Episode 20: Bookmarkable is back July 2026

In late October 2026, I had a conversation with Josie Nixon about how books have played a role in her life, the genres she's explored and her continued discovery. Take a listen!   Books and authors mentioned: “Prairie fiction” - Louisa May Alcott’s Little House on the Prairie and others like this. Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon Throne of Glass, A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) and Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas Twilight by Stephenie Meyer Cassandra Clare’s books (The Shadowhunters) The Bone People by Keri Hulme Homegoing by Yah Gyasi Check & Mate, Bride and Mate by Ali Hazelwood Legends and Lattes by Travis Balder City of Thieves by David Benioff London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully by Frank Ostaseski The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy and The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy (the Dearly Beloathed duopoly) by Brigitte Knightley The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt David Copperfield by Charles Dickens Withering Heights by Emily Bronte Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Alchemised by SenLinYu Rose in Chains by Julie Soto The Poppy War trilogy, Babel and Katabasis by RF Kuang  Fan fiction on AO3 Archive of Our Own

Here are the books mentioned in this episode: The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy and The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley (The Dearly Beloathed Duology) Transcription by Ben Lerner London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History and How It Shattered a Nation by Andrew Ross Sorki  

My August 2026 conversation with reader Gaye Bissett. Books and authors we talked about or mentioned include: Robert Ludlum, Len Deighton, John Le Carre Surfacing, Alias Grace, Oryx and Crake, Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, and Persuasion by Jane Austen Franz Kafka Milan Kundera I Served the King of England and Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzenitsyn  Emily Dickinson Jack Kerouac and Alan Ginsberg Cloudstreet by Tim Winton Slow Horses series and the latest in series, Down Cemetery Road by Mick Herron (and show inspired by books, of the same name, starring Gary Oldman) The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill Flesh by David Szaly Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell Thursday Murder Club series and We Kill People by Richard Osman Stolen Focus by Johan Hart Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Romantic Comedy and Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld The Other Bennett sister by Janice Hadlow Series of Jane Austen type-contemporary romances by Audrey Belleza and Emily Harding Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys Danielle Steele Stephen King The Prophet Song by Paul Lynch Maeve Binchy Ulysses and The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett George Bernard Shaw TS Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral (we incorrectly attributed this play to Shaw). The Odyssey by Homer, the recent Emily Wilson translation (and mention of the 1997 miniseries adaptation of The Odyssey starring Armand Assante) Anne Carson (Canadian classics professor and writer) Circe and Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller Runaway by Alice Munro The Republic of Love by Carol Shields The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence CBC radio show Morningside and host Peter Gzoski Who Has Seen the Wind by W.O. Mitchell The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler Two Solitudes by Hugh McLennan The Girl Who Was Saturday Night and Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien   The (new-to-me) word Gaye used (from the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 5th edition): argot /är′gō/ noun  1 A specialized vocabulary or set of idioms used by a particular group. "thieves' argot."  2 A secret language or conventional slang peculiar to thieves, tramps, and vagabonds; flash. 
Similar: flash  3 A secret language or conventional slang peculiar to thieves, tramps and vagabonds.

I'm back and I'm committed to talking more about more books with you! Life is busy, but we can do this -- it's important! I share a quick update and let you in on an exciting conversation for our next episode when I will have a conversation with a (mystery for now) guest who will share her reading life and favourite reads AND we will tackle the challenge of what she should do after a powerful read let her feeling unable to read again! Here are books I mentioned on this podcast. Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman Whalefall, Angel Down and The Shape of Water by Daniel Kraus Women Talking by Miriam Toews Burial Rites by Hannah Kent The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai Dandelion by Jamie Liew The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid Off Campus series by Elle Kennedy Next episode coming in August!

A look back at summer and this reader's confessions of reading for escape and how reading fits into my life plus more reading aspirations and hopefully some new titles for you! Here are the books and authors I mention: The Five Invitations: Discovering what death can teach us about living fully by Frank Ostaseski Quicksilver, by Callie Hart  Dreadfulwater by Thomas King Under One Roof, Loathe to Love You, Below Zero and Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center Roomies by Christina Lauren It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan Out of the Woods by Hannah Bonam-Young Two Rogues Make a Right and We Could be So Good by Cat Sebastian The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match and The Hating Game by Sally Thorne The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro Permanent Astonishment by Tomson Highway Weyward by Emilia Hart  Death of the Author by Nnedi Okarofor The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai The Hearts Invisible Furies by John Boyne  A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver Steering the Craft by Ursula le Guin  

I apologize for the delay in getting this summer episode recorded. Hopefully you can find some good lazy-day reading inspiration with this short update.   Here are books and authors I mention:   Rose in Chains by Julie Soto Manacled and Alchemised by SenLinYu Eve: How the female body drove 200 million years of human evolution  by Cat Bohannon Nobody wants your shit: the art of decluttering before you die by Messi Condo Swept Away by Beth O’Leary Sarah Adams Rome, Kentucky trilogy Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren Nine Rules to Break when Romancing a Rake and These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata A Five Letter Word for Love by Amy James Hair for Men by Michelle Winters Other sports romance authors: Elle Kennedy Sarina Bowen Damon Suede    

