Read: Diana Gabaldon - Dragonfly in Amber

Still hooked on this series. She's got the knack for long books that fly by.

Read: Lorraine Johnson - City Farmer, Adventures in Urban Food Growing

As we prepare to move to our new home with immense yard, filled with gardening dreams, this was the perfect book to read. Inspirational stories of urban farms and gardens, edible landscapes, innovative growing methods and places.

Want to Read: Alice Waters - The Art of Simple Food

This book is in a recent New York Times Magazine's list of "If You Could Have Only One Cookbook, What Should It Be?". Seasonal cooking with great ingredients from farmer's markets. Sounds like just the thing as we get geared up for our greater gardening endeavours!

Want to Read: Suzanne Goin - Sunday Suppers at Lucques

This book is in a recent New York Times Magazine's list of "If You Could Have Only One Cookbook, What Should It Be?". A mash up of Mediterranean with California; easy to break down the recipes into manageable components. What's not to love with that?

Want to Read: Marcella Hazan - Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

This book is in a recent New York Times Magazine's list of "If You Could Have Only One Cookbook, What Should It Be?". I love Italian food, and could always learn more about how to cook it.

Want to Read: Patricia Wells - Bistro Cooking

This book is in a recent New York Times Magazine's list of "If You Could Have Only One Cookbook, What Should It Be?". French cooking. Likely to bring back memories of great meals we had there.

Want to Read: Cook's Illustrated - The New Best Recipe

I love Cook's Illustrated - the explanations of the work that went into developing the recipe help convince me to actually follow the steps - and if I do, it works! This book is in a recent New York Times Magazine's list of "If You Could Have Only One Cookbook, What Should It Be?".

Want to Read: Mark Bittman - How to Cook Everything

I love Mark's column for the New York Times - very practical yet inspiring. This book is in a recent New York Times Magazine's list of "If You Could Have Only One Cookbook, What Should It Be?".

Read: Johanna Spyri - Heidi

I was missing the Alps, so picked up my copy of Heidi, which I bought second hand several years ago, and haven't read in a very long time. The descriptions of the Alps and its cheeses were great reminders of our time in Grenoble. I was able to much better picture their home and herding life after having visited a museum about traditional Alpine life. But I'd forgotten about the heavily religious overtones and embarrassingly simplistic characters. Not sure I'm going to re-read this one again.

Read: Orson Scott Card - Enchantment

This was a re-read, possibly the fourth time. I took it along as I spent some time waiting out the home inspection while we were selling my house. Always a good read - the author does a great job of making this Sleeping Beauty fairy tale come alive in a plausible and modern way.

Want to Read: Mark Hertsgaard - Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth

Sounds like a well-rounded (i.e. not unrelentingly pessimistic) book about global warming and climate change.

Want to Read: Erin Morgenstern - The Night Circus

A fantasy novel. The reviewer said the experience was like reading "The Time Traveler's Wife". If so, I must read it.

Read: Diana Gabaldon - Dragonfly in Amber

The second book in her Outlander series. Interesting structure in that it starts off in the present day, then switches back to two decades prior, recounting the events of the past that led to the present situation. Which made me skip right to the end of the book to read the continuation of the present-day drama, then finally read the middle, filling in the gap. None of which spoiled the enjoyment, but I wouldn't typically read a book so out of order. Kind of like a spoiler that does nothing to diminish a movie.

Read: Ken Greenberg - Walking Home, The Life and Lessons of a City Builder

What a great book about urban planning and design, especially because so many of Ken Greenberg's examples come from Toronto, his hometown. And what ironic timing that I've read it just as his Waterfront Toronto plan is being shot down by Doug Ford. Could there be any greater contrast between long-range, intelligent, sustainable planning and ill-considered cash grabs? Sigh. I may have to read this book again to cheer myself up.

Read: Bruce Fogle - The Dog's Mind

This book was recommended by Cesar Millan. Quite interesting - lots of depth into dog psychology and behaviour.

Read: George R.R. Martin - A Dance with Dragons

I've read the previous four books in this series, although it had been a few years, so I've forgotten much of what led up to it. In fact, I'm not sure I remember much except the first book. It's a good series, very readable, but as the books go on so many characters and plotlines have spun off that it's hard to keep track of it all. Ideally I would have re-read the previous four books before taking this one on (and they are good enough to be re-readable) but I lucked out grabbing a 7-day loan at the library, so I seized the moment.

Read: Brian Kilcommons & Sarah Wilson - Metrodog, A Guide to Raising Your Dog in the City

A good all-around reference to raising and training a dog, with additional information on what's especially critical in the city.

