The Literary Adventures of an Opinionated Bookworm

Step one: Read The Fault in Our Stars  by John Green. Step two: Play the song "All of These Stars" by Ed Sheeran. Step three: Let the weeping begin.  Sometimes you cannot control when the waterworks will begin, but every once in a while, you pick up a book that hits you hard. Even though I read The Fault in Our Stars for the first time six years ago, reading it a second time was just as intriguing and somehow just as moving. There was much laughter, some anger, and although I hate to admit it, tears were definitely shed. Teen Fiction I miss walking down the Teen Fiction section of bookstores. There's no way I can pass as a teen anymore, and I sometimes feel judged for reading books that are "not for my age group." But the fact is, although John Green may have intended this book for a younger audience, it might have power for all people, regardless of age. Don't let the age of the protagonists fool you; there are so many ups and downs in this ...

For eighteen years, Kelsea Glynn has been raised in hiding by her foster parents, but on the day she turns nineteen, the Queen's Guard arrives at their small cottage to escort Kelsea to New London, where she will be crowned Queen of the Tearling. Despite the fact that Kelsea is the rightful heir to the throne, the road to attaining her crown is far from straightforward, and she quickly learns that she will have to win over the loyalty of her Queen's Guard, as well as the citizens of the Tearling, if she wants to be the respected ruler her foster parents raised her to be.  Adventures such as the one in Erika Johansen's novel, The Queen of the Tearling, is a perfect example of why I read fantasy fiction. In order to write this blogpost, I read the book for a second time, and it was just as thrilling as the first time I opened the pages almost five years ago. A book has to be truly wonderful if I am going to make it through a second read through without getting bored.  ...

I love historical fiction.  I may be biased, as I studied history for four years and am slightly obsessed, but to be fair it is only my second favourite genre.  People seem to have no problem telling me that "history is boring," and if you are talking about basic accounts of events that tell you "when," "who" and "where," but seldom go into "how" and "why," then yes, history can be boring. Historical accounts can be dry and dominated by statistics and dates which hardly mean anything to us emotionally, but if you dig deeper, you can find those personal accounts that immediately capture your attention.  This is why historical fiction can be powerful.  Well...not all historical fiction. "Two women are inextricably linked..." After two nuclear bombs ravaged Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, what was Japan like? Many movies about the post-World War Two era that we are exposed to come from the American perspective...

One of the things I love most about my literary journey around the world is the number of immigration stories that I have come across in my search to broaden my understanding of the world and literature. Stories of immigration are essential, whether they take the form of fiction of non-fiction, because the foundation of Canada is built on immigration. Unless you are an Indigenous Person of Canada, your ancestors came from somewhere else, and in these stories of people moving across land and sea to come here is a complex history that everyone should know and understand. Tea Mutonji Tea Mutonji is the author of Shut Up You're Pretty , a collection of linked short stories narrated by the protagonist, Loli (Loh-lee), a girl who immigrated to Ontario from Congo-Kinshasa at the age of 6 (a journey the author herself once took). I could feel the authenticity in the words Mutonji used, and it was because of that authenticity that I was made to feel a whirlwind of emotions as I witnesse...

A good friend of mine once told me, "if a book has a rating of 4 or more stars on Goodreads, it is probably a safe bet that you will like it." This is why I almost always choose my books by their Goodreads rating, a strategy I am currently rethinking after reading The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. With an average rating of 4.23/5 on Goodreads, I thought I was going to love this book, and for the first four chapters, I did. However, as the story progressed I started to struggle, which has led me to believe that when choosing books I might need to employ tactics that do not solely rely on Goodreads ratings. The Patriarch Isabel Allende's novel takes place in early to mid twentieth century Chile, and tells the story of landowner Esteban Trueba, a man who went from rags to riches using nothing but his mother's honourable last name. Esteban is a classic example of an upperclass patriarch; he believed that by going back to the land of his mother's fami...

Don Tillman is "tall, fit and intelligent, with a relatively high status and above-average income as an associate professor." Despite the fact that science tells him he should be attractive to women based on these qualities, he has yet to solve the ultimate challenge: The Wife Problem. Don reveals all of these intimate details about himself in the first three pages of Graeme Simsion's novel,  The Rosie Project. Are you laughing yet? While reading those few pages, I was laughing. Quite loudly too, as my dog was clearly questioning my sanity as she watched me read. Don Tillman, PhD In his thirty-nine years, Don has continuously struggled to understand the social cues and nuances that are involved in human interactions, making dating considerably harder for him. He is a successful geneticist at the University of Melbourne, has a few good friends, lives his life by a strict schedule, but deeply desires a companion to spend the rest of his days with. So he devises the...