Carina van Heyst
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time4reading.bsky.social
Carina van Heyst
@time4reading.bsky.social
1K followers 340 following 340 posts
she/her…retired educator in Toronto, Canada
Books, nature, Raptors, knitting…
I write about books on IG at the same handle with a focus on literary fiction, translated fiction, book prizes, CanLit, and nature non-fiction.
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time4reading.bsky.social
Checking out boardwalks? I’m in!

(Wye Marsh, Ontario)
A boardwalk stretches through a marsh. It is fall and much of the plant life is brown. There’s an observation platform coming off on the left hand side. It has a red/orange flag, an interpretive board, and a couple of picnic tables.
January 14, 2026 at 5:10 AM
time4reading.bsky.social
Quick look at my last/now/next:

Last: Ultramarine by Mariette Navarro (trans. From French by Cory Stockwell)

Now: Medicine Walk, Richard Wagamese and listening to Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma, Claire Dederer

Next: Death and the Gardiner, Georgi Gospodinov (trans. from Bulgarian by Angela Rodel)
Three books sit on top of a weather wooden box that has faded writing on it. The books are Ultramarine by Mariette Navarro, Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese, and Death and the Gardiner by Georgi Gospodinov. This is the cover of the book Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer. The cover is white with black text and a photo of a shirtless man in front of water. He’s likely wearing swimming trunks but most notable he is wearing a fake head of a bull.
January 4, 2026 at 4:08 PM
time4reading.bsky.social
This one’s gonna break my heart, isn’t it? #booksky
The book Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese sits open face down on someone’s lap. The cover is light blue with white text and has an image of two people on horseback silhouetted against a sunset (or sunrise) sky.
January 3, 2026 at 5:12 AM
time4reading.bsky.social
These were my favourite reads of 2025. Looking forward to where 2036 takes me.
The book titles are all listed in the ALT text.
#booksky
A colourful stack of books in front of a bookshelf. The books are (top to bottom): The Sea, The Sea, Iris Murdoch Small Boat, Vincent Delecroix 1984, George Orwell On the Calculation of Volume, Books 1, 2, and 3, Solvej Balle Fingersmith, Sarah Waters A Life’s Work, Rachel Cusk The Snag, Tessa McWatt Audition, Katie Kitamura The Remembered Soldier, Anjet Daanje The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst A collage of five photos each showing a book cover. Four are on ereaders and the fifth is a cell phone with an earbud case indicating it was an audiobook. The books are: We Do Not Part, Han Kang The Director, Daniel Kehlmann Goodlord, Ella Frears We Are Light, Gerda Blees One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, Omar El Akkad
January 2, 2026 at 12:22 AM
time4reading.bsky.social
A common Canadian meme evoking regular tv spots which used to show dramatizations of important moments in Canadian history. They would begin and end in this photo of a lake at sunset with the words Canadian Heritage Minutes at the top. At the bottom of the main photo a Canadian flag, the words Canadian Heritage/Patrimoine Canadien and the Canadian government logo. In the middle would be where the video for the specific moment would appear. In this case, it shows a red rectangle with the title 60 Minutes and an image of a stop watch.
December 23, 2025 at 4:47 AM
time4reading.bsky.social
I finished Anjet Daanje’s The Remembered Soldier and, in short, I loved it. In long…I wrote an excessively long (continued in comments long) post about it over on IG. #booksky @newvesselpress.bsky.social @pgcbooks.bsky.social

www.instagram.com/p/DRfBJwmkd0...
The book The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje (translated by David McKay) sits on a rock. An evergreen shrub is to the left. The book is olive green and has an image of a hand reaching down to grasp the shape of a hand reaching up. In the reaching up hand is a photo of a World War 1 soldier carrying a camera.
November 25, 2025 at 4:58 PM
time4reading.bsky.social
Currently reading and loving: The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje (trans. David McKay). Love the way Daanje blends and layers dreams and memories and the “present” (of the book) in a flowing present tense narration. #booksky @newvesselpress.bsky.social
The book The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje sits on someone’s lap. The book is olive green with white text and a black and white photo of a First World War soldier holding a camera or some kind of viewing device (I’m not sure). A black and white coffee mug that says “I’m library people” is being held above the book.
November 21, 2025 at 3:31 AM
time4reading.bsky.social
Obligatory pumpkin design here in Toronto (excellent freehand copying by my husband) #gojaysgo
A Halloween pumpkin with the Toronto Blue Jays logo carved into it sits on some wilting green plants. It is glowing slightly from within.
October 31, 2025 at 11:08 PM
time4reading.bsky.social
Over on IG, I wrote about Miriam Toews’s memoir A Truce That Is Not Peace.