Read: Aron Ralston - Between a Rock and a Hard Place

I kind of wish I'd read this before I saw the movie. It's hard not to want to race ahead through Aron's remembrances of past outdoor adventures to get to the climax - the remarkable amputation of his own arm. I'll admit, I skimmed a lot, and I don't think I would have if I had read the book first. The movie really was remarkably well done - who would have thought it could hold your interest so intently, rooting for Aron to free his trapped arm, when the conclusion was inevitable and already known? I actually found Aron's description of how he amputated his arm to be more fascinating in the book than in the movie - it was easier to move past the squeamish factor and really understand the complexity of what he had to work through.

Read: Sarah Susanka - More Not So Big Solutions for Your Home

A good primer of Sarah Susanka's principles for making the most of small houses. It was written as a series of magazine articles originally, so it has a very readable format of small chunks of information, and enough repetition for the principles to sink in. There are definitely aspects of Christopher Alexander's design principles at work here, but they are more concretely defined, and practically instituted than in his "A Pattern Language".

Read: Sarah Susanka and Mark Vassallo - Not So Big Remodeling

In preparation for the move to our new (not so big) home, I'm reading books and day-dreaming about future home renovations. This is a great book - real-life renovations, from small to large scale, with practical information about saving money and making more out of small spaces.

Read: Cesar Millan - Cesar's Way

Another good book by Cesar Millan. I find it helpful reading more than one book, even though his principles of dog raising are the same - repetition is helping his lessons sink in. At least I hope so!

Read: Cesar Millan - How to raise the perfect dog, through puppyhood and beyond

In preparation for getting a puppy I'm starting to read dog books. Cesar Millan is pretty interesting - writes quite a bit about dog psychology and how not to humanize dogs. There are some counter-intuitive tips in how to make your dog as happy and fulfilled as possible - I'm glad I've read this before getting a dog.

Read: Shay Salomon - Little House on a Small Planet

This book is like an anthropological/sociological study of what it's like to live in a small house (which generally means less than 1000 sq ft, and in many cases just two or three hundred sq feet) mashed up with a design/architectural reference for small house and green building strategies. And the focus isn't just on the homes - it's also on the wider financial/social/environmental benefits of living small. I wish she had more books - I would read them all.

Read: Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson - The Great Typo Hunt, Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time

Initially I was put off by the overblown, flowery language. But Jeff Deck's earnest and kind-hearted to correct errors wherever he found them won me over. And as the story went on it became less of a personal quest and more of a general inquiry into how errors come to pass in the English language, and how we might mitigate that, which was really worth reading, particularly the part that examined English language instruction in schools.

One of the stranger aspects of checking this book out of the library was that some previous reader had gone through marking up all the items that he thought were mistakes. And yet only one of them was an actual error - the others were all differences of opinion in style, or actual misunderstandings of the text and the fact that it was correct. I'd love to go through marking up all the "corrections" with a "stet", except it's unlikely that the previous reader will ever see my mark-ups. Argh.

Read: Diana Gabaldon - Outlander

I'm not sure how I ended up reading this book. I had been looking online for lists of historical fiction, so maybe it was listed there. I'd also been browsing through the available e-books from the library, so maybe it was there. However it happened, I'm glad I came across it. A WWII-era English nurse accidentally ends up back in time in 1700s Scotland. She ends up forced to marry a younger Scottish man, rather against her will, and then discovers her attraction to him - the banter and sparks are quite good - it reminds me of the earliest books in the Lindsey Davis detective novels set in ancient Rome. Not only that, but she has to work hard to make a place for herself in this very different society, where her medical skills are valued, but can also be used against her (it's a short turn from medical cure to witchcraft). It's a bit historical fiction, a bit mystery, a bit sci fi. Very readable, and it turns out there are several more that follow it. I think I know where most of my summer reading hours are going to go...

Want to Read: Phyllis Brett Young - The Torontonians

A novel of life in Toronto in the 1940s/50s, the tension between downtown and suburbs (when the suburbs didn't extend any further than Leaside), and between old British guard and new immigrants. Sounds strikingly similar to today. This novel has just been re-issued after falling into obscurity after its initial best-selling fame. I'm intrigued...

Want to Read: Ken Greenberg - Walking Home, The Life and Lessons of a City Builder

Book by an urban planner who worked with Jane Jacobs. I've been meaning to read more of her books - looks like I should add his to the list too.

