God this was a funny book. The Figgs by Ali Bryan is absolutely hilarious, and I knew it would be, based on how much I enjoyed her first novel Roost, which also mines the hilarity of family, child-rearing, and the domestic sphere in general. The Figgs centers on a family who finds themselves in increasing turmoil….
I’ll admit I was dreading reading this book. It’s a memoir based on the lives of Clem Martini, his brother Olivier Martini and their mother Catherine. It includes haunting, beautiful images drawn by Olivier, who suffers from schizophrenia (although based on the book, seems to be doing an admirable job of managing it, contributing to…
I won’t lie, the cover of this book threw me off so I didn’t even read its back blurb (yikes!) so THEN I had no idea the story of Dazzle Patterns by Alison Watt was set during the Halifax Explosion of 1917, which resulted in me relegating it to the back of my TBR shelf….
Writing a review about a book that describes a child dying is always a difficult task, especially for a parent that always thinks the worst (I have an overactive imagination!), but I’m trying to choose my words carefully because I don’t want you to be scared off. It doesn’t help that it’s a translation, and…
Mental illness: many people suffer from it, and everyone fears it. It seems like only lately have we begun getting better at talking about it, although that in itself has been a slow progression. But when we think of how people suffering from mental illnesses were treated even 50 years ago, it’s uplifting to reflect…
So it’s funny that I’m writing this review today, of all days. Mainly because I was lucky enough to meet the author of Teardown, Clea Young this week for the very first time. But I’ve spoken to Clea many times in the past, we’ve shared many laughs together, as well as many frustrations, but Monday night…
This is one effed up family. White Elephant by Catherine Cooper follows mother Ann, father Richard and son Tor as they struggle to navigate their new world in Sierra Leone at the beginning of the civil war there. I found this a really fascinating premise for a novel; three white people are transplanted from their…
As I continue my journey through Europe, I continue my reading adventures as well. Next up is newcomer Sigal Samuel’s The Mystics of Mile End; a book I started in Switzerland and finished in France (and a side note to the author and publisher: after finishing the book I left it on a high speed train…
Short stories! What a refreshing change from the every day novel that we so typically read, and what’s even better, you can pick it up and put it down without feeling guilty. So, basically, they are perfect for parents with newborns, whose moods can change between page turns! I don’t just love Rhonda Douglas‘s collection…
I’ve had this book sitting on my shelf for a few months now, so I apologize this review is so late. It was originally published in India in 2012, and the lovely Calgary-based Freehand Books released it in the fall of 2014. If I had known that the book was so good (and such a…
If I had taken science past the required grade 11 in high school, I’m pretty sure I would have failed it. And reading books like this, books that reference physics and other sciency-things of a similar nature remind me of this sad fact. Good thing I stuck to what I knew-English literature. If I had…
Rosemary Nixon is a well-known figure in the Calgary literary scene, so I’ve been eager to something of hers for awhile. Her last novel Kalila didn’t appeal to me because of the heart-wrenching subject, so when a book of linked short stories labelled ‘humorous’ came along, I was eager to pick it up, and I’m…