I am so pleased to be able to share my first-ever interview with a published author here on Bookmarkable. I was delighted to sit down with local North Vancouver writer Frances Peck to discuss her debut novel, The Broken Places — a Globe and Mail best book of 2022, and finalist for the 2023 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize.  We had a lot to talk about and time flew by! We learned a bit about her second novel, Uncontrolled Flight and she gave some insight into the novel she’s working on now and her writing process. We also dove into all the ways reading has been a key influence, inspiration, object of focused study and pleasure throughout her life. Plus we explored areas of common interest. Books and authors mentioned on this episode: The Broken Places and Uncontrolled Flight by Frances Peck Thomas Hardy (Far from the Madding Crowd, Tess of the D’Ubervilles, Jude the Obscure, The Mayor of Casterbridge). Monty Python sketch: Novel Writing: Thomas Hardy writes Return of the Native George Elliot Charles Dickens February by Lisa Moore Sylvanus Now by Donna Morrisey The Handmaids Tale, Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood The Fireman and The Heart-shaped Box by Joe Hill Stephen King (anything by) Raymond Chandler Dashiell Hammett The Princess Bride and others by William Goldman When We Cease to Understand the World and The Maniac by Benjamin Labutut Mandy by Julie Edwards (aka Julie Andrews) Ken Follett Sidney Sheldon Scruples, by Judith Krantz Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady and Pamela; or Virtue Rewarded, by Samuel Richardson Charles Dickens Jane Austen Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell) The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles Elizabeth George Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) A Time to Write in Earnest by PD James The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve Anne Tyler Louise Erdrich Romantic Comedy, Eligible, American Wife and Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld Jodi Picoult Americanah and Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer and The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry  Anosh Irani Crash Landing by Li Charmaine Anne The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes On Freedom by Timothy Snyder

Happy One-Year Anniversary to Bookmarkable! On April 26, I went to the Canadian Independent Bookstore Day at Cross & Crows Books on Commercial Drive in Vancouver, BC. There were tables of people selling jewellery, authors promoting their books and a pop-up bookstore for the currently online Perfect Match romance bookstore, with owner Amy Pelletier displaying lots of physical copies of popular books. She is searching for a good spot in the city for a physical bookstore, coming soon. You can follow her on IG @perfectmatchbookshop. I also spoke with the book crawl organizer, (there was a book crawl of all independent bookstore on Commercial Drive "the Drive"), who goes by the handle Lady Jane who has a website romancingthedata.com/ and you can find her on IG @romancingthedata. I know on the podcast she also mentions Focus on Romance, but I'm not sure that IG account is hers... I spoke with author Wren Handman and purchased her set-in-Vancouver book, A Midnight So Deadly. I also spoke with a bookstore browser Ben Hill who has a legacy podcast called History of the Mongols (you can still find it and it is fascinating). I also met Ruby Smith Diaz and purchased her book Searching for Seraphim about the late great Vancouver legend, "Joe" Fortes. I met the author Li Charmaine Anne. Other authors and books mentioned on this podcast include: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury The Rising Tide by Anne Cleeves The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue The Broken Places by Frances Peck Be Useful: Seven Rules for Life by Arnold Schwarzenegger Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams On Freedom by Timothy Snyder The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness by Sarah Ramey The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Hello Bookmarkable listeners: Before I forget, here’s where you can signup for April 26th’s Vancouver Book Crawl - or just drop by Cross & Crows bookstore at 1 pm: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/vancouver-book-crawl-tickets-1322842340049. I hear there will be contests and prizes too, plus a popup of a new local romance bookstore, Perfect Match. Reflections on comfort genre (bliss) reading - my conversation with Cathy Needham. In this episode we talked about or I mentioned a few writers and books including: Elizabeth George Thomas King’s Thumps DreadfulWater series Tommy Orange Richard Wagamese Tana French - Faithful Place Peter Robinson’s Alan Banks’ series Louise Penny Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) Agatha Christie Colin Dexter (Inspector Morse series) Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt Gregory Ashe, (Hazard & Somerset series) Ruth Ware, One Perfect Couple Ann Cleeves - The Rising Tide Elizabeth Strout Alone by Megan E. Freeman Hatchet by Gary Paulsen A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson Kate Atkinson, Jackson Brodie mysteries, as well as Life After Life and A God in Ruins The Love Wager by Lynn Painter Stay by Elle Kennedy and Sarina Bowen The Rule Book and Beg, Borrow or Steal by Sarah Adams Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave and Sean O’Hagan Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes American War by Omar El Akkad Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams Love sharing the book love with you!

Here are the books I mentioned in this episode: Stolen Focus by Johann Hari Piranesi and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark One Day Everyone Will Have been Against This and American War by Omar Al El Akkad Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter PS: I Hate You by Lauren Connolly First Time Caller by BK Borison Under Your Spell by Laura Wood Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell Deep End by Ali Hazelwood Promise me Forever by Debbie Macomber Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young I also mentioned the podcasts: Reading Glasses Fated Mates The One You Feed If you enjoy listening, please let me know, give me a rating. If you have ideas for shows or books, send me an email at [email protected]. Thank you for listening and many happy blessings for reading journey!