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
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
I just realized that I have a trio of books that represent present, past, and future. All three are new books from authors I have read and loved. A Boring Wife Settles the Score by Marie-Renee Lavoie (2021) Not long ago I read Lavoie's Autopsy of a Boring Wife in which Diane's husband leaves her … Continue reading From the Library: return of the boring wife, an apocalyptic love story, and some feminist historical fiction
A wide-ranging trio of books; a fascinating Atlantic Canadian memoir, a heartbreakingly good novel about residential school trauma, and a joy-of-a linked story collection. The Dome Chronicles by Garry Leeson (2019) The Dome Chronicles doesn't look like the type of book I normally gravitate towards - physically, it's tall and wide and floppy, kind of … Continue reading From the Library: Michelle Good, Garry Leeson, and Carol Bruneau
When I learned that author Jane Doucet was from my neck of the woods, I made it my mission to read her books. Happily for me, her books are so much fun that it was a piece of cake! Jane Doucet "never planned to write fiction, but when she looked for a lighthearted novel about … Continue reading Jane Doucet: ‘The Pregnant Pause’ and ‘Fishnets & Fantasies’
For fans of historical fiction and/or Canadian history, Trappings is a book based on real people and events in mid-nineteenth century British Columbia. What's more, it offers a woman's view of politics and life during this time. Winn's passion for her subject shows in the historical details. Trappings tells a personal story of a woman … Continue reading Trappings by Vanessa Winn
This book is missing a few things: fully-developed characters, a narrative arc, a sense of cohesiveness. What is this book about? I don't really know. Yet I still read it. In fact, I read it with great interest, wondering what the author was going to come up with next. Writing is hard work, often unrewarding, … Continue reading Q&A with Jeff Bursey, Author of Unidentified man at left of photo
Trickster Drift by Eden Robinson Trickster Drift is the second in the series about a young man named Jared who is trying to get through life with a hard-core mom and a trickster for a dad. I read the first, Son of A Trickster, a couple of years ago when it was shortlisted for the … Continue reading From the Library: Indigenous Youth, Race Relations, and Adoption
I decided to put a hold on this book after my interview with Chris Benjamin; Doing Time is one of the books he had recently read and recommended. (He had also spoke highly of Carol Bruneau's Brighten the Corner Where You Are, and that turned out well!) I was surprised by how invested in this … Continue reading Doing Time: Writing Workshops in Prison by Carole Glasser Langille
Consumed by Ink 