I recently finished reading Elizabeth Hay‘s new book His Whole Life. And I loved it. Obviously, because Elizabeth Hay is great. I’ve also been helping the wonderful Shelley Youngblut program the 20th anniversary of Wordfest this year. So…they filmed me (nervously) reviewing this book as part of the festival preparations. Should I stick to doing…
Well the Giller Longlist has been announced, and it’s a good one! I may be a bit biased, simply because I’ve read and loved many of the books on the list, but it’s also pointed to a few I need to hurry up and read. You all know by now that I loved Patrick deWitt’s…
Ok I am specifically NOT looking at any other reviews of Patrick deWitt‘s Under Major Domo Minor before I post this, because I don’t want anyone else’s opinion to influence mine, or make me second guess myself. Not only did I love this book, but I think it is destined to become a classic, one…
Apparently people can blackout when they are drinking; they can carry on a normal conversation, walk to and from places, even get into the car and drive, all without remembering any of it the next day. It is quite literally a blank in their memory, which they will never be able to retrieve, because of…
I had never heard of David Constantine before I picked up this book, but after I had quickly scanned his bio on the inside cover of In Another Country, I realized what I was missing. He’s kind of a big deal, being nominated for many different prizes, and according to his Canadian publisher Biblioasis, he…
Ahh the Fall. For book nerds like me, this is a great season for a few reasons; one, the weather is getting colder, so we have better excuses to stay in and read, and two, the Fall is when highly anticipated books are released, just before book award lists are announced. Canadian book lovers will…
When I picked up this book from my shelf, I immediately noticed the seal on the front announcing it had won the “Beacon Award for Social Justice Literature”. Not exactly an exciting call to action, because who wants to read a book about social justice in the dead of summer? But I had promised to…
I’m curious to see if people care about my reading habits or not, but either way, I’m posting this because I was tagged by another blogger. I’m a techno newb, so I may not be doing this right/tagging people correctly, but thanks to Book Bunny I’m going to attempt it, so here goes! Do you…
Saint Mazie by Jami Attenberg is based on the life of Mazie Phillips, an out-spoken, big-hearted woman who lived through The Great Depression, helping those less fortunate in any way she could. Although she is referred to as a ‘celebrity’ in many places, not much is known about her, which is why this book felt…
This is one of the best, if not the best book I have read so far this year. Bold statement I know, but The Incarnations by Susan Barker is worth the praise. So why did I like it? There are so many reasons why, I have to put them in bullet form: It’s got a…
Okay, Lynn Crosbie scares me a bit, and not for the reasons you think. The stuff she writes is a bit strange, always has been, and yet I’m drawn to her work like a cat to an open box (see below). I discovered her back in university during my Canadian Poetry class with the amazing…
I read this book, and then climbed a (very small) mountain with my family. Nothing makes a survival story quite so real until you put yourself in the situation that’s being described in the story you just finished! Luckily, we made it off the trail alive, unscathed, and in very good spirits, but I can’t…
