Fishing for the Little Pike, by Juhani Karila (2019, transl. 2023)

Premise: A woman returns home to Lapland on an annual pilgrimage to catch a pike in order to stave off the effects of a curse, but is thwarted by an assortment of creatures from nature and folklore.

Review: Sitting on cusp between fantasy and magical realism, this dumps you off into the deep end in a strange and uncanny northern world. Cont.

Great Big Beautiful Life, by Emily Henry (2025)

Premise: Sparks fly when two writers compete for the opportunity to tell the story of the reclusive heiress of a once-great, scandal-ridden family.

Review: Emily Henry has created a wonderful niche of writing fun and well-written contemporary fiction that gets filed under Romance even though the romance is the secondary plot. Cont.

Treacle Walker, by Alan Garner (2021)

Premise: An isolated boy has his eyes opened to whole new worlds when a rag-and-bone man appears on his doorstep

Review: This was a surprise short-list pick for the 2022 Booker Prize and it definitely has that high literary flair to it. It‘s well-written, well-conceived, and well-executed. I just didn‘t find it all that interesting. It‘s a dull success.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Town with Half the Lights On, by Page Getz (2025)

Premise: A struggling Kansas town gets a new lease on life when a big-city family moves in.

Review: This is a book with wonderful values and a giant heart that is absolutely in the right place. Unfortunately, while I‘m sure this is the last thing the author would have wanted (she is from Kansas), it came across as a bit of a ‘coastal big city‘ version of the ‘white saviour‘ phenomenon. Cont.

The Murder of Mr. Ma, by John Shen Yen Nee & S.J. Rozan (2024)

Premise: When the police seem uninterested in solving a series of murders in 1920s London‘s Chinese community, a visiting Chinese judge and his lecturer sidekick take up the investigation.
Cont

Binge, by Douglas Coupland (2021 🇨🇦)

Premise: A collection of sixty loosely connected (very) short stories, all coming at contemporary life from a slightly odd angle

Review: The subtitle to this collection is ”60 stories to make your brain feel different,” and that‘s as good a way to describe this as any. Cont.

The Postman Always Rings Twice, by James M. Cain (1934)

Premise: A drifter arrives at a California service station, setting off a dark chain of events.

Review: This classic is noir fiction at its absolute best: atmospheric, hard-boiled, and no-holds-barred
Cont.

That‘s What She Said, by Eleanor Pilcher (2025)

Premise: The friendship between two young London women is strained when one takes the other‘s strange request — to help her both to lose her virginity and understand her body better — a bit too far.

Review: At its best this debut is a fun exploration of contemporary urban life and female friendship, with lots of unique representation (particularly for demisexuality). Cont.

Rizzo, by Denise Mina (2021)

Premise: A novella reconstructing the events of an attempted palace coup in in the court of Mary Queen of Scots in 1566, revolving around the assassination of her private secretary, David Rizzio.

Review: I really enjoyed this, and, I think, all the more for its brevity. Cont.

The Thief Lord, by Cornelia Funke (2000, transl. 2002)

Premise: A lovable gang of orphans living in an abandoned theatre in Venice undertake the theft of a mysterious object connected to the city‘s magical lore.

Review: This was a wonderfully enjoyable middle grade novel, featuring easy-to-root-for characters and lots of mystery and adventure. Cont.

The Nothing Man, by Catherine Ryan Howard (2020)

Premise: A man reads a true crime book written by the lone survivor of one of his twenty-year-old crimes.

Review: I don‘t read a lot of thrillers (or in this case thriller-adjacent books) but I try to pick up at least a few each year. I‘d been hearing the praises of this one for years and I‘m very glad I finally picked it up. Cont.

Two Can Play, by Ali Hazelwood (2024)

Premise: Video-game designer Viola is conflicted when she gets the chance to create a game based on her favourite novel series, on the condition that her company collaborate with its archrival, whose proposal is being led by a man who wants nothing to do with her (and who also happens to be her longstanding crush).
Cont.

Enlighten Me, by Minh Lê (illustrated by Chan Chau) (2023)

Premise: A graphic novel for children introducing some basic tenets and stories of Buddhism.

