Author Archives: Risa

Monkey Beach, by Eden Robinson Monkey Beach tells the story of a girl growing up in the small First Nations community of Kitimaat on the west coast of British Columbia. The story is told in a series of flashbacks while … Continue reading →

All The Missing Girls, by Megan Miranda All the missing girls is yet another book in the genre of “girls gone crazy” which has been sweeping the bookstores lately (think Gone Girl, Girl on a Train, Perfect Stranger – by … Continue reading →

The Island of Doctor Moreau, by H.G. Wells This is a weird and creepy book that most people have probably heard of, but probably not read. The story is straightforward enough (spoilers….): A man gets shipwrecked and ends up on … Continue reading →

The Girls, Emma Cline There was a hearty debate about this book in my BBCE book club. Oddly enough, one of the topics at issue was when it becomes disingenuous to claim that a book is based entirely on fictional characters … Continue reading →

The Travelers, Chris Pavone An entertaining “summer read” pseudo-spy-novel. A veteran news reporting becomes entangled in the world of espionage, being directed on missions by his ‘handler’ until eventually you have no idea who to trust. There are some weak … Continue reading →

Persons Unknown, Susie Steiner Manon, our difficult-to-like, sexually ambivalent detective is back, but this time she is pregnant and has an adopted son. She has also reconnected with her estranged sister and will manage to drift her way into an … Continue reading →

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, by Greg McKeown Here’s the thing. I am very VERY far behind in the book blog. Therefore, in the spirit of essentialism, I’m just going to write a few very VERY short ones. Essentialism … Continue reading →

Missing, Presumed; Susie Steiner For every damsel-in-distress-falls-for-handsome-detective-white-knight-hero mystery (that I admittedly love) there is a better, grander, unpredictable and more complex mystery novel that needs to be read. Susie Steiner’s novel Missing, Presumed is one of those (and her second … Continue reading →