You might not think so to see his books gracing the illustrious wire racks of grocery stores and newsagents, but Michael Crichton is an amazingly talented writer. I will argue this point with anyone who dares contradict me. He had me cowering under my blanket as a teenager when I was reading Jurassic Park READ MORE
Year: 2011
BOOK REVIEW | SEXUALLY, I’M MORE OF A SWITZERLAND: MORE PERSONAL ADS FROM THE LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS – DAVID ROSE
I must admit, this book’s title is what grabbed my attention. And how could it not? Turns out, the inside of the book is just as interesting. We all (or at least most of us) know what it’s like to be single and wonder if we’re ever going to find someone we can be READ MORE
BOOK REVIEW | EVERY DAY IN TUSCANY: SEASONS OF AN ITALIAN LIFE – FRANCES MAYES
When I was in high school my mother left her copy of Under the Tuscan Sun lying around the house. On a whim one Saturday afternoon, I picked it up and started reading. The next thing I knew, I was immersed in Italian culture, fascinated to discover with Mayes the joys (and many frustrations) READ MORE
BOOK REVIEW | BOWIE: A BIOGRAPHY – MARC SPITZ
David Bowie is much more than a famous musician – he is a cultural icon. His approach to showmanship, song writing, performance – even fashion – have inspired his own and every subsequent generation. Not only that, but he is an articulate, intelligent man whose appeal and charisma extend well beyond his musical talent, READ MORE
BOOK REVIEW | THE WAYFINDERS: WHY ANCIENT WISDOM MATTERS IN THE MODERN WORLD – WADE DAVIS
“…[R]emember the central revelation of anthropology: the idea that the social world in which we live does not exist in some absolute sense, but rather is simply one model of reality, the consequence of one set of intellectual and spiritual choices that our particular cultural lineage made, however successfully, many generations ago.” A friend READ MORE
BOOK REVIEW | PARIS TIMES EIGHT: FINDING MYSELF IN THE CITY OF DREAMS – DEIRDRE KELLY
Paris is probably the only city in the world that is dreamed about by such a wide variety of people – romantics, historians, artists, fashionistas and jet-setters alike. It is a city that is famous not only for notorious home-grown figures like Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Victor Hugo, but also for READ MORE
BOOK REVIEW | TRAUMA FARM: A REBEL HISTORY OF RURAL LIFE – BRIAN BRETT
Trauma Farm is a book about some of the biggest issues facing us in a world of increasing globalization and corporatization. Written by a poet, who also happens to be a rural farmer, it discusses the struggles that are being faced by small-scale, non-corporate farmers throughout North America as they see their livelihoods threatened READ MORE
BOOK REVIEW | INCONTINENT ON THE CONTINENT: MY MOTHER, HER WALKER, AND OUR GRAND TOUR OF ITALY – JANE CHRISTMAS
I love reading travel memoirs. As a student I can’t afford to gallivant, fancy-free about the world experiencing new cultures and gathering exciting and amusing anecdotes. So I like to read the stories of those who do. Some of my favourite books involve travels in France and Italy – for some reason the cultures READ MORE
BOOK REVIEW | CITY OF GLASS – DOUGLAS COUPLAND
Douglas Coupland has an unparalleled knack for seeing the familiar world around him with the eyes of a stranger. He is able to pick out parts of what we, in our common part of the world, see as “normal” and make them fascinating. In 1994 he made an entire book out of his observations READ MORE