raidergirl3's reading in 2026

Breathe by Karen Gallant

Hi, I'm Elizabeth from PEI, Canada and this is my fifth year in Club Read, but I haven't been consistent in posting at all. I retired in June 2025 from teaching high school physics and math. One of my small retirement goals has been to make supper for my husband as he is still working, and did most of the cooking previously. And I am doing pretty well at it! We are empty nesters this last year as our youngest moved out to an apartment. We have three adult children from 22-28 old, and our oldest is making us grandparents in less than a month. Very exciting!

Some of my favourite reads from last year include:
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, epistolary
Old City Hall by Robert Rotenbert, Canadian and a mystery
The Retirement Plan by Sue Hincenbergs, Canadian and hilarious
Cold by Drew Hayden Taylor, Canadian and mystery, indigenous
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden, winner Women's Prize for Fiction
plus the Harbindur Kaur series by Elly Griffiths

Nonfiction:
For the Love of My Sister by Lynn Gallant Blackburn, true crime, local
The Girl Who Drew Butterflies - Joyce Sidman, historical science
Stories I Only Tell My Friends - Rob Lowe, memoir
How to Be a Wildflower - Katie Daisy. whimsical

I also re-read several Elizabeth Strout books that were just as good the second time. I loved Tell Me Everything last year and decided to read all the books with characters in the Strout-verse.

I like mysteries, international mysteries, women's fiction (terrible description), lists like Tournament of Books, sometimes the Booker, but especially The Women's Prize for Fiction.

My little list of MRE (must read everything) authors, and books from their backlist I don't want to forget:

I think I've read all of:
Mary Lawson, Carol Shields, Rohinton Mistry, and Maeve Binchy
Tracy Chevalier, Elizabeth Strout, Liane Moriarty, Lori Lansens

Want to read all:
Ann Patchett (Run, The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft)
Emma Donoghue (Akin, Landing, Slammerkin, Life Mask)
Sarah Waters (Tipping the Velvet)
Kate Atkinson (Human Croquet)
Tana French (The Witch Elm)
Maggie O'Farrell (The Hand that First Held Mine, After You'd Gone, This Must Be the Place)
Heather O'Neill (Capital of Dreams, Daydreams of Angels)
Catherine Hernandez (Crosshairs)
Taylor Jenkins Reid (Atmosphere, Forever Interrupted, One True Loves)

Jess Walter (Zero, The Financial Lives of Poets)

This week I am listening to Canticle by Janet Rich Edwards, paper book The Secret Son by Laila Lalami, and a slow ebook by David Adams Richards, Lines on the Water about fly fishing. I picked it because we went to the Miramichi River this past summer, and I have liked DAR writing before. I don't fish, so I'm skimming a bit, lol.

Love your MRE, and want to read alls. Nice new thread. Wish you a great year of reading

Found you! Happy New Year, Elizabeth.

>5 lauralkeet: yay! I was just going to go to your place and let you know I’ve got a place going here. Happy New Year, Laura!

>2 raidergirl3: Emma Donoghue and Maggie O'Farrell are becoming favorites of mine as well. I'm glad to see all the positive reviews of The Correspondent, my book club is reading it later this year.

Hello, Elizabeth. I found you on the music thread and thought I would come have a peek here.

I loved The Correspondent and epistolary books in general. I am hit and miss with Tracy Chevalier (absolutely LOVED some of her titles, meh on others. I am reading one now and it will be my first finished of the year, The Glassmaker. If I am honest, I want to love it more than I do and will explain the reasons when I review it, lol. If you've read O'Farrell's Hamnet I think you will enjoy the new film that's just out. I saw it last week and really thought it was well done and true to the book. She was a co-screenwriter, which I'm sure helped!

Happy new year!

>7 labfs39: Lisa, when I read The Correspondent I knew very little about it, other than that Ann Patchett recommended it, so I was surprised by it. I hope the hype around it doesn't make you feel let down. I hate when that happens.

