Hello dear readers,

It will come as no surprise to you that I’m a book lover, or that I’ve been an avid reader since I was young. My early years were characterized by Nancy Drew mysteries, and I spent a good amount of time in both my school and public libraries, reading everything I could get my hands on. 

Even now, I’ll choose reading (or writing) over pretty much anything else. If I have free time, it’s almost always spent with a book in hand. Home or coffee shops or the park, it doesn’t matter to me—as long as I’m consuming stories. And they don’t have to be new, or new to me—I’m a huge re-reader, too.

But let’s go back to 2022: I was feeling a little burnt out, and like I didn’t have all that many creative outlets, which might sound strange when you find out I was half way through an art therapy degree at that point in time. And yet! I knew I needed something to keep me going, something aside from a very specific form of visual art. 

I’ve always been hugely into blogging, and writing short nonfiction pieces, and so the next logical step was book reviews. I wrote a number of them on Instagram, as well as cross posting to my blog, though both of those have long been archived. I felt I was too defined by these reviews, and also felt pressure (from myself) to keep doing them, which of course made me stop.

But then, in 2024, I started working at a newspaper, and had the opportunity to write a column. I’m sure you can guess what I chose to write about.

My column, Book Talk, was a place for me to rant and rave about books in a relaxed way, and also in a much more analog format. And it wasn’t only new books, which is what my book reviews on Instagram and my blog had been—these were books I wanted to highlight, for others to learn about, despite when they were written.

I sometimes feel that our society opts for new, new new, and anything more than a few days old gets pushed to the wayside. But I’ve always pushed back against this way of thinking and being—it’s too much, too fast, and my brain can’t handle it. 

So a big part of Book Talk is about savouring books and celebrating anything well-written, regardless of whether it came out within the past few weeks. I also seem to stay away from best-sellers, simply because being a best-seller doesn’t always equal phenomenal writing or storytelling.

(Not always, of course! I just find that smaller books from independent presses can often be more impactful than a commercially huge book.)

All this to say: I’m restarting Book Talk here on my blog. There is no schedule; these little blurbs will come when I’ve read something that sticks with me, that I want to share with you all. Some books will be vintage; others will be current, and there will be no genre restrictions. But all will hold a special place in my heart, and I hope you’ll find something in them for yourself, too.

That’s all for now. Hope you’re well ♡

—Catherine

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