book review

Free Ride is the story of a remarkable 20,000 mile journey by motorcycle across Asia and Europe by a remarkable woman, Noraly Schoenmaker. This is a story of determination, struggle and, honestly, frequent failure.

I was a little skeptical about “Off the Tracks”. A book about train travel, written during the pandemic when you couldn’t travel? I gave it a shot, and I’m glad I did.

Following on Ontario’s successful school rail car project, Newfoundland started a “School on Wheels” program where a mobile school traveled in a rail car and spent time in Newfoundland’s remote communities throughout the school year. “The School Car” by Randy P. Noseworthy tells the story.

I feel a little bad for saying that “The Widow’s Crayon Box” is a joy to read, but there it is. I loved it.

I read these three books back-to-back recently: “Satellite Image”, “Strange Sally Diamond”, and “The Long Defeat”.

Finally a book about the rest of the train! Locomotives get all the attention, but it’s the cars behind the engines that make the money.

“Sleepers and Ties” by Gail Kirkpatrick is a warm and unhurried book about a grieving museum curator Margaret, dealing with her sister’s death and final wishes. Like Canada, the book isn’t directly about railways, but they are intimately intertwined with the story. We follow Margaret as she arrives in Saskatoon to attend the reading of … Read more

I really enjoyed True Biz by Sara Nović. In some ways it is a traditional coming-of-age story (three stories, I guess) – kids going to school, overcoming crises, experiencing love and loss – but with a serious twist. Most of the protagonists are deaf, and the action takes place at a school for the deaf.

I’ve been reading a lot recently, and here are three that I really liked. Two are science fiction and one is not.