Stevie Szabad, Author

Reading List 2023

January

What is it about January? I haven’t had a good start to a year since 2020, and we all remember how that panned out. (For details from this author’s perspective on 2020, check out “Lost Year A Pandemic Diary”.) But back to this January of 2024. Not a good start due to serious family obligations of elderly care – the curse of my generation’s longevity. So off to the blessing of every generation – reading!

• First up, a brand-new Minette Walters, “The Swift and the Harrier”. Highly anticipated, it is set in the same republican times of mid-1600s England as last year’s great Robert Harris read “Act of Oblivion”. I admit it fell short of my perhaps unrealistic expectations, (Robert Harris is a tough comparison stick), being a rather narrow view of the times through a female doctor character blessed with modern feminist ideology, (as in life is fair for women?) Fine, but the historical story was overshadowed and foreshadowed by the obvious romantic conclusions. A great writer, a good setting, but maybe the publisher pushed this one out a little underdone.
• Greg Isles with “Cemetery Road” couldn’t be more different. Perfectly done, the characters and entanglements, romantic and political, and familial, are so richly woven that I almost gave up in confusion in the first few backstory-jumping chapters. Luckily, I didn’t. Great plot, plenty of twists in this contemporary southern small-town story. I couldn’t put it down, and couldn’t guess anything until the end.
• Another change of scenery – Mount Everest and the non-fictional deconstruction of the Mallory and Irvine 1924 story, by a connected adventurer himself, “Last Hours on Everest” by Graham Hoyland. I’ve always been fascinated with mountain climbing, and no, I’ve never done it, and yes, I’ve always daydreamed about it, and no, I now understand I never will. But I can still read about it. Hoyland provides excellent research and personal connections to his assessment of whether Mallory, who famously disappeared in 1924 but whose broken body full of clues was discovered in 1999, whether or not he actually summited the highest mountain in the world before he died on it. A scholarly read, indexes to cross-reference, notes to look up, names to keep straight, but worth the effort.

February

As life settles into a better rhythm, my father’s needs under control, my curling season in full swing, the winter weather blanketing-in for what always seems like a very long haul (but by the end of the month, is shockingly-quickly transitioning to more daylight), I’m ready to face more of life. And to keep reading, of course.

And now, for something completely different:

• “Last Hours on Everest” by Graham Hoyland. A long non-fiction read for a short month. This one appealed immediately because of the title and cover, of course – I love anything Mount Everest.
• “Ridley’s War” by Jim Napier. If you like watching BBC crime dramas (I do – I discovered them during the binge Netflix pandemic times), then this book will feel familiar. I’ve met the author, which is always fun. (Sad note to add as I review this in December – this author has passed away. I’m so grateful to have met him at my Ottawa Independent Writer’s group. RIP, Jim.)

March

• “Hell’s Doctor” by Lee F. Jordon. You won’t catch me reading much like this nor watching anything like it on the screen. Think Texas Chain Saw Massacre meets Dante’s Inferno. Can’t think those? Think yuck, with a few too many typos, and under-edited, if edited at all. (I saw the word ‘very’ used very many times in very many places, even in the same very boring sentence.) Well, it was a freebie download from BookBub, always a hit or miss. But I gotta say, I kept reading for the interesting storyline. You may or may not want to read this one; your choice (and risk.)
• Sticking with my freebie downloads this month : “The Afterlife of Alice Watkins” by Matilda Scotney. Not great writing (par for these freebies) but the storyline kept me interested – sci fi, old woman dies and wakes up in the future in a younger women’s body. Hmmm. Kind of wishful thinking? So I kept reading to see how that might work out. Turns out it’s book one of a series (again, par for these freebies), and not a series I will probably continue. On to April!

April

Busy personal commitments kept me from starting a couple of books I’m waiting to read. Then a cruise vacation, so one last downloaded freebie then I promise to get to the good stuff!

• ‘Salem’s Cipher’ by Jess Lourey. Ok. Fast-paced, murders, contemporary witches, conspiracies, politics. Nice and mindless. But now I’m ready for the good stuff!

