I have some observations on the most recent “Writers to Watch” list from CBC Books: Not surprisingly, it is a diverse list in both authors and their publishers. I would expect nothing less from the CBC. I have heard of none of these writers. A few years ago, when I worked in publishing, I’m sure…
Find me one person that doesn’t like Richard Wagamese’s books. Seriously, that person doesn’t exist. In the can-lit book circles, talking badly about Wagamese’s writing would be sacrilegious. And really, just plain stupid, because he is amazing at what he does. If I was an aspiring writer wanting to read a book that universally praised,…
Books, cats and murder mysteries: three things that I love, all wrapped up into one. The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lilian Jackson Braun was practically written for me! Other than the fact that it was written back in 1966 of course, a bit before my time. I had never heard of this particular…
Barbara J. Taylor has done an extremely good job with this book. Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night was a dark, but enjoyable book to read, and I will be shocked if she isn’t nominated for some kind of award for her efforts. Although I can’t speak for the American book scene, I know…
I seem to be on a roll these days with novels focusing on depressed siblings. Although that may seem like a bad thing to some people, I’ve been really happy with my book choices lately. Yes, this isn’t the most conducive kind of story to summertime funtime reading (these books are the antithesis to beach…
Are you an empathetic person? I like to think I am, but I know that when it comes to particular situations or people, I’m ashamed to say I pick and choose who I feel sorry for. For example, what do you think to yourself when you’re stuck beside an obese person on a flight? Do…
Have you seen the movie Shutter Island starring Leonardo DiCaprio? If you haven’t yet, read the Shutter Island book first. It was originally published in 2003 by Dennis Lehane, and made into a movie not long ago, 2010 actually. I personally haven’t seen the movie either, but after reading the book I’ve decided I HAVE…
I came across this juicy little tidbit while scanning book news from the past few weeks, and I thought you would find this interesting as well. And don’t worry, if you have no idea who Lena Dunham or Chip Kidd is, that really has no bearing on what I found interesting about this article anyway….
Reading The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri was an experience. Whenever a book follows multiple generations of one family, it’s typically called a ‘saga’ because it explains to the reader that many years will pass within the pages of just one novel. For some, this may seem a bit daunting, and in the cases of some…
BuzzFeed, you have done it again!!! You’ve taken two of my most favourite things-books and cats-and mashed them together to create a wonderful list of literary pun names for cats. Why is this important you may ask? I counter that question with another question-how is this NOT important? I’m not sure if I’m focused on…
Continuing the pattern of reviewing ‘nice guys that write great books’ that I’ve seemed to stumble upon, I decided to write about Terry Fallis’s latest book No Relation. This is Fallis’s fourth book, and just as good as his previous ones, so I’m glad I picked it up. It’s based on a really interesting premise:…
My sincere apologies for abandoning this blog for the past three weeks,I have a good excuse for my absence though-I was away in Belize! As you will see in the picture below, I had lots of time to catch up on my reading (9 books in total!) so I have lots of writing and reporting…
