Canada by Richard FordMy rating: 2 of 5 stars Drawn by the title, and the author’s pedigree, I came to the novel Canada as a Canadian, anticipating a story illuminating this vast and diverse country and people. Instead, what I came upon was an author trying too hard, and unsuccessfully, to channel the likes of F. Scott FitzGerald or John Steinbeck, carrying with him a typically American ignorance of Canada, its people, its culture, its…

Maskerade by Terry PratchettMy rating: 3 of 5 stars Pratchett remains a great story-teller, sweeping his readers away to a cleverly conceived world, populated by unlikely and believable characters. In this installation, Pratchett writes a spoof on Andrew Lloyd Weber’s international hit musical, Phantom of the Opera. Pratchett also takes on the superficiality of society, of the preoccupation with physical appearance, and the beauty of a noble spirit, all done with deliciously irreverent British humour….