Friday Finds (October 9)

What great books have you added to your wish list this week? Share your Friday Finds at Should Be Reading.


I haven’t posted any Friday Finds in over two months, so some of these were not added to my wish list this week, but I figured that doesn’t really matter...

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea mentioned Mean Mothers: Overcoming the Legacy of Hurt by Peg Streep in a Waiting on Wednesday post. I’m always interested in books that explore the darker side of the mother-daughter relationship, and this one sounds like a good one.

I was recently contacted by Eco-Libris, an organization that promotes green books. They are currently organizing an event called It’s Time for a Green Book: 1 Day, 100 Bloggers, 100 Green Books, 100 Reviews, which will take place on November 10. Small Beneath the Sky: A Prairie Memoir by Lorna Crozier (one of my favourite Canadian poets) is one of the books being reviewed. (Unfortunately, by the time I checked out the list of books, all the ones I was interested in were already taken, so I’m not participating in this event, but I noticed that Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here just announced that she will be.)

Finally, Cathy at Kittling: Books mentioned The White Garden: A Novel of Virginia Woolf by Stephanie Barron (who wrote the Jane Austen mysteries) in one of her Bookfinds posts. I love this type of book (novels that fictionalize authors’ lives) and I’m a Virginia Woolf fan, so this one sounds right up my alley.

Friday Finds (August 7)

What great books have you added to your wish list this week? Share your Friday Finds at Should Be Reading.


I’ve been neglecting my Google Reader (and my blog in general) for the past week (or more!) because I’m madly scrambling to finish all my work before I go on vacation next week. As a result, I don’t have as many finds as usual... Here’s the one book that made it onto my wish list this week:

Mary at Bookfan-Mary mentioned Unfinished Desires by Gail Godwin in her Waiting on Wednesday post this week. I’ve enjoyed many of Godwin’s books, although it feels like an age since I read one. (I think the last one I read was my favourite, Father Melancholy’s Daughter, which was published over a decade ago!)

Friday Finds (July 31)

What great books have you added to your wish list this week? Share your Friday Finds at Should Be Reading.


Here are the books that made it onto my wish list this week:

Gayle at Everyday I Write the Book mentioned The Favorites by Mary Yukari Waters on her blog. I love the cover!

The Illusionist by Jennifer Johnston was reviewed by Nymeth at things mean a lot.

Friday Finds (July 24)

What great books have you added to your wish list this week? Share your Friday Finds at Should Be Reading.


Here are the books that made it onto my wish list this week:

Bronwyn at A Certain Bent Appeal drew my attention to this review of Love Is a Four-Letter Word: True Stories of Breakups, Bad Relationships and Broken Hearts edited by Michael Taeckens. OK, this may not be the best summer reading material, but it still sounds good!

I spotted Everything Sucks: Losing My Mind and Finding Myself in a High School Quest for Cool by Hannah Friedman in a Shelf Awareness newsletter. If her wacky songs are anything to go by, this should be a fun read.

Sassy Brit at Alternative-Read.com mentioned Half-Truths & White Lies by Jane Davis in her Friday Finds post last week.

Finally, Tara at Books and Cooks reviewed Can Any Mother Help Me? by Jenna Bailey, which, contrary to what you might think based on the cover, is not chick lit but rather “the story of a group of women who corresponded with one another via a secret magazine from 1935 until 1990.” It sounds fascinating! This book was also reviewed by Karen at Cornflower.

Friday Finds (July 17)

What great books have you added to your wish list this week? Share your Friday Finds at Should Be Reading.


I’ve added so many books to my wish list this week that I’ve decided to save a few for next week! Here, then, are some of the books that made it onto my wish list this week:

Looking After Pigeon by Maud Carol Markson was featured in a guest post at 1st Books: Stories of How Writers Get Started.

Laughing Without an Accent: Adventures of an Iranian American, at Home and Abroad by Firoozeh Dumas was reviewed by Mona Lisa at Feminist Review.

Alyce at At Home with Books mentioned Where the Wild Things Were: Life, Death and Ecological Wreckage in a Land of Vanishing Predators by William Stolzenburg in her Friday Finds post last week.

Opening Skinner’s Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century by Lauren Slater was reviewed by Jenny at Shelf Love.

Normal: Transsexual CEOs, Crossdressing Cops, and Hermaphrodites with Attitude by Amy Bloom was reviewed by Eva at A Striped Armchair.

I mentioned an interview with poet Peter Levitt in my review of The Local News by Miriam Gershow last Friday, but forgot to include his book, Fingerpainting on the Moon: Writing and Creativity as a Path to Freedom, in last week’s Friday Finds...

While I was looking up Levitt’s book on Amazon, I came across Visual Chronicles: The No Fear Guide to Creating Art Journals, Creative Manifestos and Altered Books by Linda Woods and Karen Dinino, which looks super fun!

Finally, Writing the Life Poetic: An Invitation to Read and Write Poetry by Sage Cohen was reviewed by Ali at Worducopia.

Friday Finds (July 10)

What great books have you added to your wish list this week? Share your Friday Finds at Should Be Reading.


Here are the books that made it onto my wish list this week:

I mentioned Children of the Waters by Carleen Brice in a “similar covers” post, but had no idea what the novel was about until I read her guest post at 1st Books: Stories of How Writers Get Started. Jacquelyn Mitchard called it a “fresh, free-rein novel about mothers’ secrets and children’s sorrows,” which sounds great to me! (I’m a sucker for books about secrets.)