Review: This was surprisingly fun, sort of a like a kids‘ introduction to Buddhism crossed with the 8-bit adventure of Scott Pilgrim. I do wish however there was more story. Cont.

Blood over Bright Haven, by M.L. Wang (2024)

Premise: An ambitious young woman has staked everyone on becoming her society‘s first female high mage, but soon discovers a horrific secret underlying everything she thought she knew.

Review: This is a chilling book, all the more for the way it is all too reminiscent of our own world and the comfortable lies we tell ourselves to hide from inconvenient truths.
Cont

The Late Monsieur Gallet (aka Maigret Stonewalled) (Inspector Maigret), by Georges Simenon (1931)

Premise: Inspector Maigret is called to Sancerre to investigate a murder, but the more he investigates the less everything makes sense.

Review: I find the Maigret novels really hit or miss, and sadly this was a miss for me. Cont

Essential Writings, by Mother Maria Skobtsova (collected 2002)

Premise: Collected texts by the 20th C theologian and justice advocate Mother Maria of Paris.

Review: This is a fascinating collection that includes texts not otherwise available in English translation. Mother Maria‘s incisive intellect, loving heart, and unique point of view come through in every essay. Cont.

Ruthless Vows (Letters of Enchantment 2), by Rebecca Ross (2023)

Premise: As the war between the gods intensifies, newlyweds Roman and Iris find themselves on opposite sides of the battle.

Review: The second half of this duology does what it needs to do in bringing the story to a satisfying enough conclusion. Cont.

Everything Is Tuberculosis, by John Green (2025)

Premise: A popular-level take on the history, science, and increasingly sociology, of humanity‘s deadliest disease.

Review: The Green brothers just seem like genuinely delightful, whip-smart, gracious, and deeply curious people, and this book hits on all those strengths. Cont.

Strange Pictures, by Uketsu (2022, transl. 2025)

Premise: Apparently disconnected creepy stories fit together to create a disturbing story.

Review: WOW! I can‘t say too much about this without spoiling anything. But, if you love a mystery and can stomach some violence and disturbing imagery, do yourself a favour and read this!

Bookish Pair: For another Japanese puzzle story, Kinae Minato‘s Confessions (2010, transl. 2014)

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Murder by Memory (Dorothy Gentleman 1), by Olivia Waite (2025)

Premise: On a space ship carrying a remnant of humanity to a new home, the ship‘s detective‘s mind wakes up in a stranger‘s body after years of dormancy — a stranger she quickly suspects may have committed a murder.
Cont.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye, by John Scalzi (2025)

Premise: The world is stunned to discover that the moon has been turned into a cheese-like substance.

Review: Scalzi‘s two previous books dealt with ordinary people dealing with extraordinary situations, and here it‘s the whole world dealing with an extraordinary situation. On the plus side, this allows him to cover a wide range of opinions and experiences about the event. Cont.

Saint Francis of Assisi, Brother of Creation, by Mirabai Starr (2013)

Premise: A curated selection of texts by and about, and reflections on St. Francis of Assisi by a respected figure in the ‘spiritual-but-not-religious‘ space.

Review: This is a wonderful little collection of reflections and texts on one of the most important and universally beloved figures in Christian history.
Cont.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder (1927)

Premise: In the aftermath of a bridge collapse in 1700s Peru, a monk tries to understand why the victims were ‘chosen‘ to die.

Review: This early Pulitzer Prize winner explores evergreen themes of fate, free will, the justice of God, and meaning in a world where terrible things happen every day. Cont.

Floating Hotel, by Grace Curtis (2024)

Premise: The stories of the passengers and crew of a spaceship hotel whose best days are behind it.

Review: This is branded as ‘cozy sci fi‘, and while it takes place in space and has low-stakes, character-driven stories, it felt too distant to be cozy. It also could have been set at a grand European hotel during WWII with very little change. Cont.

We Are All Made of Molecules, by Susin Nielsen (2015 🇨🇦)

Premise: Two Vancouver teenagers adjust to challenging new realities when their parents decide to move together and blend their families.