>8 jessibud2: Jesse, thanks for stopping by. I love epistolary books too, and have over 30 tagged as such in my library. I remember in the early days of book blogging finding out that was a type of book, and realizing how many I had already loved.
Even a poor Tracy Chevalier book is a good one for me. I held off on The Runaway Slave for a long time, not wanting to have no TC books left to read, and also because I find slavery books too awful but of course she did a great job. The Glassmaker was very ambitious and I'm still not sure what i think about the time aspect, but I was impressed with her trying it, instead of following generations. The mystique of Murano overrode the time issues for me. I look forward to your thoughts.
I'm sure I will love Hamnet the movie, but to give you an idea how behind I am at watching movies, I am planning to watch The Devil Wears Prada for the first time. My husband is terrible with the control of the remote, and flicks between sporting events and rewatching old movies that he has seen before. It takes some effort to watch new movies around here. That is now my daytime activity plans for the winter since I retired.

>9 raidergirl3: - Yes, the time aspect is what bugs me. I think following the family through generations would have worked better (for me) because the way she does this, in my opinion, adds nothing to the story at all. Ambitious, yes, for doing something unexpected but I am finding it more annoying than not and that is kind of ruining it for me because otherwise, the story itself is a good one and of course, she is a great storyteller. Oh well.

>2 raidergirl3: Your MRE list is great. I guess I kind of have a mental list like that. I'm afraid if I write it down, it will become homework and I won't make any progress

Happy New Year, Elizabeth. I love the idea of an MRE list. Your list of favorites is enticing as well.

I look forward to following you this year.

Welcome to the retirement club! There were quite a few of us last year it seems... I'm going to have to add The Correspondent to my TBR. Happy reading!

>10 jessibud2: Jesse, It was certainly a risk Chevalier took in telling the story that way. She often releases new books every two years, so hopefully she is due for a new one this year.

>11 Nickelini: Joyce, I write down my list because I feel like I forget about what I want to read and I don't want to look up the older books everytime. I actually got four authors up to date last year, reading the one book I was missing for them. And they were all good reads!

>12 BLBera: Happy New Year, Beth. I'm looking forward to seeing your reads as well.

>13 WelshBookworm: Retirement is great, Laurel! I don't have any more time, but I am less tired all the time, and just doing what I want. I took a Learn to Curl session in the fall, and I put my name on the substitute teacher list, but I will only do my phyiscs/math friends at my school. I like tutoring too. I haven't seen anyone yet who hasn't liked The Correspondent.

I've got an Indigo gift card for Christmas so was poking around Kobo for some ebook deals. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans is on sale for 3.99, and usually amazon has the same deals if any one hasn't read it yet.

I got:
Mercy by Joan Silber (just taking a chance)
Other People's Fun by Harriet Lane (I've loved her 2 previous books I've read)
Snap by Susin Nielsen (humorous Canadian book?) She also wrote a bunch of Degrassi books back in the 80s, lol

I have Mercy on reserve at the library. I have loved other books by Silber.

>16 BLBera: Great to hear, Beth. I haven't read anything by Silber before.

>1 raidergirl3: Happy New Year, and congratulations on the new addition to your family. How exciting! I really like the idea of an MRE list.

>18 rasdhar: Thanks for stopping by rasdhar! Happy New Year to you as well. The MRE list isn't meant to be pressure, more a reminder of authors and books I would like to get to. Sometimes people work their way off my MRE if I don't enjoy enough of their earlier work (Anne Enright, for example) and I'll stick to enjoying their more evolved writing styles of their later books.

What's new this week?

I'm am reading in paper, The Queen Who Came in From the Cold by SJ Bennett, a delightful take on Queen Elizabeth solving mysteries. This one is set in the 1960s so has become an historical mystery. In audio I am listening to Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite. I'm conflicted as the narrative jumps around quite a bit, but there is one story line I particularly like and recognize but I'm getting some of the other time periods and characters mixed up, because I don't always listen as well as I should. I am just about finished my ebook, Smoke and Mirrors, #2 in the Brighton mysteries by Elly Griffiths. All of a sudden many audiobooks have arrived so decisions may have to be made.