Rebecca at Lost in Books writes a great series called “Take Me Away,” in which she features books that focus on a specific country or culture. A couple of weeks ago, she did Kenya, which is when I came across Desire by Lindsay Ahl—“a dense, dreamlike novel,” according to author Susann Cokal.

I’m not sure where I first saw Lies My Mother Never Told Me by Kaylie Jones, but the title alone was enough to pique my interest!

I spotted Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor on the Fantastic Fiction site. Although I didn’t enjoy The Mermaid Chair or The Dance of the Dissident Daughter as much as The Secret Life of Bees, I still want to read this one.

Rebecca Walker was recently interviewed at Feminist Review, which is where I heard about One Big Happy Family: 18 Writers Talk about Polyamory, Open Adoption, Mixed Marriage, Househusbandry, Single Motherhood, and Other Realities of Truly Modern Love (which Walker edited). Although this book is saddled with a mouthful of a title and an uninspired cover, it sounds fascinating. You can also read a review of it at In These Times.

Finally, Rose City Reader mentioned The Ice Chorus by Sarah Stonich in her Mailbox Monday post this week.

Friday Finds (July 3)

What great books have you added to your wish list this week? Share your Friday Finds at Should Be Reading.


Here are the books that made it onto my wish list this week (not as many as usual!):

PopinFresh at Popin’s Lair mentioned The Broken Thread by Linda Smith in her Friday Finds post last week. It sounds really good!

Eva at A Striped Armchair concludes her review of Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death by Deborah Blum by saying: “Compassionate, intelligent, fascinating…Ghost Hunters is easily going to be on my top ten list this year. And considering it’s the 180th book I’ve read, that’s saying something.” At the risk of repeating myself, this one sounds really good too!

Friday Finds (June 26)

What great books have you added to your wish list this week? Share your Friday Finds at Should Be Reading.

Here are the books that made it onto my wish list this week:

I first heard of Sweeping Up Glass by Carolyn Wall on Gwen’s blog, Literary License, and then read Wendy’s review on her blog, Musings of a Bookish Kitty. An excerpt of the first chapter is available on the Random House site.

Cathy at Kittling: Books reviewed The Keeper of Secrets by Judith Cutler. Although she said “everything fell into place way too early,” it still sounds like a good read to me.

Eva at A Striped Armchair mentioned Snoop: What Your Stuff Says about You by Sam Gosling in her Library Loot post this week, which she had discovered from reading Bride of the Book God’s review.

Linda at Better with Books (another Montrealer!) reviewed The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World by Marti Olsen Laney, which sounds like just the kind of book I need to read.

First Tina at Bookshipper reviewed What’s the Best You Can Do: First-Hand Recollections by a Second-Hand Bookseller by Derek Rowlinson, then Cindy at Cindy’s Love of Books reviewed it too. I’m hoping one of them will pass on their copy to me...

Finally, Amy at My Friend Amy reviewed Nothing But Ghosts by Beth Kephart and has launched a book drive (with prizes!) with the goal of selling 200 copies of this book by next Friday, July 3. Lenore at Presenting Lenore is helping with this effort and has also reviewed the book and interviewed the author.

Friday Finds (June 19)

What great books have you added to your wish list this week? Share your Friday Finds at Should Be Reading.


Here are the books that made it onto my wish list this week:

I’ve now read three rave reviews of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley: one by Donna at BookBound, one by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea and one by Allison at On My Bookshelf.

Real Life & Liars by Kristina Riggle is the latest book launched by one of the Debs from The Debutante Ball. Swapna reviewed it at S. Krishna’s Books.

Given all my recent readings about polygamy, Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement by Kathryn Joyce sounds right up my alley. Lawrence reviewed it at the Feminist Review.

Rebecca at Lost in Books mentioned The Sky Always Hears Me by Kristin Cronn-Mills in her Friday Finds post last week. Kristin at The Book Book wrote the review that inspired both of us to put it on our wish list.

Nymeth reviewed Virgin: The Untouched History by Hanne Blank at things mean a lot.

Finally, despite my reservations about Jennifer McMahon (all her books sound disturbing), Joanne’s great review of Dismantled (at The Book Zombie) has inspired me to tentatively put this one on my wishlist... Has anyone else read McMahon? Are her books disturbing?

Friday Finds (June 12)

What great books have you added to your wish list this week? Share your Friday Finds at Should Be Reading.

Here are the books that made it onto my wish list this week:

Reasonable Creatures: Essays on Women and Feminism by Katha Pollitt was reviewed by Nymeth at Things Mean a Lot. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to subscribe to Nymeth’s blog; her reviews rock!

Cara Black, who wrote the Aimée Leduc mystery series (the first is Murder in the Marais) guest posted at 1st Books: Stories of How Writers Get Started this week. Her books sound very intriguing. (Has anyone read them?)

A Sense of the Mysterious: Science and the Human Spirit by Alan Lightman was reviewed by Heather at Age 30+... A Lifetime of Books. I’ve been meaning to read Lightman’s first novel, Einstein’s Dreams, for years now, and this collection of essays sounds fantastic.

Mothernight by Sarah Stovell was mentioned by PopinFresh at Popin’s Lair (now sadly defunct) in her Friday Finds post last week. Stovell was also interviewed last year by Eve and Emily at Vulpes Libris.

I spotted Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart in a Shelf Awareness newsletter. Check out Stewart’s book trailer on her website; it’s hilarious! (Make sure you watch it to the very end!)

Last but not least, I’m super excited that Barbara Kingsolver is coming out with a new novel, The Lacuna, later this year! I spotted this book in the Harper Collins Canada fall catalogue.