Tag: #bookclub

The Radcliffe Ladies Reading Club

~ Lisa Helm ~ Leave a comment

by Julia Bryan Thomas

This is an easy quick read perfect for summer.
It’s 1954 and Alice Campbell has decided to make a big change in her life, giving up everything for independence. So she buys a small bookshop in Boston and makes it her own. One day, Alice decides to create a book club where individuals will meet once a month to discuss books of her choosing…and they just so happen to be books about and/or written by women who are, themselves searching for a life to call their own. Alice’s little book club is made of four young women (Tess, Caroline, Evie, and Merritt) who just happen to be attending nearby Radcliffe College, all are young and edited with their own newfound independence.
I liked this book well enough. It was a very quick read that was suitable after a workday where I had to tax my brain. I found the description of Alice’s bookshop and the details of the simple life she has created for herself is simply charming. I also enjoyed the simplicity of characterization, it was easy to understand the choices and motivations of each. My favourite part of the novel was how the author attempted to weave the various themes of the books studied in the book club with the lives of the characters who read them. (Jane Eyre, Age of Innocence, Essays of Virginia Wolfe).

Trigger warning for sexual assault and miscarriage.

You will be able to purchase this book June 18th!

Thank you to Source Books and Netgalley for the free copy.

Lessons in Chemistry

~ Lisa Helm ~ Leave a comment

by Bonnie Gamus

Ok, so I’ve really, REALLY wanted to settle into a book lately; I mean, I need to be entertained, consumed by a story enough to be distracted from politics, book banning, and wildfires that seem to be closing in around me. But, much to my dismay, I haven’t been able to find the right book. I needed something not too deep and complex that required careful reading and nothing too sugary- simple that was predictable with nothing of substance to hold my attention for longer than a minute. Well, I found the perfect book, and that book was “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus.


A story about Elizabeth Zott, a woman in the 1950s who wanted nothing more than to be a chemist in a world where women were anything but. I was immediately fascinated by Elizabeth’s passion, honesty and intellect. Elizabeth is by no means perfect, her social skills are interesting at best, and her focus sometimes borders on naivety. Still, I love her; she has become one of my favourite heroines of the year.


The plot is wonderful, the characters interesting (especially Six-Thirty), and the themes timely even though the story is set in the 1950s-1960s.


This book is perfect for those times when you find it challenging to settle into a book. Definitely make it part of your summer reading list, or better yet, read it now!

Looking Glass Sound

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by Catriona Ward

Looking Glass Sound is the second book of Catriona Ward that I’ve read this year, and with it, Ward  has proven to be one of my new favourite authors. 

Our protagonist Wilder Harlow seems to be a troubled youth who, having no real friends at school, is happy to meet two young people at the family’s summer home in Maine. However, what at first seems to be a summer of fun and sun and new friends soon turns into a nightmare when Wilder begins to believe that someone he loves may be a serial killer.

Flash forward and we find Wilder, a university student where he has begun to deal with  PTSD of that notorious summer by writing a memoir about his experience. Unfortunately Wilder’s trauma is exploited by someone he is close to who takes his memoir and uses it to write a best selling novel. To deal with this betrayal, Wilder returns to the summer home to face the memories and heartache life has dealt. 

I was expecting this novel to be an easy mystery with tinges of horror (like Little Eve) but I soon realized that it is also an assortment of complex character studies woven into a layered plot that leaves the reader wonderfully perplexed at times. I’ve read some reviews from people who found it a confusing read, but if you take your time to enjoy the story, all will be revealed with patience. 

I would recommend this novel to my high school students (and use portions of it) for examples of suspense, character building, and author craft.

I loved this book. I will be buying it in hard copy for a re-read. 

Looking Glass Sound will be available to purchase in August!!

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group for the free copy.

The Lives of Puppets

~ Lisa Helm ~ Leave a comment

by T. J. Klune

The Coachman- “Humans were foolish. Careless. Cruel. But only a few. Most were full of light.” (The Lives of Puppets).

I found this book absolutely enchanting. Part Pinocchio, part Frankenstein, part Wizard of Oz, Klune beautifully writes a fairy tale about a time when humans were extinct and the world was run by machines. It is a story about creation and destruction, friendship, and, most importantly, a story about accepting who you are and discovering your purpose for existing.

