I purchased What Strange Paradise a few years ago, shortly after Omar El Akkad won the Giller Prize for writing it back in 2021. When he wrote it, he likely didn’t assume many readers would already be familiar with the book The Boy on the Beach by Tima Kurdi, the real-life account of what his…
It may be the first time I’m blogging about Canadian-born writer Eleanor Catton, but I’ve been following her career since I read her first book – a breakout novel that her publisher pushed into my hands, predicting she would be huge. Although she hasn’t necessarily found commercial success, she’s won enough book awards (most recently…
How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa most recently appeared on the Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist, and we’ll find out on October 5 if it makes it to the shortlist. Interestingly, it’s a collection of short stories, written by a poet. It’s rare that a collection of short stories appears on an award list like…
Living smack dab in the middle of a global pandemic seems like the PERFECT time to read a novel about a global pandemic right? Ok maybe not, and for those who are suffering from anxiety over our current situation, you may not want to reach for a book about a virus originating in China that’s…
A staple of the Alberta book scene, Todd Babiak is a familiar name to most. In addition to his talents as a writer, he is quite simply, a very funny person. He hosted the Alberta Literary Awards a few years ago, keeping the audience laughing throughout, and believe me, this is no easy task (I’ve…
Every Little Piece of Me by Amy Jones is a book that will make you cringe. You’ll cringe because of the character’s actions, you’ll cringe because you’ll recognize the destructive behaviour they consistently engage in, you’ll cringe because you’ll see how your activity on the internet can cause these negative reactions, and you’ll cringe because…
So when I first received this book in the mail I thought: ‘great my 96-year-old Grandpa will love this one!’. But when I noticed a few other books arrived on my shelf that dealt with spies and espionage, I thought I’d give this one a whirl to see how it stacked up to the rest…
Just to be clear, this is NOT a cozy mystery. There is blood and guts in this book, and even a few animal slaughterhouses thrown in for good measure, so don’t pick up Abattoir Blues by Peter Robinson if you are at all squeamish. I don’t feel bad about starting off my review that way,…
I don’t typically dwell on book design on this blog, but I do want to state, for the record how much I enjoyed the cover of Nancy Lee’s novel The Age. Based on my comment above, you can probably tell that I’m grasping at straws a bit here. Not because I didn’t like The Age,…
