I'm excited to tell you about this excellent batch of books. Just look at them. This is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan Michael Pollan dives deep into three plant drugs--opium, caffeine, and mescaline--and throws the fundamental strangeness, and arbitrariness, of our thinking about them into sharp relief. I always like Michael Pollan and … Continue reading What I’ve Been Listening To: mind-altering plants, mind-altering essays, and some tips for a better life
I decided to put a hold on this book after my interview with Chris Benjamin; Doing Time is one of the books he had recently read and recommended. (He had also spoke highly of Carol Bruneau's Brighten the Corner Where You Are, and that turned out well!) I was surprised by how invested in this … Continue reading Doing Time: Writing Workshops in Prison by Carole Glasser Langille
Surfing fixes everything, I knew that much. You don't need to be a surfer or cyclist to read this book, but beware: it might make you want to pull on a wet suit and catch some waves! I usually enjoy reading about others' adventures - cycling across the country, hiking a months-long trail, sailing around … Continue reading Louisbourg or Bust: A Surfer’s Wild Ride Down Nova Scotia’s Drowned Coast by RC Shaw
I have Rebecca at Bookish Beck to thank for bringing this book to my attention. I read about it on her Top 10 Nonfiction Reads of 2017. I knew Alzheimer's was somewhat mysterious, but I had no idea it was so interesting. Jebelli covers all the bases in this up-to-date book; the original discovery of … Continue reading In Pursuit of Memory: The Fight Against Alzheimer’s by Joseph Jebelli
A couple of years ago, I asked my family about their favourite books, and this is one of the books my sister Kate recommended. She sounded so passionate about it that I have had every intention of reading it ever since. Maybe it's all the global conversations happening right now about race and discrimination, or … Continue reading Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada by Lawrence Hill (And an interview with my sister)
I've been reading The Sixth Extinction this month with Doing Dewey's Nonfiction Book Club, and it has been fun and fascinating. This is a nonfiction book I can get behind. I liked this book so much that sometimes I picked it up instead of my fiction. That's saying something for me. But, the problem is … Continue reading The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
Marc Lewis is a neuroscientist and professor of developmental psychology. His book Memoirs of an Addicted Brain: A Neuroscientist Examines His Former Life on Drugs, was the first to blend memoir and science in addiction studies. The Biology of Desire is his second book. After reading and finding myself fascinated with the harrowing account of … Continue reading The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction Is Not a Disease by Marc Lewis
Literary Wives is an on-line book club that examines the meaning and role of wife in different books that have the word “wife” in the title. Every other month, we post and discuss a book with these two questions in mind: 1. What does this book say about wives or the experience of being a wife? … Continue reading Literary Wives: The Astronaut Wives Club
Unmistakable and invulnerable, a floating village in steel, the Lusitania glided by in the night as a giant black shadow cast upon the sea. In Dead Wake, Larson sets up all the major players for us; the White House, the British Admiralty, the German U-Boats, Captain Turner with his crew and passengers. He then meticulously draws out … Continue reading Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
Consumed by Ink 