I substituted two days last week at my old school. I only advised 2 teachers that I would sub for them (young boys who took over a few of my courses) I liked it well enough, but I don't think I'll do a lot of it. I will think of subbing as a way to purchase specific things, like the Toronto Raptors tickets I bought for our trip to Toronto in March. With the money I earn subbing, I can feel comfortable buying more expensive seats than I might usually. If I sub a few more days, I might upgrade our hotel, lol. I also picked up another tutoring student. I quite like tutoring, so could see picking up more of that. They come to my house, it is just an hour, and I have all the math/physics knowledge without having to prepare. Most people would say it is 'under the table cash' which it kind of is, except Ron, my husband, works for CRA, (the Canadian IRS) so nothing is under the table for him.

I got back on my exercise routine after a slack December. i am part of an online fitness group, based in PEI. Kathleen posts a 30 min class, five days a week, a combination of strength, pilates, barre, and cardio (HIIT). Lower body was hurting, lol, but in a good way.
We got caught up on The Pitt, season 1, so now we can enjoy season 2 once a week. Also, it's NFL playoff season so my husband is very happy.

After I retired last year, my husband and I started planning a trip to Ireland. It turned into more, and we had the best two weeks. We haven't travelled much other than sports trip when our kids were growing, so this was a big adventure.

We flew direct from Halifax to Dublin. We stayed at my husband's aunt and uncle's place in Dublin. They spent the whole week entertaining us and driving us places. We did a couple days in Dublin, taking the bus downtown with Nicky. We did EPIC museum, the Jeannie Johnston boat, Book of Kells tour, the Ireland National Museum, the hop on hop off bus, and walked all around. Nicky was our tour guide (he's from Dublin) and loved a pub stop for a pint, so we saw many old, interesting pubs with lots of history. We had a wonderful meal at The Church, and refurnished church into a restaurant.

He and Barb drove us to Belfast one day to see Crumlin road Gaol, Titantic experience, and stopped at St Patrick's grave on the way back to Dublin.
The next day we drove to County Clare to Bunratty Castle and Folk Village, ate at Durty Nelly's (there is a Durty Nelly's in Halifax so that was cool), and then to the Cliffs of Moher.
I was so glad we had Nicky to drive, as the left hand driving and the windy narrow roads would have been impossible for us.

We ate at their local pub, The Comet, several nights. Arrived one night as a big soccer game was ending in penalty kicks, so got to see crazy energy vibes which was cool. Nicky started us off the first day with a home cooked Full Irish Breakfast. It was fun but such a lot of food! We also stopped for a 99 cone, a UK treat that was just a soft serve cone with a chocolate wafter stuck in it, but it was a great treat.
Another little day trip to Hill of Tara, Battle of the Boyne site, and Newgrange and Nowth historical sites. My husband's niece who moved to Dublin three years ago, joined us there and we got to meet her lovely Irish boyfriend. I predict a wedding soon, lol.

Another Dublin day at the Guinness experience, and then the Pearce-Lyons whiskey experience. i am a new fan of whiskey, and found Irish coffee, whiskey fudge, and whiskey ice cream for the rest of our trip. After so many very large events (book of kells, titanic, guiness, the sidewalks, epic) with so many people, the calm small whiskey tasting with about 10 other people was so nice.
Our last morning in Dublin was quiet. I went to Tesco and found Oxtail soup mix which I can't get in Canada anymore and use for a stew recipe, and my husband did a load of laundry. Then we went to Arbor Hill Memorial where the 1916 revolutionists were buried and Glasnevin Cemetery.

We had amazing weather. I should have brought sunglasses instead of an umbrella. It rained some, but never on us! We'd come out of a pub after a pint, and notice that it had rained. It rained on some of our drives, but always stopped when we would get out of the car.

Part 2 of our trip:
We flew the quick 45 min flight from Dublin to Liverpool. Here we met up with my cousin (my mother's cousin but he is much closer to my age). I met Ash and his husband Sam for the first time last fall when they came to Canada for a trip. We were talking about our Ireland trip and how we also wanted to see Scotland. They said - fly over to Liverpool, stay with us, and we will put you on a train to Edinburgh. So we did!

