This is the 24th anniversary of the Scotiabank Giller Prize, a prize that was founded in 1994 by (the late) Jack Rabinovitch in honour of his wife, the late literary journalist Doris Giller. The prize awards $100,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English, and $10,000 to each … Continue reading The 2017 Scotiabank Giller Prize Longlist
My Bookish (and not so Bookish) Summer 2017
What I've been up to this summer, bookish and not... 1) Prince Edward Island. We spent a week in PEI at the very beginning of the summer. A few days on our bikes and a few days camping with family. PEI, of course, is the home of Anne Shirley and Emily Byrd Starr (among others). … Continue reading My Bookish (and not so Bookish) Summer 2017
Three Page-Turning Debuts: “Hum If You Don’t Know the Words”, “All Is Beauty Now” and “So Much Love”
Hum If You Don't Know the Words by Bianca Marais This book is about living in South Africa in the 1970s, it's about what happened after the Soweto Uprising in 1976, it's about a little white girl who lost her parents and an older black woman who is searching for her daughter. And it's about … Continue reading Three Page-Turning Debuts: “Hum If You Don’t Know the Words”, “All Is Beauty Now” and “So Much Love”
A Bird on Every Tree: A Collection of Short Stories by Carol Bruneau
Carol Bruneau has been getting some standout reviews recently for her new story collection, A Bird on Every Tree. James at The Miramichi Reader says that Ms. Bruneau "writes with a graceful precision and has a deftness with words and their cadences". A reviewer at The Coast calls Ms. Bruneau "a master of imagery". A … Continue reading A Bird on Every Tree: A Collection of Short Stories by Carol Bruneau
I’m Off!
It's time for a little bit this... and a little bit of this... and some of this... While my kids do a lot of this... See you when I get back! Happy Reading!
The Widow’s Fire by Paul Butler: Exploring the Shadow Side of Jane Austen’s Persuasion
So you think Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth live happily ever after? Well, Paul Butler wasn't so sure. He saw a side of Mrs. Smith that the rest of us missed. Is she really the caring, innocent widow that Anne adores, or is she just manipulating us all into thinking she is? When James at … Continue reading The Widow’s Fire by Paul Butler: Exploring the Shadow Side of Jane Austen’s Persuasion
Literary Wives: On Beauty by Zadie Smith
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 of Literary Wives … Continue reading Literary Wives: On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Playing Catch-Up: Elena Ferrante, Pamela Paul, Joey Comeau, and Jesse Ruddock
The Days of Abandonment In my attempt to avoid the Neapolitan Quartet, I have now read two of Elena Ferrante's novellas. (Last year I read The Lost Daughter.) I thought both were excellent books, but I might have to give the edge to The Days of Abandonment. Although both books ask questions about what it … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up: Elena Ferrante, Pamela Paul, Joey Comeau, and Jesse Ruddock
Boundary: The Last Summer by Andrée A. Michaud
It's 1967 in the vacation cottage community of Boundary; an idyllic place to bring your family for the summer. Until a teenage girl goes missing. And then another. Replacing the peacefulness of the place with terror. Who is responsible? is it one of the community members, or the ghost of an old man who used … Continue reading Boundary: The Last Summer by Andrée A. Michaud
Advocate by Darren Greer
Jacob has a fulfilling job in Toronto as a counsellor at a men's outreach centre; men living with HIV. When he is asked to come home to Advocate, the small town in Nova Scotia where he grew up, to say good-bye to his dying grandmother, he has severe misgivings. He remembers the events of 1984 … Continue reading Advocate by Darren Greer
Consumed by Ink 