People who work at or attend universities seem to make numerous appearances in Amina Gautier’s collection of short stories The Loss of All Lost Things. Is this a problem? No, of course not, and it makes a lot of sense when you discover that Gautier is a professor of creative writing at the University of…
Happy Halloween everyone! I wanted to dash out this post to you in time for the big night tomorrow to help you get into a spooky mood. I’m back from my European tour, and this was the last book I finished on my travels. There’s a photo of its final resting place (a hotel that…
I started reading this book in Canada, and I finished reading it in Germany. This doesn’t really have anything to do with the way I enjoyed it, I just wanted to brag about the fact that I’m travelling to fun places right now. Instead of taking pictures of books with my cats, I’m including photos…
I had never heard of David Constantine before I picked up this book, but after I had quickly scanned his bio on the inside cover of In Another Country, I realized what I was missing. He’s kind of a big deal, being nominated for many different prizes, and according to his Canadian publisher Biblioasis, he…
I love reading short stories. I seem to flip through them faster than a novel, simply because it it forces you to reach the end of one story before you put your bookmark in. I also find (and I know I’ve said this before) that they’re typically better written than novels, because the writer has…
Short stories! What a refreshing change from the every day novel that we so typically read, and what’s even better, you can pick it up and put it down without feeling guilty. So, basically, they are perfect for parents with newborns, whose moods can change between page turns! I don’t just love Rhonda Douglas‘s collection…
More Alberta writers to love! That’s really how I should title every book review that I write on an Alberta-born book. People don’t typically see Alberta as the literary hot-spot that it truly is, but I’m hoping to change that by highlighting amazing books by Western writers that don’t get the attention they deserve. Lee…
A woman who is so obsessed with Michael Jackson she roasts her chicken on the ‘clean’ setting of her oven because she’s distracted by listening to his music, a man who wears a t-shirt that says “Thank you for Having Me” at a wedding, a married couple who met at a peace movement but have…
I’ve always enjoyed stories about ‘regular people, doing regular things’. They hold a certain fascination for me, simply because I can relate to those kinds of characters more than others, my life being pretty uneventful in general. I definitely like a good cozy mystery or thriller every once in a while, but family dramas, introspective…
Before I launch into my next book review, I wanted to put up a bit of a disclaimer. The author’s books that I have and will continue to review that were part of my Afternoon Tea event at Wordfest last week will all be receiving positive reviews. I’m not being biased, I just enjoyed them…
Although this book is described as a novel in the press release, I think of it as a book of short stories, as each chapter can easily stand on its own. Taken together, the chapters are not cohesive enough to create one story, but I don’t believe that is a negative thing, each section is…
I’ve gotten into a terrible habit lately. I visit the Buzzfeed website quite often these days, and I frequently find myself clicking through their lists of whatever, marveling at the fact that whatever they come up with seems to be right up my alley. Literally, whatever they combine into some sort of list or tally,…