They live in the Waterloo area of Liverpool, on beach in a wonderful amazing old house that has been converted to flats. Their beach has the Gormley statues, and we saw swans. They fed us wonderful meals, and we spent a day wandering Liverpool. I think they are kinda over the Beatles thing, so we didn't see any Beatles stuff, but had a wonderful lunch (Welsh rarebit for me) and toured two cathedrals at either end of Hope Street. Also a pub stop at the Philharmonic. This visit was more visiting with the boys, and catching up. Lots of tea.

We then took a 4 hour train trip to Edinburgh to spend the night before we started a 3 day bus tour to the Highlands. Our first bus trip. We drove up to Inverness, stopped along the way to see The Kelpies, the Harry Potter train, a couple of cute little towns. Sunset in Inverness was 10:07 pm and as per our trip, the weather was sunny mostly, and cloudy at worst. Again, no umbrellas required. The second day was on to the Isle of Skye which was lovely. So many sheep! and fences were optional, so the bus often had to slow to avoid a lamb on the road. I don't know how that big bus was able to drive the one lane roads, but our busdriver was amazing. Back to Inverness for the second night. We found a restaurant that had a Highland Experience going on, dancers and bagpipers while we ate.

My husband really wanted to try haggis and got some in a pub the first night in Edinburgh. He loved it so much he got it the next two nights as well. Haggis and Neepsf (turnips) and Tatties (mashed potatoes). I tried his and it was okay.
On the way back to Edinburgh, we stopped at Loch Ness, and then Culloden battlefield. We actually ran into an old friend at Culloden. He lives in PEI and was travelling in Scotland. It was insane!

Our last day was spent in Edinburgh. We had two nights in a hotel near the Royal Mile. I wanted us to have easy access to walking everywhere so we splurged a bit to get location. We walked up and down, and from one end to the other in Edinburgh, hitting 30,000 steps! By this point we were tired of having people explain things to us, so we didn't take the Edinburgh Castle tour, but we walked the park around it. There were so many people in Edinburgh! It was also the week before World Cup, and they were very excited about that - the energy was already building! Found the bus to the airport, a 7 minute walk from our hotel, and caught the 9:30 flight direct to Halifax. With the time changes, we were back in Halifax by noon. Had a visit with our son, and new grandbaby, then drove the 3.5 hours home to PEI.

That sounds absolutely amazing, Elizabeth. You covered a lot of ground!

>21 raidergirl3: ate at Durty Nelly's

I thought, hold on there . . .

(there is a Durty Nelly's in Halifax so that was cool), Yes! we walked past there a few times -- considered going in, but went to The Stubborn Goat instead (recommend) and then Maxwell's Plum for a nightcap (my husband still talks about the beer flight they served that included cider. LOL)

I was so glad we had Nicky to drive, as the left hand driving and the windy narrow roads would have been impossible for us.


After a few trips to England, my husband (who has no fear driving anywhere in Italy) doesn't want to drive in the UK again. He was fine with Australia, but it's the narrow little roads in the UK that stress him out. It takes two of us (I have to yell "Keep left!!" often)

The Scotland part of your trip also sounds AMAZING. I think that's a place that years ago my husband had no interest in visiting, but has come around to. Lots of people we know (including our daughters) rave about it, and he has a close Scottish friend here who has recently started going back every year and his pictures are stunning. So I can finally see Scotland in my future. Plus, some of the most fun people are from Scotland (not exactly this friend, he's known as an "angry man", but we all love him and his heart is in the right place . . . never mind, I love the Scots. All the footage of the fans in Boston for the World Cup have been so fun).

>21 raidergirl3: >22 raidergirl3: how fantastic! Sounds like a wonderful trip

Your trip sounds fantastic. It's great to visit places where you know people. They know all the cool places. I was in Scotland last year and loved it as well.

>24 Nickelini: Read Durty Nelly's and then the reference to beer flight, but in my mind it became beer fight, as here (Halifax) the two go together.

Thank you for sharing your trip with us. It sounds amazing. Any pictures?

>23 lauralkeet: We did! It felt like 3 different trips all in one - Ireland, Edinburgh, the Highlands.

>24 Nickelini: you hit some good eating spots in Halifax! I've been to Stubborn Goat once a few years ago, and Maxwell Plums, which has been around for a verrry long time. But not as long as the Irish Durty Nelly's, which was established in 1620. History is so different in Europe, lol.