Read: Jacquline Carey - Naamah's Blessing

This was the last book of the third trilogy by Carey that is set in the land of Terre d'Ange (a Medieval/Rennaissance Europe of sorts). I think the characterizations and love stories are a bit played out by now, and in this trilogy she's tried to compensate by taking them far afield to foreign destinations (Asia, the Americas). It feels a bit strained, although if I hadn't read the first, really original trilogy, I might not think that this book is just a necessary contract fulfillment.

I'm more excited by her upcoming sequel to 'Santa Olivia', her very original sci fi story about orphans, female boxing and genetically modified super soldiers. I think this is where her heart really is at the moment, rather than Terre d'Ange.

Read: David Owen - Green Metropolis, Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less Are the Keys to Sustainability

I picked this book up while visiting the Museum of the City of New York. It was an apt selection from the gift shop, since the book argues that living like Manhattanites (small apartments, transit rather than cars) is the sustainable solution that's been ignored by environmental groups for too long. He's quite inspiring in his claim that anything that makes dense city living more enjoyable and attractive is a boon to the environment. He's a bit one-note on his dismissal of fuel efficiency and road improvement schemes as just enablers for more driving, but makes a good point that the only real deterrents to driving are high price and inconvenience.

Read: Bill Bryson - At Home, A Short History of Private Life

I bought this book in the airport before our flight home from Europe to Toronto. Perfect choice! Filled with lots of fascinating facts, that roll smoothly from one unexpected segue to another. I had read another good book about the history of the home by Witold Rybczynski (Home, A Short History of An Idea) and was worried it would repeat all the same information, but Bryson's book is much more free-ranging, more of an exploration of the history of our modern lifestyles that happens to be worked in around the organizational structure of examining the home. Time flew by as I read the book - it felt like the shortest flight of all our recent travels.

Read: Hilary Mantel - Wolf Hall

Hmm. This historical fiction had a bit of an odd plot device. It tells the interesting story of Henry VIII and his divorce of his first wife in order to marry Anne Boleyn, and did a great job of making me appreciate what a difficult and momentous event that was. But it told it from the viewpoint of a commoner, Thomas Cromwell, who ultimately became the king's trusted advisor. Which would be all well and good if the author didn't keep hinting at Thomas' past adventures in other countries which led to giving him the skills to rise far above his station - all of which seemed to be the more unique and intriguing story. A rather frustrating flaw, which in my opinion should have ruled it out from winning the Man Booker Prize, although it's a decent novel otherwise.

Read: Jo Graham - Black Ships

Interesting! A re-telling of The Aeneid, about the founding of Rome, but with larger-than-life mythological characters transformed into fairly ordinary, everyday people. There's still a hint of magic realism, but it's largely a plausible story about a desperate group of people trying to escape war and find a new home. I think I would enjoy this story even more if the tragic elements were played - misfortunes are a little underwhelming and skimmed over. One of the best parts is the author's enthusiastic notes at the end about the various literary and historical sources she drew from - have to love the geeking out on ancient Greek history.

Read: Yvone Lenard - The Magic of Provence

I didn't actually finish reading this one. Not nearly as funny or informative as Peter Mayle. Although you can tell she's trying. I would like to see the old village house they restored/built - it sounds beautiful. I wish this had just been a lush photographic book about the house and village, with fewer words.

Read: Lisa Unger - Beautiful Lies

A mystery novel of sorts - the narrator discovers that she's not who she thinks she is - she was abducted as a baby and raised by another family. I'm not really sure how I ended up reading this book - I think it was just a result of skimming the available e-book options with the library. Not bad, although the writing style is a bit pedestrian - I could do with far fewer knowing and cryptic comments from the narrator, who is writing about past events and revealing clues about the future outcome. The plot has enough turns of its own that you don't really need to have the intrigue of it hammered home continually. But I'm still glad I came across it.

Read: Lindsey Davis - The Accusers

Hmm, I hate to say it, but Lindsey Davis' mysteries are becoming somewhat formulaic. Not the plots, which still manage to twist about with a surprise at the end. But the general writing style (the omniscient narrator reveals the real significance of events far too often) and the dialogue (there's not much in the way of snappy banter between Marcus and his wife Helena anymore). The first novels in the series were interesting less because of the detective work and more because of the ancient Roman setting and personal relationships in Marcus' life. I think at this point he's going to have to keep traveling out of Rome to new destinations to keep it interesting.

