In discussing the different kinds of love which the Vietnamese language distinguishes between, Kim Thúy's Ru lists thích, which means "to love by taste". Random House Canada, 2014 (One may also love without being in love (thuong), love passionately (yêu), love ecstatically (mê), love blindly (mù quáng), or love gratefully (tình nghīa)
Choosing a stack based on whimsy rather than duty urged me to binge on these books with enthusiasm. The afternoon heat was held at bay by good stories and an assortment of drinks (often rum with some sort of fruit juice, from tangerine to strawberry, lemon to cherry). And without
The appeal of reading a book like Dominique Fortier’s Wonder swells and radiates as pages turn. McClelland & Stewart, 2014 The story begins (like Dennison Smith’s The Eye of the Day, another of my favourite books in this reading year) with a proverbial bang. But despite the eruption
Fairy tales began as stories for adults. "They were the television and pornography of their day, the life-lightening trash of preliterate peoples," says John Updike. Translated (Danish) Charlotte BarslundOther Press, 2014 Distraction and entertainment, but years later edification and morality: the words 'fairy tale' mean different things in
The third volume in the Nina Borg series by Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnete Friis builds upon the successful elements of the first two novels and adds an historical element to the plot which makes the story even more satisfying. Nina is a complicated character who challenges the conventional expectations of a
