We're Not Rich by Sue Murtagh (Nimbus Publishing) I loved this debut collection and wrote about it for The Seaboard Review earlier this year. Below is a short excerpt of my review. You can read the rest of it here. As many of my favourite story collections do, We’re Not Rich examines the lives of ordinary people … Continue reading Nova Scotia Short Story Collections: Sue Murtagh, Carol Bruneau, Amanda Peters, Chris Benjamin, and M.V. Feehan
The Way I Feel by Susan White (Acorn Press) The Way I Feel is Susan White's thirteenth book (8 YA and 5 adult), and this is the first one I've read. The premise of The Way I Feel is what made me pick up this book. It's about a middle-aged woman who suddenly packs up … Continue reading From the Library: a runaway mother, a returned daughter, and secret short stories
I feel like I have some pretty major loose ends to tie up - good books I read last year that I didn't end up writing about. Why am I able to get my thoughts down about some books and not others? Why do some books get pushed to the back burner while others get … Continue reading (Fabulous) Loose Ends from 2022
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
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
As MacLeod has proven before in his stories, he does not shy away from the harsh realities of life. And, as Marcie has already pointed out, Winter Dog is not an easy story to read. But there are so many great reasons you should read it anyway. Like the tender telling of the excited children … Continue reading Alistair MacLeod Short Story: Winter Dog (1981)
This story is about 30 pages long and--plotwise--almost nothing happens. But the beauty of the story is in the seasonal rhythms and the ordinary routines of every day; the cyclical nature of a farm and the abundance of hope that year-after-year, the farm will sustain the lives of everyone involved, human and animal. SPOILER: There's … Continue reading Alistair MacLeod Short Story: Second Spring (1980)
There are spoilers ahead, but this short Christmas story doesn't need to be 'unspoiled' to enjoy over and over. The narrator of To Every Thing There Is a Season is looking back at the Christmas he was a boy of eleven. Christmas is a time of both past and present and often the two are … Continue reading Alistair MacLeod Short Story: To Every Thing There Is A Season (1977)
The Golden Gift of Grey is set in the midwestern United States - a far cry from the first two stories in this volume, both about small town fishing and mining families in Cape Breton. However, there are many similarities between this, The Boat, and The Vastness of the Dark, some of which are identified … Continue reading Alistair MacLeod Short Story: The Golden Gift of Grey (1971)
It's been a while since I read and wrote about one of Alistair MacLeod's stories, even though my plan had been to go through them all. That's why I was especially pleased to see that Marcie at Buried in Print has chosen Alistair MacLeod for her newest short story project. Last week we read The … Continue reading The Vastness of the Dark: A Short Story by Alistair MacLeod (1971)
Consumed by Ink 