[Thanks Knopf Canada for the gifted copy.]

www.instagram.com/p/DP6tPjUkbM...
A white hand holds the book A Truce That Is Not Peace by Miriam Toews in front of an overturned aluminum boat on green grass. The book has an illustration of an empty boat floating on purple water in front of a pink setting sun and orange sky.
October 17, 2025 at 4:56 PM
time4reading.bsky.social
Currently devouring this memorable entry in the Canadian literary canon (first published in 1976).

Figured this sign at Macgregor Point Provincial Park made a good backdrop.

#booksky #kanataclassics
A white hand holds the book Bear by Marian Engel in front of a sign that says “Caution Active Bear in Park.” The book is mauve with a close up painting of a bear’s face in a circle. The sign is white with a red border, red text, and the black silhouette of a walking bear.
September 25, 2025 at 3:40 AM
time4reading.bsky.social
I love it so much.
Lake Scugog, Ontario, Canada, 10:08 pm (iPhone 13 mini)

Is #aurorasky a thing?

#onwx #aurora #northernlights
The aurora borealis in greens, yellows, and pinks (and maybe even a little purple) lights up the night sky and reflects off of the surface of a lake. The Big Dipper is in the top right corner. There’s a tower with red lights on the right hand side and some grasses on the foreground on the right.
September 15, 2025 at 2:35 AM
time4reading.bsky.social
Ecstatic to receive this today. I am obsessed. Thanks @pgcbooks.bsky.social !
#booksky
A white hand holds a blue and yellow book above a rock and some green shrubs. The book is an uncorrected proof of On the Calculation of Volume Book 3 by Solvej Balle and translated by Sophia Hersi Smith. The book cover has a multicolored blob in the middle and this is encircled by a white oval which contains the text.
July 3, 2025 at 9:43 PM
time4reading.bsky.social
This week I devoured Ella Frear’s brilliant Goodlord, a 100-page email rant about the predatory practices of rental agencies, arts organizations, and men, especially men. I wrote about it over on the ‘gram. #booksky

www.instagram.com/p/DLKvRc1Aam...
A white hand holds an ereader with the cover of the book Goodlord by Ella Frears in front of a still lake. A green shore is on the distance and clouds are reflected in the water.
June 21, 2025 at 3:39 PM
time4reading.bsky.social
I’ve been checking off @thebookerprizes winners. I finished Iris Murdoch’s The Sea, The Sea a few days ago, I’m close to finishing Alan Hollinghurst’s
The Line of Beauty, and I’ve just started Richard Flanagan’s Narrow Road to the Deep North.
A white hand holds the book Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan in front of a lot of green shrubs with white flowers and red berries. The book is blue with a ladder, a pinkish red flower, and a yellow circle that says “Man Booker Prize Winner”.
June 21, 2025 at 3:19 AM
time4reading.bsky.social
Currently reading two Booker winners—Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty (2004) and Iris Murdoch’s The Sea, The Sea (1978)—and my biggest problem is that I never want to put one down to pick up the other. And then, I don’t want to put that one down to return to the first one.
#booksky
A white hand holds two books in front of a flowering shrub. The books are Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty and Iris Murdoch’s The Sea, The Sea. Both books have blueish-greenish covers.
June 10, 2025 at 4:13 PM
time4reading.bsky.social
Let’s check in and see how those numbers are doing now

Well done, Bluesky
The engagement numbers for the Smart Dublin post about AI tour guide Brendan are now showing a truly glorious ratio: 8 reposts 729 quotes 20 likes Replies 1.2K Reposts (incl quotes) 737 Liked 20
June 7, 2025 at 2:36 AM
time4reading.bsky.social
It’s nice to see a good ‘ol ratio over here on Bluesky. Forgot how much I’d missed it