This novel is a quick heart warming read with strong themes. It is perfect for a personal weekend read and for classroom discussion.

“We’re not the same,” Dad had said, voice gentle and soft. “But know that I was alone and sad before you came into my world. You Gave me hope, Victor. It started in the tips of my toes before it rose through the rest of my body and lashed firmly in my chest. It has never left. It evolved into something so much greater. And it’s because of this feeling that I can say I don’t need you to be like me. I need you to be like you”. (The Lives of Puppets).

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Publishing for the Advance copy.

The Memory of Animals

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by Claire Fuller

Claire Fuller’s writing style made me love Unsettled Ground and now that I’ve read another novel of hers, The Memory of Animals, she has absolutely become one of my favourite writers. The Memory of Animals is  a “Pandemic” dystopian story. A new virus has arrived and Netty, our main character, volunteers to be a test subject for a new vaccine. Netty brings with her all sorts of baggage: unresolved family issues, she’s had to take a forced hiatus from her career as a marine biologist because she “liberated” a captive octopus with whom she has an oddly close relationship, and she’s not sure how she feels about her current boyfriend.

While in a state of delirium (having been both infected with the virus and injected with a test vaccine) the world literally goes to hell in a handcart. New variants evolve causing mass death of the citizens and crime runs supreme. In the meantime, a select few individuals, all volunteer test subjects, have been abandoned but safely secluded in a medical facility while the world collapses around them. Along with Neffy are Rachel, Yahiko, Leon and Piper. This crew needs to work together, first of all, to survive in a world that is vastly different from the one they had known before, which isn’t easy for the obvious reasons, but also because they each possess secrets that could disrupt their fragile little community.

To make matters even more complicated,  they possess an object, an object called a “Revisiter” that when used, can immerse an individual so vividly in past memories they feel as if they are  there.

I loved Neffy’s character arc. She starts off as an insecure young woman who, at the beginning of the novel, seems to only volunteer as a test subject in an attempt to escape her reality rather than for selflessly participating in an attempt to find a cure. Her obsession with the Revisitor with an attempt to again avoid her reality also supports this need of her’s to escape when life gets difficult.  As we progress through the action, Neffy becomes a strong, selfless,  rather heroic character, who faces her reality straight on and begins to make decisions and take control in order to not only survive but to also make a little world that is worthy of living in.

So far Fuller is two for two when it comes to my appreciation for her writing. I will be looking to add more titles of hers to my TBR list in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tin House for the Advanced Copy

The Summer of Bitter and Sweet

~ Lisa Helm ~ Leave a comment

by Jen Ferguson

I have tried over and over again to write about this novel but I cannot find the words that accurately explain my thoughts and feelings surrounding it. I love this book. This book needs to be made available to read AND be discussed in every grade 8-12 classroom. Ferguson discusses subjects such as: intergenerational trauma, sexual assault, sexual identity, racism, among others gently and respectfully. Discussion around these topics is not sugar coated, but neither is it gratuitous. The beautiful note to the reader before the novel begins gives you an idea of the care and love Fergason has for her readers. She lists the trigger warnings of her content and tells us “More than anything, I care about you. Your health, happiness, safety, and well being matter more than reading this book.”  

A wonderful book. Read it.

Hello Beautiful

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by Ann Napolitano

I loved this book. It has become one of my favourites of the year.
I loved its characters, I loved its themes, and I absolutely loved how it was written.

This is a novel about love and loss and family, and self-discovery and about something near and dear to my heart, it is about sisters. 
Beautifully written, Hello Beautiful is a novel not to be missed. I was lucky enough to be sent an advanced digital copy, but today it will be out on bookshelves and I’m about to buy myself a hard copy to have on my shelf to reread and share with others.
If you’re already compiling a summer reading list this is definitely one to add!

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the free copy.

