Reading
I read. A lot. The enforced “reading rests” of my childhood summers could have turned me into a book hater but no, they actually worked as my mother intended and today my favorite thing to do with downtime is read. I love sharing my passion for reading and have been known to accost people at used book sales and opine about the book they are considering... And then happy to suggest a few (dozen) others that they really must consider.
​
Here are a few favourites from over the years.

Earliest known photo of me with a book
Those books I press into everyone’s hands
-
Restless by William Boyd
-
Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver
-
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
-
Someone Knows My Name / The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
-
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
-
Purge by Sofi Oksanen
-
The Circle by Dave Eggers
-
The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal
-
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
-
Tell The Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
-
The Cloud Sketcher by Richard Rayner
-
The Guncle by Steven Rowley
-
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
-
Still Life by Sarah Winman
-
​The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow
What've I've read - and loved - this year
-
​James by Percival Everett
-
The Fellowship of Puzzle Makers by Samuel Burr
-
Tree. Table. Book. by Lois Lowry
My favourite picture books of all time
-
Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
-
Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes (who am I kidding - just about anything by Kevin Henkes or by Julia Donaldson)
-
The Bear and the Piano by David Litchfield
-
Sophie’s Squash by Pat Zietlow Miller, illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf
-
Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae, illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees
-
Officer Buckle and Gloria - by Peggy Rathmann
-
The Little Blue Cottage by Kelly Jordan, illustrated by Jessica Courtney-Tickle
-
Knight Owl by Christopher Denise
-
Dear Mr. G by Christine Evans, illustrated by Gracey Zhang
-
Viking in Love by Doug Cenko
-
It Will Be OK by Lisa Katzenberger, illustrated by Jacklyn Sinquett
-
Love, Violet by Charlotte Sullivan Wild, illustrated by Charlene Chua
-
Small Things Mended by Casey Robinson, illustrated by Nancy Whitesides
Recent picture books I adore
-
Willow and Bunny by Anitra Rowe Schulte, illustrated by Christopher Denise
-
Small Things Mended by Casey Robinson, illustrated by Nancy Whitesides
-
Not Perfect by Maya Myers, illustrated by Hyewon Yum
-
We are Definitely Human by X. Fang
-
Vampenguin by Lucy Ruth Cummins
-
​Millie Fleur’s Poison Garden by Christy Mandin