Metro's Holiday Gift Guide

Dear lord, another week has gone by without blogging. I just can’t seem to be a good blogger these days. I am ashamed and embarrassed about not writing a book review in so long. To be honest, it’s not just that I’m busy, but I feel much more self-conscious about writing book reviews these days. I know there is a much greater chance the author, or a colleague will read and think my words are inane, or clichéd. I’ve never posted negative reviews, so you don’t have to worry I will try to market a book I’m not really behind here, but I’m finding it harder and harder to choose my words.

Anyway, I’ve decided to get over it, and get back to writing about books and pretend no one else is reading (which is almost true). I’m going to start by playing catch-up with some of my favourite books since summer, in the form of a gift guide. I’ll give you all of my personal faves, just a few at a time. And you really should buy books for Christmas gifts. They’re great value, and such a personal choice. Plus, it hasn’t exactly been the best year for the publishing biz, and you want me to keep my cool job, right?

On to the first list..

Fiction for Her


Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

As you all know, I’m the biggest Alice Munro fan, and few writers compare. Well, Jhumpa Lahiri is an exception. She too writes short stories about families and women, and her prose is exquisite. Lahiri’s stories are subtle, wise, wonderful little gems.

Read more about the book.








The Story of a Widow by Musharraf Ali Farooqi

This is the gentle, funny, and slightly naughty tale of an Indian woman learning how to assert her independence from her family and community after the death of her husband.

I couldn’t believe this was written by a man (who is a genuine and lovely Toronto author by the way).

Read more about the book.








The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
This is an original, emotional, elegant epistolary novel set in 1946 at the end of World War II. The book is composed of a series of letters between London writer Juliet, and the members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie society, born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island. This book is charming, captivating, and I cannot recommend it enough.

Read about the book.

Coming next: Fiction for Him

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