BOOKmarkable

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

Reach the show by emailing: [email protected]

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.

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 [email protected].

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

Other books that came up in our discussion were:

Women Talking by Miriam Toews

Children’s books:

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

Authors mentioned: Theodore Sturgeon (originator of “Sturgeon’s Law: 95% of everything is crap”)

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

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

Beyond by Stephen Walker

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

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

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

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

Irish writers and books:

Sally Rooney

The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe

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

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