Review: This is a rare YA novel with characters who read as young as they are, which is a bit jarring since the book deals with some mature themes. I thought this was pretty successful and had some lovely messages about belonging and found family. Cont

Hunchback, by Saou Ichikawa (2023, transl. 2025)

Premise: A woman living with myotubular myopathy navigates complex social and parasocial relationships.

Review: This novella is without a doubt one of the most unique and shocking books I‘ve ever read. Cont.

The Secret History of Sharks, by John Long (2024)

Premise: A comprehensive introduction to the long history and evolution of sharks

Review: There is no question that John Long knows his stuff and is able to communicate complex material effectively. I learned more about sharks than I ever wanted to. Cont.

Street of Riches, by Gabrielle Roy (1955, trans. 1957 🇨🇦)

Premise: A series of stories about the author‘s childhood in Manitoba‘s francophone community.

Review: This was a marvelous surprise. These stories — seventy years old themselves, but recounting events of thirty years earlier — strike a perfect balance: You feel the foreignness of this version of Canada from a century ago, while also seeing the seeds for the country we‘ve become. Cont.

Lunar New Year Love Story, by Gene Luen Yang (illustrated byLeUyen Pham) (2024)

Premise: A Vietnamese-American teenager is pulled in many directions after she learns of a family curse that means they are all destined to fail at love.

Review: This was a bit of a mixed bag for me, largely because there were a few too many things stuffed in this particular bag for my liking. Cont.

Harriet Tubman, Live in Concert, by Bob the Drag Queen (2025)

Premise: In an alternative present where figures from the past have come back to life, a queer Black music producer is confronted with his own internalized oppression when Harriet Tubman asks him to make a record with her.

Review: I really wanted this to be something special, but while it has moments of genuine insight, it didn‘t quite get there for me. Cont.

The Unseen World, by Liz Moore (2016)

Premise: As her odd but doting father recedes into dementia, a young woman discovers that he wasn‘t who he said he was.

Review: This is unquestionably one of the best books I‘ll read this year and I‘m shocked I hadn‘t heard about it until this week!
Cont.

The Lost Library, by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass (2023)

Premise: A boy becomes fascinated with the mystery of his town‘s library, which burned down in 1999 under mysterious circumstances.

Review: This is a fun middle grade romp with a memorable set of characters, and a lovely father-son relationship. The problems come if you think about the plot or need a satisfying conclusion to the mystery
Cont.

A Sweet Sting of Salt, by Rose Sutherland (2024 🇨🇦)

Premise: A queer take on the Selkie Wife legend set in 19th C Nova Scotia

Review: This is a legend ripe for a postmodern retelling, and this works really well. I loved the main character and her found family, and the selkie wife herself more than holds her own in a frightening situation. It‘s not perfect but a great read nonetheless.

Jennie‘s Boy, by Wayne Johnston (2023 🇨🇦)

Premise: A memoir of the author‘s childhood living with chronic illness in an impoverished Newfoundland community.

Review: This is close to being a perfect memoir: full of humour, insight, and vulnerability. It does a fantastic job of showing the reader the insecurity of growing up in illness, poverty, and as the child of an alcoholic, but also the power of familial love.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ghosts, by Dolly Alderton (2020)

Premise: An English woman struggles to manage the ever-shifting dynamics of fading friendships, aging parents, and the horror that is twenty-first-century dating.

Review: I‘m pretty sure no author has been able to articulate the highs, lows, and humiliations of the millennial generation as well as Dolly Alderton. Cont.

The Abbey, by James Martin(2015)

Premise: Two suburbanites are drawn into the life of a local monastery.

Review: A good effort at fiction by a popular nonfiction writer, but this probably should have stayed a nonfiction ‘monasticism for dummies‘ book.
Cont.

Stop Me If You‘ve Heard This One, by Kristen Arnett (2025)

Premise: A Florida clown struggles with her career and relationships and the ghosts of the past.