Read: John Barnes - Directive 51

I hadn't read anything by John Barnes in a few years, but this one was available as a free e-book from the Toronto Library. It's an end-of-civilization apocalyptic book, but stands out for its focus on politics and following through the story with figures from the top of the (crumbling) government, as opposed to most books which focus on the plight of the common person. I liked the different focus - it was still just as gripping and poignant to watch everyday conveniences that we take for granted falling away into oblivion.

Read: Jean M. Auel - The Plains of Passage

Okay, I'm done. This was the only book left from my re-read of the series. Plotwise I remembered it being a bit odd, what with the Amazon-women sequence, but when you re-read it in comparison to the final book it holds up much better - at least there is a plot! All in all, not bad. And it makes me want to visit a glacier.

Read: Justin Cronin - The Passage

I do love apocalyptic, end-of-the-world stories, so it's no wonder I liked this book. The overall structure was a bit awkward, focusing on various time periods and events sequentially with breaks in between - it got a bit choppy. If I could edit it, I'd integrate it all into the final time period, with some flashbacks or other device to introduce the past context that led up to the present scenario. But overall it was worth the time (it's quite a long book), even though I might not re-read it.

Read: Orson Scott Card - A War of Gifts

I ended up buying this book because I had a small amount left on an Amazon gift card, and it was one of the least expensive e-books I could download to my laptop, since I'm avoiding buying real books until we're back from traveling. So, under ordinary circumstances I would have borrowed this book from the library, rather than purchasing it, but I've enjoyed Card's other books in the Ender series. This one was a bit odd - more of a novella or long short story, with a Christmas story and Ender as not the main focus. It felt a bit like a writing workshop exercise, but it was still good. Not, however, a book that I'd feel compelled to keep on the bookshelf as part of my permanent collection for future re-reads. Oddly enough I just purchased a book of Christmas stories by another favourite sci-fi writer, Connie Willis, not long ago. That one was definitely worth investing in the shelf space.

Read: Joanne Harris - Chocolat

I've seen the movie a few times, and while searching the library catalogue for e-books set in France, I came across the novel.

The novel is surprisingly harsher than the movie. The movie ends with the redemption of the 'bad guy' mayor, who is really just an overbearing control freak who needs to learn to let go and enjoy life as it is, but in the book the bad guy is the unbalanced priest with a murderous past, and he's driven right out of town, spiteful until the end. I prefer the warm, fuzzy feeling that the movie left with, but the book was still nicely evocative of French life - particularly the rituals of Easter and the enjoyment of chocolate.

Read: Peter Mayle - Provence A - Z

This book is a hodgepodge of short essays on various things French, arranged alphabetically. It makes for a fun, quirky encyclopedia. I actually got answers to a few questions (like why there was a trophy of a bare-bottomed woman for sale in the trophy store down the street - it's Fanny, awarded to the loser) and practically information I can use (like how to choose a ripe melon at the market).

Want to Read: Mary Doria Russell - Doc

A favourite author, Mary Doria Russell, has a new novel about Doc Holliday - and another favourite author, Emma Bull, just recently released a fantasy novel with the same western setting and characters. Interesting coincidence!

Want to Read: John McWhorter -The Power Of Babel, A Natural History Of Language

History of how languages evolve over time. Sounds like one of my favourite books "The Alphabet" by David Sacks.

Want to Read: Justin Cronin - The Passage

I'd been hesitating whether to put this book on my list to read. I am fond of end-of-the-world apocalyptic scenarios, but wondered if this one was just cashing in on the vampire trend by adding that into the mix. Plus it's so big - surely it's been plumped up to justify a steep price? But after reading good reviews and recommendations by friends I'm interested to give it a go. Let's see if it turns up as an e-book at the Toronto Library that I can download while I'm traveling...

Read: Jean M. Auel - The Mammoth Hunters

I had to re-read one of the earlier books in this series, just to convince myself that they were indeed, at one time, fairly interesting and unique in their premise, after reading the astoundingly boring final book in the series. This one does still hold up well - it's not great literature, but the prehistoric cultures and means of survival is pretty gripping.

Read: Jean M. Auel - The Land of Painted Caves

Abysmal. I knew 10% of the way in that it was awful, but I just kept hoping it would turn around somehow. This series always had rather leaden characterization and writing, but by now the author seems to have completely lost interest in anything resembling plot - the author just has the characters re-tell stories from past books, and encounter situations exactly like those already experienced - it could be a straight copy and paste job for all I can tell. This book seems to exist only as an excuse to visit all the caves in Europe with ancient paintings, and then describe them in painfully boring detail. Good thing it's the last book in the series - I really shouldn't put myself through an ordeal like this again.

