Periodically  a new book is added to the list.  Please feel free to contact the Webmaster with suggestions.

Dead in the Water: A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy
by Matthew Campbell (Author), Kit Chellel (Author)

What an eye opener. This book is one of the better true crime stories I’ve read. Intriguing story! Nice web of facts, Insurance industry lore and workings. Good insights into Lloyd’s of London and of the global maritime industry as well as the situation in Yemen. Very well researched! Highly recommended.

Playing Under the Piano  
by  Hugh Bonneville

A moving, laugh-out-loud memoir from one of today's best-loved British actors, whose credits include Downton Abbey , Notting Hill , and Paddington .

From getting his big break as Third Shepherd in the school nativity play, to mistaking a Hollywood star for an estate agent, Hugh Bonneville creates a brilliantly vivid picture of a career on stage and screen. What is it like working with Judi Dench and Julia Roberts, or playing Robert De Niro's right leg, or not being Gary Oldman, twice? A wickedly funny storyteller, Bonneville also writes with poignancy about his father's dementia and of his mother, whose life in the secret service emerged only after her death.

Whether telling stories of working with divas, Dames, or a bear with a penchant for marmalade, this is a richly entertaining account of his life as an actor.

The Gates of Europe.  A History of Ukraine
by Serhi Plokhy - Professor of Ukrainian History and Harvard and the Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute.

Ukraine is currently embroiled in a tense fight with Russia to preserve its territorial integrity and political independence. But today's conflict is only the latest in a long history of battles over Ukraine's territory and its existence as a sovereign nation. As the award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy argues in The Gates of Europe, we must examine Ukraine's past in order to understand its present and future.

Situated between Central Europe, Russia, and the Middle East, Ukraine was shaped by the empires that used it as a strategic gateway between East and West—from the Roman and Ottoman empires to the Third Reich and the Soviet Union. For centuries, Ukraine has been a meeting place of various cultures. The mixing of sedentary and nomadic peoples and Christianity and Islam on the steppe borderland produced the class of ferocious warriors known as the Cossacks, for example, while the encounter between the Catholic and Orthodox churches created a religious tradition that bridges Western and Eastern Christianity. Ukraine has also been a home to millions of Jews, serving as the birthplace of Hassidism—and as one of the killing fields of the Holocaust.
Plokhy examines the history of Ukraine's search for its identity through the lives of the major figures in Ukrainian history: Prince Yaroslav the Wise of Kyiv, whose daughter Anna became queen of France; the Cossack ruler Ivan Mazepa, who was immortalized in the poems of Byron and Pushkin; Nikita Khrushchev and his protege-turned-nemesis Leonid Brezhnev, who called Ukraine their home; and the heroes of the Maidan protests of 2013 and 2014, who embody the current struggle over Ukraine's future.
As Plokhy explains, today's crisis is a tragic case of history repeating itself, as Ukraine once again finds itself in the center of the battle of global proportions. An authoritative history of this vital country, The Gates of Europe provides a unique insight into the origins of the most dangerous international crisis since the end of the Cold War.

The SISTERS of SINAI How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels -
by Jane Soskice

In 1892, two sisters, identical twins from Scotland, made one of the most important scriptural discoveries of modern times. Combing the library of St. Catherine's Monastery at Mount Sinai, they found a neglected palimpsest: one of the earliest known copies of the Gospels, a version in ancient Syriac, the language spoken by Jesus. This is the account of how two middle-aged ladies without university degrees uncovered and translated this text, bringing a treasure to world attention. This Victorian adventure is partly a physical journey: when Westerners generally feared to tread in the region, the sisters Smith traversed the Middle East. It is also a journey of the mind: in an era when new discoveries in science and archaeology were rewriting the accepted understanding of the Bible's origins as well as those of humankind, a great contribution to knowledge was made by two whose only natural advantage was an astonishing gift for languages

Freezing Order  - by Bill Browder

This book will give you an appreciation of the modus operandi of Putin's tactics, whether it has to do with money laundering, people he sees as against him or with regard to his ambitions re Ukraine. Bill Browder returns with another gripping true thriller chronicling how he became Vladimir Putin’s number one enemy by exposing Putin’s campaign to steal and launder hundreds of billions of dollars and kill anyone who stands in his way.  Browder has been a thorn in Putin's side for many years and hasn't given up trying to expose him.

