Eight Million Ways to Happiness by Hiroko Yoda: REVIEW Synopsis Japanese cultural historian Hiroko Yoda explains the Japanese mindset to Westerners by sharing her own journey with Japanese ritual and spirituality after the deaths of her parents. My Review As the author points out, the Western world often has a hard time understanding Japanese culture.…

Useless Etymology: Offbeat Word Origins for Curious Minds by Jess Zafarris: REVIEW Synopsis Proud word nerd Jess Zafarris takes us on a fun ride through the origins and evolutions of everyday English words and phrases. My Review I’ve had SO much fun with this book. So much word-nerdery! So many fascinating factlets about language! Don’t…

6:40 to Montreal by Eva Jurczyk: REVIEW Synopsis Agatha is an author dealing with depression-induced writer’s block, so her husband comes up with a seemingly perfect solution to get her juices flowing again: he gives her a train ticket from Toronto to Montreal. Six hours on a train with stunning views to inspire her and…

The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey: REVIEW Synopsis This is a difficult book to summarize without spoiling anything, so I’ll let the Goodreads summary do the talking: “After a very different outcome to WWII than the one history recorded, 1979 England is a country ruled by a government whose aims have sinister underpinnings and…

Colony by Ron Wolff: REVIEW Synopsis 17-year-old Adam Flynn was the first human to be born on Mars. He’s grown up among only a handful of scientists, so when the first ship of colonists arrives, he’s thrilled and also terrified to meet other kids his age for the first time. But when one of the…

How Bad Things Can Get by Darcy Coates: REVIEW Synopsis The NetGalley blurb describes this book as “The Blair Witch Project meets Fyre Fest,” and that’s a fairly accurate comparison. A social media influencer throws a lavish party on a remote island for his fans and fellow content creators. Among the attendees is Ruth, a…

A Truce That Is Not Peace by Miriam Toews: REVIEW Synopsis In this memoir slash stream-of-consciousness essay, Miriam Toews struggles to answer the question, “Why do I write?” while dealing with thoughts of suicide. My Review Word to the wise: This isn’t one for the easily triggered. In this era of dancing around the word…