Tag: canadian (Page 1 of 2)

A Meditation on Murder by Susan Juby | Book Review

November 11, 2024 / Monique

A Meditation on Murder is the second book featuring Buddhist nun turned butler Helen Thorpe. Helen is happily working for the philanthropic Levine family when she is unexpectedly lent to friend-of-the-family Cartier Hightower. Wait, can that happen? It was NOT a scenario covered in butler school.

Cartier is an online influencer who is addicted to social media, is experiencing extreme online bullying, and is too selfish and pampered to sort herself out. The Levines are hoping that Helen can help Cartier get her act together so she is prepared to make good choices when she inherits her father’s vast fortune.

It’s a tall order.

Cartier is highly influenced by her content creation group The Deep State. None of her fellow creators treat her as a friend, but she’s the money bags so her inclusion in the group seems set. The group’s attitude to Cartier is dismissive, in fact someone is the group seems to be setting her up to be the focus of their audience’s hate. Every accident or insensitive move by the group is blamed on Cartier. But more alarming is that one by one, they are dying unexpectedly.

Can Helen’s meditation practice bring Cartier back to the down-to-earth kid she once was? Can Helen’s extremely efficient butlering get a handle on this wayward influencer group’s many needs? And can Helen tap into her keen observation skills to act, once again, as the detective on hand to solve the murder of Cartier’s friends?

A Meditation on Murder is published by HarperCollins Canada

If you like comedic, cozy mysteries like The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman or The Maid by Nita Prose, then give the Helen Thorpe books a try. The first in the series was Mindful of Murder, but you can read A Meditation on Murder as a standalone.

Mindful of Murder by Susan Juby | Book Review

September 22, 2024 / Monique

In Mindful of Murder, Susan Juby introduces readers to Helen Thorpe, a former Buddhist nun who is both surprisingly calm and unexpectedly thrust into the role of detective. The book marks the start of what promises to be an engaging and quirky series, filled with Juby’s signature wit and charm.

Helen, having just completed her butler training and ready to embark on her dream career, finds her plans interrupted when she is named the executor of the will of her late employer, Edna. This leads her back to Sutil Island, a tranquil, remote spot with a few less-than-tranquil residents. Tasked with evaluating four candidates to determine who is worthy of running Edna’s estate / spiritual retreat centre, Helen quickly discovers that the job is anything but serene. Her assignment involves sorting through a colourful cast of characters—each with their own motives, quirks, and less-than-mindful behaviour. It’s a world full of floral arrangements, meditation class, passive-aggressive feuds, and, of course, murder.

Helen’s Buddhist training is a central theme throughout the novel, offering a unique twist to the traditional cozy mystery genre. Her mindfulness practices and meditative approach to life are juxtaposed against the chaotic, petty, and sometimes ridiculous antics of the other characters, making for a delightful contrast. While Helen herself remains the picture of calm amidst the storm, her classmates—fellow butlers—follow suit, but their single local trainee and the four candidates demonstrate less composure. The way Juby weaves together these personality clashes—amid the pressure of solving a crime—makes for an entertaining, if unusual, detective tale.

Juby’s writing is clever, and she balances humour with the mystery’s unfolding drama well. The novel’s comedic moments are reminiscent of the dry, observational humour found in British mysteries, and the murder itself—believed to be a planned suicide due to Edna’s involvement in the death-positive club —is treated less like a shocking event and more like another quirky island incident to be handled.

If you enjoy cozy mysteries with a fun twist, Mindful of Murder will fit right into your bookshelf. Fans of Alexander McCall Smith’s The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency or Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club will find Helen’s blend of serenity and sly sleuthing refreshing. Or if mystery isn’t your thing, try Susan Juby’s other novels. I loved The Woefield Poultry Collective, and really enjoyed Susan Juby’s talk at the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts.

Check out Susan Juby’s website for more:

https://susanjuby.com/books/mindful-of-murder/

The Double Life of Benson Yu by Kevin Chong | Book Review

August 19, 2024 / Monique

The Double Life of Benson Yu by Kevin Chong is a layered and thought-provoking novel that blends reality and imagination, fiction and autobiography. The story follows Benson Yu, a comic book artist who is grappling with the trauma of his past. As he begins to write a more serious autobiographical work, the lines between his life and his comic book creations start to blur. The narrative toggles between Benson’s present-day struggles and the fictionalized account of his younger self, which reveals painful truths he’s tried to bury.

