The good folks at Penguin Random House Canada heard that I had a kid, so they sent me a picture book to enjoy with my daughter. They didn’t ask for a review in return, but I feel as if it’s the least I can do, so here it goes, a review of a kid’s book:…
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…
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…
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…
I am so conflicted about this book, but in a good way. I was hesitant to review it because it’s self published, and I don’t typically agree to review self-published books for a host of reasons, the main one being I used to work in traditional publishing, so I know how important the process of…
I have fond memories of my parents reading aloud Linwood Barclay’s witticisms from the Toronto Star newspaper when I was a kid, eating pancakes while they laughed at his latest opinion or humour piece. Back then, they enjoyed reading what he had to say and now I share the same love of his writing today, even if…
Ah yes, “women’s fiction”. Dear Emma by Katie Heaney would most definitely fit into this genre of books, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. Yes, I enjoy thought-provoking literature, but I also enjoy reading a book about a fluffy university girl whose biggest problem is getting over some jerk who didn’t text her back….