Read: David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

This was my second David Sedaris read, and I liked it better than the first - the quality of the writing was more even. There were not, however, as many hilarious stories about the French language, which I had been hoping for.

Read: Charlaine Harris - Dead Until Dark

The somewhat limited options of ebooks available at the Toronto Public Library gave me the excuse to finally check out the Charlaine Harris series on which the tv show "True Blood" is based. I wasn't expecting too much, but they were still surprisingly bland. The dialogue that comes to life with rich characterization and baroque settings on the tv show is too terse and plain to have any life on the page. I won't bother to read the next book in the series - it really was a waste of time.

Read: Lindsey Davis - The Jupiter Myth

I've fallen behind in reading Lindsey Davis' detective Falco novels, which is a shame, because I love the historical detail of the ancient Roman setting, and the banter between the characters. This one felt a bit formulaic in its banter, but the detail was great as ever - London in its early days as a frontier town. And since I checked it out of the library as an e-book, it gave me some English reading material at my convenience while I'm located in France. In fact, just yesterday I saw some ancient Roman artifacts at the museum here in Grenoble, and I'm trying to remember if any of Davis' books have been set in this part of the Roman Empire.

Read: Connie Willis - Doomsday Book

This is a re-read - probably my fourth or fifth time. I brought it along as my one fiction read for the airplane, and chose it because in it the main character, Kivrin, goes back in time as an historian to study 1320s England, but when she arrives finds that she can't understand anyone - the archaic English sounds completely different from what she anticipated (appropriate as we head off to live in France for four months). Then she finds out she's not in 1320 - she's in 1348 and the plague is killing everyone. It's a pretty dark tragedy in the end, and yet it is a beautiful story.

Connie Willis' novels are quite possibly the most rewarding to re-read of any author. There are certain plot mechanisms, such as loss and miscommunication, that show up in her stories over and over - seeing them re-used and repeated in different ways becomes a very layered reading experience. I just discovered that her recent novel "Blackout" is available as a e-book download from the Toronto Public Library, so I'll be re-reading that for the first time soon.

Read: Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Here's an interesting factoid: in North America it's "Hornet's Nest" (possessive singular) and in Europe it's "Hornets' Nest" (possessive plural).

Much like it's prequel, I couldn't put the book down because of the fast-moving plot development, even though the quality of writing wasn't that great. More than anything it makes me want to see the second and third movies.

Read: Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Played with Fire

I wasn't necessarily planning on reading this book, although I was intrigued - I'd been to see the first movie last spring, and quite enjoyed it (in spite of the brutal rape scenes - how many movies have this many rapes?). I had a suspicion that this might be one of those books that is better as a movie, and I was right. The book is almost all plot, very little atmosphere, and the characterization can be blunt and repetitive. But Larsson does know how to move along the plot! I gobbled this book down over the course of a day - but I'm unlikely to ever re-read it - you get everything out of it that there is in one read.

Read: Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme - My Life in France

In preparation for our time in France I wanted to read something set in France. And as I browsed the collection of e-books in the Toronto Library system for the first time (I've realized I can borrow them to read on my laptop, which ensures I will not be bereft of English reading material while in France), it occurred to me to enter the search term 'France'. Up came this book, which was a perfect match - an entertaining biography of what life was like for a newcomer to France, plus lots of great food writing. Now I'm more excited than ever to be going there.

Read: Emma Bull - Territory

This is my first re-read of this book. Emma Bull is one of my favourite authors, but after reading it I have to conclude that this isn't her best book. As in other books she's created great characters and hints at their past adventures together, which gives them real depth in their relationships. But the arc of the story is a bit too slowly revealed, and doesn't really gather enough momentum by the time the story ends - it feels anti-climactic. Nonetheless, it was worth re-reading for the dialogue and atmosphere - the mash-up of old frontier western with fantasy magic is unique.

Read: David Shenk - The Genius in All of Us

We watched the author in an interview on TVO, and Mark was interested to learn more about what he had to say about the field of epigenetics, so I ordered his book. In the end it's not so much about epigenetics as just generally that genetics plays a far fuzzier role in our traits than we think. The author is keen to spread the message that we all have more potential to succeed than we credit ourselves with, and that most 'geniuses' are actually very hard-working obsessively devoted people - it doesn't come easy for them. It's generally a pretty interesting book, but just as I thought we were getting in deep, it was over - the last half of the book is chapter notes. I think a good editor could whittle this down to a long-ish magazine article that would have the same impact.