Home. Holidays are great and make home feel great again. Curling season is ending, so I need a treat to compensate.

• A guaranteed good read from a fellow local author, “Loyalty” by Susan Taylor Meehan. Set in Ottawa during WW2, spy stuff from a lower-level clerk who gets involved. Very relatable themes: who really are the good guys? And gals, of course. Highly recommend any of this author’s books.

May

Life is picking up, lots of holidays planned this year. Unfortunately (fortunately?) our little travel trailer bit the dust and had to be returned to the dealer. So plans, they are a-changing. Still, the reading shall carry me through!

• Back to trying a freebie, “To Murder a Saint” by Nicole Loughan. Frankly, I picked this book for the title and cover and wasn’t disappointed by the Louisiana ambiance. Murder, fun mystery, likable main character. A series that I probably won’t follow, but I enjoyed the reading side road.
• Louise Penny is so prolific with her series about Inspector Gamache, and his murder investigations centered in the quirky-character populated town of small-town Quebec, that if you haven’t read one, you’re in for a treat. Great theme in this one, “The Madness of Crowds”, that borrows from our globally-shared pandemic experience. I love Penny’s writing style; clear, choppy, changes of POV. Keeps your interest and always a satisfying conclusion to the murder mystery.

June

Off to the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick for an ocean-side vacation, so why not take along a seaside-themed book?

• “Wreck Bay” by (another) local author, Barbara Fradkin. This is an investigative series that I have now read two of, unusual for me. But the wonderful settings in her books (Newfoundland for the last one I read, and Tofino, British Columbia for this one) are like a virtual travel trip there. Good holiday reading.

July

What better way to cool off in the summer heat waves (of which July is in the middle of here), than to dip into something like this:

• “Icebound” by Andrea Pitzer. Non-fiction travelogue of late 1500s early 1600s Arctic sea travel, following the Dutch navigator William Barents. He and his boys undertake commercially-funded ventures to discover – what else – a faster trade route to China via the northern route. Of course they encounter troubles, but of course all are meticulously documented at the time, and today have become researched into a very readable adventure by Pitzer. Loved it.
• Here’s a book with an interesting acquisition story : “Daughter of Conflict” by Jennifer Debruin. I picked this one up in a 3-pack consignment by the author in a museum/former church in Picton, Prince Edward County, Ontario. (Yes, yes, on another wine tour weekend.) I like to support local authors, and local museums. I myself have been told I have United Empire Loyalists in my ancestry, so I was curious about these historically-researched fictions about this area of Ontario and the past lives lived in it. Not disappointed : the daughter of conflict in question? A 12 year-old Puritan girl abducted by the French/Indian allies in the Deerfield, Massachusetts raid on the English settlers. Historically true story. In fact, I myself knew a Manitoba French-Canadian co-worker that had researched her own genealogy to discover an ancestor from then-English colonies of New England : a 13 year-old Purtian girl taken and given to a French settler as a bride in then-Canada. Around the 1700s. This is fascinating history that we don’t learn enough about. The book was well-written enough to keep me page-turning till the end. I can hardly wait to read the next 2 books I picked up by this author.
• The next one was “Shadows in the Tree” and was also an author-ancestor-research retelling of a fifth great-grandmother who came from the then-province of New York to then-Lower Canada as a Loyalist refugee during the British-American war of rebellion/independence (1776-1784ish). Wow. Another peek at a time and place through a young mother’s eyes that we are lucky now to read about. Carefully researched, the author is true to her motto of “discovering the humanity in the history.” Highly recommended.

August

Time for a break, back to recharging the Kindle and trying out some of the freebie downloads that are piling up. Turns out a cleanup was in order – I read one chapter at a time (sometimes much less). Bad writing, bad story, bad editing; all kept me busy… I deleted at least 5, maybe more, false start reads. Then I found this one :

• “Resonance” by A.J. Scudiere. Cool concept – what would happen if (when?) the Earth’s magnetic field flipped from north to south? It has happened, but never in the time of humans. Pretty good writing (well, acceptable for such a good story idea), this book was not only worth the free price, but worth reading.