The Last Rhinos - by Lawrence Anthony

When Lawrence Anthony learned that the Northern White Rhino was on the vert brink of extinction - courtesy of a flourishing black marked rhino horns in the Far East - he knew he had to act.  If the world losst the sub-species it would be the largest land masmmal since the wooly mammoth to go extinct.

The Northern White Rhino's last refuge was in an area in the Democratic Republic of Congo controlled by the infamous Lord's Resistance Army, one of the most vicious rebel groups in the world. In the face of unmoving government bureaucracy, Anthony made a perilous journey deep into the jungle to try to find and convince them to help save the rhino.

This book is enlightening and is highly recommended!

Many Canadians lack any knowledge regarding the Democratic Republic of the Congo, of the extreme wealth of minerals, the 2nd largest rain forest in the world, the Congo River only surpassed in size by the Amazon and the other extremes plus vicious violent wars. The Lord's Army has terrorised the inhabitants with exceptionally cruel "torture" and kidnapped children to force them into the army.  As a result the game park where the 12 remaining rhino were living is no longer policed.

21Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act:  Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenouse Peoples a Reality

I wish there were less racism in Canada, but there's not.  Among those who are "not" racist, this book can serve we a huge wake-up call about the shameless plicies perpetrated by Canadian governments, their continuing negative effects in society and what we can do about it .  

Give this book a read. Learn a thing or two. Question your beliefs. Read the TRC Calls to Action. And consider how you, an individual, whether powerful or small, can advance reconciliation.

Greenwood: A Novel  by Michael Christie

This is an outstanding multi-generational family saga. It covers four generations of the Greenwood family. The characters are complex and fully developed. The setting is mainly on an island off the coast of B.C, with towering Douglas Fir trees growing amidst thick rainforests. The story also shifts to other areas of Canada. Like the trees dominating the story, always in the background with their tangled and branching roots, the Greenwood family tree is also entangled. Who really are the Greenwoods?
This is a strong warning about environmental devastation and the necessity to preserve nature. There is suspense, thrilling action with a focus on greed, estrangement, sacrifice, crime, and secrets.
It covers the Greenwood family from 1934 up to a future date of 2038, through wealth, big business, poverty, tragedy, imprisonment, eco-tourism, environmental protests and blockades. It addresses an important question of what makes up a family. This is a powerful, well crafted, beautifully written novel.

Scoundrel by Sarah Weinman 

A thoroughly mesmerizing work of true crime and American history. the author leaves no stone unturned in this extraordinary story of empathy, betrayal, celebrity and the criminal justice system. A smart social commentary with all the twisted pleasures of a psychological thriller, you're defied to put it down.

Klara and The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

It was fascinating to read; the story as told by Klara, an android sold as an "artificial friend" for a girl with a life threatening illness. Klara's observations of the world and its people came across as simplistic yet highly insightful and sophisticated.There were times when I thought I knew where the story was heading and I was completely wrong. The story's pace was steady throughout, but always interesting. The end came about naturally and without much tension and drama. In spite of that, the ending was powerful, thought-provoking, uplifting and shattering.

Twilight of Democracy  The Seductive Lure of AUTHORITARIANISM  by Anne Applebaum.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
They always acknowledge the possibility of failure - a failure that would change plans, alter lives, break up families.  We always knew, or should have know, that history could once again reach into our private lives and rearrange them.  We always knew, or should have know, that alternative visions of our nations would try to draw us in.  But maybe, picking our way through the darkness, we will find that together we can resist them.

The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies  and the Unlikely Heroine who Outwitted America's Enemies  by Jason Fagone

(Thanks to Elizabeth Smith, Encryptian is used to-day.) If you like historical non-fiction, you HAVE to read this book.It's the real story about Elizebeth Smith Friedman and her husband William, both pioneers in crytology and code-breaking. They both played an immensely important role in World War I & II breaking encrypted codes that were supposed to be unbreakable, with Elizebeth hunting Nazi spies in South America and her husband breaking codes from the Japanese.