Maybe hire a real person called Brendan instead
A screenshot of the stats on the egregious Smart Dublin AI tour guide skeet: 134 quotes 4 likes And then, with the images for different types of engagement: Replies 289 Reposts 134 Likes 4 (lol…..4!)
June 6, 2025 at 6:48 PM
time4reading.bsky.social
Yeah, that’s not great
June 6, 2025 at 5:33 PM
time4reading.bsky.social
Visited @walbatrossbookshop.bsky.social in Prince Edward County today and it was a tiny perfect gem of of a bookshop. A wonderfully curated collection of fiction (esp translated, Canadian, indigenous, global) and great nature, travel, and geography non-fiction (and more).
The outside of a building which is dark blue below and light blue above. In front is a fence that has a sign for The Wandering Albatross Books in Bloomfield, Ontario. There is a black and white drawing of an albatross (which looks like a super-sized gull) in the middle. Two bookshelves of brightly coloured books. At the top of the shelves it says “Fiction”. Some of the titles include: We Could Be Rats, What I Know About You, Once a Monster, Sokcho, Punished, The Golden Cockerel. A bookshelf of books about nature and walking. Book titles include A Philosophy of Walking, Gone Bush, The Old Ways, Where the Wild Winds Are, Between Britain. Two books sit on someone’s lap. On top is a green book with images of leaves and the title Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau. The author is Ben Ahattuck but his name is partly cut off in the photo. Underneath is a blue book with a photo of a woman on the cover. Parts of her face are obscured with oddly shaped blobs of pink and red. The book is The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa.
May 25, 2025 at 1:08 AM
time4reading.bsky.social
A Far Side cartoon shows a man standing on the sidewalk in front of a house looking at a sign on the gate that says “Beware of Doug”. The man is wearing a hat and carrying a briefcase that says “Acme Sales Co”. In the yard in front of the house is a man trying (but failing) to hide behind a tree. He is peeking around the tree which is not as wide as he is. We assume this is the aforementioned “Doug.”
May 15, 2025 at 1:50 PM
time4reading.bsky.social
Just finished this slim volume from the International Booker Prizes shortlist and, wow, it’s so good. A powerful, nuanced look at the migrant crisis.
The book Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix sits on a couch with a bookmark, a striped journal, and a pen. There is a dog’s tail in the background. The book cover is an overhead illustration of an small empty rubber dinghy in a wide blue sea. If you zoom in, it becomes evident that the “sea” is actually made up of hundreds of silhouettes of people. The title is in white block text at the bottom of the cover. At the top right corner is the Booker Prize logo.
May 13, 2025 at 1:18 AM
time4reading.bsky.social
Is there a #skysky tag?
A post sunset sky of oranges, yellows, and purple is reflected in a flat calm lake. A tree and shrub with no leaves in the foreground.
May 7, 2025 at 4:42 AM
time4reading.bsky.social
This discussion caught my eye this morning so I’m listening to the episode now! I host a big book challenge on IG. Here are a bunch of the big books by women authors that I’ve enjoyed (missing: Lydia Sandgren’s Collected Works Eliot’s Middlemarch and Mill on the Floss).
Two stacks of big books sit on a carpeted staircase. Left stack from top: Praiseworthy, Alexis Wright Tenderness, Alison MacLeod A System So Magnificent it is Blinding, Amanda Svensson The Books of Jacob, Olga Tokarczuk The Eighth Life, Nino Haratischvili Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke Right stack from top: Tomb of Sand, Geetanjali Shree Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton Barkskins, Annie Proulx
May 4, 2025 at 2:14 PM
time4reading.bsky.social
Also… I need to share what the ALT text said before I rewrote it
The same photo as above showing the window in which you can edit the alt text. The alt text provided says: “a man in a green shirt is blowing his nose with a paper bag”. What?????
April 28, 2025 at 11:05 PM
time4reading.bsky.social
A good read for Election Day….

#booksky #canadasky
A white hand holds the book Canada Alone: Navigating the Post-American World by Kim Richard Nossal. The cover is white with the main title in large red letters. A beaver appears to have walked by; only its back end is visible on the right side of the cover as it walks off. In the background behind the book are rocks, evergreen shrubs, and some dead leaves.
April 28, 2025 at 8:47 PM