As always, the best thing about book blogging is the bookish community, online and in "real" life. I have loved getting to know so many passionate readers and bloggers and writers and reviewers and publishers. Thank you for reading and commenting and visiting and chatting and writing and publishing! 🙂 ATLANTIC CANADA Seven years ago … Continue reading Highlights of 2022
Contemporary fiction set in Newfoundland and historical fiction set in Nova Scotia. What more could you want? The Wards by Terry Doyle (Breakwater Books) This is my type of book. An ordinary family, characters you get to know so well that you're never surprised by their actions, even when their actions surprise you. The Wards … Continue reading ‘The Wards’ by Terry Doyle and ‘Birth Road’ by Michelle Wamboldt
The title of this books makes me think of the social media memes that ask you to indicate where you're from without saying where you're from. Usually they do this with pictures, but local phrases and sayings could work nicely too. Some Hellish is set in Prince Edward Island, where it's common to hear people … Continue reading Some Hellish by Nicholas Herring
As soon as I saw this book I knew I wanted to read it (I do love judging a book by its cover!). But who knew I would love it so much? They thought about the game, which they were sure to lose, but also about jobs, divorces, if they were getting fat, why their … Continue reading Fearnoch by Jim McEwen
Wonder World by K.R. Byggdin (Enfield & Wizenty) When I saw the cover of this book (a jar of pickles?), I knew I had to read it. (And--although Byggdin grew up in Manitoba--they are now living on the East Coast.) Isaac Funk has been living in Halifax for ten years; for ten years he has … Continue reading From the Library: Community, growing up, and pop tarts
Fans of Alexander Macleod's short stories have been waiting for this book to come out since his last story collection Light Lifting, in 2010 (which became a Giller Prize nominee). Like in Light Lifting, the stories in Animal Person are rich enough to keep us satisfied with re-reading until the next collection, even if it … Continue reading Alexander MacLeod Short Stories: Animal Person
Four incredible books from Atlantic Canada: one from Newfoundland and three from Nova Scotia. Gruesome murders, foster homes (for both two-legged and four-legged creatures), mothers and sons in critical conditions, a cast of furry (and feathered) characters, and #Snowmageddon. Beneath Her Skin by C.S. Porter (Nimbus Publishing) I don't usually read crime novels, but this … Continue reading From the Library: Lisa Moore, Nicola Davison, Chad Lucas, and C.S. Porter
The Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award celebrates the very best of Atlantic Canadian Fiction. I try to read as many of the nominated books as I can. You can find more information about this on my Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Reading List page. Like the Alistair MacLeod Prize for Short Fiction, all three nominees for … Continue reading Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award: Michelle Butler Hallet, David Huebert, and Sharon Robart-Johnson
It's Atlantic Book Award season! There are twelve awards under the umbrella of the Atlantic Books Awards. To see all the nominated books, authors, illustrators, and publishers visit atlanticbookawards.ca. And you can follow along on Twitter @AtlBookAwards. Happily, the short fiction titles are from a few of my favourite independent publishers. Chemical Valley by David … Continue reading Alistair MacLeod Prize for Short Fiction: David Huebert, Amber McMillan, and Claire Wilkshire
All from Atlantic Canada, all involve some kind of travel. In Short Mercy, the characters embark on a road trip of revenge, from Nova Scotia to New Brunswick, leaving behind a trail of petty crime. In The Good Women of Safe Harbour, travel is restricted to Newfoundland, but it's the hardest kind of travel - … Continue reading From the Library: revenge, reunion, and unrequited love
Consumed by Ink 