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…
Well folks, people don’t seem to be getting sick of my voice yet, because I’ve been asked to return CBC Calgary as their summer books columnist again. Many of you will recall me doing this a few years back, which was a ton of fun. And then last year I was on CKUA a bit,…
My reading of this book seems to have coincided with a very important milestone in my life: the marriage of a best friend. I find this happens to me quite frequently; I will pick up a book and find it is the perfect thing to be reading at that very specific time in my life….
This is one of the best, if not the best book I have read so far this year. Bold statement I know, but The Incarnations by Susan Barker is worth the praise. So why did I like it? There are so many reasons why, I have to put them in bullet form: It’s got a…
I read this book, and then climbed a (very small) mountain with my family. Nothing makes a survival story quite so real until you put yourself in the situation that’s being described in the story you just finished! Luckily, we made it off the trail alive, unscathed, and in very good spirits, but I can’t…
This book is written by two bloggers. They may have co-authored The Royal We, but Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan are best known for their successful celebrity style blog Go Fug Yourself. I had never heard of this blog, but that doesn’t say much, because I don’t follow fashion (especially now that I can’t fit…
So, I saw that Judy Blume had a new book coming, and of course I jumped at the chance to review it. Who wouldn’t? It’s Judy Freaking Blume! I didn’t read the premise of the book at all, hell I didn’t even look at the cover. I just said “Yes, please send it to me”. And…
Suitcase City: a place where the margaritas are cold, and the danger is hot! Ok that may not have been the best tagline (and to think I used to be a book publicist!) but this gives you a good idea of where this book gets its inspiration. The story takes place in Tampa, Florida, and…
I have some observations on the most recent “Writers to Watch” list from CBC Books: Not surprisingly, it is a diverse list in both authors and their publishers. I would expect nothing less from the CBC. I have heard of none of these writers. A few years ago, when I worked in publishing, I’m sure…
Have you seen the movie Shutter Island starring Leonardo DiCaprio? If you haven’t yet, read the Shutter Island book first. It was originally published in 2003 by Dennis Lehane, and made into a movie not long ago, 2010 actually. I personally haven’t seen the movie either, but after reading the book I’ve decided I HAVE…
Continuing the pattern of reviewing ‘nice guys that write great books’ that I’ve seemed to stumble upon, I decided to write about Terry Fallis’s latest book No Relation. This is Fallis’s fourth book, and just as good as his previous ones, so I’m glad I picked it up. It’s based on a really interesting premise:…
My sincere apologies for abandoning this blog for the past three weeks,I have a good excuse for my absence though-I was away in Belize! As you will see in the picture below, I had lots of time to catch up on my reading (9 books in total!) so I have lots of writing and reporting…
