Many Canadian book-lovers will be aware of this latest release: The Knowing by Tanya Talaga hit store shelves at the end of August, is currently on the bestseller list, and will likely remain there for the next few months. A documentary by the same name (trailer below) was released at the same time as the…
It was by luck alone that I found myself reading the debut novel by Indigenous Canadian author Darrel J.McLeod, in the same small town his bio claimed he lived. * The picture above is taken in Sooke British Columbia, where I was vacationing with my family in August, which also happens to be the place…
Having never read her first, bestselling book A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, I was excited to pick up Alicia Elliott’s new book, a work of fiction titled And Then She Fell, because I felt like I was missing out on a very new and cool writer if I didn’t. I enjoyed this one,…
I had read mixed reviews of A Grandmother Begins the Story by Michelle Porter. Many heralded it as a must-read for Canadians, a compliment often used for books about Indigenous people. But some complained it was difficult to follow because of the alternating perspectives. I found it a unique and compelling read as I really…
I’ve got some promising horror books on my shelf at the moment, so I thought I’d clear some of them away before spooky season in the Fall brings even more my way. Bad Cree by Jessica Johns was a big spring book here in Canada; everyone was talking about it, and I was excited to…
Here in Canada we are lucky to have a rich publishing landscape of Indigenous voices, and the numbers are only increasing. In fact, many books on the current and previous bestseller lists are Indigenous writers. I don’t see the same representation in American publishing, and I heard the Native American writer Tommy Orange speak when…
I had seen brief reviews and mentions of The Sentence by Louise Erdrich around, but never received it from the publisher for review, so accepted the fact I wasn’t likely to read it. But then I read a great review of it by Consumed by Ink which outlined that it was a ghost story that…
These past few weeks I’ve been checking my news feed every few hours, hoping for a break in the case of missing author Dawn Dumont and her son, and I’m happy to report she has been found safe with her son, in the U.S. There will be some difficult times ahead for them, as it…
I won’t say my reading is influenced by awards, because it rarely is – quite often, my book choices depend on the themes I’ve come up with for my monthly radio segment, and the books that land on my doorstep for review. But every so often I break out of this pattern and pick up…
I seem to have great luck with the translated books that I read, and that success is mostly due to the careful eye of the editors at the Arachnide imprint from Canadian press House of Anansi. They regularly choose the best and the brightest when it comes to translated works that will impress English Canadians…
I don’t like taking risks, but when I do, they are usually book-related. I threw caution to the wind last week and started reading a mystery series five books in. Obsidian by Thomas King is the latest in his DreadfulWater Mystery Series which I’ve had recommended to me for years, but finally got the chance…
I’m no dancer, but I FEEL like doing a little jig of excitement when I see Indigenous author Dawn Dumont has a new book coming. She is without a doubt one of my favourite writers, and in my humble opinion, one of the best Canadian writers working today. If you have never read one of…