Remarkably Bright Creatures

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by Shelby Van Pelt

If you’re looking for a charming story with portions written by an Octopus, then look no further. Remarkably Brilliant Creatures was the perfect read to banish the February Blues.
Marcellus is a grumpy octopus who lives or instead is imprisoned in the Sowell Bay aquarium, where he judges his captors from behind his glass wall. He is not too fond of most human beings, but there is one he grows affection for, and her name is Torva. As the night custodian of the aquarium, Torva knows all of the marine life and often talks to them while cleaning. One evening, much to her surprise, Torva sees Marcellus outside of his tank. She soon begins to realize that the strange “things” she’s been noticing must certainly be part of Marcellus’s mischief, and she soon forms a friendship with this eight-legged creature. Marcellus learns of Torva’s sorrow of losing her son to the sea and takes it upon himself to help solve the mystery behind his disappearance.
I really, REALLY enjoyed this book. It was simple, easy, and a beautifully wholesome narrative perfect for dreary winter days.

Homecoming

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by Kate Morton

Homecoming by Kate Morton

Kate Morton’s writing is easy to love. Engaging plots, an interesting collection of characters, and secrets of varying degrees begging to be uncovered. Homecoming is probably my favourite of Morton’s novels thus far. The story starts in 1959 with the death of a mother and all her children. The bodies of Mrs. Turner and her children are discovered lying peacefully by the side of a creek, all looking as though as if they were asleep. Was it murder, or a murder suicide?

Sixty years later we meet Jess, a young woman journalist  living in London who is, trying to “find” herself, after breaking up with a long term boyfriend and losing her job.  When Jess learns her grandmother suffered a serious fall, she travels to Australia to care for her loved one, and maybe find a change she needs to find a story worth writing about.

Once in Australia, Jess learns of her familial connection to the suspicious deaths of the Turner family and then begins a journey of research, investigation, and coming to terms with family secrets she never knew existed. Jess finds that sometimes your own family history possesses incredible stories that are worth writing.

I enjoyed this book tremendously. It is a long one though so I would recommend putting it on your summer reading list so you can take  your time immersing yourself in the story. 

Thank you Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for the free copy.

You will be able to purchase Homecoming April 4, 2023

If We Were Villains

~ Lisa Helm ~ Leave a comment

by M. L. Ric

I love Shakespeare and upon reading this novel it is apparent that M. L. Ric loves Shakespeare too! 

The  characters are literally Shakesperian actors, or rather students studying to be Shakespearian actors. Our cast of characters range from a villain to an ingenue.Our main character, Oliver, is neither a villain or an ingenue, rather he is “every man” that one character Shakespeare always includes in his play that seems close enough to the audience that we can understand and believe the events and motivations of the characters more readily.

Like Shakespeare, Ric organizes his novel in 5 acts, then, each scene in each act serves as chapters. I love the parallels in organization. 

The similarities to Shakepeare’s craft just don’t end in how the novel is organized. The themes in the novel are as big as Shakespeare’s themes, love, hate, guilt, power, betrayal and the repercussions from choices taken within each theme. Obviously I have first read this novel for the plot, but it is definitely worth a reread in order to see just how layered and interconnected he made his story to the plays themselves. 

An engrossing story in the genre of Dark Academia (my new favourite) that is totally worthy of a reread. I would also use it to “hook” my high school students into studying Shakespeare. 

So far, If We Were Villains is one of my favourite books I’ve read this year!

The Adult

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by Bronwyn Fischer


Bronwyn Fisher is a master of first-person narration. I cannot remember the last time I felt so connected to the thoughts and emotions of a character. I cared so much for Natalie! I could have very easily found her insecurities and naivety annoying, but instead, I found myself rooting for her in the hope that she would become stronger and more self-confident. I just wanted her to be ok!
Natalie is an 18-year-old young woman who is moving away from home for the first time. She is off to university, and all the “things” university entails. New information, new perspectives, new friends, new loves, new new new…which all ends up so confusing for someone like Natalie, who second guesses everything she says and everything she does.
Early in the novel, Natalie meets Nora, an older woman with whom she starts a romantic relationship. Although Nora seems authentic with her feelings towards Natalie at first, we (and Natalie) soon begin to suspect that there is more to Nora than meets the eye.

Even though I figured out Nora’s secret before Natalie did (I think we are meant to), I dreaded waiting and watching how Natalie would react. I truly didn’t want her to be brokenhearted because I didn’t know if she would be strong enough to recover!

Wonderful book. I will definitely read more from Bronwyn Fisher.

Thank you to Netgalley and Algonquin Books for the free advanced copy.

