Episode 15: Finding our bliss with comfort reads - my conversation with Cathy Needham

Episode 19: True confessions of reading under pressure

A look back at summer and this reader's confessions of reading for escape and how reading fits into my life plus more reading aspirations and hopefully some new titles for you! Here are the books and authors I mention: The Five Invitations: Discovering what death can teach us about living fully by Frank Ostaseski Quicksilver, by Callie Hart  Dreadfulwater by Thomas King Under One Roof, Loathe to Love You, Below Zero and Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center Roomies by Christina Lauren It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan Out of the Woods by Hannah Bonam-Young Two Rogues Make a Right and We Could be So Good by Cat Sebastian The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match and The Hating Game by Sally Thorne The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro Permanent Astonishment by Tomson Highway Weyward by Emilia Hart  Death of the Author by Nnedi Okarofor The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai The Hearts Invisible Furies by John Boyne  A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver Steering the Craft by Ursula le Guin

Episode 18: My summer check-in

I apologize for the delay in getting this summer episode recorded. Hopefully you can find some good lazy-day reading inspiration with this short update.   Here are books and authors I mention:   Rose in Chains by Julie Soto Manacled and Alchemised by SenLinYu Eve: How the female body drove 200 million years of human evolution  by Cat Bohannon Nobody wants your shit: the art of decluttering before you die by Messi Condo Swept Away by Beth O’Leary Sarah Adams Rome, Kentucky trilogy Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren Nine Rules to Break when Romancing a Rake and These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata A Five Letter Word for Love by Amy James Hair for Men by Michelle Winters Other sports romance authors: Elle Kennedy Sarina Bowen Damon Suede

Episode 17: My conversation with author Frances Peck

I am so pleased to be able to share my first-ever interview with a published author here on Bookmarkable. I was delighted to sit down with local North Vancouver writer Frances Peck to discuss her debut novel, The Broken Places — a Globe and Mail best book of 2022, and finalist for the 2023 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize.  We had a lot to talk about and time flew by! We learned a bit about her second novel, Uncontrolled Flight and she gave some insight into the novel she’s working on now and her writing process. We also dove into all the ways reading has been a key influence, inspiration, object of focused study and pleasure throughout her life. Plus we explored areas of common interest. Books and authors mentioned on this episode: The Broken Places and Uncontrolled Flight by Frances Peck Thomas Hardy (Far from the Madding Crowd, Tess of the D’Ubervilles, Jude the Obscure, The Mayor of Casterbridge). Monty Python sketch: Novel Writing: Thomas Hardy writes Return of the Native George Elliot Charles Dickens February by Lisa Moore Sylvanus Now by Donna Morrisey The Handmaids Tale, Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood The Fireman and The Heart-shaped Box by Joe Hill Stephen King (anything by) Raymond Chandler Dashiell Hammett The Princess Bride and others by William Goldman When We Cease to Understand the World and The Maniac by Benjamin Labutut Mandy by Julie Edwards (aka Julie Andrews) Ken Follett Sidney Sheldon Scruples, by Judith Krantz Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady and Pamela; or Virtue Rewarded, by Samuel Richardson Charles Dickens Jane Austen Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell) The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles Elizabeth George Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) A Time to Write in Earnest by PD James The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve Anne Tyler Louise Erdrich Romantic Comedy, Eligible, American Wife and Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld Jodi Picoult Americanah and Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer and The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry  Anosh Irani Crash Landing by Li Charmaine Anne The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes On Freedom by Timothy Snyder

Episode 16: Canadian Independent Bookstore Day

Happy One-Year Anniversary to Bookmarkable! On April 26, I went to the Canadian Independent Bookstore Day at Cross & Crows Books on Commercial Drive in Vancouver, BC. There were tables of people selling jewellery, authors promoting their books and a pop-up bookstore for the currently online Perfect Match romance bookstore, with owner Amy Pelletier displaying lots of physical copies of popular books. She is searching for a good spot in the city for a physical bookstore, coming soon. You can follow her on IG @perfectmatchbookshop. I also spoke with the book crawl organizer, (there was a book crawl of all independent bookstore on Commercial Drive "the Drive"), who goes by the handle Lady Jane who has a website romancingthedata.com/ [https://www.romancingthedata.com/] and you can find her on IG @romancingthedata. I know on the podcast she also mentions Focus on Romance, but I'm not sure that IG account is hers... I spoke with author Wren Handman and purchased her set-in-Vancouver book, A Midnight So Deadly. I also spoke with a bookstore browser Ben Hill who has a legacy podcast called History of the Mongols (you can still find it and it is fascinating). I also met Ruby Smith Diaz and purchased her book Searching for Seraphim about the late great Vancouver legend, "Joe" Fortes. I met the author Li Charmaine Anne. Other authors and books mentioned on this podcast include: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury The Rising Tide by Anne Cleeves The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue The Broken Places by Frances Peck Be Useful: Seven Rules for Life by Arnold Schwarzenegger Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams On Freedom by Timothy Snyder The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness by Sarah Ramey The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Episode 15: Finding our bliss with comfort reads - my conversation with Cathy Needham

Hello Bookmarkable listeners: Before I forget, here’s where you can signup for April 26th’s Vancouver Book Crawl - or just drop by Cross & Crows bookstore at 1 pm: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/vancouver-book-crawl-tickets-1322842340049. I hear there will be contests and prizes too, plus a popup of a new local romance bookstore, Perfect Match. Reflections on comfort genre (bliss) reading - my conversation with Cathy Needham. In this episode we talked about or I mentioned a few writers and books including: Elizabeth George Thomas King’s Thumps DreadfulWater series Tommy Orange Richard Wagamese Tana French - Faithful Place Peter Robinson’s Alan Banks’ series Louise Penny Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) Agatha Christie Colin Dexter (Inspector Morse series) Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt Gregory Ashe, (Hazard & Somerset series) Ruth Ware, One Perfect Couple Ann Cleeves - The Rising Tide Elizabeth Strout Alone by Megan E. Freeman Hatchet by Gary Paulsen A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson Kate Atkinson, Jackson Brodie mysteries, as well as Life After Life and A God in Ruins The Love Wager by Lynn Painter Stay by Elle Kennedy and Sarina Bowen The Rule Book and Beg, Borrow or Steal by Sarah Adams Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave and Sean O’Hagan Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes American War by Omar El Akkad Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams Love sharing the book love with you!