Review: This is sharp, biting, and unflinching, especially when it makes the main character look bad. But I‘ve read many books by queer women that share this sensibility and I definitely felt the diminished returns here. Cont

Water Moon, by Samantha Sotto Yambao (2025)

Premise: The new proprietress of a magical pawn shop teams up with an unsuspecting physicist to track down her missing father.

Review: I was really excited about this one, but I have to say it completely let me down.
Cont.

Lunar Boy, by Jes and Cin Wibowo (2024)

Premise: Set in a futuristic world steeped in Austronesian culture, an adopted child comes to terms with his trans identity, new family, and the cultural impacts of colonialism.
Cont

Into the Woods, by Jenny Holiday (2025)

Premise: In order to reinforce a ‘no more men‘ resolution after being burned out on dating apps, a Minnesotan dance instructor takes a position as a mentor at a summer camp for artistic teens. But fate may have other things in mind, when she meets the grumpy rockstar facing life transitions of his own.
Cont.

Tartufo, by Kira Jane Buxton (2025)

Premise: The eccentric residents of a dying Tuscan village dare to hope their prayers have been answered when the world‘s largest truffle is found in their woods.

Cont.

Murder Most Royal (Her Majesty the Queen Investigates 3), by S.J. Bennett (2022)

Premise: Her Majesty‘s Christmas celebrations are interrupted by the discovery of a severed hand on the beach near her Sandringham Estate, a hand bearing a signet ring she instantly recognizes.

Review: This is another solid entry in this charming series. The Christmas vibes were fun, and the setting of the end of 2016 added an interesting element to the story.
Cont

Here, by Richard McGuire (2014)

Premise: The story of a room across the generations of its inhabitants.

Review: This is a brilliant premise brilliantly executed. You really just have to see it to appreciate it.

Bookish Pair: A literary version of this idea was well-executed in North Woods, by Daniel Mason (2023)

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🖼️ Graphic Novel

🕰️ Historical

Medium: Graphic Novel

All That It Ever Meant, by Blessing Musariri (2023)

Premise: Reeling following a family tragedy, a Black British girl is taken back to her parents‘ native Zimbabwe to regroup.

Review: Despite doing a lot well, this didn‘t hit for me. But I‘m also very aware that I‘m not the target audience for it, and I have little doubt it would work better for those living in a diaspora or immigrant context. Cont.

The Resurrectionist, by A. Rae Dunlap (2024)

Premise: A naive member of the gentry arrives in 19th C Edinburgh, excited to jump head on into the vanguard of the new science of medicine, but is quickly drawn into the seedy realities required by his new passion.
Cont.

Premise: A young woman at loose ends is forced to solve the mystery of her paranoid great aunt‘s murder in order to receive a life-changing inheritance and keep a small town safe from developers.
Cont

Story of a Soul, by St. Thérèse of Lisieux (ms. 1890s, pub. 1922)

Premise: The spiritual autobiography of a young French nun, whose simple wisdom has inspired generations.

Review: I decided to pick this up again after I read Mariette in Ecstasy last week, since I knew there were a lot of similarities between the lead character in this novel and St. Thérèse. Cont.

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde, by Tia Williams (2024)

Premise: Determined to make her own way in the world, the youngest and ‘disappointing‘ daughter of a prosperous Black family moves to Harlem to set up a flower shop. But as she establishes herself there, she becomes haunted by both the neighbourhood‘s disappearing history and a strange and beautiful man she can‘t stop bumping into. Cont.

Kwame Crashes the Underworld (Kwame Powell 1), by Craig Kofi Farmer (2024)

Premise: As he prepares to travel to Ghana for his grandmother‘s funeral, a Carolina boy is pulled into a dangerous adventure in the underworld of West African lore.

Review: This does a lot well, but was ultimately a disappointment for me. Cont.

Life Hacks for a Little Alien, by Alice Franklin (2025)

Premise: Told in second person, the story of what it‘s like to grow up neurodivergent in a world in which one feels utterly alien.

Review: When we talk about ‘window‘ books, this is the kind of book we talk about. The descriptions of the main character‘s confusion at the world and its response to her are as visceral as they are heartbreaking. Cont.