We love reading! 

Here are some of our book recommendations. 

Never, Never, Hardly Ever

By Kelly McKenzie

Some books find their way into your life just when you need them. For me, this was Never, Never, Hardly Ever by Kelly McKenzie. This delightful, humorous story follows a decade in the life of a daughter helping her mother run an antique store in Vancouver. What begins as a summer job turns into her commitment to stay just one more year, which evolves into a career buying and selling Asian antiques. 

The memoir by Kelly McKenzie is inspired by the meticulous diaries kept by her mother (and store owner) Frankie Robinson. As such, the details from the 1980s are so well drawn. I felt transported to the Vancouver of decades ago when life was distinctly different.

If you’re interested in non-fiction stories about mother-daughter relationships, small business challenges, antiques or Vancouver back in the day, I highly recommend the charming Never, Never, Hardly Ever by Kelly McKenzie.

Read full review here. 

How to Age Disgracefully

By Clare Pooley

Clearly, it’s never too late to start again, which is the driving spirit of How to Age Disgracefully. 

Set around west London, and at a senior drop-in center, this delight of a novel introduces us to a cluster of troublesome characters who are not playing by the rules of aging.

When the city council threatens to shut down the senior center and the adjacent daycare, this collection of unlikely friends comes together to demonstrate precisely How to Age Disgracefully. 

Read the full review. 

The Last Devil to Die

(Thursday Murder Club #4)
By Richard Osman

Rarely am I lost for words. But with The Last Devil to Die, I don't even know where to begin. 

I've enjoyed all the Thursday Murder Club books, and delighted in the characters, but this final book in the series was masterful. 

Thank you, Richard Osman, for your storytelling and for the characters you have brought into the world. I'm sorry to say goodbye to this inquisitive band of friends, but while the series of books has ended, the characters will stay with me.

Read the full review.

The List of Last Chances

By Christina Myers

Do you love stories about life on the road? Does armchair travelling inspire you?   

Then consider “The List of Last Chances” by Christina Myers. This charming book follows 38-year-old Ruthie and 70-something Kay on a cross-Canada road trip from PEI to Vancouver. 

Ruthie expects this to be a direct, focused journey, until Kay reveals her list of must-visit destinations on the 6,000 km journey west. 

This delightful book is a love letter to travel, Canadian destinations, and the people we get to know along the way — including ourselves. 

Read the full review.

The Door-to-Door Bookstore

By Carsten Henn

Clearly we have a thing for books about books and the impact they can have on us. So when we saw this book on the shelf, we knew it was coming home with us. 

“It has been said that books find their own readers — but sometimes they need someone to show them the way.” And so begins this charming novel, set in a small town in Southern Germany. 

The Door-to-Door Bookstore is a quiet novel about a quiet man’s life — until a precocious nine-year-old girl appears.  

This delightful book whispers, rather than shouts, inviting those who believe in the transformative power of books to come along for the journey. 

Read full review here. 

The Guncle and The Guncle Abroad  

By Steven Rowley

And then there were two. 

How does an author write the sequel to a perfectly self-contained book? 

The Guncle Abroad starts up five years after The Guncle arrived in our lives and our hearts. The same characters have all grown up or at least grown older, and are now converging on a lakeside destination in Italy. What could possibly go wrong? 

If you loved The Guncle, see where their passports take them in The Guncle Abroad. 

Read full review here.

The Perfect Family

by Robyn Harding

We all know them — those people who make life appear effortless. That’s the Adler family. It seems like their lives are perfect. Until they aren’t. 

Thrillers are meant to keep you turning the page. They’re meant to keep you guessing. But The Perfect Family with its multiple points of view did something else for me, it kept me caring about the characters. A masterful blend of empathy and mystery, Robyn Harding’s novel is one of my favorites. 

Read full review here.

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

By Abbi Waxman

Another book about books. I sense a theme.

In The Bookish Life of Nina Hill, the title character, Nina, is perfectly content with planning each day of her 29-year-old existence. Her life comprises working at a bookstore, managing her trivia team and her cat. 

Masterful at daily schedules (which are peppered between the book’s chapters) Nina has everything figured out, thank you very much. Until she doesn’t. 

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill is a delightful rom-com with a book focus.

Read full review here.

84, Charing Cross Road and The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street   

By Helene Hanff

The power of books lies not just in their ability to entertain and inform, but in how they make us consider or reconsider the world. 

84, Charing Cross Road, by Helene Hanff is a collection of letters between Helene, a book-loving New Yorker, and Frank Doel, the manager of Marks & Co, a specialty bookstore in London located at 84, Charing Cross Road. The second title, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street consists of diary entries tracing the impact of the first book’s publication on the life of the author.

These two books are a delightful, inseparable pair.

Read full review here.

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend

by Katarina Bivald