Review of OLIVE, AGAIN by Elizabeth Strout (New Re.Since his 2001 debut novel River Thieves, Michael Crummey has woven together Newfoundland’s rich and often ignored history with fiction.Review of THE TRAVELLING CAT CHRONICLES by Hiro Ar.Review of THE TESTAMENTS by Margaret Atwood.“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! - When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.” Many thanks to the authors (Eva Björg Ægisdóttir, Layla AlAmmar, Louis Bayard, Louise Beech, Anthony Bidulka, Chris Bohjalian, Geraldine Brooks, West Camel, Terry Cassidy, Dan Chaon, Paul Cleave, Bill Clegg, Jackie Copleton, Michael Crummey, Abigail Dean, Caitlin Dunseith, Omar El Akkad, David Foenkinos, Bobbi French, Gayleen Froese, Claire Fuller, Johana Gustawsson, Sally Wiener Grotta, Jennifer Haupt, Christine Higdon, Wayne Johnston, Doug Johnstone, Ellen Keith, Awais Khan, Ann-Helén Laestadius, Peter Manseau, Alex Morrall, Grainne Murphy, Shawn Nocher, Heather O'Neill, Jo Owens, Kathy Page, Sally Piper, Tanis Rideout, Jaap Robben, Kathleen Rooney, Anakana Schofield, Philipp Schott, Lilja Sigurðardóttir, Rebecca Smith, Douglas Stuart, Sarah Sultoon, Vanda Symon, Paul Toffanello, Amor Towles, Ronnie Turner, Elizabeth de Veer, Michael Whatling, Iona Whishaw, Kathleen Winter, D avid Young) who have tweeted appreciation, contacted me, and/or shared my reviews of their books. I hope you enjoy my postings and reviews and share my blog with friends.

There will be no advertising since I'm not interested in making money, just sharing. All discussions will be related to books and reading. Here I will post reviews of books I have just finished reading and news items and articles of interest. At the urging of a number of friends, I decided to start a blog. I’ve been a book reviewer for a number of years and have posted hundreds of reviews on both Goodreads and LibraryThing. My focus is contemporary literary fiction (especially Canadian fiction) and mysteries. Schatje’s Shelves is my reading blog devoted primarily to reviews of the books I acquire for my library - a library which has 8,050+ books (print, ebooks, audiobooks) and keeps growing.

Now that I'm retired, I have so much more time to read (and to enjoy the library my husband made for me).

For 30 years, I was a high school English teacher/teacher-librarian.

The innocents michael crummey review