A Truce that is Not Peace – a Book Review

Posted on November 4, 2025 by karenmeg

A Truce That Is Not Peace by Miriam Toews

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I’d read two of Canadian writer Miriam Toews’ books – the most famous one, Women Talking (upon which an award winning movie was made ) and Fight Night. I enjoyed both of them, Fight Night a little more. I wasn’t sure what to expect with A Truce that is not Peace.

This book is a memoir, written in a most unique, unusual fashion, that took me on various paths. Not chronologically written, it bounces around, back and forth, but I did not get lost. I found it fascinating, stream of consciousness writing, very emotional, and powerful. Incredible given the author’s background, and personal tragedies she has suffered (the loss of her father and older sister to suicide) — how she’s been able to navigate life, still be present for her kids and her grandchildren. It was at times so hilarious, and other times shocking. There is the mundane everyday life. And the heartbreak, especially in her use of letters and correspondence with her sister.

It all starts with the question that she is asked, as she is invited to speak at a literary conference.
“Why do you write?” How does anyone answer that?

A very creative mind, and the result is this one-of-a-kind memoir. With the most perfect title.

A solid 4 stars. Thanks to Penguin Random House Canada and the author for the ARC, it was a pleasure to read and review.



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Five things I love about Fall

Posted on November 3, 2025 by karenmeg
  1. Stunning fall foliage!

2. Comfortable walking weather – saw this cute kitty out just enjoying the soft sounds of the brooke in the trails in our neighbourhood.

3. Halloween – I mentioned in the post yesterday, we don’t get a lot of kids here as most are like ours and have grown up. I bought some candy to give out and had about 15 kids come around. The world series game 6 may have gotten in the way.

4. Renaissance, I find fall can be the start of new beginnings, changeovers. With new school years, with new season of TV shows, I used to look forward to fall as a kid too.

5. Cozy – it’s cooler so we can also start turning on our fireplace to get a bit toasty. Not so much into pumpkin latte, but do like pumpkin pie!

What do you like about fall?

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NaBloPoMo November 2025 Days 1 and 2

Posted on November 2, 2025 by karenmeg

I’ve decided to do NaBloPoMo again this year – one blog post every day in November.

Accckkkkk! I’m already late for this important date! So this will be a 2-fer post. And I am showing myself some grace because – sob – the Blue Jays lost the World Series last night and I’m suffering a bit from Daylight Savings…(I know we gained an hour, but still).

Here are some highlights from my past week, Scattershot Sunday if you will…

  1. 1) Game 7 of the World Series, here in Toronto, the city and the country have been hyped seeing the Jays continuing to advance. When many said the Dodgers would take it in four games – the Jays would have none of it and brought the game back home. A heartbreaking nail biting loss to the LA Dodgers, after a crazy game that went to 11 innings. But what a team the Jays are, and bringing the country together during unprecedented times.

I remember going to the huge parade in 1992 when the Jays won the first of two consecutive World Series. It would have been so sweet for them to win again. And full disclosure, I am a bandwagon fan. The beauty of baseball is that it is straighforward enough to follow, and I even played as a kid in school. Not that anyone picked me for the team, I couldn’t hit very well but I could run.

Sigh… there won’t be a next year with this same group of guys, but at least we had the experience. And today is another day. Heartbreaking, but they showed so much heart!

2) I went to a retreat last weekend, spent a couple days focusing on me, and preparing my headspace for the week ahead. A small group of ladies, strangers when we started, but real connections afterwards. It was gorgeous up in Collingwood area…downtown and the arboretum below:

3) The week ahead entailed starting a new job! I’m back working fulltime now, adjusting to a hybrid model. I’ve been entirely remote based since 2019, so this is an adjustment. So far so good, the week went by super quickly and the people have been lovely.

4)MJ the Musical

Two words. Loved. It.

5)And oh, there was Halloween.

Wednesday on a Friday.

Hope you have a great week ahead!

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Wordless Wednesday

Posted on October 22, 2025 by karenmeg

Not ready for this…

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Scattershot … Sunday

Posted on October 19, 2025 by karenmeg

Well, I missed the Saturday scattershot boat! Primarily because it was Thanksgiving holiday last weekend, my birthday happened and the biggest surprise of all – my son came from LA to surprise me! Because it is a big birthday, I intend to continue celebrating for a year!

This was the crudite platter I made to bring to the in-laws Thanksgiving lunch last Sunday. I surprise myself with whatever modicum of creativity I occasionally have.