I couldn’t handle another freebie right now, despite the ok-enoughness of the previous. Looking at my stack of hard-copy, I started this one :

• Nora Roberts (a dependable wordsmith), “Year One”. Apocalyptic, which I like, magical/fantasy, which I don’t, not really. But it’s sensibly-written and somewhat believable, so I’ll probably continue it. See later, because…

September

Because I do need to take my Kobo reader on a trip. (I keep the Kindle for freebies, but have a Kobo account for good stuff. I like the Kobo e-reader better. Settings, reading options, etc. I just like it better, that’s all!) So loaded up:

• “Nemesis” by Wilbur Smith with Tom Harper, ie, probably all by Tom Harper with the Wilbur Smith universe (South Africa, late 1600s to present). I haven’t read Smith for years, and I haven’t kept up with his family dynasty drama, but this one is a good read and is fine as a stand-alone.
• Back to a Nora Roberts. “Year One”. Very good, despite the fantasy, magic element, which is usually tiresome to me, as normally unbelievable. But the great writing and modern apocalyptic take on the witches and fairies and elves had me page-turning. Enough to buy the next in the series.

October

• “Of Blood and Bone” book 2 of the Nora Roberts “Chronicles of the One” Trilogy. OK, I remember why I don’t enjoy much fantasy – this trope-y saviour story. Following a (yawn) teenage girl becoming “the One” that brings victory of the light over the dark (through her magic, of course) I’ll finish it, and I already bought the third in the series, but I’d sure like a better story than the pure good vs. absolute evil thing this series is about. Good writing though, at least.

November

Continuing with the series (unusual for me – I usually tire of the repetitive writing style, or the the storyline. On to book 3,

• “Rise of Magicks”. OK, I’ll finish it. And look forward to finishing it, yawn. Good vs. Evil is getting old. At least the teens from book 2 are now old enough to have politically correct sex by book 3. The love story, very passionately told, is the only saving grace of this end to the beginning of the new world of Light and Magick. (Yes, spelled like that.)

Let’s try this one, an impulse buy (because I liked the cover. And the title.)

• “The Hike” by Lucy Clarke. I guess she’s a popular author, but this one is a first for me. I liked it. The writing, the atmosphere, the story, the twist. All in all, a good read, something to anticipate, hard to put down. I see why she’s a popular author. You’ll enjoy the ride.
• Still on nice physical books with catchy covers, I picked up “Revenge Finds a Home” by Bill Coultas while on vacation in New Brunswick in the summer, but only got around to it now. Set in dual timelines: 1820s and modern Newfoundland, a good intertwining story. Not fantastic writing, not terrible. An easy read, though somewhat annoying in that police-crime-solving genre where of course not all the information is given to the reader in time to figure anything out but then all makes sense at the end.

December already? Such a different end to the year from the start. Family issues settled; life feels like it should. Let’s try out the latest freebie on my Kindle – I need to get holiday plans going so can’t be too engrossed in reading! (As if, haha)

• First in a series (aren’t they all from Bookbub?), “Fury” by J.R. Tate. The byline, “a disaster survival thriller”, caught my attention. I usually love the first in disaster survival series, and this one didn’t disappoint much. (Except for the bad editing, as in, lots of typos and poorly constructed sentences.) But the story, following meteorologists and the brave storm chasers risking it all to save the world from increasingly severe climate change, moved along and kept my interest. Will I read the next in the series? Dunno.
• I got to read another in December – back to a series I’ve followed by an author I love, “Empire”, by Conn Iggulden. Ancient Greece, the Peloponnesian wars between Athens and Sparta. Pericles. Awesome when that history comes to life in such style with such characters. Thankful for such jewels of historical fiction writing.

 2023 is done. A very Merry Reading Season to you all. Of course, it’s always reading season, right? I’m hopeful (always) for the New Year. 2024 begins…NOW.

Have you tried Michele Sabad’s BOOKS?