Elizebeth was brilliant, yet her role in fighting the war and creating techniques in code-breaking that are still used today have been largely edited out of the history books. This happened due to an unfortunate combination of politics, male chauvinism, the power-hungry J. Edgar Hoover taking all the credit for himself, and Elizebeth's inherent modesty and habit of downplaying her achievements.

The Spy and the Traitor:  The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War  by Ben Macintyre

Imagine a Le Carré novel where all the events of the story are factual, the characters real, and the account of every twist and turn in their lives actually documented and supported by verifiable sources. This is it. A fascinating espionage story as it happened; one that proves that reality can match and even overtake fiction, and why every great fiction writer of the genre has to remain rooted in reality. In this well written account of the KGB turned British spy Gordievsky saga you will feel your scepticism stretched almost to the point of incredulity, but this story is real, which makes it all the more fascinating for the spy novel fan.

Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, And The Future Of The Human Race  by Walter Isaacson

How Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and have healthier babies.

THE  OUTSIDER BY by Frederick Forsyth "My Life in Intrigue"

This is a delightful book - this collection of tales by Forsyth about Forsyth is fascinating.  How his novels grew out of his experiences was most interesting. 

If you are concerned about your care later in life, READ THIS BOOK!

BEING MORTAL by Atul Gawande   "Medicine and What Matters in the End"

Gawande has five themes. Firstly, we can do so much better than we are in facilitating an enriching lifestyle for aging persons so that they can retain autonomy and engagement in life-enhancing interactions with family, community and society, a key element in retaining a sense of purpose and meaning. This applies even to those with cognitive impairment as Gawande illustrates with detailed examples. Secondly, our social and health care systems need to retreat from trying to medicalize every problem utilizing extreme measures to keep people alive regardless of the quality of their living. Thirdly, families and professionals need to relinquish their fear of losing the dying person and refocus on helping them access whatever supports are necessary for spending their remaining time as they want to. Fourthly, in order to clarify for both the dying person and ourselves what their priorities are, we all need to have the courage to initiate THE CONVERSATION, asking the questions that surface what is most important to them for the amount of time that they have left. And fifthly, what we learn in helping shape options for sustaining the greatest possible meaning and engagement in life for our dying loved ones can help us prepare the ground for what we want for ourselves when our time comes.

And so, through Gawande’s wonderfully thought-provoking and accessible contribution to this pressing societal issue, my mind was being cast not only backwards to my experiences with all those family members whose dying I accompanied but also forward to what I will want for myself and what I need to put in place to in- crease the likelihood of having as a good a quality of dying as possible.

BENEATH A SCARLET SKY   by Mark Sullivan  (a novel based on fact)

Ukraine is currently embroiled in a tense fight with Russia to preserve its territorial integrity and political independence. But today's conflict is only the latest in a long history of battles over Ukraine's territory and its existence as a sovereign nation. As the award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy argues in The Gates of Europe, we must examine Ukraine's past in order to understand its present and future.

Situated between Central Europe, Russia, and the Middle East, Ukraine was shaped by the empires that used it as a strategic gateway between East and West—from the Roman and Ottoman empires to the Third Reich and the Soviet Union. For centuries, Ukraine has been a meeting place of various cultures. The mixing of sedentary and nomadic peoples and Christianity and Islam on the steppe borderland produced the class of ferocious warriors known as the Cossacks, for example, while the encounter between the Catholic and Orthodox churches created a religious tradition that bridges Western and Eastern Christianity. Ukraine has also been a home to millions of Jews, serving as the birthplace of Hassidism—and as one of the killing fields of the Holocaust.
Plokhy examines the history of Ukraine's search for its identity through the lives of the major figures in Ukrainian history: Prince Yaroslav the Wise of Kyiv, whose daughter Anna became queen of France; the Cossack ruler Ivan Mazepa, who was immortalized in the poems of Byron and Pushkin; Nikita Khrushchev and his protege-turned-nemesis Leonid Brezhnev, who called Ukraine their home; and the heroes of the Maidan protests of 2013 and 2014, who embody the current struggle over Ukraine's future.

