As I was reading With My Back to the World by Sally Cooper, I wrote down "Value the child and maybe everything else falls into place." In The Little Fox of Mayerville we read about a child who is not valued - a child who is neglected, abused and abandoned. My whole childhood was nothing but … Continue reading The Little Fox of Mayerville by Éric Mathieu, translated by Peter McCambridge
"On my first visit to Jamaica I saw a pig's severed head." And so begins our time with Kara, a second-generation Jamaican-Canadian who, unlike her Jamaican cousins, does not feel comfortable with dead animals, and whose Jamaican accent is not strong enough for her Jamaican-Canadian friends. Yet around her white classmates, Kara feels too Jamaican. … Continue reading Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta
My Camino by Patrick Warner A few years ago I read Patrick Warner's One Hit Wonders and said: "One Hit Wonders is such a unique reading experience that I wanted more." I got what I asked for - another unique reading experience - one that is darkly humorous, bold, challenging, and visceral. This book is … Continue reading ‘My Camino’ by Patrick Warner and ‘Dream Sequence’ by Adam Foulds
Bunny by Mona Awad (Author of the Giller shortlisted 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl.) Samantha attends an MFA program at a university in New England. But she feels like an outsider. The other women in her group (there are four of them) are so cliquish. They're always together, always touching and laughing … Continue reading ‘Bunny’ by Mona Awad and ‘Days by Moonlight’ by André Alexis
Literary Wives is an on-line book group that examines the meaning and role of wife in different books. Every other month, 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: Ties by Domenico Starnone
Remember talking on the phone for hours while doing homework? Or waiting by the phone all day for a certain someone to call you, and hoping your parents (or worse, a sibling) don't pick up the phone first? Remember renting movies at a video store and looking up numbers in the phone book? Swatches and … Continue reading Even Weirder Than Before by Susie Taylor
Every Little Piece of Me is the highly anticipated second novel by Amy Jones, author of We're All in This Together. Ava Ava's fathers move her and her two siblings from NYC to a Bed & Breakfast in Gin Harbour, Nova Scotia to be part of a reality TV show. ("It's Jon and Kate Plus … Continue reading Every Little Piece of Me by Amy Jones
