As I opened up my notes on this book, I felt a little overwhelmed - two pages of notes, back-to-back, in tiny print. But that's not too surprising - Aubrey McKee is a big book and it takes place primarily in Halifax, Nova Scotia (where Alex Pugsley is originally from). So there was a lot … Continue reading Aubrey McKee by Alex Pugsley
These three genres are not my usual fare, but I dip into them from time to time, and usually enjoy it when I do. Crosshairs by Catherine Hernandez In southern Ontario, the concrete jungle of Toronto was transformed into a shallow bayou. Park benches sat in water like rafts in muck. Beneath the surface of … Continue reading From the Library: A Dystopian, a Thriller, and a Memoir
Atlantic Canada Five years ago I decided to challenge myself to read more books from Atlantic Canada. As a result, I have read 131 books from Atlantic Canada in the last five years. You can check out results of previous years here: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016. #of Atlantic Canadian books read: 31 (last year, 25) % of books read from Atlantic Canada: 39% (last year, 32%) … Continue reading Highlights of 2020
All excellent books, all written by women of colour, taking me from New York to India, from Alabama to Ghana, and finally to the suburbs of Toronto. Seven by Farzana Doctor When I learned that Seven was a book, in part, about Khatna--a cultural or religious ritual of female genital cutting--I was worried it would … Continue reading From the Library: Khatna, Addiction, and Coming-of-Age
All I Ask by Eva Crocker Melt came to mind as I read this book - the characters in All I Ask are friends who live and work in St. John's, NL. Unlike Jess and Cait, Stacey and Viv are younger and only just starting to move from school to careers and long-term relationships. Soon … Continue reading From the Giller Longlist: All I Ask, Consent, The Pull of the Stars, Clyde Fans
Warning: Slightly spoilery! August wasn't that long ago, right? At least, it doesn't feel that long ago since I read Melt. I remember being smitten by the cover (isn't it beautiful?) and taken in by the thirty-year-long friendship between the two women. It can't be easy to write about a long friendship--friendships are complicated--but Wicks … Continue reading Melt by Heidi Wicks
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 Age of Innocence
In this November 2020, the third Margaret Atwood Reading Month unfolded with participants from many places, some reading her for the first time, many returning to her work to try new and backlisted works, others exploring other #MARM content online (interviews, films, TV, etc.). In the National Geographic atlas, in which the world map folds … Continue reading #MARM 2020 Wrap-Up
Novellas in November is being co-hosted by Rebecca @BookishBeck and Cathy @746Books this year, and was categorized into weekly themes. As it's the last day of the month, I'm just grouping mine together, but I did notice that each of my novellas is from a different country: the US, the UK, Norway, the Netherlands, and … Continue reading Novellas in November 2020: Featuring Bog People, Insomnia, and the Disappearance of the Moon
This book has been on my list since it won the Stella Prize in 2016, and thanks to AusReading Month--hosted by Brona@BronasBooks--I finally read it. The Natural Way of Things was inspired by a documentary the author watched about The Hay Institution for Girls: ten women were taken there and brutalized for being the "ten … Continue reading #AusReadingMonth: The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood
