Tag Archives: summer reading

That Time I Loved You shares the secrets of a suburban community

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What I read

That Time I Loved You by Carrianne Leung

What it’s about

This collection of linked stories takes place in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough in the 1970s after a spate of suicides in the community. Each story centres on one of the neighbours–adults and children–and provides a glimpse of their various experiences during this time.

Why I picked it up

I came across That Time I Loved You while browsing in my local indie bookstore. I was initially drawn by the title and cover image. Then I pulled it off the shelf and read the first sentence: “1979: This was the year the parents in my neighbourhood began killing themselves.” I didn’t need to read any further to know I was walking out of the store with this book.

What I liked about it

I didn’t realize That Time I Loved You was a book of linked stories until I got it home. (It says so in the book flap, but I guess I skimmed over that part.) Short stories and essays have been speaking to me lately. Maybe that’s because it’s summer, and it’s nice to have a book that’s easy to pick up and put down. The linked stories mean you get a book you can dip in and out of while still allowing you to immerse yourself into one group of characters, the way you can with a novel.

I loved how reading each story resembled wandering through the streets and peering through the windows of the houses, seeing who and what was inside. The reader learns about the secrets that the neighbours keep from each other. I loved the suburban setting being a character in itself–how the landscape affected the characters in different ways. I finished this book earlier this week, so it’s not incredibly strange that I’m still thinking about it. But I believe these characters and their experiences will stay with me for a long time.

These stories touch on many serious issues (racism, homophobia, sexual abuse, mental illness, alcoholism, infidelity). However, it doesn’t feel like a heavy book: There is lightness and joy and humour in these stories, too.

You’ll want to read it if…

This is a great choice if you are interested in character over plot, if you want to learn the secrets and get into the heads of the people you read about. Also, if you’re a fan of novels but want to try the short story genre, this book is a great entry point.

Recommended refreshments

A glass of spiked punch that the neighbourhood kids drink during a party in the book’s final story. (Just remember to go easy. You don’t know how much alcohol is in there.)

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Spring and summer reading: the books I want to read next

Posted in book preview, books, reading by

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It’s the end of May, so it’s basically already summer. For the next few months, I’ll be spending a lot of time with my books outside, sitting in a park or on a patio. Here are some of the books I plan to read.

Books released this spring or summer

Calypso by David Sedaris (May 2018)

I know when I need a laugh, David Sedaris is going pull through for me. So as soon as I heard Calypso was coming out, it went on my to-read list. As if Sedaris’ laugh-out-loud essays weren’t enough to make this suitable summertime reading, the essays in Calypso are apparently themed around Sedaris’ purchase of a beach house. So it’s kind of the perfect book to take to the beach.

Tin Man by Sarah Winman (May 2018)

The latest novel from Sarah Winman was released in the UK in 2017, and I’ve wanted to read it since I first heard rumblings about it. I’ll admit I wasn’t crazy about Winman’s last novel, but I can’t express how much I absolutely loved When God Was a Rabbit (I should really reread that book). Tin Man is about two boys who become friends at 12 years old and then the story jumps forward to many years later to examine what happened in the years in between. It’s described as “heartbreaking,” and I guess I sometimes I like it when books break my heart.

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (June 2018)

Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of  translations of Japanese books. But I hadn’t heard about Convenience Store Woman until I saw @Booktrovert tweet about it as part of her summertime reading list. The story is about a 36-year-old woman who has worked in a convenience store in Tokyo for the past 18 years. My understanding is that it’s about societal expectations of employment and adulthood, and that it has it’s share of funny moments too.

Life in the Garden by Penelope Lively (June 2018)

I’ve recently developed more of an interest in plants and flowers. Because of this, I was looking up gardening memoirs a few weeks ago and came across Life in the Garden by Penelope Lively. Lively is British, and since the Brits use “garden” to describe what North Americans would call a “yard,” this is not exactly what I was looking for. But this sounds even better! I’m a sucker for books that are described as being part memoir and part meditation on a topic. This book is supposed to be not only a memoir about Lively’s experience with gardens, but it’s also an examination of gardens in literature. Sounds amazing!

Books that are slightly older

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway is our next pick for family book club. It’s been on my bookshelf for a while, but I’ve never read it (assigned reading in university that I never got to). I’m excited to have the push to finally crack this one open.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami

I’ve been really into Haruki Murakami lately. After years of avoiding him because I thought his books would be too weird for my tastes, I am making up for lost time. I snagged a copy of Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World from a friend who was moving and getting rid of some books. (The bonus is that this was the Murakami title I already wanted to read next!)

Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan

A co-worker recently read Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore and recommended it to me. It’s about a bookstore patron who commits suicide and the bookstore employee who tries to solve the mystery left behind.

There are more books of course (there are always more books), but these are the ones I want to get to for the next little while. What are you looking forward to reading this summer?