BOOKmarkable

Conversation with Claudia Sjoberg

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 Wagameseand the memoir in essays, Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations with a Body of Memory by Sarah Polley.
Other books that came up in our discussion were:
Women Talking by Miriam ToewsThe Paying Guest by Sarah WattsThe Alchemist by Paolo CoehloThe Celestine Prophecy by James RedfieldThe Secret by Rhonda ByrneBooks by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) -- the Cormoran Strike detective seriesIona Whishaw Lane Winslow mystery seriesCloud Atlas by David MitchellOlive Kitteridge, Olive Again, My name is Lucy Barton and Oh William! by Elizabeth StroutInfinite Jest by David Foster WallaceMiss Morgan’s Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien CharlesDoppelgänger by Naomi Klein
Children’s books:Jumanji and The Polar Express by Chris Van AllsburgOne Halloween Night by Mark TeagueNorman the Doorman by Don Freeman

My conversation with Kerry Regier

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 DrydenIndian Horse by Richard WagameseThe Hockey Sweater by Roch CarrierThe Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel BarberyMoby Dick, Pierre and The Confidence Man by Herman MelvilleBlindsight by Peter WattsBomber by Len DeightonDiaspora by Greg EganIQ84 by Haruki MarukamiErasure by Percival EverettThe Three Cornered World by Natsume Sōseki
Authors mentioned: Theodore Sturgeon (originator of “Sturgeon’s Law: 95% of everything is crap”)Yasunari Kawabata, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, O. Henry, Anton Chekhov, Franz Kafka, Ernest Hemingway, Jeremy Bernstein
Films mentioned: Europa Report directed by Sebastián Cordero and written by Philip Gelatt, American FictionSurrealist filmmaker mentioned Luis Buñuel

Fall reading update

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 EspachThe Husbands by Holly GramazioMargo's got Money Troubles by Rufi ThorpeThe Serpent King by Jeff ZentnerWhat Alice Forgot by Lianne Moriarty
Beyond by Stephen WalkerUnbroken by Angela Sterritt
James by Percival Everett

Episode 7: My conversation with John and summer recap

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 andMeet me at the Lake by Carley Fortune
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 Redemptionby Laura Hillenbrand 
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. 

Episode 6: What we talk about when we talk about summer reading

(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 McFarlaneHolly, Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers and The Outsider by Stephen KingThe Interestings by Meg WolitzerNettle and Bone by T. KingfisherDark Matter by Blake CrouchThe Age of Magical Overthinking by Amanda MontellThe Year of Magical Thinking by Joan DidionBetween Two Kingdoms by Suleika JouadThe Ministry of Time by Kaliane BradleyOrdinary Monsters by J.M. Miro (Steven Price)(Also mentioned Esi Edugyan)The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas KingThe Darkest White: The mountain legend and the avalanche that took him by Eric BlehmJames and Erasure by Percival EverrettThe Goblin Emperor by Katherine AddisonThe Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBrideA Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ni GhriofaA Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid KemmererThe Caretaker by Ron Rash I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue Beautyland by Marie-Helen BertiniThe Body in Question by Jill Cement If You Only Knew by Kristin HigginsThe Book of Doors by Gareth BrownA Thousand Doors of January and Starling House by Alix E. HarrowSpellbound by Allie TherinThe Last Bookshop in London by Madeline MartinSlippery Creatures by K.J. CharlesAlphabetical Diaries by Sheila HetiFunny Story by Emily HenryOnce and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

Episode 5: My conversation with Karen Spears

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 IrvingThe Diviners, Margaret LaurenceA Fine Balance, Rohinton MistryBecky Chambers (Sci Fi author)A Study for Obedience, by Sarah BernsteinFayne, by Anne-Marie MacDonald (loved in audio read by author)The God of Small Things, by Arundhati RoyThe Fraud by Zadie Smith
Irish writers and books:
Sally RooneyAnn EnrightTana French (mystery writer)Donal Ryan
The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabeBrooklyn and Nora Webster, by Colm ToibinBina, by Ankara SchofieldA Ghost in the Throat, by Doireann Ní GhríofaApeirogon, by Colum McCannSmall things like these, by Claire KeeganSnow, by John BanvilleSoldier, Sailor, by Claire KilroyCheckout 19 and Pond, by Claire Louise Bennett Scottish writers and books:Robert Louis StevensonIan RankinMungo by Douglas Stuart

Episode 4: Conversation with Nena Rawdah of Cross & Crows bookstore

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 AustenShakespeare's play: Much Ado About Nothing, Othello and The Taming of the Shrew
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 RamadanBroughtupsy by Christina CookeGlyph, Erasure and James by Percival EverettWorld of the Five Gods by Lois McMaster BujoldUnder the Whispering Door, House on the Cerulean Sea, Green Creek Trilogy (with Wolf Song) and In the Lives of PuppetsThe Captive Prince by C.S. PacatHither Page and The Missing Page, and We Could Be So GoodAuthor Gregory Ashe and his Hazard and Somerset seriesOld Babes in the Wood, short story collection by Margaret AtwoodThe Maniac by Benjamin LabatutIndian Horse by Richard WagameseFive Little Indians by Michelle GoodThe Inconvenient Indian by Thomas KingThere There by Tommy Orange

Episode 3: More on my reading list, podcasts and conversations coming soon!

It's me again with a book report (I did my homework and read Prophet Song!), an update on all my other reads, reflections on reading podcasts I love, and a promise for my conversations!
Here are the books I mention:
Prophet Song, by Paul LynchThe Maniac, by Benjamin Labatut Who also wrote the amazing When we cease to understand the world — recommend!Old Babes in the Wood - a short story collection by Margaret Atwood (great title!)The Deal, The Mistake and The Score, by Elle Kennedy (college hockey spicy romances)Hither Page and The Missing Page by Cat Sebastian (MM romance set in post-second-world-war EnglandAny Old Diamonds, by KJ Charles (MM romance set in 1890s England)Fourth Wing and Iron Flame by Rebecca YarrosLove at First by Kate ClaybornBefore I let go by Kennedy Ryan
A few books on my TBR and holds list include:
Broughtupsy by Catherine Cooke - a coming of age of a Jamaican-Canadian.The Crown of Gilded Bones — third in the series by Jennifer L. Armentrout.Dandelion by Jamie Chai Run Liew — a coming of age of a Malaysian girl growing up in a small town in BC near the Rockies.Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross — next book in this YA fantasy series The Darkest White by Eric Biehm — non-fiction about a legendary snowboarder, Craig Kelly, who died in an avalanche in 2003.When Grumpy met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein — was recommended to me by a friend, a romance.King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild — history of Belgium's horrible history in the Congo in Africa.The Witch Collector by Charissa Weaks — apparently another awesome romantasy series.