The novel explores themes of identity, memory, and the ways in which we try to rewrite our own stories. I recently saw Kevin Chong present at the Sechelt Festival of Writers and he described it as a story about storytelling. And that’s 100% true. The novel is about how the past can haunt the present and the cathartic power of storytelling.

Chong’s writing is vivid yet introspective. The chapters focus on different perspectives and that forces the reader to question the boundaries between author and character, reality and fiction.

If you enjoy novels that challenge narrative conventions and explore complex emotional landscapes, The Double Life of Benson Yu is a compelling read. It’s reminiscent of works like Paul Auster’s The New York Trilogy or Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Unconsoled in its blending of the real and the surreal.

I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook but given the complexity of the story narration, it may have been a better read vs. listen. But Eric Yang is a great reader so the audiobook offered a lot too. It was also fun to hear author Kevin Chong talk about his writing process and how the ideas for this book came together. He’s not a planner, but instead starts writing and lets the ideas and problems/solutions present themselves. I found that intriguing and can see why it works for him.

The Porcelain Moon by Janie Chang

June 24, 2024 / Monique

The Porcelain Moon follows the intertwined lives of two families during the final days of the First World War.

Pauline Deng is an illegitimate daughter, living with her Chinese uncle and cousin Theo in Paris. They run an antiques shop. Pauline is good with numbers and attractive, but her prospects are limited, and her uncle’s “first wife” is arranging Pauline’s marriage and return to China. Pauline secretly leaves for the town of Noyelle-sur-Mer, where she hopes to find Theo and convince him to negotiate her release from her uncle.

In Noyelle-sur-Mer, Pauline takes a room at Camille Rousell’s. Unbeknownst to her, the married Camille is Theo’s lover. Camille has married out of obligation and is secretly saving money to escape her abusive husband. She loves Theo but her situation is dangerous and she is determined to leave under her own steam.

These two women, trapped by marriage and the social obligations of the time, are bold and brave in their pursuit of happiness and independence. They are living during a well-documented time, but readers will be less familiar with the history of the 140,000 Chinese workers who were brought to Europe as non-combatant labour during the war. They were serving as civilians for the British and French, and faced discrimination and were subsequently written out of the history books.

The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang

June 13, 2024 / Monique

The Phoenix Crown is a spectacular confluence of two excellent historical fiction authors. I’m a big fan of Kate Quinn and had not heard of Janie Chang—even though she is a bestselling Canadian author. Oh goodness, I have a more to explore! (Thanks for the tip Rachael.)

The novel is set in San Francisco, 1906, just a before and after the earthquake, and subsequent fires, that devastated the city. Four women’s lives are intertwined based on their loose connections to a charming railroad magnate named Henry Thornton. Thornton claims to not be a very nice man, and that turns out to be the truth. He’s a collector and his objects are his heart. Too bad he collects women the same way he collects stolen Chinese treasures.

Thornton offers his patronage to Gemma (under-appreciated opera singer), Suling (Chinese embroidery legend and otherwise non-descript manager of the laundry), and Reggie (unknown yet phenomenal artist). His patronage represents career opportunities of a lifetime, but these women hardly escape with their lives. The forth woman? Botanist Alice Eastwood, who is a globetrotting, self-taught scientist, who is interested in Thornton’s prized plant, the Queen of the Night.

If you like historical fiction, then definitely give this book a read: The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang.

All the Colour in the World by CS Richardson | Book Review

March 10, 2024 / Monique

An absolutely beautiful and poetic story about a young art historian growing up in Toronto in the 20s and 30s and being shipped off to war in the 40s.

I listened to this as an audiobook and the phrasing of the sentences sounded more like poetry than prose. I loved all the art references and side notes about how different colours came to be used in art. And I got swept away in the love story and tragedy of this young man.

If you liked the beauty of Tom Lake, the historical references of The Sleeping Car Porter, or loved CS Richardson’s previous book End of the Alphabet, then give this a read.

Available on audible

Or see the retail links on the publisher site.

The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society by Christine Estima | Book Review

December 1, 2023 / Monique

Christine Estima’s debut work is a wonderful read. The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society weaves together the stories of many generations of women from an Arab family as they flee the Middle East in the nineteenth century, settle in Montreal, and then visit or return to their roots. These women are connected through time by their culture, their bravery, and their tenacity. The book is a collection of short stories but they feel connected like chapters of a novel. This is an impressive work.

Christine Estima draws on her own Lebanese, Syrian and Portuguese heritage to write incredible multicultural portrayals, especially of living in Montreal. There is also a dark undercurrent of cultural stereotypes and biases about women, but Estima’s characters challenge those notions and find a place for themselves.

