Retreat by Random House

  In an attempt to tackle those never ending reading piles, we started a readathon to run during the length of the Olympics, and aptly naming it the Random House of Canada Olympic Readathon. Many of you have signed up, set an Olympic page goal and have continuously been updating your progress. It’s been a [...]

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The 2012 Olympics are running from July 27th – August 12th and we want to participate in the fun in the form of a reading challenge! Our reading piles are overflowing with great summer books, so what better way to chip away at your book piles than by reading as much as you can during [...]

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History. Adventure. Science fiction. Suspense. Musical composition. Comet-shaped birthmarks. Rebellion. Nuclear power. Vanity publishing. David Mitchell masterfully weaves together a novel that defies the very bounds of itself. To say much more would be against the spirit of the book. So, just this: I loved it. Cloud Atlas will soon be released as a film [...]

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I’ll admit it: I’m a huge John Irving fan (you might have previously read my “Staff Fave” for A Son of the Circus). And I was thrilled to be one of the first internal readers of his newest novel, In One Person, when it was first submitted to Knopf Canada. And let me tell you, [...]

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There is still time to participate in our March/April Random Reader Challenge: Young Adult and what better way to encourage you to join the fun than to share pictures of our staff when we were young adults! We took the plunge when it comes to sharing embarrassing photos, now it’s your turn! Tweet @RandomHouseCA images [...]

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I heard about this book from colleagues long before it was published. They talked about the power of the story and how well it was written. This book has now struck a chord with readers across North America and is landing on bestseller lists from coast-to-coast. Behind the Beautiful Forevers tells the story of families [...]

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I signed on with the Lloyd Jones fan club after reading his breath-stealing novel Mister Pip. I’ve waded in his writing ever since, more or less to the same level of enjoyment. Until I read The Book of Fame. The novel is based on actual events (a team of New Zealanders tour the UK in [...]

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A Son of the Circus, John Irving’s eighth novel, is often overlooked in favor of his more famous books, like The World According to Garp or A Prayer for Owen Meany. But there isn’t another novel like it. For one thing, while most of his novels are set in New England (11 out of 13 [...]

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Unique in an age when stories are gleaned from headlines and tweets, Jeanette Winterson’s memoir is a deeply personal account of a life spent challenging the question Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? In 1985, Winterson’s semi-autobiographical book, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit was published and won the Whitbread Award for Best [...]

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Two months ago I received a copy of 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami and found the sheer size of the book (944 pages) a bit intimidating. I decided it would have to be my vacation read. Every year I spend a week on the beach in Mexico and every year I bring at least two books [...]

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