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As I plan and prepare for my bookish gift-giving guide for the 2020 holidays, I find myself dipping into books I wouldn’t normally pick up. Many of my long-time readers are probably a bit curious about the selection of books I’ve been diving into lately, and this is why; I’m reading books that will suit…
Rabbit Foot Bill by Helen Humphreys is my online book club’s November pick (yes, that’s still going!), and days after we announced our choice, a reader messaged me to say it took her only four hours to read. I love a fast read, so I was delighted when I read this in a single day,…
When I saw the announcement for the upcoming release of the picture book Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi, illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky, I was really excited. I had been looking for a way to approach the topic of racism with my 5 year-old because she hears the term on the radio, but my husband…
I’ve been so excited to dive into this debut novel since it landed on my doorstep a few months ago, and although I thought it was going to be a book mainly about race, wealth is the true focal point of the story. White Ivy by Susie Yang has been compared to Little Fires Everywhere…
The more I read, the more eager I am for a challenge, or at the very least, the more I want to read stories that aren’t entirely straightforward or obvious. After the entertaining Harry’s Trees from last week, I headed back to my book shelf in search of a book that would push me, so…
I rarely do this, but when my new boss handed me a book and said ‘you have to read this’ I quickly slotted Harry’s Trees by Jon Cohen into my reading queue. Why did I make an exception this time? Number one: she’s my new boss and I want to keep her happy because I’m…
When I read non-fiction I’m always on the look-out for something unique, a new topic or perspective that hasn’t been done to death. This is why celebrity memoirs rarely interest me, because I find they touch on similar things regardless of the author (rags to riches, sobriety, etc.). Big Friendship, How we Keep Each Other…
This is probably one of the oldest books on my shelf. Hachette shipped me a copy of In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt two years ago, and every time Halloween came around, I vowed to read it. I finally got the chance in 2020 because *gestures wildly at everything*…
When I first received this book for review I was under the impression it was a thriller, but after talking to a few people they told me it wasn’t really like that. Then, I assumed it was just a literary ‘character study’, but others assured me this book was also quite dark. One woman in…
The Canlit community is abuzz over Zsuzsi Gartner’s debut novel, The Beguiling. Despite this being her first novel, Gartner is a well-established pillar of the Canadian writing community. She’s been shortlisted for a Scotiabank Giller Prize for her short story collection Better Living Through Plastic Explosives, she’s edited a zany collection of science fiction titled…
As I continue to read through my recently-released spooky books for Halloween collection, I’m treated to a wide variety of genres that incorporate elements of horror into their narratives. Today’s novel, The Orphan of Cemetery Hill by Hester Fox leans heavily into the historical fiction arena, with a healthy dose of supernatural to allow this…
I haven’t actually read a book by Chuck Palahniuk since his 2010 release Tell-All, which is also the year I met him, and helped organized his event here in Calgary. His writing memoir Consider This, Moments in my Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different features many stories of his various book tours because they…
