When I first saw this upcoming release in the publisher’s catalogue, I got really excited. I’ve read books by both Kate Hilton and Elizabeth Renzetti and really enjoyed them, so that’s check number one in the ‘promising’ category. Check number two is that their first book together is a mystery set in cottage country –…
Books about books will always pique my interest, but when highly lauded author Patrick deWitt releases one, I get even more excited. I had really high hopes for The Librarianist and it did not disappoint. It’s a quiet novel about a quiet man, with glimpses of humour and humanity throughout its 300ish pages. The majority…
I save all my ‘summerish’ books for reading in July and August, and because The Swells by Will Aitken takes places on a boat, I figured it would be a great novel to dive into while at my family cottage. At first glance I thought this book would make for great dockside reading considering the…
September 30 is now officially Truth and Reconciliation Day here in Canada. Among other things, it’s intended to help bridge the gap between settlers and Indigenous people, recognizing the harm that has been done in the past, and working towards reconciliation in the future. Like many people across the country I was given that day…
I knew going into this book that it would be about being a young person. As in, the life of a 20-something with no kids, a part-time job, renting with friends kind of story. As a 30-something, I get a real kick out of reading these kind of books. Because I moved in with my…
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…
Although this book was published right before the recent Black Lives Matter protests and Coronavirus pandemic its publication is even more timely considering what’s gone on in the world since March. No More Nice Girls, Gender, Power, and Why it’s Time to Stop Playing by the Rules by Lauren McKeon is an examination of our…
I groaned inwardly as I read the description for this book as a ‘literary western’. I generally hate the western genre, I find it very dull, I don’t like guns and I’m not really a horse person, so what is there for me? Luckily I picked up Ridgerunner by Gil Adamson anyway, mainly because I…
It’s the inaugural I Read Canadian Day today (February 19), and to celebrate I’m highlighting a Canadian book published by a Canadian press, written by an Albertan. NDN Coping Mechanisms by Billy-Ray Belcourt was published in 2019 by House of Anansi Press. It’s a book of poetry that includes a complicated mix of literary theory,…
Did you watch the Giller awards on Monday night? I was glued to the television screen, strangely nervous to see who the winner of Canada’s biggest book prize would be. As you no doubt realized already, Dual Citizens by Alix Ohlin did not win, but I really enjoyed it, despite my negative comments at the…
Written by the “grand dame of Dutch literature”, Sleepless Night by Margriet de Moor is 122 pages of reminiscing and remembrance. Translated from the Dutch by David Doherty, it follows a widow over one sleepless night as she bakes a Bundt cake in the dead of winter, recalling the unfortunate and early death of her…
When I comment on other people’s book blogs, I frequently find myself saying similar things; in particular, I frequently admit that I love a good book that deals with nothing at all (like the literary version of Seinfeld). People’s mundane lives, the things that happen to all of us fascinate me, so I really expected…
