I was first introduced to the music of Tegan and Sara by an old (and short-lived) boyfriend from my university days. He loved them, and their hit song “Walking with a Ghost” was one I immediately added into my playlist. I still have a few of their songs on my iTunes account, and when they…
This book won’t have a lot of relevance for you unless you listen to the podcast My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. It’s one of the few podcasts I listen to, and it’s basically true-crime with humour mixed into it (which sounds weird, but it actually ties into a coping mechanism for…
I’ve never had the experience of doubting whether I could finish a book. I love reading, and even when I don’t really like a book I’ll usually finish it; my DNF rate is extremely low. Reading The Boy on the Beach by Tima Kurdi is the first time I found myself unsure as to whether…
I frequently refer to memoirs as their own subsection of the ‘self-help’ genre, because I believe that learning about someone else’s life circumstances is a wonderful way of gaining a new perspective on your own. This theory is once again being proven with Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay and a Mother’s Will to Survive by…
Those of us who are lucky enough to have the luxury of living in peaceful countries may be asking themselves what we can do to help the refugee crisis; I would argue our first job is to listen to their stories in an attempt to understand what they are fleeing from and why. With the…
U.S. politics have been dominating headlines lately , no matter which country you live in. I don’t pay much attention to them, and basically everything I knew about The White House and its protocol is based on things I’ve seen on the t.v. show House of Cards-but not anymore! I feel as though I’ve gotten…
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…
In the past, I’ve made comments on this blog that basically follow the theme of “it’s usually the parents’ fault” when referring to stories about adult break downs and shortcomings. I of course say this a bit tongue-in-cheek because I’m a parent myself, and now that I know how difficult being a parent is, I…
So this will be my last radio segment for a few months as I hunker down and give birth to my second child soon. Strangely, I chose quite dark, depressing books to speak about on-air for this one, which doesn’t bode well for my mood in general, but I think I give pretty good reasons…
I’ve been reading more non-fiction lately…not for any particular reason other than publishers just seem to be churning out more these days so I’m receiving more for review. Although I read far more fiction than non-fiction, I find real-life stories stick with me for longer, probably because the people are real and truly endured what…
So I’ve been reading a few non-fiction books lately in anticipation of recording this radio segment, mainly because I know people will want to read some books to get them motivated in January. As I mention at the beginning, I will never promote a dieting book, especially one written by a celebrity (for obvious reasons!)…
How do you write a memoir that’s all about love without becoming a cliche? Mandy Len Catron did exactly that by writing an insanely popular essay for the New York Times titled “to fall in love with anyone, do this” which was eventually turned into her memoir/book of essays called How to Fall In Love With Anyone. I have…
