If you follow my blog regularly, Lauren Carter's name might sound familiar. I read and reviewed her first novel Swarm when my blog was just a baby, and more recently wrote about her poetry book, Following Sea. This Has Nothing To Do With You was just launched on the 22nd of October, and it would … Continue reading This Has Nothing To Do With You by Lauren Carter
With an interviewer at the Quill & Quire, Alix Ohlin talks about how most of her stories and writing come about organically - without a lot of outlining. However, when beginning this book she knew she wanted to write a love story between two sisters. And she knew she wanted to address “questions of identity connected … Continue reading Giller Shortlist: Dual Citizens by Alix Ohlin
Anyone who has read this book will understand when I say that I don't know where to start with this, and I don't know where it's going to go. Let's start with structure. Reproduction is a literary structural feat. I didn't even realize the extent of it until I did some homework. Part 1 of … Continue reading Giller Shortlist: Reproduction by Ian Williams
Sometimes I forget that MyMum is dead. But that is probably better than remembering. Frankie's Mum has died and nobody will listen. His Dad is away for work, he doesn't want to tell his Gran (for fear he will have to stay at her house), and his teacher doesn't believe him. So he comes up … Continue reading Here I Am! by Pauline Holdstock
After reading In Search of the Perfect Singing Flamingo, Claire Tacon's new book, I discovered that she already had a book out called In the Field, published in 2011, and that this book is almost entirely set in rural Nova Scotia. The Setting It's no surprise that I love that this story takes place in … Continue reading In the Field by Claire Tacon
Have you ever thought about your first love? Or maybe you've never gotten over him/her, despite the fact that you appear to have moved on? Or maybe, like Tessa, you know without a doubt you'd go back to him if you got the chance? ("Do we ever stop wanting what we desired so ardently at … Continue reading Hunting Houses by Fanny Britt
When I saw this book at the library and read that it was about a "grotesque fat woman getting larger every day", I immediately thought of Melanie's quest for fat-positive books which prompted me to bring this one home and read it. I have to admit that, from the blurb on the back of the … Continue reading Mile End by Lise Tremblay, translated by Gail Scott
Just in time, I have read the third of the three nominated books for the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, which will be awarded at the Atlantic Book Awards on the evening of May 10 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. And what an unusual and intriguing book it is. Blood Fable tells a story within a … Continue reading Blood Fable by Oisín Curran
I don't know what it is about this book that I loved so much. Maybe the fact that I am coming up to the stage of life that June and Randy are at and can imagine how it might be. Maybe because of the perfect imperfections of the characters. Maybe the bang-on dynamics between the … Continue reading The Figgs by Ali Bryan
After reading The Pursuit of Memory by Joseph Jebelli, a nonfiction title about the research and treatment development of Alzheimer's Disease, I wanted to find a good novel to go with it. What luck for me that Rachel Khong's delightful Goodbye, Vitamin came out last year. (It is also on the 2018 Tournament of Books shortlist.) Ruth … Continue reading Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong
