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The Ministry of Time – Book Review

The Ministry of Time

The Ministry of Time was an interesting book where time travel and government meet in the middle. The story is told from the point of view of an unnamed government agent who is set to work on a top secret project involving time travel for the newly created Ministry of Time. In this case, the time travelers are people from various points in the past who are brought to our time. The unnamed government agent was assigned to Commander Graham Gore from 1847 and was to act as a liaison to our time. There were several time travelers from the 1600s to early 1900s involved in the project with their own liaisons. It was interesting to see how they adjusted to our time, innovations and concepts of living. It was especially fun to see how they assimilated into our society. They were also slowly introduced to history which they missed, both good and bad, which raised many questions from the time travelers. 

Of course, since this was a government project, there are ulterior motives. I will not go into detail as this would be a spoiler to the story. I’ll let you guess what those motives are since the government is involved. The way the characters were portrayed over the course of the book made you really care for them and their journey. It was a bit sad when the story was over. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a book about time travel stories with some time travel paradox involved.

One quote to leave off on, “You make the future: moment by moment, you seal the doors of possibility behind you.”

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Goodbye Kindle, Hello Kobo

Retiring my Amazon Kindle Paperwhite after over 10 years. (Had to look that one up.) Moving to Kobo since it supports my local library eBook borrowing services. While I’ve been using Kindles for over a decade, I hate their walled garden approach to books.

I’ll still keep the Kindle around, so I can access the eBooks I own on that platform. But, it’s Kobo all the way now. Plus the colour e-ink is so cool, especially for comics 🤓

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Strangers in Time – Book Review

Yes, I’ve read another World War II novel. When I read the blurb (I had to look that term up) for this book, I was very intrigued. I find it interesting how people meet, interact and form different types of relationships. It can be something very simple that builds up to something complex. 

In this book, the three characters are from very different walks of life. A bookstore owner, a young teenage boy living in an impoverished part of London and an older teenage girl from a well-off family. While living in London during the Blitz, these strangers encounter each other and form a very interesting relationship of sorts. This happens while dealing with personal tragedies as a result of the war and other circumstances. 

David Baldacci provides a vivid description of the people in this book and what they must go through to survive. The journey from beginning to end held my attention and I was almost sad when the story was over. For this reason, I would highly recommend this book. (That shouldn’t come as a surprise, I only review books that I really enjoy. I suppose someday I will review a book I really hated, but that day hasn’t come yet.)

Some quotes I had to save from the book:

  • “What else does one do with books besides read them and then wonder about what one has just read? And, even more pleasurably, what one will read next?”
  • “Sometimes it simply comes down to the serendipity of whom one meets and when.”
  • “We all need someone at certain times in our lives. It makes the inevitable pain lessened and the periods of happiness exalted.”
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Review – Against All Odds: The Untold Story of Canada’s Unlikely Hockey Heroes

I always seem to have a hard time finding a new book to read. Besides a handful of favourite authors, I tend to scroll through Goodreads or my local library and see if anything catches my eye. In this case, my library app suggested Against All Odds: The Untold Story of Canada’s Unlikely Hockey Heroes. It seemed to be right up my alley. I enjoy history books, especially war history, I enjoy hockey and I enjoy true stories.

This book follows the Royal Canadian Air Force attempt to put together a national hockey team to represent Canada in the first Winter Olympics after World War II, which would be hosted by St. Moritz, Switzerland. The player selection process introduced us to veterans of the war who lived and breathed hockey. Some even brought their ice skates overseas in case they had time to hit the ice.

An interesting aspect of this book was some of the war activities of the players. This includes air raids, escaping POW camps, joining resistance groups and many other feats of bravery. These same men came together to represent Canada on the ice to try and capture Gold in the Olympics. The Canadian team was not favoured to get a medal. They faced many obstacles, European hockey rinks, awful (outdoor) ice conditions, questionable referees and more. But they overcame and brought the Gold back to Canada. (This is not a spoiler, the book synopsis mentions this in the first line.)

Overall, this was a really enjoyable book for both history and sports fans. I would highly recommend it. As a sidenote, the movie “Miracle on Ice” does not deserve that title at all. These fine gentlemen overcame a lot more to win. They didn’t do it for money or personal glory. They did it for Canada.

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Book Review: The MaddAddam Trilogy

I’ve read many apocalypse books over the years, but Margaret Atwood‘s trilogy was a bit different. The story takes place close to our own time and involves technology that is being used or close to being used right now. Some trends and policies happening today can easily evolve to create the world in this story. In this way, one could say this book series is a warning for us today.

This trilogy was written from the point of view of multiple characters, with many flashbacks through the story. These were introduced very organically. The first book in the series, Oryx and Crake, is told by the Snowman, who is one of the few to survive a plague which took out most of humanity. Moving onto The Year of the Flood, we see how the plague started from the point of other characters and then MaddAddam shows a new beginning of sorts for Earth.

The Snowman had a very interesting journey, from growing up to surviving in a post-apocalyptic world. Similarly, other characters introduced in The Year of the Flood, such as Toby, Zeb and Ren have their own stories about avoiding the plague and living in the new world. I try to write reviews with as few spoilers as possible. But I can say the characters were very memorable. Near the end of the last book, MaddAddam, I started to slow down reading so as to keep the story going. But, unfortunately, all good things come to an end.

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Good Bye 2021

2021 is just about done, so decided to stitched together some of the many, many, probably too many pics I take to remember the year.

There were a lot of great times in 2021. Meeting up with friends and family. Going for sports again, baseball, hockey and boxing! Trips to Niagara, Barrie, camping for the first time even!

Anyways, wishing everyone a Very Happy New Year. All the best in 2022!!! 🍻

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Goodbye to the Brampton Beast

The news recently broke that the Brampton Beast ECHL hockey club is folding after seven years in the league. As a result of the global pandemic, it was no longer financially viable for the team to continue to operate. I have been following the team for many of those years and was a season ticket holder the last three seasons. This was very sad for me and other fans, who supported the team, but understandable in these difficult times. I decided to outline some of my favourite moments with Canada

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The Stand Review

Reading The Stand in 2020 was an eerie experience. The book starts at the beginning of a global pandemic and continues from there. Needless to explain the similarities with the world today. However, this virus, known as the Superflu, Captain Trips or The Blue Virus, had a less than 1 percent survival rate. It was scary seeing how quickly the virus spread and how quickly society collapsed. Those who remained were drawn to one of two sides, good or evil. King, as usual, did a great job building up the survivors and explaining their motives. While there was a lot of tragedy, which is expected in a apocalypse book, there were a handful of positive moments, where people helped each other and started rebuilding society. At first, it seemed idyllic, but as time went on the usual problems started to appear. To quote sociology professor Glen Bateman: