by Percival Everett World of the Five Gods by Lois McMaster Bujold Under the Whispering Door, House on the Cerulean Sea, Green Creek Trilogy (with Wolf Song) and In the Lives of Puppets The Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat Hither Page and The Missing Page, and We Could Be So Good Author Gregory Ashe and his Hazard and Somerset series Old Babes in the Wood, short story collection by Margaret Atwood The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese Five Little Indians by Michelle Good The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King There There by Tommy Orange

It's me again with a book report (I did my homework and read Prophet Song!), an update on all my other reads, reflections on reading podcasts I love, and a promise for my conversations!

Here are the books I mention:

Prophet Song, by Paul Lynch The Maniac, by Benjamin Labatut  Who also wrote the amazing When we cease to understand the world — recommend! Old Babes in the Wood - a short story collection by Margaret Atwood (great title!) The Deal, The Mistake and The Score, by Elle Kennedy (college hockey spicy romances) Hither Page and The Missing Page by Cat Sebastian (MM romance set in post-second-world-war England Any Old Diamonds, by KJ Charles (MM romance set in 1890s England) Fourth Wing and Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros Love at First by Kate Clayborn Before I let go by Kennedy Ryan

A few books on my TBR and holds list include:

Broughtupsy by Catherine Cooke - a coming of age of a Jamaican-Canadian. The Crown of Gilded Bones — third in the series by Jennifer L. Armentrout. Dandelion by Jamie Chai Run Liew — a coming of age of a Malaysian girl growing up in a small town in BC near the Rockies. Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross — next book in this YA fantasy series  The Darkest White by Eric Biehm — non-fiction about a legendary snowboarder, Craig Kelly, who died in an avalanche in 2003. When Grumpy met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein — was recommended to me by a friend, a romance. King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild — history of Belgium's horrible history in the Congo in Africa. The Witch Collector by Charissa Weaks — apparently another awesome romantasy series.

Welcome back to this solo session where I chat with you about a few highlights from my 60+ books read since January (plus a few from before).

Books mentioned:

 A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Yours Truly and Life's Too Short by Abby Jimenez

Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake

The Hazard and Somerset mysteries by Gregory Ashe

We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian

Happy All the Time by Laurie Colwin

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

The Maniac and When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut

Welcome to Bookmarkable: adventures in reading. Thank you for joining this podcast journey of discovery into the expanding universe of books.

This episode - a conversation with Lorraine Smith - was recorded September 8, 2023. Here are the books we discussed or mentioned:

A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry

At Home: A Short History of Private Life, Bill Bryson

Babel, Yellowface, and The Poppy War  RF Kuang 

Candide, Voltaire

Choosing to Run: A Memoir, Des Linden

Fugitive Pieces, Anne Michaels

Outsider: An old man, a mountain and a search for a hidden past, Brent Popplewell

Star Wars – many authors; 1970s series by Alan Dean Foster

Sweetland and Galore Michael Crummey

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis

Three against the wilderness Eric Collier