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)
After a series of memoirs about illness--then my octopus palette cleanser--I went back to social justice. So You Want to Talk About Race Ilejeomo Oluo I loved this book. I was invested in, not only what she was saying about racism and micro-aggressions, but about how it has affected her own life as a black … Continue reading What I’ve Been Listening To: three that made me think and three that made me laugh
Literary Wives is an on-line book group that examines the meaning and role of wife in different books. Four times a year, we post and discuss a book with this question in mind: What does this book say about wives or about the experience of being a wife? Don’t forget to check out the other members … Continue reading #LiteraryWives: The Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams
The Red Chesterfield by Wayne Arthurson (2019) This is the type of novella I can get behind; quirky and original. It all starts with a red couch/sofa/chesterfield found in a ditch by a by-law enforcement officer on his rounds. He makes a note of it in his notebook and continues to issue a warning to … Continue reading #NovNov: Novellas in November 2021
As I'm not co-hosting MARM this year, I was determined to at least participate. This, of course, allows for a much more relaxed timeline (I had until the end of November!) and Dearly is all I have to show for it. But I was happy to finally read it - it escaped me last year … Continue reading #MARM: Margaret Atwood Reading Month 2021
A few years ago I read Africa's Children: A History of Blacks in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia by Sharon Robart-Johnson. In it, there was a short newspaper clipping about the murder trial of a young, enslaved girl named Jude who was beaten to death in the early 1800s. In Jude and Diana, Robart-Johnson gives voice to … Continue reading Jude and Diana by Sharon Robart-Johnson
For the last few years I have been shadowing the Giller Prize along with other devoted CanLit fans. This year, I'm leaving all the deadlines to others, (be sure to visit Shadowing the Best of CanLit to see what Penny and Lindy and John have been up to!) but, of course, I couldn't resist them … Continue reading Scotiabank Giller Prize 2021
It is sometime in the future and the world as we know it is completely unrecognizable. People are living in pulled-together communities, using what they can find to get by. Unlike our own world, the community members have to work together to make sure everything essential gets done each day, each hour, each minute. Which … Continue reading The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed
After my rocky start to audio books, I am on a roll. I would recommend all of these, except maybe don't listen to the two cancer memoirs and depression memoir back to back to back like I did. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson This book is as good as everyone says it is. Even now, … Continue reading What I’ve Been Listening To: justice, cancer, depression, and octopuses
We can’t stop shopping. And yet we must. This is the consumer dilemma. The Day the World Stopped Shopping is a "thought experiment" taken on by the author. MacKinnon was curious to know what would happen if the world just stopped shopping one day. Would chaos ensue? Would the economy collapse, and along with it, … Continue reading The Day the World Stops Shopping by J.B. MacKinnon
Consumed by Ink 