The Break is the first in a trilogy of novels by Katherena Vermette that are set in Winnipeg, Manitoba and feature a recurring cast of Métis characters. The Break is a good novel that tells a powerful story, but its frank depictions of sexual assault make this novel difficult to stomach at times.
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You know I love my historical fiction, and I am a fan of Kate Quinn, so of course I bought The Phoenix Crown, the joint endeavour of Kate Quinn and Janie Chang. I like The Phoenix Crown. It is an easy, fast-paced read that I breezed through in one day.
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Bad Cree is the debut novel of nehiyaw (Cree) writer Jessica Johns. The novel has been shortlisted for 2024 CBC Canada Reads. The reviews I read described Bad Cree as creepy, haunting and terrifying. I have been in the mood for creepy books lately, so this novel sounded good to me. Although it has some interesting aspects to it, Bad Cree turned out to be an underwhelming story.
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House of Leaves is a horror novel that was first published in 2000, but somehow I had never heard about it until recently. When I saw how absolutely bonkers the formatting of this book is, I knew I had to read it:
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I wanted to read Lone Women by Victor Lavalle as it is inspired by the women homesteaders who took advantage of the government’s offer of free land in the American mid-west to anyone who could turn the harsh, inhabitable landscape into a working farm. I love it when women are badass and prove that they can survive without men. Lone Women is also supposed to be a horror novel, and I like the horror genre, but I would say the horror in this novel is underwhelming. As compulsively readable as I found Lone Women to be, I did not find it to be very horrifying.
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The thought of sitting through Martin Scorsese’s three-and-a-half-hour long movie based on David Grann’s book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI does not excite me, but I have no problem with reading for hours, so I bought the book instead. Killers of the Flower Moon is an especially fascinating non-fiction account of an incredibly dark period of early 20th century American history known by the Osage as the “Reign of Terror”. I think this is the type of book that true crime aficionados will eat up, and it also provides an important lesson on the history of white people’s treatment of indigenous peoples.
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I have never read anything by Grady Hendrix before, and I guess judging by How to Sell a Haunted House, he writes comic-horror novels. I bought How to Sell a Haunted House because I wanted something spooky to read, but this is not a scary novel. It is low-key terrifying, though, because of all the creepy dolls and puppets that populate the story. I still found it to be an interesting read as it is about how trauma can affect generations of a family.
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The Armor of Light is the latest beast of a book by Ken Follett set in the fictional town of Kingsbridge, England. It is amazing how quickly he churns out these books! As I suggested in my review of the last novel in the Kingsbridge series, The Evening and the Morning, if you like historical fiction and have not yet read any of Follett’s historical novels, I highly recommend that you rectify that situation and read the Kingsbridge series.
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The only reason I would bother to read a novel about a group of 7th century Irish monks who sail to a remote island to start their own monastery is because Emma Donoghue wrote it. Haven is a well-written story, but it is one of the most infuriating novels I have ever read. I have never wanted to reach into a novel and bitch slap a character as badly as I did while reading this book.
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I was initially put off by Starling House because of the “Reese’s Book Club” decal on the cover1. However, I kept seeing this book on different websites with good reviews, and it is described as a gothic novel – a genre that is like catnip to me – so I knew I had to read it. Although this book did not turn out to be as creepily gothic as I hoped, I found Starling House to be an entertaining read.
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