The Adult will be available for purchase May 23

Museums, Memories and Murder

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Liliana’s Invincible Summer by Christina Rivera Garza

Long, planned letters or scribbled notes in the margins of her lecture notes. Poems transcribed cleanly and carefully, over and over again. Song lyrics. The last time she picked up her purple-ink ballpoint pen was on July 15, 1990, at 10:30 AM. Eighteen hours later, according to her death certificate, Lilana stopped breathing” (Liliana’s Invincible Summer)

Years and years and years ago, I decided to go to London alone. It was a wonderful trip. I went to plays and palaces, museums and galleries. One such visit was to the Saatchi Gallery. There was a little room amongst the exhibit of the shark in formaldehyde and the bust of a man carved in frozen blood. The walls of this room were covered in drawings, pages and pages of writing. When you entered the room and began to read, you began to realize that you were reading the journaling of a young teenage girl. She wrote of loves and fears and day-to-day life. Soon you were immersed in the life of this girl, you began to know her a bit, and you definitely began to like her. Near the exhibition’s exit were newspaper articles telling of a murder, her murder. It was one of the most impactful gallery installations I have ever experienced. Since then, I’ve tried to find the name of it online but to no avail.

Why am I sharing this memory? Because while reading Christina Rivera Garza’s book Liliana’s Invincible Summer, I had the same experience. 

Garza’s book is a detailed account quest to acquire the police file of her sister Liliana’s murder. With the information from this file, letters, notebooks, journals, photos, interviews and her own memories, Garza pieces together a mosaic, her sister’s tragedy, in an attempt to understand why and how Liliana could have been so brutally murdered by a boyfriend. Garza does this skillfully, not editorializing but rather allowing us, the readers, to be immersed in her sister’s story, slowly getting to know Liliana for ourselves and making her death emotionally impactful.

There are a number of ways I would use this in the classroom as a mentor text. Garza’s writing is incredibly poetic. What could very easily have become a “Dateline” treatment of her sister’s murder ended up instead as an extended poem of sorts, woven with facts and emotion. So the amount of research and how it was organized is extremely impressive. 

I also really loved Garza’s sentence structure. I am a huge fan of sentence fragments juxtaposed beside long sentences. I find it SO impactful. “They were always there, bulky and lined up next to each other, on the top shelf of the closet. Seven cardboard boxes and about three or four wooden crates painted in lavender. Liliana’s possessions. (Liliana’s Invincible Summer)

And how beautiful is this sentence: “Childhood ends with a kiss. The dream is not hundreds of years old, and the fleshy mouth does not belong to prince charming, but that pure expectation that is childhood finally comes to an end with a kiss. Lips on lips. Teeth. Saliva. Shortness of breath. Eyes open. Childhood ends with the inauguration of secrecy.” (Liliana’s Invincible Summer) We could talk about SO MANY things (theme, metaphor, allusion, imagery, sentence structure, all with this small excerpt!

This book has so much potential in the classroom.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the free advanced copy.

Liliana’s Invincible Summer will be on shelves February 28th.

A Most Agreeable Murder

~ Lisa Helm ~ Leave a comment

By Julia Seales

This is a humourous and lighthearted novel about, of all things, murder.

Beatrice Steele is one of a trio of daughters, but she is different from her sisters. Instead of dreaming of love and marriage, or obsessing over balls and tea parties, she is consumed by her fascination with solving murders, especially the murders she reads about in the newspapers. The newspapers tell of gruesome London murders being solved by the handsome and brilliant gentleman Detective Sir Huxley and his assistant Vivek Drake. 

In the conservative and traditional village of Swampshire, Beatrice has to hide her morbid curiosity, else be cast as a social misfit by her community and banished from society.

Until one day, Murder comes to Swampshire and Beatrice, along with the inscrutable Vivek Drake, have to find the killer before they strike again.

This novel is an easily readable tale with engaging characters. The plot is at times predictable but there are several twists and turns at the end that come out of the blue and make it a fulfilling reading experience. The ending sets itself up nicely for a series!  I would love to travel along with Detective Beatrice to solve crimes in the future.

You’ll be able to purchase this novel in summer. A perfect addition to your summer reading list.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the advanced copy.