Reproduction by Ian Williams, winner of the 2019 Giller Prize is a quirky read. Aside from this book being PAINFULLY LONG, I enjoyed it. It plays with lots of things: format, timelines, even phrasing. That being said, I’m a reader who doesn’t like freaky-deaky experimentation in my books, but I still found this story readable….
Dear reader; I wanted so much to like Lampedusa by Steven Price. At the time I’m writing this, it was announced as a shortlist contender for the Giller Prize, and because so many people in Canada are forming their reading lists based on this prize alone, I may be one of the few who are…
I adore this book. I knew I would, there’s a cat on the cover and I heard Patrick deWitt read from it during his Giller event here in Calgary last year and the section he read was HILARIOUS. Luckily the rest of the book lived up to his stellar performance, and I think I’ve found…
Sheila Heti’s older book How Should a Person Be? seems a more apt title for her most recent work Motherhood because it’s basically just a woman debating how she should live her life. This is the first book by her that I’ve ever read, so perhaps this is how most of her writing comes across,…
Technically this is a product + book review, because not only do I regale my viewers with (somewhat) insightful comments on Kim Thuy’s latest book Vi, but I also review some local chocolate by Master Chocolat! Yes, I’m really taking to this chocolate blogging thing, it’s a true passion of mine. I’ve also changed my…
My Canadian readers won’t be at all surprised to see I’m reviewing Bellevue Square by Michael Redhill because it won the richest literary prize in Canada back in November: the Giller Prize. I’ll be honest though, I had no intention of reading it until my book club chose it. I’m glad I did because first of…
Well my Wordfest 2017 experience was WAY better than my Wordfest 2016 experience which was basically non-existent due to the fact that I contracted hand foot and mouth during last year’s festival (the joys of having young children in daycare never end!). But I was relatively healthy this year, which allowed me to take in…
It will come as no surprise to anyone that I’m counting down the days until Wordfest 2017. For my most recent trip into the CBC Studios, I gave my ‘insider’ suggestions of which authors to take in while attending Wordfest this year, as well as getting in a little promo to the event I’ll be…
Canadian bookworms are generally a shy bunch. We don’t get out much because we’re so busy reading and drinking tea (especially in the winter months) and our book awards are not as numerous as the Americans, so rarely do we get a chance to have national discussions about a book’s merit. That’s why the Canada…
Obviously this post is a bit late seeing as the Giller Prize has already been awarded to Madeleine Thien. But, right before the Calgary Giller Light party I recorded this segment for the CBC, and I don’t want to brag, but I did predict Thien winning. Her book wasn’t my first choice, but whatever, she’s…
It seem as though I’ve been on a string of reading really good books lately, and of course this Scotiabank Giller Prize nominee was no different. The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall has alot of hype surrounding it, and I totally understand/want to perpetuate this hype. It has a unique premise, engrossing characters,…
I have a bad habit of judging a book by its author. It’s not fair, especially when I haven’t actually read any books by that writer, but I hear other people’s opinions of them, and I recall reviews I’ve read about their other books, so I think I know what I’m going to read before…
