I haven’t actually read a book by Chuck Palahniuk since his 2010 release Tell-All, which is also the year I met him, and helped organized his event here in Calgary. His writing memoir Consider This, Moments in my Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different features many stories of his various book tours because they…
As a book-lover, I’m constantly encouraging people to read. As a person who leans a little to the left, I’m also a big proponent of reading books that introduce people to new ideas and perspectives, especially those voices that you may not have in your everyday life. Becoming a Man by P. Carl will tick…
By simply reading a book called ‘How to Raise Successful People’, I’m truly showing my colours, and by that I mean my unwarranted optimism. The idea that we as parents have control over whether our children will be successful or not is somewhat suspect, but I’m going to keep my fingers crossed that reading parenting…
If I was a doctor, I would prescribe you this book as therapeutic medication during the pandemic. Wow, No Thank You. by Samantha Irby is exactly what you need right now, regardless of your circumstances, because it will make you laugh. I snorted. I LOL’d. I spit out my tea at one point, because Irby’s…
Have you read a graphic novel lately? Even though I don’t consider myself a graphic novel aficionado, and I’ll (probably) never step foot in a comic book store, I’ve developed a real appreciation and love of this growing genre. Canadian graphic novels in particular seem to be in a league of their own, the stories…
Holding on to Normal by Alana Somerville is a memoir. It’s about a 33-year-old mother of two young children who is diagnosed with breast cancer; her journey of discovering the lump, deciding on treatments and reconstructive surgeries and then enduring the chemotherapy that led to her recovery. Why did I choose to read this difficult…
I had never heard the name Barry Sonnenfeld before I read this book, probably because he’s a ‘behind the cameras’ kind of celebrity. He’s a well-respected filmmaker and director who made movies like Men in Black and The Addams Family. He’s got a bunch of famous friends who thinks he’s weird but hang out with…
True crime is so hot right now. I’ve been reading a few and enjoying the experience, so I thought I’d jump right into the trend and compare two that had been begging for attention on my bookshelf. Both of these books are SO DIFFERENT, yet they both deal with the same thing: murder, and the…
Clifford by Harold R. Johnson has sat on my bookshelf for far too long. It wasn’t until I saw Johnson speak at Wordfest this past fall that I realized what I was missing out on, so I finally picked it up and gave it a go. At only 260 pages of very large font, I…
I realize that the word ‘brave’ is overused when describing memoirs, but simply writing an honest account of one’s life IS an act of bravery these day when a huge chunk of the population are hesitant to post a single unflattering picture of themselves on the internet. No one wants to read a book that…
You know how people joke they are addicted to something? I regularly claim I’m addicted to chocolate, and those of you who know me well know this is a fairly accurate statement. I almost always have it in the house, and when I go a full day without having any of it (which is rare…
I think I may have found myself a new favourite author, probably because the brilliance of his writing reminds me so much of my original favourite author, David Sedaris. Toil & Trouble by Augusten Burroughs is a memoir about being a witch, i.e. having special gifts that other people don’t understand or tap into properly….