We drove up north a bit to enjoy the fall colours. My son was especially excited because he misses fall, as the LA weather is consistently sunny and warm every single day. The lack of seasons will be an adjustment.

Our favourite tree, always takes longer to turn…

We then did a very touristy thing – my husband booked a Toronto Harbour tour. It was perfect weather, and a wonderful vantage point to take awesome pictures of the iconic skyline…

We had a lovely dinner at Alder in the Arc Hotel. It was absolutely delish! Had champagne, of course…

Then a couple of days later, my siblings took me and my Mom to Cafe Boulud for another BD dinner…another amazing evening…Seafood risotto!

The week went by quickly – I got up super early to take him to the airport this morning, and was witness to a pretty suburban sunrise.

With all that eating and drinking, I made sure not to miss too many of my workouts:

“Are these my traps?” I asked my husband. “Yup, those would be your traps – you look like a dancer”.

Now that is an awesome birthday present LOL!

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The Book of Guilt – a book review

Posted on October 17, 2025 by karenmeg

The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It’s 1979 England. Thirteen-year-old Vincent and his two brothers, are orphaned triplets, living in a children’s home together. They are cared for and monitored around the clock by different “mothers”. They take daily medication, learn from the “Book of Knowledge”, have nightmares recorded in the “Book of Dreams”, and when they do “bad things”, these events are documented in the “Book of Guilt”. Their house used to be filled with other orphans, many who seemingly did good things to manage to be sent to the utopian “Margate” , an amusement park-type of home. The boys are visited occasionally by an elderly doctor, kindly Dr. Roach, who checks in on them and coordinates their care with the mothers. The three seldom venture beyond their property, and the few times they have entered the village, they have been either avoided or treated with hostility by the villagers. They are different.

In a parallel story, a girl named Nancy is being raised by her parents, spoiled and sheltered, handled most preciously. She is never allowed outside, hasn’t met anyone else beyond her parents, and is asked to hide in a hidden part of her wardrobe, whenever anyone comes to the house.

What is the connection between the two? Something was not quite right in either of these settings.

This was a dystopian novel, and the further I read the more quickly I had to continue. The layers peeled away to reveal horrors and violence, in such sharp contrast to the childhoods that were initially cloaked in hazy innocence.

I was very much reminded of the novel “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro which I read almost 15 years ago. It gave me the same type of unsettling chill. I can’t describe more without spoilers.

A 4 star rating. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and Penguin Random House Canada for the ARC in exchange for a review.




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Scattershot Saturday

Posted on October 11, 2025 by karenmeg

It’s the Thanksgiving long weekend here in Canada. The colour change of the leaves is not as far advanced as usual this year, probably. because summer temps did not break until late this past week. But I like the cooler weather – and the wasps are definitely gone now.

  1. We went downtown again on Thursday to see the French synth band “Air”, playing their complete album “Moon Safari” which was released over 25 years ago. It was a great performance at the refurbished Massey Hall.

2. The Summer I Turned Pretty – the finale (last 2 episodes of Season 3)- I binged with my daughter last night. For the uninitiated, it was a series based on a book trilogy, about a love triangle made up of Isabella (Belly) and two brothers, the elder Conrad, the younger Jeremiah, who spent their summers together as kids, as their Moms were best friends. I was never really team Conrad, he was too sullen, too complicated. I became on Team Jer – but the character of Jer went through a transition, not in a good way. He went from a sweetheart to an annoying college bro. Not to spoil things, but Belly and Conrad ended up together -and now we have a movie to look forward to for the full blown ending.

My verdict? I was somewhat underwhelmed. The Paris settings were lovely though.

3. We went to my brother’s for Thanksgiving dinner – he made the turkey on the barbecue! I decided to bring a colourful salad, a recipe I found on the internet, full of Kale and sliced brussels sprouts, fried shallots, pickled onions, roasted salted almonds … a winner. There was a surprise birthday cake for me – I’ve got one coming up this week. It was nice to have time with family.

4. Golden – I feel like I’ve been living under a rock – I had no idea about this latest animated super popular movie on Netflix, K Pop Demon Hunters,

Oh, I’m done hidin’, now I’m shining like I’m born to be
Oh, our time, no fears, no lies
That’s who we’re born to be

Great lyrics, I love that it’s popular with young girls. EJAE’s story is particularly inspirational. Talented young Asian women.

5. The Blue Jays won over the New York Yankees and are now on their way to the ALCS! This is the furthest they’ve been since 1996. Big game coming up tomorrow as they face the Seattle Mariners. How awesome would another World Series Win be? I know, one step at a time!