>25 Nickelini: I got a kick out of even the sidewalks had signs painted on them 'look right' or 'look left' to remind you of the other side. Makes you wonder about how many incidents occurred to make them add that, lol.

>26 Nickelini: I really loved the Highlands. It was my husbands request as his (way back) family came from the islands off Skye. We didn't get to Benbecula, but because the weather was so great we were able to see the islands from Skye.
I think there were some of the Tartan Army leaving Edinburgh going to Halifax, in their kilts, when we did. They were probably heading on to Boston.
At a couple of bus stops for views, there were be a random bagpiper playing/busking. It was surreal to look at the scenery and have the babpipes playing.
Inverness was a great size town to walk around, but it felt a little rough. There were a lot of bus tours anchored there for a night or two. Skye, Loch Ness, Culloden, there was lots to see while there.

>27 dchaikin: Thanks Dan. I wanted to write a record down to have as reference. I plan to get a photo book made with our pictures, so some notes will help.

>28 BLBera: Yes, Nicky was going from cool pub to cool pub. But we also went to a few places he wasn't familiar with, like the Irish National Museum, so that was cool.
Scotland was wonderful, both parts - Edinburgh and the Highlands, in very different ways.

>29 SassyLassy: I loved that we got to Durty Nelly's. Now I've been to both!

>30 labfs39: I'll have to figure out how to add some pictures, and find a few to represent the trip.

here's a few pictures from out trip:
1. Gormley men (statues) on Liverpool beach
2. church in Northern Ireland on sunny day
3. Brazen Head pub - one of many
4. view across river in Inverness
5. cliffs on Isle of Skye

>38 raidergirl3: love the pictures!

Thanks for sharing the photos. Scotland is definitely on my bucket list.

>39 dchaikin: thanks Dan. We took so many pictures!

>40 labfs39: We loved Scotland, Lisa. We only had 4-5 days there but we did cover a lot.

Since this is a book site, there were some books involved in our trip. I read books in the months before we left, (I'll write about them soon) and while we were in Ireland I picked up a couple books.

That Place We Call Home by John Creedon was a book my husband's aunt had about place names in Ireland. She has lent it to several of us PEIers who have been over visiting. Barb and Nicky come to PEI/Maritimes at least twice a year, for 3-4 weeks each so I'll get it finished before they are back this fall.

I also picked up a book at the giftshop at Crumlin Road Gaol in Belfast, All Growed Up: What Breadboy Did at University by Tony MacAulay. I like to pick up a book when I am travelling, one that I'll not get at home. This one caught my eye because the author has our last name.

Thanks for sharing the photos. I also like to pick up books when I travel.

Books I read before my trip to UK:

Ireland
Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
Plus after reading this, we watched the series on Disney. Nonfiction book about the The Troubles in the 70s and 80s. This is my favourite type of nonfiction - starts with one specific event, in this case, the disappearance of Jean McConville, widowed mother of many children. It then expands and puts this event within the larger framework, the rise of the IRA in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. This was excellent, and so was the show. I did see a spraypaint in Dublin, 'I.R.A 2026', and we drove through a decidedly Ulster neighbourhood in Belfast. The history felt very present.
*Gerry Adams denies any involvement in the IRA or Jean McConville's murder* Lol, this disclaimer was at the end of every episode and we laughed every time.

Last year I read An Accidental Villain by Linden MacIntyre which was more about the original uprising in the 1910s. I'd like to go back and read this again with my updated Dublin knowledge of the uprising. We were at the General Post Office where the revolution started.

Liverpool
I found The Book of Liverpool: A city in short fiction, a collection of short stories set in Liverpool or written by citizens. When I told my cousins about this book and some of the authors, they said they see Frank Cottrell Boyce around their neighbourhood. Cool! The stories were very different, including one by Beryl Bainbridge, and one by Clive Barker. I just wanted to get the flavour of the history. I actually read Kit de Waal's Sweet Pea (also called The Best of Everything) which was set in Birmingham and felt like Liverpool as well.