This is a most interesting and poignant true story. The hero of the tale is Pino Lella, an  Italian boy, only seventeen years old when he is enlisted by a Catholic priest to aid him in leading escapees and downed airmen over the Italian Alp to Switzerland. After some harrowing experiences doing just that, Pino leaves the area and returns to Milan. His parents insist that he joins the German occupiers army so that he will not be conscripted and end up on the Russian Front. Nearly immediately he is enlisted to become the driver for the highest ranking Nazi in Italy. As soon as this is made known to the Italian resistance, they call upon him to spy as he now has access to the German war machines plans for Italy.

These secrets and many others he kept all his life. After the war he moved to the U.S.A. and lived a decent life but kept mum about his wartime experiences until Mark Sullivan, the author, was able to convince him to tell his story. Historically, this gave me a much better picture of Italy during the war and the brave men and woman who risked their lives to go up against the Germans who occupied their territory.

THE STORIES by Jane Gardam 

a set of short stories, ideal for Summer days!  Any of Jane Gardam's books are a delight to read.

STAY SHARP by Sanjay Guptor  (Neuro-surgeon) 

This is one of those books that cuts through the medical/scientific jargon and describes the brain's appearance and  function of various areas.  It discusses the different types of Dementia and Alzheimers and to be aware of conditions which mimic Alzheimers. How lifestyle, interests, diet etc. affect brain health. Great for a lay person.  He is a bit wordy at the beginning of the book but just scan that and get to the meat of the subject.,  His suggestions on how to take care of your mental health (directed to Dementia and Alzheimer's concerns). 

THE BOOK WOMEN OF TROUBLESOME CREEK  by  Kim Michele Richardson and THE GIVER OF STARS by Jojo Moyes 

another  recommendation in the same theme of Packhorse Librarians Both of these books relate to the International Women's Day on March 8 as not only did these librarians bring reading material to  remote  areas,  this  initiative gave jobs and independence to women in the Depression era. Of course, riding a horse or mule in these sometimes dangerous areas in all kinds of weather to deliver books and magazines was not always a "walk in the park".

THE NINE LIVES OF CHARLOTTE TAYLOR  by Sally Armstrong.

Using a seamless blend of fact and fiction, Charlotte Taylor's great-great-great-grandaughter reclaims the life of a dauntless and unusual women and delivers living Canadian history with all the drama and sweep of a novel.  This woman had so many obstacles to overcome in the 1770's that the reader can not help but feel sorry for her. But she rolled with the punches and did what she had to do to raise her family and farm the land. She had three husbands (and one-almost husband) all of whom died untimely deaths. She bore ten children, all of whom lived to adulthood. The author, Sally Armstrong, is a great, great, great-granddaughter and she has delved into a great amount of research to get the facts correct. This is a novel and Sally has done a good job of lacing fact with fiction to make a good story. However, I was left wishing that some of the fiction parts had been true!

ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE      by Louise Penny –   

another mystery by Canadian author, set in Quebec

THE FOX HUNT  by Al Samawi Mohammed 

A book that offers an insight to a country as well as the conflict many of us know very little about.   Tells one young man’s unforgettable story of his harrowing escape from Yemen's brutal civil war with the help of a daring plan engineered on social media by a small group of interfaith activists in the West.   WINNER: 2019 NAUTILUS BOOK AWARDS 

The New Silk Roads: The Present and Future of the WorlD 

by Peter Frankopan (Author) a very engaging and thought-provoking book that challenges western-centric thinking. a must read as the world order undergoes great change. excellent insights to the rise of china in today’s world.

BARACK OBAMA A PROMISED LAND Autobiography

A riveting, deeply personal account of history in the making - from the president who inspired us to believe in the power of democracy. 

THE WHOLE BODY MICROBIOMET by Brett Finlay

While much has been written about bacteria in the gut, exciting new research shows that there are millions of microbes both inside our bodies—supporting our brain, teeth, heart, lungs, bones, immune system, and more; plus the microbes on our bodies, coming from the air we breathe and the things we touch all day long—cell phones and kitchen sponges, pets and doorknobs, and even other humans. These microbial “lifelong companions” have an immense impact on our daily health—and, as groundbreaking research is showing, they have the power to help prevent and reverse the most common age-related diseases.