6. Sad news – Diane Keaton. She was such a wonderful actress – and a real movie star. I can’t believe she passed, she seemed eternally youthful.

7. Another family get together planned tomorrow. While I love having the family celebrations, I miss having my boy here this year.

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Wordless Wednesday

Posted on October 8, 2025 by karenmeg
Zen
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Scattershot Saturday

Posted on October 4, 2025 by karenmeg

What – two posts in one day?

Another gorgeous October day – only it’s HOT – 25 deg C! Some random thoughts for a Saturday:

1/ Going to a wedding today! I haven’t been to one in a couple of years, and I can’t even remember the last Chinese wedding banquet I went to. I’m looking forward to the festivities.

They will also be having a traditional tea ceremony, and my mother has been asked to participate. It is a formal tradition where the bride and groom offer tea to their elders – and in return the elders give them good wishes in the form of lucky red envelopes with cash, or jewelry. We never had that at our wedding – back then my generation wasn’t as keen to be so traditional, and my husband isn’t Chinese, so it wasn’t something my parents thought was necessary.

Tradition is highly underrated these days, so it will be nice to be witness to that.

2/ Street Dance – Speed Demon – dial up the funk! I learned some new choreography last night, to the new Justin Bieber single, which is so catchy, I can’t get it out of my head. I was practising before bed last night and it registered on my FitBit, which is hilarious. I had no issues getting to sleep and had a decent sleep score. I guess more dance is good ?!

3/ Finishing up on some stuff, like books to be read (hence the previous book review); writing to be done (journalling here and more meaningfully, taking pen to paper), getting to my scene writing.

4/ Just had a Facetime call with my boy – who’s chilling for a Saturday morning. He showed me his sourdough bread starter, we got caught up. Turns out he’s pretty caught up with his grandma, who had some issues with her cable company earlier this week, and I had to be her IT to help re-set her PIN. The last time she had this issue my son helped her out. He already knew that from her texts – and says it is a bit scary that I am her IT support these days. In fact, “I’m surprised that you figured out Facetime without a hitch this time, Mom!). Yeah, he’s funny, good thing he’s not within slapping distance. :).

I do miss him a lot, though – especially during family occasions, like a wedding. Neither kid will join us this time, but such is life when your kids are young adults.

5/ Changes coming up, good ones. I guess, like spring, fall can be a time of new beginnings.

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Our Last Wild Days – A book review

Posted on October 4, 2025 by karenmeg

Our Last Wild Days by Anna Bailey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Loyal May has returned home, the small town of Jackknife in rural Louisiana, to care for her ailing mother. Loyal, a successful journalist, left home at 18 years old, having betrayed her only friend, Cutter Labasque.

The Labasques are a family that lives on the fringes, three siblings who hunt alligators, left to fend for themselves after losing their parents in a spectacular accident. They live in the swamps, and although are known to the town folk, they are not welcomed into the community.

When Cutter is found dead in the muddy swamp, no one seems to care or wonder about the official cause being ruled a suicide. Least of all her two surviving brothers. But Loyal feels there is more to the story, as it would have been out of character for Cutter, even if she hadn’t seen her in years. She is determined to find out the truth, and harbouring guilt about her betrayal, wants to make amends, as she didn’t have the chance to when Cutter was alive. Working with the small team at the local paper, she unravels the webs of lies in the small town connections, amidst the dark atmosphere of the bayous.

I loved the cover and description of the novel. The brooding, dark atmosphere struck me right away. It was a tense, suspenseful murder mystery.

The characters were complex but relatable. Loyal was very believable, and dealing with the decline of her mother while she was trying to find answers, made her sympathetic. I loved how scenes with Cutter were woven so we could witness the bond they had as young teens. Sacha’s character was a good partner for Loyal; he had his own vulnerability and challenges of being different in an unforgiving environment.

The story flowed so well, the tension of the brothers, the cops, and a whole host of other characters (no spoilers). I loved the twists and connections of storylines, and the ominous background of the wild creatures, the alligators, and ties to old superstitions and the unknown.

Every character had a back story, and the author provided just enough on each to enrich the story and make it believable. The story started slowly, but the pace picked up and plot twists happened very quickly. The action scenes were incredibly descriptive and easy to visualize.

I really enjoyed this book! It reminds me of “Where the Crawdads Sing”, so fans of that book would like this.


Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada, the author and NetGalley for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.



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