Scotland
Benbecula by Graham McRae Burnet
Great historical fiction set on the small island of Benbecula which is off the coast of Skye, and the island my husband's family came from in the 1800s. It was just released last year, and is a bit of a murder mystery, but showcases life in the mid 1800s, and based on a true crime event. I've got his other book, the Booker nominated His Bloody Project and can't wait to get to it.

Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole
This was a great, easy reading historical fiction set in WW1 and WW2, based on letters. There wasn't as much on Skye as I had hoped, but the story started there. A little romance, a little war, was just what I wanted.

I'm now reading The Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith, the third in the Isabel Dalhousie series. I haven't read the first two books in many years, but an Edinburgh based cozy mystery seems perfect right now.

I haven't read Say Nothing, but we loved the series. And yes, that disclaimer at the end was ... incredible.

>45 lauralkeet: the show was so good! Of course the book had more background, especially on the Boston Project.
I’m listening to London Falling, Patrick Radden Keefe’s newest book, also NF.

Loved your Ireland stories. I've been there three times. Twice in my 40s before I met my wife and once with her. I won't go into all the reasons I love it there or I'll be here all day. Regarding the driving, though, yes, the left-hand driving is mind-bending if you're not used to it. The first time I was in Ireland my plan was to drive from Dublin to County Kerry. I'd never driven with the steering wheel on the right before. When I went to the car rental office, I insisted he dig up a car with an automatic transmission. I knew how to drive a stick shift, but I didn't want to try it with the gear shift on the wrong side. The agent thought I was the lamest thing he'd ever met, particularly as he had to have the car brought over from the other side of Dublin. And, yes, there was a surcharge. I'm sure he thought of it as an idiot tax. He decided to give me a driving lesson, which I honestly didn't mind a bit, on driving on the left side of the road. On the car's dashboard, written backwards so that it would show up correctly when it was reflected in the windshield, were the words, "Get to the left!" with an arrow. I appreciated that, as well. I've driven in Ireland three times, now, as I said, and I've more or less gotten the hang of it. If you want to see narrow mountain roads full of giant-sized potholes however, try driving in Trinidad. Yikes! That was a crazy experience. (Otherwise, we loved our vacation there.) I haven't gotten to Scotland, though my wife has. Someday!

>47 rocketjk: You were brave to drive in Ireland! The standard transmissions would be a while other issue for me, and std seems to be the, well, standard over there. I did get a kick out of the 'look right' or 'look left' at the sidewalks. Mostly driving seemed okay, but every time we went into a roundabout on the left it threw me.
Scotland was wonderful, especially the highlands. It was very much like Cape Breton and Nova Scotia. I can see why those emigrants were so quick to settle in - it felt like home.

>48 raidergirl3: "I did get a kick out of the 'look right' or 'look left' at the sidewalks. "

Ha! The first time I went to Ireland I went on my own. I'd been told you didn't need to make lodging arrangements ahead of time if you weren't picky because there was an information booth in Dublin Airport where the kind folks would find you a hotel or b&b room for you, make the calls, etc. This seemed like just the ticket for me. This was all exactly true (this was in the mid-1990s; whether it's still the case, I don't know). I was offered a room in a nice b&b in the Donnybrook neighborhood. Sure, that sounded colorful. I hadn't even known Donnybrook was an actual neighborhood rather than just a word that came from who knew where for a bar fight. (Not that I was interested in taking part in a bar fight.) It turned out that the b&b was lovely but that Donnybrook is on the far outskirts of the city (at least that's my memory of it). I only stayed the one night, because I realized I really did want to be in closer to the action of the big city. Anyway, that night, across the street from the b&b, was a pub, which naturally I made for straightaway. I stepped off the curb to cross the street and immediately got a blast from a car horn and a voice yelling at me from the car something loud (and accurate) about my being a "f------ idiot." Because, of course, I had looked the wrong way. Because in Donnybrook, they have very few tourists, and so nothing painted at the crosswalks. Welcome to Ireland! All that just to say that in downtown Dublin and other cities, where the traffic is heavier and the tourists are thicker on the ground, those painted admonitions are a very good idea.

Can't wait to visit Scotland.