The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society is a serious yet delightful book. It has an unusual trim size (7″ x 6″) making the whole package unique.

If you liked How to Pronounce Knife then give this a read.

All Things Move: Learning to Look in the Sistine Chapel by Jeannie Marshall | Book Review

July 26, 2023 / Monique

If you love poetry, philosophy, art history, and personal memoir then this book is for you. It’s a quiet, gentle reflection on what it means to engage with art, why art has the capacity to enchant and haunt us through centuries, and where Renaissance religious art can find relevance in today’s busy, modern world.

I had the pleasure of listening to a conversation between Jeannie Marshall and The Tyee’s culture editor Dorothy Woodend on May 4, 2023 at Upstart & Crow. Jeannie struck me as a gentle yet powerful writer. Full of curiosity but also caution.

Jeannie lives in Rome and for a long time avoided visiting the Sistine Chapel, and yet Michelangelo’s famed ceiling was something her grandmother in Canada wished to see, it’s a place 5 million people a year visit. Her first visit, after the death of her mother, was as frustrating as she imagined. The ceiling is busy, the place is busy, it’s overwhelming. But something kept drawing her back time and again.

This book is really a masterful unfolding of layers of art history, the impact of religious wars and intolerance, and the power the Catholic church had over her family. All Things Move is a remarkable personal journey but also a wonderfully thoughtful, philosophical look at the role of art in our lives.

I find my thoughts returning to Jeannie’s musings and meditations on what it means to create a work of art that transcends time, and what it means to view and engage in that art.

Her publisher Biblioasis has crafted a fine book. It’s glossy pages show off different images of Michelangelo’s frescoes, along with gritty street photos of Rome taken by fellow Canadian and author Douglas Anthony Cooper.

I’d say this is a book about learning to look, taking time to relish small details in order to—over time—see the full picture.

At the same time I was reading Jeannie Marshall, I kept coming across references to John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, I was listening to David Whyte in conversation with Krista Tippet in a episode of On Being, and thinking about the human experience and how short it really is.

So I was primed for a book on loss, celebration, language, art, philosophy, undertaking intellectual pursuits for the pleasure of it, joy, inner life and cultural constructs for how we should live or what should act as the moral compass. I’m not done with this book. Thank you Jeannie Marshall.

Published by Biblioasis.

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

July 15, 2023 / Monique

Berry Pickers is a heartbreaking novel about a young 4-year-old Mi’kmaw girl who is stolen from her family by a heart-broken woman. It’s July 1962 and little Ruthie is sitting on a rock while her family picks blueberries at a farm in Maine. The woman who takes her raises her as Norma. It’s an emotionally fraught childhood that doesn’t quite make sense until Norma learns the truth.

This novel is a great debut by Amanda Peters. It’s raw, emotional, riveting and full of trauma on all sides. What makes someone think they can take another woman’s baby? What makes someone carry on the lie? What grief does the family go through?

I enjoyed the East Coast pacing of these families’ lives and celebrated the resolution at the end. Totally worth the read.

This is a story about knowing who you are and not abandoning hope and love.

Published by HarperCollins Canada.

A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny

January 10, 2023 / Monique

Louise Penny is one of those authors that gets me hook, line and sinker, every time. I find her Chief Inspector Gamache so charming that it’s hard to not read each instalment in a single day. Yes, I binge read Louise Penny.

In this book (18th in the series), Gamache spends most of his time in Three Pines. Drama and murder has come to his door step. This book is a psychological thriller. It has some Silence of the Lambs characteristics. No cannibalism, but it’s steeped in psychological horror.

Without giving too much away: the story is told through a series of flashbacks to one of Inspector Beauvoir’s first cases with Gamache. Two children have been abused and their mother is murdered. The older child is convicted of the murder but Gamache suspects the younger was as involved, if not more. Memories of that tragedy are brought to the forefront in a present-day discovery of a mysterious painting locked away in a hidden room above the village bookstore. The children, now grown, are involved in the discovery but the danger to Gamache is unclear. There’s some psychological warfare happening right under his nose but it’s a puzzle within a puzzle that Gamache just can’t solve. It’s about revenge, but who is seeking the revenge? Gamache has enemies.

Louise Penny is a fabulous writer. The Gamache books have always woven in art and music, along with politics and suspense. There’s less politics in this one and more psychological thriller. The series has steered that way since an absolute page-turner two books ago, The Devils Are Here, which was set in Paris, France. If you’re new to Louise Penny and don’t want to go all the way back to book #1 then I’d start partway through the series at #7 A Trick of Light.