So I shot this video on vacation in a rental home, therefore the lighting is terrible and the sound is echo-ey. My bad. Oh, and Smokey isn’t with me, because my husband draws the line at taking our cats on vacation with us (sigh). I’m reviewing Terry Fallis’s latest book One Brother Shy, which I…
Oohhhh boy. I’m struggling with how I’m going to word this review because The Change Room by Karen Connelly is full of…sex. A lot of it. Not like, harlequin romance sex where almost every other page is full of sweaty bodies, but like, at least 5 fairly descriptive sex scenes: some between a man and…
My latest segment for the CBC focused on memoirs, two in particular. You can listen to it here. Bleaker House by Nell Stevens (which Smokey has read and adored) and You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie. After listening to the recording just now, I’ve realized how depressing these two books…
This past week I spoke about books that deal with the subject of family. I realize this is a pretty broad topic and can encompass most everything that has ever been written, but I used it as an excuse to talk about my favourite picture book ever: A Family is a Family is a Family,…
There’s a lot to love about Grace O’Connell’s sophomore effort, the first being the wonderful title. I’m not sure what it is exactly, but the phrase”Be Ready for the Lightning” seems to be a call for action and alertness as you begin reading which builds the anticipation until major events begin to take place. But…
So I’ve got my second video post up now (see below), it’s a review of The Trophy Child by Paula Daly. I’m really hoping that the quality of this sophomore video attempt is better than my first one, I used a different piece of software to record it, and I paid a whole 25 bucks…
So I hosted my first book club at the new Wordfest digs, and it was a lot of fun. Over 30 people came out (!!!) and enjoyed treats by Terry Bakes, and Davids Tea. We had a rousing discussion and debate around Zoey Leigh Peterson’s debut novel Next Year, For Sure, which got everyone fired up for…
Paula Hawkins has released her second book! I’ve been anticipating this for awhile now because I did enjoy her hugely successful debut The Girl on the Train despite the fact the genre was weighing a bit on me at the time. But I was a bit concerned when I read the early reviews of this one,…
So the basic storyline behind Next Year For Sure by Zoey Leigh Peterson should pique the interest of most people; it’s about a young couple who open up their relationship to other people, effectively creating a polyamorous arrangement. I know right???? Very saucy. But don’t get too excited, you won’t find this novel in the romance…
Graham Moore‘s The Last Days of Night is a jolly good time. Moore’s name may sound familiar because he is the academy award winning screenwriter behind the movie The Imitation Game. He also wrote a book called The Sherlockian, which was apparently quite popular as well, so he’s got lots of impressive points on his…
I’ve never read any of Eden Robinson‘s work before, but people discuss her books like she is always writing something worth reading, so I had high hopes when I picked up Son of a Trickster. Unfortunately, I typically approach indigenous writing with a bit of apprehension, just because I usually find most of the characters…
This is a difficult book to classify because it has successfully taken elements from many genres; fantasy, historical fiction, even horror can be found in The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden. The story takes place in medieval Russia, mostly in a small village steeped in wilderness. Here, winter lasts the majority of the year,…