Read: David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day

I checked this book out for its stories of an American living in France, struggling to learn the language and customs. I didn't expect it to be so funny though - I've had tears in my eyes while reading it on the subway, trying desperately not to laugh out loud. The best line is the attempt to explain Easter with a limited French vocabulary:
"He call his self Jesus and then he be die one day on two...morsels of...lumber."

Read: Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games

Good book, although not likely to be a re-read. The plot, in which a girl fights for her life in a gladiator-style televised ritualistic competition, reminded me of Orson Scott Card's "Ender". In fact, I wish Orson Scott Card had written it - Suzanne Collins' book felt a bit sparse somehow - in the atmosphere or characterization? I think there was a bigger, epic tale in this fairly short young adult novel. But I look forward to the sequels - it's the first in a trilogy. Maybe all three of them will add up to the story I want it to be.

Read: Tom Bissell - Extra Lives, Why Video Games Matter

This was much more of a philosophical treatise on the importance of video games than I had imagined it would be. As well, it was a memoir - apparently light-hearted about the amount of time the author has devoted to playing video games and pondering why they have such a hold on him - until the end, where he reveals that he was hooked on cocaine for his most intense video game binges. I was shocked to find myself suddenly reading what was a dark and troubling memoir. Nonetheless, this was a very interesting book - it both made me want to play these games and experience them myself, and also avoid ever playing them and getting sucked into Bissell's life.

Read: Sarah Susanka - The Not So Big House

I'd glanced through this book over a decade ago, and it came to mind recently when reading Christopher Alexander's books about architecture. I checked it out of the library, and sure enough there was a reference to Christopher Alexander early on.

If I ever have the chance to design a home from scratch or do major renovations, I'll come back to this book for great ideas on how to make the most from small spaces that are well designed.

Read: Erin Bow - Plain Kate

Great book! Reminds me a bit of Connie Willis, in that it doesn't shy away from the tragedy and hardship of life in medieval Europe. The mythology is a bit opaque at times, but it is beautiful as well. If I hadn't been on the subway while reading the last chapter I'm pretty sure I would have burst into tears - it all wrapped up perfectly yet sadly.

Also - best talking cat ever.

Want to Read: Po Bronson and Ashely Merryman - Nurtureshock, New Thinking About Children

This isn't a book that would typically be on my want-to-read list (since I don't have children), but it sounds like an interesting sociology/psychology book of counterintuitive research, along the lines of Dan Ariely's books I was reading this summer.

Want to Read: Erin Bow - Plain Kate

A young adult historical fantasy, in which a young, independent girl has to survive on her own, leading to suspicion of her as a witch. Set in 16-th century Poland/Lithuania. Reminds me of "Enchantment" by Orson Scott Card - I'm sure it won't be a similar novel at all ("Enchantment" is pretty unique), but I loved the time period and elements of Russian fairy tales. Also sounds a bit like Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth" with the independent woman in a time period that doesn't welcome it.

Want to Read: Carl Safina - The View From Lazy Point, A Natural year in an Unnatural World

I'm hoping this is a Diane Ackerman-like book, with essays on the interconnectedness of nature and humanity.

Want to Read: Karen Armstrong - Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life

I'm a bit put off by the cliched title of this book, but based on the review I've reconsidered. A big-picture overview of the world's religions and what to take from them in living a compassionate life - starting to sound akin to Jeremy Rifkin's "Empathic Civilization" - also on my want-to-read list.

Read: Anne Fadiman - Rereadings

Hmm. I ordered this one from the library thinking it was a book written by Anne Fadiman, whose "Ex Libris" I loved. However it is only edited by her, with an introduction written by her. Interesting premise - have authors write about books that they first read when young and have since re-read, and what they mean to them. But I wasn't as interested in what all of them had to say as if, I suspect, Anne Fadiman had just written an entire book using this premise herself.

Read: Connie Willis - Miracle and Other Christmas Stories

I can't say that I'd buy a book of Christmas stories by any other author, but for Connie Willis I made an exception (this was another find at the Dark Carnival bookstore). They are, as are all her stories, charming and funny. Although the theme is Christmas (with a sci fi/fantasy twist) the real subject in many of them is miscommunication and misunderstandings. I still prefer her full-length novels, however - her stories need more space to become really affecting.

Read: Ursula K LeGuin - Tales from Earthsea

Another purchase from the great SF bookstore Dark Carnival. "A Wizard of Earthsea" is still one of my favourite all-time books, so it's great to return to that world in this collection of stories, although none really match its magic.