Lighthearted rants and reflections on baby boomer lifestyle, ageing, retirement, fashion, current events, and more . . . .
Have you ever dreamed of buying an old farmhouse in France and spending your summers there? Many people have done just that but no one describes the experience as wonderfully and with as much humour as Mark Greenside in his book I’ll Never Be French (no matter what I do. The book was published in 2008 and written when French currency was in francs but…
Memoirs by women who have overcome adversity always rise to the top of my “To Read” list. I’ve just finished reading two books by very different women from different generations who share a common challenge. Both Laura Chinn and Vicki Laveau-Harvie rose above being raised by difficult or indifferent parents to become successful women in spite of their lack of parenting—one American, one Canadian, one…
When an author has captured four spots on the current New York Times ten best-sellers’ list, then I figure it’s about time I read one of her books. Colleen Hoover must be a good writer to achieve this incredible accomplishment. Right? The problem for me is her genre. While I do enjoy a good suspense novel from time to time, I am not a fan…
I was so keen on reading The Castleton Massacre by Sharon Anne Cook and Margaret Carson that I drove two hours east of Toronto to attend an author talk at Warkworth Public Library in August. The book is a recounting of the true story of the murder of four members of a family in nearby Castleton, Ontario in 1963. It has taken nearly sixty years…
Canadian authors, particularly female authors, have a unique voice that is always such a pleasure to read, even when the subject matter is not exactly uplifting. Miriam Toews deserves to be heralded right up there with the Margaret Atwoods of our country because her work is guaranteed to touch the hearts and minds of Canadian women. It isn’t just the geographical references or the idiom…
Author Tina Brown has exceptionally strong credentials so the information about the royal family contained in her new book The Palace Papers: Inside The House of Windsor, The Truth and The Turmoil must be true. Right? As a former magazine editor as well as a friend and confidante of dozens, even hundreds of famous people, Brown is well-qualified to dish the dirt on the Royal…