I can’t remember ever reading a book or story by Alistair MacLeod before today, but I do know I should be ashamed of this fact because he’s one of Canada’s greatest writers. Although he died in 2014, his legacy still lives on in his writing, as well as through his son Alexander MacLeod (pictured below) who is…
I find short story collections extremely hard to review, but this is the case even more so when the collection of stories is an anthology made up of various authors because there is such a huge span of talent and writing throughout. Sex and Death, edited by Sarah Hall and Peter Hobbs is an incredibly…
I’ve always been a fan of short story collections, especially because they are the ‘hidden gems’ of the literary world; not many them are published because they don’t typically sell very well. But it is my expert humble opinion that readers of all kinds should read short stories, so I’m always happy to profile them…
I was really excited by the premise of this book when Edge Publishing sent it to me. Essentially, nEvermore! (yes, that is the correct spelling) is a collection of stories inspired by Edgar Allan Poe; many are re-imaginings for his published works while others are simply inspired by his writing. How cool is that? I’ve never…
If you were ever wondering how to pick up a maid in Statue Square, you will quickly find the answer to your question in Rea Tarvydas’s debut collection of short stories (whew, am I right?). Statue Square by the way, is a real place in Hong Kong, and I’ve tracked down an image of it…
So it’s funny that I’m writing this review today, of all days. Mainly because I was lucky enough to meet the author of Teardown, Clea Young this week for the very first time. But I’ve spoken to Clea many times in the past, we’ve shared many laughs together, as well as many frustrations, but Monday night…
Since I started this blog in 2013, I’ve made a few observations about the book blogging community as a whole. They are as follows: most of us love drinking tea while reading cats are our favourite animal we love holidays romance and YA bloggers are easy to find and are very passionate about these genres…
I had never read anything by Olive Senior before, but I had heard of her, and I knew she was a good writer, so picking up The Pain Tree was an easy decision for me. As was recommending her, and gushing about her publisher Cormorant Books on the radio last week. If you’re looking for…
My fixation on Alberta writers comes with good reason. I’m on the board for the Writers’ Guild of Alberta yo! Their mission is to connect, encourage, inspire, promote and support Alberta writers and their writing, so it would be a down right travesty if I didn’t feature them on one of my radio segments this…
I love reading short stories, and because they’re not as popular as they deserve to be, I’m always taking advantage of a little air time to talk about how great they are. You can click here to listen to my latest segment on CBC’s Homestretch. For those of you who listened to my radio spots…
All summer long, I’m appearing weekly on CBC’s Homestretch to talk about new books worth reading this summer. Each week, I’m focusing on a different genre, and yesterday I spoke about historical fiction. You can hear the segment here if you are interested. I don’t intend on listening to it myself, because hearing your voice…
Oh jeez guys, oh jeez. I seem to have been on a streak lately, reading books about children dying, being kidnapped, and other horrible things. Billie Livingston’s The Crooked Heart of Mercy continues this terrible theme as it begins with the accidental death of a two year-old, while he is at home with him Mom…
