People who work at or attend universities seem to make numerous appearances in Amina Gautier’s collection of short stories The Loss of All Lost Things. Is this a problem? No, of course not, and it makes a lot of sense when you discover that Gautier is a professor of creative writing at the University of…
Before I get into the actual review, I wanted to point out some exciting news; this book is published by Stonehouse Publishing, a brand new Alberta publisher based out of Edmonton! Very exciting (and a little bit crazy) right? Besides opening a new independent bookstore, opening up a small fiction press is probably one of…
Yes, the queen of Can-Lit herself has found a place on my blog, but why has it taken this long for me to review one of her books? She was one of my favourite writers growing up, and I continue to enjoy her zany (if somewhat ominous) stories as they continue to roll out, so…
I just spent the weekend with a whole whack of doctors. Well, that’s not totally true, most of them were at the tail end of their formal training, but they had all chosen their disciplines and were ready and willing to talk about each arm of medicine and the pros and cons of each. Being…
If you’ve read a few of my past posts, you’ll notice I’ve read a few ‘downers’ lately. Not bad books, but sad books all the same. So, I skipped ahead on my to-read shelf (I generally try to read books as they are sent to me) to The Happiness Equation, by Neil Pasricha. I’m glad I…
Warning: another tragic story coming up. I’m not sure what it is lately, but the books I seem to picking off my to be read (TBR) shelf are heartbreaking. Good, well-written, but heartbreaking. Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys is based on the real-life maritime tragedy of the Wilhelm Gustloff, which to my surprise, has…
If I was an organized reader and blogger, I would have read this book a few months ago in time for the Canada Reads debate that happened in early March. But, I clearly missed that boat, so my apologies; here is my very late review of the second place winner of Canada Reads 2016, The…
Wowza, what a fabulous book this was. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng is one of those stories that sticks with you for awhile: coming back into your thoughts as you read another book that doesn’t quite measure up, or remembering a particularly poignant image that snakes back into your dreams a few…
The shortlist for the Alberta Book Awards was just announced, which means a couple of exciting things are happening: The nominated writers will begin to trash talk* each other on social media I can announce that fact that yours truly will be hosting the awards. Yes, me. People will begin reading these specific books in…
Most people would readily claim that someone in their family suffers from mental illness. Mind you, many of these cases are undiagnosed (or completely imagined), but everyone suspects at least one family member of theirs is crazy, because that’s really the only explanation for why they drive you crazy, right? Fire and Air by Erik…
Glory Over Everything by Kathleen Grissom is so much more than a book about slavery. It looks at this difficult time from a unique perspective; that of a man who is born to a white man and black woman, who is therefore considered of mixed blood and subject to the same lack of rights that…
Sometimes, it’s nice to be reminded how truly unique being a woman is. What I mean by this, is that Mona Awad, debut author of 13 Ways of Looking at A Fat Girl has deftly captured the true essence of a woman’s complicated relationship with her own body image; a topic that most females have…
