Category: From My Bookshelf – Lynn Willoughby

  • From My Bookshelf: Kim Fu

    From My Bookshelf: Kim Fu

    By Lynn Willoughby The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore ~ Kim Fu I heard this book discussed on CBC so thought it sounded worthwhile.  Camp Forevermore is a wilderness camp for girls somewhere on the coast of BC.  It has been operating for decades and sounds idyllic, especially to those girls from the inner city,…

  • From My Bookshelf: Bruce Henderson

    From My Bookshelf: Bruce Henderson

    By Lynn Willoughby Sons and Soldiers ~ Bruce Henderson We have all read bizarre and brutal accounts of what happens during war.  And we realize that man’s inhumanity to man know no bounds.  When I saw what this author said….”it is a privilege to write this unknown history…” I knew I had to read this…

  • From My Bookshelf: Megan Mayhew Bergman

    From My Bookshelf: Megan Mayhew Bergman

    By Lynn Willoughby Almost Famous Women ~ Megan Mayhew Bergman This collection of short stories had such great potential.  I was so disappointed! The collection includes stories of Lord Byron’s illegitimate daughter, the early aviatrix Beryl Markham, Oscar Wilde’s niece and ten others.  The shortest, but one of the most interesting, was the story of…

  • From My Bookshelf: Anita Rau Badami

    From My Bookshelf: Anita Rau Badami

    By Lynn Willoughby The Hero’s Walk ~ Anita Rau Badami The setting for this novel is a small town in India with sweltering heat and wild monsoons. It is the story of four generations – their heartaches, their dreams, their kindness and their selfishness. The large family home all occupy is falling down around them.…

  • From My Bookshelf: James Anderson

    From My Bookshelf: James Anderson

    By Lynn Willoughby Lullaby Road ~ James Anderson I really liked Anderson’s first book, “The Never-Open Desert Diner” so was looking forward to reading this one. It did not disappoint. There were many references to the characters and locale of the first book, so it is best to read them in sequence. The high desert…

  • From My Bookshelf: James Anderson

    From My Bookshelf: James Anderson

    By Lynn Willoughby The Never-Open Desert Diner ~ James Anderson Ben is a humble, honest, hard working, very kind truck driver.  He has been delivering goods along his stretch of 117 in Utah for over twenty years.  He know everyone, their habits, their secrets, their personalities.  He lives alone in this remote desert region where the…

  • From My Bookshelf: John Hart

    From My Bookshelf: John Hart

    By Lynn Willoughby Down River ~ John Hart This mystery had great potential but as it went along it became more and more predictable.  A large family ranch with a blended family and lots of money is the setting.  How could that go wrong? Adam is the estranged son, living in New York city.  He…

  • From My Bookshelf: David Adams Richards

    From My Bookshelf: David Adams Richards

    By Lynn Willoughby Principles to Live By ~ David Adams Richards This Canadian author has the unique talent of demanding that you, the reader, participate in his novels.  His characters appear meek and solitary, often not even likable, but Richards expects us to stay with him and see the essential honesty in these people. In…

  • From My Bookshelf: Zoe Whitall

    From My Bookshelf: Zoe Whitall

    By Lynn Willoughby The Best Kind of People ~ Zoe Whitall The man you know as your husband/father has been arrested for sexual assault.  Prior to this he had been voted “Teacher of the Year”, many times.  How do you handle it? This story is developed through the eyes of the many people who thought…

  • From My Bookshelf: Ellen Marie Wiseman

    From My Bookshelf: Ellen Marie Wiseman

    By Lynn Willoughby The Life She Was Given ~ Ellen Marie Wiseman Society has changed in many ways since the 1950s, especially in regard to our treatment and acceptance of those with physical differences.  Today we favour inclusion and freak shows are a thing of the past. Lilly has lived her entire life, of nine…

  • From My Bookshelf: Rachel Joyce

    From My Bookshelf: Rachel Joyce

    By Lynn Willoughby The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy ~ Rachel Joyce Queenie is dying in a hospice in northern England.  She has lived alone on a wind-swept cliff over looking the ocean, tending her garden for twenty years.  Not a very exciting beginning for a book you are thinking.  But in fact, this…

  • From My Bookshelf: Elizabeth Letts

    From My Bookshelf: Elizabeth Letts

    By Lynn Willoughby The Perfect Horse: The US Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis ~ Elizabeth Letts I like reading historical fiction, and occasionally non-fiction.  I also like reading narratives with a different point of view.  This book is a non-fiction account of how a group of passionate, horse loving American…

  • From My Bookshelf: Michelle Berry

    From My Bookshelf: Michelle Berry

    By Lynn Willoughby The Prisoner and the Chaplain ~ Michelle Berry This is an amazing little book by a Canadian author who is new to me.  It is a great premise for a novel, is excellently written.  I was hooked on the first page and barely put it down. “What if prison was the only…

  • From My Bookshelf: Wallace Stegner

    From My Bookshelf: Wallace Stegner

    By Lynn Willoughby Crossing to Safety  –  Wallace Stegner This novel was a book club choice, published in 1987.  It has …”established itself as one of the greatest and most cherished American novels of the Twentieth Century.”  I think it needs to stay in the twentieth century as it felt very dated. Basically it is…

  • From My Bookshelf: Ann Patchett

    From My Bookshelf: Ann Patchett

    By Lynn Willoughby Commonwealth  –  Ann Patchett This novel explores the marriages, the lives of two families living in Los Angeles.  We discover how a chance encounter unravels many lives.  “It is a story about people’s stories.” Mainly this is the story of six children from divorced parents who spend summers together in Virginia. While…